Cut carbs ? How ?

jemhh wrote: »

I aim for a certain amount of protein and fat as a base each day and then fill in the rest of my calories with carbs or more fat or more protein. At a certain point, in order to ensure that I can still meet my protein and fat goals, I have to cut the calories from carbs. So in that sense, I do cut carbs. But in a "carbs are bad, cut carbs to lose fat" sense, no I don't do that.

This is me exactly. I need starchy carbs for satiety but they're last on my meeting my macros hit list.

highwood125 wrote: »

Any suggestions for a filling low carb breakfast?

Low carb - Eggs and non-starchy veggies

Moderate carbs (no health issues for me) - Greek yogurt, berries, and Fiber One sprinkles

highwood125 wrote: »

Any suggestions for a filling low carb breakfast?

Recently I've been doing cheese, strawberries, and either a low carb protein bar or 1-2 hardboiled eggs.

I tend to try to avoid refined carbs (previously used to cut carbs below 50g).

Swapping something out for a lower carb similar food can be a good way to cut out excess calories. I have trouble moderating simple carbs and carb+fat bombs (aka cookies, doughnuts). So I try to not keep those in the house, and for example on pasta night I try to do half pasta (whole grain or homemade if we can manage it) and half zoodles.

highwood125 wrote: »

Any suggestions for a filling low carb breakfast?

My favorite is a scramble with eggs/egg whites, some sort of meat, mushrooms and/or spinach, and often salsa and/or cheese

brendacs21 wrote: »

I reduced the intake of certain carbs because I was going overboard. I would eat a whole pizza in one sitting .

I never get why pizza is called "a carb," though. Pizza is high fat and high carb, and often also has protein. I do cut carbs, I find it an easy way to cut calories (and my preferences are more easily met with more fat and protein, fewer carbs), but it still drives me crazy that so many foods that are high cal as much or more because of the fat (cookies, donuts, cake, pie, potato chips, fries, any pasta with lots of oil or butter or cheese or a cream sauce, so on) get called "carbs."

Carbs are mainly plants. The ones with the most carbs, or largest impact on your blood glucose, are usually high in sugar or starch (sugar chains) and low in fibre. This is generally refined grains (flour -breads, muffins, noodles) and sugars (table sugar, syrup, honey).

If you want to cut carbs, the fastest way is to avoid refined grains and sugars - avoid baked goods and things with sugar added. These are usually the highly prcessed foods that are quite fair from a natural state.

The next foods to cut would be whole grains like rice, corn, or oats, starchy root vegetables (potatoes, yams, carrots, onions) and sugary fruit (dried like raisins or tropical fruts).

How much you cut depends on how high you wnt your carbs. You can safely cut carbs to almost zero as long as you are eating quality animal products.

Try the Low Carber Daily MFP group for more info. Most low carbers chat in there to avoid the frequent questions of "why?" that often pop up on the main forums. http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group

nvmomketo wrote: »

How much you cut depends on how high you wnt your carbs.... Most low carbers chat in there to avoid the frequent questions of "why?" that often pop up on the main forums.

I think questions like "why" are really necessary to understand OP's aims and better give an OP advice, as it's not possible, for example, from the original post to tell whether OP wants to go low carb, if there are specific concerns (is it about health, weight loss, why does OP think carbs are hidden?).

I'd have different advice for someone asking "how do I go under 50 g of carbs" than for someone asking "how to eat under 150 g of carbs" than for someone saying "my doctor said cutting carbs and raising protein is often a good way to reduce calories" than for someone saying "I'm eating about 300 g of carbs, how do I cut them down"? I'd have different advice if OP were concerned about total carbs including fiber vs. net carbs (or carbs as defined in the UK). I'd find it helpful to know if OP is mostly trying to figure out how to cut calories or if the idea is to change carb percentage (one would involving adding in more fat and protein, one might not).

I have cut out a lot of the "typical" carbs because I have to eat 1200 cals to lose 1 lb a week and I find bread, rice and pasta high in calories but not as filling. For breakfast I usually have a high fibre granola bar, yogurt with fruit or granola or a banana with peanut butter rolled in a wrap. Still carbs but not full on toast or cereal. For lunch I've been putting tuna on salad greens rather than bread, having a cold plate with sandwich meats, cheese, fruit and veggies while skipping the bread. I use spaghetti squash in place of pasta. It is a great substitute and you can eat a ton of it. I also opt for tons of stir fried veggies with a protein (chicken or pork) and simply forgo the rice.

It's not easy to do without logging every single thing to see where your favorite foods have carbs. But, it can be done. I recommend looking at some keto / paleo websites for recipe ideas. Also - weigh your food and log even when you know you are over...

For breakfast I have a homemade protein shake.

I buy the plain protein -- 2 of 3 of the following egg white / hemp / grass fed whey (1/2 serving of the 2); I use plain, no sugar coconut milk 12 to16 oz; 1 teaspoon l-glutamine; 1 teaspoon Moriniga powder; 1 teasp bob's red mill psyllium powder; 1 TBSP rice bran powder; 1 TBSP either ground flax or chia. (To me it tastes like wheat-a-bix in milk).

32 oz coffee with 4 TBSP half and half

311 calories total / 24 carbs

Lunch is a variation of the following

8 oz Blended veggies (parsley, kimchi, miso, onions, carrots, etc.)
8 oz Lightly cooked mushrooms (on low heat they need no oil) and kale, collards, or chard)
Sometimes I add a high quality olive oil and raw apple cider vinegar to these to change up the taste.

160 grams full fat whole milk (I like Siggi's); 2 TBSP liquid acidopholis; 7 grams shredded unsweetened coconut

297 calories / 25 carbs


Dinner is usually a protein and a vegetable and maybe a low carb approved option - sometimes I slip beans into something.

Like tonight I made a variation of Moroccan-Style Lamb and Chickpeas (which had a lot of carbs due to the chick peas and sugar due to the raisins - because it just doesn't taste the same with out them.)

562 calories / 46 carbs

If I wanted to cut the carbs / sugar I would have left them out and maybe put 1/4 cup of raw rice in with it and that would have taken it down quite a bit.

Low carb / low sugar is hard. Especially in the beginning. Just go slowly one meal at a time, one day at a time. Find ways to cook the things you love and make them lower carb. For example, we love spaghetti at my house in the old days I would cook a pound of spaghetti and then pour the sauce over it in the bowl. There were be pasta left over, so naturally, I had it with garlic and melted butter. What I do now is make the sauce extra soupy by adding more tomatoes and chopped onions. I cook half the box of pasta. I add the cooked pasta to the sauce and let it sit for about 30 minutes. The pasta holds up in the sauce and absorbes the water from the pasta and voila - I have a whole lot of "low carbish" pasta. I can have a "full serving" and I am still within my calories / carb limit, if I plan my meals.

Low carb is not a forever thing as others have said. You need carbs to keep your thyroid working right. (About 100 grams of carbs a day is considered as low as you should go, long term.)

In November, when I started by making incremental changes (one meal at a time), my end goal was that I would hover around 1400 calories because as an older woman my skin doesn't bounce back as it did when I was younger. By losing the weight slowly, I have minimized the sagging skin.

It took several months of tweaking before I finally found my "sweet spot" in terms of balance between carbs and protein and (since November I have lost about 40 pounds / 4 inches). And... I am only complaint calorie wise about 75% - 80% of the time. I have some health issues and can't really exercise. Despite this and being tied to a desk all day, I have lost and continue to lose weight.

For me, eating low carb and low sugar all of the time some amazing things happened:

• I don't crave sugar (I have an entire box of Charms Wild Berry Blow Pops in my file drawer that I haven't touched since November because I don't crave sugar; I once measured my stress level by how many of them I consumed in one day);
• My moods are more even and I don't have blood sugar spikes and crashes;
• By consuming more healthy fats my joints don't hurt as much and I am more or less satiated on 1400 calories.

I used Paleo Leap and Paleo Tribe for the recipe ideas (they have some great low calorie recipe options) but this isn't necessary. I do think preparing and eating food that I make as opposed to boxes or eating out has helped me a lot. Boxes say they are low carb (but they have lots of other additives in them to make them taste good.)

I also take 7-keto DHEA (fat burner), desiccated adrenal (80 mgs -- I started and maintain a very low dose) and desiccated adrenal cortex (250 mgs). I have more energy and they have helped my allergies and my hormones.