giving up carbs and sugar..

tslinker1

That is one of the most un-healthy things you can do.
Your body needs carbs to work. Carbs are what gives it energy to get through your day. And if........... you work out. You need carbs before say a hour or so. for your muscle to work and not use your muscles as fuel. You also need protein before and 30-60 min's after you work out.
Watch your sugar intake, cause it's calorie dense. Most foods have sugar in them. So pick natural sugar like fruit, they have both the sugar and the carbs that your body needs.
But stay away from the candy and cookies and cake. Those are just empty calories, make every calorie that you eat count.

bethanyboomstick

As long as you're eating complex carbs and limiting your processed sugar intake, (think less poptarts, not fruit), you should be fine.

kgeyser

I know a lot of people that have given up on carbs and sugar and it seems to work for them, but is this a healthy route to go?

Do you want to give up carbs? Unless you have a medical condition, there is no weight loss related or health reason to give up carbs. You can eat carbs, be healthy, and lose weight.

If you have a medical condition, or think low carb might appeal to you because you like the types of food you would be eating, or you feel that you would have an easier time adhering to a low carb diet as a long term way of eating, then try low carb. You can be low carb, be healthy, and lose weight.

Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit and health is based on getting enough calories, micronutrients, and finding the macronutrient ratios that work best for you. If you do decide you would like to try low carb, I would recommend checking the groups or talking to some posters who have done low carb for awhile to get some guidance so you don't end up being one of those people who feels crappy all the time because they thought low carb meant replacing bread with bacon.

nikkylyn

Im sorry but I personally could never do that. I usually have a scoup or two of icecream each night. I lose weight just fine.

BombshellPhoenix

You can't give up all carbs and sugar is a carb. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, assuming you don't have a medical condition and eat a balanced diet. What is your reasoning behind giving it up? Do you plan on giving whatever it is you're giving up forever because for this to be sustainable, you have to think about after as well.

i've never seen a reputable diet plan that advocates eliminating ALL carbohydrates. but just because sugar is a carb doesn't mean it can't be given up. just keep in mind that it's one thing to get trace carbs from vegetables and dairy, and another to remove the obvious sources of added sugar from your diet.

I eat over my sugar limit every day. I also eat a balanced diet and watch my macro and micros for health. For weight loss, calorie deficit is all that matters.

congratulations, you found what works for you. unless you are the OP, what works for you may not work for her.

When I said you can't give up all carbs I was referring to vegetables, fruit, etc. Things that contain important micronutrients. However, sugar really isn't an enemy.

What works for me can work for everyone. It's calories in vs out. For sustainability, it will depend on the individual. Obviously, do what works best for overall sustainability in the long term but most people get this ill conceived notion that sugar is some big evil to weight loss and health when it just isnt. It's just a carb. It's just sugar. It's not some imaginary monster hiding in someone's closet.

When we place moral value on food, we give it power. I focus on two things, getting proper nutrition to fuel my body and staying within my respect calorie goals for whatever my goals are.

Also, I realize you're very gungho low carb. Congratz on finding something that is sustainable for you and as you said in your earlier post, not everything is sustainable for everyone. What works for you may not work for OP either. Both options are there, if OP wants to. I just want it to be clear that both ways are means to the same ends.

Fuzzipeg

If you suddenly develop issues with one food or group of foods this can be an indication of some dietary/digestive problem starting up. People are different, we all look similar but our bodies do not always follow the generally expected rules. You could try to find out why yours may be behaving differently to save you descending into poor health.

The_Enginerd

After watching myself over a few years, I realized that I was addicted to anything made with flour. As flour nowadays is genetically modified it obviously became addictive to me. Because I ate it before that for decades without being addicted.

Of course there are a lot of other problems with our food nowadays. Everything is full with pesticides and added hormones, which may make us fat. But since I cut out everything made with flour, the cravings went away. Of course you still have to eat carbs, just be more picky about it.

I... can't even tell if this is a serious post.
No GM wheat is currently grown commercially.

BombshellPhoenix

As others have said, you can't utterly give up carbs because that would rule out vegetables, legumes, fruit, etc. However, it is extremely effective and healthy to cut down on your processed carbs. Go a few weeks without eating bread, pasta, anything with added sugar, alcohol, etc, and you'll definitely lose weight. Stock up on veggies and lean protein, and some amount of fruit and whole grains and legumes instead. It's a healthier way to eat and you'll drop weight, so it's a win-win.

Not if I eat in a surplus with your proclaimed "healthy foods". I promise you I can easily hit a surplus with avacado, nuts, quinoa, chicken, lentils, and fruit. Easy.

It is not necessary to cut these things out for weight loss. It is not necessary to cut them out for health. Should we practice moderation? Sure. But that goes without saying. Too much of anything can be bad for us.

stumblinthrulife

Everyone's looking for a scapegoat.

If you eat too much anything, you get fat. Period.

Embrace that fact, and embrace your personal responsibility for how much you shovel in your pie-hole, and you'll soon find you aren't fat anymore and as a bonus you'll be a better person in general.

vismal

As others have said, you can't utterly give up carbs because that would rule out vegetables, legumes, fruit, etc. However, it is extremely effective and healthy to cut down on your processed carbs. Go a few weeks without eating bread, pasta, anything with added sugar, alcohol, etc, and you'll definitely lose weight. Stock up on veggies and lean protein, and some amount of fruit and whole grains and legumes instead. It's a healthier way to eat and you'll drop weight, so it's a win-win.

What if I enjoy eating bread and pasta and the occasional beer? Why should I give up things I enjoy if there isn't any real need to? I can eat all the things you mentioned and be perfectly healthy, and lose weight if my calories are set correctly. If you really love pasta would it not be easier to find a way to work it into your diet rather then restrict it and have to crave it?

stumblinthrulife

As others have said, you can't utterly give up carbs because that would rule out vegetables, legumes, fruit, etc. However, it is extremely effective and healthy to cut down on your processed carbs. Go a few weeks without eating bread, pasta, anything with added sugar, alcohol, etc, and you'll definitely lose weight. Stock up on veggies and lean protein, and some amount of fruit and whole grains and legumes instead. It's a healthier way to eat and you'll drop weight, so it's a win-win.

What if I enjoy eating bread and pasta and the occasional beer? Why should I give up things I enjoy if there isn't any real need to? I can eat all the things you mentioned and be perfectly healthy, and lose weight if my calories are set correctly. If you really love pasta would it not be easier to find a way to work it into your diet rather then restrict it and have to crave it?

But then where would be the self-loathing and deprivation? Everyone knows that suffering is a prerequisite to losing weight.

lemurcat12

I know a lot of people that have given up on carbs and sugar and it seems to work for them, but is this a healthy route to go?

Do you want to give up carbs? Unless you have a medical condition, there is no weight loss related or health reason to give up carbs. You can eat carbs, be healthy, and lose weight.

If you have a medical condition, or think low carb might appeal to you because you like the types of food you would be eating, or you feel that you would have an easier time adhering to a low carb diet as a long term way of eating, then try low carb. You can be low carb, be healthy, and lose weight.

Weight loss comes from a calorie deficit and health is based on getting enough calories, micronutrients, and finding the macronutrient ratios that work best for you. If you do decide you would like to try low carb, I would recommend checking the groups or talking to some posters who have done low carb for awhile to get some guidance so you don't end up being one of those people who feels crappy all the time because they thought low carb meant replacing bread with bacon.

Excellent post, and the key question. Are you interested in low carb because you have heard it's a better diet or the only way to lose weight? If so, no, it's not, there are equally good ways to lose weight at a variety of carb levels, barring medical issues.

Are you interested in low carb because you've thought through what it would mean for your diet and think it's a diet that would appeal to you? I actually tried something similar (paleo, not low carb), because I am not super into grains so figured it might work for me, but decided that I preferred simply a slightly lower carb diet that wasn't as restrictive (for me), and that there was really no purpose to cutting out things I didn't seem overeat anyway. But that was based on me. You should think through what it would mean for you. Some people find it enjoyable or an easier way to lose, whereas others find it intolerable. I find that when I do longer runs and bike rides (which is one of my priorities) my body really wants carbs, so I wouldn't enjoy low carb. Plus, I'd be cutting out foods I like and can eat in moderation.

Also agree with the advice to get advice from experienced low carbers and look at what they eat.

vismal

As others have said, you can't utterly give up carbs because that would rule out vegetables, legumes, fruit, etc. However, it is extremely effective and healthy to cut down on your processed carbs. Go a few weeks without eating bread, pasta, anything with added sugar, alcohol, etc, and you'll definitely lose weight. Stock up on veggies and lean protein, and some amount of fruit and whole grains and legumes instead. It's a healthier way to eat and you'll drop weight, so it's a win-win.

What if I enjoy eating bread and pasta and the occasional beer? Why should I give up things I enjoy if there isn't any real need to? I can eat all the things you mentioned and be perfectly healthy, and lose weight if my calories are set correctly. If you really love pasta would it not be easier to find a way to work it into your diet rather then restrict it and have to crave it?

But then where would be the self-loathing and deprivation? Everyone knows that suffering is a prerequisite to losing weight.

I always forget that part! Also, when you eventually binge on the food you've deprived yourself of, you also have a reason for failure. You can blame the pasta instead of blaming yourself!

lemurcat12

No GM wheat is currently grown commercially.

Silly, silly facts, how dull.

IrisFlute

honestly, asking that around here is a loaded question.

you'll basically get two camps of answers... one, that cutting out any macronutrient is unnecessary, "just eat less", "everything in moderation", "only under a doctor's orders", etc. two, that reducing carbs down to a minimum (as from veggies and fiber) is fine and is a proven diet method that works fine.

hint: on this particular part of the forums, camp one outweighs camp two, pitchforks and torches and all. but there are a few groups specifically dedicated to the low-carb ways of eating where you'll find more support and probably more information if you've got questions.

personally, i'm in camp 2. i prefer to low-carb, and i've seen my own health benefits from it.

Totally agree with and really appreciate this post.

Furthermore, I'd like to speak up against the dogma that claims: "if you reduce carbs while you're dieting, you'll gain all your weight back because you won't learn how to deal with carbs in your future life."

Here's my personal take on this warning: Reducing carbs while I diet not only helps me lose weight, feel full, and have lots of energy -- it's also a training period to teach me how it feels to eat fewer carbs. I find that (instead of building up a wild craving), this dieting time is curing any dependence I might have had on high-carb foods. I've learned how to make a yummy low-carb breakfast, (eggs and lots of sauteed veggies and salsa) whereas previously I would have just gone for two pieces of toast. Furthermore, I now find it easy to go to a birthday party and have a symbolic one-inch bite of cake, whereas before I began my diet I would have felt deprived.

So, I won't tell any of the rest of you what you should be doing. But some of us do feel that a long-term maintenance plan of less flour and sugar will be a comfortable outcome of our present low-carb diets.

meridianova

only if you want to fail

your failure does not equate to someone else's failure. you did what worked for you. let's leave it at that, m'kay?

I'm not sure that anyone would be successful on a no carb diet which is what the OP asked.

i pointed out earlier that i'd never seen a reputable diet plan that advocated eliminating ALL carbs. in the common-confusion nomenclature, people mistake low-carb for no-carb and think that veggies are completely off the list. only certain vegetables (namely tubers) are avoided for a limited time, then gradually added back in in moderation.

however, i've seen a couple rare people who have been able to sustain a meat/egg/fat diet because of serious physical aversions to all dietary fiber and sugar. it's not normally recommended except in medically necessary situations.

AlyRoseNYC

It would be almost impossible to give up all carbs, because fruit and veggies have carbs too. You'd pretty much have to eat just meat, cheese, and other types of fat and protein. Even milk has some carbs. So, I don't think this is sustainable for more than an hour or so lol.

parkscs

My main issue with low/no carb is that most people have no intention of making low/no carb a permanent lifestyle change. They want to use it as a tool to lose weight and then transition into a way of eating that incorporates carbs to maintain weight. The issue here is that during your weight loss you never learned how to manage carbs. If you have cravings, think you are addicted to carbs, etc, you MUST find some way to deal with this problem. What makes you think that you will be over these issues after losing weight and you'll simply be able to reintroduce carbs with no issues?

In my opinion, to have the greatest chance of maintaining weight loss, you must eat in a manner similar to how you plan on maintaining weight. So if you want to eat carbs at some point in your life, I'd say it's a good idea to learn how to lose weight while eating them. This does not only apply to low carb dieting. You could replace the words "low carb" with anything. Paleo, all whole food, vegan, all of those things should be complete lifestyle changes if you want to use them as weight loss plans, otherwise you run the risk of regaining all your lost weight when you transition back to eating an unrestricted diet. This is why I believe that using a balanced approach from the get go leads to more success then any other plan in the long run.

I can't really understand that logic. There's nothing about "managing" carbs that most people need to learn. The same as you need to manage your fat intake if you're trying to create a caloric deficit, you need to manage your carbohydrate intake. It's just food. There's no acquired skill involved or learning required; it's just a question of willpower and what's going to be the path of least resistance for a particular individual. And if setting a lower carb macro helps with satiety and makes it easier for an individual to create a deficit, then that's a good thing (assuming they are comfortable with the restrictive nature of the diet) and they're aren't missing out on some sort of "learning experience" by keeping their carb intake low.

And just an aside, but the whole lifestyle change bit is really over-exaggerated around here in my opinion. At some point, I think someone advocated for a lifestyle change rather than a temporary fix and that was good advice. But somewhere along the lines, this once-good advice has gotten twisted into the concept that you have to maintain weight in the same way you lose weight - and that's nonsense. What needs to remain in the long-term is your focus on body composition and health, but small things like macros and food choices can shift without issue provided you stay focused on your goals. If you find reducing carbs is helpful to you in dropping weight, there's really no harm to that. I never quite understand how low carb elicits such a reaction from people, when we've bodybuilders following pretty extreme diets like Lyle's UD2 and RFLD to get into contest shape and no one says a word to them about "that's not a lifestyle change!" Just because something is transitory in nature does not mean it isn't a useful tool, and it's illogical to think you need to follow any diet until the day you die for it to be helpful.

PatchEFog

OP: You've got mail.

IrisFlute

And just an aside, but the whole lifestyle change bit is really over-exaggerated around here in my opinion. At some point, I think someone advocated for a lifestyle change rather than a temporary fix and that was good advice. But somewhere along the lines, this once-good advice has gotten twisted into the concept that you have to maintain weight in the same way you lose weight - and that's nonsense. What needs to remain in the long-term is your focus on body composition and health, but small things like macros and food choices can shift without issue provided you stay focused on your goals. If you find reducing carbs is helpful to you in dropping weight, there's really no harm to that. I never quite understand how low carb elicits such a reaction from people, when we've bodybuilders following pretty extreme diets like Lyle's UD2 and RFLD to get into contest shape and no one says a word to them about "that's not a lifestyle change!" Just because something is transitory in nature does not mean it isn't a useful tool, and it's illogical to think you need to follow any diet until the day you die for it to be helpful.

Yes. This. Thank you for this articulate bit of common sense.