What percentage of carbs should I aim for?

iris8pie

If I want to go relatively low carb?
Thanks in advance!

wheird

Roughly 20%-ish depending on the type of diet you want to do.

ladymiseryali

Depends on which low carb plan you're utilizing. If it's keto, it's best to aim for 5-10%.

iris8pie

Thanks guys! I'm not following any particular plan as of now...just trying to eliminate carbs/sugar and see what happens

ladymiseryali

Thanks guys! I'm not following any particular plan as of now...just trying to eliminate carbs/sugar and see what happens

Hm, well look at how much you eat now and I guess cut it in half and see what happens.

fruttibiscotti

There are a few forums on MFP that may help you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/411-low-carber-daily-forum-the-group-

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/1160-keto

I set a target of 30 grams net carbs. Good luck!!

Olblueiiii

Thanks guys! I'm not following any particular plan as of now...just trying to eliminate carbs/sugar and see what happens

If you limit you calories as well, what will happen is you will lose weight, probably fairly quickly in my opinion. The reasons for going "relatively" low carb are the same reasons for going as low carb as possible. I have my carb percentage set to 5%, which is 19g for me. I often go over that number, but I try not to go over 30g. Best of luck to you!

armourer178

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

ladymiseryali

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

The reason you gained it all back was you went back to a overly carby way of eating. Common sense says that if you're eating low carb, if you go back to normal, you will gain weight. Also, our brains don't need carbs to function or work out. Plus, we are LIMITING carbs, not cutting them out completely.

iris8pie

Thank you all so much for your replies. I did mean reduce and not eliminate carbs. I still want to get carbs from veggies, just not grains.

parkscs

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

You should expect to gain back the initial water weight you lost on a LCHF diet once you reintroduce carbs into your diet, as your body will begin replenishing its muscle glycogen stores. That said, if you gained fat back after stopping a LCHF diet, you simply ate too many calories. LCHF diets aren't magical in that calories still matter and they don't somehow monkey with your metabolism such that you will necessarily gain weight back when you once again eating carbs (again, beyond some water retention).

Mr_Knight

It depends on how active you are. For inactive people, 25g/day is not unheard of. For highly active people, "low" carb is 50% of calories from carbs (i.e., "hundreds" of grams).

parkscs

Thank you all so much for your replies. I did mean reduce and not eliminate carbs. I still want to get carbs from veggies, just not grains.

If you want your body to enter a state of ketosis, you will probably need to keep net carbs <25g or so at first. On the other hand, I know many people that simply keep their carbs at 100g or less, and while they aren't in ketosis (which certainly isn't a requirement for weight loss), they still have great success with their diets.

Kevalicious99

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

Totally this. Your body needs carbs for energy. They are just fine for you, no sense trying to deny your body.

iris8pie

Thank you parkscs for your very helpful advice

iris8pie

Yeah. I meant I intend to reduce and not eliminate. Thanks for your opinion

Sreneesa

I have mines at 45% or 182 grams.

Is there a way to input the numbers or change the percentage without being forced to chose a percentage by increments of 5?

I been struggling as where I should have my carbs at. But I'm content with my other macro numbers. ... for now. lol


Edit: Sorry for hijack. :flowerforyou:

ladymiseryali

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

Totally this. Your body needs carbs for energy. They are just fine for you, no sense trying to deny your body.

I have more energy now than when I was eating loads of carbs. Also, once again, you're not denying your body of carbs when you eat low-carb. You are limiting the carbs.

I'm getting really sick of people practically bullying the low-carb eaters on here.

parkscs

I have mines at 45% or 182 grams.

Is there away to input the numbers or change the percentage without being forced to chose a percentage by increments of 5?

I been struggling as where I should have my carbs at. But I'm content with my other macro numbers. ... for now. lol


Edit: Sorry for hijack. :flowerforyou:

The only way I've seen to put in specific macros in terms of grams, rather than percentages, is pretty hacky and involves editing local copies of some of the MFP web pages. I'd love for MFP to add that feature as I'd love to have my macros set exactly where I want them, but it is what it is. That said, you can get pretty close using the percentages, so ultimately it's not that big of a deal.

JohnDowding

I am aiming at about 20%, ~75 grams per day. At that level, I am in ketosis, but can still have the banana that doctor wants, some sugar in my morning coffee, and some berries at lunch :-)

parkscs

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

Totally this. Your body needs carbs for energy. They are just fine for you, no sense trying to deny your body.

I have more energy now than when I was eating loads of carbs. Also, once again, you're not denying your body of carbs when you eat low-carb. You are limiting the carbs.

I'm getting really sick of people practically bullying the low-carb eaters on here.

Honestly, most people don't really understand the science behind how their body works on a balanced diet, much less how it works in a state of ketosis. Conventional wisdom still predominates and LCHF diets are still relatively misunderstood. I'm sure most people don't mean to bully others; they simply are ignorant to the science behind it and how it all works.

ladymiseryali

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

Totally this. Your body needs carbs for energy. They are just fine for you, no sense trying to deny your body.

I have more energy now than when I was eating loads of carbs. Also, once again, you're not denying your body of carbs when you eat low-carb. You are limiting the carbs.

I'm getting really sick of people practically bullying the low-carb eaters on here.

Honestly, most people don't really understand the science behind how their body works on a balanced diet, much less how it works in a state of ketosis. Conventional wisdom still predominates and LCHF diets are still relatively misunderstood. I'm sure most people don't mean to bully others; they simply are ignorant to the science behind it and how it all works.

Part of it is ignorance, but I have seen a select few who will berate those of us on low-carb eating plans with BS like "your brain needs carbs" or "you're just going to gain it all back when you go back to eating normal".......very annoying.

parkscs

Well, and there's a half-truth there as well. Your brain does need glucose but that doesn't mean you need to eat hundreds of grams of carbs per day. Almost every LCHF diet includes some carbs, usually sufficient to provide your brain with what it needs to function, and your body also has ways of making glucose for your brain from other sources. So, again, I'd say it's ignorance that causes people to take a simple statement (i.e., your brain needs glucose) and distort it to bash LCHF diets. In any event, sorry to hijack the thread OP. :-)