low carb lifestyle?

M

mishka

0
Hello,
I am looking for advise from anyone who has tried this. pros? cons? I have just recently been cutting down on my carbs by not eating any pasta, bread, or rice. Some of my co-workers say i am just hurting myself, and when i tried to look up info on the web, i was overwhelmed with useless information about it. Everyone just wants me to buy something. Before i go too deep into it i would like to know what a person who has tried it thinks.
Thanks!
 
I've tried it but not on purpose. I was at a survival camp in WA eating bugs and squirrels etc.. Talk about low energy.
Your body needs carbs for energy. The best thing for you to do is eat a balanced meal. Don't worry about buying supplements. All you need is wholesome foods. Some protein, carbs, fats in moderation 6 times a day.
Do try and watch your carb intake. Ask yourself what kind of carbs you are eating, in what quantity, and when. This 'food log' will help answer your questions.
The thing you want to limit instead of carbs is sugar.
 
Johnny,
Thank you for your response. I am aware of the no sugar rule. I have been steering clear of that. The deal is this; About a year and a half ago I started changing my eating habits. I stopped eating fried foods and only ate sweets on special occasions. Eventually I started noticing a little weight loss happening, which in turn got me motivated to keep going. I started a regular exercise routine about three months ago and lost some more weight. since I started I went from 186 pounds to what i weigh now, 132 pounds. I was looking on the web at ideal weight calculators and according to these, I should be 110 pounds. So that is what I am trying to do, reach my ideal weight, but with my eating habits and exercise routine I am at a stand still and no more weight will come off. Wow! squirrels and bugs, sounds like a fear factor kind of thing. You must have a good stomach. Thanks again Johnny!
 
Not fear factor, more like eat or die!

Good job on the weight loss, that's awesome! Have you been doing the same routine and stopped losing or what? How long were you on the routine before you reached your plateau? Are you still working out and dieting, and if so what is your training schedule? What are your eating habits?....describe a normal day.
Once I know some of these answers I can help more. The BIGGEST thing right now is eating frequently and doing 30-45 min of aerobic exercise + some form of resistance training 4-6 days a week.
 
Those calculators are no good. They do not take into consideration some factors that matter most - genetics, true body type (not just s,m,l) etc.

I applaud you for the weight you have lost and I encourage you to continue working towards a healthier you. I suggest loosing weight until you are where "you" want to be and are proud of how you look, but not based on an inefecient web calculator.

Good luck to you.
 
A typical day for me goes as follows:
I eat an egg, 3 strips of bacon, or two sausage link, and one slice of low carb toast. For lunch I have an Advantage bar from Atkins, and for dinner I have some sort of meat with vegetables and a slice of low carb bread. Then I jog for 30 minutes, come back home and do crunches, leg lifts, lift weights, etc.
This is what I have been doing for about a month now. The exercise i have been doing longer. My old diet was just small meals throughout the day, but they included pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, and so on. I came to a stand still and wouldn't drop anymore weight so I needed something new. I am really not losing too much with this yet. I weighed myself today and I am 130 pounds. Thanks for the encouragement!
 
I'd say you're not eating enough...and that breakfast has lots of unhealthy fat from the bacon/sausage.

If you try to diet too much, your body will freak out and assume you're starving...so instead of building lean muscle mass and burning fat....it'll burn muscle mass, and attempt to store anything it can as fat - since it thinks you're already starving, it assumes you'll run out of food soon and you'll need the fat stores to survive.
Increasing lean muslce mass means your body will burn more calories, even when you sleep. Muscle has to be maintained...fat doesn't.

When you diet, you want to create a small calorie deficit every day, something like 500calories less than what your body needs. Over the course of 7 days, that ends up being 3,500 calories that you didn't consume. I think that equals a little over a pound a week of fat being lost.

All this said, I'm not a big believer in the fAtkins diet. I see idiots on television (like on Oprah or Dr. Phil) saying "yes! eat fat! it's good it makes you feel full! just avoid any kind of carb...carbs=death"
Wrong. The ONLY time a super low carb diet is right for a person is if they are morbidly obese and must drop a lot of weight to keep living (or for surgery)...or pro-bodybuilders who are prepping for a competition...but even then they tend to carb cycle, and never go as low as what Atkins proposes.

My suggestion to you...is pickup a book like Body for LIFE or BodyRX - check your library. Both of these go into some pretty good, accurate detail on eating right, although I disagree with the way Body for LIFE groups veggies and fruits with starchy carb sources....the two should be separated like they are in BodyRX.
 
-Good Luck McCarley!

_Thanks for your imput Malkore. I have gotten from a lot of people that atkins is bad, but i have also heard success stories. That is why I was confused and needed help. There are so many books out there and I don't know who to believe. How do you determine who is right, or are they all just opinions?
 
The above post is correct.
Watch your fats at breakfast. Make sure you go with mostly complex carbs through the day and save the simple carbs for post workout meal.

And to add to Malkore's comment about Fatkins Diet I say " F*** Atkins". Whoa, I apologize. That subject just brings out the dark side in me. What a terrible lifestyle to put people on. The reason eating right is not a fad is because there is no marketing BS to make money on. People seem to need new age ideas to motivate them, and that is just sad. Don't jump on that bandwagon. Instead opt for education.

Cutting article
 
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Ok, I will definately take a trip to the bookstore this weekend. I Have never been so serious about being healthy before. I feel very dedicated to this. Thank you everyone for your advise. It is good to hear other peoples opinions on this.
Johnny-I really like that cutting article. It should come in handy.
 
mishka said:
Hello,
I am looking for advise from anyone who has tried this. pros? cons? I have just recently been cutting down on my carbs by not eating any pasta, bread, or rice. Some of my co-workers say i am just hurting myself, and when i tried to look up info on the web, i was overwhelmed with useless information about it. Everyone just wants me to buy something. Before i go too deep into it i would like to know what a person who has tried it thinks.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
I'm on a Low Carb - High Fat diet for 3 years.
I don't use any supplements.
My body fat is 3.5% (7-site skin fold).
 
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