Cutting out Carbs

pianochick5254

My advice based on personal experience and from what I've heard from others experiences...just change your carbs. Brown rice, fruits (FRUIT IT UP), veggies, etc. I personally have had better weight loss by switching to low-carb whole grain wraps instead of bread and cutting out pasta. But definitely not all carbs and even so, I eat probably between 90-140 carbs a day this way...and doing awesome I might say. Except for when I cheat.

Like I said, that's just what's worked for me and a few other members on here and a few real life friends.

jmv7117

I've known a few people who have cut carbs out of their diet for a few weeks and have lost a bunch of weight, and I'm really interested in trying it for a few weeks as a bit of a kick-start to get myself back into my diet. My biggest problem with this, though, is my job. I work 4 nights a week at a pizza place, and eat dinner there each of those nights (I work 10+ hour shifts each night). Our menu is almost all pizza or fried food or sandwiches, which isn't going to help me with not eating carbs.

The only option I can come up with is to just eat salads when I'm working, but I worry that I'm going to get sick of them really fast and won't be able to keep up with it. The other option I've considered is, because we also deliver for a Mexican restaurant, I have ordered a shredded chicken/Spanish rice dish before that would work, but it's not very filling and I wouldn't know what to get with it. Can anyone give me some suggestions for how I can eat without carbs while working at this restaurant? Or at least how I can cut way, way, way down on the carbs I do eat at work?

I didn't cut out carbs but I did change my macros from the default 50:30:20 to 40:30:30 so I am eating fewer carbs and more protein. I can't say whether it helped with weight loss or not. I only made the change to get my protein up. Is it possible for you to take your own food for dinner? If not, I would stick with salads that include a bit of protein.

bshot1

If you track it, you can eat it. My log is littered with pizza/fast food. I just budget these meals in my day, if I eat half a pizza, my other meals are going to be shakes or something small. I still lose weight fine as long as adhere to my caloric restriction.

CariS001

Regardless of carbs or not... avoid the pizza and the restaurant meals and start packing your own. I eat salad twice a day, and switch it up. Various proteins, etc. Try adding some chick peas, or cheese, or nuts. Make it fun!

Another great lunch/dinner idea when working is turkey muffins. Google Jamie Eason's turkey muffins. I make them weekly, freeze them, and grab and go. Great dinner or lunch option!

Other ideas: cheese strings (if you eat dairy), nuts, tuna, hard boiled eggs.

jzynanja

Lowering my processed carb intake along with cutting out potatoes is always a plus for my weight loss - Add me! I'm with you!

jzynanja

I love the gal who said she eats salads twice a day and changes them up - that's what I'm trying to do as well.! Good going!

swaggityswagbag

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a little over a year now,. Lost over 130 lbs in that timeframe strictly less than 25g of carbs a day. You don't "need" carbs at all to survive. Have to look at it as a lifestyle change, and not a "diet."

Exactly this. In fact, carbs are the only macronutrient that you don't need to get from food. The amount of psuedoscience in this thread is ridiculous.

mayfrayy

I eat low carbs (try to stay < 65) because it helps my appetite. Summer sucks for overall diet. I am addicted to bread, so it's best not to touch it.

I don't know what else it does because im not a wizard. I do know that if you are low carb, then start eating carbs, you dont magically gain FAT. Weight, yes, but its not fat.

You gain fat when you are lazy and eat higher than maintenance.

Kalikel

You're going to get sick of the salads. I eat a limited amount of food and sometimes I am so sick of it that I can't stand the idea of eating. I'm just like, "If I see one more flake of tuna, I'm going to shoot myself." Lots of swearing. Some days, it is so very hard and the work of eating becomes drudgery.

If you have to cut the carbs, just do you your best. Resign yourself to it and stick with it. Use Different flavors of Mrs. dash for flavoring. Try not to give in, but forgive yourself if you do and re-apply yourself. You're human. Not everyone is super strong. People give in and screw up sometimes.

If you're cutting carbs because it sounds like a cool diet (which it sounds like), just do it for as long as long as you want and then switch to something else when you're sick of it. And believe me, you will get sick of eating the same boring food all the time.

Good luck!!

SherryTeach

Two words:

Lunch+Box

Bringing my own food would work, but I still feel at a bit of a loss as to what to eat. When I think of cutting down on carbs all I usually can think of is salad, and I've been making some really good salads lately at home, but I know I get bored of them really easily.

Two words:

Lunch+Box

Yeap ! Better for your body, better for your money.

Can you ask the cook to cook you different things that are not from the menu but with the ingredient in the restaurant ?

The chicken/rice bowl I mentioned in my first post is something like that. My problems are that (1) I'm not very inventive at coming up with things to eat, and (2) the cook and I don't get along too well, so I don't like imposing on him in the worry that he very well could do something to my food.

So not being very inventive in coming up with healthful lunches is a reason not to get on-line, so some research and learn how to cook the foods you choose to eat? Inventiveness in the kitchen is not an inborn trait.

saffronbelle

Every time a person begins a "low carb" diet plan, an Angel somewhere cries...

What do you mean? A high-fat and low-carb diet is healthier for my body than the other way around. Eating a bagel with low-fat cream cheese converts into simple sugars when digested. It's all carbohydrates. You might as well eat a pastry because the body isn't fooled.

saffronbelle

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a little over a year now,. Lost over 130 lbs in that timeframe strictly less than 25g of carbs a day. You don't "need" carbs at all to survive. Have to look at it as a lifestyle change, and not a "diet."

Exactly this. In fact, carbs are the only macronutrient that you don't need to get from food. The amount of psuedoscience in this thread is ridiculous.

Right? It's like I'm reading food science posts from the 1990s when even eating one egg a day was bad for you because *gasp* cholesterol!

RHachicho

lady pretty much everything converts to sugar and fat when digested. The equation isn't that simple. It is in fact eating low carb which is closer to "fooling" your body as you are giving it an unrealistic diet and forcing coping mechanisms to accelerate your weight loss. And in most cases these coping mechanisms rebound once you come off the diet. Don't get me wrong you can make a low carb diet work. It's possible. But I've lost count of the number of people who have been hoisted on their own petard over this and it is far from the best or only way to diet as low carb people seem to preach.

saffronbelle

lady pretty much everything converts to sugar and fat when digested. The equation isn't that simple. It is in fact eating low carb which is closer to "fooling" your body as you are giving it an unrealistic diet and forcing coping mechanisms to accelerate your weight loss. And in most cases these coping mechanisms rebound once you come off the diet.

Yeah, it may be an "unrealistic diet" compared to modern American standards where eating copious amounts of bread, pasta, and potatoes is the norm, not to mention all of the processed junk food which is just laden with added sugars. Heart disease is a relatively new phenomena. Our grandmothers and grandfathers ate real butter and drank full-fat milk and they didn't struggle with the health complications we have today.

Over the past few decades, fat has been vilified as a food source (the science on that has been debunked over the past few years, but nutritional guidelines set by developed states in the 1980s have changed little in that regard), leading to a HUGE array of low-fat products on the market. Since we are no longer eating as much fat (bacon, full-fat cheeses, heavy cream, etc), we have replaced those food items with large amounts of carbohydrates--everything from bread to rice to added sugars. We eat even more because carbs are not as satiating as fat is. Carbs are a fast fuel source.

As of early this year, Sweden has become the first developed country in the world to reject the traditional low-fat, high-carb guidelines and instead advocate a diet rich in fats. Even mainstream publications like Time Magazine are changing their tune. The world is changing, but it seems many people are unwilling to understand that eating fat does not mean you will get fat.

If anyone needs references or other scientific publications that outline the benefits of a high-fat, low-carb diet, I will post them for you to read. I was eating high-fat, low-carb even before I went to my latest doctor's appointment where he told me to cut carbs and start eating more fatty foods. Since then, I have not went to bed hungry, despite a drastic reduction in calories. Just try it and see how it works out for you

Edit: Of course, low-carb/high-fat is NOT the only way to lose weight. For most people, a simple reduction in calories will give you that, regardless of what you eat is fat or carbs or protein. But low-carb/high-fat is a very easy way to lose weight, especially for people like me who love their bacon, eggs, steak, and adding real cream to coffee, not skim.

RHachicho

lady pretty much everything converts to sugar and fat when digested. The equation isn't that simple. It is in fact eating low carb which is closer to "fooling" your body as you are giving it an unrealistic diet and forcing coping mechanisms to accelerate your weight loss. And in most cases these coping mechanisms rebound once you come off the diet.

Yeah, it may be an "unrealistic diet" compared to modern American standards where eating copious amounts of bread, pasta, and potatoes is the norm, not to mention all of the processed junk food which is just laden with added sugars. Heart disease is a relatively new phenomena. Our grandmothers and grandfathers ate real butter and drank full-fat milk and they didn't struggle with the health complications we have today.

Over the past few decades, fat has been vilified as a food source (the science on that has been debunked over the past few years, but nutritional guidelines set by developed states in the 1980s have changed little), leading to a HUGE array of low-fat products on the market. Since we are no longer eating as much fat (bacon, full-fat cheeses, heavy cream, etc), we have replaced those food items with large amounts of carbohydrates--everything from bread to rice to added sugars. We eat even more because carbs are not as satiating as fat is. Carbs are a fast fuel source.

As of early this year, Sweden has become the first developed country in the world to reject the traditional low-fat, high-carb guidelines and instead advocate a diet rich in fats. Even mainstream publications like Time Magazine are changing their tune. The world is changing, but it seems many people are unwilling to understand that eating fat does not mean you will get fat.

If anyone needs references or other scientific publications that outline the benefits of a high-fat, low-carb diet, I will post them for you to read. I was eating high-fat, low-carb even before I went to my latest doctor's appointment where he told me to cut carbs and start eating more fatty foods. Since then, I have not went to bed hungry, despite a drastic reduction in calories. Just try it and see how it works out for you

Edit: Of course, low-carb/high-fat is NOT the only way to lose weight. For most people, a simple reduction in calories will give you that, regardless of what you eat is fat or carbs or protein. But it is a very easy way to lose weight, especially for people like me who love their bacon, eggs, and steak.

Correlation =/= Causation. I believe the fact that we spend a lot more of our time sedentary and eat too much overall for that sedentary life has a lot more to do with our rising health problem than any macro-nutrient ever will. In this case i believe that vilifying carbs is heavily counter productive. As they are far and away our most efficient source of direct energy. It is far far better to eat your carbs and burn them than it is to starve them. Carbs help you live a more active lifestyle should you so choose and for that reason I will never ascribe to the notion that they should be cut from the diet.

And neither do I go to bed hungry despite huge reductions in calories. I don't see the effect on the appetite you claim carbs have. Also on one hand you decry the low fat diets of the past but when the same people support low carb you get behind them? They where wrong once before and they are wrong now imho.

In my case I went from eating whatever the hell i felt like to eating 2-2.5k calories a day and being active every day. I walkat least 10k steps a day and lift 3 times a week. Usually go on a couple of runs a week too. The result. I feel 10 times more healthy than I ever have in my life. The weight is falling off me like wax of a candle, I have an awesome tan from all the time out in the sun. Oh and my d*ck got bigger lol.

All without cutting any carbs.

saffronbelle

No, I won't contest that high amounts of carbs work for athletes and people who are very active. It's a fast fuel source, a quick jump. But for regular people who don't need that fast fuel source because their day's strenuous energy is picking up a bag of heavy cat litter, is 150g of carbohydrates right for them? Especially when these carbs are paired with fatty foods?

But even eating massive amounts of carbs for energy isn't subscribed to as dogma in the athletic world anymore. There are tons of publications online from doctors to sports scientists that advocate for higher fat, lower carb diets for endurance runners and cyclists.

But I digress. You will find a million people, including myself, who've binged on carbohydrates--a whole bag of potato chips or an entire pizza--but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who's binged on steak or anything else that was mostly fat and zero carb. That's because carbs are not filling in the long-run, bro. And when people replace their fat calories with carb calories, it propels them to eat even more.

saffronbelle

Also on one hand you decry the low fat diets of the past but when the same people support low carb you get behind them? They where wrong once before and they are wrong now imho.

uhhh, I don't know if you know how the scientific community works, but it exists through epistemic communities of scholars who, throughout the years, either build upon existing knowledge OR tear it down. Of course I'm going to get behind the science that is both more inclusive of data AND is more convincing within its scope. Numerous scientists over the past decade have debunked high-carb diets as our most nutritious. It simply isn't mainstream yet, hence why you are not convinced, but it will be. Like I said before, the nation of Sweden (often regarded as a hallmark for its very healthy people) officially advocates a high-fat, low-carb diet for its citizens.

RHachicho

Well your entitled to your opinion of course. But I don't think you have to be an athlete for carbs not to be evil you just have to be non sedentary. My mum walked an hour and back each day to work as a matter of course. And my dad simply could not be stopped from hiking over to the nearest river or marina and fishing away. The result at 70 neither of them have diabetes, neither of them are especially overweight, neither of them have heart problems. And my dad is a Kunefe monster.

This is kunefe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JRak1lhOKo

It's basically an apocalypse in sugar form.

Oh and the "scientific community" is also made of people. It isn't some holy temple that spouts divine writ. It is completely capable of being bribed, cajoled, succumbing to it's own pride, succumbing to confirmation bias, controlled by it's funding. No I do not accept something scientists say as the absolute truth just because a scientist says it. That is no less foolish than accepting something a priest has to say because a priest says it.

I am not convinced because I have seen low carb diets ultimately fail and/or harm the person doing them more often than I can count. The people who really succeed long term are those who find a way to be healthy without imposing undue restrictions on themselves. And unfortunately that really doesn't include a sedentary life.

saffronbelle

Well your entitled to your opinion of course. But I don't think you have to be an athlete for carbs not to be evil you just have to be non sedentary. My mum walked an hour and back each day to work as a matter of course. And my dad simply could not be stopped from hiking over to the nearest river or marina and fishing away. The result at 70 neither of them have diabetes, neither of them are especially overweight, neither of them have heart problems. And my dad is a Kunefe monster.

This is kunefe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JRak1lhOKo

It's basically an apocalypse in sugar form.

Oh and the "scientific community" is also made of people. It isn't some holy temple that spouts divine writ. It is completely capable of being bribed, cajoled, succumbing to it's own pride, succumbing to confirmation bias, controlled by it's funding. No I do not accept something scientists say as the absolute truth just because a scientist says it. That is no less foolish than accepting something a priest has to say because a priest says it.

I am not convinced because I have seen low carb diets ultimately fail and/or harm the person doing them more often than I can count. The people who really succeed long term are those who find a way to be healthy without imposing undue restrictions on themselves. And unfortunately that really doesn't include a sedentary life.

You are not convinced because your parents eat a lot of carbs and are moderately healthy and because you've seen a few people on the Internet fail at their low-carb diets, so academics and doctors who have published peer-reviewed journals on the dangers of high-carb, low-fat eating can just bugger off, right? I won't even bother with this anymore because your "arguments" aren't arguments whatsoever.

RHachicho

Well your entitled to your opinion of course. But I don't think you have to be an athlete for carbs not to be evil you just have to be non sedentary. My mum walked an hour and back each day to work as a matter of course. And my dad simply could not be stopped from hiking over to the nearest river or marina and fishing away. The result at 70 neither of them have diabetes, neither of them are especially overweight, neither of them have heart problems. And my dad is a Kunefe monster.

This is kunefe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JRak1lhOKo

It's basically an apocalypse in sugar form.

Oh and the "scientific community" is also made of people. It isn't some holy temple that spouts divine writ. It is completely capable of being bribed, cajoled, succumbing to it's own pride, succumbing to confirmation bias, controlled by it's funding. No I do not accept something scientists say as the absolute truth just because a scientist says it. That is no less foolish than accepting something a priest has to say because a priest says it.

I am not convinced because I have seen low carb diets ultimately fail and/or harm the person doing them more often than I can count. The people who really succeed long term are those who find a way to be healthy without imposing undue restrictions on themselves. And unfortunately that really doesn't include a sedentary life.

You are not convinced because your parents eat a lot of carbs and are moderately healthy and because you've seen a few people on the Internet fail at their low-carb diets, so academics and doctors who have published peer-reviewed journals on the dangers of high-carb, low-fat eating can just bugger off, right? I won't even bother with this anymore because your "arguments" aren't arguments whatsoever.

The "Studies" that labelled fat as the devil had all that stuff too you know. A contradiction you seem keen to overlook. Oh well you seem angry and defensive about it now so I will just leave it at that. I hope you can make your low carb diet work I really don't wish failure or ill health on you. But I would caution you against getting all your information from "Scientists" and refusing to use your own brain. It does tend to rot if you always let other people do all your thinking for you. That includes me of course.