Low carb dieters.. WHAT do you eat?!

Same with "you have to eat healthy to lose weight." It's good to eat nutrient dense foods but one of the reasons people quit their diets is because they think they have to eat salads all day. Once I started following IIFYM, dieting has just been so much easier.

In terms of just plain oll loosing weight i will say that it completly sucks. My wife has to be on a low carb diet as i said and for awhile this resulted in me getting a much less carb diet. It really is awful. No energy, no real anything. Just blah. I am sure many can say different but as the OP mentioned it just not needed. If you don't have a medical reason to avoid something then don't avoid it. If you can loose weight, and you can, without cutting out things then do not cut them out.

In terms of just plain oll loosing weight i will say that it completly sucks. My wife has to be on a low carb diet as i said and for awhile this resulted in me getting a much less carb diet. It really is awful. No energy, no real anything. Just blah. I am sure many can say different but as the OP mentioned it just not needed. If you don't have a medical reason to avoid something then don't avoid it. If you can loose weight, and you can, without cutting out things then do not cut them out.

That's exactly my point, you just stated it way better LOL.

Yeah............I am totally cool like that.

I was low carb for about 7 months. It wasn't to lose weight, it was just to test it out to see what the hype was about. I went vegetarian 2 years before that for a year. Again, I just wanted to test it out. I talked to my nutritionist, he said it was fine. The body adapts to whatever you put it through, just eat enough calories. I felt fine. I had 50g< of carbs, walked the entire length of Ohio State's campus daily, did my ghastly amount of homework and went to the gym 6x's a week. I lost the majority of my weight goal doing it. 45 of my total 70 pounds. Went from 250 to 200 eating "regularly", maybe 200 carbs a day, then 200 to 165-160 with low carb. It was alright. Like I said, I didn't feel any different than when I was eating carbs unconsciously. I mostly ate full fat foods and lots of protein, I still do because they taste good. After stopping low carb (just because=no rhyme or reason behind it besides I wanted too) I don't intake that many carbs, maybe 100g from my fruits and vegetables and I exercise for 2 hours a day (with Graves' Disease-just got diagnosed in Nov/Dec). So the moral of the story is, my body adjusted to low carb just fine. I do not think it's stupid for people to make their own decisions about their diets. If it works for them, then I say more power to them. Medically advised or not. It's their life.

I got most of my recipes off the Linda's low carb website btw.

I do ocassionally do a keto diet. For me, I like that it takes away cravings for sugar and other carbs. The first couple of days can be rough and feel low on energy but after about 3 days I normally feel great. You lose a lot of water weight at first but this always helps me drop a dress size and my face looks slimmer. I know you lose weight down to restricting calories just the same as on any healthy eating but because ketosis can reduce your appetite it seems easier when low carbing. I also seemed to lose weight quicker, like 1.5 - 2lbs a week where if eating the same calories on a regular "diet" I would lose 1lb. Strange but that is just what happened.

I would eat lots of eggs, cheese, all kinds of meat, fish, nuts and low carb fruits such as berries. I'd make some lovely low carb sauces and have nice fish or steak with lots of veggies.

The main reason I would come off of a keto diet is fruit. I can live without bread and pasta and potatoes but I really miss eating a variety of fruit. I'd always gain some water weight back when I re-introduced carbs in to my diet but the net loss from eating less calories would stay off.

I think a keto diet can be very healthy but I think it can also be very unhealthy if all you do is eat bacon and eggs then a steak for dinner every day. There are lots of great salad and veggies out there that is low enough in carbs for you to eat a varied and healthy diet, you just need to plan it. But like I say, I do miss the variety of fruit.

Exercise wise I didn't have any problem. The first few days I would be low on energy but after about 3 days could exercise at the same level as previously. I think (no studies to back it up but just my thoughts) that if you were a long distance runner or endurance kind of exercise low carb would probably have a negative effect on your training. But I prefer shorter exercises like a 30 min jog or around 45 minutes of strength training / lifting, and while on a keto diet I had no problem at all performing this.

I don't think low carb is nessecerary at all for losing weight, and think some people would hate it. But there are aspects of it that I do like, such as the reduced appetite and reduced cravings.

Umm. I don't have the low carb "no energy" experience this guy's talking about above, nor do I think "it sucks" to eat this way. It's definitely not "miserable" or "pointless" for me. I truly love what I eat! I eat a primal/paleo diet almost entirely made up of whole foods, including lots of nice grass fed meat, wild caught fish, and veggies, eggs, etc. I eat very low carb most days, and on days when I go to the gym and lift heavy, I eat a bit more carbs by including a sweet potato.

Even on my "high" carb days I am typically under 150g. On my low carb days I eat anywhere from 35-75g carbs , and I'm perfectly able to work out and feel great--I train kettlebells for about an hour or so on my "low" days, so I'm not talking about yoga or something of that nature. It's a pretty demanding workout. At the same time, I'm not talking about running half marathons, either. I'm not doing any sort of endurance sport training, and have no interest in doing so. That said, there are ultramarathoners who eat low carb! Check this guy out--he's a low carb ultramarathoner who won the Western States 100 race: http://www.meandmydiabetes.com/2012/08/11/western-states-100-low-carber-wins-ultramarathon-steve-phinney-and-jeff-volek-study/

Regarding fruit-- if I feel like having some, I do. I just eat it in moderation and choose the sort of fruit wisely. I prefer low-GI fruits.

I don't eat grains, and don't miss them one bit! I think it's tastier and healthier to replace those foods with veggies. I don't think I know a low carb eater who restricts veggies, unless you're talking about starchy vegetables like potatoes or sweet potatoes, and that is due to the insulin response. A lot of us eat this way to better control the insulin response our bodies have to what we eat.

Anyway, I've never felt better in my life since ditching the grains and sugar and eating properly. YMMV, as they say, but I'm quite happy and healthy....

To the OP and anyone else who is confused about how athletes can sustain their level of activity on low carb diets, research fat burning vs. sugar burning. The link I posted in my long comment discusses that a bit, but you could certainly research it a bit further, or perhaps even perform your own N=1 experiment, if your a hands-on sort of learner.