Low Carb vs. Moderate Carb

I'm with Rodhands. Look, to whomever said a ketogenic diet would put you at "higher risk", explain. Higher risk of what, losing weight and being awesome? Or, perhaps you mean heart disease? The ketogenic diet is used to help kids with epilepsy, and works for a few other things (personally has worked well for my IBS, which can be debilitating). So, you think doctors are suggesting these kids go keto so that they can stop having seizure knowing it will give them a higher risk of a heart attack. C'monn

Look, there's one main reason I love keto, and that's because I'm a lazy *kitten* with weak willpower. That's how I got fat in the first place. With keto, you eat delicious things like bacon, sausage, and salads loaded with three cheese dressings and more bacon, and you STILL lose weight! And WHY do you lose weight? Because its so easy to feel full and STAY full for the majority of the day, AND still stay in a calorie deficit! I have NEVER had that from diets in the past. Do you understand what this means?

It's the diet to end all diets! At least, it is for me. No only am I learning what being hungry really feels like (instead of insatiable hunger after a carb crash), but feeling better, more conscious of what I'm putting in my body, and losing weight faster than I ever have before. Other diets are just to long and I lose motivation so quickly. ...this diet offers a whole new perspective on things.

I especially love when MFP tell me "if you keep going at this rate, you'll lose 30lbs in 6 months!" Knowing full well I could drop that weight in a month if I tried hard enough.

I've never purposely done low carb, but I've had great success, both in weight loss and fitness gains, with moderate carb,

I don't eat a consistent amount of carbs. Some days would qualify as low carb, many would be high carb, but most (and the average) would be moderate.

I mainly stick to what are commonly refered to as "good carbs" - vegetables, legumes, fruits, whole grains, nuts - and I limit added sugar and try to avoid overly processed ("white") grain products and white potatoes.

Read back, I have said what industry and my reason why I disagree with the pushing of "whole grains are brilliant", not necessarily because they aren't but because that is done at the expense of demonizing fats which is just a ridiculous notion.

I haven't read all the replies so I apologize if this has already been asked and answered, but who are you refering to when you say whole grains are said to be brilliant at the expense of demonizing fat?

Well theres the problem... damn early homonids not writing down what they were eating, didnt they know that a few people would be arguing about this on the internet in 2012??!?!?! :P

I know for sure that they were NOT eating Chex Party Mix, Lays BBQ Potato Chips, White Rice, Genetically Modified Wheat, Rye, Corn .... or Ice Cream or Cane Sugar.

Try South Beach, it's easier to live with. And you get to eat more carbs in the first two weeks.



Has anyone on here ever gone from Atkins to a more moderate carb diet including potatoes, whole wheat breads, brown rice, etc? Did you see big gains? I dont think I want to do super low carb (20 or less) all the time but would like to try what I would call moderate going over no more than 50 or so carbs a day. Im wondering how eating low carb but adding a little of the above mentioned foods may affect the diet as a whole. Definitely don't want to do it if it will sabotage the low carb part of it all! Or..........do I just need to find really good substitutes for the carb-heavy foods I love?

Any advice from people who have been down this road will be much appreciated!! Add me if you would like too!

Read back, I have said what industry and my reason why I disagree with the pushing of "whole grains are brilliant", not necessarily because they aren't but because that is done at the expense of demonizing fats which is just a ridiculous notion.

I haven't read all the replies so I apologize if this has already been asked and answered, but who are you refering to when you say whole grains are said to be brilliant at the expense of demonizing fat?

Hey, essentially I am talking about the entire media. We are taught from a young age that fats will make us fat... the clue is even in the names we gave to the two things, but that just quite simply isn't the case!

I do:


60% FAT
25% PROTEIN
15% carbs (for me that is 50 grams give or take.)

I did go even lower but not necessary for me anymore, I did add sweet potato, some white rice and have done just fine maintaining.

In the end, no matter what others opinions are, you'll have to experiment with the numbers, because we are all different!

Not criticizing-- just wondering why your diet is so high in fats?

Not criticizing-- just wondering why your diet is so high in fats?

My numbers are about the same.

50g carb = 200 cal 10%
100g Protein = 400 cal 20%

At 1900 cal/day I'm still losing, so I need 1300 cal 70% . They have to come from somewhere. 1300/9 = 144g fat

Why don't I just eat more carbs you might ask? Because if I eat 100g carbs I'll gave a very difficult time controlling my intake to 1900 calories. If I stay at 50 carbs then not too much trouble.

I started with the 20grams a day for the first two weeks as suggested in the Atkins book. I am now at about 50grams daily. I have been doing this for about 3 months. I love it, no cravings, I feel more alert, more energy and I don't get hangry (angry when Iam hungry) anymore. For me its a way of life. I have also lost weight and inches. This is what works for me.

I did low carb as a vego a few years ago (bodybuilder PT at the time forced it upon me...) less than 40g per day, after eating probably 250-300g. it sucked. I felt sick, had no energy, couldn't concentrate (was studying for my finals at the time). didn't lose weight even though I only did it for a week.

sometimes reducing carbs helps. some people can eat very low carb and feel good. others cannot.

if you think that carbs are your problem area, slowly reduce them. I don't recommend dropping them really low, you will feel terrible. look up carb cycling - I find it really effective for weight loss (I only do it for max 2 weeks at a time though). or as I said slowly reduce them most days but have a day where you're consuming a far amount.

you do realise that only doing ti for a week you gave your body no time to adjust?

Your not going to get over the initial carb defecit in a week

yes I do realise that. but going from 250-300/day to 40g was far too extreme. if I had done it slowly it wouldn't have been so bad.

I was on a very low-carb diet for about a year, for medical reasons. I did lose weight, but not really a lot. Then I changed to a low glycemic index diet (no refined carbs, and very careful with bread, pasta, rice and potatoes), where I never combined fat and carbs (one meal carbs and protein, another meal 3-4 hours apart with fat and protein), and ate a lot of vegetables. Broccoli. Enourmous amounts of broccoli.

This diet (low GI) made me lose weight a lot faster, and I also didn't have the problems with low blood-sugar the low-carb diet gave me. I never reached the famous ketosis on low-carb, even if I was extremely careful.

So, depending on what suits your body better, you may be better off on low GI than low carb, or you may need to just watch calories very carefully. There's no way to say exactly what's the best for you until you try.

I have eaten between 20g and 80g carbs per day for 2 years now, gradually reducing my levels down to 20g which I have been at since March, about 9 months. There's enough misleading couch-science here, so I'll let my loss speak for itself and the fact that my "brain" is still alive and kicking without those oh-so-essential carbohydrates. Low carb isn't the only way to lose weight or be healthy, but it sure as hell was the only way that worked for me.

i eat carbs . im very active so i need them . i eat junk carbs when im not supposed to but when i follow the diet im on good carbs..yep i eat potatoes, whole grains of all kinds , whole grain pasta ..i have to measure them though.if i dont i pile it on the plate and probably eat enough for 3-4 servings. its sad to measure but i guess thats why im on here --because i dont

I was on a very low-carb diet for about a year, for medical reasons. I did lose weight, but not really a lot. Then I changed to a low glycemic index diet (no refined carbs, and very careful with bread, pasta, rice and potatoes), where I never combined fat and carbs (one meal carbs and protein, another meal 3-4 hours apart with fat and protein), and ate a lot of vegetables. Broccoli. Enourmous amounts of broccoli.

This diet (low GI) made me lose weight a lot faster, and I also didn't have the problems with low blood-sugar the low-carb diet gave me. I never reached the famous ketosis on low-carb, even if I was extremely careful.

So, depending on what suits your body better, you may be better off on low GI than low carb, or you may need to just watch calories very carefully. There's no way to say exactly what's the best for you until you try.

A typical low GI diet does not require that you never eat carb and fat together? Eating carbs with fat would likely lower the GI of the meal.

You can add them right away if you want the weight gain is from water. The Adkins books say to do it slowly but honestly it really doesn't matter it just looks better on the scale. I know when I carb up I gain 10-15lbs of water weight. If I stay on a high carb diet is slow drops a little, if I go back on low carb like I do for a CKD, the weight is all gone in 2-3 days. Everyone is different though.

I just find it interesting that so many people think you just gain it all back. It just like any diet if you start eating like you did before you lost the weight then yes you will. Or if you did low carb for 2 weeks and dropped 10-12 lbs then got off the diet, then you will gain back all the water weight.

TIL Thanks

I still think I will add them back in slowly to avoid the culture shock rather than what I currently have.