What do you guys consider low carb?

[yannick32]

Hey guys i plan on trying to get back into a bit of low carbing, nothing has critical has the 20g per day and i don't want to get into ketosis, can't stand the fuzzy, foggy feeling and the lack of energy.

I usually take in a shake after training

eat a eggs sandwish or tuna for dinner

take a whey protein shake in the after noon with flax

at night eat some chicken and salad and i got some low carb ice cream.

[Crazylegs]

I average about 200 carbs a day during cutting on training days and only about 20-30 on none training days. This system works great, but I still feel foggy

[4U2NV]

Hey guys i plan on trying to get back into a bit of low carbing, nothing has critical has the 20g per day and i don't want to get into ketosis, can't stand the fuzzy, foggy feeling and the lack of energy.

I usually take in a shake after training

eat a eggs sandwish or tuna for dinner

take a whey protein shake in the after noon with flax

at night eat some chicken and salad and i got some low carb ice cream.

Depends on your size? What do you weigh?

[stayinstacked]

I weigh 224 and for me low carb is anything uner 300 grams a day.

[yannick32]

I am 210 pounds at 5 feet 10 inches like to lose around 15-20 pounds and of course the damn love handles and ugly gut.

[SprinterOne]

I would say 30% or less of your diet in the form of carbs would be low carb.

[Giantz11]

If I were you I'd use carbs only to aid in recovery after your work out. So use them PWO and PPWO, the rest of the day you really don't need them if you work in front of a computer like I do.

[aminophiliac]

i think cyclic ketogenic diets are the only way to low carb diet. super low carbs but only for a few days and then carb up and glycogen load. i've personally found moderately low carb plans to be more of a drain on my system.

[N00b]

Currently I am 6'1" 184 with 15% BF, trying to cut. I go with 50 carbs on 3 non-lifting days, 140 carbs on 3 lifting days. And on my cheat day, man I consume a shyt load of carbs. Pizza and Pretzels are my vices. So I think (and hope...) I am doing this right

[beenie]

Hey guys i plan on trying to get back into a bit of low carbing, nothing has critical has the 20g per day and i don't want to get into ketosis, can't stand the fuzzy, foggy feeling and the lack of energy.

I usually take in a shake after training

eat a eggs sandwish or tuna for dinner

take a whey protein shake in the after noon with flax

at night eat some chicken and salad and i got some low carb ice cream.

The way I look atg it Yannick, is that if I am goping to eat carbs I really want them to count - so I want to get a lot of enjoyment out of them. With that in mind no point in eating the sandwhich. You can have the same meal as a tuna salad or chicken salad. You can use Lettuce leaves and make raps. Koreans do this all the time. It works great and its convenient and tasty.

I eat the low carb ice cream very occasionally. It is soo good, but I find that even though it is low carb, it seems to add fat. Also, check out the portion size. Half a cup? Thats worse than nopthing at all. I am not sure why, but I have had better success with Atkins muffins (Ketogenics makes a mix that is even better if you can find it).

So, if you are going to low carb, I would reccomend that you get your carbs primarily through vegitables and nuts (which should also be eaten with a limit).

[yannick32]

Thanks Beenie i will try all of this. By any chance do you use whey protein in your diet.

I use a mix of whey, soy milk not sweetened and no sugar, and eggs also.

[beenie]

Thanks Beenie i will try all of this. By any chance do you use whey protein in your diet.

I use a mix of whey, soy milk not sweetened and no sugar, and eggs also.

You bet I use whey protien. I generally do 3 a day each at 50g protien. When I am home, I usually use six ice cubes and add about one half a cup of water to it and mix it in my blender. The protein I am using now claims to be 24g per scoop (which measures 1/3 cup), so I use two scoops. It comes out tasting like a McDonalds frappe (if I can remember correctly, it's been soooooooo long since I have had one).

I use unsweetened soy milk ocasionally too, but not in my protien drink. There are several different brands, one of which claims to be just 2g carb per cup. Since I don't use it often, I try to buy powdered soy milk which I have only been able to find in Chinatown. It comes in a blue bag. I would love to tell you the name, but its all in Chineese, and my knowlege of Manderine, I am afraid, consists of, "Ni hao ma?" Makes for very limited conversations when I travel in China, or for that matter Chinatown.

Currently I add a carb jolt in the form of dextrose to my post workout drink. That one is up to you. If you do this, as I do, you will not go into ketosis. It has been pretty helpful for me, as I have gained strength and size since starting this about six weeks ago. Doing this runs counter to low carb dieting, so for me its more of a long term thing. I still say that if you want to cut up fast, the low carb diet works nicely. In the long run its hard to gain mass when you continue on it.

Let me know how you decide to do it Yannick. I KNOW that you have done it before, so that means that you can do it again!

PS, I have never tried eggs in my protien drink. Is this for flavor? Since egg protien and whey protien break down at different rates, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. When I make mine in a blender I sometimes a few peanuts or a teaspoon of peanut butter and have even been known to add a few almond on occasion. I do it for flavor, but its low in carb high in protien and really makes them taste great.

[yannick32]

No eggs are not for flavour i just take them with the soy milk cause whole eggs are 100 bv and soy well is not that high.

Whey i take alone with flax since it has a very high BV by itself.

[IronFreakX]

u use raw or cooked?

[beenie]

No eggs are not for flavour i just take them with the soy milk cause whole eggs are 100 bv and soy well is not that high.

Whey i take alone with flax since it has a very high BV by itself.

Not to sound lame, but what does "bv" mean?

[Giantz11]

Biological Value

[Giantz11]

Yannick.....What is your carb break down for training and non-training days...IMO ketogenic style diets are brutal to follow as well as unnecessary. Even when cutting you can incorporate carbs and still have the same amount of success, it has less to do with eating carbs and more to do with your macro timing!

[dr.shred]

I do close to 400 a day.

[beenie]

I do close to 400 a day.

Dr. Shred:

You don't seriously consider your diet a low-carb diet do you? 400g doesn't sound low to me.

[dr.shred]

Dr. Shred:

You don't seriously consider your diet a low-carb diet do you? 400g doesn't sound low to me.

no I dont consider it low carb, but for me I work better with higher carbs than protein.

[beenie]

no I dont consider it low carb, but for me I work better with higher carbs than protein.

That's a sound response - as I would expect nothing less from you Doc. I just wanted to make sure that someone who is looking at the board for the first time does not confuse your diet with a low carb diet, which was the original question by Yannick.

I have seen different types of diets work so I try to be nonjudgemental. Frankly, I think that your pic speaks for itself- you are obviouly doing something right. I still think that low carb can be very effective, particularly for people whose main goal is to cut. Maybe they will never become Dr. Shred or Swole on it, but they will be a lot leaner then they were before.

[yannick32]

I am looking at losing weight, i dont mind losing a bit of muscles too the goal is 20 pounds to get back to 180, my physio said that if i lost a bit of weight for the back pain it would help. Also my bones structure is a bit small to support a bodyweight of 210 pounds, i used to weight 138 pounds when i was younger and when i show people my wrist they freak out they cant beleive i was able to get at that weight LOL.

Beenie after eating all that protein you dont get fat?????? i mean 150g of whey a day isn<t that too much????

Please take in mind that i dont use steroids too, and i know that when i was using in the past my body required me to eat lot more protein.

[alphaman]

I am looking at losing weight, i dont mind losing a bit of muscles too the goal is 20 pounds to get back to 180, my physio said that if i lost a bit of weight for the back pain it would help. Also my bones structure is a bit small to support a bodyweight of 210 pounds, i used to weight 138 pounds when i was younger and when i show people my wrist they freak out they cant beleive i was able to get at that weight LOL.

Beenie after eating all that protein you dont get fat?????? i mean 150g of whey a day isn<t that too much????

Please take in mind that i dont use steroids too, and i know that when i was using in the past my body required me to eat lot more protein.

I might get flamed for this, but if you want to lose all the fat and don't care about muscle...... go ketogenic. 20 lbs is realistic in a month to a month and a half.

[beenie]

I am looking at losing weight, i dont mind losing a bit of muscles too the goal is 20 pounds to get back to 180, my physio said that if i lost a bit of weight for the back pain it would help. Also my bones structure is a bit small to support a bodyweight of 210 pounds, i used to weight 138 pounds when i was younger and when i show people my wrist they freak out they cant beleive i was able to get at that weight LOL.

Beenie after eating all that protein you dont get fat?????? i mean 150g of whey a day isn<t that too much????

Please take in mind that i dont use steroids too, and i know that when i was using in the past my body required me to eat lot more protein.

I eat a lot of protien and I am not fat - right now I am running at about 10% or 11%. My abs are completely flat but only slight definition. When I wanna go really low, I start limiting my caloric intake, but the rest of the time, I basically only limit carbs and dont really worry about calories, it seems to work out for me.

Based on your goals, it really shouldn't be too complicated to losing the weight, particularly if you can afford to lose a little muscle. I also think that you are on the right track, and that you are a perfect candidate for low carb Yannick. I was trying to build up muscle and hence the high protien intake, the extra shake probably would not be necessary, other than PWO if you are lifting (and you should be).

Basically I think that what you should try the low carb and go really low for a couple weeks while similtaneously doing cardio ervery day at 75% of your target heart rate for 45 minutes to an hour a day. I am so sure that you will drop at least 10 in the first month and by week 8 you will be there Yannick.

[beenie]

I might get flamed for this, but if you want to lose all the fat and don't care about muscle...... go ketogenic. 20 lbs is realistic in a month to a month and a half.

I not only think that you shouldn't get flamed for saying that, I think you are on target.

[yannick32]

Will try everything except the cardio, my back still hurts and i am very tired of this.

The weightloss true low carb will help and of course the posture rehab also.

Thanks Beenie.

[beenie]

Will try everything except the cardio, my back still hurts and i am very tired of this.

The weightloss true low carb will help and of course the posture rehab also.

Thanks Beenie.

I forgot about your back. A few people who were overweight in my office did Atkins a few years ago after seeing the success I had. They all had somilar positve results. So will you based on your will power and your track record. Good luck.

[dr.shred]

That's a sound response - as I would expect nothing less from you Doc. I just wanted to make sure that someone who is looking at the board for the first time does not confuse your diet with a low carb diet, which was the original question by Yannick.

I have seen different types of diets work so I try to be nonjudgemental. Frankly, I think that your pic speaks for itself- you are obviouly doing something right. I still think that low carb can be very effective, particularly for people whose main goal is to cut. Maybe they will never become Dr. Shred or Swole on it, but they will be a lot leaner then they were before.

I agree bro, low carb def doesn work no matter who you are, however I think muscle loss is significant in that case to a person like myself who thrives on high carb diets. Its all about experimenting and finding what works best for you. Took me a whole year to figure it out.

-SHRED

[chuck89gt5.0]

What if the person is on a cycle, then you could drop your carbs as low as you want and not lose muscle?

[beenie]

I agree bro, low carb def doesn work no matter who you are, however I think muscle loss is significant in that case to a person like myself who thrives on high carb diets. Its all about experimenting and finding what works best for you. Took me a whole year to figure it out.

-SHRED

I did cary low carb for five years keeping my carb count at about 10g a day or less. I gained muscle, not lost, but never got big, just lean.

In the last year I added veggies back to my diet and also nuts. I added dextrose to my PWO shake for the past copuple months, largey because of your comments as well as those from some others on the board.

The effect has been that I have gotten much bigger very fast, maybe bigger than I want to be because I actually sort of like the leaner skinner look, but I have been getting so many positive comments about my size increase.

Getting back to my main point, which is that people seem to believe that low carb makes you lose weight, and I know that not to be the case, based on my own xperience. Over the 5 years I added a lot of weight to my lifts. I just think that for serios body builders who want a lot of mass, its probaly not pratcal to go without carbs - for a lot of others it is a great alternative to being fat.

Without cardio, it would be really tough to burn off the carbs anyway, and as most of us accept, carbs not burned = fat.

[dr.shred]

What if the person is on a cycle, then you could drop your carbs as low as you want and not lose muscle?

well that is completely different, obviously you can drop down calories wihtout losing as much muscle and lose more fat.

[yannick32]

When i a cycle low carbing can be very impressive.

Sadly it doesn't work for everyone, i know many people that tried it with 20g of carbs a day very serious people and they didn't lose no more then the initial 10 pounds of water. They kept calories low and fluctuated along the diet when the metabolsime shut down.

I canned the low carb ice cream cause even if low carb its still contain tone of calories.

Like Beenie i am looking for a more slim athletic physic, so this is the path i will follow.

I don't want to reach ketosis cause i just cant stand the fozzy foggy effect, i did the diet 3 months couple of years back and add amazing results, actually did it with bacon and eggs, saussiges and all the saturated fats.

Today after lots of research i cut out all saturated fats and replaced it with the EFA, olive oil, flax oil, very limited amount of nuts.

Protein comes from whey, eggs and soy, chicken and tuna.

Carbs come from veggies and thats all.

Drink a tone of water, green tea, also water with lime and lemon in it, thats great and apparently it burns a bit of fat.

[alphaman]

When i a cycle low carbing can be very impressive.

Sadly it doesn't work for everyone, i know many people that tried it with 20g of carbs a day very serious people and they didn't lose no more then the initial 10 pounds of water. They kept calories low and fluctuated along the diet when the metabolsime shut down.

I canned the low carb ice cream cause even if low carb its still contain tone of calories.

Like Beenie i am looking for a more slim athletic physic, so this is the path i will follow.

I don't want to reach ketosis cause i just cant stand the fozzy foggy effect, i did the diet 3 months couple of years back and add amazing results, actually did it with bacon and eggs, saussiges and all the saturated fats.

Today after lots of research i cut out all saturated fats and replaced it with the EFA, olive oil, flax oil, very limited amount of nuts.

Protein comes from whey, eggs and soy, chicken and tuna.

Carbs come from veggies and thats all.

Drink a tone of water, green tea, also water with lime and lemon in it, thats great and apparently it burns a bit of fat.

Depending on the veggies you eat, it's likely that you'll go into ketosis anyhow. Especially if you lift weights.

[yannick32]

Yeah Alphaman i think you are right i guess i will have to see how it effects me in the long run.

[oldandgrim]

If you would like some tasty treats with low carb and high protein try these bro I use them all the time.

Protean cake


6 eggs whites
2 egg yokes
3/4 cup sweetener,
½ cup of sultanas or fruit of your choice or mixed nuts,
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence,
Five servings of vanilla protean powder

Whisk egg whites until stiff/ fold in the rest of the ingredients. Place in oven at 200 for 20 min or until cooked

Protean Egg Custard

4 Eggs whites, beaten
1 Egg yoke
2/3 cup sweetener
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Servings of protean powder
2 cups scalded milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

1. Combine whisked eggs, sugar, nutmeg or cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.
2. Add scalded milk a little at a time while whisking, so as not to cook the eggs.
3. whisked in protean powder a little at a time
4. When all is blended, pour through a siv into the unbaked pie shell.
5. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into centre comes out clean.

This is a simple shortcrust pastry recipe. Now that vegan margarine is so readily available there is no need for vegans to miss out on pastry dishes.
Ingredients
4 oz vegan margarine
8 oz flour
Notes
Also works well with 2 oz marg and 2 oz white vegetable fat. Method
Rub the margarine into the flour; add a pinch of salt and enough cold water to bind it all together.
Leave to rest for 20 mins before rolling or shaping.
PROTEIN POWER CAKES

Combine and refrigerate the ingredients for these cakes the night before and wake up to an easy-to-cook breakfast.
80g oatmeal
125 g crushed pineapple (drained, If using tinned)
4 egg whites (Wisk until stiff)
65 ml skimmed milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
40g raisins or sultanas
I serving (I scoop) protein powder
Non-stick cooking spray
In a large bowl, combine first seven ingredients Set aside. Coat a large non-stick frying pan with cooking spray and heat it to medium-high heat Place two heaped tablespoons of batter into pan, brown for three minutes, turn and brown on the other side until cake cooks through. Makes six servings.
PER CAKE
CAL PROTEIN CARBS FAT FIBRE
120 10G 19G 1G 1G

[beenie]

Yeah Alphaman i think you are right i guess i will have to see how it effects me in the long run.

You also are aware which veggies are low and which are not I am certain. Sting beans, peas, carrots, tomatoes are the enemy. Caul***ower, broccoli, lettuce is your friend.

The fuzzy feeling that you describe caused by ketosis went away for me after a couple weeks of being in it. If its a problem, you can up the carbs a little each day until it goes away and then keep your level there.

Atkins uses a similar method.

By the way, the diet that you describe in your last post, Yannick, sounds very solid for want you are trying to accomplish.

[yannick32]

Yes Beenie but i am only on week one, my current girlfriend is helping me a lot achieving my goals and she takes care of herself has well so it makes low carbing a lot easier.

I take one ephedrine pill in the morning with on Xenedrine 8 hours NRG that cuts the sugar urge a lot and helps me til 6pm after that its all will power LOL.