Honest advice?

sianisfat
sianisfat Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Low-carb diets. I know that they work, but what happens when you reach your goal weight and start to eat the normal amount of carbs again? Is it a matter of slowly upping your carb intake? I was also wondering what happens if you're on a low-carb diet and you have a random cheat day full of carbs? I've heard so many mixed reviews I'm not certain what I should do! :/

Replies

  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    your body refills its stores that you burned when doing low carb, and you gain back that stored weight you lost.. most people will see 5-10 lb increase (same as when you start you see a quick 5-10lb drop.. same water weight).. you don't have to do low carb to lose.
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  • RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle
    RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle Posts: 1,349 Member
    Often, when people lose weight from a special diet or from eliminating a food group, they gain the weight back once they go back to regular eating. The main disadvantage IMO disadvantage is that they never really learn how much they can eat or what works for their body which makes the whole process confusing.

    I recommend that you read this:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    If you eat more than you burn after the diet you'll gain weight.

    And when you go off the diet, you'll likely quickly gain about 5LBS of water.

    Do you need a low carb diet? Or are you just hoping to lose weight quickly?
  • allana1111
    allana1111 Posts: 390 Member
    Low-carb diets. I know that they work, but what happens when you reach your goal weight and start to eat the normal amount of carbs again? Is it a matter of slowly upping your carb intake? I was also wondering what happens if you're on a low-carb diet and you have a random cheat day full of carbs? I've heard so many mixed reviews I'm not certain what I should do! :/

    how many carbs are you considering eating?
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    rather than go on low carb diets I would think it's more important to learn what a proper portion of carbs is - learn to control the intake by eating proper portions of carbs along with the rest of your diet - most people think a normal portion is anywhere 2-3 times what it should be
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
    you're 19 and only have 10 lbs to go according to your ticker?

    my honest advice? Why jump to a relatively extreme diet to finish off 10 lbs? Maybe take a step back and realize that this isn't necessarily a quick process?
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    you're 19 and only have 10 lbs to go according to your ticker?

    my honest advice? Why jump to a relatively extreme diet to finish off 10 lbs? Maybe take a step back and realize that this isn't necessarily a quick process?

    This.

    Just eat at a deficit. Don't try to confuse yourself with "low carb" tricks that don't work.
  • csuson
    csuson Posts: 2 Member
    Consider going on a diet where you moderate your carbs rather than a "low-carb" diet where you eliminate them. However, this often must be a modification for life. A diet like this would be very similar to a diabetic diet where you really have to watch your bread, starches, and sugars. For instance, I found high carb meals simply made me hungry within an hour or two so i cut out a lot of bread (as a Southerner, I ate bread in some form with every meal) reduced eating noodles to a once or twice a week function, and stuck with a balance of veggies, meats and fruit. I also watched my intake of rice and potatoes, limiting them to once a day, It is hard to work with casseroles on this diet or with Mexican food since rice, beans, and tortillas are all carbs. I can and do splurge every once in a while but for the most part, this is a life style change.
  • Polarpaly05
    Polarpaly05 Posts: 74 Member
    Low-carb diets are a load of crap. Carbs aren't what's hurting you. Do you know what goes into making bread? Flour, water and oil/lard (throw in some sugar for flavor). Boom, 100-200 calories per slice of bread. And calories are the end all be all for weight gain/loss. Carbs are not doing anything.

    Low-carb diets are simply knocking out these super dense calorie foods out of your diet. So people come to the false conclusion that throwing out carbs = weight loss. Wrong. The lower carbs did nothing, throwing out the calories did. Anybody that tries say other wise is just promoting bro science and/or trying to sell you something for their own personal gain.

    The big problem is that people believe the fad because of all the success stories about "low-carb diets". So they throw out the breads/pastas/bagels/etc. and they drop weight like mad. All the time not realizing how bad bread is from a caloric standpoint. So they hit their target weight and start eating sandwiches again. And they NO IDEA that they're adding 200-400 calories to their meal. And they gain all the weight right back and are stunned at the gain. Then they blame it on the "carbs".

    Edit: grammar is hard.
  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
    Nah, don't do anything you don't plan on starting today and keeping up for the rest of your life.

    Can most people stand to cut a few carbs out of their diet? Probably, so it's not bad to have "not so many carbs" as one of your lifelong goals. Just don't think of this as something you're doing now to lose weight and then you'll stop when you lose it. It won't work.
  • castlerobber
    castlerobber Posts: 528 Member
    Low-carb diets. I know that they work, but what happens when you reach your goal weight and start to eat the normal amount of carbs again? Is it a matter of slowly upping your carb intake?

    If you want to keep the weight off, you have to figure out a new "normal" as far as how many carbs, and what type, you'll be able to eat. If you just go back to what you were doing before, with lots of sugar and flour, you'll gain the weight back.

    Yes, you increase the carbs gradually. More veggies, or a small piece of fruit, or a larger serving of sweet potatoes--but not all at the same time. Add one of those things for a week or two, then add something else, and pay attention to how your body reacts. If you want something structured, look up the Atkins carbohydrate ladder, and follow that.
  • castlerobber
    castlerobber Posts: 528 Member
    Also everyone who loses weight low carb typically get skinny fat because they lose lots of muscle. They don't have after pics of ripped bodies, they're just smaller.

    Oh, really? So people eating a high-fat, moderate-to-high protein diet LOSE muscle, but people on a high-carb, restricted-calorie diet don't? That's very interesting. How about some science to back that up? :huh:
  • vslnrunner
    vslnrunner Posts: 164 Member
    They have actually done several reputable studies, as in published in peer reviewed journals, that have broken down why people who do low carb diets gain weight back. They have found that it is because no low carb diet emphasizes counting calories and food logging and so when they add back in carbs they maintain the calories from meat and fats and as a result increase their calories because of the addition of carbs. So to combat this they found that if you do low carb but count calories and log your food in a diary, then you are used to limiting calories and when you add back in carbs you still have that calorie limit in place and you record the calories as a result, reducing/eliminating the weight gained back
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