My DH has slowly gained weight over the years, going from a trim 160 to an healthy 190 at 5'7”. His older brother lost weight on a low carb diet so DH has been inspired to do the same. He doesn't want to go to extremes ( a la Atkins Induction) and he wants a plan he can live with. His brother was/is very strict on both carbs and calories. DH's regular diet isn't all that unhealthy: we limit red meat, have desserts only on holidays or when we eat out ( and we eat out about twice a year) and eat a lot of veggies and whole grains (yes, I know, verboten on low carb plans). His biggest downfall is Doritos which he craves every other month or so and then eats by the bagfull .He occasionally eats a square (1 12th a serving) of a big bar of quality dark chocolate What I'm getting at, is that DH's diet probably doesn't need a heck of a lot of tweaking in order to make it low carb. As I see it, he just needs to make a few substitutions here and there and maybe get out of the habit of skipping breakfast, having a tiny lunch and then a huge dinner so that his blood sugar levels remain constant. He has health concerns which limit his ability to exercise and he has an extremely slow metabolism for a male. (I've lost eighteen pounds eating more than he does and I'm a lot shorter than he is.)
Some questions: Just what is considered a low carb diet? If the average carb intake in this country is 300 grams a day is 100 grams low carb? Is 75? Seriously, how much does a person have to cut carbs before they are considered to be on a low carb diet?
All replies will be gratefully appreciated.