Low carb, high protein.... HELP !!!

I would stay under your calorie goal and you will lose weight.

Ok, Last Tuesday I began a low carb, high protein diet. A friend of mine has a trainer that told her (then she told me), that you shouldn't eat processed foods, drink any caffeine, or have any potatoes or white bread, etc. Her trainer also said you can eat as much fruit as you want. This is where I am confused. Obviously, fruit is better to eat than a Snickers bar but it still has natural sugar and calories. I have been eating one to two small apples a day or one to two bananas a day for my snacks in between a light breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I need advice from someone that has did a low carb diet. I'm currently eating less than 100 grams of carbs per day. The average so far is about 60 a day.

Well, why not try it for a month and see how it goes?

Then you can re adjust to suit you if it doesn`t work.

Every person is different, but if you want to lose weight in a healthy way and get a good tone for your body, then it really is about finding good nutrition and exercising.

Sometimes you just have to learn

what is the difference between setting your carb limit at say 122, calories and 1220 and eating what you want... then exercising it all off?? I have been doing this for the past 4+ months and have lost 30,4oz. It appears to work for me.

Yes, avoid the foods you KNOW are not good: greasy foods, high carb foods, etc etc.. but if you eat whatever you eat and then exercise it off, what is the difference??

This is ok, as long as you don't overdo it. It's all too easy to tell yourself that it's ok to have something as long as you exercise it off. Then, you have more of it and/or don't wind up exercising that day and it becomes a norm. All that being said, see how you feel when you eat fruit. Take it out for 2+ weeks and then add it back in for 2+ weeks and see how you feel. I like to stay away from fruit in general (I just feel better when I stay low sugar - even natural sugar), but when I need something sweet, I definitely spring for an apple. Go with how you feel, not what anyone else tells you

I did Atkins back in 2002-2003. I lost 86 pounds in a year and a quarter. I plateaued for a year and then slowly gained it all back. I ate a ton of bacon and other meats, cheeses, and then some vegetables, but rarely fruit or anything. In short, I was successful because i weighed 287 pounds when I started and was eating so much that by switching to this, I ate foods that made me feel full. But it only took me so far. Since I didn't make it a lifestyle change, I wasn't able to sustain it, and I didn't want to cut back any more when I finally plateaued and needed to decrease calories. I also felt like crap.

I changed my lifestyle on February 23, 2013. I've lost 70 pounds. I'm averaging just under 10 pounds a month. I started at 291. I don't deny myself anything - I just make it fit my calorie goals. I also move more. I started out at 1360 calories per day, and with eating back exercise calories, and I let MFP set my macros, etc. I still pretty much do that, but I've figured out my TDEE and all that as well, so I have more knowledge this time. I pick foods I feel are better for me, but again, I don't deny myself anything - I just make sure I have the calories reserved for it.

In short, I don't think you need to go low carb. Get a good balance that works for you is my advice. I love Dave's Killer Bread for my bread choice, and I don't hesitate to eat a bunch of fruit. I don't worry about going over my sugars if it is fruit pushing me over If I started stalling out significantly again like I did 10 years ago, I'd look at readjusting or something, but denying yourself foods seems to be the surefire path to failure in the long-run.

That said, if you are trying to do a true low carb diet, go research it at Atkins or some other site and find foods that fit. It doesn't sound like the person talking to you really understood a real low carb diet.

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I would also suggest eating "something" every 3-4 hrs to keep blood sugars level. Low blood sugar will drive cravings and binges.

If you are eating plenty of healthy fat, and low(ish) carb, your blood sugar shouldn't spike and eating that often is no longer necessary.

It could be because I just started this and have not hit ketosis yet, but restricting to 1200/day(doctor's orders btw) and <50 on the carbs is not an easy task.... so for now, it's what I have to do to get by. It was just friendly suggestion. :-)

True, when first starting out it takes a while to get your hunger stabilized.

Remember you must increase your fat intake, moderate protein, very important if you restricting carbs to that level. Otherwise when you go in to ketosis, you won't have any dietary fat to burn. Yes you will burn your own fat, but not at first. Besides you want to eat during this initial stage.