New to Low Carb

Tan43

Hi All,

Having been a Carb Junky for most of my life I have decided to try this out. My plan is start at 100 grams per day and decrease as I adjust to the low carb. Or would it be better to just drop straight down to around 50 grams and cold turkey it?

Many thanks

ZipperJJ

"Cold turkey" is actually going to be more like 20g net carbs (total carbs - fibers) per day for 2 weeks, and that's eating specific low-glycemic foods like green veggies, meats, cheeses and eggs.

I don't think you'll experience anything very life-changing if you drop to 100 or even 50. Going to 20 for 2 weeks really helps bust out of the carb cravings and you learn a lot of discipline. After you've done 20 for 2 weeks then you can add in stuff like berries and nuts and yogurt, and keep losing weight. Some people can go up to 50g at this time and still lose, some stay at 20. Some maybe go up to 70. Everybody's different.

If you went to 50, what would you be eating? Two weeks really isn't that long, you might learn a lot from going down to 20...

cramernh

Hi All,

Having been a Carb Junky for most of my life I have decided to try this out. My plan is start at 100 grams per day and decrease as I adjust to the low carb. Or would it be better to just drop straight down to around 50 grams and cold turkey it?

Many thanks

If you are not following Atkins' method, I would definitely say this is a safe method of making a gradual adjustment. You may not experience the full head-related impact of carb-detoxification which will be a good thing.

Consider the 100g per day concentrating more on vegetables, light on the fruits (berries are the best option). Allow your body to accept the adjustment for a good few weeks, and then consider reducing them as well.

Keep in mind, you still need to consume fats. And in low carb intakes, so long as those fats are from natural sources, feel free to bask in the glory of all that is butter, bacon, and you dont even need to worry about removing the fat or skin from proteins. Personally I am rather a sucker for the crispy duck skin.... ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh MAN is that good!

Good luck and keep us posted on how you are feeling.


CramerNH
Moderator

Tan43

Thanks for advice. I cannot believe how many grams of carbs are in all the foods I love. Just got back from a 10km run and had a banana and MFP logged it at 30 carbs. Will keep up with my plan reducing until i hit my "sweet" spot of the minimum amount of carbs my body needs. I bought some ketostix so will do weekly tests to see how it goes. I must admit I do feel fuller with a larger % of fat in my diet so this should be interesting.

TheVimFuego

I had some kind of spiritual epiphany and went from being a sugar/grain monster to 30g net carbs a day overnight (as I remember it). I was doing a lot of nutrition research and I just realised that all the stuff I was eating just wasn't good for weight management OR general health so away it went. Bye bread, bye healthy whole grains ...

I'm on 50g a day now and still losing so I guess it depends from what angle you want to approach it.

It takes a while to wrap your head around increasing (healthy) fat intake but once you realise fat is both beneficial and necessary to health it's a very tasty way to drop some weight

I try to account for 65% of my intake as fat, your optimum will obviously differ.

You may find some transitional issues as you adjust to being primarily a fat as opposed to a glucose burner ... These can involved symptoms like nausea or fatigue and is usually treated by increasing your sodium intake a touch.

And most of the initial weight lost will be water, depressing but true

caraiselite

Thanks for advice. I cannot believe how many grams of carbs are in all the foods I love. Just got back from a 10km run and had a banana and MFP logged it at 30 carbs. Will keep up with my plan reducing until i hit my "sweet" spot of the minimum amount of carbs my body needs. I bought some ketostix so will do weekly tests to see how it goes. I must admit I do feel fuller with a larger % of fat in my diet so this should be interesting.

if you want to get into ketosis, it won't happen at 100 for sure. might not even happen at 50. some people are really sensitive and can only eat 10 grams!

i agree with 20 grams of clean foods. no frankenfoods. (no, not even atkins products)
try it for 2 weeks minimum and adjust from there.

after a while you'll be able to up it to 50 grams like deadvim and not get kicked out of ketosis, but it's a your mileage may vary type of thing. what works for someone else might not work for you.

lowering to 100 grams for a week before you plunge into 20 grams might help, might not.
i did 2 low carb meals, one 'normal' meal a day, and that helped me transition the first time i ever did low carb.

good luck!

Tan43

Thanks for info :-) I will check out the recipes on the sight so I can get a better understanding of what I can eat that won`t throw my carbs too high. I have been reading a lot about low carb and understand that initially weight lost is water and then you move to a more effective fat burning stage. I believe that my body is insulin resistant as bloody hell this extra weight just won`t budge even though I do put in the hard yards in the gym and on road runs. I have tried when all you drink is homemade vegie soup and chicken for a week so I might try that again to kick start me into low carb.

caraiselite

http://www.atkins.com/Program/Phase-1/What-You-Can-Eat-in-this-Phase.aspx

there's a list of what you can eat

Tan43

Thanks for list!!

SweetxCatastrophe

If you want to avoid "carb flu" you can start decreasing slowly. How many carbs do you think you've been eating?

While I do think its great just to start low and get into ketosis as quickly as possible, for people who have been major carb eaters it can he hard and many ultimately quit because they can't take it. If you think 20 is really scary, don't do that immediately.. Plus you can do 20 net (carbs - fiber = net) which can give you some extra carbs instead of just looking at the pure carb count.

If you eat the standard american diet and consume around 300 carbs a day, try dropping it down by 50 the first week, and then another 50 the following week, etc. When you get to where you are eating 50, I would keep on that for 2 weeks at least and see if you have any ketosis symptoms (or if you want to test with ketostix you can). If you're not in ketosis, drop 10 more and try 2 more weeks. If still not in ketosis, another 10 carbs and another 2 weeks.

Going slowly and transitioning will take longer, but it might make you more comfortable making the change.

SmoothP

Cutting to 100 sounds like a totally reasonable step. It will let you fit some of your high-carb staples into your diet until / if you decide to go further, as well as give you time to find and eliminate any hidden carbs you may be consuming. I had been slowly reducing my carbs (but staying above 100) until the day I decided to quit grains altogether and shoot for 40-60 net carbs / day (net carbs = total carbs - fiber).

I've only been under 100 for the past week, and today I hit 60 g carbs and colored sticks consistently all day. Note that coloring a stick definitely means you're burning fat, but failing to show color doesn't necessarily mean you aren't.... only excess ketones are passed through urine.

Also, be sure to get enough protein. If you don't eat enough carbs to supply the cells that need them, your liver will either: (1) supply glucose from its internal storage, which will run out and not have a chance to refill when eating low enough carbs, (2) make glucose from dietary protein, or (3) break down muscle to make glucose.

You may find this macro calculator useful: http://www.phlaunt.com/lowcarb/DietMakeupCalc.php

TheVimFuego

If you are insulin resistant (and it sounds like you are) then you should do very well on low carb. Studies have shown (don't you hate that phrase?) that low carbing works the best for people with insulin issues (which makes sense, intuitively).

I don't monitor ketosis or anything like that but I like the results visually daily so that's good enough for me

As an aside I have just had some Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate, my first chocolate in AGES, such is my confidence that my body will handle it now my metabolism is more sorted.

I prefer the 'eliminate everything potentially harmful' approach first as it gives me the pleasure of adding in some variety as progress is made. It can get monotonous though as food choices will be limited.

If you are exercising a lot (and it sounds like you are) then this can actually have a detrimental effect on fat loss. I used to go mad with the cardio, not any more. I exercise WAY less on the same calories these days with more progress. The addition of resistance training I think being key.

Tan43

Thanks to MFP I have done a check on food reports and have averaged 120 g of Carbs per day over the last 3 months. Fibre averages at 20 g per day and sugar comes in at 50 g a day. The sugar is not added sugar, just sugar from my food I am eating (Fruit, dairy). With this in mind I think I will drop to 50 g of carbs and see how it goes. What a roller coaster we are on.

SweetxCatastrophe

Awesome! I would go ahead and start at 50 then and lower it from there as necessary

Blubin2003

My Barartic Therapist cut my carbs down to 60--we are trying this as I was going for surgery but am not a candidate for it--am bio-polar. So far in a week and a half I have lost 6 pounds. Cutting down to 20 carbs a day sounds like something I might try--am going to talk to the therapist about it on Tuesday when I see her. But so far loving the results.

cramernh

If you are insulin resistant (and it sounds like you are) then you should do very well on low carb. Studies have shown (don't you hate that phrase?) that low carbing works the best for people with insulin issues (which makes sense, intuitively).

Vim, I have resources linking to that very same subject so I got you covered! LOL!