Should I try going low carb for a week?

Try looking into the Paleo Diet............ I've never felt better in my life. Just the thought of stuff with white flour and sugar and stuff in it makes my tummy turn now. (Never thought I'd ever say that, given that my nickname used to be "cookie monster!) :bigsmile:

I will just throw in that I agree with the drop the processed foods, see how that affects you before jumping to a completely different program, even short term. You look fabulous and are working out a lot. Celebrate that!

how many carbs a day is considered low carb?

The "science" quoted above is a gross misrepresentation of the glyco cycle. No, No, NO.

Yea it's easy to over simplify this stuff. There are as many study's for as against most of the theories I've read. It's all how you interpret the information, so it's even more important to step back and not over simplify it.

I just switched to low carb and lost 4 pounds the first day. I know it's only water but it's so nice to not be so bloated - which I have a problem with and at 5' 7" and 125 pounds (I lost 20 pounds), it's discouraging to have such a low BMI and to work out and still have a giant bloated stomach. I'm not trying to lose much more weight, but lately the scale has been going in the wrong direction.

My other reason for trying low carb is that I'm in a time of extreme anxiety and stress and when I get anxious I crave sugar like no other - I tend not to eat a lot of junk, but I will "binge" on fruit (think 4-5 apples, carton of raspberries, grapes, mango, and strawberries all in one sitting) and then I feel awful. Too much sugar gives me insomnia and heart palpitations too. So I'm trying out low carb to see if it can help break that habit.

It may not be the best choice for everyone, but seeing the scale move down is always going to encourage people to stick with a plan and not give up as quickly - one of the reasons why I think low-carb can work for people who give up quickly. Not feeling bloated is a huge factor for me as well. I think there's a big psychological component to why low-carb works for some people.

The science and success of a low carb diet is undeniable. Your ancestors from the mid-1900's and earlier were thin because they ate a diet that was low carb. Processed sugars, refined carbs, and high fat foods were just not available like they are today. It is the reason that all the generations and cultures before then were mostly thin.

When working out, you do not burn a single calorie of fat until the carbs (glucose) in your muscles have been depleted. With a low carb diet done correctly, you don't have enough glucose in your muscles to begin with so your body immediately reverts to burning any foods just consumed and then fat burning from storage after that.

Here are a couple articles to wrap your head around:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-burn-stored-body-fat-a-ketosis-primer/

http://asianwithoutrice.com/the-ketogenic-primer/

Your assumption that low carbohydrate diets of past generations are the reason for lower societal obesity levels does not take into account the activity levels of past generations.

I do not know where you get your biological/metabolic data from, you should recheck your sources. Your advice is wrong and potentially harmful to anyone who follows it. The amount of fat to sugar utilization during exercising depends on the intensity of the activity and the physiology/fitness level of the individual. In order to burn fat during aerobic exercising, carbohydrates MUST be present.

Be very careful when trusting locker room advice, especially when it concerns your health. Do the research yourself and/or consult trained professionals.

One of the things I have read is changing up your workout periodically as well. I would not give up carbs. I think you are going to end up in a cycle of gain/lose. You are wanting to have more sustainability than that. Even with the "shakes" they push. i want something more of a life change, I don't want to have to spend 100 a month on shakes for the rest of my life. Therefore I would say try a few new workouts, different from what you do or have done. Then your body can't adjust and get used to the movements.

Just to add to this: the more you can change up your workout routine, the faster you'll see results. I did not believe in this doctrine a while back, but now I do it and it works. Changes don't have to be big, either. Lots of little changes add up, like instead of doing a normal bicep curl alternating arms, do both arms together for a couple of sets. Dietary changes can help, but I don't think they should be made as often, but definitely often enough to avoid boredom.

For the most part I am trying to lower my carbs significantly. Today I failed horribly, but when I do good on it, there is ounces lost everyday.

Thanks for all the info! I am weight training 3x a week and running about 25 -28 miles a week. I didn't think about the sodium in the popcorn and crackers I eat...I guess I could work on cutting those out. I eat too much fruit to give that up on a low carb diet though. What is a good low carb snack?

You can eat fruit on a low carb diet, you probably just don't want to eat, like, 3 bananas in one day. There's different levels of low carb, maybe you would just stick to under 100 or 150 carbs a day. Berries are lower carb than other fruits.

Here's the low carb group for more support and good info!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-group

Good snacks--a couple slices of turkey or regular bacon, cottage cheese, salad or other veggies with dressing, full-fat yogurt with no sugar, protein smoothie made with almond milk, lunch meat or cold meat leftover from dinner (pot roast, chicken breast, pork chop), cheese sticks. Even though these are higher calories items, they fill you up and you stay full longer, so even doing low carb I don't find it difficult to hit and stay under my calorie allotment.

I started doing low carb two days per week at the recommendation of my diabetes nurse educator. This worked well for me, and I now aim for 4 days a week. This allows me to have some of the things I might crave a few days a week (in small amounts). It is true that you will experience some withdrawal in the form of headaches or lack of energy. My nurse said that "low carb" is between 50-150 grams of carbs. Another thing I learned is that it is way too easy to eat too much fat on a low carb plan, which is another reason not to do it everyday until you are more used to it. I am still learning, so any advice on this is welcome. Good luck to you!

There is no "magic" in a low-carb diet. Read this article by Lyle McDonald, who was the author of a book called "The Ketogenic Diet":

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/comparing-the-diets-part-4.html

Lyle knows a thing or three about low-carb diets and he himself says in the article:

My opinion on ketogenic diets is this: ketogenic diets are one of many (ok, three) dietary approaches available. They have advantages and disadvantages (like all diets). They are appropriate under some circumstances, relatively neutral under others, and entirely inappropriate under still other circumstances. They are not magic but they work tremendously well for some people and absolutely horribly for other. There are still questions regarding their long-term effects.

I don't think it's magical either and it still boils down to taking in less calories than you burn. But! For myself and some other people who are bingers, it is wonderful in controlling cravings/binging. If you focus on food literally all the time, and then start eating low carb and suddenly don't even think about food unless you're truly hungry, well, that's an amazing feeling. I do find myself cycling back to low carb more and more, and I really do feel better on it. Of course, everyone's different and low carb makes some people feel like *kitten*, but if nothing else is working, why not try it?

I know I'm cheating here, but I didn't read any of the responses to your post.

BUT, I'm old and have done a lot of different things to lose weight over the years, and I've found that whatever I've done hasn't stuck for very long if it hasn't been a thing I've decided to do FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. I was a vegetarian in college (gained weight). I stopped drinking for a while (what was I thinking?) I did Atkins. I did South Beach.

But the two times I really lost weight and kept it off for years (once after college and again in my early 30s), were times when I adopted a healthy eating plan that was sustainable and coupled that with daily exercise. If you feel that low-carb is sustainable for you for the LONG TERM, go for it. If not, you'll just gain those pounds back when you start eating rice again. Or wheat. Or beer.

My two cents. Haters, don't bother to chastise me. I don't care what you think of my reality -- I'm just trying to help the OP.

I know I'm cheating here, but I didn't read any of the responses to your post.

BUT, I'm old and have done a lot of different things to lose weight over the years, and I've found that whatever I've done hasn't stuck for very long if it hasn't been a thing I've decided to do FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. I was a vegetarian in college (gained weight). I stopped drinking for a while (what was I thinking?) I did Atkins. I did South Beach.

But the two times I really lost weight and kept it off for years (once after college and again in my early 30s), were times when I adopted a healthy eating plan that was sustainable and coupled that with daily exercise. If you feel that low-carb is sustainable for you for the LONG TERM, go for it. If not, you'll just gain those pounds back when you start eating rice again. Or wheat. Or beer.

My two cents. Haters, don't bother to chastise me. I don't care what you think of my reality -- I'm just trying to help the OP.

That makes sense! Not hating, just stating that for me I do ok if I make a change for awhile, as long as I have a backup plan to transition to another healthy eating program. For instance, doing low carb for a couple weeks and getting my binging under control, then transitioning back to just counting calories with a more "normal" percentage of carbs. If you do any plan and then just go off it and crazy nuts with the carbs or whatever then yeah, it's pretty pointless.

The science and success of a low carb diet is undeniable. Your ancestors from the mid-1900's and earlier were thin because they ate a diet that was low carb. Processed sugars, refined carbs, and high fat foods were just not available like they are today. It is the reason that all the generations and cultures before then were mostly thin.

When working out, you do not burn a single calorie of fat until the carbs (glucose) in your muscles have been depleted. With a low carb diet done correctly, you don't have enough glucose in your muscles to begin with so your body immediately reverts to burning any foods just consumed and then fat burning from storage after that.

Here are a couple articles to wrap your head around:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-burn-stored-body-fat-a-ketosis-primer/

http://asianwithoutrice.com/the-ketogenic-primer/

Your assumption that low carbohydrate diets of past generations are the reason for lower societal obesity levels does not take into account the activity levels of past generations.

I do not know where you get your biological/metabolic data from, you should recheck your sources. Your advice is wrong and potentially harmful to anyone who follows it. The amount of fat to sugar utilization during exercising depends on the intensity of the activity and the physiology/fitness level of the individual. In order to burn fat during aerobic exercising, carbohydrates MUST be present.

Be very careful when trusting locker room advice, especially when it concerns your health. Do the research yourself and/or consult trained professionals.

Ah, I was just looking through my track backs to my blog and noticed I was quoted on here. Nice to know I have some readers (asianwithoutrice.com) besides friends and family. But I just want to jump in and say I agree, do the research yourself. More importantly, learn how to critique and analyze the method of research as well. Too few people see a study and think the study was done properly. The truth is, if it headlines well, people will believe it. And there is so much anti fat propaganda out there. I'm just writing on my blog to give people a starting point referencing all the research papers/journals and what not.

With that being said, just want to point out that the comments about not leasing a calorie of fat when exercising definitely did not come from me! youallonsy is correct in that fat is burned regardless of whether or not carbs are present. But studies have shown, and I highly recommend picking up "The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance" By Dr. Stephen Phinney to learn more about his, and other people's research/studies, that people on (and adapted to) a ketogenic diet oxidize (burn) on average 3x the amount of fat that the average person does in their own peak fat oxidation (what some people might call "their zone"). Here is a snapshot I just took of a graph that illustrates this.

http://asianwithoutrice.com/?attachment_id=540

This particular study by Phinney's was thorough, but I'll admit is pretty old. So, take it as you will. But there is plenty of other recent evidence out there. Just look for it!

I agree that activity level has a bit too do with obesity these days as well, but I do believe that the majority of our issues starts in the kitchen. Exercise helps in certain ways, but alone, for MOST people, won't be enough. Sugar is definitely a huge problem these days.