Low Carb - what do you eat?

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kailyamie
kailyamie Posts: 130
in Health and Weight Loss
For those of you keeping up with a low carb diet, what do you eat? I think that I need to significantly reduce my carb intake, fair enough, but I'm not sure what to make as typical food choices without just going out and buying all of the fad diet low carb crap. I am not a big meat eater, so tackling the low carb/high protein thing is going to be a huge feat for me... but the scale hasn't moved in over a MONTH and I can't figure out what the problem is. I work out 1-2 hours a day ding cardio - elliptical for about an hour and I get about a good solid hour of swimming/water aerobics in most days as well and I am staying under my calorie goal - and nothing. So I want to try to lower my carb intake... so what do you low carb people eat?

Replies

  • dittiepe
    dittiepe Posts: 557 Member
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    I usually go with some sort of fish like tilapia or haddock, some chicken, lots of green veggies like green beans, brussell sprouts, spinach, lettuce, beans, nuts, cheeses and eggs. You can get a lot of protein out of beans, soy and nuts.
  • laddyboy
    laddyboy Posts: 1,565 Member
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    Let's see your diary. My 1st and best guess is you're not eating enough and you ARE doing way to much cardio. All that cardio is eating muslce and slowing your metabolism.
  • kr3851
    kr3851 Posts: 994 Member
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    I've been reducing my carb portion - not getting rid of it completely but having half of what I normally would and increasing my vegies to add the bulk. Chicken and fish are high in protein - or you can add eggs or protein bars into your snacks to get the protein in there if you're struggling.
  • Kelly_Wilson1990
    Kelly_Wilson1990 Posts: 3,245 Member
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    High protein foods such as lean meats, chicken and fish. Eat fruits and vegetables. Do not eat anything white: no white bread, potatoes, rice, etc. When you eat carbs eat whole grains. My nutritionist says to eat your protein first, then fruits and vegetable and carbs if there is room.
  • kailyamie
    kailyamie Posts: 130
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    Let's see your diary. My 1st and best guess is you're not eating enough and you ARE doing way to much cardio. All that cardio is eating muslce and slowing your metabolism.

    Too much cardio? Huh? LOL I'm never going to figure this out. Some people say to eat back exercise calories, some say not to, some say eat back half - I haven't found a combination yet that helps me. But too much cardio? Seriously? I didn't think that was possible lol
  • ClarkMer
    ClarkMer Posts: 206 Member
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    String cheese is a great low carb snack! I eat it every day
  • JCubbins
    JCubbins Posts: 92
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    To lose weight, on average you should do cardio for 20-40 mins, 3 days a week.
    So, yeah - TOO MUCH CARDIO.
  • CallejaFairey
    CallejaFairey Posts: 391 Member
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    when i first started here, i was pretty dang sedentary, with walking my dog thrown in for exercise. but all in all, easily calculated for my calories each day. i started a job where i am fairly physical, and with adjusting cals and such, it took almost 2 months to get back to a steady weightloss, and even now i am still not consistant. i was doing too much activity and not eating enough cals. so never underestimate the power of not eating enough cals. before radically changing your diet to limit certain foods, try eating more calories. give it a few weeks before deciding if it will work or not. as i said, it's been a few months and i find i still have to tinker with mine, and on the weeks where my cals weren't up to my limit, rarely did i lose much, if at all.
  • leilahh
    leilahh Posts: 50 Member
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    I eat a lot of eggs and almonds for protein and fat. An example of what I eat: yesterday I had almonds with cream cheese (my new favorite snack!), some deli roast beef, crustless quiche (asparagus and brie), salad (just lettuce, tomatoes, the basics), and some tomato basil bisque (12g net carbs for it-- too many carbs for some, but I eat around 50g carbs a day).
  • BlindOne
    BlindOne Posts: 2 Member
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    My normal foods would be something like this:

    Breakfast - 4 slices center cut bacon, 2 fried eggs covered with cheddar cheese
    Lunch - Low carb tortilla, caesar dressing, turkey, cheese
    Dinner - broccoli covered in cheese, caesar salad, pork/chicken/fish/beef

    The diet is actually high fat, moderate protein, low carb. All you'll need to do is count the carbs on everything you eat and stay under 20g/day for the first 2-3 weeks. You can eat lots of salads and veggies, the key is adding dressings/butter to get your fat content high enough. My macros end up ~160g fat, 160g protein, 20g of carbs.(65/30/5).

    Been on the diet since Jan 1 and I've dropped 40 lbs, plus, for me, this diet is so easy to stick with. Throw in a cheat meal/day every 2-3 weeks for sanity.

    Lots more information available at reddit.com/r/keto/

    Good luck!!
  • mskatec22
    mskatec22 Posts: 138 Member
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    I pretty much ate the same foods all the time for 2 weeks...it looked a little like this:
    Breakfast-egg, sausage/chorico, cheese
    Lunch-tuna/chicken, salad/lettuce wraps
    Dinner-chicken/ steak tips/haddock/kielbasa/beef, lots of veggies and another salad
    Snacks-string cheese, celery w/ cream cheese, hard boiled eggs

    I found Linda's Low Carb recipes via a Google search and she's got some pretty good recipes. I really liked her Taco Stuffed Peppers.
    I cut out all alcohol, juices, sodas (even diet) and drank a TON of water.

    In 2 weeks I lost 6 lbs. Fair warning---I gained it all back when I went on vacation b/c I ate and drank way too much!! I don't regret it though. I needed that. Back to sensible eating now though.

    It sounds like you have a great work out regimine. Maybe switch it up with some other activities, get the body/mind thinking differently?
    Good luck!
  • maxsdad9
    maxsdad9 Posts: 25 Member
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    My optometrist had a heart attack awhile ago. He advised me to not eat any food that is white. Sounds strange but is probably true. I think as said above, you need to add in some strength training as muscle mass burns more calories than muscle loss. Good luck no matter what you do. The nice thing about MFP is that when in doubt look up what you are thinking about eating and it will tell you how many carbs. I am not a fad diet kind of person, but my Nurse Practitioner advises me that South Beach DIet is the perfect mix of protein and carbs.
  • byHISstrength
    byHISstrength Posts: 984 Member
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    Let's see your diary. My 1st and best guess is you're not eating enough and you ARE doing way to much cardio. All that cardio is eating muslce and slowing your metabolism.

    Too much cardio? Huh? LOL I'm never going to figure this out. Some people say to eat back exercise calories, some say not to, some say eat back half - I haven't found a combination yet that helps me. But too much cardio? Seriously? I didn't think that was possible lol

    It really is hard to figure out especially since we are all different and what works for one person may not work out another. I do agree. 1 - 2 hours of cardio is a lot. If this is a normal practice for you you could be sabbotaging weight loss. Don't know what your daily caloric goal is without exercise, but say for instance your goal is 1400 calories...you do 2 hours of cardio and burn around 800 calories and you don't make any of those calories up then essentially you have only really taken in 600 calories...that will slow down weight loss if that is normal for you.

    Take care. Hope it makes sense, and you start to see the results you'd like.
  • Chenoachem
    Chenoachem Posts: 1,758 Member
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    For those of you keeping up with a low carb diet, what do you eat? I think that I need to significantly reduce my carb intake, fair enough, but I'm not sure what to make as typical food choices without just going out and buying all of the fad diet low carb crap. I am not a big meat eater, so tackling the low carb/high protein thing is going to be a huge feat for me... but the scale hasn't moved in over a MONTH and I can't figure out what the problem is. I work out 1-2 hours a day ding cardio - elliptical for about an hour and I get about a good solid hour of swimming/water aerobics in most days as well and I am staying under my calorie goal - and nothing. So I want to try to lower my carb intake... so what do you low carb people eat?

    If you are doing that much cardio, I wouldn't say it was a bad thing for your body, but it might have an effect of "weight" loss. Try checking measurements instead. Muscle is going to weigh more than fat per surface area. So you might just be exchanging fat for muscle and not seeing the scale move.

    For the low carb, the suggested plan I was following for a while was
    1. Have a min of 30g of protein within the first hour of waking up (I used a protein shake).
    2. Each meal have as much as you want of a lean meat or eggs, veggies and bean.
    3. Remove as much dairy and fruit from your diet as feasible.

    With this I lost 5 pounds in 3weeks and I was at my goal weight.

    Good Luck. If you feel good, don't worry about it to much. But definetly check the measurments.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Let's see your diary. My 1st and best guess is you're not eating enough and you ARE doing way to much cardio. All that cardio is eating muslce and slowing your metabolism.

    Too much cardio? Huh? LOL I'm never going to figure this out. Some people say to eat back exercise calories, some say not to, some say eat back half - I haven't found a combination yet that helps me. But too much cardio? Seriously? I didn't think that was possible lol

    It is possible to do too much cardio if you are not giving your body enough fuel. That said, your body will need both protein and carbs for cardio so low-carb may not be the way to go. If it were me doing that exercise (and it would be if I had the time) I'd go for a protein, whole grain and a veggie/fruit with each meal.
  • kailyamie
    kailyamie Posts: 130
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    Thanks for the advice everyone. Sometimes I feel like I'm going nuts trying to figure it all out! I lost the first 13 pounds easily like nothing, and then the 3 more that I lost I fought like hell for and now I'm not losing at all... I keep bouncing back and forth between the same 2 pounds! It's frustrating.
  • TheBraveryLover
    TheBraveryLover Posts: 1,217 Member
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    If you don't like meat, then eat eggs (whites), blocks of cheese (colby and muenster are my faves), peanuts, and tuna. Those are all great sources of protein without (or little) the carbs!
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    I try to get 100-150g carbs a day - not drastically low, but a level I've found works for me.

    Breakfast - eggs, or yoghurt and nuts.
    Lunch - soup or salad, or bean stew
    Dinner - fish or chicken with salad or veg.

    Snacks - egg, cheese, nuts, fruit, wasabi peas, crab sticks.

    I do find I need carbs if I'm doing a cardio workout, so I'll have one slice of wholemeal toast with peanut butter before that.

    If you're sticking to your cardio, you need carbs.
  • PinUpMommy
    PinUpMommy Posts: 94
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    You're probably not eating enough. I've found that what MFP gives you is not enough. You really need to figure out your BMR, and get your calories from there. For me, at 212.8 lbs, according to MFP, I should be eating 1650/day to lose 1 lb a week. But if I take it up to 2 lbs/week, I'm down to 1200. 1200 is the BARE MINIMUM that any human being needs in order to function. According to my BMR, I should be eating around 1700/day. However, I'm losing, on the average, 2 lbs/week working out 3-4 days for a hour at a time (cardio for 30-45 minutes, then strength), or doing a class like Body Pump or Zumba. It sounds like you're working out way too much and not eating nearly enough. When I was doing hardcore workouts like Turbo Fire, and staying at or around 1200 calories per day (plus eating my workout calories), I didn't lose a thing. Not one pound. I upped my calories, downed my amount of workouts, and I magically started losing weight.
  • kailyamie
    kailyamie Posts: 130
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    You're probably not eating enough. I've found that what MFP gives you is not enough. You really need to figure out your BMR, and get your calories from there. For me, at 212.8 lbs, according to MFP, I should be eating 1650/day to lose 1 lb a week. But if I take it up to 2 lbs/week, I'm down to 1200. 1200 is the BARE MINIMUM that any human being needs in order to function. According to my BMR, I should be eating around 1700/day. However, I'm losing, on the average, 2 lbs/week working out 3-4 days for a hour at a time (cardio for 30-45 minutes, then strength), or doing a class like Body Pump or Zumba. It sounds like you're working out way too much and not eating nearly enough. When I was doing hardcore workouts like Turbo Fire, and staying at or around 1200 calories per day (plus eating my workout calories), I didn't lose a thing. Not one pound. I upped my calories, downed my amount of workouts, and I magically started losing weight.

    Hmm... good to know! I'm working on trying to incorporate more calories without overdoing the carbs. Hopefully this jumpstarts my loss again b/c it's depressing to go 5 and 6 weeks with nothing! Thanks for the response :)

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