Low Carbers ? for you

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evansproudmama
evansproudmama Posts: 496
in Health and Weight Loss
and if you arent a low carber please dont respond to my thread, I understand everyone is different and has different ideas about low carb but this is what is working for me so please do not leave negative remarks/opinons/comments here Thanks!!

So my question is.. When you first started how fast did the weight come off? I have been low carbing for about a month but I normally cheat and fall off the wagon on weekends so this is my first full week of actually sticking to it and Im losing at about one pound a day!! I also walk three times a day that adds up to about 4+miles and 50-60mins 5-6x a week. Im just concerned that its not really fat however I read in the first week it pretty much falls off and than it will slow down.. whats your experience with this?

*Just a note Im currently trying to keep my carbs as low as possible, aiming for under 50 but give myself a max of 80 since I prefer not to cut out fruits as it helps me do my business in the bathroom alot easier and more often lol

Thanks
Bri

Replies

  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    You are burning mostly fat and some muscle. You may want to incorporate some strength training into your schedule to maintian muscle mass. Below 50 grams is not a place you should stay for more than 2 weeks. It stresses your liver and is slightly toxic in addition to burning some lean muscle tissue. What you are experiencing in terms of loss is pretty typical. After 2 weeks get you carbs back up to between 75 and 100 grams per day. You will still be mildly ketogenic in all likely hood. Keep up with the low intensity cardio with the walking and incorporate some strength training.
  • evansproudmama
    evansproudmama Posts: 496
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    You are burning mostly fat and some muscle. You may want to incorporate some strength training into your schedule to maintian muscle mass. Below 50 grams is not a place you should stay for more than 2 weeks. It stresses your liver and is slightly toxic in addition to burning some lean muscle tissue. What you are experiencing in terms of loss is pretty typical. After 2 weeks get you carbs back up to between 75 and 100 grams per day. You will still be mildly ketogenic in all likely hood. Keep up with the low intensity cardio with the walking and incorporate some strength training.

    Thanks!! I am planning to start Jillians 30day shred on Sunday along with my walking and I do crunches/push ups almost every night, I never actually go under 50grams and if i do its close like 40-45 cause I need my fruits and veggies :-) I generally shoot for closer to 80 but never over..

    Thanks again!!
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Quite welcome! So you are not really "low carb". You are more like moderatly low carb. That is a good safe zone. When you get closer to your target, bump the carbs up to 100 to 150. You can maintain there indefinitely. This will keep your insulin sensitivity high and you macr mix really good. Sound like you are doing great!! Stay the course!
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
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    I am doing a 30 day Paleo - which based on the food groups you eat is a low carb form of eating...I am trying to stay under 80/day - but I usually allow myself 2 servings of fruit a day...

    I was eating fairly clean before doing the 30 day and my carbs were about 125-150/day.

    Last week I lost almost 2 lbs - I weighed myself this morning and according to that I am down another lb - but my offical weigh in day is Saturday morning...so who knows how that will go...

    I usually do 2 Crossfit Strength classes a week and 1-2 kickboxing classes...
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Options
    I am doing a 30 day Paleo - which based on the food groups you eat is a low carb form of eating...I am trying to stay under 80/day - but I usually allow myself 2 servings of fruit a day...

    I was eating fairly clean before doing the 30 day and my carbs were about 125-150/day.

    Last week I lost almost 2 lbs - I weighed myself this morning and according to that I am down another lb - but my offical weigh in day is Saturday morning...so who knows how that will go...

    I usually do 2 Crossfit Strength classes a week and 1-2 kickboxing classes...

    I am doing something similar. I'm following The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. For me though its a permanent change in the way I eat and exercise. Reducing inflamation and keeping the whole eating thing clean as well as a sustainable way to keep very fit and not either burn out, get injured or not keep on it. Sound like overall you had a good program. I think you'll like how you feel. You won't have the initial carb withdrawl that most do because you already had the carbs in a good zone.
  • Marll
    Marll Posts: 904 Member
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    You are burning mostly fat and some muscle. You may want to incorporate some strength training into your schedule to maintian muscle mass. Below 50 grams is not a place you should stay for more than 2 weeks. It stresses your liver and is slightly toxic in addition to burning some lean muscle tissue. What you are experiencing in terms of loss is pretty typical. After 2 weeks get you carbs back up to between 75 and 100 grams per day. You will still be mildly ketogenic in all likely hood. Keep up with the low intensity cardio with the walking and incorporate some strength training.

    I'll have to disagree with you here, there is nothing wrong with being lower than 50grams a day for extended periods. Ketosis is not toxic and ketones are not acidic. On a proper low carb diet where you are getting mostly fat, moderate protein and low carbs you will not loose muscle weight, only water and fat.
  • evansproudmama
    evansproudmama Posts: 496
    Options
    I am doing a 30 day Paleo - which based on the food groups you eat is a low carb form of eating...I am trying to stay under 80/day - but I usually allow myself 2 servings of fruit a day...

    I was eating fairly clean before doing the 30 day and my carbs were about 125-150/day.

    Last week I lost almost 2 lbs - I weighed myself this morning and according to that I am down another lb - but my offical weigh in day is Saturday morning...so who knows how that will go...

    I usually do 2 Crossfit Strength classes a week and 1-2 kickboxing classes...

    I am doing something similar. I'm following The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. For me though its a permanent change in the way I eat and exercise. Reducing inflamation and keeping the whole eating thing clean as well as a sustainable way to keep very fit and not either burn out, get injured or not keep on it. Sound like overall you had a good program. I think you'll like how you feel. You won't have the initial carb withdrawl that most do because you already had the carbs in a good zone.

    This is where I got my numbers, he says to stay in between 50-100 for weight loss and than 100-150 maintance so that is what I was shooting for, I just decided to do the 25-50 for this first week to get serious than I will bump it up.. actually to be honest its pretty easy to do Im finding that unless I add in those super unhealthy things like candy/cake/french fries that I dont go anywhere near my 80
  • dennydifferent
    dennydifferent Posts: 135 Member
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    When I started at under 20g carbs a day, I lost at around 4lb a week, for a couple months, on more than 1800kcal a day. I've since stopped counting both calories and carbs, just sticking to a largely Primal diet with, I'd guess, less than 50g carbs a day. Weight loss is variable, but roughly around 2lb a week.
  • ShilohMaier
    ShilohMaier Posts: 135
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    Fast weight loss is pretty typical, I think it's the primary appeal for a lot of people. When I first went low carb, I lost over 100 pounds in about 5 months. They called me the incredible shrinking woman at work- and I started a huge atkins craze at my office. The last 40 pounds of it I lost a lot more slowly, took me about 6 months- but I'd upped my carbs to around 60g at that time, which is what really put the breaks on. This time around (trying to lose the baby weight!), it's gone a lot slower for me for some reason- I've been doing this since Jan. 3rd, and have only lost 21 pounds so far. I'm okay with that though.
  • mjbrenner
    mjbrenner Posts: 222 Member
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    Good job so far! There is a lot of great advice already in this thread. The only pieces I would add are:

    1. Drink lots of water. I do not get as thirsty now that I follow a lower-carb eating strategy, but I always feel great the moment the glass touched my lips. Water will help to prevent any of the rare kidney problems people sometime refer to on low carb diets.

    2. When you have a high carb day (e.g. a "cheat day, be it planned or not), you WILL likely gain up to eight pounds overnight. Do not worry - there is nothing wrong with this. Your body is storing all of those extra carbs you ate in your muscles and liver as glycogen, and lots of extra water gets stored along with that glycogen. This water weight will be shed over the following week as you use up the glycogen stores. You are not getting fatter - you are just holding onto a bit more water for a few days. Don't panic if you see the scale jump like this.

    3. You still need to maintain a caloric deficit. Do not be tempted by people who claim otherwise. While there are arguments that low-carb eating strategies might increase your BMR, it is definitely not a big enough jump to make a real difference in how you eat. Just enjoy the fact that caloric deficits are often easier to maintain when following a low-carb strategy.

    Enjoy your transition into the lower carb lifestyle! For many of us, this has been the key to our success in finding health.
  • scott091501
    scott091501 Posts: 1,260 Member
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    Best book I read on low carbing it was by Shelby Starnes. It comes in ebook. Lays out the whole deal for you. I went from 225 to 195 in less than 2 months following his plan. I'll be damned if I can't remember the title.
  • veggiegypsy
    veggiegypsy Posts: 4
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    I was stuck at the same weight for 3 months, tried eating less, eating more, etc and the scale would not move and I have at least 50-60 lbs to lose. I decided to try a gluten free trial to see if maybe that was my problem and lost 6 lbs in 5 days...yes I know it was probably water weight but since then I've been consistenly losing 1-2 lbs a week. Since then I've been looking into low carb and I keep mine between 50-100...most days end up being closer to 50 but on Saturday I will go up to 100 maybe even 150. I may lose more if I didn't have the higher carbs on Saturday but I'm good with 1-2 lbs a week.
  • _Amy_Budd
    _Amy_Budd Posts: 378 Member
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    I'll have to disagree with you here, there is nothing wrong with being lower than 50grams a day for extended periods. Ketosis is not toxic and ketones are not acidic. On a proper low carb diet where you are getting mostly fat, moderate protein and low carbs you will not loose muscle weight, only water and fat.

    Yes, I agree with this. I've been under 50 grams a day of carbs for over 8 months, to the tune of 96 pounds lost in that time. I eat super-clean - organic, grass-fed, cage-free, wild, etc. - and keep my macros at no more than 15% carbs, and 30% protein and 55% fat. My daily calorie goal is 1,400 before exercise, and some days I eat some of my exercise calories, some days I don't. I listen to my body - when I'm hungry, I eat. I run and I do CrossFit, and I've got some great muscle tone going.

    This is my sweet spot for weight loss. Yours might be different. Listen to your body, and don't worry about the rapid weight loss as long as you have energy to get through your normal activities and your workouts, and you're feeling happy and healthy.

    :)
    Amy
  • heymom93
    heymom93 Posts: 65 Member
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    Wow - I think you have gotten some great advice from everyone on here. The only thing that I would add is to be careful with those "cheat days." My nutritionist told me that each time your body dips into ketosis it will burn a little extra muscle and if you are not consuming enough protein those dips into ketosis can hit your organ muscles. Try and stay consistent. It will be better for you and your weight loss.
    All that said - weekends are so hard for me too - I totally understand :)

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