Success staying between 50-100g carbs on Primal/Paleo diet?

[tillymonster]

Hi ladies!



I am looking to lose a good 20# before Dec/Jan as I am trying to get pregnant and want to be as close to the pre-prego weight as possible. Not to mention many issues being overweight, I was 170-80#s when I got pregnant, now I'm 215#. Being only 5'5" makes this a lot of extra weight to carry around, and I'm a smallish framed gal.



I lost 75# on Weight Watcher back in 2006-07 so it's very depressing being this huge again. But I do have the cutest 2yo to show for it. I apparently ate garbage (though I thought I ate so "healthy" while pregnant). I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis after a year postpartum and probably had for awhile. I'm on a super low dose of levothyroxine.


LONG story short...doing primal/paleo for a month or so now. But I have been off grains for longer, since April. Not seeing huge results but feel GREAT. I hate all the cooking sometimes but am getting used to it. It's ALL about planning. I don't think I'll ever go back to grains!



I am still BF my toddler and almost think this is why I cannot drop ANY substantial weight. I'm sure it's because I am eating too many carbs, even if they are healthy. I really want to focus on 50-100g of carbs a day.



Any other ladies do this with success? Please post and let me know! I'd love to do a challenge or weekly weigh-ins if anyone is interested!
Edited by tillymonster - 6/25/12 at 2:54pm

[Cynthia Mosher]

You might also post to the Traditional Foods forum if you don't get any responses here. :)

[motherhendoula]

What carbs are you eating?  Years ago ex DH and i were devotees of the Atkins Diet (my XDH was a patient of his in 1995)  and the beginning stages of that diet called for 5 - 10 grams of carbs per day.

I currently eat NO grains, stick to mostly meat and vegetables and thats about it.  I havent counted carbs lately but i doubt its over 40 ...i do imbibe in a lot of veggies!  Remember that all salad dressings typically have sugar in them - ketchup, BBQ sauce etc...all have sugar and can kill your carb count.   Starchy veggies like yams and carrots also have a high carb count.   Stick to 'salads, steak and eggs'!
 

[Millie Ivy]

Agreed.  focus on large quantities of a variety of veggies, getting most of your carbs from those.  add in enough meat and eggs and fats for the bulk of your caloric needs.  A little dairy is either awesome and helpful, or can make you stall.  It depend on the person.  If you find you are always close to 50 carbs and can't lose, you might think about giving up dairy for a while.

I recommend using a online diary like www.sparkpeople.com to log everything for a while to make sure you are eating according to your goals.  You may need to start at 50, consistently, and then slowly add in more once you start losing. 

 (incidentally, Mark Sisson counts whole carbs, and Atkins counted net carbs -ie whole carbs minus fiber.  the difference between Atkins 20 and Sisson 50 isn't that vast when you consider that.)

Do not let yourself undereat while you adjust to this way of eating.  some people find they need to moderate intake eventually, but you need to give yourself time to let your body adjust to burning fat before limiting food at ALL.  (I'm never a fan of low calorie diets.  It's proven NOT to be a good way to lose fat.  Fueling the body properly is a beautiful thing.  I realize some people truly just eat too much for their needs but I don't thinkl you can understand your actual needs during transition.  EAT.)

Another benefit of cooking your own foods, making your own dressings, spice blends, etc, is you avoid a lot of hidden sugar and additives and crap.  You will gain a lot of health by avoiding these, whether or not you drop a bazillion lbs. :-)

HTH!

[1jooj]

I finally fell into this way of living earlier this year, and it has changed my life in so many positive ways. That said, it can be a challenge, if you still rely on carbs for energy (i.e., fruits and starchier vegetables) to break through to that low a level. I was doing it, and also want to do it again to tackle another 15 pounds. I used FitDay to track food to keep an eye on macronutrients, and learned a lot about carb amounts in vegetables I was eating (like tomatoes, for example, which I then kept to one per day).

Best vegetables for achieving this level? Greens, of course. In salads and also cooked, particularly with my AM eggs. Other veges eaten daily at that time were cucumber, onion, peppers, zucchini, sprouts, avocado. I shied away from sweet potatoes, pea pods, green beans, beets, anything starchier. I ate protein liberally, but also large quantities of fat, as EVOO on my salads and coconut milk in my coffee. Cut fruit, or cut it way down, and if you have any, keep it to melon or berries, but it would be best if you could at least go 2 weeks without. But the resulting low-carb flu could be tough. 

And I went to bed early to avoid looking for a sweet boost when I was really just tired and needed sleep. That made a huge difference for me.

I've been where you are, and larger, weight-wise, and I'm 2" shorter, so I really understand the way you are feeling in your skin. I lost almost 100 pounds and have kept most of it off, and the struggle went away when I finally ditched the sugar, grains, legumes and dairy.

[gumby74]

Originally Posted by 1jooj 

I finally fell into this way of living earlier this year, and it has changed my life in so many positive ways. That said, it can be a challenge, if you still rely on carbs for energy (i.e., fruits and starchier vegetables) to break through to that low a level. I was doing it, and also want to do it again to tackle another 15 pounds. I used FitDay to track food to keep an eye on macronutrients, and learned a lot about carb amounts in vegetables I was eating (like tomatoes, for example, which I then kept to one per day).

Best vegetables for achieving this level? Greens, of course. In salads and also cooked, particularly with my AM eggs. Other veges eaten daily at that time were cucumber, onion, peppers, zucchini, sprouts, avocado. I shied away from sweet potatoes, pea pods, green beans, beets, anything starchier. I ate protein liberally, but also large quantities of fat, as EVOO on my salads and coconut milk in my coffee. Cut fruit, or cut it way down, and if you have any, keep it to melon or berries, but it would be best if you could at least go 2 weeks without. But the resulting low-carb flu could be tough. 

And I went to bed early to avoid looking for a sweet boost when I was really just tired and needed sleep. That made a huge difference for me.

I've been where you are, and larger, weight-wise, and I'm 2" shorter, so I really understand the way you are feeling in your skin. I lost almost 100 pounds and have kept most of it off, and the struggle went away when I finally ditched the sugar, grains, legumes and dairy.

I am on a low carb, high protein diet. I have lost about 30lbs thus far through this approach, but also I am running about 9-12 miles per week.  I have a huge sweet tooth, despite everything.  What are your thoughts about the sugar alchohols?  I probably eat these too much, but not sure what else to do.

[leafylady]

I think you definitely need to log your food intake and calculate the carbs if that's what you want to control.  Split up that number of carbs by 6 and spread it out between 3 meals and 3 snacks.  That way you keep your carbs and hopefully blood sugar nicely balanced throughout the day.  100 divided by 6 is between 16-17 carbs per meal/snack if you use that approach.  16-17 isn't much.

[leafylady]

myfitnesspal is a good app and website for tracking by calories eaten and burned throughout the day.

[PumaBearclan]

Hello, I have been eating high-fat low-carb "paleo-esque" for many years. My carbs are usually 60-80g per day. My carbs are mostly from 3/4 cup of starch (potatoes or pasta) each day, and a handful of dried fruit. I don't really eat "vegetables." Mostly I eat herbs and greens which have virtually no carbs, so I can eat lots of them. The rest of my food is protein (about 80g) and animal fat. My diet is calculated to the homo optimus macro-nutrient ratio of 1 part protein to 3 parts fat to 0.8 part carb.*

Your carb target is low compared to a typical American diet, so you may have trouble adapting at first. It took me about a year to adapt. Now I have the opposite problem: desserts, sugars, and starch meals make me ill.

50 grams may be too low. I was eating very low carb but the ketosis phasing was unpleasant and I didn't feel satisfied from my meals.

Two tips that I've found are: expect to eat a lot less food, make small meals. Also eat what you like. When I was eating very low carb (<50g/day) I had a hard time getting enough fat in my meals and hated the piles of vegetables on my plate. With my daily alottment of starch I can pile on the fat - macaroni with cheese, egg yolk, and butter or potatoes with marrow and lard - and it tastes great. I don't feel like I'm "on a diet" or deprived in any way. I prefer fruit over vegetables although that is frowned upon in the low-carb community. However, my opinion is that a small serving (1 small piece) of fruit each day has healthy vitamins and will not harm the body. It's pleasant to eat and very satisfying, I think, and it seems counterintuitive that a small amount of fruit is not part of the natural human diet. It's better, I think, to include natural foods that are pleasant and satisfying and stick to a diet for years than to deprive yourself, be miserable, and fail to maintain your health.

My weight is stable at 125 pounds; I'm 5'6" and in my mid-40s. I'm fairly active but not athletic.

I hope that you've been able to lose the weight as you you were planning. Most important, I hope that you have transitioned to a healthy lifestyle and feel great about your life!

~Puma

*The Homo Optimus ratio is measured in grams. I have Dr K's book, and he measures the ratio in grams. However, I wasn't able to maintain his recommendation. I found that it was too high in fat and too low in carbs for me to feel well. I eat more protein than he recommends and less fat. What is interesting is that the diet that I feel best with conforms to his ratio in terms of calories/percentages: 20% of my diet is protein, 60% fat, and 16% carbohydrate. Just wanted to be clear on that in case anyone wants to investigate the Homo Optimus diet as Dr K prescribes.

Edited by PumaBearclan - 12/27/12 at 7:11am