Need advice on macros
kathyt08069
Posts: 39 Member
My doctor diagnosed me as pre-diabetic and suggested a low carb diet. What is considered low carb? I don't think I will do keto but anything is possible to get my A1C down and avoid medication. Please help.
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Hi Kathy!
You could always try a keto calculator ( https://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/ ) to figure out your suggested Macros. You dont have to follow the keto diet but it should at least give you a stepping stone as far as where you want your daily carbs to land.1 -
Anything under 150g of carbs per day is considered low carb.
That said, I also believe that the quality of the carbs matter. You can eat 150g of carbs with chips, and fries, and ice cream, or you can eat 150g of carbs with a sweet potato, roasted carrots, celery and hummus, etc.
This group is a great resource, so hopefully some others will have some great ideas for you as well. Welcome.2 -
WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »Anything under 150g of protein per day is considered low carb.
That said, I also believe that the quality of the carbs matter. You can eat 150g of carbs with chips, and fries, and ice cream, or you can eat 150g of carbs with a sweet potato, roasted carrots, celery and hummus, etc.
This group is a great resource, so hopefully some others will have some great ideas for you as well. Welcome.
I'll guess she might mean carbs? I'll then concur that <150 carbs/day is considered low carb. Someone may share whether that is total carbs or net carbs based on their reading.
Best of luck to you. I've never been pre-diabetic or diabetic (knocks on wood) but many here have and will share their experience/numbers. I've definitely been over weight and shed my excess pounds and fat back in 2013-14. Generally speaking, I am pretty moderate and balanced in all things in life. I eat fish, meat, vegetables, low sugar fruits, eggs, plain dairy, nuts/seeds/oils. High starch or sweet desserts are kept to a minimum and are not part of my daily intake. Basically I eat tasty concoctions originating from mostly single whole food ingredients.
Though again, never diabetic or even pre-diabetic, losing excess weight and maintaining it through a calorie/macro balance that you can adhere to long term plus getting a little activity in life even if only increased steps/movement/NEAT will sometime rid individuals of those pesky diseases/conditions sometimes created from lifestyle (sedentary and overeating).
Low carb, it is though for diabetics. Many here will say the ADA is too high in their suggested carb amounts. Though not diabetic, it might be an improvement for some but is more carbs than even I choose to routinely eat. Keep your carbs low and if you have weight to lose, do it.
From, the other Kathy.
ETA: I currently eat lower carb and higher fat than I did during weight loss for hunger/craving suppression. Works for me. I don't have a list of "never eat" foods. There are many that I eat rarely.2 -
WholeFoods4Lyfe wrote: »Anything under 150g of protein per day is considered low carb.
That said, I also believe that the quality of the carbs matter. You can eat 150g of carbs with chips, and fries, and ice cream, or you can eat 150g of carbs with a sweet potato, roasted carrots, celery and hummus, etc.
This group is a great resource, so hopefully some others will have some great ideas for you as well. Welcome.
I'll guess she might mean carbs?
I did. Sorry! LOL Luckily I was still within my allotted edit time and fixed it. But thanks! Fingers going faster than my brain this morning.
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Sounds right to me. Less than 100-150 g is what most call low carb. There's 4 kcal in one gram of carbs so that's below 400-600 kcal of carbs. You carb macro percentage will vary depending on your total calories. Some eating 400 kcal carbs would have a carb macro of 20% if they ate 2000 kcal a day. If they only ate 1200 kcal, that 400 kcal of carbs would be around 33%.
Protein is usually moderate. Many go with around 0.8 g protein per pound of body weight, give or take a few. It's common to see 60-150g for most women. Towards the higher end is thought to help a bit with lean mass retention.
Like carbs, there are 1 g = 4 kcal.
Fat is the rest. 1 g fat = 9 kcal.
Macro calculators really help.
I was prediabetics too. I found the book, Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution to be a great help to me. He has a blog and website too. Also, Sarah Hallberg has some great YouTube videos on low carb for diabetics. Fung's book, Obesity Code, is another low carb book aimed at diabetics but it includes some fasting. Good luck.1
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