Carbs Slowing Down Weight Loss?

Most people on MFP are going to tell you it's just calories in and calories out. However, the macros are important for me. MFP has fat and protein set far too low and carbs set far too high in my opinion. You could experiment with different macro settings and see if reducing sugar/carbs might help. It helps many people. I get most of my carbs from veggies (no grains, legumes) and I am enjoying the best health I've had in years and I am losing weight.

You can look at my diary, it's open to everyone. There are lots of things to eat that are low in carbs and sugar. You don't have to go as low as me, but increasing fat and protein will likely help.

I have to tell you I was stuck for quite some time. I reduced by carbs and it has helped. This was something my doctor told me to do. I didn't completely cut them out, just restricted them. Hopefully this will help.

I have been almost perfect sticking to my 1200 calories, exercising vigorously at least 4 times per week, yadda yadda yadda, and although I'm losing, it's a lot slower than I feel it should be. Never more than one pound per week. Often less. It consistently goes down, so it's slowly adding up, but still. My goal is 1.5 pounds/week, for a total of 40 pounds, with about 32 more to go.

I'm getting ready to turn 35, so my metabolism isn't as fast as it used to be. But I was wondering if my reliance on carbs might be the problem. I have a family who I try to eat with as much as possible (rather than making two meals), and it's unrealistic for me to stop eating carbs. Plus, I would never stick to a plan like that.

I eat cereal every morning, and one of my lunch staples is rice. It's all on plan, but I max out my carbs pretty much every day.

Could this be the problem? And if so, what in the world do I eat instead?!?!?!?!

switch to eggs and bacon/sausage for breakfast for a week and see what happens.

I busted my booty in the gym and watched my diet for 3 months...and lost 7 lbs

I cut my carbs from 200g+ per day down to 100g net ( total carbs minus fiber and sugar alcohols), actually cut my workouts by 30 minutes ( from 90 minutes to 60 minutes) and have lost 22lbs in almost 5 months. You just have to change your mindset, and it becomes fairly easy! I still go through the wendy's drive thru and get a burger, but I take off the top bun, and don't order fries. I still have A biscuit with my beef stew, but I only have one instead of the 2-3 I would have had in the past. Fruit is NOT a no-no, but I try to make it berries instead of apples or bananas.

If you reduce carbs, you will just reduce a bit of water weight (like a total of 5 lbs).. but long term, there won't be much of an affect. Also, the reason you are losing less and less is because weight loss is a lot harder once you approach a normal weight (not your goal weight). Too aggressive of a goal and you will lose muscle. And muscle loss is detrimental to long term sustainment. Muscle is what makes you burn more and maintains a metabolism. The less you have, the slower your metabolic rate. Now, I would suggest adjusting macro's to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats as research suggest high protein diets are much more effective at weight loss but another key is, it helps maintain lean body mass. Also, as you approach your normal weight, you have to have a smaller deficit as seen below.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.


The bigger issue you will have is not fueling the body to function best. You need to fuel your body to burn fuel. Most women I work with eat around 1700-2000 and men are around 2500-3200.

I would eat things like oatmeal, shredded wheat or any cereal that is fully whole grain, measure the milk and watched the sugar content and quantity of cereal.

As for dinner meals, we found quinoa to be a great replacement for rice, as well as shirataki or miracle noodles (i get mine at local japenense market but can be found at many grocery stores) and spaghetti squash works great in place of pasta. I make our children a little extra real whole wheat pasta occasionally ... i am diehard low carb now and find that it really works for me.. but for about 6 months before that i watched my carbs closely, made them 'real' grain and skipped them at dinner as much as possible. Found it easy to eat burger with no bun, found it super easy to do taco salad instead of wraps/shells, found it easy to have pasta tomato sauce or alfredo on top of veggies and protein on a bed shiratki or spaghetti squash... this seemed to cover the main 'holes' in my diet. I don't miss bread or crackers at all.

at the point that i ditched most carbs, the scale moved much quicker and my cravings after a few days also got much easier to handle.

With the little weight you have to lose, 1lb per week is about perfect! You say your eating 1200cals/day and exercising 4+ times a week - are you eating back your exercise cals?

Your diary is closed, so I can't really offer any meaningful advice. I'd list an imbalance in macros as the problem before I do the mere pretense of carbs.

Why don't you cook meat (dinners or lunches) at night and freeze them. Or even cook over the weekend. Protein is critical. Also, the more active you are, the more you need to eat or you will just make your metabolism slower and make weight loss harder due to muscle loss. And 1.5 lb is too aggressive or how much you have to go. And MFP is set up with no exercise in mind. So if you exercise, it adds calories which you should eat. Under eating can be a bad problem.

for breakfast we do fruit and nuts... we eat lots of pistachio nuts in our house. I make a fruit plate every night for supper and then as I put supper away i take the leftovers and put them in the fridge for fruit salad, either for breakfast or lunch the next day.. topped with yoguart and hemp seeds or chopped nuts. often for lunch I have planned overs... makeing a little extra the night before and wraping it up and taking it for the next day.

My settings are definitely right. I said I wanted to lose 1.5 pounds per week, said how much I sit and how often I exercise, and let MFP do the rest.

I think I may have to try and change it up a bit to see what works for me. My biggest worry about this is my ability to stick to it. I work full-time and have a family, and I just don't know if it's realistic for me to try and change my diet this drastically. For instance, getting up 20 minutes earlier every morning to cook breakfast is kind of a non-starter for me. I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. as it is.

I don't want to open my diary, but I can tell you on a typical weekday I eat Multigrain Cheerios w/almond milk for breakfast, an instant rice bowl w/some added chicken for lunch, and a granola bar as an afternoon snack. I do this pretty religiously. Carbs, carbs and more carbs for sure.

I eat these things because they fit into my lifestyle though. I don't have time to cook in the morning, and I don't know what alternatives there are for a to go lunch that don't involve lots of carbs. I can manage dinner, and I could change my snack as well, but breakfast and lunch are gonna be tough to figure out!

I work full time (normally 42-45 hours a week), go to school full time (12 credit hours) and have a 15 month old, husband and 2 dogs who all want attention. Best thing for our crazy schedule is I take 3-4 hours on Sunday and prep for the week. I will grill up chicken and roast veggies for my lunches so I can just grab and go! Will also make a big batch of something (quinoa chicken casserole, turkey taco meat for taco salads, etc) so we have dinner for a few nights. It's all about time management and what works for you. I can't let my lifestyle be a reason to not eat healthy. I've found that fruit keeps me fuller and gives me energy compared to a granola bar or something similar. I also boil lots of eggs and have egg whites and cheese as an afternoon snack most days.

My settings are definitely right. I said I wanted to lose 1.5 pounds per week, said how much I sit and how often I exercise, and let MFP do the rest.

Yeah, but that doesn't mean a whole lot if if MFP calculates that you'd need to net fewer than 1200 calories a day to reach your goal. Have you checked the goals page?

Hm, still not sure what you're getting at, but here's what my goals page says -

Nutritional Goals:
Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,200 calories/day
Carbs / Day 165 g
Fat / Day 40 g
Protein / Day 45 g

Fitness Goals:
Calories Burned / Week 1,140 calories/week
Workouts / Week 4 Workouts
Minutes / Workout 45 mins

Target Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity 1,850 calories/day

Net Calories Consumed:
Your Daily Goal 1,200 calories/ day
Daily Calorie Deficit 650 calories

Projected Weight Loss 1.3 lbs/ week

I think what they were trying to point out is that MFP will not give you less than 1200 calories, so as u can see your projected weight loss is only 1.3lbs rather than the 1.5. For some people with a lower daily activity this may give them 1lbs or less rather than the 1.5 which might explain lower weight loss.

I'm JUST SHARING my experience, this is what worked for me: I started at 204 lbs. in March of this year. At the urging of my daughter, I started a low carb diet and it worked -I lost almost 45 lbs, I would like to lose another 15. However, I have been at a bit of a plateau since late July, I've been bouncing around with a 4 lb gain/loss since then so I think my body got used to the low carbs and it's time to shake things up. I have definately changed the way I eat in that I include a lot more protien, fruits & vegs and whole foods in general. Portion control is of the essence, and for a while I DID have to prepare seperate meals from my family in order to adhere to my diet, but now my family often likes to opt for MY meals! Best of luck to you!:flowerforyou:

I have been almost perfect sticking to my 1200 calories, exercising vigorously at least 4 times per week, yadda yadda yadda, and although I'm losing, it's a lot slower than I feel it should be. Never more than one pound per week. Often less. It consistently goes down, so it's slowly adding up, but still. My goal is 1.5 pounds/week, for a total of 40 pounds, with about 32 more to go.

I'm getting ready to turn 35, so my metabolism isn't as fast as it used to be. But I was wondering if my reliance on carbs might be the problem. I have a family who I try to eat with as much as possible (rather than making two meals), and it's unrealistic for me to stop eating carbs. Plus, I would never stick to a plan like that.

I eat cereal every morning, and one of my lunch staples is rice. It's all on plan, but I max out my carbs pretty much every day.

Could this be the problem? And if so, what in the world do I eat instead?!?!?!?!

Carbs are 50% of my calories, and sometimes I go over, to the detriment of my protein. :ohwell:

I wonder if your calories are too low. That can hamper losses and can lower your metabolism on a long term basis. I have lost 36 pounds eating 1800ish calories per day, over 200g/day of carbs, including the occasion sweet treat.