Low Carb diet

[red86]

Hi everyone,

I am currently on a low carb diet trying to lose some fat around the . diet is:

Breakfast - 1 cup of egg whites, 2 whole eggs and 12 almonds
Snack - Banana or Apple
Lunch - Tuna/Prawn salad with light dressing
Protein shake post work out
Dinner - Chicken/Lamb/Pork and vegetables
Snack - Low fat cottage cheese

I have carbs on wednesdays and sundays (usually rice or pasta). I also weight train 3-4 times a week and cardio 5-6 times a week, usually for about an hour.
questions is in regards to diet:

1) What do you think of diet and does anything need changing?
2) Is it ok to have fruits while on a low carb diet, I have read in a few places that fruits should not be eaten while on a low carb diet?
3) I have half a tub of cottage cheese which is about 13g of carbs, is that too much carbs while on a low carb diet?

Cheers

[cassiegose]

Hi everyone,

I am currently on a low carb diet trying to lose some fat around the . diet is:

Breakfast - 1 cup of egg whites, 2 whole eggs and 12 almonds
Snack - Banana or Apple
Lunch - Tuna/Prawn salad with light dressing
Protein shake post work out
Dinner - Chicken/Lamb/Pork and vegetables
Snack - Low fat cottage cheese

I have carbs on wednesdays and sundays (usually rice or pasta). I also weight train 3-4 times a week and cardio 5-6 times a week, usually for about an hour.
questions is in regards to diet:

1) What do you think of diet and does anything need changing?
2) Is it ok to have fruits while on a low carb diet, I have read in a few places that fruits should not be eaten while on a low carb diet?
3) I have half a tub of cottage cheese which is about 13g of carbs, is that too much carbs while on a low carb diet?

Cheers

May I ask why you've decided to do low carb as opposed to a balanced meal plan of lean proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbs? Just curious.

1) How many calories, carbs, protein, and fat is that per day? I'd need to know your figures before telling you if its ok. That diet does appear to be a bit low in calories, however I don't know exact figures so can't say for sure.
2) Fruit is fine. I would have some form of protein and fat with the fruit in meal 2 though.
3) 13 grams of carbs is fine while on a low carb diet. Honestly I'm not sure if its totally necessary for you to be on a low carb diet. I do feel that there are times when low carb diets are necessary, however for the majority of the population I recommend a balanced meal plan over low carb any day. Thats just me though.

[red86]

Thanks for your responces

Yes I usually have brown rice and whole grain pasta.

I decided to try a low carb diet to speed up fat loss, i'm going on holiday in october and trying to lose as much fat as possible.

To be honest, I don't know how much calories i'm taking. For lunch, I have a whole can of tune with salad, dinner is usually a big chicken breast and loads of vegetables. What changes do you think I should make to diet?

So when do you feel a low carb diet is necessary?

[cassiegose]

Keep in mind that when you lose more than 2 lbs per week of scale weight you're most likely losing alot of muscle with the fat. This is one of the last things you want to do as you'll slow your metabolism and lose valuable muscle that you most likely can't afford to lose.


I would make a few changes to the diet... such as:

Breakfast - 1 cup of egg whites, 2 whole eggs, 1/2-2/3 c oats
Snack - Banana or Apple, 22 almonds, lean protein
Lunch - Tuna/Prawn salad with light dressing
Protein shake post work out
Dinner - Chicken/Lamb/Pork, brown rice or whole grain pasta, (you need carbs post workout) and vegetables
Snack - Low fat cottage cheese, natty nut butter

I think this may be a little easier to maintain for an extended amount of time. What are you doing for workouts?

[red86]

I weight train 4 days a week:

Monday - Back
Tuesday - Chest
Thurs - Legs/Shoulders
Saturday - Biceps/Triceps

I do cardio 5-6 times a week, 45mins on the cross trainer and 15mins on the treadmill.

Correct me if i'm wrong but I understand that when you try to lose weight, your body burns carbs first and then fat. But if you had a low intake of carbs, it burns the fat first. I understand you need carbs hence why I have it twice a week (wednesday & sunday). I read a body builder's book about how he prepers for competitions and he said he usually goes on a low carb diet to speed up fat lose while retaining muscle. This was where I got the idea of going on a low carb diet.

[cassiegose]

I weight train 4 days a week:

Monday - Back
Tuesday - Chest
Thurs - Legs/Shoulders
Saturday - Biceps/Triceps

I do cardio 5-6 times a week, 45mins on the cross trainer and 15mins on the treadmill.

Correct me if i'm wrong but I understand that when you try to lose weight, your body burns carbs first and then fat. But if you had a low intake of carbs, it burns the fat first. I understand you need carbs hence why I have it twice a week (wednesday & sunday). I read a body builder's book about how he prepers for competitions and he said he usually goes on a low carb diet to speed up fat lose while retaining muscle. This was where I got the idea of going on a low carb diet.

When trying to lose weight reducing carbs can be beneficial. As a bodybuilder, Ive done the extremely low carb thing and did lose weight on the program. However I also felt like workouts in the gym suffered. After doing extremely low carbs I added complex carbs (usually oats) into 2 of meals (placed around workout) and added veggies for the rest of the meals and have very good luck with this program. I'm a firm believer in experimenting with calories, carbs, protein, and fat to find a system that works best for your body. I don't think I would do the extremely low carb thing unless I absolutely had to... in other words I would try a more moderate approach for a while and see if I had any luck with that. If I didn't have luck I would start reducing carbs.

Thats an awful lot of training.... did you just recently start this training routien or have you been doing it for a while?

[red86]

Hi Cassiegose

I've been away on a work trip and only had limited internet access, hence the delay in replying.

I've been on that training routine since the 1st of March. Why do you think that's alot of training, as i only train one muscle a week?
Back to the low carb diet, I weighed myself last night and i've lost 5.5lbs in 3 weeks. It's hard to tell if that's fat or muscles. Did you lose alot of weight when you tried the low carb diet? Also do you think you lost any muscles while on the diet?

[red86]

I've worked out number of calories i consume and it's about 1500-1800 a day. Is that ok or too little?

[Boss Man]

That's not enough. The average for calories is 2,000 a day and that's for sedentary people.

In your case, add around 400-500 on to that figure at least, if possible .

If you're eating 6 meals a day, you only need roughly another 80 calories per meal.

[red86]

Thanks Boss Man, will up calorie in take.

Cassiegoes, waiting for a response on earlier post. Also what's your opinion on carb cycling, been reading up about it today and seems a good way to lose fat?

[cassiegose]

Hi Cassiegose

I've been away on a work trip and only had limited internet access, hence the delay in replying.

I've been on that training routine since the 1st of March. Why do you think that's alot of training, as i only train one muscle a week?
Back to the low carb diet, I weighed myself last night and i've lost 5.5lbs in 3 weeks. It's hard to tell if that's fat or muscles. Did you lose alot of weight when you tried the low carb diet? Also do you think you lost any muscles while on the diet?

Sorry for the delay. I've been away from computer for 3 days so I'm playing catch up.

I do feel that your training routine is a bit much. The weights are fine but youre doing an awful lot of cardio in there as well. I would do cardio on days when you don't lift or if you must do cardio on weight days cut down the time and do it after weight training.

As far as the weight loss goes, it is difficult to tell if its fat or muscle. At the number of calories youre doing and amount of exercise I would venture to guess that alot of that loss is muscle. I did lose weight when I did the low carb thing however workouts suffered immensly and alot of the weight I lost I felt was muscle. Yes, I definitely lost muscle while dieting. I'm a bodybuilder and in order to get lean enough to compete you usually have to sacrifice some muscle. However, there are ways to diet and train so that you lose less muscle along the way. In opinion placing carbs around workouts, eating enough calories to lose slowly, and training for quality instead of quantity should allow you to lose fat while retaining most muscle.

[cassiegose]

Thanks Boss Man, will up calorie in take.

Cassiegoes, waiting for a response on earlier post. Also what's your opinion on carb cycling, been reading up about it today and seems a good way to lose fat?

I think carb cycling can work for some people. Honestly I believe your best bet though is a balanced plan and solid weight/cardio routine. Its all about balance. Why worry about cutting carbs, or any nutrient for that matter, if you can have the same or BETTER results by simply eating healthy balanced meals?

[red86]

I have tried the balanced diet and weight/cardio and didn't have much joy, hence why i'm trying other things. I got different opinions on carb cycling, some people recommend only

1)Eating carbs twice a week and rest of the days no carb
2)Others recommend low, medium and high carbs(once a week)
3)Low carbs 5 days a week and 2 days of high carbs.

Which one of these will you recommend?

What I understood from the first one was that carbs stay in your system for up to 3 days so you can have high carbs every 3 days and no carbs in between

[cassiegose]

I have tried the balanced diet and weight/cardio and didn't have much joy, hence why i'm trying other things. I got different opinions on carb cycling, some people recommend only

1)Eating carbs twice a week and rest of the days no carb
2)Others recommend low, medium and high carbs(once a week)
3)Low carbs 5 days a week and 2 days of high carbs.

Which one of these will you recommend?

What I understood from the first one was that carbs stay in your system for up to 3 days so you can have high carbs every 3 days and no carbs in between

When I was training for last show I did the low/medium/high carb cycle and just worked the carbs around training. Weight days would be medium days, easy cardio and off days were low carb, high day was hardest workout of the week. This worked for me. I've also had luck with simply placing starchy carbs around workouts (which for me would be morning meals) then sticking to veggies as primary carb for the other meals. Honestly you may need to experiment a little and see how your body best responds. What works well for me might not work at all for you.

[red86]

How many grams of carbs will you recommend on low, medium and high days? Also i went down to local supplement shop and found some instant oats, was thinking of getting some to add to post work out shake. Is it ok to have the oats with post workout shake on medium days or do i need real food (rice, pasta etc)? On high days, i will have oats, rice or pasta.