Calories & Carbs
k_e_l
Posts: 44 Member
Hey guys!!! I'm new here. Glad to be a part of the group, thank you!
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Welcome to the low carb side. This is a great place to learn about this WOE. There is a list of stickles that have a lot of information. Are you a newbie to low carb or an old hand who has just found this site? Again, welcome.2
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Like your profile pic. Wonder Woman is 75 this year. May we all look as good as she does at that age
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Thank you both! I see my question was cut off, haha, sorry! I have done low carb in the past & was successful losing weight without counting calories or carbs. But that was 10 yrs ago & my metabolism isn't what it used to be. Just wondering how many of you watch either? both? & have you done it since the start, or once you got closer to your goal weight? i have 70 lbs to lose. (Wonder Woman is 75 this year? Wow! :-)1
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I pay the most attention to my macros, keep the carbs low, high healthy fats, and moderate protein. Only when I stop losing do I look into the calories, but honestly, I eat fewer naturally with this WOE. Some days I am over my calorie goal (1450 with adjustments from my Fitbit), a lot of days under it. I started out on MFP as a Zoner, 40carbs/30fat/30 protein. I try to hit 5c/75f/20p, but rarely am spot on, as long as my carbs don't go over 10%, I'm good with it.4
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In the early days, I only watched carb grams. I still focus most of my energy on that. However I'm cognizant of calories and do try to make choices that make caloric sense for me as well.2
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I never look at calories. Only thing I pay attention to is the getting as close as I can to the 75-20-5 ratios & (more importantly) keeping my carbs under my target number. I've done this from the start (around the new year). I've averaged right around 16g of carbs per day until I hit my target goal weight & waist size. Now I'm OK with my carbs landing in the 20's, but my goal is still to keep it as low as I can. This has worked amazingly well for me.
I know it's a bit of a controversial & heated topic around here (if calories matter), but everyone is different. For me though, calorie count is worthless information on the nutritional label..... and ignoring it definitely did not prevent me from losing weight. I've already smashed through my target goals, so I'm happy I did it the way that I did.
Good luck on your journey.... whichever path you choose!!8 -
Hello everyone, I am old here but trying to make a come back. I really need some help with meal planning and keeping my carbs below 100 g a day. Please if anyone has any sample menu's I would be grateful. It seems that when I reach out for help with sample menu's I am always told just look up the carbs. Lets be realistic here, I don't have time to do this throughout my day, everyday. My goal is to make a meal plan that I will eat. I am taking the next couple days to work on this plan so any advise would be greatly appreciated. I am diabetic and over weight, so carbs are my main concern at this point. I am also allergic to the sweeteners so this makes things a bit difficult for me. I am not sure how Motorcyclekopp has kept his carbs to 20g let alone 16g a day but if you have some ideas on sample menus it would be greatly appreciated.1
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@motorcyclekopp congrats on hitting your goals ! and in such a short amount of time! thats awesome! and very encouraging! i actually tried low carb around xmas time, but wasn't counting calories or macros & gave up on week 3 because i didn't see the scale moving as fast as i thought it should. well, duh, now i know why it was so fast the first week (after researching further), & that i was actually doing ok. i should have just stuck to it cause it really didn't feel like a "diet" to me. i enjoyed it! thanks for your advice & encouragement! :-)2
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rebekahabbott wrote: »Hello everyone, I am old here but trying to make a come back. I really need some help with meal planning and keeping my carbs below 100 g a day. Please if anyone has any sample menu's I would be grateful. It seems that when I reach out for help with sample menu's I am always told just look up the carbs. Lets be realistic here, I don't have time to do this throughout my day, everyday. My goal is to make a meal plan that I will eat. I am taking the next couple days to work on this plan so any advise would be greatly appreciated. I am diabetic and over weight, so carbs are my main concern at this point. I am also allergic to the sweeteners so this makes things a bit difficult for me. I am not sure how Motorcyclekopp has kept his carbs to 20g let alone 16g a day but if you have some ideas on sample menus it would be greatly appreciated.
I'll send you a friend request on here. That way you can view my food diary (-it's open for viewing to anyone who friend requests me on here). I've logged about 99% of everything that I've eaten since I've started Keto in January. If you want, you can go through my whole food diary, day-by-day, to see what I've eaten since the beginning (I count net carbs, btw). I even occasionally view some of my other friend's food diaries for new food ideas too. Feel free to check mine out if you want. It may not be the "perfect diet" nutritionally speaking, but I also take vitamin supplements (which I usually don't log) to try making up for it. It must be working good enough thus far because I haven't gotten sick once yet.1 -
Personally, I know my carb count is low, but TbH, I'm still getting the hang of being precise in my daily tally - I haven't kept a single record since practically joining the forum - but I DO know that it's not high at all. Calories - I'm not counting them at all, but I'm frustrated, inspite of being quite severe with myself, that I don't seem to be on a downward shift in weight, at all.
Still, according to my research (not just this link, I should add....) metabolism begins to really slow down at the menopause (yeah, thanks for that!) so maybe that's to blame. People used to think it was around the 30 - 35yr mark, but it seems that's a fallacy. Hmmm...Dunno. Open to contradiction, because everyone has an opinion, and a right to that, too.....3 -
@k_e_l there's a thread on here that's called The Ultimate Keto Food List for the 1st 2 weeks. Also Lower Carb on a Shoestring. Also What Does Your Low Carb Meals Look Like. Tons of ideas there. I don't fill out my diary much any more. Random day or two every couple of months or I'd friend you. 100 g carbs gives you a ton of leeway just try to do without processed breakfast cereals and breads, have only rare proper sized servings of grains if you must. Stick mainly with non-starchy veggies, beans or legumes, nuts, fresh lower carb fruits like berries, higher fat unsweetened yogurt or other dairy for your carbs. You'll get it figured out with a bit of practice.2
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I don't know if I have that much time, LOL!! I make my own yoghurt (why pay a huge premium when a litre of milk does the job just fine?!) and eat very few nuts as it is. But I think I need to increase on some veg and reduce others; I 'spiralise' my carrots, omitting the sugar-laden core (seems a waste, but I want a waist - !
) and I do the same to courgettes, but I think they're not high on the fibre scale, so I'm going to add more collard/mustard greens; sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauli.... I love broad beans, but I think they're quite starchy....Peas too, seem a bit on the high-carb side. A pity. We love 'em, and peas are one of the very few veg my H will willingly eat..... 1 -
Thank you both! I see my question was cut off, haha, sorry! I have done low carb in the past & was successful losing weight without counting calories or carbs. But that was 10 yrs ago & my metabolism isn't what it used to be. Just wondering how many of you watch either? both? & have you done it since the start, or once you got closer to your goal weight? i have 70 lbs to lose. (Wonder Woman is 75 this year? Wow! :-)
I track both, but if I keep the carb grams low, the calories take care of themselves. It takes a little mental adjusting (or it did for me) to keep protein high enough. The fat really controls the hunger, and you find yourself looking for the fattier cuts of meat. A little heavy whipping cream in the drippings of a roast make a wonderful gravy.2 -
I've done both but lately only carbs. I will occasionally plug everything in to see how I'm doing but I much prefer to keep it simple. I eat carbs in the form of vegetables with a little dairy, protein at every meal, and enough fat so I'm satisfied.2
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Everyone seems to find the way that works best for them. I'm 'a little bit of everything' method. I put in my info on the Keto calculator to get both my grams, percentage and calorie max. I make sure not to eat over my carb grams, reach my protein grams, ideally hit my fat percentage and under my max calorie amount.2
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It's okay to just watch your carbs if this means that you will naturally eat under your weigh loss calorie target. For many people this is not the case. It's easy to eat too many calories when your diet is high fat. An extra 500 calories means no weight loss and it's incredibly easy to do. I've been keto for over 4 years, and I can tell you it's not magic. You still need to eat at a calorie deficit. Calculate your macros IN GRAMS as the total grams will equal your calorie target. Don't use percent. You can eat the "right" percentages and still eat 4000 calories. The number one reason people give up and say low carb isn't working for them because they haven't lost any weight is because, quite simply, they're eating too much.4
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EbonyDahlia wrote: »It's okay to just watch your carbs if this means that you will naturally eat under your weigh loss calorie target. For many people this is not the case. It's easy to eat too many calories when your diet is high fat. An extra 500 calories means no weight loss and it's incredibly easy to do. I've been keto for over 4 years, and I can tell you it's not magic. You still need to eat at a calorie deficit. Calculate your macros IN GRAMS as the total grams will equal your calorie target. Don't use percent. You can eat the "right" percentages and still eat 4000 calories. The number one reason people give up and say low carb isn't working for them because they haven't lost any weight is because, quite simply, they're eating too much.
Yep, it would be very easy to go over without measuring. I am starting tomorrow!1 -
Thanks everyone! :-)0
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I track both, but I don't weigh my food, so the tracking is somewhat loose since it's measurement based not actual weight based. Whatever you choose to track or not track, make it something you can live with for 6+ months...in the long run doing whatever is sustainable will be more important that what you actually choose to do.5
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Hey guys!!! I'm new here. Glad to be a part of the group, thank you!
Hello and welcome! I watch both cals and carbs. Carbs for blood sugar control (I'm diabetic) and cals for weight loss. Eating low carb helps me to eat LESS overall but since turning 40 my metabolism has slowed down sooo much that calories matter in my case
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Hey guys!!! I'm new here. Glad to be a part of the group, thank you!
Hello and welcome! I watch both cals and carbs. Carbs for blood sugar control (I'm diabetic) and cals for weight loss. Eating low carb helps me to eat LESS overall but since turning 40 my metabolism has slowed down sooo much that calories matter in my case
Thanks @genmon00 ! I ate low carb/high fat yesterday while watching calories & carbs, & I noticed a BIG difference in my appetite. I wasn't starving all day!!! Woohoo!!! :-)1 -
Hey guys!!! I'm new here. Glad to be a part of the group, thank you!
Hello and welcome! I watch both cals and carbs. Carbs for blood sugar control (I'm diabetic) and cals for weight loss. Eating low carb helps me to eat LESS overall but since turning 40 my metabolism has slowed down sooo much that calories matter in my case
40! Sheesh.... Wait till you hit 60. You can't even look at a shrink-wrapped calorie on the side of a semi and not have to loosen your belt. (Well, belt and suspenders, technically....)7 -
Thank you both! I see my question was cut off, haha, sorry! I have done low carb in the past & was successful losing weight without counting calories or carbs. But that was 10 yrs ago & my metabolism isn't what it used to be. Just wondering how many of you watch either? both? & have you done it since the start, or once you got closer to your goal weight? i have 70 lbs to lose. (Wonder Woman is 75 this year? Wow! :-)
I keep an eye on both. I lost all my excess weight counting calories and hardly watching macros though I had them set to 40%c/30/30 which translated to 160--->120 grams depending on my weight.
I switched to keto in maintenance about a year ago so now monitor macros more closely. If I eat to my macros (grams), calories fall into line since macros grams are based on calories-9 calories in a gram of fat, etc. That said, I may choose to not eat keto everyday the rest of my life and have already learned that I personally can gain or lose weight no matter what I eat based on calorie intake.
In my mind it is macro allocation for health, calories for weight management.1 -
One thing I have noticed over the last 20 years is that when I put all my food in my diary, even those days when I eat more, I'll stay on plan overall and lose weight. The minute I start winging it and not recording my food I go off track and gain weight. I have been tracking daily for 4 years straight now, and I'm down 85lbs and will keep it off. As soon as I stop tracking I know my weight will climb again. It's not hard to do though, takes no longer than checking emails or reading memes on facebook.5
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EbonyDahlia wrote: »One thing I have noticed over the last 20 years is that when I put all my food in my diary, even those days when I eat more, I'll stay on plan overall and lose weight. The minute I start winging it and not recording my food I go off track and gain weight. I have been tracking daily for 4 years straight now, and I'm down 85lbs and will keep it off. As soon as I stop tracking I know my weight will climb again. It's not hard to do though, takes no longer than checking emails or reading memes on facebook.
Do you measure religiously or only occasionally?0 -
EbonyDahlia wrote: »One thing I have noticed over the last 20 years is that when I put all my food in my diary, even those days when I eat more, I'll stay on plan overall and lose weight. The minute I start winging it and not recording my food I go off track and gain weight. I have been tracking daily for 4 years straight now, and I'm down 85lbs and will keep it off. As soon as I stop tracking I know my weight will climb again. It's not hard to do though, takes no longer than checking emails or reading memes on facebook.
yeah i wasn't looking forward to having to measure the veggies/cheese/dressing, etc in my salad or oil for cooking chicken in,etc, but look where not measuring & not caring got me. overweight! you are right...it doesn't take as long as I thought it would to track. its actually pretty interesting to me to figure out how many calories are in my creations lol. at least for now, in the beginning, i feel like it will help me to learn proper portion size so i can get the hang of it & get used to not having to feel overly full at every sitting! :-)0 -
Hi all, I have a question. Using so my fitness pal do you focus on just the carbs or adjust based on sugars?0
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shantellnaidu wrote: »Hi all, I have a question. Using so my fitness pal do you focus on just the carbs or adjust based on sugars?
I have my food diary set up so carbs and fiber are next to each other. I focus on carbs but subtract fiber for 'net carbs'. I also monitor calories but that tends to be well under my goal; I usually don't over-eat on this WOE.
Generally I view carbs as a hard limit (always below the number), protien as a goal (try and get to that number), calories as a soft limit (try and stay below it but don't sweat it) and I tend to ignore the fat.
My diary is public if you want to have a look at it.1 -
Steph_Maks wrote: »
Generally I view carbs as a hard limit (always below the number), protien as a goal (try and get to that number), calories as a soft limit (try and stay below it but don't sweat it) and I tend to ignore the fat.
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The fat and the calories just take care of themselves once you get used to staying under the carb limit and hitting the protein number (or getting close).
My wife has been out of town and my secretary said she guessed I had gone off my diet while she was gone. In reality, I made a huge pot of kale with ham hocks and had things like broiled hamburgers with kale for breakfast. It was very easy to stay on the diet and did not require a sous chef to get it all prepared. I realize this is not the breakfast everyone wants, but it works for me, and it is LCHF friendly.
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If you're a UK resident, pay heed:
labelling differs between the UK and USA.
Regarding the carb count on USA labels, the fibre count needs to be deducted.
UK labelling gives carb content, and then fibre content as a separate component - so no deduction is necessary.
So, for example (and I'm excluding sugars here),
USA:
16.5g carbs DEDUCT
9g fiber
so that would be 7.5g carbs.
UK:
16.5g carb PLUS
9g fibre
Total carbs, 25.5g
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