Low carb diet plan

What are your goals?

Unless its for health reasons a low carb diet is unessential. Also go for a diet that you can do for the long term (not a quick fix, you'll burnout) .

To put a low carb diet simply Eat Lean Meat, Veggies, and fruit. Its really that simple. Go paleo ( there are many free guides online, Google is your friend) I guess and avoid grains and processed food. That and Atkins seems to be popular but people I have known burnout on these low carb diets quickly because once you introduce all those foods you love back into your diet you'll gain that weight back and I've seen several times.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937860-how-to-lose-fat-for-newbs

Go for the long term and have a healthy relationship with all food and enjoy that cookie or that bowl of ice cream. That's my two cents. Peace.

PM me for anything or friend me if you wish.

OP, If your profile pic is current, unless you're diabetic/pre-diabetic or have metabolic syndrome (and you don't look like you have metabolic syndrome) you likely don't need to be low-carb. The exception to this would be none-of-the-above BUT hypertriglyceridemic - (having high fasting serum triglyceride levels), which are best-controlled by both reducing carbohydrate while simultaneously increasing healthy dietary fats.

If you DO fit into one of those health categories then I recommend the NEW Atkins revolution (not the older, less-researched original Atkins) - the books are available free in any library and there's literally thousands of good web sources for it.

The other option is any good paleo diet, which relies on whole foods and eliminates all refined carbohydrate. (My caveat on paleo diets is that they universally eliminate grain - which I don't necessarily believe is necessary - I do NOT believe modern wheat is healthy, but other whole grains such as barley, quinoa, steel-cut oats, etc., are NOT as bad as wheat.)

FYI many people that aren't diabetic get excellent results (both weight-loss and triglyceride improvement) simply by eliminating refined carbohydrate (basically flour and sugar) from their diet and changing from less-healthy fats to healthier ones.

Examples of less-healthy fats: Trans-fats, any refined oils, grain-fed beef, any 'factory-farmed' meat for that matter. (On oils, my rule of thumb is if you can squeeze it and get oil out, it's healthy ... whereas if it has to be 'refined' to get oil ... it's NOT.)

Healthy fats: natural sources such as almonds, olives, avocado, coconut oil, grass-fed/free-range meats, eggs, cheese, etc. Any fat/oil that occurs naturally and we've been eating for 10's of thousands of years is generally a healthy fat.

i am trying to cut weight and obviously fat but gain muscle in the process.

Pick one, you'll find it much easier. Try to gain muscle and lose weight is a very difficult and slow process. It takes a lot of dedication. You'll lose fat very slowly and your muscles gains will be very slow. It is possible and doable. Personally, I would not but I wanna give you both view points so you are aware of the decision you're about to make. If you're already on a muscle building workout plan, then stick with it! Bulk for a while then when you're satisfied with your muscle gains start cutting and lose weight.

**edit btw doing both can be very frustrating, I have tried it and if you're like me you won't have the patience to do both. A month in, you might look in the mirror and get discouraged and quit because you don't see that shredded guy staring back. Again it is a sloooooowwww process.

http://www.reddit.com/r/keto
http://www.reddit.com/r/ketogains

Very helpful group of people, a well thought out FAQ, and instructions on how to setup MFP for low carb. I tend to agree with others that building muscle on keto isn't the best approach, but its certainly possible.

Atkins is good for short term, then you can move to a less strict regimen after you get to your goal, but still watching carbs.

Atkins work, it's a lot of protein which feeds your muscles, and you lose quick.

Even if i dont have to build muscle i would atleast like to stay in the range of what i can lift. i am not sure if i am wording that right. i guess it could be considered toning or something along those lines. would that be a ideal way then? dont go for max lifting but more for reps?

You can still stay in the range of what you lift while cutting but it will be slightly lower. And YES YES YES GO for your max lifts the whole point is to "retain" strength and mass while cutting and lose fat, You can also do accessory work and go higher reps. There is no harm in a mix of both when it comes to training.

I follow south beach life. I usually eat on the second phase unless I need to rekickstart my weight loss then I revisit phase one. I needed to do this diet for health reasons. Its good for your heart (created by a heart doctor) and great for my diabetes. My doctor is on board with me eating this way. The goal is really to gain complete control of my diet only controlled diabetes.
Read the books you'll see he's about clean eating. I also downloaded a free android app that gaves you daily tips. But it only runs when I open it. I've learned to make hot wings that aren't fried or breaded and healthly and that's the true goal right?

Good luck!

My husband and I have enjoyed this plan and these recipes from the Scarsdale diet plan. It's so much more inclusive than Adkins. It's all laid out for you day by day, meal by meal. They've done the planning for you. Here's the link.
lowcarblisa.tripod.com/thescarsdalemedicaldiet/id18.html