Why do I feel like CRAP on low carbs?

your brain and your body NEEDS carbs to function properly...if you want to moderate your carb intake to lean down, switch your food ratios to 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat, or what is called "the zone". i recommend this combination to most of my female clients who are trying to lose weight and fat. it will help stabilize your blood sugar and if you are eating high quality, low glycemic carbs, it will reduce your carb/sugar cravings as well.

your brain and your body NEEDS carbs to function properly...if you want to moderate your carb intake to lean down, switch your food ratios to 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat, or what is called "the zone". i recommend this combination to most of my female clients who are trying to lose weight and fat. it will help stabilize your blood sugar and if you are eating high quality, low glycemic carbs, it will reduce your carb/sugar cravings as well.

YESSS! I assume you are a nutritionist/dietician?? You make a lot of sense.

Re: Doctors:
My PCP doesn't know jack about dieting and nutrition. I may be overweight, but I would bet I know more than he does, just from having been on just about every diet and now I know what works and what doesn't. He told me to go on 800-1000 calories and exercise daily. No fats or oils, nuts, bread, potatoes, cheese, red meat, eggs, .. heck he had a list a mile long. Plus, when I told him how/calories I ate, he said I would never lose any weight. He didn't say anything about the 16 pounds I have lost since I visited him in January. If I knew I would get a better doctor, I would change doctors in a minute. You just don't know what you will get.

Oops, sorry. I was just commenting on the big quote-list, putting in my 2cents worth. Didn't mean to change the subject, OP.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<look at me, I eat anywhere between 150 and 200 carbs a day.

Its called balance people. We should not deprive our bodies of nutrients, we should not fear food, that is just plain sad. We need carbs for energy, oh yes we do.

When we live a healthy happy life, we eat a good variety of good foods and feel GREAT!

@lesasass

Try needing to lose 100 pounds. A person gets mighty impatient. Not saying it's the best way, but there's a big difference in needing to lose 5 pounds or.. mega pounds.

Good carbs are fine, but prolonged low carb diets will make you moody, irritable and if training/exercising too you will feel tired.

There is no need to cut carbs down that low (50g per day), yes your body can draw energy from fat & protein etc but this will lead to losing muscle mass too if you are training.

Carbs are your fuel, you wouldnt go for a drive without putting some petrol (gas) in your car would you? Dont expect your body to go far without good carbs either.. just avoid the processsed crap.

I 'normally' take in between 200-250g a day of carbs to feed my exercise, and my ratio is 50c, 30p, 20f.

As Tom Venuto says 'feed the muscle, burn the fat'

From my own experience and from what I have read, carbs are addicting, and your body really has no need for them, except to use as an energy source. According to Atkins' book, carbs act as a sort of "bully" in your body. They insist on being burned first for energy. Whatever cannot be burned is stored as fat which is what leads to diabetes, heart attack, stroke, high cholesterol, etc... When you go low carb to lose weight, like you are doing (or in my case extreme low carb-under 25 grams/day-under a doctor supervised diet) you are telling your body to draw energy from fat, either fats that have been eaten or stored fat, all the same to your body. That's called ketosis which takes about 3-5 days (different for everyone) to get into ketosis. You must drink lots of water. Also, dehydration can cause headaches. I've been eating like this for over a year and have lost 107 lbs.. I can only tell you that I feel terrific. All my doctors say I'm in great health. I was able to stop taking my diabetes medication after 2 months of eating this way. I haven't eaten, nor do I want to eat, a potato, rice, pasta, popcorn, or bread in over a year and they pop microwave popcorn in my office every day. I only eat low carb wraps and pita. I'd be happy to help you or answer any questions you have.

It sounds like you were already eating the good carbs - high fiber, whole grains, etc. The only thing I would cut down on is processed carbs and sugars. Whole grains and fiber are really important parts of a healthy, balanced diet. I love my whole grains and fiber! :drinker:

Good carbs are fine, but prolonged low carb diets will make you moody, irritable and if training/exercising too you will feel tired.

Do you have any studies to back this up? I am neither moody or irritable, happier than I have ever been and better able to deal with stress than I could have when I was 174lbs heavier, I train heavily and I am not tired, have energy enough to run circles around my teenage boys and their friends.

So sorry you feel like crap. That is the worst when you are trying to lose weight. My husband and I eat low carb cuz of dietary needs (pre type 2 diabetes). We eat 30 carbs per meal and 15 per snack. If you look at my diary I tend to be higher than that but I work to stay fairly close most days. We have been trying a lot on new recipes from dlife.com. It makes which recipes are low carb. Using the scan function on my phone I have entered the recipes on my phone and found they can actually be lower than what is posted there. Low carb can work, be tasty, keep you full, not be all about eggs, nuts, and bacon. We are losing weight, and feeling good. We have to be selective with the carbs we choose--it has forced more veggies into our diet. This is not a bad thing. There is less pasta in our diet. We have gotten creative with desserts (jello is super cheap in carbs with whipped cream even when you pick the sugar free kind) and they have tasted good. Maybe you should up your carbs. You aren't getting very many if you are only allowing 50 a day. That might help you feel better.

glucose is the only energy source that can cross the blood-brain barrier. glucose can only be found in an easy-to-obtain form in carbs/sugars. once all the freely available carbs have been used from your blood, there is nothing to fuel your brain. the only other place that you can get the necessary glucose from to fuel your brain is proteins. deconstructing proteins in order to obtain energy is not a simple chemical reaction... it is slow, and cumbersome, and does not result in very high blood sugar levels, so your brain remains rather starved.

personally, i am a scientist so i need my brain to be functioning at optimal all day. if i can't think then i can't justify being paid to think. i do eat a fairly low carb diet, but cutting them out in an atkins style diet is not an option.

also, i want to keep my proteins! there is no 'storage' mechanism for proteins - if you are burning them, you are burning and actual building block of your body. do not want!

through trial and error, i have found a happy amount of carbs to consume, which is fairly low.

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also a scientist.

I also think glucose is the best fuel for the brain.

BUT... I'm pretty sure ketones get past the blood brain barrier, and ketones are an energy source. That's why the body goes into ketosis in the first place- gotta keep the brain alive. Or so I thought.