How do I lower my Carb intake?

It would be easier to give advice if we could see what you are eating - can you set your diary to "public"?

I'm going to guess that you have cereal or toast for breakfast - switch that to eggs or cottage cheese.

Is your lunch sandwich based? make that a soup or salad instead.

Dinner contain lots of pasta, rice or potatoes? Halve the amounts of them and replace with extra veggies.

Sugary snacks or crisps? Go for lower carb fruits sucha s berries, or sticks of cheese.

How'd I do?

I could use some advice on this too!

I am doing quite well at my new healthier eating, I won't say diet because it's not really, and have lost a few pounds so far.

What i'm struggling with is the carbs, I always seem to be quite near or over the target.

Does anyone have any tips on how I can lower my intake without cutting them out altogether?

lower carb berries vs apples or bananas
high fiber/lower carb tortillas instead of bread
cauliflower or broccoli vs carrots or corn
splenda or stevia instead of sugar
eggs and bacon instead of cereal for breakfast
salads instead of sandwiches for lunch

feel free to check out my diary. Most days I am around 100-120g of carbs instead of the 200g + that many people eat.

I focus more on getting 100 to 125g of protein, and let the rest fall into place within my calorie range. That should bring your carbs down a bit. MFP has the protein set way too low IMO

Focus on reducing or eliminating the sweetened drinks and processed snacks. You could drop 50-75g carb easily just by doing this.

I find that whatever I eat for breakfast sets the tone for what I want to eat during the day. So I make sure that my breakfast is not high in carbs. On days that I work, I grab an egg/sausage/cheese biscuit out of the cooler at the convenience store, toss the biscuit, and heat up the egg, sausage, and cheese. By the time lunchtime rolls around, I'm thinking more "protein" than "carbs."

I've also kicked the Monster habit ... was drinking the Lo-Carb but it's still 6g per can .. went to the Zero which has 2 from erythritol per can ... however it didn't taste as good and the caffeine was making me feel weird, so it's usually just water for me or sometimes the sugar free Crystal Light lemonade.

Right, I've reviewed your diary for the past few days, and looked at the biggest carb things each day.

Here's your main culprits:

Cans of coke and lemonade at 30-53 carbs each.
Cranberry juice 30 g
2 tbsps honey 35 (that's a lot of honey!)
Muffin each day for breakfast (30g)
2 sachets mocha (24)

And in one meal you had a sandwich (47g), a slice of cake (35g) AND a lemonade (34g)

The first thing I'd focus on is those fizzy drinks. They have no redeeming nutritional qualities whatsover, and are the biggest single componenet in your carb intake. You'd be doing yourself a real favour if you didnt have one every day.

Then I'd work on building a better breakfast - the muffins, 2slices toast, and honey can all be reduced or replaced with something better. And lose the cranberry juice.

If you do all that you can keep eating your dinner time rice, and the odd sachet of mocha, but only one at a time!

This is just my thoughts, hope you find one or 2 suggestions useful. And best of luck with your new lifestyle eating plan :flowerforyou:

This is right on.

Fyi, everything sugar is carb. Cut out all of those sugary drinks, and yes even the fruit juices and diet sodas/drinks. If you have more than your body can handle they process as fat. I'm a prime example. I quit drinking diet stuff and lost 5 pounds in the first week and 5 within the next 2 weeks. If you are craving fuzzy stuff, get the plain and flavored seltzers. Be careful. They also make clear seltzers that are artificially sweetened.

All grain products are carbs and don't listen to the current advertising. Processed grains are not great and just because the box now says "whole grain" doesn't mean the manufacturers did anything new to their product. In order to get true whole grain, you need to step away from mainstream foods. Look instead for whole oats, flax etc.

Veggies, especially fresh raw and fresh frozen have carbs that contain great fiber. Avoid the sweet vegetables - corn, peas, carrots, except rarely. Eat more salads and add fish and white meat chicken to your meals to fill you up and give you more protein for muscle building.

Be a label reader - nope not the advertising. Turn the package over and read the ingredients! The first item on the list of ingredients is what makes up the largest part of the product. If it says sugar near the top, put it down and choose something better! If you see glucose, or fructose or corn syrup, those are just spin doctor words for sugar! If you see maltitol or other "itols" those are fake sugars and technically don't have carbs but all sugars have carbs so, avoid these.

Make your meals out of whole foods, and in general stop using processed foods as much

I've low-carbed for many years. If you want to compare notes, feel free to add me. My diary is public.

I find the only way to cut carbs is to increase protein.
So things like boiled egg, greek yogurt, cheese, chicken breast, lean beef, fish, Power Crunch bars, whey protein, etc..
Eat more of these things, with some fiber foods like broccoli and other veggies, to feel more full as well as satisfied and nourished!