How many Carbs is too many?

For low carb, I try and stay around 50 carbs per day, and those are good carbs from fruits & veggies. Hope this helps.

I'm doing a low carb diet for the first time. I am wondering how many carbs is too many per meal/snack?

Low carb diets are fashionbable because they create the (illusion) of fantastic 'weight' loss.

This is due to dehydration, so most of the 'weight' is actually water.

It's because you're using up your carbohydrate stores which are stored with water.
After a day or two of this , you can be losing protein (muscle tissue) which is also stored with water.
Together, they lose massive amounts of water, so you appear to have lost 'weight'......... but very little body fat.

Using MFP, try to make sure you consume at least 50-55% of your clorie intake from carbohydrates.

I say since this is your first time doing low carb, then you don't have a lot of time invested in this eating plan, so it's not too late to get the heck away from it and into something more balanced. Low carb diets are one of the main contributors to gallstones. Gallstones might sound like no big deal. That's what I thought too, until I had to have mine removed and I missed 6 weeks of work due to 'complications' from the 'simple laproscopic procedure' they performed on me.

Read this:

http://www.helium.com/items/779390-drawbacks-of-low-carb-diets

A small blurb from the article:

"Doctors explained to us that people who eat a lot of meat and fat, and also people who have been on low carb diets, are at high risk for gallbladder disease. I was shocked. I have read a lot about low carb diets, and I have been on every low carb diet under the sun, and nowhere have I ever read this. But doctors are well aware of the problem. In many cases, the health risks of obesity overlap and outweigh the risks for gallbladder disease, so if an obese person can lose weight and keep it off on a low carb diet, the doctor may find the trade-off worth it. But constantly going on and off a low carb regimen, losing and regaining the same weight, is a good way to insure a painful midlife illness."


It's just something to think about......the last thing you want is 6 weeks of painful recovery from a surgery you wouldn't have needed if you chose a different method to losing the weight.

Good luck!

For clarification, gallstones and gallbladder problems are most often exacerbated by a LACK of fat in the diet.

If you have existing gallbladder problems or have had your gallbladder removed, and begin a diet with a high fat content, you may have problems - namely in the regulation of bile.



Choosing to eat low carb because it works for you and controls your appetite is not a FAD, nor a death sentence. It can be a means of controlling appetite and regulating blood sugar.

Initial weight loss on low carb (or ANY diet, "lifestyle plan", whatever you choose to call it) IS WATER WEIGHT. We lose water weight first. Please repeat after me:

Initial weight loss IS water weight. It may be even more profound of a loss on low carb on account of ketosis occurring.

And again. And again. And a few more times...There, got that?

Continued controlled carb eating is virtually no different than any other form of controlling what you're eating - be it limiting fat, limiting calories (which, by the way, the majority of low carbers DO continue to eat a sensible amount of daily calories) --- it's a means of regulating what we eat to achieve weight loss. In time, weight loss shifts from initial water weight loss to fat loss. If you are combining your sensible eating plan with fitness, which, of course, is recommended, you will not magically lose muscle mass simply because you're following a low carb plan. If that were the case, then the majority of bodybuilders following an low carb diet before competition would be screwed.

I eat low carb, work out daily (including heavy lifting), and it works for me. By works I mean I am losing measurable body fat - measured by tape / calipers / fit of my clothing / photos. The amount of carbs that I eat daily - 20-50g - is my own personal choice. I came to that level after basically eating and watching the scale. I continue my progress at that level. When I shift to maintenance intake, I will probably increase it somewhat or remain around 50g daily.

lol consuming healthy fat was the only way i could get in enough calories a day when i was low carbing. all i know is that prior to losing weight, i was healthy other than being overweight, no gallbladder issues, no family history of gallbladder issues. low carbed, lost a bunch of weight, then presto, gallstones and surgery to remove the organ. every doctor involved in the procedures blamed it on low carb dieting because nothing else related to my lifestyle fit the bill.

these days, i don't pick a single nutrient to limit. i eat balanced, and enjoy whole grains, fruits, veggies, etc and im still losing weight. i definitely don't tolerate refined carbs well at all (they induce cravings and eating binges), but enjoying apples, oranges, and whole grain bread and pasta is like one of those 'guilty' pleasures because i know im still dropping weight while eating foods i had grown to label as forbidden, thanks to diet plans that excluded these items during the weight loss phase.

i cant think of much that sucks as bad as feeling guilty for eating an orange. to heck with that.

I'm doing a low carb diet for the first time. I am wondering how many carbs is too many per meal/snack?

Low carb diets are fashionbable because they create the (illusion) of fantastic 'weight' loss.

This is due to dehydration, so most of the 'weight' is actually water.

It's because you're using up your carbohydrate stores which are stored with water.
After a day or two of this , you can be losing protein (muscle tissue) which is also stored with water.
Together, they lose massive amounts of water, so you appear to have lost 'weight'......... but very little body fat.

Using MFP, try to make sure you consume at least 50-55% of your clorie intake from carbohydrates.

Ok, this is way far from being fact. Yes, the first 3-5 days it is water loss, but after that it is fat loss. Unless I had 108 pounds of water to lose, which I did not...........

I lost over 100 pounds on a low carb plan back in 2003 and I kept it off until 2008 when I found out I had thyroid issues that caused me to gain a good bit of the weight back very quickly.

I went and got my body fat analysis along with a muscle mass test done prior to starting, 6 months in and then after a year of being on low carb.............

It definitely is fat loss and low carbing is NOT a fad. Geeesh, please give the sterotypes and such a rest.

My body fat went WAY down, muscle mass went up and I no longer retained water.

Thanks Pals! You guys are super helpful. And just to clarify, I'm just doing low carb as a jump start. Once I get back into a healthier routine, I'll balance out. I've always counted calories and just wanted to try something new. Thanks for all the info!

If you read the Atkins book and how the carb additions go as you go along with the plan, everything ends up balancing out...............

My low-carb days I stay between 100 and 150. My high carb days (once every 4-6 days) I go over 300. If you do go low carb, pay attention to how you feel. If you feel so sluggish that you can't commit to your exercise like you should, Then add more carbs to your intake.

That's about where I"m at as well. I'm not sure many would count that as "low carb" because we're eating over double what everyone else is eating on a low carb diet. LOL.
That being said, I've reduced all white carbs and enriched carbs or cut them out entirely and that has significantly contributed to my weight loss.

Eating 150 grams of carbs or less per day is considered to be a "low" or "controlled" carb plan..............It is far from the Standard American Diet (SAD).

If you are eating 150 grams of carbs or less, that means you are eating very clean and eating healthy foods.............very little or no processed foods.

YAY, good for you!!!

Exactly. People take things to far. Bodybuilders sometimes use something called a Keto diet, which is based on Something called ketosis, which is a state where your body basically doesn't have enough energy from carbs just to get through the day and has to use fat much of the time. The super low carbers (50 or less/day) are doing a keto diet, which is really ONLY necissary if you're trying to cut that last little amount of fat (hence its use by bodybuilders) and don't mind getting sluggish for the sake of looks. I don't see how this is conducive to the healthy fit life we are trying to lead here. 120-150/day from mostly good sources get me through the day, and help to cut fat, while the calorie deficit is the main catalyst for the over-all fat loss I'm looking for.

If I was not carb cycling (using a high-carb day every 4-6 days to spike my metablism and burn more fat on low-carb days) then I would be maintaining around 200 carbs/day and allowing my calorie deficit to do all the work. The calorie deficit alone is plenty to get the weight dropping slowly but surely, which is the best type of losing.

I was never sluggish when I was in Ketosis. I had more energy than I knew what to do with...............

And the other thing is................everyone's body has a different carb threshold, just like each person has a different Calorie threshold. Just because I am only able to eat up to 80 grams of carbs per day total without losing or gaining, doesn't mean that your carb allowance is the same.

You will have to play around with your numbers (calories, carbs, fat and protein) and find what ratio works for YOU.