Help with low carb diet

There is nothing 'only' about 4 lbs in 1.5 weeks. That's quite a steep rate of loss.
So the issue is in your mindset/expectations...

PS You don't want to know how many carbs I'm eating per meal, I'm not into low carb at all (between 225 and 275gr of carbs per day) 🙂

clink0313 wrote: »

Yes, I was expecting more. Usually, for me the most weight comes off the first week of a diet. I guess most of it is water weight. When I've done WW in the past I would lose 5 or more in the first week. The change to low carb is a drastic change for me and I'm eating about a third of what I would normally eat so I thought there would be a bigger change in weight.

And do you usually also start exercising daily too? New exercise is well-known to cause water retention for muscle repair.

As has been mentioned: the word 'usually' seems to indicate repeated efforts but not achieving your goal (or achieving it and then gaining it back).
One key to success is patience and consistency. Two weeks is absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Successful weight loss and maintenance is a lifelong thing, temporary changes are unlikely to be a good basis for that - if you think low carb is a good long-term strategy for you, go for it. But if you only want to do it to lose weight and then 'go back to normal eating', I would recommend that you reconsider because even if you manage to keep it up till you reach your goal, you're likely to gain it all back afterwards.

Well, we didn't know it was for health reasons (we get many people here who do low carb because they think it's a magic way to weight-loss etc).
I'm sorry if we came across as harsh, it's was wel meaning advice, based on partial information.

And we did encourage you: you've lost 4lbs in 1.5 weeks, which is great progress. I personally don't feel you should change anything at this point, if your perception of slow progress is your only frustration. You just need to adjust your perception and try to be more patient. Look at a timezone of at least one month to judge your progress.

If you have other reasons to be frustrated (feeling very hungry or deprived etc) we're more than willing to help, but we would need some more info (personal stats, calorie intake, activity level/ exercise, what your diet looks like at the moment,...).

Hi. I do low carb/high fat.

I'm 54, and I'm type 2 diabetic for the last couple of decades, though I am on the verge of reversing it, I've gotten off almost all of the meds.

For me low carb didn't click until I also upped my fat intake. I found it really hard to do low carb without the high fat but I still worried about the claims that dietary fat is bad for you. After doing research and finding those claims had little merit, I added the extra fat and it did wonders.

The low carb/high fat combination keeps you satiated, you eat a lot less without trying. I'm rarely hungry now, no more cravings or binges. In fact some days I struggle to get my calories over 1000 because I'm not hungry, I have to add some butter or something just to not go to low.

I only eat about 19 net grams of carbs per day, which is about 5% of my diet. I eat 25% protein and 70% fat.

It helps that I gave up anything with added sugars-- like ketchup or pre-packaged foods and sauces. The only sugars I eat are in the form of fruit and veggies, or the natural sugars in unsweetened dairy. Sometimes I treat myself to an artificial sugar treat but this is occasional.

I also gave up grains-- bread, corn, rice, pasta, etc. I know a lot of people love their grains but they are not a necessary part of the human diet. You can give them up just like some people give up meat and others give up dairy-- it's simply not necessary, We can get everything we get from grains from veggies and fruits. Often with people who struggle with carbs, or carb-aggravated conditions, grains are the biggest culprit.

If grains trigger hunger cravings, if you find yourself not wanting to stop eating them, or if the idea of going without them stresses you out, try giving them up for a month to see if it makes a difference. If it makes no difference, just start incorporating them again. But you may be surprised.

I thought I would miss them and go nuts without them, but it's not a problem because the fat is satiating enough. If I really really miss bread or pasta or something I'll make a substitute like flourless bread or zucchini noodles or cauliflower cheesy rice.

clink0313 wrote: »

MacLowCarbing very enlightening. I will try to up my fats and see what happens. Doc suggested 30-40 carbs per meal. I have been coming in much lower than that. I'm not having any sugar or grains. Eggs, veggies and meat are my usual and an occasional piece of fruit. I love bananas but she said only 1\2 on occasion. I am prediabetic and have high cholesterol. I am trying to get my numbers down and eat right so I don't need meds. Thanks for commenting, so helpful.

The Dr. & nutritionist at his office had me on that too. That didn't work for me either, too many carbs spike my blood sugar regardless of the source, I was getting nowhere with it... except cravings, lol. Because having a slice of whole bread or a potato or a bowl of oatmeal just stirred my appetite and never felt like enough.

Personally, I don't know how they call 30-40 g of carbs per meal low carb; that's like 90-120 g. per day, right? That sounds pretty average carb at the very least, not low carb. Recommending that many carbs to diabetics seems really ridiculous to me now.

It's like they're saying, "Here, we know these will spike your blood sugar, but they have some good things in them too, so eat them."

My thoughts are now, "Why should I eat things that spike my blood sugar when I can get the few good things in them from other sources that do not spike my blood sugar?"

I mean, I'm no medical expert. I'm just sharing experiences here. But I just wanna throw out there that you might consider playing around with your macros, particularly going lower carb. It's not like it'll hurt and if you find it unnecessary you can always raise them again.

Also might want to do some research into cholesterol as this is one area where the data has always been flawed. The recommendations have been on flawed data and the standard procedure has become to just prescribe statins, which have such a low effectiveness rate they're barely worth risking the potential side effects.

Some Drs on YouTube I watch give some insightful counter-info. Like one thing I learned is that LDL isn't all "bad" cholesterol; there are actually 2 kinds of LDL and only one type is harmful.

Of course you always have to do your research, don't just take any single doctor's word for it (be it your own or the ones on YouTube); but these are some of the data and arguments that rarely get heard because they contradict the current preferred narrative:
Dr. Ken Berry
Dr. Eric Westman
Dr. Cywes the #CarbAddictionDoc
Dr. Boz

They'll point out studies and experiments you can do further research on to help you decide what course you wanna take.