Another question on carb intake

southpaw211

I've only started tracking since 5/28. On that date, I started Power 90 as well as a resolution to majorly revamp the way I eat. I'm working hard to eat clean, with very little processed foods (I had some PMS-induced hiccups this past weekend unfortunately).

I bought a rice cooker and have been experimenting with brown rice/quinoa, nothing refined. I'm not eating any bread and only whole grain pasta once a week if that. I do have a couple of snack items that I ate the last of (a lone WW snack bar and some lone trail mix) which weren't so great, but I won't be eating any more of those.

I'm concerned in that I'm going over my carbs on a daily basis, even though I'm eating WAAAAAY healthier than I used to. I didn't eat terribly bad before, but it was definitely a little more convenience-oriented, certainly. It's something that I'm trying to learn more about and in turn do better as I get used to new meal and dish ideas. I can see fruit seems to be the major culprit, as well as those whole wheat english muffins, which I thought were a good breakfast alternative to cereal, but maybe not.

I'm eating between 125-185 carbs per day, MFP wants me on 90g. My goals are set to 40/30/30 with protein out in front. I would love a little guidance as I'm developing these new habits and want to make sure I'm doing it correctly. I haven't seen much of a loss yet, though I'm seeing some muscles and know that in a few weeks, things should start to turn my way. As long as I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing.

I should mention that I don't always add every little activity that I do during the day that burns calories. I work full time and have two elementary school children and a husband that works 60+ hours a week, so most days the after-work hours are spent with laundry, cooking, cleaning, weeding, running around with kids and the like. Sometimes I log them, sometimes I don't.

Help?

erickirb

MFP does not want you to eat 90, that was your custom setting. MFP defaults to 55% carbs, so if you eat 1200 cals that would be 165 grams. If you cannot meet your own targets then change to 40 cab, 30 protein, 30 fat. If that doesn't work for you then change it again.

yarwell

The rice cooker wasn't the wisest investment if you're looking to reduce carbs :-)

When you eat the muffin you tend to double the carbs by adding honey or marmalade. Try some nice butter instead.

Look for greek yoghurt with low carbs and no added sweet stuff - probably not the low fat one.

kmjenkins

I'm attempting to break through a weight loss plateau and doing very low carb to try and get my body back into weight loss mode. I am on day 2 and doing pretty OK, so far, coming in under 70g of carbs both yesterday and for what I have planned today. I did some research before I did my weekly grocery shopping and the fruit is probably what is killing you, lots of carbs in them. Sunday night I planned my grocery trip and found this to be helfpul when determining which fruits I was going to buy/eat for the next few weeks. http://www.lasting-weight-loss.com/low-carb-fruits.html

Otherwise my diet for the last two days has consisted of plenty of meat, egg whites, cheese, green vegetables, plain greek yogurt (mixed with a couple strawberries) and protein powder. While I haven't had any yet I intend to only have whole grains in moderation for the time being. I've already found so far this takes more planning and toying around with your food diary before I eat to see what works best for me as for the time being I reset my macros to 50/20/30 (proteins, carbs, fats). Good luck to you!

Take care,

southpaw211

The rice cooker wasn't the wisest investment if you're looking to reduce carbs :-)

Haha, yeah no kidding! And here I was thinking it was going to be so much healthier than pasta a few nights a week. Urgh!


Also, I read on another forum post that I should switch the macros to the 40/30/30 for weight loss, which is why I did that. But it is much harder to meet them, certainly, which is why I'm trying to find a way to do so rather than change it back.

Thanks kmjenkins, for the link on low carb fruits. It will be handy when making out my next meal plan/grocery list for sure.

erickirb

For weight loss it comes down to calories, not macros. As long as you are getting enough fat and protein in grams, the ration of the macros has very little effect on weight loss or fat vs. lean mass loss.