What percentage of carbs should I aim for?

Depends on which low carb plan you're utilizing. If it's keto, it's best to aim for 5-10%.

Thanks guys! I'm not following any particular plan as of now...just trying to eliminate carbs/sugar and see what happens

Hm, well look at how much you eat now and I guess cut it in half and see what happens.

Thanks guys! I'm not following any particular plan as of now...just trying to eliminate carbs/sugar and see what happens

If you limit you calories as well, what will happen is you will lose weight, probably fairly quickly in my opinion. The reasons for going "relatively" low carb are the same reasons for going as low carb as possible. I have my carb percentage set to 5%, which is 19g for me. I often go over that number, but I try not to go over 30g. Best of luck to you!

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

The reason you gained it all back was you went back to a overly carby way of eating. Common sense says that if you're eating low carb, if you go back to normal, you will gain weight. Also, our brains don't need carbs to function or work out. Plus, we are LIMITING carbs, not cutting them out completely.

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

You should expect to gain back the initial water weight you lost on a LCHF diet once you reintroduce carbs into your diet, as your body will begin replenishing its muscle glycogen stores. That said, if you gained fat back after stopping a LCHF diet, you simply ate too many calories. LCHF diets aren't magical in that calories still matter and they don't somehow monkey with your metabolism such that you will necessarily gain weight back when you once again eating carbs (again, beyond some water retention).

Thank you all so much for your replies. I did mean reduce and not eliminate carbs. I still want to get carbs from veggies, just not grains.

If you want your body to enter a state of ketosis, you will probably need to keep net carbs <25g or so at first. On the other hand, I know many people that simply keep their carbs at 100g or less, and while they aren't in ketosis (which certainly isn't a requirement for weight loss), they still have great success with their diets.

I have mines at 45% or 182 grams.

Is there a way to input the numbers or change the percentage without being forced to chose a percentage by increments of 5?

I been struggling as where I should have my carbs at. But I'm content with my other macro numbers. ... for now. lol


Edit: Sorry for hijack. :flowerforyou:

I have mines at 45% or 182 grams.

Is there away to input the numbers or change the percentage without being forced to chose a percentage by increments of 5?

I been struggling as where I should have my carbs at. But I'm content with my other macro numbers. ... for now. lol


Edit: Sorry for hijack. :flowerforyou:

The only way I've seen to put in specific macros in terms of grams, rather than percentages, is pretty hacky and involves editing local copies of some of the MFP web pages. I'd love for MFP to add that feature as I'd love to have my macros set exactly where I want them, but it is what it is. That said, you can get pretty close using the percentages, so ultimately it's not that big of a deal.

I tried the keto lifestyle, lost so much weight, was working wonders. Then when i went back to eating normal, I gained all the weight plus more back.

I don't recommend cutting too much carbs, Your brain and body needs it to function.
especially if you exercise.

Totally this. Your body needs carbs for energy. They are just fine for you, no sense trying to deny your body.

I have more energy now than when I was eating loads of carbs. Also, once again, you're not denying your body of carbs when you eat low-carb. You are limiting the carbs.

I'm getting really sick of people practically bullying the low-carb eaters on here.

Honestly, most people don't really understand the science behind how their body works on a balanced diet, much less how it works in a state of ketosis. Conventional wisdom still predominates and LCHF diets are still relatively misunderstood. I'm sure most people don't mean to bully others; they simply are ignorant to the science behind it and how it all works.

Well, and there's a half-truth there as well. Your brain does need glucose but that doesn't mean you need to eat hundreds of grams of carbs per day. Almost every LCHF diet includes some carbs, usually sufficient to provide your brain with what it needs to function, and your body also has ways of making glucose for your brain from other sources. So, again, I'd say it's ignorance that causes people to take a simple statement (i.e., your brain needs glucose) and distort it to bash LCHF diets. In any event, sorry to hijack the thread OP. :-)