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farmers_daughter
farmers_daughter Posts: 1,632 Member
Ok - so I'm having a conversation with my health coach (He's got a BS in Health Promotion and Wellness) - I'm trying to follow what he's handing me....the upcoming goal is 100 carbs a day. Ugh.

I want to run this by you guys.... do any females in here do this? find this logical? When he says 4000 calories a day....OMG... I immediately think he's one that works out 2 hours of the day and earns a *kitten* ton of calories from it? Idk going low carb is it different?

"I’ve told you many times about the issues with calories. I feel like I'm repeating myself; Calories are different from each individual and I don’t want you to count the calories. I love chronometer, it's my favorite nutrition tracker but it shouldn’t set the number calories recommended. It is setting that number by simply how much you weight, that’s it. You need to set that number, you can set that number by how much you are use to eating to how much you want to eat (this number needs to be realistic and I can set it for you if you want me to). I want you to look more at the macros. Now this is going to sound like an impossible feat, but I want you to try to get your carbs to less than 100 a day and tell me if that possible for you today. (I consume less than 50 so I know you can do it )

Calories, I eat almost 4 thousand calories a day. I said it, now that does not mean I think you should eat that many calories a day? Hell no! Don’t worry about what other people are doing or saying. You have your set goals and hold onto those and make sure you're staying on track."

What are your thought? If I posted this in the forums I'd be eaten alive.

Replies

  • sljohnson1207
    sljohnson1207 Posts: 818 Member
    couple of thoughts:

    (1) 100 carbs per day is not that low. In fact, it is quite doable.

    (2) 4000 calories a day is his calorie goal. it's probably his maintenance calories set for his gender, age, weight, activity level. Or he's trying to gain muscle mass.

    (3) If you are trying to lose fat pounds, cutting your carbs is a good approach.

    (4) eating 100 carbs per day is probably not going to put you into ketosis, which is normally the goal of people doing low carb diets...not always, but usually.

    (5) if you aren't as active as he is, you still may have to watch your calorie intake, but I think what he's trying to tell you is get the macros right, and the calories will probably fall in line on their own.

    (6) lowering carbs and increasing fats and proteins is very satiating, and you may actually find it difficult to meet, much less ever exceed a calorie goal.

    You didn't say what calorie range he thinks you should consume. You also didn't state the macro ratio he wants you to consume.

    For many of us on the low carb journey, our macros are somewhere around 65% fats/30% protein/5% carbs. We also count our carbs as net carbs (carbs - fiber - sugar alcohols = net carbs).
  • farmers_daughter
    farmers_daughter Posts: 1,632 Member
    He didn't say what percent of those but I didn't ask for it yet.

    I doubt I am as active as him, I do bootcamp (circuit training 3 days a week 45 minutes each) and then just normal life stuff.

    Ok whew....it's just nice to have someone else at least halfway agree with him for once.

    I know I'm gonna try not to kill these ladies in the office here who are focused on 1200-1300 calories diets, and not giving a rip about macros or quality of food.
  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
    I ate way more calories than the 3500 cal/ lb voodoo weight loss math and had no problem losing ton of fat and lost 10-11 inches of my waist in 3 months. I eat if I am hungry even it means going over so called calorie limit people dread about. I usually keep my macros to 80% fat, 15% protein and 5% carbs if I am going through a fat loss phase. However, 4000 cals sounds a lot, I have couple of friends who compete in women's power lifting competitions and they eat around 3500 cals during their most intense training phases. But again it depends on how much muscle mass, water weight and fat you have in your body.
  • farmers_daughter
    farmers_daughter Posts: 1,632 Member
    I'm sorry to keep bugging you guys, but my coach is on vacation, and I keep hearing everyone yap about thier "low cal" diets, I'm starting to freak out a little.

    The last three days have been:
    Cal 1500
    Sugar 21
    Carb 152
    Fat 74
    Protien 86

    Cal 1800
    Sug 45
    Carb 92
    Fat 136
    prot 90

    cal 1200
    sug 28
    Carb 50
    fat 91
    prot 70


    I'm going pretty high on my calories and I can see I need to probably knock fat down a little (yes no?) But does this look right? if the goal is weight loss.

    My stats are
    CW 233
    GW 180
    Workout for 45 minutes 3-4 week. Circuit, weight lifting, tabata etc.Otherwise sit on my damn *kitten* at a computer all day :happy:

    Sincerly I thank you for any help suggestions!!!

    Edit: formatting
  • sljohnson1207
    sljohnson1207 Posts: 818 Member
    Best advice I can give you, is if you want to go low carb, increase your fats, and eat moderate protein. You cannot do low fat and low carb without having a lot of protein, which can be turned easily to glycogen and then fat if not burned off.

    Something is off with the calories here. When you do the math for these macros, your first day is 1952 cals, second day is 1610 cals, and third day is 1299 cals.

    You aren't tracking fiber, so we can't see what your net carbs are. Please add that.

    Also, you dramatically dropped your carbs to 50, even though I thought you were aiming for 100. Why?

    Your third day is more in line with low carb diets, however, the calories may be too low. Your ratio on that day appears to be 15% carbs/63% fats/22% proteins.
  • farmers_daughter
    farmers_daughter Posts: 1,632 Member
    Ok I added Fiber to my tickers.

    And I didn't label it very well. the 1200 day is today so I'm not done yet, the one in the middle is yesterday and the first one is two days ago. Sorry!

    How do you determine net carbs?
  • MissyAZjourney
    MissyAZjourney Posts: 96 Member
    you subtract fiber grams from the carb grams and that is your Net Carb Count.

    If you have 50 carbs and eat 10 grams of fiber, your net carb count for the day is 40.
  • deansdad101
    deansdad101 Posts: 644 Member
    Ok I added Fiber to my tickers.

    And I didn't label it very well. the 1200 day is today so I'm not done yet, the one in the middle is yesterday and the first one is two days ago. Sorry!

    How do you determine net carbs?
    FD;

    Personally, that your "coach/trainer" (whatever it is) is on vacation, I would take as a blessing and extend his/her relaxation status to "permanent vacation" if I were you (meant "mostly" in jest).

    As to the "net carbs" info, there is an add-on (extension) for MFP that will add the "net carbs" column to you daily totals display. It's available here:
    http://cavemanketo.com/configuring-mfp/
    Scroll down to the paragraph that begins, "MFP is a great tool, BUT.....

    Extensions are dependent upon the specific browser you are using (IE, Chrome, FF) but most are available for each so be sure to select the one you need OR you can simply use MFP with the browser that does support the add on you want.

    Here are a couple for Chrome that might interest you:
    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/foodfastfit

    Back to the "I eat 99,000 cals per day..." crowd

    You must first decide for yourself if CICO (cals in cals out) or LCHF (low carb, high fat) is the "right" approach for YOU. The ONLY way to do that (past blind allegiance) is to do the research, apply what you learn to YOUR particular situation, and pick ONE.

    It's not a "pick one from column A and one from column B" kind of deal.
    Yes, there are certainly overlapping issues and yes there are those so firmly entrenched in a belief that says "My way is the ONLY way..." - best to simply IGNORE them all.

    Weight loss, and more importantly, LONG TERM overall health, fitness, and weight maintenance IS NOT ideology - it's Science.

    You have already witnessed a number of the "myths" the ideologues are forced to repeat ad infinitum in an attempt to convince themselves that what they "want" to believe will come true if they just say it enough times since there is no science that actually supports their positions.

    Only YOU can determine the best course for YOU, try it for long enough (and with close enough adherence to the principals upon which it is based), and evaluate the results based on your tracking data.

    If it's LCHF (or any of the many "modifications" of the basic theory), it does NOT mean that tracking cals is no longer advisable - doing so absolutely IS (IMO), at least in the beginning so you are able to make an informed decision based on actual data vs voodoo "beliefs".

    It does mean, however, that cals IN daily targets are much less important than macro percentages (and real numbers), and eventually, cal intake will pretty much take care of itself if you are meeting your macro goals.

    Take a look at some of the other threads on this board where there are a number of good "links" to various sites with some excellent (and science based) resources or post back if you would like some recommendations.

    But, in the end, it's not about what I (or anybody else), thinks is "best" for YOU - that's your decision to make.