Who is doing low carb?

Don't buy into fad diets unless you have an allergy or specific medical condition. Losing weight requires a caloric deficit. Plain and simple.

As long as you are hitting your minimum protein and fat macro's, you can feasibly do whatever you want with the remaining calories. Filling them with whole food carbs would be wise in order to get the adequate amount of fiber (25-30 grams minimum per day) along with a variety of micronutrients.

Strive to get 0.60-0.80 grams protein per 1 lb. bodyweight and a bare minimum of 0.40-0.45 grams dietary fat per 1 lb. bodyweight.

Again, you can fill in the remaining calories with whatever macro you want. Just be wise about it. You can still go very low carb with this advice if you choose to, but don't ignore nutrition at the sake of losing weight (which you can still do on a high carb diet).

I'm giving it a try, too. Be sure to drink extra, extra water to handle the additional Protein. My carbs will come from veggies, fruits, and protein. My plan is to eat mostly fresh foods and avoid stuff in packages-containers-jars-cans, etc. Macros P/C/F are 45-20-35 for 1257 calories. Due to injuries I'm unable to do maximum THR workouts. I'm concentrating on my nutrition.

If you haven't done so already, I would recommend researching how to set your macros on low carb. A lot of people make the mistake of just cutting out things like bread, pasta, etc, but don't consider how they need to adjust fat and protein. This can end up derailing them.

Low carb can have a range of carb intakes, so take your your body into account when you are determining your macros. Some people can easily hit <50g of net carbs, others may find that they need more to feel their best based on their activity and performance goals.

It's also helpful to consider your lifestyle when choosing any eating style - will you need to make big changes to your current routine in order to follow an eating style? For example, if you tend to eat out at restaurants frequently, but the restaurants you tend to go to have very limited low carb options, is changing your routine to eat more meals at home or possibly traveling farther to other restaurants going to work for your life? It's all about finding a way of eating that you like and is sustainable for you.

dogman8374 wrote: »

I am tweaking my diet to lose 20-30 lbs. After alot of reading I have decided to go the low carb route. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

Dogman there are a lot of low carb stories and ideas at the MFP forum below.

community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

I was doing very low carb.... Less than 20 grams per day. I have recently realized that 20 is too low. So I am now going to increase carbs to 50 per day. But I will never go back to the 200 per day recommended by MFP.

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Going off what psulemon said, I low carbed as a diet strategy, and it ultimately didn't work for me because it wasn't sustainable. I missed oatmeal.

The idea of any "diet" where you do something just to lose weight is kind of silly when you think about it. Unless that works with your personality, and you can shift between two different plans of attack, doing low carbing for your weight loss phase, and conscientious tracking of a regular intake during your maintenance phase... why bother?

I've eventually settled into a way of eating, even when I was still overeating, where I focused on sources of protein that I like, carbs that I like, and healthy sources of fats. I tend to moderate my carb intake, and it's lower than most SAD eaters, but higher than most low-carbers. It's what works best for me as a sustainable way of eating. That's the important thing. I like how I eat. It's not something I'm doing just to lose weight. I control HOW much I eat to do that.

I did low-carb exactly once in my life and it was the worst four months of my life. I lost 40 lbs, but it made me hate so many foods. And, of course, I gained it all back because it wasn't sustainable and restricting carbs for several months just made me want them that much more once I reached my goal weight. I lost the entire 40 lbs without exercise because I didn't have the energy to exercise. I started out chubby and ended up skinny fat. Never again.

I think the best way to do it is to keep it simple - moderate levels of carbs, fat, and protein. Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out anyway, so it doesn't really matter. For fitness purposes, carbs are fuel, so they're a necessity for this girl.

keniaclimaco5 wrote: »

I'm doing the same thing. I eat a *kitten* load of protein. over 100 grams per day and keeping carbs at about 50 grams.

100 grams of protein is a *kitten* load? Who knew?

shell1005 wrote: »

I'm a low carber here. Well moderately low carb.

I don't believe low carb is a fad diet. However I also don't believe it is magic either. Eating at a deficit is what has helped me loss weight in the last 3 months. Low carb helps me maintain that deficit with ease. I have also not had the difficulty with exercise that the above poster experienced. I have had more energy and increased my workout intensity since starting low carb.

I like it, but it's totally not necessary to lose weight. It's just one of the many ways of getting there.

There are a couple low carb groups you might want to look into. You could find a lot of info and support there. Just don't believe the hype that with low carb you can eat absolutely as many calories as you like and loss weight. Eat less, move more, lose weight.

Great post! I echo this! I didn't monitor my carbs and relied on a calorie deficit to lose. It worked, however, When I began eating lower carb in addition to a calorie deficit, the weight loss was much easier. You will find what balance works for your body. Too many people focus just on meats and proteins when going low carb and exclude the benefits of including veggies in their meal. Good luck!