Low-carb diet, not seeing results on scale. Help?

KirbAppeal

I haven't been logging my food into the MFP dairy but everyday I use my university salad bar to make a meat-free salad, and I work at Chipotle so I usually take meat from there and boom that's my food. I drink water everyday and occasionally have juice or milk. It's been a couple of days and I know I may not see it in the mirror but on the scale I haven't seen any change. Help please? Is there anything else I can eat besides salad to keep my carb count low? Should I even be doing low carb? I NEED RICE AND TORTILLAS!!!!

TR0berts

A: Low carb is meaningless for weight loss, unless you are under your maintenance Calories. IOW - you need to measure and log to ensure you're under.

B: It's only been a couple of days. Ask again in a few weeks, if nothing's changed.

trogalicious

The issue is the very first line of your post.

If you aren't logging, how do you know what you're eating anyway?

kenzietate

I haven't been logging my food into the MFP dairy but everyday I use my university salad bar to make a meat-free salad, and I work at Chipotle so I usually take meat from there and boom that's my food. I drink water everyday and occasionally have juice or milk. It's been a couple of days and I know I may not see it in the mirror but on the scale I haven't seen any change. Help please? Is there anything else I can eat besides salad to keep my carb count low? Should I even be doing low carb? I NEED RICE AND TORTILLAS!!!!

With low carb it is even more important to track your macros. Start tracking everyday for 2 weeks and then see where you are.

Salt_Sand_Sun

FYI - veggies and juice have carbs.

one 8oz serviing of Orange Juice has 27g (or more) of carbs.

You NEED carbs. You can not maintain a low carb diet. You really should add your food into the MFP diary and I will bet money you'll be surprised at the amount of carbs and sugar you intake daily. Take that with very little protien and you wont lose any weight. Your body is 'hoarding' nutrients to maintain your bodily functions.

You are basically doing more harm than good trying to stay low carb. I'm not sure what your aiming for, but I'd suggest you get at least 150g of carbs per day and at least 100g of protein. If you were a body builder or trying to gain a lot of muscle, then low carb works. But...for the average person - we need carbs!!!!

kirkor

> If you were a body builder or trying to gain a lot of muscle, then low carb works.

Hahahahah that's rich!


but anyway, OP, ya you need to log your food if you want to know if a particular style of eating is going to get you closer to your goals or not

tigersword

You aren't logging your food, ergo you aren't in calorie deficit. Low carb is irrelevant, but then, sounds like you aren't actually doing low carb anyway.

Plus you said it's only been a few DAYS. Weight loss takes WEEKS to start showing changes.

kenzietate

FYI - veggies and juice have carbs.

one 8oz serviing of Orange Juice has 27g (or more) of carbs.

You NEED carbs. You can not maintain a low carb diet. You really should add your food into the MFP diary and I will bet money you'll be surprised at the amount of carbs and sugar you intake daily. Take that with very little protien and you wont lose any weight. Your body is 'hoarding' nutrients to maintain your bodily functions.

You are basically doing more harm than good trying to stay low carb. I'm not sure what your aiming for, but I'd suggest you get at least 150g of carbs per day and at least 100g of protein. If you were a body builder or trying to gain a lot of muscle, then low carb works. But...for the average person - we need carbs!!!!

While you are correct that juices and veggies have carbs and the OP needs to watch that, the rest of the post is not true! Your body does not need carbs. Your body needs glucose. This can be made from carbs or fat. It is absolutely not required to have carbs. Anyone with blood sugar issues and certain other healthy issues can't process carbs and it turns to extra weight. There are many, many people who have lived for years with 20 or fewer carbs. There is no metabolic need for carbs in the average diet. Just because it is the easiest form of fuel, this does not mean that they are required or in many cases not even desired as the fuel source.

mlhoward11

You should log whether you are eating salad or not?
that's how you would keep track, log and you will be amazed at what you are eating.
But you should be changing it up, if you eat the same thing everyday you are going to become stand still on weight loss, at least that's what I have discovered.

tigersword

FYI - veggies and juice have carbs.

one 8oz serviing of Orange Juice has 27g (or more) of carbs.

You NEED carbs. You can not maintain a low carb diet. You really should add your food into the MFP diary and I will bet money you'll be surprised at the amount of carbs and sugar you intake daily. Take that with very little protien and you wont lose any weight. Your body is 'hoarding' nutrients to maintain your bodily functions.

You are basically doing more harm than good trying to stay low carb. I'm not sure what your aiming for, but I'd suggest you get at least 150g of carbs per day and at least 100g of protein. If you were a body builder or trying to gain a lot of muscle, then low carb works. But...for the average person - we need carbs!!!!

Wait, what? Bodybuilders usually eat several hundred grams of carbs per day, low carb is the furthest thing from their mind. They need the glycogen to keep up with the weight routines. Unless you're just referring to when they cut carbs right before a show to dehydrate themselves so their muscles pop more, but that has nothing to do with muscle gain, and they actually lose a bit of muscle doing it.

northstar30

Start recording your intake on here, that's a must, then adjust your food goals for 45% protein, 30% carbs and 25% fat and approx. 1500 calories/day (any lower and your metabolic rate will drop too low as it drops to what your intake is, resulting in plateaus). Basic rule of thumb, stay away from any white carbs such as white flour, white rice and potatoes, instead choose healthy carbs rich in fiber such as whole wheat breads pastas and rice. Trust me THIS WORKS! I do this for a living Your proteins must always be lean, never fried and your fats should be the healthy fats such as fats from olive oils and avocados etc. Also NEVER eat a carb by itself, always have some protein with it to slow down the spike in sugars in your body. Good luck!

tigersword

Start recording your intake on here, that's a must, then adjust your food goals for 45% protein, 30% carbs and 25% fat and approx. 1500 calories/day (any lower and your metabolic rate will drop too low as it drops to what your intake is, resulting in plateaus). Basic rule of thumb, stay away from any white carbs such as white flour, white rice and potatoes, instead choose healthy carbs rich in fiber such as whole wheat breads pastas and rice. Trust me THIS WORKS! I do this for a living Your proteins must always be lean, never fried and your fats should be the healthy fats such as fats from olive oils and avocados etc. Also NEVER eat a carb by itself, always have some protein with it to slow down the spike in sugars in your body. Good luck!

Um, there must be something wrong with me then, because I've broken EVERY rule you just insisted the OP follows, and I've lost about 70 pounds. There's nothing wrong with "white carbs" which is a silly term anyway, cauliflower is a white carb, and that's the latest ridiculous food fad craze. Also, nothing wrong with fried food as long as the calories and macros are accounted for. As for never eating a carb by itself, that's easy, BECAUSE THERE IS NO FOOD THAT IS 100% CARBS.

As for setting macros, that's 100% personal preference, as long as enough protein and fat is consumed, there's no reason to restrict carbs barring specific medical conditions.