Carb Help

AmberMahfouz

I have been reading up on the advantages of cutting back on bad carbs and I just have a few questions.

About how many carbs are recommended in a daily diet?

I am trying to cut back, but I have no idea how much I should even be consuming to even cut back.

Also, which carbs are the easiest to cut and/or do you see the fastest results by cutting?

Again,

Thanks for any help!

yarwell

40% of calories from carbs is low to some people - that would be about 150g (600 cals) in a 1500 calorie intake.

Below about 50-80g you get into ketogenic dieting so 80-100 would be another target zone, to stay above that.

Bread, pasta, sugar, sweets, cookies, cake, potato, rice are easy targets to reduce or remove.

AmberMahfouz

Thanks so much! That gives me an idea of where to start.

sarahrbraun

I have a history of insulin resistance...

I see amazing results by cutting carbs to under 100g net ( total carbs minus fiber). I started working out 5 months ago. For the first 3 months, I followed the MFP suggested macros...and I did 65 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of strength 3-4x per week. The first month I struggled and lost 5.5 pounds...the second and third month I lost and gained the same 3 pounds. two months ago I cut my carb intake from about 250g per day down to no more than 100g net. The first week I lost 4.8 pounds...and for the next 7 weeks I lost 1-1.5 pounds a week. That means it took me 3 months to lose 7lbs on a *normal* diet, but when I cut my carbs by 40-50%, I lost an average of 6.5 a MONTH!

I don't eat cereal, I don't eat many bread products...I DO eat a high fiber, low carb tortilla just about every morning ( with my eggs and soy bacon). Lunch is usually a huge salad. Dinner is portions of whatever I make for the family--meatloaf, chicken, tacos, etc. If I want a *bad* food, I have a very small portion. One day I had eaten well all day, exercised hard, and at the end of the night I had like 700 calories left...so I had a 100 cal klondike ice cream AND a fiber one brownie with 2 T of peanut butter on top. Stayed within my carb allowance and STILL had calories left at the end of the day.