high protein diet

rachy_09

hello

quick question if anyone can help me with this. is the theory idea behind good weight loss to have a high protein and very low carb diet. (i excercise usually 3-4 times a week 1 hour sessions) as mine appears to be mainly carbs and im not seing great results?

cheers

HeidiMightyRawr

It depends on the person I think, some people work fine on a mainly carb diet, some people prefer higher protein - which can help you feel fuller than carbs can.

I have my goals set to 40% carbs, 35% protein and 25% fat. It's high protein, but I wouldn't say low carb, more like moderate. It works for me, too many and I feel bloated, but I really can't manage the really low carb thing. Protein is also really great for building and repairing muscles after a workout, personally I find MFP's default settings for protein really low, which is why I upped it and I've seen better results since.

I also read the other day (I think on bodybuilding.com) that women manage better on less carbs than men, because the ratio at which fat and carbs are burnt are different between the sexes.

starzluv94

Yes if you cut carbs you will lose weight. The science behind low carb, high protein is you body will go into a stat of ketosis. In short your body thinks its starving even though you really arent, so it starts to burn the fat to keep you going. In most of these diets they say you dont have to worry about the fat content of the meat, but it really does matter. go for the leanest meat you can. ground turkey instead of ground beef. ( i can taste the difference though. the texutre is different too). When I did this diet a few years ago I lost 57 lbs in 4 to 5 months. if you would like any more information on this diet i can send it to you. I am starting this one up again because it worked so well the last time. TTFN.

supertracylynn

I lost about 50pounds without feeling deprived or starving in a year by doing a high protein low calorie diet.

For the most part, I avoid bread and starches (pasta, rice, bread - substitute quinoa and tortillas). You have to take in to consideration that a medium apple has a Ton of carbs, but is a way better choice than one piece of bread (comparable calories, but lower carbs) and will keep you feeling more full for a longer period of time.

I've been hovering around this weight for a year and a half now using this technique as well.

JDMPWR

I found the only issue with a keto diet is that your body doesn't seem to be fueled right. I know personally myself that around 175-200 carbs a day and I feel great, anything over and I feel tired, anything under and I just feel weak as can be.

I tell most people to start out at a 40/40/20 and tweak it from there. I never recommend carbs being higher then protein.

freerange

Low carbs won’t kill you. I have had great success with it, and unlike jtuner77 feel great with low carb, your results may vary. Try it for two weeks to see, two weeks because it will take you body a week to get used to burning far instead of carbs for fuel. If it works for you good, if not try something else.

rachy_09

hey thanks all very much for all the advice, sounds great and starvluv97 if you can give me anymore informtion on the diet or whats best to do i would be greatly appreciative of your help.

chizzledfrmstone

hey thanks all very much for all the advice, sounds great and starvluv97 if you can give me anymore informtion on the diet or whats best to do i would be greatly appreciative of your help.

When you have 30g or less carbs for 2-3 days you deplete muscle/liver glycogen stores. Your liver starts to convert fatty acids to ketone bodies for energy. B-oxidation of fat increases and your major source of energy becomes fats. Basically 65% of your diet is fats while 30% is protein to maintain muscle mass.

ArlVAMom

rachy_09 check out the Rosedale Diet. www.drrosedale.com He explains very well how carbs can make you hungry, make you eat more, and make you gain weight. Everyone is different but I personally find I feel better when I cut my carbs. It is hard to maintain because carbs are everywhere, but I just do the best I can. I feel great when I eat mostly veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats (fish, olives, avocado, etc.)
From a calorie perspective, carbs have a lot of calories! So I find I can eat less and feel fuller this way. It's not so much high protein as it is moderate protein. I think I shoot for around 50-60g of protein a day.

zudleymarie

If you are insulin resistant like I am, we can not have a lot of carbs, and keeping a lowered level of carbs is the only thing that helps a lot of us. So, I think it's like what the previous poster put...it just depends on who you are.

janeosu

I found the only issue with a keto diet is that your body doesn't seem to be fueled right. I know personally myself that around 175-200 carbs a day and I feel great, anything over and I feel tired, anything under and I just feel weak as can be.

I tell most people to start out at a 40/40/20 and tweak it from there. I never recommend carbs being higher then protein.

agree with this! I have my ratios on here set to 40-40-20.

JDMPWR

Low carbs won’t kill you. I have had great success with it, and unlike jtuner77 feel great with low carb, your results may vary. Try it for two weeks to see, two weeks because it will take you body a week to get used to burning far instead of carbs for fuel. If it works for you good, if not try something else.

the downfalls to this is your body can become insulin sensitive and your body is using protein as a fuel versus carbs so gaining and substaining muscle will be a problem.

SHBoss1673

High protein vs high carb vs high fat has very little to do with weight loss in a technical sense (by that I mean, mentality has a lot to do with weight loss, if you THINK it's working, and it's healthy, then it probably WILL work). You lose fat by having a calorie deficit, that's the long and short of it. Within that criteria, there are better ways to go about it, involving eating high nutritional value foods, but going with one macronutrient over the other has NEVER been proven to be more effective than a balanced diet for people without specific medical conditions. CAN you go high protein and lose weight? Sure, it's possible, and if done right, healthy, but can you also eat 50% of your recommended daily calories as carbohydrates and still lose weight, you sure can, many many people do, again this is all under the assumption that you don't have a condition that would preclude normal carbohydrate digestion and usage.

-Banks

kklindsey

Carbs are not "bad" unless you are sensitive to them, or they tend to be trigger foods that make you binge, or you can't stop at one yummy carb food. I have a sensitivity to carbs, when I eat them, I want more of them and anything else I can get into my mouth. When I limit carbs and eat a protein every time I eat a carb I stay full physically and mentally. It literally makes reducing calories effortless for me. I don't know that it works for everyone, some people do awful on low carbs. You just have to experiment and see what works for you. I couldn't tell you the balance i have for carbs/protein but my diary is open.

starzluv94

Hi, I am working on getting it all typed up. It will just take a couple days.

starzluv94

Ok I am going to start by saying I made up my own modified version of other published low carb diets, combining it with information I have gained talking with Dietitians and Physicians.

I never deprived myself doing this diet. I work in a doctors office and the reps from all the drug companies would bring treats everyday. Cookies, Cakes, Candy, Cinnamon rolls with tons of butter cream frosting, you name it, and it was delivered. We also have lunch catered every day. Olive Garden, P F Changs, Applebee's, Chili's, Fudrucker's. Temptation was always there but I never felt deprived because I would talk some of the ladies I work with into giving me just a bite. That is the key to success never deprive yourself because they you are more likely to fall off the wagon. After a while I didn't miss all the sugary snacks. Some of them even became too sweet for me. I was content with my 3 carbs per serving popsicles.

Next I never accurately counted what carbs I had eaten on any given day. I just kept an estimated running total in my head. This item is 5.5 carbs = 6, next thing I ate was 7.4 = 7 (7 + 6 =13) That kind of thing.

The way you calculate carbs. Take the total carbs say 27, minus the fiber content say 5, the net carbs is 22. And that is the number you go off of.

Start out with eating 23 grams of carbs per day. If you go over no big deal and you don't need to eat less carbs the next day to make up for it.

Breakfast should be your biggest meal of the day carbs wise. This is too kick start your metabolism. I have a hard time with this one because all I have time for in the mornings is something really quick to make and eat. Find what works for you. I have spent countless hours online looking at low carb recipes to find foods I like. I have found this protein shake with tons of protein and only 7 grams of carbs that I have once in the morning before I leave and once mid morning between breakfast and lunch.
Snack through out the day just to keep your metabolism up there, this is key for later and I will explain.

Lunch is smaller than breakfast but bigger than dinner.

Now onto dinner. Every one says to not eat after a certain time of night, well its true. Your body needs time to digest before you go to bed. 2 to 3 hours is best, but find what works best for you. Dinner should have little to no carbs.

This is why snacking though out the day is so important. Your body will burn the most calories while you are sleeping. So if your kept your metabolism at a slow burn all day it will burn some crazy fat while you sleep!

You are not going to be eating 23 grams of carbs for the rest of your life. This is just so your body can burn the stored fat. If you want to continue the low carb diet as just part of your life style that's fine. It is perfectly safe. Follow the parameters the same. Slowly start to increase the number of carbs your eat per day, until you start to gain a few lbs back. When you do cut back a few carbs until you maintain your weight for a couple of weeks. Then stick with that number. The idea behind this is to eat enough carbs for you body to burn as energy for the day.

Pointers:

USE THE LEANEST MEAT YOU CAN FIND!!!!! In the published diets they say you don't need to worry about the fat content of the non carb foods(meat) you eat. THIS IS NOT TRUE!!!! There are those that say this type of diet is unhealthy because you will need to have a quadruple bypass surgery later in life. The people that needed those were the ones who ate nothing but the cheapest fattiest meat available. So their cholesterol was sky high. Get the 97/3 % meat, cut as much of the visible fat off that you can, drain as much of it off as you can. I get a strainer, put the ground beef in there after its cooked take a thick layer of paper towels and squish as much fat out of as I can then rise the pan out before I continue cooking (I have been told I go over board with this but I don't care, to me it seems healthier). So there is even less fat. Then there is no need to worry about all the bad cholesterol and so on. One thing to try is ground turkey. It has even less fat than ground beef. But I don't really like it because I can notice a difference in the taste and texture of what I am cooking. It is also a lot cheaper too. So give it a try and decide for yourself.

Good thing to read up on is complete proteins. Those are made by combining amino acids in foods to create a complete protein. They are awesome for you. Beans and rice is one example. Yes those are high in carbs but the complete protein in them is really good for you. So if you mix them into your diet every once it a while it wont derail your efforts.

In the published diets you are not allowed to eat fruits and veggies for the first few weeks because of the natural sugars in them. I say that doesn't matter. Its fruits and veggies! They are healthy for you. I ate them every day and still lost weight.

I think when I tell people this is scares them off. But the first time I went grocery shopping I probably spent a good 3 to 4 hours in there. Looking at all my favorite foods and trying to find low carb alternatives. You don't have to spend as much time as I did, but I think it helped me gain a much better understanding of what foods had what carbs. Now most the time I don't even need to look at a label. I can guess pretty accurately how much carbs any given food has. There are also websites purely for counting carbs. They have an index of foods and how much carbs are in them. One thing I do recommend is ironically spending some quality time in the frozen treats isle. Why because there are so many low fat, low carb healthier options available now its hard not finding something to enjoy. I dont know about where you live but at Smiths, they have a brand Cool Classics that has sugar free options of all the sugary treats and they are only 3 grams of carbs per serving, give or take a few. And they taste just the same.

When it comes to the fries and chocolate shakes and all that when I would go out to eat with friends I would still get the fries, eat maybe 5 of them and give the rest to my friends, and take a bite of the shake and give the rest away. I would go out to burger joints order a hamburger take it home throw away the bun and eat it with a knife and fork. Tastes the same. Taco bell, love their food. I would always get dirty looks when I would ask for a water cup as well as a drink cup. They had to know why or they wouldn't give it to me( I would take the taco and scrape the guts of it into the cup and eat it with a fork, tastes just the same only less crunchy) Or I would just order a salad or chicken strips or nuggets(I never worried about breaded foods. Ate them all the time and still lost weight)

Yogurt. You can turn yogurt into low carb by taking a coffee filter and a strainer, placing it over a bowl and letting t sit in the fridge for 24 hours. This lets all the whey drain out. They yogurt will become a little thicker, but I love it. And I have used that as a dessert topping. There are also low carb options but I have only found one off brand that is really low carb. The rest are 10 or above and I dont like to eat foods that are that high in carbs because then it limits what I can eat for the rest of the day.

Whipped cream, I always squirted some into a bowl and ate it like ice cream. Same thing with cool whip.

Another thing I do is look up recipes and think of ways to make them low carb. You can make or buy almond flour for baking. Splenda or other things like that.

Another thing I recommend is after you go shopping spend a Sunday or Saturday and cook it all! This way you aren't going to be stuck in the middle of the week not wanting to cook anything and end up going out for pizza or something. And its also like healthy fast food. Take it out of the fridge or freezer heat it up and you are done. Do everything you can for variety. Try something new. Tofu is high protein and only has 2.something grams of carbs per serving. And yes what ever you cook with it is the flavor it takes on. I like cooking with it. There have been times where I have added it to something I am making even though I am also cooking meat with it. Just for the extra protein.

I know I have been rattling on for a while now but I am almost done so stick with me. I never once worked out doing this diet. And still lost 56 lbs. So you don't need to but if you want to you can. If you do eat some extra carbs that day just to keep your blood sugars up there and so you have the extra energy to burn. If you are wanting to work out regularly don't go with the 23 grams per day I would up it maybe to the high 20's or 30 depending on how vigorous you are wanting to work out.

I hope I am not forgetting anything. I know its kind of long but its definitely worth it. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Email me anytime.