Low carb fans, entry please!

[TecHNooB]

I feel like goin low carb. Post your low carb diet plans and i'll put something together based off of that =]

 

[sager66]

Diabetic Diet Guidelines . . calorie consumption

 

[arrfep]

Hmm....I strongly recommend going "smart carb." It works well for me. I eat carbs with almost every meal, but I try to get only really worthwhile carbs. Work on calorie reduction and it's easier to still eat good foods.
I have real oatmeal for breakfast...fills ya up real good.
Turkey sandwich on high-fiber, all-natural whole oat bread (Natural Ovens brand...mmmm).
Lotsa carbs from things like veggies and nuts....some from milk/cheese/yogurt.
Snack on quality nutritional bars (i.e. organic/natural types like Kashi, Zone Perfect, Clif vs. mostly crappy high fructose corn syrup in Quaker granola bars, Nutri-Grain, etc.)

I eat a good amount, enough to still put on muscle while I'm lifting, but I'm still losing weight. Oh and I feel great.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: arrfep
Hmm....I strongly recommend going "smart carb." It works well for me. I eat carbs with almost every meal, but I try to get only really worthwhile carbs. Work on calorie reduction and it's easier to still eat good foods.
I have real oatmeal for breakfast...fills ya up real good.
Turkey sandwich on high-fiber, all-natural whole oat bread (Natural Ovens brand...mmmm).
Lotsa carbs from things like veggies and nuts....some from milk/cheese/yogurt.
Snack on quality nutritional bars (i.e. organic/natural types like Kashi, Zone Perfect, Clif vs. mostly crappy high fructose corn syrup in Quaker granola bars, Nutri-Grain, etc.)

I eat a good amount, enough to still put on muscle while I'm lifting, but I'm still losing weight. Oh and I feel great.

I dropped 30 pounds in a little over a year following these same basic rules.

Smart vs. low is the way to go.

 

[SVT Cobra]

If you aren't going to change your diet to something that you can eat for the rest of your life. Don't bother.

 

[TecHNooB]

Sounds good. What do you guys think of salads? Is there like a no dressing rule? I could eat salad all day as long as theres plenty of dressing

 

[xtknight]

Be sure to keep eating fiber (also a carb). Chances are fiber isn't what's causing you to gain weight. The important thing is to cut out sugar-rich foods and replace them with alternatives high in protein. Cut out trans fat, eat a low amount of saturated fat, but whatever other fats you eat doesn't really matter. Peanuts are a great snack. Then, once a week, treat yourself to whatever you want (e.g. General Tso's at the Chinese restaurant for Saturday's dinner). The bottom line is: it's what you eat, not how much you eat (the 'what' will determine how full you are and prevent you from eating any more in the first place). The other thing is, you've got to be satisfied. Macaroni and Cheese is a lot healthier for you than chips, yet still very satisfying. Also be sure to keep your sodium under control as your body retains it like crazy and it shows up as temporary weight on the scale.

Disclaimer: this is my theory.

I should ask...do you eat any of the following right now? (pre-diet):

Chips
Soda (sugar)
M&Ms (or other chocolates/candy)
Cakes/Pies
Doughnuts
Unhealthy TV dinners
Trans-fatty muffins/baked goods (cookies, etc)

...I think you get the drill.

 

[TecHNooB]

I eat chips occasionally. Cape Cod Salt Vinegar chips and Johnny Capps hot fries are the best I also drink soda at least once a week, though most of the time I'll just have water. Not a fan of eating lots of candy. Maybe once a month. Same with cookies, although I eat more cookies than candy. The reason I'm asking about low carbs is not for losing weight.. it's cuz I get a sleepy a lot, which is prolly because I'm bored outta my mind reading stuff for school.

 

[arrfep]

Originally posted by: TecHNooB
I eat chips occasionally. Cape Cod Salt Vinegar chips and Johnny Capps hot fries are the best I also drink soda at least once a week, though most of the time I'll just have water. Not a fan of eating lots of candy. Maybe once a month. Same with cookies, although I eat more cookies than candy. The reason I'm asking about low carbs is not for losing weight.. it's cuz I get a sleepy a lot, which is prolly because I'm bored outta my mind reading stuff for school.

Here's the best thing about the way I've had success: Everything in moderation. This means even moderation in moderation. Which means: Pig out every once in awhile. I lost 40 pounds in half a year doing this: 5 days a week I follow my rules. Smart carbs and lotsa protein, lotsa veggies, fish and fowl, lotsa water. NO refined sugars, no alcohol, no fried anything. Moderate caloric restriction...but I was never hungry.

Saturday: Anything goes basically. I still stayed away from the fried stuff because there is nothing valuable in any type of fried food. But I could eat pizza, ice cream, spaghetti, have a few beers, all the bread I wanted, cookies and peanutbutter sandwiches...you name it.

The reasoning behind this is threefold:

1.) Psychological. You will stay on a diet plan longer if you know you are not permanently giving something up. It's much easier to think "Oh I can have some Rocky Road in four days," as opposed to "Oh, I can never eat Rocky Road ever again in my life or I'll get fat again." One cup of ice cream once a week won't make you fat. And this leads to the next two points:

2.) Mixing it up keeps your body on its toes. If you go on a restricted calorie diet, a couple things will happen. Your body will adapt. It will go into "survival mode." Because you are taking in so little fuel, it will assume you are facing starvation. The body changes and the metabolism adapts. Soon the body learns to run on the fuel it has and no more. This is why people lose ten pounds on low-cal diet in their first two weeks or so, but after that the weight loss drops drastically. And most likely, any poundage lost after that is not going to be good weight loss...because your body will starve its muscles to get the fuel it needs. This is also why you can't (in the long run) put on muscle while you're on a low-cal diet. The point is that when you keep the diet fluctuating, the body never adapts ,and essentially keeps you in that "first two weeks" phase.

3.) One day a week off the diet won't kill you because your body can absorb only so much fat (or anything, really) in one day. For instance if you eat 2 tubs of Edy's Ice Cream and 3 extra value meals, that's like 14000 calories. But your body is not going to put on four pounds of fat (3500 calories=1 LB of fat) because most of that is just going to get crapped out. It's the cumulative effect of junk food that makes people fat, not the once a blue-moon binge.

So the jist is this: 5 days on/2 days off diet. Or find a breakdown that works for you. This is referred to often as Zig-Zag dieting, and is popular with people trying to lose fat and put muscle on in the same period of time....something that's usually hard to do.

What I would say is the single most important aspect of this all: Get your nutrients from good sources. A fruit, instead of concentrated juice. Realy turkey, instead of Jennie-O, protein from a piece of Salmon, instead of a shake. Use supplements as supplements, not as a main food source. And the best advice ever, which I think I read on here, is this: If you can't pick it or kill it, don't eat it. Good luck.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor or dietician or scientist of any sort. This is based on hours upon hours of my own reading, and of course experience. Like I said, it works for me and it has for many others.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

not necessarily a low-carb fan,

but i just avoid all high-carb items: cakes, cookies, muffins, bagels, pies, peanut-butter sandwiches, etc.