Quote:
Originally Posted by stunzorz
I've tried super low carb time and time again, and even at 20 or 40 grams of carbs a day, I become ridiculously tired and cranky. Going up to 80g, it was like night and day. It's unfortunate, since lower carb does seem to help weight loss, but what can ya do?
At 80g per day, you are benefiting from the advantages of low-carb. I'm not sure why, but it's a common myth in our culture that for low-carb to work or have any advantage at all, it must be a super low, virtuallly no-carb diet to be effective.
Some of the experts in the field of dietetics for weight loss, diabetes, and other metabolic issues that benefit from carb-restriction consider any plan that contains fewer than 200g of carbs, or any diet containing less than 70% of total calories coming from carbs as a reduced or low carb diet.
Others choose 150g or 100g, or 60% of 50% calories for the cut-off.
It all proves that low-carb is in the eye of the beholder, and is all dependent upon what you're used to.
I consider my exchange plan a low-carb exchange plan, even though I average about 100g to 150g of carb per day. Right now, most people don't consider that low-carb, but it's about 1/3 of the national average (if I'm remembering the statistics right).
If your income were 1/3 the national average, you'd consider yourself lower income, and I think 2/3 of people eating more carbs than you also makes your diet low carb.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lin43
Kaplods, I thought of you when I read that article and was hoping you would pop in to comment on it. I also remember you writing that your body temperature was actually a bit higher on your reduced carb plan. That makes sense in terms of the study and its findings on increased metabolism.
Yep, my body temp is about a full degree (sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less) higher on low-carb. My normal high-carb temperature is around 97.4 give or take .2 degrees. My normal low-carb temperature is between 98.0 and 98.6 depending on how low-carb I'm eating.
On high-carb I also feel incredibly lethargic, and have a lot more pain, fatigue, mobility issues and other health problems.
On low (but not too low) I feel much better and have the energy to do more. Too low and I do end up getting unpleasant symptoms.
If I could go lower, I would lose faster, but faster isn't always better (despite what popular magazine covers would lead us to believe).