Thread: Low-Carb Diet

I am in a similar position as you needing to cut a lot of fat. I have tried many low carb plans and they do work for me. A lot depends on your body style and commitment. I am working with a doc and he currently has me at very low calories for a couple of weeks.

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*** READ ME FIRST - Homework #1 for Newbies ***

I just started on a Primal diet. It's the only one that makes sense to me. I am following The Primal Blue by Mark Sisson. Check out his website marksdailyapple.com and see if it would work for you. The main thing I have noticed is how hard it would be to over eat on fruits and vegetables.

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You need to be eating more than 1500 calories a day or else your metabolism will crash. Look up carb cycling I have been using that for cutting and it has been working great.

so I did some more research and found out that after going on a low-carb diet, if you go back to a regular diet of about 200-300 grams of carbs on a 2000 calorie diet, you gain all of the weight back. is this true and if so how should i proceed? should I go low carb for a month and then increase my carb intake by like 50-70 grams and then back to low carb and keep cycling? or should I just go low carb until I am happy with my bf% and then gradually increase my carb intake by 20 grams a week till I get to the recommended amount of carbs?

If you're going to go "low carb" - either do it as a ketogenic diet (e.g. CKD, Anabolic Diet, etc.) or don't. If you go "low carb" but not low enough to go into ketosis, then you're just going to end up exhausted and most likely, catabolic, because you're not giving your body any energy sources to run on. If you go "low carb" , e.g. < 20 g of carbs / day and do a refeed once or twice per week (as CKD) then you will drop bodyfat.

I have a number of friends who follow a keto diet during the week and then eat whatever for a day on the weekends and make good progress. Your "progress" will be dictated by how consistent you are w/ the diet & your training. If you want to then switch over to a maintenance or bulker diet, then you can slowly re-introduce carbs into your system, or as I refered to my friends who follow this - its basically a lifestyle where they stick to keto during the week and eat whatever on the weekends. The one in particular I'm thinking of travels a lot for work and spends his weekends w/ his little girl- so the keto during the week/ relax it on the weekend works well for him.

Question for Sassy: what's the right amount of carbs for non ketogenic diets to keep energy and muscle? 50-100 grams a day?

Originally Posted by BringDaBlitz94

Hey guys I'm planning on starting on going to the gym again and I want to start off with a serious cutting phase. I am planning on going on a low-carb diet for about 3 months. I weigh about 220 pounds and am about 5'10 with around 31% body fat. My ultimate goal is to get below 15% body fat but everyone has to start off small. I plan on consuming 1500 calories a day and about 15% or 35-40 grams of carbs a day. I am new to this whole concept of eating very little carbs so if anyone can give me any useful tips or future obstacles I may encounter any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

P.S - My workouts look like this:

M/W/F - 45 min cardio + 1 hour of lifting
Tu/Thu - 45 min cardio + 20 min HIIT + Abs

Too much training for such low calories. You need to focus on the heavy lifting, not the cardio.

Originally Posted by Josh99

You need to be eating more than 1500 calories a day or else your metabolism will crash. Look up carb cycling I have been using that for cutting and it has been working great.

Crash may be too strong of a word while the OP is still significantly overfat, but he'll be uncomfortable as hell, no doubt about it.

Originally Posted by BringDaBlitz94

so I did some more research and found out that after going on a low-carb diet, if you go back to a regular diet of about 200-300 grams of carbs on a 2000 calorie diet, you gain all of the weight back.

Calories in, calories out my friend. You don't get fat from carbs. You get fat from eating more calories than you require.

Suppose you need 3000 calories a day to maintain.

So, you diet on 1500 for a while, drop some weight. Your new, smaller body now requires more than 1500 to maintain, but less than the 3000 your former, fatter body required. You'll have to eat less than 3000 calories a day to maintain the loss, but this is independent of the amount of carbohydrate in your diet.

is this true and if so how should i proceed? should I go low carb for a month and then increase my carb intake by like 50-70 grams and then back to low carb and keep cycling? or should I just go low carb until I am happy with my bf% and then gradually increase my carb intake by 20 grams a week till I get to the recommended amount of carbs?

Read homework 1, use fitday to track your intake and your weight; you stop losing, drop your calories.

well I read one of Jodis low-carb diet plans for males and basically everyday Im supposed to eat 4-5 eggs. Sadly Im allergic to eggs so I was wondering what would be a good low carb substitute for this product?

Meat?

Originally Posted by BringDaBlitz94

well I read one of Jodis low-carb diet plans for males and basically everyday Im supposed to eat 4-5 eggs. Sadly Im allergic to eggs so I was wondering what would be a good low carb substitute for this product?

Eggs are just another protein source - equivalent g of protein in fish or steak will also get you a bit of good quality fat.

true; not sure why I didnt think of that on my own

also is it bad to workout first thing when you wake up without eating? Im in college so I have a really tight class schedule and it conflicts with the schools gym hours unless I can go first thing in the morning.

No, you're fine.

and is grapefruit alright to eat after working out? basically like my breakfast. (my main goal is to lose weight and when I lift I do 3 sets of each workout with 6-8 reps per set.)

P.S. - sorry for the noob questions

I'd be pretty freaking hungry if I trained empty and then ate a grapefruit. Please read homework 1 in my sig.

Originally Posted by BringDaBlitz94

true; not sure why I didnt think of that on my own

also is it bad to workout first thing when you wake up without eating? Im in college so I have a really tight class schedule and it conflicts with the schools gym hours unless I can go first thing in the morning.

Personally I can't train on an empty stomach - something easy like chugging a shake will help if you need it. Or bring a carb drink to the gym w/ you for during your wo.

Do what you're comfortable with - I have friends who train like monsters at 5 am on an empty stomach, but my stomach alarm goes off w/ a vengeance if I'm on empty.

I have been running a keto diet for 4 weeks and have have lost substantial body fat. My pants are now dropping off my ass. Before I didn't need a belt, and now I do. The interesting thing is, I weighed myself the other day, and even though I have lost body fat, I have actually gone up in body weight. And have done so, all naturally. I'm not really sure how.

It's a great feeling though, considering I started with less than a 32 inch waist to begin with.

Keto is the way to go.

Originally Posted by sassy69

Personally I can't train on an empty stomach - something easy like chugging a shake will help if you need it. Or bring a carb drink to the gym w/ you for during your wo.

Do what you're comfortable with - I have friends who train like monsters at 5 am on an empty stomach, but my stomach alarm goes off w/ a vengeance if I'm on empty.

+1

I like working out at night after I've had several meals already through out the day.

If I work out on a empty stomach, my blood sugar crashes, and I feel like I'm going to pass out.