I love the diet doctor website. I tend to think of "low carb" as anything under 150g carbs. I think the standard american diet is typically twice that!
My understanding of keto is that it's anything below 50g carbs (like Jimmy Moore says on his site), but many people do 20g or less.
I try to adjust my carb intake based on my activity level, though I'm still trying to find what amount works best for me.

Seems about right.

I see low carb as defined as 100-150g per day. I think that is from the basic glucose needs of most "glucose burners". Meaning they eat their glucose needs above the low carb thresh hold. Below the low carb thresh hold, gluconeogenesis will occur.

Course the minimum glucose needs drops after becoming more fat adapted so my d definition won't continue to work.

Ketosis is usually defined as under 20-50g per day, but there are those healthy active people who eat more than that who are still in ketosis all the time.

Giving percentages may not work for those in a caloric deficit though. Some on a Mediterranean style diet of 30/30/40, or even up to 35% carbs, will still be low carb diet because carbs are below 150g. A maintenance diet with the same macros will no longer be low carb.

I personally consider anything "low" or "lower" carb if you are intentionally restricting any type of carb - grains, sugars, starches, etc. Any type of carb, if not all carbs...or fructose over sucrose, etc. Any intentional reduction.

I classify, for myself, 150 or less as LOWER carb
100 or less as LOW carb
50 or less as Keto or VLC
20 or less as induction or hard keto or carnivore, depending.

These numbers are are total carbs. I try not to have more than 25-30% of my carbs reduce by net carbs - veggie fibers are okay to go over this, but sugar alcohols, etc., I aim for 35 net carbs or so for a 50 total grams of carbs... Otherwise if I have that much of an imbalance between total and net carbs, I have to ask myself what I'm eating. If it's broccoli, I'm golden. If it's quest bars or fat bombs or non-whole foods, I have to ask myself what's up...because nutrients are critical to healing my ongoing health issues and a bunch of faux foods aren't giving me the nutrition I need...

Just my 27.5 cents.

Unless we are talking about ensuring ketosis (and even then, I think the numbers can vary), I think looking at percentages is a better way to look at a low carb definition. I say this because as an active 6'1" 185 lb man, for maintenance, I eat around 3500 calories a day. To compare me with my 5'4" in wife who eats about 1200 calories a day in terms of grams to determine who is low carb seems strange. If I ate 100 g of carbs a day, that would represent 11.4% of my caloric intake. If she ate that, it would be 33%. Given the SAD (or the SUK diet if you are in the UK), she might be considered lower carb since it is below the "norm" but I would think I would be squarely in the low carb range and likely even in ketosis part of most days if metabolically healthy (no IR).

That said, I think lower carb would be at or below 30% and low would be at or below 10%. Keto depends on too many factors and is highly variable, which I think many people here have realized.

Personally, I no longer track my food, but I did so long enough to say fairly confidently that most days I am below 15 g and am more likely to be less than that than more than that. When I go over (maybe 3-4 times a month), it is usually because of overindulging on either nuts or soft cheese.

Interesting -- I'm currently low carb and liberal according to those definitions (which seems funny to me, as what I'm currently doing seems pretty low to me and I'd describe it as LCHF).

I was coming in around 150 g carbs without even thinking about it (even at maintenance), driven by my own preferences -- and at that level I don't think of it as particularly high fat, not at my calorie levels even at maintenance -- so it's really, really hard for me to think of that as low carb. I'd say moderate. In general I'd consider maybe 30-50% as moderate, below 30% as low. Keto depends on the person, total calories, activity level, etc.

However, I KNOW that the dietary guidelines have 140 g of carbs as the RDA (or something like that), so I get the argument for it.

2t9nty wrote: »

I am at 20 net carbs a day. I am T2D, and I am using the low carb for control of glucose levels in combination with metformin. The weight loss and other benefits are frosting on the cake (or perhaps more like xanthan gum gravy on the pot roast). I want to get weight down some more (81 lbs lost so far). Ultimately I would like to be able to control the glucose levels with diet only, but I will have to see what happens as I approach target weight. It may just not be possible for me, although I have made good progress in that direction. At some point I may be able to relax the carb limits, but for now they are staying at 20.

Congrats on making the 81 pounds disappear! It must feel great!

I am not diabetic but I'd like to keep my diet to 20 net carb grams a day and enjoy the benefits you described...however, especially since I'm adding more veggies now, I can easily exceed 20 net carbs.

Do you have any secrets that have made 20 g net carbs work so well for you?

Honestly it has been fairly easy. I eat meat, eggs and leafy greens. I am fond of things like collard greens cooked with a ham hock. So many social situations involve snacks, and I have some peanuts that are 1 net carb per serving. I determined with some online calculator that my base metabolic rate is about 2500 calories, so I set my goal at 2000. That has given me about a pound loss a week.

The real reason that the 20 carbs has worked so well for me I think is that I am not hungry all the time. I have been very good about not "cheating" and just having a fork full of cake. I am mostly of the opinion that justifying a little slip encourages a larger one.

After a bout of the keto flu, I made an electrolyte mix that seems to be working for me. I mix a gallon of Crystal Light with a 1/4 cup of a store brand version of Braggs, a teaspoon of Morton's Light Salt and a teaspoon of epsom salt. I drink a gallon of this mix a day and try to keep my sodium on the MFP logger in the 4000 - 5000 range. If it is low, three servings of olives will boost it about 1000.

I take a multivitamin every day.

The diet is satisfying and easy to do. You just buy regular food at the store. Prep is simple. If you are crushed with time or energy, cook a bunch of meat and keep it in some tupperware in the fridge. Cook a large pot of greens and heat them up when you want a serving with supper. Walmart has 10 oz. tins of chunked chicken that are cheap and are a good sodium source. I keep those at the office, and sometimes a can of chicken and an ounce of peanuts give me a 400 calorie lunch when I might otherwise have joined friends for Mexican or Chinese.