keeping carbs under 40 a day??

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FFfitgirl
FFfitgirl Posts: 369 Member
I see posts on how people keep carbs under 40 grams a day. How do you do it??
Carbs are a bad trigger food for me. I can't get enough.
Any suggestions on how to eat more protein when Im not a fan of meat. The main way i get protein if from shakes and those are getting kind of old

Replies

  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    ugh 40g of carbs or less sounds terrible. today is an abnormally high carb day for me (plus ill be up for 20+ hrs)- but normally carbs make up about 40% of my day!

    to add more protein without meat: yogurt, cottage cheese, edamame, eggs, protein bars (try QUEST cookie dough- amazing!)
  • FFfitgirl
    FFfitgirl Posts: 369 Member
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    Cookie dough? Those my be a dangerous thing to have in the house
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    a quest cookie dough protein bar with water honestly is filling- and delicious. i look forward to it daily :)
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    at 2.50ish a bar, unless u buy in bulk, u wont want to eat several a day
  • amyllu
    amyllu Posts: 432 Member
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    I try to keep my carbs at between 70 - 90 a day. I have had a few days at 40-50 but find it extremely hard.
    The thing I have noticed is that the less carbs you eat as your body gets used to it the less hungry you become.
  • coozine
    coozine Posts: 28 Member
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    I keep my carbs at 30 grams per day. The more carbs one eats the more they want. Carbs are a trigger food. The more protein and fat one eats the less hungry you are.
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
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    Why??? Eat plenty of veggies! Those are good carbs. Stop fearing carbs.
  • fitwithwhit88
    fitwithwhit88 Posts: 59 Member
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    I'm exploring the Keto diet and that essentially calls for you to eat less than 40g, ideally no more than 20g of carbs per day, while upping your intake of fat grams significantly and maintaining a moderate intake of protein to fuel your body. For now, and probably for the duration of my little test here, I'm eating 40g of net carbs (grams from carbs - grams from fiber).

    Before I started this, I was eating ridiculous amounts of carbs (I recognize that now)....for example, most days, I was eating near (or above) 200g of carbs! Crazy! What someone above me said is true. The fewer carbs you eat, the less you crave them...and the less hungry I've been, surprisingly.

    To keep carbs under 40g a day, you have to be vigilant about what you're consuming. I check the nutrition labels on everything before I buy it to make sure there aren't any hidden carbs in there (sugar alcohols, sugar, etc.). Then there's the planning...I've stuck to pretty consistent meals this past week - omelette with sausage, cheese, sour cream, and salsa for breakfast, salad with cheese, eggs or chicken and olive oil/vinegar dressing, and bacon wrapped chicken with cheese for dinner. For snacks, I like almonds, 1 oz. portions of hard cheeses, and cottage cheese sprinkled with a little SF vanilla pudding mix or strawberry protein powder. To cure my sweet tooth, I've come up with an awesome protein cheesecake recipe - 1 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 c. cottage cheese, 1 scoop strawberry protein powder, 1 egg white, splash of vanilla, 2 tbsp. flax seed (for fiber). Mix together in microwaveable bowl until smooth. Place in microwave for ~1-2 minutes. Take out and enjoy immediately or pop in the fridge if you prefer it cold. :-)

    Hope this helps!
  • mab5338
    mab5338 Posts: 14
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    I know you said you are sick of shakes, but i do Whey protein shakes (chocolate, Target brand) and a cookie dough Quest bar for breakfast (microwave it for 15 second... oooh my goodness). Lunch I take a meat, either meatballs with shredded mozarella, pulled chicken (i make a lot of slow cooker meals). And dinner I usually do a large portion of veggies with meat, sausages, chicken, etc. Snacks that are great are sugar free jello with some whipped cream from a can, almonds, string cheese with pepperoni.

    When you shop, look for foods under 5 carbs. And remember that most people are counting net carbs, I eat between 50 and 80 Carbs a day with 20-30 being fiber, which keeps me around 40 NET carbsper day

    Try looking on the blog http://yourlighterside.com/ lots of low carb meals!
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
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    I'm exploring the Keto diet and that essentially calls for you to eat less than 40g, ideally no more than 20g of carbs per day, while upping your intake of fat grams significantly and maintaining a moderate intake of protein to fuel your body. For now, and probably for the duration of my little test here, I'm eating 40g of net carbs (grams from carbs - grams from fiber).

    Before I started this, I was eating ridiculous amounts of carbs (I recognize that now)....for example, most days, I was eating near (or above) 200g of carbs! Crazy! What someone above me said is true. The fewer carbs you eat, the less you crave them...and the less hungry I've been, surprisingly.

    To keep carbs under 40g a day, you have to be vigilant about what you're consuming. I check the nutrition labels on everything before I buy it to make sure there aren't any hidden carbs in there (sugar alcohols, sugar, etc.). Then there's the planning...I've stuck to pretty consistent meals this past week - omelette with sausage, cheese, sour cream, and salsa for breakfast, salad with cheese, eggs or chicken and olive oil/vinegar dressing, and bacon wrapped chicken with cheese for dinner. For snacks, I like almonds, 1 oz. portions of hard cheeses, and cottage cheese sprinkled with a little SF vanilla pudding mix or strawberry protein powder. To cure my sweet tooth, I've come up with an awesome protein cheesecake recipe - 1 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 c. cottage cheese, 1 scoop strawberry protein powder, 1 egg white, splash of vanilla, 2 tbsp. flax seed (for fiber). Mix together in microwaveable bowl until smooth. Place in microwave for ~1-2 minutes. Take out and enjoy immediately or pop in the fridge if you prefer it cold. :-)

    Hope this helps!


    That's not healthy. Where the heck are your fruits and veggies?!!!
  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
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    <40g a day, eat mostly meat and eggs but I had bad experiences on very low carb, although it does make the weight drop off quickly, and its not healthy
  • Carnivor0us
    Carnivor0us Posts: 1,752 Member
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    I'm exploring the Keto diet and that essentially calls for you to eat less than 40g, ideally no more than 20g of carbs per day, while upping your intake of fat grams significantly and maintaining a moderate intake of protein to fuel your body. For now, and probably for the duration of my little test here, I'm eating 40g of net carbs (grams from carbs - grams from fiber).

    Before I started this, I was eating ridiculous amounts of carbs (I recognize that now)....for example, most days, I was eating near (or above) 200g of carbs! Crazy! What someone above me said is true. The fewer carbs you eat, the less you crave them...and the less hungry I've been, surprisingly.

    To keep carbs under 40g a day, you have to be vigilant about what you're consuming. I check the nutrition labels on everything before I buy it to make sure there aren't any hidden carbs in there (sugar alcohols, sugar, etc.). Then there's the planning...I've stuck to pretty consistent meals this past week - omelette with sausage, cheese, sour cream, and salsa for breakfast, salad with cheese, eggs or chicken and olive oil/vinegar dressing, and bacon wrapped chicken with cheese for dinner. For snacks, I like almonds, 1 oz. portions of hard cheeses, and cottage cheese sprinkled with a little SF vanilla pudding mix or strawberry protein powder. To cure my sweet tooth, I've come up with an awesome protein cheesecake recipe - 1 oz. cream cheese, 1/4 c. cottage cheese, 1 scoop strawberry protein powder, 1 egg white, splash of vanilla, 2 tbsp. flax seed (for fiber). Mix together in microwaveable bowl until smooth. Place in microwave for ~1-2 minutes. Take out and enjoy immediately or pop in the fridge if you prefer it cold. :-)

    Hope this helps!


    That's not healthy. Where the heck are your fruits and veggies?!!!

    I guess you missed the part about the salads and salsa. High sugar fruits are not encouraged on keto, but loads of veggies are. I probably eat more vegetables on a ketogenic diet than I did when I was eating a 'normal' 50% carbohydrate **** diet.

    To the OP, I keep my carbs between 40-50g per day (10% of total calories) and it's easy to do once you've got a goal in mind. Also you soon stop missing sugar and grains.
  • MMAQueen
    MMAQueen Posts: 279 Member
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    lots of fiber full veggies, leafy greens and so on

    nuts and such are also great, just be careful how much you eat, it's very easy to over eat them

    get creative with your shakes, and cocoa, or a bit of berries(they are tooo bad for sugar/carbs).

    avocados are amazing for getting good nutrients, fat, and very low carb.
  • recesq
    recesq Posts: 154 Member
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    For those who do not have metabolic syndrome, carbs are not like garlic to a vampire. But for those of us that do, under 100 grams of carbs a day may be too much.

    How do we do it? One day at a time....BUT planning and preparation.
    For a non OCD'er like me, that's pretty damn tough.
    Ifyou can do it for 30 days straight, but at one day at a time, it will be more likely to become habit and those bad habits will be less likely to appear.

    Look at what you CAN have, not what you can't.

    Steak
    Burgers
    Fish
    Chicken
    Turkey
    Cheese
    Eggs
    Bacon
    Sausage
    Lettuce
    Cucumbers
    Green Beans
    Cauliflower-makes a good mashed potato substitute
    Butter
    Olive Oil
    Ham
    Bologna
    Hot Dogs
    Burgers
    No bean chili
    Nature's Own Whole Wheat double fiber no sugar bread-8 carbs a slice.
    Almond and soy flower to make pancakes
    half and half
    whole cream
    greek plain yogurt
    stevia
    blueberries
    strawberries
    cherries
    granny smith apples
    grapefruit
    almonds
    peanuts
    natural peanut butter
    Polaner no sugar jelly
    water
    tea
    coffee
    blue cheese dressing
    naked chicken wings
    spinach
    greens
    fatback
    roasts
    and perhaps the best thing on this list: BREYERS CARB SMART 4 grams carb ice cream.
    and the list goes on and on........

    I promise you if you stock your kitchen with the above list you will hardly ever, I and I would say never for most of us, feel deprived.

    That list above is basically my diet.
    I've lost 47 lbs in about 2.5 months, with not a lot of exercise yet...and more importantly my cholesterol went from 201 to 198 and my trigl are down to 116.CHOL/HDLC ratio is 4.1 and non hdl is 150. LDL is 127. HDL 48.
    Oh and I currently weigh 358 lbs.....
    Only 108 to go....!
    How depressing.
  • JisatsuHoshi
    JisatsuHoshi Posts: 421 Member
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    http://josepharcita.blogspot.com/2011/03/guide-to-ketosis.html

    ^ a guide for very low carb dieting (kerogenic diet)

    Also has a long list of foods you can and cannot eay.

    I been doing this diet for 3 months and gotten down to 5.7% bf
  • VeinsAndBones
    VeinsAndBones Posts: 550 Member
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    Why? Do have a medical condition?
  • fuzzymop55
    fuzzymop55 Posts: 70 Member
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    I keep my carbs typically 20g or less. You are more than welcome to view my diary for ideas. I keep it open to anyone to view. I wish I had gone keto when I started Jan 21st of this year. I would have been already at my goal.
  • JisatsuHoshi
    JisatsuHoshi Posts: 421 Member
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    No medical conditions here. Ketogenic dieting is a fat loss/cutting diet. A lot of (i didnt state all...) Pro-body builders use this diet to shred down their bf% Weeks before their competitions shows so they can look their best. It dries them out so veins and muscles are more revealing. 1 gram Carbs = 4 grams water retention... It's also muscle sparing since,you eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight...

    Pretty much it's the same approach the Atkins diet uses but the Carbs are a lot lower with more food restrictions. Being a former personal trainer myself I never had any issues while on this diet. In fact im in the best shape of my life. I was eating Carbs with a 40/40/20 diet but barely could put up 65lbs dumbbells... weak sauce yes? Switched to keto 3 months ago and my Bf % went from 10.2% to 5.7% while at the same time mystrength shot through the roof. Now benching 90lbs dumbbells.

    no complaints here...
  • sunnyskys2013
    sunnyskys2013 Posts: 159 Member
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    I just want to follow this. I think low carb is the way to go. But i like to read what other think.
  • Scubanana7
    Scubanana7 Posts: 361 Member
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    I, too, wish I had gone KETO MUCH MUCH SOONER. It took me over a year to lose 35 lbs eating about 80-140 carbs/day. I just lost 15 in less than 2 months on High Fat, Low Carb. And I had already gone gluten free and then gave up all grains before I migrated to this plan of eating. I dont' get hungry either and I am finding all kinds of recipes for low carb treats....bread, pancakes,etc. My photo is a pic of the oopsie bread I made today for a delish lean hamburger.

    I don't follow the mantra of eating a bunch of fatty animal products. My fats mostly come from a little cheese, a little butter, a little mayo, eggs, alvocado, olives and olive oil, flax seed, almonds, real blue cheese salad dressing, coconut oil, unsweetened coconut flakes. I do eat plenty of green veges and vegan protein shakes along with fish, chicken, turkey, turkey pepperoni, occasional lean beef. I finally found something I could be happy eating. I do eat blueberries and will add more fruits as I slowly up my carbs. I do 20 net carbs, which is usually around 40 total carbs minus 20g of fiber. I also eat other lower carb veges like squash, mushrooms, celery, eggplant. I get a good variety of food and this is working fantastic for me. I also am a new convert to Bulletproof Coffee (check out the thread on it on mfp).

    ps. I also LOVE quest bars. They are just like candy without the sugar. Many are gluten free and vegan. Some have splenda but a lot have a type of sugar alcohol that does not cause the gastric issues that most diet bars have. They are a treat, but I have been making my own treats from easy recipes I find online (and here). Pumpkin and flax seed muffins, flax and almond pancakes, flax bread, and today's new treat--the oopsie bread. I have never been happier on a 'diet.' My blood sugars have never been better! I really think I might get to decrease both blood pressure and blood sugar meds when I have my checkup in a few weeks.

    Not everyone is a low carb believer....but if you are having trouble losing, it is something you might want to look into. Do your own research. There is tons of info on high fat, low carb. All I know is that it is working for this 58-year-old diabetic better than anything else I have tried. And I don't feel cheated or starved or uphappy with my food list.

    and not everyone is a gluten-free believer either. Which is fine. I have a lot of seasonal allergies and since I have gone gluten free, I no longer take a daily claritin. I need one occasionally when mold or dust is very high. I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but taking an allergy pill once a month or so is way better than daily. I don't know if the gluten caused my allergies to flare more often...all I do know is that they are very insignificant now.