Acceptable amount of Carbs?
 

What is an acceptable amount of Carbs for a Phase 2 South Beacher?

I normally don't track my foods/calories. I just each SB approved items. I generally don't eat a whole lot of carbs, mainly protein, veggies, and nuts. I signed up for Fitday.com today and plugged in my meals for the day and it calculates 61 grams of carbs. I did have a banana, so that jumped it up there a little bit (also too high on the GI.) Normally I would have some string cheese for my afternoon snack, but I'm doing jazzercize tonight and figured I needed to add some carbs in today.

I was just wondering what the appropriate amount of carbs is?

Thanks!

You know it really depends on the person- ideally you add an additional carb a day until you see where you stop losing, then cut down by "one" carb or one carb item.

For me- after phase 1, I saw that if I stayed around 30-35% carbs I could still lose, slower, but there was still a loss. If I go to 25-30% carbs (I use an online tracker btw) I see a steady decrease in weight that's a bit faster :)

I also feel sometimes that the carbs we get from veggies and nuts really don't count- I could have a "carb-filled" day with lots of veggies and the weight doesn't move up or really stall either. For example cauliflower- while it seems pretty carby it doesn't seem to hurt my WL.

well, I am sensitive to carbs, so when I went to phase 1.5 I had a 6 week stall. I can laugh about it now but it wasn't too funny at the time..lol

I find I can only lose while on phase 1, with *maybe* 1 small serving of a low GI carb.. phase 1 even with full allotment dairy and beans would bring you to under 60g carbs daily- can be much lower with no beans.

I am conscious about my carbs bc I have to be, and I try to make sure I am under 50-60g daily. Today I am at about 29g. I don't worry if my carb count is low, but if I get a headache I have some sf nf yogurt or edamame to help.

As to your question, everyone is different, but almost anyone can lose weight on under 60g carb daily (imo) so you should be good. If you notice youself stalling, try keeping it closer to 40-50.

(please note this is not going to be your typical reply as this is SBD area and Dr A doesn't even mention being cognizent of carb counting at all, but the plan as designed (esp P1) will get you in the area of <50g net carb which = weight loss for most people. )

From what I have seen, most people on South Beach don't track carbs at all and don't need to if they are eating by the guidelines of the plan. That being said, there are lots of folks limiting in some way some kinds of carbs (grains is a big one), even if they are still not counting.

I do almost always count my calories and nutrients, because I already have a fitday account and it helps me with planning. I roughly aim for 40% carbs but it's sort of arbitrary, based on the Zone ratio of 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein. IRONICALLY, I am not necessarily doing anything about obtaining those ratios, but when I eat what I consider a completely "on plan" day, I end up with close to that ratio.

My carb intake is much higher than yours, almost always over 100 g but usually under 125 g. I haven't really tried to lower them so maybe I would lose weight faster if I did :D

We had a thread last week where I figured out that a "typical" Phase 1 day would be 62 g carbs.

Hope that helps at all. The bottom line is that South Beach doesn't count carbs and is not designed to be low-carb, but you can tweak it how you like by your food choices - as long as you are getting all of your veggies in - and end up on the *lower* carb side of things (as Natalia is doing).

Good summary, thanks Emma!

Yes, lots of us tweak our personal eating plans a little but the 4.5 cups of veggies per day is a must. A plan that is primarily protein and fat without the veggies is not South Beach. South Beach is not for everyone and there are some great low carb forums right here on 3FC. In my own very non-mod opinion I worry that newbies are going to be really confused by some of the meal plans that are showing up as South Beach but don't include dairy, beans or enough vegetables (and some days that's me too, so a good reminder for me to plan better!).