CARBS (lower)

I'm consuming around 200-250 carbs a day and because it represents about 25% of my diet, that is considered a low carb diet, of course some people consume a lot less.

HI, I am trying to do low carbs too to shed about 10 pounds in total as I was a total carb junkie! I have been advised to cut out the usual rubbish - bread, biscuits, crisps, rice, pasta - anything with carbs and I did feel rough for while. I have heard the general rule is to evenutally be eating a gram of carb per kilo of body weight, ie if you weigh 70kg, then 70g of carbs a day. I find it really hard and workout when I can to burn it off. Having said that I do feel better, less bloated and lost 4 pounds in weight in my first week - am now on week 2 and so far so good. I have found the less carbs I eat, the less I want and I get fuller quicker Oh and cut out sugar as much as you can - if it's not used it stores as fat! Hope this helps! :-)

I would recommend that you focus on getting enough P&F and then making the remainder of your calorie target from carbs.

General rule of thumb (obviously varies by person) is 50-100g/day for weight loss, 100-150g/day for maintenance. Many people go higher if they're into endurance sports or are at goal and maintaining easily. Doesn't matter how that shakes out in terms of your meals. Lots of people save their heavier carbs like sweet potatoes for post-workout to help recover.

you cannot give a recommended level of carbs for weight loss when you don't know A) the person's weight their exercise and NEAT C) how much P&F they are consuming.

General rule of thumb (obviously varies by person) is 50-100g/day for weight loss, 100-150g/day for maintenance. Many people go higher if they're into endurance sports or are at goal and maintaining easily. Doesn't matter how that shakes out in terms of your meals. Lots of people save their heavier carbs like sweet potatoes for post-workout to help recover.

you cannot give a recommended level of carbs for weight loss when you don't know A) the person's weight their exercise and NEAT C) how much P&F they are consuming.

Yes, you can.
She's right. It works.

General rule of thumb (obviously varies by person) is 50-100g/day for weight loss, 100-150g/day for maintenance. Many people go higher if they're into endurance sports or are at goal and maintaining easily. Doesn't matter how that shakes out in terms of your meals. Lots of people save their heavier carbs like sweet potatoes for post-workout to help recover.

you cannot give a recommended level of carbs for weight loss when you don't know A) the person's weight their exercise and NEAT C) how much P&F they are consuming.

That's why I said "general rule of thumb" and "varies by person". And I also said that carbs might be higher for those doing endurance sports. What I put was a simplified version of Mark Sisson's Primal Blueprint Carbohydrate Curve.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/press/the-primal-blueprint-diagrams/#axzz2I5OtvWoa

Thank you all this helps..... I'm a little slower when it comes to this stuff ...so please forgive me but on MFP it has my GOAL as 233 (g) that is just too much for me I think- can we adjust this in anyway- does anyone know ?
And though I'm trying not to eat any breads/noodles/the junk- I am at 51% carbs today and I've had a smoothie (mango,strawberry, whey protein), a small bowl of chili with 2 crackers and an apple..... I'm not too hungry today (because I'm a bit under the weather) but that seems like a lot of carbs for what I've had! I feel like I'm obssessing but at the same time I don't want to be defeating the purpose and keeping fat on me when I'm trying to get it off.
I think I'm going to have a breakfast and lunch with minimal "whole" carbs (I don't know what you call them but the carbs like whole wheat toast, raw oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, fruits (cause I love them) and then dinner no carbs, or just a tinnnny small bit of carbs because I love brown rice!
Opinions (or facts) pleaseee :ohwell:

remember there's a difference between good carbs and bad...and subtract your fiber from your carbs. Fruit is high in carbs, but it's "good" carbs. White rice, white potatoes, white noodles, those are "bad" carbs. Cut those out. Whole wheat and natural grain EVERYTHING. Anything with sugar is going to kill your carb count. If you want to binge on fruit and have more then half a cup of whole wheat pasta, have at 'er...focus on bad white carbs.

Thank you all this helps..... I'm a little slower when it comes to this stuff ...so please forgive me but on MFP it has my GOAL as 233 (g) that is just too much for me I think- can we adjust this in anyway- does anyone know ?

Yes, you can manually set your targets in MFP. Go to Goals / Change Goals / Custom

What I did was figure out my TDEE. You can learn how to do this here:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Then subtract 10-20%, and that gives you your cal goal.

Then, you can set your custom macros. I have mine set at 60% fat, 25% protein, 15% carbs. For me, that comes out to be 93g of fat, 88g protein, 53g carbs. I eat Primal, so my carbs come mostly from veggies, fruit, and my daily dark chocolate. I track at the end of the day and see how things shake out.

And though I'm trying not to eat any breads/noodles/the junk- I am at 51% carbs today and I've had a smoothie (mango,strawberry, whey protein), a small bowl of chili with 2 crackers and an apple..... I'm not too hungry today (because I'm a bit under the weather) but that seems like a lot of carbs for what I've had! I feel like I'm obssessing but at the same time I don't want to be defeating the purpose and keeping fat on me when I'm trying to get it off.

Carbs add up quick with smoothies and fruit. I generally eat one serving of fruit a day. Berries are best, but I'm an apple fanatic. I try not to drink my calories in smoothies, but that's a personal preference. Maybe try smoothies made more of veggies than fruit. And if your chilli had beans.... heavy carb load there.

I think I'm going to have a breakfast and lunch with minimal "whole" carbs (I don't know what you call them but the carbs like whole wheat toast, raw oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, fruits (cause I love them) and then dinner no carbs, or just a tinnnny small bit of carbs because I love brown rice!
Opinions (or facts) pleaseee :ohwell:

Ultimately carbs are carbs, even if you're eating the "whole" kind. Best way to lower them is to replace as much of them as you can with protein and veggies. Swap out the pasta for julienned zucchini - it tastes even better than the cardboard whole wheat pasta. Make cauliflower rice instead of brown rice.

Good luck!

bump for later

If you try to add extra protein to your diet, you'll minimise carbs by default. ie if you have protein at every meal, you wont have any calories left to be eating carbs!

The thing to watch out for is that "carbs" aren't limited to bread and pasta. Fruit is mostly carbs (sugar and fibre). lots of veggies are carb-heavy (not saying you shouldnt eat them! just choose wisely and don't base your whole meal on the starchy ones, ie potato).

I find that if I eat lots of healthy fats I can happily go without a lot of carbs. Fats make you satisfied and taste goooood!

It also takes a while to get used to eating low-carb. give yourself time to adjust. And don't be disheartened if it makes you grumpy for a while - "atkins attitude"! It will pass.

General rule of thumb (obviously varies by person) is 50-100g/day for weight loss, 100-150g/day for maintenance. Many people go higher if they're into endurance sports or are at goal and maintaining easily. Doesn't matter how that shakes out in terms of your meals. Lots of people save their heavier carbs like sweet potatoes for post-workout to help recover.

you cannot give a recommended level of carbs for weight loss when you don't know A) the person's weight their exercise and NEAT C) how much P&F they are consuming.

Yes, you can.
She's right. It works.

Thank you for your wisdom.

Did you ever think that reducing your carbs reduced your total daily intake below your TDEE hence losing weight?

Do you know that you can put on weight while "low" carbing?

I'm not sure if that's directed at me, but I'll respond anyway. I'm absolutely eating below TDEE and that's driving my weight loss. No doubt about it. But I choose to do that with a high fat / low carb approach. I have found that in this way, I eat foods that are nutrient-dense, very filling, and the fats make everything tasty. I could achieve weight loss with low fat, high carb too, but when I've done that, I've found I'm constantly hungry, obsessing about my "diet", and I found it very hard to moderate the carbs. By switching to low carb, I feel in control of my diet. It's pretty hard for me to over eat veggies and meat. I get too full. I personally don't miss any foods I've eliminated. When I want them, I eat them, but they're in the context of my overall low carb diet.

General rule of thumb (obviously varies by person) is 50-100g/day for weight loss, 100-150g/day for maintenance. Many people go higher if they're into endurance sports or are at goal and maintaining easily. Doesn't matter how that shakes out in terms of your meals. Lots of people save their heavier carbs like sweet potatoes for post-workout to help recover.

you cannot give a recommended level of carbs for weight loss when you don't know A) the person's weight their exercise and NEAT C) how much P&F they are consuming.

Yes, you can.
She's right. It works.

Thank you for your wisdom.

Did you ever think that reducing your carbs reduced your total daily intake below your TDEE hence losing weight?

Do you know that you can put on weight while "low" carbing?

I'm not sure if that's directed at me, but I'll respond anyway. I'm absolutely eating below TDEE and that's driving my weight loss. No doubt about it. But I choose to do that with a high fat / low carb approach. I have found that in this way, I eat foods that are nutrient-dense, very filling, and the fats make everything tasty. I could achieve weight loss with low fat, high carb too, but when I've done that, I've found I'm constantly hungry, obsessing about my "diet", and I found it very hard to moderate the carbs. By switching to low carb, I feel in control of my diet. It's pretty hard for me to over eat veggies and meat. I get too full. I personally don't miss any foods I've eliminated. When I want them, I eat them, but they're in the context of my overall low carb diet.

If that's what works for you then stick with it. But automatically saying that a certain level of carbs creates weight loss is just wrong. And I'm the exact opposite, carbs fill me up and fats do nothing.

Also, people need to think about what type of exercise they are doing. If you are predominantly doing anaerobic work then you will be using stored glycogen as your main energy source. What happens if you are on a low carb diet? Glycogen stores are depleted and performance suffers. If you are just doing aerobic work then the main source of energy will be from fats.

I don't disagree with you but I think you're not reading what I wrote in response to the OP.

She asked "For right now can you all share with me what "lower" carbs are to you?"

I answered with a general rule of thumb for low carb eating. The reason those values work is that for most people, eating within those ranges will create a cal deficit pretty effortlessly. I also said that if you are doing endurance sports (highly aerobic) you might want to increase carbs. This is saying the same thing you said. By the way, the OP said she does 35 min cardio daily. I don't think she's at risk of depleting her stored glycogen if she's doing that on 50-150g/day.

That's is exactly what I aim for 25% carbs, 30% protein and 45% fat and I also feel great and do lots of running :happy: