20 Carbs a Day - Humanly Possible?
VaporHero2
Posts: 24
For the past 3 weeks that I've been doing Atkins I have not stick to the 20 carbs a day rule. I've just been eating induction allowed foods, but didn't think I needed to count carbs as that seemed a bit frustrating to me. Well now I'm thinking of counting them and I'm a bit confused. How is it humanly possible to only eat 20 carbs a day without being hungry all the time? For instance, I usually eat a half a can of veggies every day with my meals. But upon reading the label, a typical can of veggies has 14-18 carbs! So that would be suicide if that's all I was allowed to eat. Are they taking about unhealthy carbs? Any help would be great. I want to follow the rules, but if I were to be hungry all the time that would suck.
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Replies
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Be sure to fully educate yourself on the woe before jumping in. Net carbs are what you want to track; carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols. I usually stay around 10-15 net carbs a day with plenty of fiber and I'm losing constantly. This woe is very attainable but you need to know the rules first.0
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First, you should open up your diary to help people see what you are eating. What veggies are you eating? Remember corn and beans/peas are grains and legumes not veggies. Also are you counting total carbs or net carbs? Staying under 20 grams can sometimes be harder if you are counting total carbs as low carb veggies tend to be high in fiber. I was at 30 net carbs yesterday eating about 6 servings of veggies. Your best veggie choices are going to be the type of ones you would find in salads and not cans (i.e. greens, avocados, cucumbers, celery, mushrooms, peppers, etc.) Also fat should be what is filling you up on this diet, not carbs.0
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It is humanly possible. It takes some planning though, and you have to really get over the 'fat is bad' mentality that we have all been force-fed in conventional diets. Fats will provide you with the energy you need, proteins will fill you up.
I am far from a model dieter, but please feel free to take a look in my diary for some examples. I am helped by the fact that here in the UK fibre is counted as a seperate macronutrient, so not included in the carb counts on food labels. This makes it a lot easier to keep track of *net* carbs.
As the other posters have said, salad is your friend :happy:. And you don't even have to worry if you don't enjoy salad, just load it up with plenty of dressing (but watch out for sugars)!
The fat fast cookbook has lots of great ideas for high fat/low carb recipes:
http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Fast-Cookbook-Recipes-Weight/dp/0970493126/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400852728&sr=8-1&keywords=fat+fast0 -
Thanks guys. I was counting total carbs not net (whew) as for my diary, im not logging it, but I eat the same foods basically every day so here it goes...
Breakfast: 2-3 eggs with block cheddar cheese
Lunch: 4oz (quarter cup) burger patty OR 4oz. shredded chicken breasts OR 4oz. sausage patty
Dinner: REPEAT LUNCH
Snacks: pieces of cheddar block with cream cheese spread on them AND OR small pieces of meat (as stated above)
Drink: Propel (zerp cals, carbs, astartame) OR Water
I usually eat 3-4 meals a day with the same amount of snacks. Thanks again for all those help guys.0 -
AMMEND: I forgot to add 8oz (half cup) of vegetables with lunch and dinner. I usually eat green beans OR collard greens.0
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Ok so here's my advice. Try logging everything for a few days. Maybe your fat content is not high enough? I mean lean meat doesn't have that much and depending on the beef etc it changes.
good luck and here if you need me!!! 0 -
as mentioned, fat is your friend.0
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Thanks guys. I made some adjustments and I'm losing again steadily. I appreciate all your help.0
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Congratulations! Way to go!!!0
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HELP!!!! I need encouragement and friends. I lost 40 lbs on Atkins which was my goal, then gradually started eating cookies, cake...all the stuff i didn't eat while losing weight....my daughter loves that kind of stuff....of course she's 108 lbs and has trouble GAINING weight!! I developed a taste for sweets again, in the last 3 months I have gained 10 lbs and am having a hard time resisting now....i need to exercise DAILY, not just once in a while and stick to what i know is right. I want to lose those 10 lbs I gained plus another 5. I will look at some diaries to see what you all are eating as I don't remember many of the foods I was eating while losing weight. What do you all think, should I start with induction? Any encouragement or advise would be very much appreciated!!0
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I never knew about the counting net carbs thing.. I always just counted total carbs and I always end up at 30. I'm only 4 days in for Atkins even though I originally joined mfp years ago. Decided to try again, then got motivated to do Atkins by my cousin. I cant weight, oops, I mean wait to weigh in on Monday and see my first week results.0
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I'm counting total carbs...when I get closer to my goal, perhaps I'll subtract fiber but the different additions of Atkins seem to make sugar alcohol okay to sell products. Again, I'm an Atkins newbie so who knows.
I always journal in the notes section of my food log, so I can't imagine making that public...but I do find logging VERY helpful on Atkins. Like you, HawaiianDream, I joined MFP years ago (and 10 lbs lighter...that's why my ticker doesn't reflect my recent 10 lb loss) but this is my longest streak of logging consistently (24 days!).0 -
HELP!!!! I need encouragement and friends. I lost 40 lbs on Atkins which was my goal, then gradually started eating cookies, cake...all the stuff i didn't eat while losing weight....my daughter loves that kind of stuff....of course she's 108 lbs and has trouble GAINING weight!! I developed a taste for sweets again, in the last 3 months I have gained 10 lbs and am having a hard time resisting now....i need to exercise DAILY, not just once in a while and stick to what i know is right. I want to lose those 10 lbs I gained plus another 5. I will look at some diaries to see what you all are eating as I don't remember many of the foods I was eating while losing weight. What do you all think, should I start with induction? Any encouragement or advise would be very much appreciated!!
You did it once, you can do it again! Yes, start back on 20 grams net carbs per day to get back in the groove and ketosis. If you find it hard to resist the cookies and cake, don't have them in the house.0
