Lose Weight on Carbs???

ijohn_001

Anyone have any suggestions on how to lose weight while maintaining a diet consisting of about 75% carbohydrates vs. 15-20% protein?

My wife seems to only know how to prepare high carb meals... I get the feeling this would be much easier if I had more protein.

sijomial

Small portions?

Learn to cook yourself?

Both you and your wife learn to cook a wider variety of meals?

melaniecheeks

Well, it's possible. A calories deficit is all that's needed. But maybe you and your wife might enjoy exploring different meals using Pinterest or similar.

HappyStack

There's no need to fiddle with your macros to achieve weight loss unless you have a specific goal in mind or you're having trouble feeling sated with your food. If the latter is the case, I would look at my calorie count before my macros.

Your diary isn't open so nobody can see your calorie or macro goals.

cinnamonkitty

I'm vegetarian and eat lots of carbs and still lose weight. Calories count. If you think you would feel better with more protein then eat some even if you have to learn to cook a bit. A couple of ounces of store- bought roasted chicken would be an easy fix.

CynthiasChoice

Do you have an outdoor grill? You might enjoy grilling up some meats twice a week to last you 3 - 4 days. Then you can have smaller portions of what your wife makes, while enhancing your meal with protein from the grill. Hope you find something that works.

Annie_01

I eat carbs...a lot. I still manage to average a 2lb weekly weight loss.

If I cook pasta I always try to add a good portion of veggies and some protein to it to help balance it out.

I have tried low-carb...I failed miserably! So I went back to eating them. So for me...allowing myself to eat carbs is probably the reason that I have stuck to the weight loss.

lisawinning4losing

Losing weight is always possible as long as you stay under a certain number of calories. And exercise, even just walking, helps a lot. But if you're feeling hungry or having a hard time staying under your calories, an increase in protein and reduction in carbs would help. Different people have different philosophies about this, and about what is most healthy, but you're guaranteed to lose weight if you stay below your target goal.

QuietBloom

Two words. Whey protein.

NightWriteMermaid

Hiya. I think I can help with this. After a lot of years of looking at what works best for me, my nutritionist and I decided on a goal of 15% protein, 65% carbs, and 20% fat, so I'm where you are with macros right now. It works really well for me. Honestly, all you have to do is log the calories. I've lost a lot of weight with just this. Just figure out what feels best and what fills you up the most.

TavistockToad

You only eat 5-10% fat? Doubtful.

Love4fitnesslove4food2

Where are you getting the idea that you're eating 75% carbs? If you eat meat and fat AT ALL that would be pretty had to accomplish. How about eating 3-4 eggs at breakfast to start your day along with whatever carbs she usually makes, having double the serving of meat at lunch/dinner and taking smaller portions of the carbs?

ijohn_001

Yeah. It's only a guesstimate based on the fact that nearly all of my meals are mostly carbs. Sometimes there some protein in there but even when I was logging everything strictly, I always had a very difficult time eating enough protein to meet my macro requirement.

BTW, I've made my diary public now.

TavistockToad

Amateur bodybuilder... calorie goal of 1200....:huh:

ijohn_001

Amateur bodybuilder... calorie goal of 1200....:huh:

OK look, 1200 calories is just a base.
Do I eat more than 1200 calories? - always.
Do I log everything I eat? - never. Not all food or exercise.
Amateur means just that, AMATEUR - it's more of a hobby and a goal than an all consuming obsession.
I'm asking for some good ideas on how to cut back on carbs given my individual situation. If you don't have anything but criticisms, then step off, you're not helping and I didn't ask for that.
Until yesterday, my diary was only open to friends. It will probably revert back to that.
I'm more about living my life than about recording everything I do or don't do on MFP.

Thanks to everyone for your kind suggestions.

PikaKnight

If you don't log consistently (everything and every day) then how do you know the percentages of macros you are consuming?

ijohn_001

If you don't log consistently (everything and every day) then how do you know the percentages of macros you are consuming?

Thank you. If you read the other posts you would've seen that it's a guesstimate, but I'm sure it's relatively accurate. I know what I eat. I'm not mindlessly shoving food in my face, so that's really not hard.

mungowungo

Anyone have any suggestions on how to lose weight while maintaining a diet consisting of about 75% carbohydrates vs. 15-20% protein?

My wife seems to only know how to prepare high carb meals... I get the feeling this would be much easier if I had more protein.

Hi - I did have a quick peek at your diary. Does your wife cook all your meals? Maybe if you are concerned about high carb/low protein you could start making one of your meals a day - like breakfast? You could have eggs and bacon or a protein shake instead of the bagel or noodles - that would lower the carb count and increase the protein in one fell swoop.

ETA - if you cook your wife breakfast she might even like the idea - especially if you wash up afterwards

Jgal8123

Two words. Whey protein.

X2

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

Here's what works for us:

Stop by the grocery store and pick up meat. Cook it. Eat it.

You can lose weight eating anything, so long as you're in a deficit. But if you want to put on muscle, you're going to have to eat a whole hell of a lot more calories and get your protein.

Don't rely solely on your wife to make all your meal choices. My 3-year-old does that, but my husband surely doesn't. If I make something too carb heavy that destroys his macros, he hands me a pack of meat and smiles. Or he turns on the grill and grills it up and shares.

Mikulam93

Most peoples BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is around 1400 calories a day at least. This is the amount of calories your body needs to function healthily. If you eat in deficit of this, your body will store fat and you will feel terrible.

The best method is to use the Harris-Benedict formula or another if you know. This is where you find the calories you need to eat daily to maintain your weight, based on your height, weight, build and activity levels.
When you find your maintenance calories, simply subtract 500 calories. This will give you the number of calories you need to eat each day to achieve weight loss.
For example, i am a young female and my maintenance calories are approx 2100/day. I am currently cutting fat for a competition and eating around 1600 a day. This is very low even for me.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Weight loss is simple. Calories eaten vs. Calories out.

If you really want to take it seriously, try adopting a macro counting method where your calories come from 50% carbs, 30% protein, 20% fat method. This in combination with tracking calories is very effective.

Now, with your wife cooking high carb meals.. That is fine just take only about 1 cup per meal of the cooked pasta/rice etc. Then try to buy chicken breast, fish and other lean meat to eat with it. Eat a can of tuna if you need to.

Hope this helps a little

jimmmer

Take control of your own life.

If you want to succeed in building muscle (or losing fat and keeping muscle) you must be the master of what goes into your mouth. It's key.

You either learn to cook and take over some or all of the cooking (I do all the cooking in my house) or you get your significant other to tweak the menu to meet your macro requirements. There are no other options apart from divorce...

snowflake954

You are going to have a hard time being sucessful with the way you're logging--how can anyone help without knowing exactly what you're eating everyday? It's time to get serious- log and weigh foods consistently and don't blame your wife. You have to do alot more here.

athensguy

You said you don't record all of your food or exercise, but you don't appear to have any trouble getting enough protein or fat from just what you've recorded. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.

lthames0810

I read this saying in another thread. Sorry, I don't know the author:

"Nothing changes if nothing changes."

Decide what is important to you. Decide what it is that can change and what it is that can't. If you don't want to start doing the cooking and don't want to ask your wife to change things up, just change what you eat at other times of the day so that you stay within your calorie goal or within your macros, whichever is important to you.

I do all the cooking (such as it is) at my house, but my husband never wants to ask for anything different because he thinks it would sound like he's complaining. I wouldn't be offended by a suggestion (depending on his tone of voice) and maybe neither would your wife.

WendyTerry420

Where are you getting the idea that you're eating 75% carbs? If you eat meat and fat AT ALL that would be pretty had to accomplish. How about eating 3-4 eggs at breakfast to start your day along with whatever carbs she usually makes, having double the serving of meat at lunch/dinner and taking smaller portions of the carbs?

Hard to accomplish? You mean hard to lose weight? I ate 75%+ carbs for many years without trying. It's easy. Of course, I gained 100 pounds over a period of 20 years...

jr235

I would tell your wife that you're trying to lose some weight and think it would be beneficial to get more protein in.

Then, I would go to the grocery store and follow everyone's suggestions. If you don't know how to cook buy beans and eggs. Nothing easier to cook than an omelette, and beans don't even need to be cooked. Better yet, start helping out more with the cooking.

I'm the main cook, and we do a lot of deconstructed meals. Grain, protein, veggies, salad are all on separate serving dishes. Then we all fix ourselves our own plates. My husband who is trying to gain weight, and my daughter who is a growing girl tend to load up more on the carbs while I load up on the veggies. If you are going to try this approach with your wife I would suggest helping out with the dishes unless you want to get divorced.

jimmmer

I'm the main cook, and we do a lot of deconstructed meals. Grain, protein, veggies, salad are all on separate serving dishes. Then we all fix ourselves our own plates. My husband who is trying to gain weight, and my daughter who is a growing girl tend to load up more on the carbs while I load up on the veggies. If you are going to try this approach with your wife I would suggest helping out with the dishes unless you want to get divorced.

This is a great way to keep everyone happy. Kudos!

knra_grl

Lots of good advice here so I won't comment on much - I think you would benefit more from eating eggs in the morning rather than ramen noodles though - who decided on those you or your wife?

Also the suggestions to make the extra protein to last a few days and eat smaller carb portions and the deconstructed meals advice I like. Looking at our diary you could eat more fresh veg and fruit also.

wilsoje74

I would suggest
1 logging all your food
2 eating more fresh food
3 buy some chicken or protein shakes to get more protein
4 cut back on the ramen noodles and restaurant food