tell me your experience with low carb

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  • 89Madeline
    89Madeline Posts: 205 Member
    Hated it, made me very sleepy and tired. I'm experiencing something similar now being on low-fodmap (for medical reasons). Either way, low-carb was the first diet I tried but failed. Failed because you need to conciously exclude soooo much. I lost all of my weight (20 kgs) in the end by doing everything in moderation.

    It's good to maybe 'lower' your carb, but not necessarily do 'low' carb. What helps: when choosing/preparing a meal, base it around a high protein/low fat element, and something with fiber. Chicken and veg for example. Then add inc carb, say pasta. What helped for me: double the amount of chicken (I ate 2 breast instead of 1) and just add 1 cup of pasta instead of 2.

    If you like sandwiches for lunch, keep doing so. But instead of making 3 with white toast bread and some fat cheese, make only 1 and top it with healthy, filling foods like avocado and egg. Works like a charm :)
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    I tried it and I was so sad and emotional on it. I would cry at everything.
    However, my mother was overweight her entire life. 10 years ago she went low carb, lost 50 pounds... She's kept that 50 pounds off in the last 10 years because she doesn't eat any carbs (maybe 20g a day and that's a bad day) So it worked for her!
  • Kitnthecat
    Kitnthecat Posts: 2,075 Member
    Love, love, love everything about LCHF ! It's a much more appropriate WOE for me, especially for weight loss. I was already eating low carb compared to most, so making the transition was easy. I can't believe how good I feel. My energy level is way up, and I am happy eating high fat foods. Lowering the carbs down to 20 g daily or lower has really made a difference for me. My body feel so efficient, with stable energy all day, and I am emotionally happier. I never feel deprived. If I keep the carb level down, I don't get cravings. I find that increasing my fat intake keeps me satiated and I don't eat as much as I did when eating a carb laden diet. I find it much harder to eat too much with this WOE. I'd recommend it to anyone as a sustainable lifestyle.
  • kamber13
    kamber13 Posts: 249 Member
    I ntaurally gravitate toward low carb foods so I had no problem following this life style. I think it's just important to FOLLOW the guidelines... meaning I increased my low-carb vegetable and lean protein intake...NOT high fat or sodium low-carb food intake. Especially when it came to cheeses and butter.

    Currently, when following the MFP guidelines, I rarely hit half the recommended carb intake and this is without conscious thought. For me, it's a lifestyle change... not a temporary diet.
  • Kitcandoo
    Kitcandoo Posts: 93 Member
    It kind of happened by default because of being Glutten intolerant. I feel less bloated and generally better all around. But of course you crave what you can't have so if you put a pizza in front of me you'd better back away quick because you might lose an arm in the process. Lol.
  • Addiewe
    Addiewe Posts: 65 Member
    I honestly feel going low carb was why I gave up the past couple times I tried to lose weight. I need carbs to be happy. I love bread, fruit, pasta, sugar, etc. While I did lose weight, I was cranky and resentful. There is no way I would have been able to make a long-term lifestyle change going low-carb. This time around I am not cutting carbs like I did. Aside from quitting sugary sodas, I am more focused on calories than carbs. I am happier, still losing weight and don't at all feel deprived.
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    traceymarie123 wrote: »
    i tried low carb 11 yrs ago and lost a stone in 2 weeks with no exercise and stupidly came off it , iv started again 2 weeks ago and started swimming for an hour 3 times a week to help boost any weight loss and iv bloody GAINED 6lb in a week!!!!!!! I'm so upset! i don't love eat as I'm more than full and don't need to snack between meals, i have between 1600-1800 cal a day with 5/25/75 on Carbs/Protein/Fats.
    people have suggested its water retention but i don't feel puffy?

    If you've started exercising after not having done it for a while, that will cause water retention that doesn't feel like bloating because it's in your muscles. Do you weigh every day? If not, you may have just caught the bad day for retention on the day you happened to weigh. If you have, and that's sustained more than a week solid, then take a closer look at what you're eating, how you're weighing, etc.
  • ItsABreeThing
    ItsABreeThing Posts: 17 Member
    Sigh.. Low carb diets arent optimal. We crave sugars and starches (from carbohydrates) for a reason.. Just for some information, carbohydrates do not easily convert to fat. Fat does. Vegetables and fruit are mostly water and carbs.. And dont make one fat... I suggest reading some scientifically supported books and government cited studies that mention the benefits of high carb diets. The starch solution by John McDougall is a great start.
    High carb diets promote health and longevity, another scientifically supported claim. Many people will bat their eye at my comment, but you should be open to a different viewpoint. Don't be stubborn because this low-carb hype is ridiculous and is quite literally making people miserable. I only seek to benefit the people who believe depriving your body of glucose, the ONLY nutrient that powers our cells that comes from carbohydrate sugars, is a healthy route to go.
    What happens when you don't obtain enough glucose in your diet? Your body will convert protein into glucose. It's not fun.
    Don't simply believe diet hypes. Educate yourself. Read other experiences. Read books
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
    ItsABreeThing wrote: »
    Sigh.. Low carb diets arent optimal. We crave sugars and starches (from carbohydrates) for a reason.. Just for some information, carbohydrates do not easily convert to fat. Fat does. Vegetables and fruit are mostly water and carbs.. And dont make one fat... I suggest reading some scientifically supported books and government cited studies that mention the benefits of high carb diets. The starch solution by John McDougall is a great start.
    High carb diets promote health and longevity, another scientifically supported claim. Many people will bat their eye at my comment, but you should be open to a different viewpoint. Don't be stubborn because this low-carb hype is ridiculous and is quite literally making people miserable. I only seek to benefit the people who believe depriving your body of glucose, the ONLY nutrient that powers our cells that comes from carbohydrate sugars, is a healthy route to go.
    What happens when you don't obtain enough glucose in your diet? Your body will convert protein into glucose. It's not fun.
    Don't simply believe diet hypes. Educate yourself. Read other experiences. Read books

    Today I learned vegetable calories are magic and cannot be turned into fat, even though the entire purpose of the liver is to convert food into energy and fat, including carbs from vegetables.

    As for "fad", low carb has been around over 100 years and medically prescribed. You shouldn't lie to people about a WOE you've obviously never researched or tried just to push your political agenda.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    I eat a low carb diet and it's been a wholly positive experience. I'd add back in more fruit, nuts and vegetables in a heart beat if I could (it just seems wrong to have to limit those foods when they fit my calories but not my carbs) but too many carbs is too many carbs. Too much, too often above what I can tolerate and various aches and pains return and my appetite is out of control -- I'm almost always hungry, never satisfied and food obsessed.

    I assume I have at least some degree of insulin resistance (or something else wrong with me) for the marked changes from low to moderate carb but I haven't been diagnosed with anything. The why of it really isn't important. All I know is it is such a relief to feel "normal" again and to eat (and indulge) when I choose to and not because I'm struggling against a compulsive need to eat and keep eating even if I don't want to.
  • adamitri
    adamitri Posts: 614 Member
    I did LC for about a month and was miserable. I was hungry and I gained weight. It was not something I could maintain for a long period of time and I switched back over to moderation. Much more positive and happy experience.
  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
    edited May 2015
    I did LC a number of times. It did help me dump a lot of water weight but after that initial drop, I had to reduce my calories anyway. On my LC boards, there were tons of people saying they ate quite a few calories while keeping things LC and continued to drop masses of weight - fat, not water - but that never happened for me. I'm talking giving this months at a time, over a period of I think about four years (looking back and trying to remember now).

    Another issue for me - this is just me - is that emotionally I couldn't hack it (wanting, for example, the mouthfeel of actual grain-based foods). Or I guess, didn't want to hack it - I mean let's face it, if it were the Zombie Apocalypse and the Keebler factory blew up and all that was left to eat on earth were somehow meat, eggs and LC veggies, I'm sure I'd survive on them. ;)

    I also never seemed to get past the "carb flu," even weeks down the road. That was seriously tough for me as I am already hypothyroid - I have my good and bad days as it is (Hashi's). I need ALL the energy I can get. It was very, very tough to get by on my days that were "down days" not only due to that but due to that low-energy thing I was having on LC. A lot of people recommended serious amounts of salt to boost my energy. I'd be standing there trying to lick salt off a spoon. It seemed insane to me after a while.

    So that was my own personal experience, which the OP asked for. I can't speak for anyone else. There definitely were people on my old LC boards who seemed to do quite well with it and planned on it for life.
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