Reducing carbs significantly...help!?!

I have been doing Adkins for several months. I lost 15 in 2 weeks. I have now lost 40. I have done that off and on for 6 months. I just did counting calories for a couple weeks but I have no control. I am never hungry on the high protein, high fat, low carbs. Allow yourself about 25 to 30 carbs a day but only in vegetables. So you eat a good spinach salad with cheese bacon bits Ceasar dressing is lowest carbs. I started back on Saturday and have lost the 4 lb I gained. Go on line and see which veggies are lowest in carbs. You will feel like complete crap the first 10 days. Then you will never be hungry. Of course on low cal I dont have to be hungry just have to be eating all the time. I dont feel that way on this. Please eat your vegetables. You have to stop about once a month and try to add a fruit a day or something good. Then go back on it.

kittens2cute wrote: »

I log as accurately as I can. But I do know that carbs are a significant portion of my calories during the day and that needs to change.

Does it need to change because it causes you to over shoot your calorie goal? Are you hungry?


Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with cutting carbs, but you still need calorie control. Personally, i started by concentrating on protein and fiber. Now, I cycling low and high carb days based around my training requirements.

kittens2cute wrote: »

psuLemon wrote: »

kittens2cute wrote: »

I log as accurately as I can. But I do know that carbs are a significant portion of my calories during the day and that needs to change.

Does it need to change because it causes you to over shoot your calorie goal? Are you hungry?


Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with cutting carbs, but you still need calorie control. Personally, i started by concentrating on protein and fiber. Now, I cycling low and high carb days based around my training requirements.

Yes it routinely makes me go over my calorie goal. And yes that is all on me and my portion control. I tend to be "all or nothing" when it comes to carbs. So I feel like if I cut most of them out and then slowly reintroduce as I need, I may learn how to do better with them.

Then it's definitely a good reason to cut. Increase proteins and fats, get your carbs from fibrous sources (low sugar fruits and veggie), and dairy. I am kind of the opposite of you, carbs satiate me... fats don't. I do very well with my carb days and struggle with my low carb days..

Hey! I can relate a lot.

I have done low-carb (keto) on and off for 5 years. When I allow myself to have full access to carbs, it ends very badly. I end up bingeing on carbs and not eating anything else. So keto works well for me.

Keto also has some great side effects like stable energy levels, less hunger, less bloating/gas.

There are a lot of food options. The staples are usually fresh meats and leafy green vegetables, with some dairy/nuts too.

A few of my favourite keto friendly foods: eggs, bacon, steak, chicken thighs, cream cheese, old cheddar cheese, almonds, heavy whipping cream, strawberries, blueberries, kale, spinach, lettuce, bunless burgers, green peppers, salami, tuna, mayo, butter.

You can make delicious keto desserts with ingredients like: almond flour, coconut flour, berries, cream cheese, whipped cream, erythritol, stevia.

Favourite dessert recipe site: http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/
Favourite recipe site: http://www.ruled.me/keto-recipes/

With a little creativity, you won't be missing carbs.

Good luck!

I think it might be helpful for you to figure out *why* carbohydrates are causing you to exceed your calorie goals.

Do you find that when you eat certain foods it's hard to limit your portion and you eat more than you intend to?

Are you regularly choosing certain types of foods due to impulse cravings and then go over your goals?

Are certain foods just not that filling for you so you have to snack more later due to hunger?

You can lose weight while having the majority of your calories be from carbohydrates (I did), but if certain foods are derailing your progress it does make sense to limit those or to form different habits.

kittens2cute wrote: »

TeaBea wrote: »

kittens2cute wrote: »

I log as accurately as I can. But I do know that carbs are a significant portion of my calories during the day and that needs to change.

What kinds of things are you labeling as "carbs" though? Cookies......are carbs AND fat. Pizza.......is carbs, protein AND fat. You can eliminate THINGS from your diet to lose weight or you can reduce the overall calories.

Example: I eat pizza (now) with a side salad. Dinner is no longer an entire plate filled with just pizza. The salad helps reduce my calories. This also teaches me how to eat during maintenance.

Carbs being: bread, chips, crackers, pizza, pasta, cereal, etc. When it comes to bread, I only eat whole grain or whole wheat.

And I know its impossible for me to cut out carbs 100% and honestly I don't want to. But I need to make a focused effort to cut it back significantly and focus more on protein, fruits, and veggies.

If you want to eliminate 90% of carbs, ditch the fruit too. Most veggies don't have near as many carbs.

Chips are carbs AND fat. Crackers are carbs AND fat. Pizza like my post above....are carbs, protein, AND fat. Going low carb for a time may help you "diet." But eventually (if you don't want to cut out pizza forever)......you will need to learn moderation.

I eat regular foods (I don't keep sugary cereals in the house).....breakfast is more protein focused now. I allow myself at least one treat everyday. It's typically a Ghiradelli dark chocolate square or an ice cream bar. Individually wrapped items helps me. Making my own pizza give me more control.

You want to learn modification, or you may need elimination forever. Unless you want to diet every few years (and lose the same pounds over and over) Been there, done that. No more elimination diets for me.

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

Most low-carb people on MFP hang out in this group! Request to join and you'll find lots of help there!

I've been very low carb for a year and half and absolutely love it.

I definitely recommend doing some research on the ketogenic lifestyle. Great for diabetics too. Anybody on a high carb diet may find it difficult to lose the belly because carbs have an effect on insulin, and insulin has an effect on fat storage (diabetic or not). If you change your diet to make your body generate energy from fats instead of carbs, it should help with the excess stored fat. I'm not diabetic, but I've only been doing it for 6 weeks or so and I've lost 3-4 inches from around my hips/belly, and 7 from my waist. I do 20g of carbs a day. It's an adjustment. But you add more healthy fats and you stay healthy. Check it out. There are some people on YouTube that talk about it. Healthy Pursuits is one.

WeirdoTwo wrote: »

I definitely recommend doing some research on the ketogenic lifestyle. Great for diabetics too. Anybody on a high carb diet may find it difficult to lose the belly because carbs have an effect on insulin, and insulin has an effect on fat storage (diabetic or not). If you change your diet to make your body generate energy from fats instead of carbs, it should help with the excess stored fat. I'm not diabetic, but I've only been doing it for 6 weeks or so and I've lost 3-4 inches from around my hips/belly, and 7 from my waist. I do 20g of carbs a day. It's an adjustment. But you add more healthy fats and you stay healthy. Check it out. There are some people on YouTube that talk about it. Healthy Pursuits is one.

"Belly fat" and low carbs.......no. You lost fat in the belly area first because of your genetics. Keto isn't magic for spot reduction. YouTube isn't a great reference for scientifically proven theories.

If there is a spot reduction diet for "pear shapes".....please let me know what that is.

It's also possible that you were carrying water weight.....low carb is great for water weight loss. Carbs are not something I'm going to give up forever.

WeirdoTwo wrote: »

I definitely recommend doing some research on the ketogenic lifestyle. Great for diabetics too. Anybody on a high carb diet may find it difficult to lose the belly because carbs have an effect on insulin, and insulin has an effect on fat storage (diabetic or not). If you change your diet to make your body generate energy from fats instead of carbs, it should help with the excess stored fat. I'm not diabetic, but I've only been doing it for 6 weeks or so and I've lost 3-4 inches from around my hips/belly, and 7 from my waist. I do 20g of carbs a day. It's an adjustment. But you add more healthy fats and you stay healthy. Check it out. There are some people on YouTube that talk about it. Healthy Pursuits is one.

This is a common misunderstanding. People think keto burns more body fat than non keto diets, but that's not true. They burn more fat (because they eat more fat) but not more body fat.

For example, compare someone with a TDEE of 2200 on a 1600 calorie diet that is 5% carbs (20 g), 25% protein (100 g), and 70% fat (about 124.5 g) v. someone with the same stats on a higher carb diet of 60% carbs (240 g), 25% protein (100 g), and 15% fat (about 26.5 g).

The first burns what they eat plus about 600 calories of body fat, so ends up burning about 20 g of carbs and 725 g of fat to fuel their activity (the muscle largely goes to repairing and replacing muscle and we will assume the person is effectively maximizing muscle maintenance through weight training and diet).

The second burns what they eat plus about 600 calories of body fat, so ends up burning about 240 g of carbs and 627 g of fat.

This idea that because you are burning fat you must be more effectively burning body fat is not based on anything real. Similarly, the idea that people who eat a more standard amount of carbs can't burn body fat (or continue to add it in a deficit) is basically made up and makes no sense.

What IS true, and makes keto a good idea for some is that some feel more satisfied or less hungry on a deficit (or maintenance) doing keto.

Often it's an unfair comparison, though, because a LOT of people with poor diets eat a high quantity of carbs AND fat -- indeed, many classic junk food or high cal items are high in both, like the aforementioned pizza, many pastas (alfredo, carbonara), chips, fries, cookies, cake, brownies, ice cream, many Starbucks frappucinos, etc. The problem with that, in addition to spending a lot of the diet on low nutrient, high cal items, is that it crowds out protein, which many find satiating, and whole food sources of carbs (and fiber) that many find satiating (vegetables, for many whole grains, potatoes, fruit). So people cut out the high fat, high carb foods, eat more protein and actually add a few vegetables, and claim that CARBS were the problem and that low carb is more filling.

For some, but for many I think eating a healthy diet with the same amount of protein and vegetables and so on and cutting way down on the junk food would have had the same effect even at 40-50% carbs. Indeed, lots of people seem to find a WFPB diet filling, although I do agree that people vary and this wouldn't work for anyone. (I did it for a while and found it unsatisfying longterm for other reasons, but I certainly was never hungry and accidentally ate quite low in calories.)

WeirdoTwo wrote: »

I definitely recommend doing some research on the ketogenic lifestyle. Great for diabetics too. Anybody on a high carb diet may find it difficult to lose the belly because carbs have an effect on insulin, and insulin has an effect on fat storage (diabetic or not). If you change your diet to make your body generate energy from fats instead of carbs, it should help with the excess stored fat. I'm not diabetic, but I've only been doing it for 6 weeks or so and I've lost 3-4 inches from around my hips/belly, and 7 from my waist. I do 20g of carbs a day. It's an adjustment. But you add more healthy fats and you stay healthy. Check it out. There are some people on YouTube that talk about it. Healthy Pursuits is one.

.Im on a high carb low fat diet due to a health condition, and Im losing fat as well as belly fat,Im not diabetic either,Im in a caloric deficit which is what is causing the fat loss. I was losing fat before I had to eat this way as well.fat is stored if you eat more than you burn or if you have a health issue like I do where your liver doesnt process fats and cholesterol normally.

Oh, and good luck!! You can do this!

WeirdoTwo wrote: »

I definitely recommend doing some research on the ketogenic lifestyle. Great for diabetics too. Anybody on a high carb diet may find it difficult to lose the belly because carbs have an effect on insulin, and insulin has an effect on fat storage (diabetic or not). If you change your diet to make your body generate energy from fats instead of carbs, it should help with the excess stored fat. I'm not diabetic, but I've only been doing it for 6 weeks or so and I've lost 3-4 inches from around my hips/belly, and 7 from my waist. I do 20g of carbs a day. It's an adjustment. But you add more healthy fats and you stay healthy. Check it out. There are some people on YouTube that talk about it. Healthy Pursuits is one.

If evolution has done anything, it's given our body the ability to store all things foods. In fact, dietary fat is the easiest nutrient to store as fat; followed by carbs and then protein. Even more so, our bodies have multiple hormones that drive nutrient storage; Acylation Stimulating Protein, Glucose-Dependent Insulintropic Peptide, and Insulin are just a few. But they don't really drive fat storage... it inhibit lipolysis (breakdown of nutrients). This literally occurs every single time you eat. Fat storage, and I am talking about a net fat storage because your body constantly stores and breaks down fat, only occurs in a energy surplus.

What I also find interesting, is how little people talk about the benefits of hormones like insulin. First, insulin is a hormone that is released by the pancreas that acts a key to your cells to shuttle nutrients in them. Since it is anticatabolic in nature, it also prevents protein degradation and can maximize muscle protein synthesis when combined with adequate training and luecine. So those of us on a higher carb diet, have a greater ability to gain some muscle vs sustain or even lose (depending on your training and protein content).

abowman0870 wrote: »

I have had the most success with minimal effort on a low carb/keto diet. There are naysayers but I tell you it works for me and I have tried all types of diets for 20 years (calorie counting, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins (worked but had to stop because I got pregnant), Weight Watchers again, and again). I've been following LCD for 3 months and I have never been happier with a lifestyle change. Once you get the hang of it, it is effortless, the first week is hard as your body adjusts to the change but there are so many people on this site and other sites that can offer suggestions to combat the side effects. Good luck and I second anglyn1's suggestions.

Only a naysayer because most people I know who have tried it can't stick with it longer than a month.. or once they hit their goal and start eating carbs again, they don't make room in their calorie budget by cutting some of the meat/cheese/etc they got used to eating and just gained it all back. But if you like it and want to keep it up forever it will keep working.