Anyone ever kept gaining with low carb?
tabathavm
Posts: 99 Member
Okay so i have been doing low carb for a while now ( which i have lost weight doing), so the past week I increased my carbs just a bit and i seem to be gaining now instead of losing. Im still under 65 net carbs a day. I thought maybe it was water weight but i drink alot of water and i assumed after at least 4 days that would not be the problem anymore. Any ideas?
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From what I understand, you could be replacing some of your glycogen stores, hence the water weight gain. I don't think drinking more water helps with glycogen stores like it does with excess sodium. You have to burn those off. I always go up when I up my carbs. However, I learned during my maintenance phase that it stabilizes eventually. Mine stabilized around 2-3 lbs higher than when I entered maintenance. Then I started eating even more carbs--I stopped using moderation at all and binged--and the weight started shooting up.
Still, 65 g is low. I'd think that you'd still lose weight on that, but every body's different. My carbs are around that range and I lose about 3-4 lbs a month and I am usually in ketosis. But, I had over 120 carbs the other day and I'm still trying to get that extra water off. I'm confident though that underneath that water I'm still losing fat and will be rewarded in a few more days.
If a higher carb range is what you are aiming for, I'd stick with it a little bit longer and see if everything stabilizes for you. Then maybe you'll start losing weight again after that.0 -
Ok I will try that. How long do you think I need to stay around 65 if nothing changes and i keep gaining weight?
Also when you say stabilizes do you mean the weight will start going back down or the weigh will stay the same?0 -
I think you can store 100g of carbs as glycogen in your liver and around 400 g in your muscles. I think I've got those numbers right. If not, they are pretty close. I think (I don't have the info on numbers on hand) that you store three parts water along with that. My cut off is 3-5 lbs. you have to decide how much weight gain you can handle.
When I say stabilize, I mean stop going up. If you are at your maintenance level of carbs (which I doubt because your brain alone will use 100-120 g per day), then your weight would stay the same. If you are less than your maintenance level you'd start losing weight again at the higher range. When I was maintaining, I was doing so around 150 g or higher. I wasn't tracking on MFP, just being aware of how many carbs I was probably eating.
Lyle McDonald has some great info on his site about numbers and how carbs relate to body fat. According to him and some other sites, ketosis level is less than 100 g but is too much to register on ketostix. He recommends AT LEAST 50 g per day. I don't remember why, but 65 g should still be within ketosis level.
Hope all that helps. But, I'm certainly not an expert. Just going off what I've read and my personal experience.0 -
I think you can store 100g of carbs as glycogen in your liver and around 400 g in your muscles. I think I've got those numbers right. If not, they are pretty close. I think (I don't have the info on numbers on hand) that you store three parts water along with that. My cut off is 3-5 lbs. you have to decide how much weight gain you can handle.
When I say stabilize, I mean stop going up. If you are at your maintenance level of carbs (which I doubt because your brain alone will use 100-120 g per day), then your weight would stay the same. If you are less than your maintenance level you'd start losing weight again at the higher range. When I was maintaining, I was doing so around 150 g or higher. I wasn't tracking on MFP, just being aware of how many carbs I was probably eating.
Lyle McDonald has some great info on his site about numbers and how carbs relate to body fat. According to him and some other sites, ketosis level is less than 100 g but is too much to register on ketostix. He recommends AT LEAST 50 g per day. I don't remember why, but 65 g should still be within ketosis level.
Hope all that helps. But, I'm certainly not an expert. Just going off what I've read and my personal experience.
Ok thanks! I understood that much better
Ill also look up Lyle Mcdonalds too and read that. thanks again so much! 0 -
What kinds of foods are you adding to up your carbs? Are they low glycemic foods?0
