50-100 carb grams per day
 

Nothing works for me other than no sugars allowed and exercise, and lots of that last one. Have to workout every day to keep the calorie burn up. The off season is tough as my body goes into hibernation mode and doesn't want to do anything and only wants to eat. Or is that my head doing that?

Same for me word for word

influenced me to ride year round and at night

60s here. I did the low carb thing a couple of years ago and dropped 30 lbs in a couple of months. Gained 10 back but I still try and keep the carbs low. I cheat a bit now and then.

50-100 seems like a lot to me. I have been very successful with 30-50 a day when not working out. I usually try to stay closer to 30 if I want to lose and 50 to maintain. Once the workouts start back up, I need more.

For people counting carbs, are you counting "Net Carbs", that is, carbs less dietary fibre?


I'm no expert on ketosis, but my understanding is that some/many??? people who lose weight on a low carb diet, work on a Net Carb figure.

I try not to mess with my diet too much but will alter the work load. When I can not get out on the bike I work out my the elliptical. Different muscle groups but a good workout for me just the same. The winter here in NC is short and usually not very harsh so I can work in some day rides but the elliptical is my freezing and 97* friend here.
Frank.

Rather than trying to minimize carbohydrates, I started maximizing fat and protein. Maybe just a psychological trick, but it had the same effect. Weight fell and then stabilized at HS graduation weight and no hunger.

Can't tolerate fat, addicted to chocolate. I dream about food and can't put on weight . . . .sigh! What am I doin' cycling?

Depends on his goal and energy expenditure (neither of which was stated btw.). In any event, the first step would be to go to a calorie counter to determine his carb limit per day.

Seems like neither here nor there to me. Too many for ketosis, not enough to replace lost liver glycogen. For me, that'd be a recipe for feeling crappy all day. What works for keeping the weight off, and losing weight for that matter, is lifestyle modification. For me, that means continuous year-round exercise of some sort, and quantities of a variety of healthy foods at every meal which don't put weight on me. Pretty simple, really. I haven't exercised in about 10 days, very unusual for me, but I've been working in panic mode and then of course caught a cold which went down in my lungs. F old age anyway. Be that as it was, I've gained no weight. We even had a series of dinner parties with alcohol during this period. Just didn't eat as much the next day - didn't need to, didn't get hungry. I will admit to limiting carbs somewhat. One doesn't want to get into a carb cycle - eat carbs, low blood sugar, eat carbs to bring it back up, etc. I like protein and fat for snacks to smooth that out and usually have some at every meal.

So what the hey? Why no exercise at all? Can't you get to the gym to do upper body? At our gym, we have a guy with no use of his lower body who works out. It's a trick for him to shift from wheelchair to machine or bench, but he does it. You can even do cardio that way, hand cycle and just high reps with 1' or less breaks between sets. No great harm in building a little upper body muscle. You'll lose it when you can ride again anyway. Besides, it'll improve your mental state. Any kind of progress turns me on.

My "system" includes a high-fiber mostly-vegan diet. I can lose weight on low fat, but I can maintain it with a good mix of carbs, fat, and protein. My official "candy bar" is dates plus walnuts.

Avoiding refined sugar and flour and getting plenty of weight-bearing, strength, and cardio exercise are the real keys to weight control and maximizing one's health.

My mother-in-law likes buying clothes for me because my sizes have not changed over the 50 years she has known me.

Fifties, here. Typically consume <50gr carbs daily, often quite a bit less. Don't do breads, tortillas, sauces, very few packaged items. Most calories come from really "clean" fats and proteins.

Can't speak to what it does for intensity of workouts. I haven't been able to bring higher intensity in workouts for years, now, given some old injuries. So, I keep the consistency and frequency up, work out sufficiently long, do what intensity I can do, and moderate my intake to support that level of activity. Works for me.

Some mainstays, in my intake: homemade veggie soups and salads; fish and chicken; occasional "red" meat; avocado; nuts and seeds; olive oil; herbs and spices; occasional "cheating" (but infrequent); with regular protein/fat rich blends; nut "milks"; modest portions; keeping very well hydrated, mostly with water.

Oh, man, I wish I had the willpower to stick to a low carb diet. I know I feel better and control my weight better when I eat high protein, moderate fat, and low carbs (40-30-30 were the percentage targets I was trying to hit) - but I'm a big carb addict - popcorn, pasta, bread, crackers.

As a former sugar/sweets addict, I don't know about feeling any better, but I can say for sure that you don't suffer the highs and lows of insulin spikes. Sugar is still my weakness but I've managed to cut my consumption by over 70%. IF makes it a cakewalk.

A couple of easy steps to wean off the "dirty" carbs:

1. Dramatically boost intake of salads and veggies ... with as wide-ranging a choice of veggies as possible. Great nutrients, which will have good long-term benefits above and beyond the drop in "bad" carbs you shove out of the way. Use olive oil and balsamic, spices and herbs, instead of squirt-bottle dressings.

2. The carbs you do have in the pantry can be the last. Don't buy any more. And make small batches of the stuff when you do go for it. It'll be gone soon enough.

3. Consider the carbs you do consume. Take each of them, one by one, and consider a reasonable alternative. Say, for pasta, do wild rice instead. Or, for wild rice, do lentils instead. For popcorn, choose an alternative such as jalapenos and peanut butter on flatbread crackers ... just keep the flatbread to a minimum. Slowly, you'll run out of the carbs stuff and have little other choice but to select from what you do have.

After a couple months, the body transitions to the new fuels just fine. It isn't as intolerable as you might imagine.

Now, now lets not be a carb hater. Lets keep in mind that there are good carbs and bad carbs.

Am not.

Meant "dirty" to be taken in the same sense as "clean" proteins. There are both. There are certainly better carbs one can consume that have good effects and fewer of the negative ones, as well as better proteins that have good effects with fewer of the negative ones. That's all I meant.

I know. :)

I did cut back on carbs to a degree but have no desire keep track of everything I eat to count grams of carbs. I found periodic fasting to work for me and managed to drop about 20 pounds in about a month with very little exercise. I did put my body into ketosis during that period. I had some unusual health problems and this changed my life dramatically for the better.


I have since backed off on the fasting and dropped about 10 additional pounds over a 4 month period. It changed my mindset about food and found I don't need to put food in my mouth every time I feel hungry. Fasting can come in the form of sticking to three discrete meals a day or two if you need to lose weight. I try to eat a salad at least one meal a day and cut back on processed foods but certainly have not cut them out completely. Eating a ketogenic diet day in and day out is not something I could stick with.

This is why establishing a goal is so important. You need to have a clear and present in and out point.

I've eaten a Keto diet for four years. I've lost 50 lbs and my cholesterol is normal. I eat less than 30 carbs a day. I've also done long endurance rides and stayed low carb. I did 140 mile ride and stayed low carb.

Carbs aren't necessary for survival so you can live just fine without them. That said, there are some vital nutrients that are readily available with them so you have to take care to supplement or get them through some combination of other food sources.

In any event, carbs are responsible for high intensity/explosive movements, so you just have to keep in mind that you won't get anywhere near your max without them.