To Low Carb or not to Low Carb???

812sara

I have done this before with great sucess....
Anyone else have big success? Any good recipes? How do you feel about low carb diets?

sevencallmemom

My ticker is brought to you today by 10 months of low carb.

eta: plus working out like my life depends on it...I never want to give the impression that this happens by sitting on the couch eating bacon. LOL

kathyc609

i am having great success with low carb, low fat, high protein. i have been doing it for 3 1/2 months and have not felt this good is a really long time. healthy eating and no processed foods or sugars and fast results.. feel free to look in my diary for food suggestions

and best of luck to you whatever you decide : )

jenilla1

I'm not insulin resistant, so as long as I stick to my calories, it doesn't seem to matter what I eat. I do like to choose healthier, balanced meals, though. I only want to do things I can stick with forever, and low-carb is not something I would want to do for any length of time. Whatever works for you! Good luck! :drinker:

sevencallmemom

My ticker is brought to you today by 10 months of low carb.

eta: plus working out like my life depends on it...I never want to give the impression that this happens by sitting on the couch eating bacon. LOL

totally awesome job, i been here about 7 months, lost 43lbs i think? before MFP i lost 60. So a total of 100lbs. Most of the time I wasn't low carb. You did get great results quickly, i am surprised.

There were times when it happened really quickly and then there were times that I would yo-yo the same 8 pounds for quite awhile. I think the entire fall was spent yo-yo'ing. This week the pounds are dropping off again, but I know from experience to enjoy it while it lasts...'cause it won't.

812sara

Wow this is great guys! I find I feel more energetic and healthy when I am going low carb.... I am not going to lie I think I may be a carb-o-holic So its good for me. Please feel free to add me all I would love to share recipes, goals, and inspiration! I am going on about a week... and cant wait to step on a scale to see if this is working as well for me this time as last time.

Question... I was told I should buy Ketone Strips... anyone have any info?

kathyc609

Wow this is great guys! I find I feel more energetic and healthy when I am going low carb.... I am not going to lie I think I may be a carb-o-holic So its good for me. Please feel free to add me all I would love to share recipes, goals, and inspiration! I am going on about a week... and cant wait to step on a scale to see if this is working as well for me this time as last time.

Question... I was told I should buy Ketone Strips... anyone have any info?

best of luck to u. i have not used ketone strips but i see people talk about them and was just saying earlier today that i wanted to pick some up this weekend just because i am curious about them

sevencallmemom

I've never used them.

812sara

I will google it They say on the box good for low carb dieting TY for the ADD

taso42

Yes
No

BarbWhite09

If you can actually stick to it, then go ahead. I find if I go a few days attempting [see how I say 'attempting', never lasts, give me my tasty food! I'm not that much of a meat eater really] low carb I feel disgusting. I can't eat that much meat & that little fruits or veg...I just feel all greasy & icky inside. I also end up getting like no fiber when I'm giving it a go...I just end up going back to counting my calories, not my carbs.

dcmat

It all depends on what you do with those carbs - cycling over 1000 miles a month I soon burn/use the carbs that make up 60% of my daily intake. OK, so I am cycling further than before, but I am keepng the weight off this time

Helloitsdan

Cycle carbs throughout the week.
Dont go low carb.
Most low carb peeps gain back if they cant handle the temptations.

Id rather Intermittent Fast and eat normal macros.
Its easier!

812sara

http://www.lowcarb.ca/tips/tips011.html

This was helpful!

rainbowworks

Low carb helps lose weight, but can you keep that weight off? How long can you really go low carb before you get so sick of it and have to function day to day in the real world? I have lost 50 to 70 pounds doing low carb diets. I can do them for about a year before I get completely burnt out.. I say do the abs diet, or eat some of the good carbs. Sweet potatoes (especially) and regular potatoes, as well as certain fruits, are good carbs to have. You won't lose the weight as fast, but you will feel fuller.

Helloitsdan

Let me ask you a few quick questions...

What is your short term goal?

What is your long term goal?

How long have you been dieting?

How many calories do you eat daily?

Whats your TDEE?

BMR?

Body Fat%?

How tall are you?

sevencallmemom

ANY of us can and probably will gain the weight back if we stop doing whatever it was that got the weight down in the first place...that's not just a low carb thing, folks.

nicintime

I lost 50 lbs with low carb dieting... Then gained those 50 back.... And lost them again.... Then gained them back... Etc etc etc.

At least 6 times.

And unfortunately I'm not kidding. :-(

I know, I know, I'm a bit hard headed.

Low carb works, but is not sustainable and healthy LONG TERM, in my opinion. As a lifestyle it falls way short. I am now counting calories, eating healthy, and trying to rebuild my destroyed metabolism and almost destroyed life.

Whatever you do, can you see yourself doing it for 10 years? If not, then you might want to consider another strategy.

YMMV

airlily

I've never been a big fan of complex carbs, so I don't know if I'm losing more or less because of it. I am just eating what I think I will continue eating once I've reached my goal weight and enter maintenance mode. Well, I'll probably eat a little more of it. You know.

Edit: I am a big lover of rice, though! Everything else, not so much. :P

812sara

Would you like my social and DOB too?

KIDDDDIIINGGG!

Helloitsdan

Let me ask you a few quick questions...

What is your short term goal?

What is your long term goal?

How long have you been dieting?

How many calories do you eat daily?

Whats your TDEE?

BMR?

Body Fat%?

How tall are you?

all jokes aside dan, i honestly want you to run your program on me, i want to see how accurate it is, what info do you need?

I thought you were done with MFP!
=D


I was being serious!
I see an impatient person looking for a quick fix.
Low carbing sucks and isnt for everyone!
OP will make herself hate life if she:
1) isnt eating the right amount of calories
2) doesnt have a realistic goal
3) doesnt know her BIG 3!
TDEE
BMR
Body Fat%

chevy88grl

I tried low carb. I followed it to the letter and I gained 10lbs. I was using ketone strips and drinking tons of water. Once I added carbs back in, I dropped those 10lbs and a few more pretty quickly. I've found that my body loves carbs and functions better when my carb intake is higher.

If it works for you and you can follow it long term, then I say go for it. But, a lot of people get burnt out when trying to follow any kind of restrictive "diet".

AZKristi

Low Carb is a very vague definition... If you mean you are going to consume 1500 calories per day of beef, bacon, sausage, etc... I would have to say that sounds like a cardiac disaster.

If you mean you are going to consume your calories from a variety of lean protein sources and include plenty of vegetables, that sounds better.

Barring medical necessity, I personally would not subscribe to any nutritional strategy that eliminated fruits or whole grains. Your body needs glucose - in fact, this is the only fuel your brain can utilize. (http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html)

sevencallmemom

One question to everyone, "how many carbs is a low carb diet?!?!?!?!"

for me at this point, 25 net is nice but as long as it's under 40 and those carbs came from veg and not frankenfoods, I consider it a good day.

Helloitsdan

Anything below 100grams and I turn into this...

sevencallmemom

Still going...not sure where I'm going, just that I'm still going.

Helloitsdan

You can eat carbs and become insulin sensitive with a 12-18hour daily fast.

Helloitsdan

Aye!

zoodalia

If you can actually stick to it, then go ahead. I find if I go a few days attempting [see how I say 'attempting', never lasts, give me my tasty food! I'm not that much of a meat eater really] low carb I feel disgusting. I can't eat that much meat & that little fruits or veg...I just feel all greasy & icky inside. I also end up getting like no fiber when I'm giving it a go...I just end up going back to counting my calories, not my carbs.

Exactly how I feel. Low carb leaves me constipated, spotty and miserable!

Anathama

I'm doing primal. been on it 6 weeks, lost 30 lbs and I'm loving it.

realsolarina

I lost a lot of weight on low carb, and actually didn't mind it as I'm a big meat eater and was happy to eat chicken and green veg every day lol. However, now I'm married and living with my family, rather than alone and therefore in total control of the content of the fridge, I find it almost impossible to maintain the strict discipline needed.

If carbs are in the house, I eat them - a sort of carboholic - and so I'm using MFP to build a healthy level of carbs in. However, I try and eat most of them early in the day, eat things like oats and other good carbs rather than crap like refined sugar, white bread etc and certainly don't go anywhere near the carb target set on here!

The thing I found with low carb is that if you fall off the wagon, your body seems to whoosh back up in weight - one minute you're eating a relatively high fat diet with no carbs, then you mix in a load of carbs and you have the perfect weight gain mix of fat and carbs