Hello my name is Heather, I usually hang out over in the calorie counter section. I recently met with a nutritionist because I have been having a horrible time losing weight. She told me she wanted me to cut my carbs down to 130 grams a day. However she only wants me counting fruit, bread, pasta, rice, alcohol, dairy (except cheese), salad dressing - the obvious stuff. She also wants me to subtract the fiber from the carb total. Does this sound like low carb to you guys? I know it is no where near Atkins - is anyone on this board do low carb like this?

I wasn't really counting carbs but your post made me wonder so I went and checked my FitDay - looks like I average right around there: 138 to be exact. The majority of them are coming from fruits and veggies. I don't do really well with grains so my whole wheat bread and pasta are held to a few servings a week.

I aim for between 100 and 150g. Whether this is truly "low carb" or not depends alot on your point of you (there is no consensus among professionals or among regular folk, so call it whatever you want to).

I use an exchange program and just traded out some of my starch carbs for optional exchanges (I can use them for starch or protein, and I try to use them for protein), although there are low carb exchange plans (the new Duke Diet book, and the hillbillyhousewife webstie both outline low(er) carb exchange plans). I try to make lower carb choices for my exchanges, for example choosing berries over watermelon. But I love watermelon, so I don't forbid myself from using watermelon as my fruit choice, I just try to pick the lower carb choices more often than the higher carb choices. If I stick to my exchange plan (because each choice in an exchange is fairly similar in calories) my calorie count is fairly consistent, but if I pick choices that are too high in starch or sugar, I get a lot hungrier, so the lower carb choices tend to be better selections for me. 1/4 cup of wheat berries is a much better choice for me than a slice of white bread, not just nutritiously, but because carbs make me hungry. Even the good carbs make me hungrier than protein, so it's all a balancing act for me.

I don't really count carb grams anymore, though I did before I used an exchange plan. And I still often use online nutritional calculators like Fitday, so I'm fairly confident that my average is between 100 and 150g.

I am currently aiming for around 30 net grams a day. It's actually fairly easy when you are subtracting the fiber. 130? I'd probably stop losing , but that's me.

If she's asking you to cut down to that many net grams I'd just cut sucrose (if you're having any) and white flour items and you'll probably get there.

I eat almost only whole grains, 1/4t sugar in my tea (once a day), and 1/2 oz dark chocolate once or twice a week. Two servings of grains a day, plus ~1/2c beans a day, and a little bit of corn added to some dishes for flavor. That only gets me down to about 165 net carbs on average. Hasn't kept me from losing 27 pounds in 13+ weeks averaging about 1475 cal/day, over an hour of yoga a day. So cutting carbs more than that obviously helps some people, and is obviously not always necessary either. Worth a try I would think.

Welcome aboard!

I'm trying to stick to a much lower level of carbs than that myself, but it's not a competition!

I can certainly say that it's made a huge difference to my relationship with food, not just in terms of the weightloss but also in terms of how hungry I feel. Turns out that all the starchy starchy things I thought I enjoyed were actually more in the nature of self-fuelling addictions. Eating pasta or rice or bread or potatoes or what have you was, perversely, making me hungry, rather than sating my hunger.

Cutting down to 130g shouldn't be too tricky - although it depends on your metabolism. If you find it difficult, you might actually want to have a crack at cranking the carbs way down to 30 or so for a bit, just in case you find that easier. (Some people would find that harder, of course - but it depends on how your metabolism ticks. It may be easier just to go cold turkey. I'm not advocating that as your first choice, mind - I hope that you find 130g is a good level for you... but if you try it and find that you're still having cravings or hunger pangs at that level, it might be worth trying to restrict it further rather than washing your hands of it.)

I find low carb eating delicious, healthy, easy and enjoyable - and I've been finding it a very effective way of losing weight so far. I hope that you find this helps you succeed too.

You might be interested in reading Gary Taubes' book Good Calories, Bad Calories, for an overview of the recent history of nutrition research, and the basis for the Low Fat approach as well as the basis for the Low Carb approach. I found that really made my head go boom, and it's the reason I decided to try Low Carb - and for me, it has really helped me to stay on plan, because I feel that I understand a lot more now about how my body works, and why low carb is a good strategy for me. But YMMV.

If you tend toward hypoglycemia or are on blood sugar lowering medications (like metformin or diabetes drugs), be careful going too low on carbs (at least always keep a fast-acting carb source handy, like a piece of fruit or, as much as I hate to recommend it, a granola bar).

My sister tends toward low blood sugar, and she'll actually pass out if she doesn't eat enough carbs, and I am on metformin (I've never passed out, I just start sweating and feel dizzy, nauseous and very irritable). Hubby is diabetic and on insulin, so it's not safe for him to go too low either, and for him too low is a lot higher than for most folks.

Most people can do very low carb, especially for a short term period like a couple weeks, but some people can't handle it. Sadly, most people just give up on low(er) carb diets if they have a bad reaction to extremely low carb diets, which is a shame, because they would probably do well just by upping the carbs a little, rather than abandoning the concept.

Thank you everyone.... I am really confused about this whole thing I am trying to gradually drop down in carbs and start full fledged next week. The reason my nutritionist wants my to lower my carbs is because she doesn't want my body releasing as much insulin. I have been doing really well with a high fiber diet with my acid reflux so that makes me nervous. I am also nervous about using those fiber powders and artificial sweetners. Do you guys think those are bad with a low carb diet?

The best way would obviously be to get the fibre in naturally, and to cut out sugar completely, but we all need a bit of help sometimes!

I've known some of my friend's to actually bake with fibre powder. For example, my friend beefs up her lasagna with loads of leafy greens puree'd into her sauce mix and adds a serving to it as well. If she's having her grandkids over, she'll leave out the fibre and just toss in the puree'd veggies. Kids can't tell the difference, its a great way to sneak in those horrid tasting, but good for you things!


As for me, I try and keep to a strict 60g carbs a day. My type 1 diabetes is very difficult to manage, and I can hardly ever tell when my sugar is going low, so I always keep a good source of around 12g of carbs nearby just in case I get close to fainting. Its usually something like apple juice or 4 starbursts, and yes, it may ruin my plan for the day, but it keeps me alive!

I don't use fibre powders, but I quite often sling flax seeds into things.

I think with 100 - 130g carbs it's very possible to have a high fiber and low(er) carb diets.

I also use fiber supplements. I have IBS and that can mean diarrhea and/or constipation (and I'm lucky to get both). Fiber can help control IBS, and too much fiber can aggravate it. So I have to be careful not to suddenly increase my fiber (that is eat too many fruits and vegetables), but I also have to make sure I'm eating enough.

In the summer that balance gets thrown off a bit, because I greedily want to eat as much of the wonderful summer produce as I can. I usually suffer for it. But year round, I try to limit grains and get most of my carbs and fiber from vegetables and fruits (basically in picking my carbs I choose more veggies than fruit and more fruit than grains - but that's my choice).

At any rate, there's no incompatibility between low(er) carb and high fiber.

Off topic BUT...that is a wonderful wedding photo. Joy is so evident on both faces!!!!

I go for between 25 and 40 carbs a day. I only subtract fiber. It is the only thing that seems to work for me but you may be one of the lucky ones that can mix and match a plan to suit you.

ox
SC

ox
SC