It's easy for veggies to throw me over my 20g carb limit. It is a struggle, I just posted a question of how to increase fat to help me stay balanced. When I was doing low carb I mostly avoided breads, fruits, and sugar and kept to vegetables and proteins. Seems that even veggies can throw me over 20g easily so I am trying to stay on my macros and watch it. Cucumber has helped me to bulk up my tuna salad and leave me fuller. Plus I use a lot of veggies to add to the pasta sauces and meatballs I feed my family.

epona_mus wrote: »

@Sunny_Bunny_ can you share what a typical day for you on zero carbs looks like? I am struggling to keep under 20 g even with limited dairy and wondering how zero carb works...

TIA!

I typically just have coffee with half n half until about 2pm. Then I may have a couple burger patties with cheese maybe a couple pieces of bacon... or bacon or sausage with eggs... or a crustless pizza (mozzarella and pepperoni on parchment under the broiler til crispy). I've been known to make a steak or chicken wings or something like that too.
Dinner is often burgers with cheese or steak or chicken or fish...
Typically I just grill or cook in a pan on the stove some piece of meat... not really much need for recipes when you only eat animal products.

Every meal is literally some combination of meat/cheese/eggs.

As far as trying to stay under 20g with vegetables... if it's truly from vegetables, you don't need to be that strict. The people that need to be that strict on the carbs are the ones who's carbs are coming from sugars and nuts/nut flours.
If leafy vegetables agree with you, there really is no reason to limit them. You're not going to get or stay fat from eating spinach just because it puts you over carbs. Cutting out vegetables and purposely eating more fat independent of its presence in meat is more likely to be a set back than anything.
You can't go wrong with eating meat and green veg. Unless veg doesn't agree with you like me and some others. Then just eat meat

epona_mus wrote: »

Interesting! I have been limiting vegetables (spinach, lettuces, broccoli, asparagus, and cucumbers) because of their carb counts. I would much rather eat a huge salad with a portion of meat than meat + tiny bit of greens and my body tolerates it better.

If those are your vegetable choices, I can't imagine any need to limit them.
Dr Michael Eades wrote the book Protein Power in the 70's and he was the one to introduce the idea of counting net carbs. He said that he found people began limiting their vegetables because they figured low carb was great so lower carb was even better and he did not agree. He introduced the net carb counting as a mental work-around so people could still report eating fewer carbs and stop limiting vegetables.
Net carbs was never meant to allow for artificial sweeteners and processed Atkins bars... but you're totally safe using it for real green veg like you're describing.

Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »

As far as trying to stay under 20g with vegetables... if it's truly from vegetables, you don't need to be that strict. The people that need to be that strict on the carbs are the ones who's carbs are coming from sugars and nuts/nut flours.
If leafy vegetables agree with you, there really is no reason to limit them. You're not going to get or stay fat from eating spinach just because it puts you over carbs. Cutting out vegetables and purposely eating more fat independent of its presence in meat is more likely to be a set back than anything.
You can't go wrong with eating meat and green veg. Unless veg doesn't agree with you like me and some others. Then just eat meat

This makes so much sense!

4031isaiah wrote: »

Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »

If those are your vegetable choices, I can't imagine any need to limit them.
Dr Michael Eades wrote the book Protein Power in the 70's and he was the one to introduce the idea of counting net carbs. He said that he found people began limiting their vegetables because they figured low carb was great so lower carb was even better and he did not agree. He introduced the net carb counting as a mental work-around so people could still report eating fewer carbs and stop limiting vegetables.
Net carbs was never meant to allow for artificial sweeteners and processed Atkins bars... but you're totally safe using it for real green veg like you're describing.

Thanks for your insight @Sunny_Bunny_ !

I posted about net carbs recently and got lots of confusing responses with links to charts and sites you need a PhD to understand but I totally get what you're saying and you are so right! No one has ever gotten fat eating lettuce or spinach.

Initially counting net carbs seemed more like a cheater way to eat carbs and say you didn't and I saw no value in that. Especially if the net carbs comes from processed treats like low carb bread or pancakes!

I'm going to focus more on meat and green veggies and not stress as much over how to finagle fruit, nut flour and other treats into my carb count.

... the lights are slowly coming on

That sounds like a perfect plan!
I did the same thing with the carbs in the beginning too. It was definitely something I used to justify eating keto treats and faux foods. Was not a good idea for any real long term changes for me.
Too many people want to make this more complicated than it needs to be. The science is definitely there but you don't have to be into it if it's not your thing. Simplicity works and gaming the system will not create the long term behavioral changes that many of us really NEED to keep up this healthy life forever.
I don't call people out, there's a lot of correlation I see in people making slow progress that do a whole lot of "gaming low carb". Not in all cases of course, but enough.