Trying to shake the carbs

Ditch the grains and replace them with veggies and you'll have it kicked.

Grains = wheat, wheat flour and other such items, corn, barley, oats, etc. Get rid of it all and you'll drop your carbs.

I went from 300 a day to 50-75 a day without missing a beat. I don't even miss that heaping plate of pasta. Now when I can eat a second bowl of veggies for 1/3 of the carbs and 1/8 of the calories!

You don't need to go Paleo and completely cut out something that you love if you have no complications regarding grains. I tried eating Paleo for a month specifically to target my belly fat and i was rather unimpressed. The good: I was eating more vegetables (I went from eating a lot to eating TONS) and more protein. The bad: no shift in energy or weight loss as promised - in fact my workout intensity went down (but that may have been because I got sick within a week of starting Paleo). No feeling awesome because I was avoiding grains and legumes.

So now I have decided to retain what I like about Paleo (more clean eating, more protein, avoiding simple carbs) but reincorporating whole grains and legumes like peanut butter and beans. Eating this way has allowed me to hit my macros dead on and maintain a pretty sizeable calorie deficit without feeling hungry. In fact, I usually hit my marcos well before my calories. I can exercise hard and I'm seeing progress with my midsection as well that I wasn't with Paleo.

Oh, I suppose I did say that, but it's not what I meant/believe. At 12% bodyfat, that's all I have left to lose and as it seems to be rather stubborn. There's quite a number of Paleos that claim that it's a surefire way to get that last bit off, so I gave it a try. ::shrug::

"Paleo" may not promise weight loss but 99% of its advocates do! Ergo...

This is not the carb flu. This is whatever is going around my office. My symptoms have not receded since reintroducing grains. You'd think that since my body was no longer fighting the horrors of lectins and stuff that Paleo would put me in great shape to handle a cold, but alas - no dice.

Have you tried substituting the processed carbs for whole carbs? Instead of bread and crackers and chips, eating brown rice, barley, quinoa, oats, etc.?

When you do eat bread, crackers and chips, are they whole grain or white/processed?

Eating clean and eating paleo can overlap, but are not the same things. You can eat clean and eat grains, you just need to stick to less processed grains.

And, I did cut way down on brown rice and quinoa, to a 1/2 cup per serving and only about 3 times a week.

You don't need to go Paleo and completely cut out something that you love if you have no complications regarding grains. I tried eating Paleo for a month specifically to target my belly fat and i was rather unimpressed. The good: I was eating more vegetables (I went from eating a lot to eating TONS) and more protein. The bad: no shift in energy or weight loss as promised - in fact my workout intensity went down (but that may have been because I got sick within a week of starting Paleo). No feeling awesome because I was avoiding grains and legumes.

So now I have decided to retain what I like about Paleo (more clean eating, more protein, avoiding simple carbs) but reincorporating whole grains and legumes like peanut butter and beans. Eating this way has allowed me to hit my macros dead on and maintain a pretty sizeable calorie deficit without feeling hungry. In fact, I usually hit my marcos well before my calories. I can exercise hard and I'm seeing progress with my midsection as well that I wasn't with Paleo.

^^ I agree.

Personally, I broke my "carb habit" by reading/doing the first cycle of the 17 Day Diet. I don't follow it "by the book" anymore, per se, but it most definitely helped me kick start healthier eating! The 17 Day Diet is not be for everyone, but I suggest checking it out to see if it's something you might be interested in.

I have been trying to stick to 30-15-30-15-30-15 carbs per meal/snack. I get three meals and three snacks. Read the labels. I am a total sugar carbo junkie. I love the stuff. Since working to stay within these ratios I have had less cravings for sugar and garbage food. I have found bread taht works well in the limits, knowing your fruits and veggies is important (some contain lots of carbs and I find they can be a trigger for me). Also, I try to start out the day with protein. It just seems like the cravings for the garbage foods are less when I focus on getting in my protein early in the day. Its not an overnight fix. You have to allow yourself some time off for good behavior too (if you go out to eat and really want that pasta or movie theater popcorn then have it). When my husband and I have gone out to eat we are looking on the websites and MFP to see what will fit in our new way of thinking. It has forced us to try new things, choose different restaurants, and find new favorites. At first this seems extreme to go to so few a meal but we have found there is more out there we can use. We like the website dlife.com and use it for recipes. They have all the carb counts on there. If you want you can add me as a friend. I would be happy to have someone to cheer on with this journey.