Diario de Bandrai, 21 may. 24

i used to be low carb for 15ish years. Veggies are good carb. i eliminated refined carbs! If i did make homemade pasta, bread, pancake, i used to use whole wheat flour as pure an possible. Today, i highly recommend Einkorn flour, as its low glycemic index, higher fiber. my other recommendation is What are your favorite foods? look up low carb replacement. instead of potatoe chips, get pork rinds or nuts. Instead of ice cream, plain yogurt or cream cheese with peanut butter and chocolate protein powder blended in is a great replacement.  

honestly i could go on... 😂 i hope this helps. avoid boxed foods and protein bars unless absolutely necessary, even ones labeled keto and paleo/low carb...artificial sweeteners can be more harmful on glycemic index then making it on your own. it takes time but worth it to make low carb granola bars, its trial and error for a recipe that is perfect for your needs. 

I do not do really low carb. I can have 100 gms a day.  

I do low carb 45grams aday. eat alot of vegs.no package foods  

I follow what is still considered low carb. It is certainly not as low as keto though. My WOE is 100-125 grams of protein, 100 grams of carbs ( preferably complex) and 35-50 grams of fat. I try to eat non processed, I'm about 70% successful. I have lost 60+ lbs doing this and it's just a way of life for me now. 

Veggies are good, even if they are carbs. The thing to really watch is simple or refined carbs and sugars. I agree, hit protein targets, and fill everything else in sensibly  

I think under 100 carbs is considered low carb but I guess that really depends on the amount of cals you eat. I still eat whole foods when doing low carb. I just cut sugar flour and limit fruit 

For me, low carb is 120 total carbs with 30-35 grams of fiber. Some people (and diabetics) will take the difference, which is 85 to 90 "net carbs". I once tried to go lower than this for 3 months. My body and mind suffered the entire time. But I can do 90 net carbs fine if I am not doing back to back days of exercise. If I am more active, I need at least 150 or 200 total carbs. So any given week, I have several days of 120, a couple days of 150, and a couple days of 180 to 200. I used to run marathons and triathlons and would consume between 300 and 500 total carbs. But that's not me today. Also, the type of carbs matter. I enjoy a whole foods diet without added or fake sugar, and very rarely processed ingredients (ie something made of flour). This has been the key for my weight loss and maintenance. 

It’s not how many grams of carbs you take in that determines if you are lo carb it is determined by what percent they are of your daily calories. I have read thatunder 10% is considered a very lo carb diet. Anything under 26% is considered lo carb diet. That is net grams after the water content of fruits and veg is factored out. 

I think the official recommendation is to eat at least 50% of your nutrients in carb. So low carb is somewhere under there. What ever you want to make it. I personally believe the kind of food I eat is more important than the macronutrients. I avoid too much sugar and refined starches 

Carbs are about 50% of my calories. I have never used a low carb diet. Just track calories and keep protein at 25% of calories. 

I'm glad you asked that question, I was also wondering.  

When I did low carb I tried to stay around 40% carbs. But veggies are such a great source of nutrition that I never eliminated them. Did go easy on corn and don't like carrots so that helped. But I ate my greens and still do. 

I keep a strict low carb diet - so 50-60g carb a day making it about 30% Protein 30% and fat 40% but I have thyroid disease, prediabetic and overweight and trying to rectify all with my diet so it isn't any fun to eat right now. Still getting by and hopefully by July my bloodwork will let me eat yummy stuff again! 

Thank you lovely people for your great takes on this subject. You have given me some ideas to mull over!!! And these seem to be very sensible systems, but good to get your feedback also :)  

So what are you thinking Bandrai? 

Hi! Long-time low carber here- I think under 100g carbs per day is widely considered ‘low carb’. Something that has recently changed how I space my carbs on higher carb days is a rule of thumb that Dr. Gabriel Lyon (also a metobolic researcher) recommends, which is eating less than 50g carbs at ANY SINGLE MEAL. Her reasoning (simplistically put) is that metabolisms generally are able to utilize carbs for fuel only up to that amount per meal without some stress and inflamation. More carbs than that in one meal is (generally) an overload..and, the excess is converted and stored as fat. Keeping carbs at that threshold allows the body to access its stored fat for fuel..which is the hallmark of a healthy metabolism. She notes that intense exercise increases the capacity to metabolize carbs (because this depletes our liver and muscle glycogen stores thus our body has more room to store the carb-fuel without needing to convert it to fat and store it on the body: so you can ‘earn’ more carb allowance via intense exercise which raises your optimal carb-fuel threshold. Physical exertion doesn’t necessarily mean that you ‘need’ more carbs, because you can burn stored body fat for fuel also..and some people consider that a preferred fuel to carbs.