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Counting carbs

lotuslight

lotuslight

Well-Known Member
Hi I just wondered if any of you count carbs and is it recommended?

Obviously we all have different BMIS so wondering how it could be worked out
 
lotuslight said:
Hi I just wondered if any of you count carbs and is it recommended?

Obviously we all have different BMIS so wondering how it could be worked out
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Absolutely. For me it's a 20g/day limit. All "carb foods" - breads, cereals, rice, potatoes, sugars, fruit etc - will have much more than that in a single portion so are off limits.

I don't think BMI is at all relevant - it is to do with keeping your carb intake low enough so that you start using bodyfat for fuel. That will start happening at different levels of intake for different people - mine is somewhere about 30-35g/day.
 
Most of the Keto forums, always worked on sub 50g a day to enter Ketosis, although many would find sub 20g a day was needed. Once in Ketosis and fat burning it was regarded that up to 75g a day would keep you going, although again some could go as far as 100g a day, some could only go to 50g.
Forget calories unless, if you're not losing and trying to, they're a little too much, if you're gaining they're way too much. If you're happy where you are and stable they're just right.
With time on the whole you just know if it's the right amount, no need to be too concerned about the actual amount.
 
KennyA said:
Absolutely. For me it's a 20g/day limit. All "carb foods" - breads, cereals, rice, potatoes, sugars, fruit etc - will have much more than that in a single portion so are off limits.

I don't think BMI is at all relevant - it is to do with keeping your carb intake low enough so that you start using bodyfat for fuel. That will start happening at different levels of intake for different people - mine is somewhere about 30-35g/day.
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In ketosis fat burnt is body fat or the fat that we.eat?
 
I don't count carbs. I thought I might end up doing so, but reducing carbs generally was a big change so decided that was enough of a first step. My blood sugars fell and continued to do, and my HBA1C came into normal range so I never got to the point where I felt I needed to. One of the other things I quickly found about eating a low carb was I felt full and didn't snack or overeat anymore. So ended up neither counting carbs nor calories.
 
saky said:
In ketosis fat burnt is body fat or the fat that we.eat?
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It dose not matter what diet you are on, if you don't take in enough fuel for your needs you will burn body fat,
If you eat more fuel than you need, you will store body fat.
in ketosis your fuel of choice is fat, if you don't eat enough, you will burn your fat stores, eat too much and you will increase your fat storage.
 
catinahat said:
It dose not matter what diet you are on, if you don't take in enough fuel for your needs you will burn body fat,
If you eat more fuel than you need, you will store body fat.
in ketosis your fuel of choice is fat, if you don't eat enough, you will burn your fat stores, eat too much and you will increase your fat storage.
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Understood...
 
I log food on an app that tracks calories and macros. I try to stay under 20g net ( subtracting fiber and sugar alcohol). Some people do total carb. If logging seems burdensome you can try cutting back on carbs without tracking and see how that goes.

I was eating too many calories and my weight stalled. I switched up and eat more protein and not so much fat and the scale is moving again. I also started fasting from 7pm to 11am.
 
lorib64 said:
If you are in a calorie deficit some will be body fat
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This is a bit misleading. Calorie (energy) deficits usually provoke the body into starvation mode, and this can have unwanted effects, including increased fat storage. Some calorie deficient diets are also (accidentally?) low carb diets - the 800 calories/day diet is one. If every one of those calories came from carbohydrate (zero protein, zero fat) you'd only need 200g of carb to produce the 800Kcal. In practice it's more likely that around half the 800 would come from fats and proteins, with the other half coming from 100g carb. 100g carb/day is definitely low carb territory.

The thing about low-carb for me is that it is primarily a way of reducing blood glucose, but it also has the side effect, for me as for many, of triggering fat loss.
 
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KennyA said:
This is a bit misleading. Calorie (energy) deficits usually provoke the body into starvation mode, and this can have unwanted effects, including increased fat storage. Some calorie deficient diets are also (accidentally?) low carb diets - the 800 calories/day diet is one. If every one of those calories came from carbohydrate (zero protein, zero fat) you'd only need 200g of carb to produce the 800Kcal. In practice it's more likely that around half the 800 would come from fats and proteins, with the other half coming from 100g carb. 100g carb/day is definitely low carb territory.

The thing about low-carb for me is that it is primarily a way of reducing blood glucose, but it also has the side effect, for me as for many, of triggering fat loss.
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Calories deficits can be anything below maintenance, I was not advocating very low calorie diets.
 
I counted carbs very carefully for the first year, tested my blood sugar before and after meals until I worked out how many carbs my body could cope with and weighed/measured everything until I could judge it by eye.
Unlike some others here I only needed to go down to 85g a day with a max of 30 in a meal to get into remission and lose loads of weight.
 
and no, if you are carb counting you don't need to count calories as well - eat until your hunger is satisfied with a diet of good quality fats and protein, in my case I add in greek yoghurt with a few fresh berries and green veg/salad.
 
saky said:
I count my carbs. Try to make sure I don't eat more than 25g per meal.
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KennyA said:
I know. It's just that the simplistic "calories in, calories out" model doesn't account for how human metabolism actually works.
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Hi Kenny
i get very confused about what to eat. A good plate of above ground vegetables puts me over 20 grams of carbs. Add in some cheese and nuts and I’m at 75 grams and hungry!!
Can I ask you to give a sample of a days food consumption that has led to a 25kg weigh loss.
thanks
john
 
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