Thinking about drastically cutting my carb intake
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I think it kind of depends on your fitness level too..... Are you athletic and work out HARD during your periods of exercise? Are you are a runner or trying to body build? If that is the case than cutting out carbs would be very detrimental to your health and overall goals. However, are you sedentary? Do you work a desk job like me? If so, cutting some carbs (especially simple carbs) may help you. I have cut way back on my carbohydrate intake and I have been feeling great. Some stomach/digestive issues I've had for over a year have greatly improved. One drawback though, is that I don't have a lot of energy for workouts. However, once I drop a few more pounds (makes things easier on my joints), I am going to increase carbs again and start using that source of energy to work out harder. I don't think there is any reason not to watch your carb intake, but I do not suggest going as low as you plan on. Try for about 30-35% of your caloric intake and see how you feel. Also, make sure the carbs that you DO eat are complex carbs. Good luck to you!0
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I'm not saying cut them out all together! They are just high in saturated fat and can cause heart problems! It's better for your body to not over consume that's all!
Meats and dairy are some of the best ways to get protein. I think the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. Of course, that's my opinion, but I think most will agree that protein sources like meat and dairy have far more to offer than carbs. I fail to see how your advice is beneficial to the OP, unless the OP has heart problems.0 -
You body uses carbs for energy and all sorts of other things. Cutting them out is not sustainable for the long term.
http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/carbs.html
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You know what's delicious? Carbs. Also: Dairy. And fat. And, you know....food.
I heartily recommend eating a little bit of all of those things, and more. Just don't overdo it.0 -
There is a lot of good advice and a lot of broscience in here OP. You need carbs, plain and simple. Like all good things, moderation is key. There is a pretty big range where the calories you get from carbs as a % of your diet is considered healthy. If you try to keep it under 60%, that is good. Too much might make your blood sugar shoot sky-high and then drop really low after a few hours, which might not feel so great, but that is the extent of the short-term effects.
The reason these low-carb diets seem to work is they are actually limiting calories. Most modern foods have a ton of carbohydrates per serving size, which, coincidentally, have more calories because of it (every 1g of carb produces 4 calories. 4 calories per 1g protein, 9 calories per 1g fat, in case you were wondering).
Eating some lower carb foods, like veggies, might help you feel fuller, because you need to eat more to get the some amount of calories, and you will lose weight as a byproduct of eating less because you don't feel hungry as often. But you are not losing weight directly from cutting the carbs. You are losing the weight from being in a calorie defecit. Don't confuse correlation with causation.0 -
bostonsdig wrote: »Agree with Brolympus on many of these comments. Do your own research, not what you learn from people who are relying on heresay and belief in old principles fed to us by our government and studies funded by the very people who benefit from us staying unhealthy. Saturated fat is good for you. Your body does not need carbs for energy.
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The body has fail-safe mechanisms in place to ensure it gets a bare minimum of glucose, even though after an adaptation period the body can make do on alternate fuel-don't you think carbs might be more important than some would have you believe.0 -
I have been doing some research, seems that cutting my carb intake even lower and entering a state of Ketosis may be the answer for me, Brown Rice is one of my staple foods, so this is going to be interesting. My fitness pal budgets about 240 Grams of Carbohydrates a day, this will mean cutting down to around 30 Grams a day super low-carb diet.
Here is one of the articles that I read about it.
http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/carb-back-loading-training-without-carbs
What do you think?
I think "why"? Cutting carbs will be the answer to what?0 -
tennisdude2004 wrote: »laineymummy wrote: »No! A major food group should not be cut out from anyone's diet. Its unsustainable and extremely unhealthy. Your body needs carbs, its the main food group that gives you energy. Just limit processed carbs and eat complex carbs, limit meat and dairy. Cut out saturated fat, eat good fats. Simple changes have a big impact over time. Its not gonna happen over night. Any diet that claims really fast initial weight loss will just be water weight you lose not fat ....
Unsustainable - no (will be for some won't be for others)
Extremely unhealthy - no (not even mildly unhealthy, in fact very healthy)
Your body needs carbs - no (at least not dietary).
Limit meat - no
limit dairy - no (unless you are intolerant of diary)
cut out saturated fats - no (hell no)
eat good fats - yes (best fat is saturated fat - worst is man made trans fats and limit your polyunsaturated fats)
Apart from those amendments, what she said.
Why do you say to limit polyunsaturated fats? My thought is the potential imbalance of Omega 3 and 6.0 -
I have been doing some research, seems that cutting my carb intake even lower and entering a state of Ketosis may be the answer for me, Brown Rice is one of my staple foods, so this is going to be interesting. My fitness pal budgets about 240 Grams of Carbohydrates a day, this will mean cutting down to around 30 Grams a day super low-carb diet.
Here is one of the articles that I read about it.
http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/carb-back-loading-training-without-carbs
What do you think?
I've been low(er) carb for around 2 years now. On non training days I'm around 100g training days 120-150 and if I'm on two-a-days I do 175-200. It's worked very well for me. A lot of the others are right 30 or less is too much and you won't have enough in reserve for training. I do however increase my [healthy] fat intake and add a little more protein to make up for the defecit0 -
I have been doing some research, seems that cutting my carb intake even lower and entering a state of Ketosis may be the answer for me, Brown Rice is one of my staple foods, so this is going to be interesting. My fitness pal budgets about 240 Grams of Carbohydrates a day, this will mean cutting down to around 30 Grams a day super low-carb diet.
Here is one of the articles that I read about it.
http://www.schwarzenegger.com/fitness/post/carb-back-loading-training-without-carbs
What do you think?
Keep in mind Kiefer has been in the gym since age 18 and does power lifting. I expect the article reflects his years of experience.
Since I do not lift and Carbs are an 'optional' food source unlike Fat and Protein I went to <50 grams of carbs daily. As Jim noted above there is a couple weeks typically for the body to shift from burning glucose from Carbs to burning ketones from the break down of Fats.
I moved accidently into nutritional ketosis when I was just trying to manage my arthritis pain. Since my pain dropped from 7-8 to 2-3 most days now on a 1-10 scale I have decided to stay a Fat burner vs a carb burner. The part that liked to kill me (in a mental sense) was breaking my 40 year carb/sugar addiction. I could only do it by going cold turkey and it was a hellish two weeks but now the sugar/carb cravings are gone and I know long get starving hungry on just Fat and Protein.
I do get hungry but I can delay eating by 4-8 hours without physical weakness or mental fog that was so common when I was mainly a glucose burner.
Keep in mind I only walk daily and my summer hobby is operating heavy equipment so there is no heavy lifting workouts. If I need to do any heavy lifting I use the backhoe.
At 64 I can once again get in and out of cars with min pain and effort. The lifting of the mental fog that was full time when I was abusing carbs has been a game change.
For the person not addicted to fast carbs or does not have Type 2 Diabetes or other health conditions made worse by sugar loads I do not think most will be seriously interest in ketosis lifestyle as Jim noted.
I would ask young people to consider not abusing carbs like I did to the point it wrecks one's long term health. Work MFP daily and manage your weight after high school so your BMI is under 25 or at least under 28 so you can sidestep many weight related health issues 50 years later.
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Your body can get away with low or no carbs and be OK (you'll regulate glucose levels with gluconeogenesis, and eventually transition to using ketones), but... what are the unique advantages in doing this?
If you are training at all, I think you would be seeing a disadvantage in performance.
The law of the land as far as weight management is concerned is still calories in vs. calories out. You could probably do the low carb thing and see results, just be aware that those results are from a calorie deficit and some water loss as well.0 -
Just putting it out there i'm an Ovo-Lacto vegetarian. Im usually under my carb count for the day at this time.0
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I lose really well on 30G/carbs/day. However, it doesn't feel like a diet that is great for overall, long-term health. I find that I can't keep it up over time, probably in part because I am very active. I'm sure there are people out there who can sustain that, but I'm not one of them!
What about trying 100G/day? You can still have some fruit, a lot of vegetables and one or two servings of grain a day at a level like that. Going from 240 to 100 could make a big difference.0 -
I'm diabetic and have cut carbs drastically out of necessity. I eat plenty of vegetables, and get all the nutrients I need. As long as my blood sugar is in a normal range, I know my brain and cells have enough fuel to work with. If it's low, which is almost never, I eat a small amount of sugar (glucose tablets, actually) to raise it to where it needs to be. When my blood sugar is higher than it should be, there is no reason to add more carbs, because my body can't process the sugar that's already there.
I don't know if I'd recommend low-carb to anyone who ISN'T diabetic, only because carbs are delicious and wonderful and I wish I could eat them myself. I have to eat this way for the rest of my life. It's really difficult to sustain if you don't have your health riding on it. 0 -
yes hun go for it! Don't listen to people putting you down. Read up about the Dukan diet and the Stillmans diet...im following those at the moment and just like any other diet this is sustainable. Plus easy to follow as u can eat as much as you like. Just have mainly skinless proteins but have fruits and vegetables.
That's the way I do it and ive lost a stone in 3 weeks in the past with that I am going to do it again. Feel free to add me if you need advice! A low carb diet is one of the quickest weightloss diets out there...just remember to give up on the 4 carbs which make you fat; including bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. good luck! 0 -
Showcase_Brodown wrote: »Your body can get away with low or no carbs and be OK (you'll regulate glucose levels with gluconeogenesis, and eventually transition to using ketones), but... what are the unique advantages in doing this?
If you are training at all, I think you would be seeing a disadvantage in performance.
The law of the land as far as weight management is concerned is still calories in vs. calories out. You could probably do the low carb thing and see results, just be aware that those results are from a calorie deficit and some water loss as well.
I agree, I am currently training, and probably could use the carbs in that respect. However the author of the article that I posted, works out quite often and seemed to have very few problems after the carb flu.
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I can always tell when someone is on some type of ketogenic diet, they're body odor and breath smell so nasty!0
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I also I have to consider the fat part, I regularly consume bullet proof tea(-minus the butter) in the morning and before training, this should not be much of problem since i'm Vegetarian, and consume very little fats at this point and time.
https://www.bulletproofexec.com/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/ I use Yerba Mate instead of the Coffee and no butter, the MCT from the Coconut oil is awesome.
I guess my main point of this poist is would consuming healthy fat, be detrimental to burning fat?0 -
From my own experience, cutting carbs is a good way to manage calories. Starches have lots of carbs and not much else. Nonetheless, I do enjoy them, especially oatmeal, grits and good bread. I don't care much for white bread and I've learned that hot cereal made as a savory rather than a sweet is more satisfying. I don't each much rice at all.
If it were me, I'd cut back on brown rice and add in some other whole grains.
Best to you!0 -
From my own experience, cutting carbs is a good way to manage calories. Starches have lots of carbs and not much else. Nonetheless, I do enjoy them, especially oatmeal, grits and good bread. I don't care much for white bread and I've learned that hot cereal made as a savory rather than a sweet is more satisfying. I don't each much rice at all.
If it were me, I'd cut back on brown rice and add in some other whole grains.
Best to you!
Thanks !
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GettingConfident wrote: »yes hun go for it! Don't listen to people putting you down. Read up about the Dukan diet and the Stillmans diet...im following those at the moment and just like any other diet this is sustainable. Plus easy to follow as u can eat as much as you like. Just have mainly skinless proteins but have fruits and vegetables.
That's the way I do it and ive lost a stone in 3 weeks in the past with that I am going to do it again. Feel free to add me if you need advice! A low carb diet is one of the quickest weightloss diets out there...just remember to give up on the 4 carbs which make you fat; including bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. good luck!
Thank You 0 -
GettingConfident wrote: »yes hun go for it! Don't listen to people putting you down. Read up about the Dukan diet and the Stillmans diet...im following those at the moment and just like any other diet this is sustainable. Plus easy to follow as u can eat as much as you like. Just have mainly skinless proteins but have fruits and vegetables.
That's the way I do it and ive lost a stone in 3 weeks in the past with that I am going to do it again. Feel free to add me if you need advice! A low carb diet is one of the quickest weightloss diets out there...just remember to give up on the 4 carbs which make you fat; including bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. good luck!
You're eliminating an entire macronutrient and thus creating a caloric deficit, nothing more. It's quick because in addition to the deficit you've created your're also losing initial water weight.
Carbs do not make you fat. Stop spreading false information... you're misinformed.0 -
GettingConfident wrote: »yes hun go for it! Don't listen to people putting you down. Read up about the Dukan diet and the Stillmans diet...im following those at the moment and just like any other diet this is sustainable. Plus easy to follow as u can eat as much as you like. Just have mainly skinless proteins but have fruits and vegetables.
That's the way I do it and ive lost a stone in 3 weeks in the past with that I am going to do it again. Feel free to add me if you need advice! A low carb diet is one of the quickest weightloss diets out there...just remember to give up on the 4 carbs which make you fat; including bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. good luck!
OMG
Du you know what sustainable means? If the diet(s) were sustainable, you wouldn't have to do it again
What's wrong with eh, protein skin?
Carbs don't make you fat, overeating make you fat.
Please, OP (and others), don't listen to this.0 -
Everyone seems to have had their $0.02, so here's mine: try anything and everything to find what works for you, including low carb.
I need to lose 40-50 lbs and started the Dukan diet a month ago. Prior to that I was vegetarian for 4 years and have never met a carb that I don't love. I picked Dukan because it's lower fat than Atkins. I keep my carbs below 50 grams a day. I haven't had any side effects: almost no cravings (though I miss peanut butter on toast!), no loss of energy - quite the opposite in fact. I've lost 20 lbs.
Whatever you decide, good luck. I've met loads of people that have sustained weight loss by limiting carbs. I hope to join that group.0 -
Eating some lower carb foods, like veggies, might help you feel fuller, because you need to eat more to get the some amount of calories, and you will lose weight as a byproduct of eating less because you don't feel hungry as often. But you are not losing weight directly from cutting the carbs. You are losing the weight from being in a calorie defecit. Don't confuse correlation with causation.
I agree with this and everything else in this post - it's true that you end up eating fewer calories while on a low carb diet - and that's why I'm low carb! I'm never hungry, but my caloric intake is consistently below 1200/day. Cutting carbs (I aim to be below 50mg/day) means cutting calories that weren't filling me up.
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redheaddee wrote: »You body uses carbs for energy and all sorts of other things. Cutting them out is not sustainable for the long term.
http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/carbs.html
I'm always amused when someone says something I've been doing for 15 years can't possibly be done long term. Bonus points when they call it a "fad." OP, go here:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
or here
http://www.reddit.com/r/keto
And you'll find FAQ questions and answers with the sources to back them up.0 -
I'm losing 1lb a week while eating 500g of carbs a day. If you're having trouble losing weight then maybe you are underestimating how much you're eating, or over estimating how active you are.0
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FDMToronto wrote: »Everyone seems to have had their $0.02, so here's mine: try anything and everything to find what works for you, including low carb.
I need to lose 40-50 lbs and started the Dukan diet a month ago. Prior to that I was vegetarian for 4 years and have never met a carb that I don't love. I picked Dukan because it's lower fat than Atkins. I keep my carbs below 50 grams a day. I haven't had any side effects: almost no cravings (though I miss peanut butter on toast!), no loss of energy - quite the opposite in fact. I've lost 20 lbs.
Whatever you decide, good luck. I've met loads of people that have sustained weight loss by limiting carbs. I hope to join that group.
So you really think you're going to live the rest of your life eating no more than 50 grams of carbs per day? I did Atkins for about a year and a half and yes it worked: I lost weight, didn't have any cravings, etc. But, damn, it got to be a grind. The rest of my family wasn't doing it and neither were my co-workers and friends. So while my family was eating Belgian waffles, pancakes or bagels for breakfast I was eating Yet. Another. G*damn. Egg. Want some birthday cake? Uh, no thanks. Hey look profiteroles! I'll pass. Ooh, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! Not today I guess. Hey, let's go to that new Italian restaurant! Well, maybe some other time. - So yeah, eventually I succumbed and gained it all back.
Low carb means saying no to about 85% of everything at the grocery store, 95% of everything on a restaurant menu and 99% of baked goods and desserts. IMHO, it's easier to learn portion control and how to balance your calorie intake over the course of a week rather than live every single day in strict adherence to a low limit on carbs.0
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