Low carb diet?

There is an awesome community dedicated to low-carb (called "ketogenic diet") on reddit at r/keto. Might be able to answer lots of your questions in their FAQ.

The general principle is to keep your carbs under 50g per day. Let me tell you, it is NOT easy to do.

If I'm trying to do a low carb diet where should my macro goals be set to ? I have no idea so I was hoping someone could answer this for me. I do exercise but light exercise and not always probably three to four days out of the week burning 200-400 when I do exercise.

Bit of a guess, assuming 1200 cals a day try 10 or 15% carbs (30 or 45 grams) with 20 to 35% protein and fats to make up the difference. the macros settings are in steps of 5%.

our first step is to choose what's more important to you: fat loss or lean mass gains. You may ask, "What if I want both?" However, this is one of those situations where you're better off tackling one goal at a time. While lean mass gains can occur alongside fat loss, neither process will occur at its full potential. Why? Higher carbohydrate ratios augment lean mass gains, while lower carbohydrate ratios tend to accelerate fat loss.

There are ways you can move incrementally toward fat and build muscle simultaneously, such as carb-cycling, where you alternate muscle-building phases of higher carbs with periods of lower carbs to encourage fat burning. Some recent research also supports intermittent fasting as a means of achieving both fat loss and mass gains. However, individual results vary in both cases, and neither is an excuse to disregard your macros altogether.

Regardless of what method you choose, you'll see more pronounced mass gains, or more rapid fat loss, if you focus primarily on one main goal at a time. Many pro fitness athletes utilize a "building" phase lasting several weeks or months, followed by a "cutting" phase to achieve a well-developed, yet lean physique. This doesn't have to be extreme or unpleasant in order to work, as long as you stick to these typical macronutrient ranges.
fat never goes below 15 percent of total calories. Since hormones are constructed from cholesterol and other fat molecules, getting any less than that can actually suppress normal hormone levels. This also has a negative effect on the bodily functions driven by those hormones, including growth and development, metabolism, reproduction, and mood. Low fat intake can also impair absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Even worse, not getting enough essential fatty acids can increase your risk of colon cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.

But as you might imagine, not just any fat source will do. Prioritizie healthy fat sources like monounsaturated fats like monounsaturated fats (avocados, egg yolks, olives, nuts, peanut butter, canola oil, olive oil, high-oleic sunflower oil), medium-chain triglycerides (coconut oil), and omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, and other fish, grass-fed beef, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, soybeans, tofu, edamame, beans, wild rice, and walnuts).
nce you determined your primary fitness objective, it's important to factor in your body type. This will help determine how well you tolerate carbs and establish where in the above ranges you should start.

There are three general body types, with many people falling somewhere in between. While the endomorph could be considered the polar opposite of the ectomorph, many people are a combination of "endo/meso" or "ecto/meso." Even if you end up determining you're somewhere in the middle, these categories are helpful for establishing a nutritional benchmark. Start with the body type you most resemble, and tweak as necessary
In general, women are more efficient at burning fat and less efficient at burning the glycogen stored in muscle. As such, they may be able to operate on lower carbohydrate intake than men.

Research suggests a variety of reasons that women have a greater reliance on fats for fuel during exercise, including:

Estrogen enhances epinephrine production, the primary hormone that stimulates lipolysis (fatty acid breakdown).
Estrogen promotes the release of human growth hormone (HGH), which inhibits the uptake of carbohydrates and increases the mobilization of fatty acids from adipose tissue.
Women have increased blood flow to adipose tissue, which could assist in fatty acid mobilization.
Women have higher levels of intramuscular triglycerides (IMTG), a fat-based source of fuel that spares muscle glycogen during moderate to high intensity exercise. This sparing of muscle glycogen may actually give women an endurance edge when performing at high intensities against men!
According to one study, men appear to rely more on stored carbohydrate for fuel than women when doing the same exercise.
Diet recommendation: Does this mean that women should always have a lower carb intake than men? Not necessarily. An ectomorphic woman training at high intensity would likely need a higher carbohydrate percentage than a sedentary endomorphic man.

On the other hand, a mesomorphic male trying to maintain weight would likely require a higher percentage of carbohydrate, perhaps in the range of 40 percent, while a woman of the same body type with the same goal may wish to start at around 30 percent.

A woman training at low to moderate intensity, I would suggest first referencing the above macro ranges to select a ratio that corresponds to your fitness goals and body type. Then, start on the low end for carbohydrates and see how you do.

Male or female, if you feel fatigued and weak from your workouts, yet you fail to build muscle mass, you should consider increasing your carbs.

MACROS ARE JUST ONE PART OF THE PUZZLE
After the hundredth or so time that you hear "abs are made in the kitchen," it can be tempting to spend all your time worrying about macronutrient ratios and pay less mind to other factors that are just as important to your overall results. Don't lose the forest for the trees!
One crucial additional factor is the total calories you take in. Even the perfect macronutrient ratio is ineffective if your calorie intake is too high or low. And along the same line, you can't expect to achieve a toned, muscular physique if you are unwilling to take training seriously!

This may sound like a lot to keep in mind, but don't get frustrated. You're building a healthier lifestyle here, not just doing math. Determining your ideal nutritional strategy will take time, and as your fitness goals evolve, your ideal macro ratio will too. But with determination, resolve, and a willingness to change, you'll keep progressing toward great things.

Good Luck!

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Hi there. I've gained a lot of experience with low carb. A year ago I went for 9 months at less than 20g of carbs per day. And also high fat. The 'Modified Atkins Diet' it's called, very similar to the ketogenic diet. Basically your body starts to produce Ketones and your primary source of energy becomes fat instead of sugars/carbs. It seemed pretty great. I lost 35 pounds without trying (I did it for other health reasons). It can definitely be useful in dropping the pounds. What you have to consider, and i'm sure you'll hear this all the time, is gaining the weight back on after discontinuing the diet. Your body gets used to producing less insulin because your intake of sugars is so low, and that continues on when you reintroduce carbs and you end up gaining weight when all you've done is return to your basic non-low carb diet.

You also have to consider how dedicated you think you are to doing it. When you remove bread and anything sweet from your diet it can be difficult and I'd definitely have the occasional slip up. Those slip ups can throw you out of ketosis for a day or so and in that instance you're doing this diet for practically nothing.

After trying that diet and gaining weight back on myself, I've found simple calorie counting and setting specific goals for exercising and diet is more sustainable and realistic for the long term, at least for myself.