What's up, cool kids? Being as how this is first post, I wanted to take a chance to introduce myself before I get started. name is Tom, and I'm a 26 year old hailing from the proud state of Texas.
I live what I consiter to be a sedentary life style, I spend 9 to 10 hours a day trapped behind a desk. To keep myself assured that I am, in fact, still not yet an office zombie I try to hit the gym for about 1 hour, 3 to 5 times per week, and have recently taken a job which allows me to bike to work (6.7 miles each way @ 13 - 15 mph) which takes about 30 min each way. Typical gym schedule is swimming or running on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and weight training on Monday, wednesday, and Friday.
I stand 5'6, and weigh in now at about 155 lbs. I recently estimated % body fat to be between 22 and 30 percent, based off of Internet "enter your measurements here" methods. I was alarmed by this, as 30% puts me into the obease range.
So I've set out to change diet, as that seems the best place to start. I have no interest in fad diets, miracle supplements, or quick fixes: I want to do it right, with a healthy diet in general. That said, I've run into some snaggs in planning. Researching on the Internet (perhapse first problem) I have found conflicting advice. Most sources seem to say that for goal (reducing body fat,) a low carb/high protein diet is in order. It almost sounds like I can't cut body fat if I'm eating carbs! Since analysis of present diet puts carbs at 50 - 60% of intake (protein is a lowly 15%-ish) I'm worried.
So question is, how important is a low carb diet to reducing body fat percentage? And also, where can I find good resources for meal planning to reach goal?
Thanks for reading,
-Tom
New guy with specific diet-related question!
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
Re: New guy with specific diet-related question!
hi
low carbs diets do work in the short term and the idea behind them is to reduce the amount of calories consumed, this becomes hard to maintain in the long term, basically its a short term solution for a long term problem.
for sustained long term weight loss the best way to do this is to follow a sensible eating plan using the idea behind Glyceamic index (if you google GI you will get loads of results). you want to follow a maily low to moderate GI diet with foods form each food group so carbs are needed as these are the bodys preferred energy source and the brains only energy source. these low and moderate GI foods provide sustained energy
if you trying to exercise then this becomes very difficult following a low carb diet ,let alone the potential side effects of not fueling the brain correctly.
the main thing is just be sensible about the food you eat, avoid eating too much bad high calorie foods (although the odd treat for all the hard work you do is cooL) and enjoy making small changes to your meals
hope this helps.
low carbs diets do work in the short term and the idea behind them is to reduce the amount of calories consumed, this becomes hard to maintain in the long term, basically its a short term solution for a long term problem.
for sustained long term weight loss the best way to do this is to follow a sensible eating plan using the idea behind Glyceamic index (if you google GI you will get loads of results). you want to follow a maily low to moderate GI diet with foods form each food group so carbs are needed as these are the bodys preferred energy source and the brains only energy source. these low and moderate GI foods provide sustained energy
if you trying to exercise then this becomes very difficult following a low carb diet ,let alone the potential side effects of not fueling the brain correctly.
the main thing is just be sensible about the food you eat, avoid eating too much bad high calorie foods (although the odd treat for all the hard work you do is cooL) and enjoy making small changes to your meals
hope this helps.
Re: New guy with specific diet-related question!
The problem with low Carb is, lowered calories can cause something called a "Starvation mode", where the body hangs onto Fat.
The other issues are with things like Glycemic foods. I don't advocate a total abolition of high GI foods, I.E. Potatos, Pasta, Bread, Rice, Watermelon, Parsnip, because I think mild amounts are acceptable. They contrain good nutrition, so spurning them is not necessary.
In such instances, I would suggest if you have a problem with converting Carbs to body fat, if you have such Carbs, have no more than 25-50% of Carbs in a meal, made up of GI 70 or higher foods, so you reduce their impact, by having at least if not more of the lower GI ones, mixed in like Mushrooms, Broccoli, Tomatos, Beans, Cashews etc etc.
There is a little Carb wasteage when you heat them, as well, as their is with heating Fats and denaturing proteins during cooking.
One reason for low Carb is supposedly because the deficeit is then recouped from fats instead, but studies show that drastic cuts in calores can create more of a hormone called Cortisone that can increase Fat stores, and this effect can be increased by any added stress if you constantly worry about calorie counting, as Cortisol is also a stress related Hormone.
Yes you can cut eating Carbs and YES, you should nay must eat Carbs anyway to fuel the brain and regulate Bloodsugar.
You could eat zero Carb, if you then added back all the calories from Fat. As if you mostly increased it from Proteis, you could increase risk of Kidney Stones and also Gout, from all the Nitrogen converting to Uric Acid.
However adding lots of Fat back in to replace all your Carbs, could increase the risk of Vitaminosis, as Vitamins A,D,E and K are fat soluables and need fat as a transport and breakdown medium. This situation would occur over a lengthy time period though, )I don't know how long), not just one day, as like most nutrient overdose problems, they don't happen in 24-48 hours.
If you binned off Carbs, you could probably create the "starvation mode scenario" I suggested, so i wouldn't advise a carb intake any lower than 30% of total. This would then if you went that low, mean Protein could be 40% and Fat 30%, or protein 30%, Fat 40%.
If you were countng calories, loosely not anally that is, those figures would be better than say 35,40,35 to monitor.
The other issues are with things like Glycemic foods. I don't advocate a total abolition of high GI foods, I.E. Potatos, Pasta, Bread, Rice, Watermelon, Parsnip, because I think mild amounts are acceptable. They contrain good nutrition, so spurning them is not necessary.
In such instances, I would suggest if you have a problem with converting Carbs to body fat, if you have such Carbs, have no more than 25-50% of Carbs in a meal, made up of GI 70 or higher foods, so you reduce their impact, by having at least if not more of the lower GI ones, mixed in like Mushrooms, Broccoli, Tomatos, Beans, Cashews etc etc.
There is a little Carb wasteage when you heat them, as well, as their is with heating Fats and denaturing proteins during cooking.
One reason for low Carb is supposedly because the deficeit is then recouped from fats instead, but studies show that drastic cuts in calores can create more of a hormone called Cortisone that can increase Fat stores, and this effect can be increased by any added stress if you constantly worry about calorie counting, as Cortisol is also a stress related Hormone.
Yes you can cut eating Carbs and YES, you should nay must eat Carbs anyway to fuel the brain and regulate Bloodsugar.
You could eat zero Carb, if you then added back all the calories from Fat. As if you mostly increased it from Proteis, you could increase risk of Kidney Stones and also Gout, from all the Nitrogen converting to Uric Acid.
However adding lots of Fat back in to replace all your Carbs, could increase the risk of Vitaminosis, as Vitamins A,D,E and K are fat soluables and need fat as a transport and breakdown medium. This situation would occur over a lengthy time period though, )I don't know how long), not just one day, as like most nutrient overdose problems, they don't happen in 24-48 hours.
If you binned off Carbs, you could probably create the "starvation mode scenario" I suggested, so i wouldn't advise a carb intake any lower than 30% of total. This would then if you went that low, mean Protein could be 40% and Fat 30%, or protein 30%, Fat 40%.
If you were countng calories, loosely not anally that is, those figures would be better than say 35,40,35 to monitor.
Re: New guy with specific diet-related question!
diet so far (still in a state of transition from the garbage I was eating) is currently carb-heavy, with fat:carb:protien ratio somewhere in the 40:35:25 range.
A typical day's meal for me looks kind of like this:
Breakfast: Migas or Chilaquiles with a 20 oz coffee (black, no sugar) I normally take from 8 am to 11 am to eat this. (Slowly snack on it while at work)
Lunch: chef salad or similar (no dressing) with iced tea (unsweet)
Dinner: Things like "grub" recipe, which is long grain brown rice, extra lean ground turkey breast, and picante sauce cooked together, topped with cottage cheese.
For snacks I've recently incorperated Cliff Builder bars (one or two a day, often after a workout) because I'm concerned I'm not getting enought protein, and I like the way they taste. Or a soy milk/banana/strawberry smoothie.
I drink probably 8 to 10 8 oz glasses of water each day.
A typical workout day is tuesday, thursday cardio (swimming or running) for 1 hour; monday, wednesday, friday weight training (45 min to an hour of lifting, followed by about 15 min of streching and a cardio cool-down.) I also bike to work and back 6.7 miles each way 4 days a week, weather permitting.
I know I'm not eating "clean" and there is a lot of room for improvment, but I'm a little lost on what way to take diet. Again, goal is to reduce % body fat right now, not so much to gain muscle mass (cutting phase as opposed to a bulking phase.)
A typical day's meal for me looks kind of like this:
Breakfast: Migas or Chilaquiles with a 20 oz coffee (black, no sugar) I normally take from 8 am to 11 am to eat this. (Slowly snack on it while at work)
Lunch: chef salad or similar (no dressing) with iced tea (unsweet)
Dinner: Things like "grub" recipe, which is long grain brown rice, extra lean ground turkey breast, and picante sauce cooked together, topped with cottage cheese.
For snacks I've recently incorperated Cliff Builder bars (one or two a day, often after a workout) because I'm concerned I'm not getting enought protein, and I like the way they taste. Or a soy milk/banana/strawberry smoothie.
I drink probably 8 to 10 8 oz glasses of water each day.
A typical workout day is tuesday, thursday cardio (swimming or running) for 1 hour; monday, wednesday, friday weight training (45 min to an hour of lifting, followed by about 15 min of streching and a cardio cool-down.) I also bike to work and back 6.7 miles each way 4 days a week, weather permitting.
I know I'm not eating "clean" and there is a lot of room for improvment, but I'm a little lost on what way to take diet. Again, goal is to reduce % body fat right now, not so much to gain muscle mass (cutting phase as opposed to a bulking phase.)
-
NickiAnderson
- STARTING OUT
- Posts: 19
- Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2010 6:07 am
Re: New guy with specific diet-related question!
Sounds like you are off to a really great start, congrats on that.
So your question, how important is low carb to weight loss success. Here's theory (I've been in the health and fitness business for over 20 years, so I've seen a lot come and go). Anyway, I think the whole low-carb thing came to be for two reasons, first, processed carbs became easily accessible and very affordable. The combination created an overindulgence if you will, into the world of carbohydrate living. Further, carbs kick up sugar (especially the processed ones) which gives us that feeling of "ahhhhhhh" and so when the sugar levels drop and our "ahhhhh" turns to an "ugh" we reach for that quick carbo/sugar boost. Unfortunately, not a good thing. Second, you NEED some carbs, the secret is what kind of carbs are you taking in?
I've worked with many dietitians in career and here is what the majority of them tout: If you're going to eat carbs, be mindful of quality. I.e. whole grains, not processed, natural sources, etc. Carbohydrates are the macronutrient that we need in the largest amounts. According to the Dietary Reference Intakes published by the USDA, 45% - 65% of calories should come from carbohydrate. We need this amount of carbohydrate because:
* Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of fuel.
* Carbohydrates are easily used by the body for energy.
* All of the tissues and cells in our body can use glucose for energy.
* Carbohydrates are needed for the central nervous system, the kidneys, the brain, the muscles (including the heart) to function properly.
* Carbohydrates can be stored in the muscles and liver and later used for energy.
* Carbohydrates are important in intestinal health and waste elimination.
* Carbohydrates are mainly found in starchy foods (like grain and potatoes), fruits, milk, and yogurt. Other foods like vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and cottage cheese contain carbohydrates, but in lesser amounts.
Bottom line, if you're doing your best to stick with "whole" foods, carbohydrates should come from healthy sources and be a limited part of your daily intake, not hte majority, unless of course you're a professional athlete at which point I'd refer you to a sports nutritionist. Stay away from "carbage" which is the processed foods and simply include health alternatives in with each meal.
Hope that helps.
So your question, how important is low carb to weight loss success. Here's theory (I've been in the health and fitness business for over 20 years, so I've seen a lot come and go). Anyway, I think the whole low-carb thing came to be for two reasons, first, processed carbs became easily accessible and very affordable. The combination created an overindulgence if you will, into the world of carbohydrate living. Further, carbs kick up sugar (especially the processed ones) which gives us that feeling of "ahhhhhhh" and so when the sugar levels drop and our "ahhhhh" turns to an "ugh" we reach for that quick carbo/sugar boost. Unfortunately, not a good thing. Second, you NEED some carbs, the secret is what kind of carbs are you taking in?
I've worked with many dietitians in career and here is what the majority of them tout: If you're going to eat carbs, be mindful of quality. I.e. whole grains, not processed, natural sources, etc. Carbohydrates are the macronutrient that we need in the largest amounts. According to the Dietary Reference Intakes published by the USDA, 45% - 65% of calories should come from carbohydrate. We need this amount of carbohydrate because:
* Carbohydrates are the body’s main source of fuel.
* Carbohydrates are easily used by the body for energy.
* All of the tissues and cells in our body can use glucose for energy.
* Carbohydrates are needed for the central nervous system, the kidneys, the brain, the muscles (including the heart) to function properly.
* Carbohydrates can be stored in the muscles and liver and later used for energy.
* Carbohydrates are important in intestinal health and waste elimination.
* Carbohydrates are mainly found in starchy foods (like grain and potatoes), fruits, milk, and yogurt. Other foods like vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and cottage cheese contain carbohydrates, but in lesser amounts.
Bottom line, if you're doing your best to stick with "whole" foods, carbohydrates should come from healthy sources and be a limited part of your daily intake, not hte majority, unless of course you're a professional athlete at which point I'd refer you to a sports nutritionist. Stay away from "carbage" which is the processed foods and simply include health alternatives in with each meal.
Hope that helps.