Low Carb Diet

CathyBoutilier

What is the amount of carbs, fat, fiber, and sugar I should eat with a low carb diet?

cmriverside

You'll need to make that determination yourself.

Keto, which is a low carb "plan" is very low carb, and then there are many ways to just cut back without specific numbers.

I lost 80 pounds using the default macros here. In practice I ate fewer carbs by necessity in order to be able to eat enough fat and protein (which are more important.)

I'd say just start with the defaults here - 50% Carbs, 30% Fat and 20% Protein. For weight loss all that really matters is calorie amount.

Learn about yourself and your habits by logging food.

In the meantime you can do online research about your macros. Some people like the approximate split of 30% Carbs, 30% Fat and 30% Protein ( with that extra 10% being used any way you want.) That's a good place to start to see if you like and can stick to lower carb.

SweatLikeDog

It varies. Generally anything less than a quarter of your daily calories from carbs is low carb

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537084/

ddsb1111

If you eat your maintenance calories and zero carbs, you won’t lose weight. If you eat over your maintenance calories and eat zero carbs you’ll gain weight.

Eat carbs. Don’t eat carbs. They don’t matter. So why worry about your carbs? Only calories matter to lose weight. Eat a healthy balance of macros for health/digestion and keep dieting simple, or you’ll likely rebound.

AnnPT77

ddsb1111 wrote: »

If you eat your maintenance calories and zero carbs, you won’t lose weight. If you eat over your maintenance calories and eat zero carbs you’ll gain weight.

Eat carbs. Don’t eat carbs. They don’t matter. So why worry about your carbs? Only calories matter to lose weight. Eat a healthy balance of macros for health/digestion and keep dieting simple, or you’ll likely rebound.

Well, unless diabetic, insulin resistant, or some other relevant health condition, of course. That might be among the reasons for someone to do something they'd call "low carb".

I agree with you, certainly: Carbs aren't particularly material to weight management success, unless carbs affect an individual's energy level or appetite, as they seem to do for some. I lost weight fine eating pretty large amounts of them, and maintain the same way.

I, too, would be interested in why @CathyBoutilier has chosen a low carb approach, since knowing that would help us offer more nuanced advice.

neanderthin

ddsb1111 wrote: »

If you eat your maintenance calories and zero carbs, you won’t lose weight. If you eat over your maintenance calories and eat zero carbs you’ll gain weight.

Eat carbs. Don’t eat carbs. They don’t matter. So why worry about your carbs? Only calories matter to lose weight. Eat a healthy balance of macros for health/digestion and keep dieting simple, or you’ll likely rebound.

Let me add a few facts that we're not going to hear in editorials from places like Harvard or plant based advocates for people that might be considering a low carb/ketogenic diet because details matter.

Of course calories matter when it comes to weight loss but calories are actually the foods we consume and what we eat have metabolic and biological consequences that go beyond the amount of heat that might be in a particular food source, crazy but true.

Weight loss: engaging in lower carbs do for the vast majority of people when compared to most conventional diets through mostly hormonal regulation adjustments that person will lose weight and if a person didn't they would be considered an outlier, basically it's pretty much a consistent and given result and because our fat becomes a fuel source it will use visceral fat more so that just a calorie deficit, which is beneficial and the immediate improvements in fatty liver is a common result. Of course if someone was to revert back to their original way of eating weight is regained, generally speaking, not rocket science, it's mostly hormonal.

Improved Blood Sugar Control: Having our blood sugar kept within the lower level nearer to based line on a more constant level prevents the constant spiking throughout the day, week, month and year(s) which for many people leads to insulin resistance and worst case scenario, diabetes and during this scenario the excess sugar in our blood are insulting the lining of certain blood vessels creating the inflammatory process that leads to the damage of tight junctions within our arterial walls to degrade that allows glycoxidation which is the inflammatory process that then leads to the accumulation of plaque, which narrows the arteries and restricts blood flow.

Reduced Triglycerides: Low carb/keto can lead to a significant drop in triglycerides with everything being equal, which lowers chronic inflammation and it's inflammation that is the 900lb gorilla for metabolic diseases to progress. Basically it improves the function of blood vessels, promoting better circulation and overall cardiovascular health which also can improve insulin sensitivity, which is beneficial for managing diabetes and reducing trigs can be something any decent diet where whole food are the focus will improve.

Increased Good Cholesterol: Displacing mostly processed carbs with foods with good fats like nuts, avocados, olive oil and animal protein especially fish and meat like venison, elk, water buffalo, pasture raised beef and soy products etc. will facilitate higher HDL, basically any diet that is high in carbs and especially someone that consumes mostly the SAD diet this is considered a benefit. Higher HDL is also seen by default when we reduce our triglycerides. The other main benefit by this intervention where carbs are replaced with protein and fat is the improvement in the particle size of LDL's which promote the larger and more buoyant LDL as opposed to the small dense LDL that are prevalent in our arteries caused by the inflammatory process of excessive sugar in the blood.

Improved Mental Clarity and improved mitochondrial health This benefit seems to take most low carbers by surprise. Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), basically ketones reduce oxidative stress by enhancing mitochondrial function that stimulate the production of new mitochondria, increasing their number and efficiency in cells. Ketones also decreases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative damage, leading to less mitochondrial damage and better cellular health. This leads to higher and more consistent energy levels throughout the day while at the same time improves cognition or basically brain fog that is so prevalent with people that have IR or diabetes from the over stimulation of glucose in the brain, sometimes referred to as diabetes 3. I could go on and on about this one but the ketogenic diet has been studies so much that if you do any research on cognition, dementia Alzheimer's disease, and other neurological disorders related studies, it should become clearer.

ddsb1111

@AnnPT77 I’m not so sure you need low-carb for diabetes or insulin resistance, even though it’s a common belief. Is there a proven verdict on this yet, do you know? But, full disclosure- I’m not a doctor, so hopefully someone with these medical issues goes to a professional rather than MFP for the appropriate diet. But, outside of that, carbs don’t matter for weight loss, and macros do matter for health and wellness.

Good point by Ann, if it’s for satiation, palette preference, energy, then the amount of carbs, fat, fiber, and sugar would be completely unique to you. Low carb is typically defined by consuming less than 45% of calories in carbs. And a low carb diet inherently limits sugar intake since it’s a type of carbohydrate. Fiber is something like 25-35g. Fat depends on what type of low-carb is being used. Same for protein. So, a lot of information is missing to give best feedback for a diet, and little to no feedback if you have a medical condition- not because I don’t want to help, but because it’s best to be monitored and advised by a professional.

AnnPT77

@ddsb1111, I also don't know enough about diabetes or IR to be specific about a diet choice, i.e. whether low carb is essential for all with those health conditions. (Not to mention that "low carb" has many definitions from very casual ones to very technical ones.)

I do know that diabetics, from what I've read and friends who are diabetic/IR have told me, that those people need to manage or monitor carbs more carefully than people without those health conditions. I believe that's more about the health condition, less about weight loss, although from reading here for a long time, it seems like some people (diabetic/IR or not) can have appetite or energy level issues with carbs that can affect weight loss indirectly.

I suspect that what I wrote was unclear about what I meant, and unclear about why I replied to your post specifically.

You had said (in a much more comprehensive post I hope others will read above, since I'm quoting without context): "Eat carbs. Don’t eat carbs. They don’t matter. So why worry about your carbs?"

That last is a good question for OP, and I probably should've phased my reply in those terms: People who are diabetic, IR, or have certain other health condition need to worry about their carbs at least to some extent. It matters WHY she is worried about carbs: You're right about that.

I know some doctors will recommend a low carb diet or even keto, whether because they think it's best for weight loss, or because they think it's best for some health condition the person has or is at higher risk of having. I also suspect that some doctors, because of a relevant health condition the person has and what they know about the person's eating, may say "reduce the amount of carbs you're eating" . . . then the person translates that mentally into "I need a low carb diet" (maybe partly because low carb diets are hyped for everything under the sun lately, only some of them legit). "Manage/monitor carbs" and "eat a low carb diet" aren't necessarily exactly the same thing IMO.

My point is, I was concerned that OP might zero in on "carbs don't matter". In some cases they truly don't much matter; in other cases believing they don't matter would be wishful thinking with possibly sub-ideal consequences because of health conditions and medical history.

Sorry, long ramble . . . which is sadly just like me. But I hope it makes clearer why I replied as I did, even if I expressed myself unclearly. I think your intentions and mine are pretty close or identical, honestly.

Best wishes!

ddsb1111

Sorry, long ramble . . . which is sadly just like me. But I hope it makes clearer why I replied as I did, even if I expressed myself unclearly. I think your intentions and mine are pretty close or identical, honestly.

The beauty of learning when we have the freedom of choice can be such an incredible and life altering thing. I hope for the OP’s sake low-carb is a diet preference and not a medical one. It certainly does wonders for some people. But, if I was influenced to believe it was the “ideal diet” for weight loss, I’d be pretty bummed out honestly. No way of knowing what her situation is but that’s why we enjoy your thorough responses. She’ll get a deeper understanding one way or another, and so will many others.

courtneylove6

If you're female you should not do any dangerously low carb diets. And if you do a low carb diet, make sure it's high protein and high fats. But women specifically need carbs more than men do. https://www.freeletics.com/en/blog/posts/why-women-need-carbs/#:~:text=Beyond serving as a primary,influencing a stable hormonal system.
https://dieteticallyspeaking.com/carbohydrate-and-female-hormones/