Eating carbs only in the morning

it works. i don't know if you can ONLY eat them once though... just no carbs at night. If you are eating healthy throughout the day and then have no carbs at dinner you will lose more weight. A woman here at work has been doing weight watchers for a month with no carbs at dinner and has lost 20lbs. Granted, she had about 30 lbs to lose, but she is losing it much faster than the other people at work who weigh in every week. So, she still gets the carbs she needs (not saying she loads up during the day either just eats healthy- fruit, granola, vitatops, etc.) to do her exercising and have energy, but at night she has just protein & veggies. Apparently there is a book on this...

Ahh, I don't know that specifically you should eat all your carbs in the moring, but realistically, there is some truth to the fact that most people are far more active during the day than they are at night. While eating the right sized meals throughout the day is important, I don't know that removing carbs at night will help very much. This is under the assumption that you aren't overdosing on carbs to begin with (either at any one single meal, or overall). Look, it's a very simple strategy.

look at it from a pyramid view:

most general (pyramid base) - stay within your daily calorie alotment

more specific (pyramid middle) - don't eat too much at any one meal and spread your food out throughout the day.

most specific (pyramid top) - eat the RIGHT calories at every meal, I.E. never eat any meal that's deficient in any type of macro nutrient. Always have a balanced meal.

follow this, and yes, you should be able to eat carbs for dinner, just not a whole big bunch of them.

for example, I did this plan to a T for a full year, lost 55 lbs over that year (7 months of losing weight actually) and ate carbs every night. What I did change was the type of carbs, and my portion sizes (and of course I started eating about 3X the veggies I was before). So I'm living proof, carbs don't kill a strategy, overdoing carbs (and any macro nutrient) kills a strategy.

I think there is some truth to this as well. I typically start my day with oatmeal paired with a protein like nuts, then stick to lean meats and veggies the remainder of the day, with fruit for a snack. Fruit is a complex carb and does give me the energy boost I need to avoid an afternoon slump.

Im so confused i have no idea what to eat, how much, and get my weight lost going... i feel stuck and depressed cause i have no idea what's right and what's wrong.. blah... :drinker: :sad: :grumble:

Don't get discouraged life changes are always difficult. We are different and our bodies act differently to different diets. The key is finding the one that works for you an sticking with it. The worst thing to do it flip back an forth between diets and not give your body time to adjust. I know there are alot of different ideas on this website. Don't eat carbs, do eat carbs, don't eat fat, eat fat. Very confusing. My advice would be to do your own research and look at the daily menu suggestions if you look at the diet and say there is no way I can eat like that then you might not be able to stick with it long enough for your body to adjust. When you find the diet that works for you, you will lose weight and feel better. Just remember it won't happen over night. Just be proud that you are trying to get healthier.

Tammie, sometimes it seems extremely complicated at first, but it's really not. Start off simple, sit down and write out a plan for your meals that you can follow ever day. I don't mean exactly what to eat, but what kinds to eat and when. Later, once you get used to it, you can get more creative, but for now, just stick to this:

map out 6 meals, 3 "meals" interspersed with 3 "snacks"

take your total calories, and divide by 3, then you have your total snack plus meal for that part of the day (2/3 meal, 1/3 snack)

for instance, say your allowed 1500 cals a day:

your eating schedule should be something like this:

NOTE : each meal should have carbs, protein, and fats in it, each snack should have carbs and protein.

breakfast - 8:00am - 330 cals
(example - 1/2 a banana, 1 nature valley granola bar, 4 oz 1% milk, and 1 tblspn peanutbutter)

snack - 10:00 am - 170 cals - protein and carbs
(example - 1 serving baby carrots and 1 serving raw almonds)

Lunch - 12:30 pm - 350 cals
(example - Turkey wrap with mustard, onions, peppars, 1 slice american cheese, lettuce, (any veggies)), baked lays potato chips

snack - 3:00 pm 150 cals
(example - 1 serving cabot 75% reduced fat sharp chedder cheese, 1 serving sugar snap peas, 1 serving of strawberries)

dinner - 5:30 pm - 300 cals
(example - 4 oz chicken breast broiled - 1 serving of baked sweet potato, 1 serving broccoli)

snack 7:30 - 150 calories
(example - 1 bag healthy choice microwave popcorn, 1 sugar free jello fudgicles)

this comes out to almost exactly 1500 calories, it's the right foods, the right portions, and you won't be hungry.

once you get used to how much a serving is of everything, it gets very easy.

Hope this is what you were talking about by confusion.

-Banks

yeah, how tall are you? unless you're 5 foot, there's no way you should be at 1200 calories IMHO. That is unless you have some other condition I don't know about.

Im 5'5" 157lbs and my daily activities are house work (caring for kids, cleaning, cooking, shopping etc) and i try to walk for a hour pushing a stroller 4 times a week.

so you chose 2 lbs a week I take it? That's probably not right for someone looking to lose 22 lbs. Without knowing your situation in depth, I would make an educated guess and say between 1/2 a lb and 1 lb a week should be what you should shoot for. Considering your maintenance cals are probably around 2000 a day, that would put you at around 1500 to 1750 cals a day.

Obviously I'm not a registered dietitian so take this for what it's worth, but there it is.

I'll change my settings and see if that helps.... Once again thank you so much :flowerforyou: it gets so confusing and with all these ads you see on tv or on line saying how easy it is to lose weight if you do this or do that i get so confused....

trust me, I know. If I didn't have a wife who was already pretty much a superstar at this stuff when I started, it would have taken me twice as long to learn it all. Daunting is an understatement. But don't worry, you'll get there. There's really no shortcut, but that's ok, doing it the right way makes you not only able to do it forever, it gives you a great sense of accomplishment!

Responding to an old thread, but in any case, YES, get the majority of carbs in the morning. Carbs are your main fuel. If you take in fuel at the end of the day, and go to bed, your body will store it (fat). Don't know what to eat? I'll help. 1st: Egg whites- 3-6 depending on how much Pro you want to take in. Protein is very important in the morning bkz your body just fasted for about 8 hrs while sleeping. keeping your Protein levels high will keep you from burning too much muscle. More muscle equals higher metabolism which equals burning more calories throughout the day. 2nd, 4-6oz sweet potatoe/Yam or whatever you wanna call it. No butter/oil on the potato. Eat it plain or with salt/pepper. Microwave it in wet paper towel for 4-5 min. MMMM perfection. 3rd- 1tbspoon peanut putter. That's a 1/2 serving. The PB will not only keep you feeling full for longer, but it has GOOD fats and Cholesterol that your body actually needs in order to burn fat. Sounds weird, but the fat is converted to a certain lipid that dissolve other fats. Well, that's the power breakfast. after that, keep it high Protein with lots of veggies, and no carbs at dinner except for veggies. And corn is NOT a veggie.
~Cheers