No carbs at all

[bigdreams]

Ok, so I have a good workout routine, I generally work out 4 days a week to keep in shape, I'm not trying to get massive right now or anything, just keeping in shape. I wanted to shed off a little fat to show the abs for the summer time, so I started on a friends diet plan.

It's kinda like a Keto plan, which is why I'm posting here, but I'm not seeing the results that those on the keto plan are. This diet is basically just avoiding all sugar sources and carbs like the plague.

I eat eggs/bacon/breakfreast sausages in the morning,
Some type of meat and salade at lunch
And usually chicken our viel and a salad for supper.

So I'm getting no carbs in my diet at all. And Iv'e been doing this for about 5 and 1/2 weeks, I have lost about 8lbs, but I still have some fat i need to lose off the gut. I'm seeing people with waaaay better results on here, I'm wondering, should I be carbing up one day a week for the better results? Am I being counter productive in some way because I'm never taking in carbs?

Btw my weight is 160lbs. I started at 170 approx. I just started working out again as well about 2 months ago. I only have the option to eat 3 times a day as well instead of 6 because I'm in the military, and meals are at the mess hall, and we can't have food in our dorms.

[1quick1]

Having absolutely no carbs for 5 1/2 weeks seems kind of dangerous. It just seems the first time you take down 30grams of carbs you are going to bloat like crazy. Plus wouldn't not having any carbs make your body extremely sensitive to carbs?

[DarinK]

You should go to the Keto section and read the stickies there. I think they have 2 different kinds of keto diets people follow.

[verbatim9]

carb loading once a week is a part of the keto diet.

[rower6]

going with absolutely no carbs at all everyday is going to complete deplete your body of all energy and it will start dipping into other sources for energy, possibly some fat tissue, but you also risk the body using the precious muscle tissue. if following a low carb diet, first i like to have some complex carbs in the morning and afternoon (it personally feels better than no carbs at all), second and more importantly, you should have one day a week moderate in carbs, and one day high in carbs to basically throw the body off and keep from storing fat as a result of its lack of energy. hope that helps, this is what i follow and i get pretty good results.

[ElderJefferson]

To OP, carbs are not the enemy. Alan makes some very good points in his book about the usefullness of carbs in our diet. You may want to incorporate them, especially pwo and post (they are very beneficial during these times).

[WhySoSerious?]

u need carbs bruther
u need energy

[lukewbrubaker]

If you are following the keto plan you should be carbing up ~7-10 and eating over maintenance in order to restore leptin levels and allow you to lose more fat. If you havent had a carb in over 5 1/2 weeks you are following more of an atkins style diet. You shouldnt be losing muscle as long as you get your 1g/lb bodyweight protein in and your fat/protein ratio looks good. Stick to clean carbs on the carbups and you shouldnt bloat too bad (oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc) and you should be having some dex in your PWO to help shuttle protein to the muscle.

[bigdreams]

Ok, lets say I take Sundays, which is one of my days off, and use it as a carb up day (and a few hours Saterday night). Pasta is available at every supper time meal, so I can eat pasta Saterday night, and for supper on Sunday. And I could have 2 pieces of Whole wheat bread with breakfeast on Sunday, and a bran muffin.

And possibley 2 Whole wheat sandwhiches every day at lunch (I love the ham sandwhichs with mayo, they really stack the ham on think) Or would the sandwhiches bump me out of keto? I don't have carbs during breakfeast or supper at all, just meat and veggies.

I did read about the atkins, and the other diet CKO or whatever. But I can't really alter my diet so easily. I eat at a mess hall, with very few choices. It's usually extremely hard to eat anything or find anything without carbs, which is why I'm trying to alter this diet with your excellent suggestions.

So about what I've written above, do u think that's too much carbs?

[c10d]

I say forget everything you think you know, and everything everyone else thinks they know, experiment for yourself and find what fuel (macros/micros/food choices/etc) works best for YOUR body.

I always went low-carb. I would alternate carb amounts depending on how I felt at the time. If I had plenty of energy and wasn't really consuming any carbs at all then I'd keep it that way. If for some reason I was craving fat really bad I'd go into the refridgerator and grap some natty PB or cook up a couple whole eggs.

With me personally, I started gaining fat when I started incorporating oats (which basically everyone on here eats) into my diet. When I felt best and was most lean the only sources of carbs I got were the little amount in my ON Natural Whey, little amount in Almond/Peanut Butter and/or raw nuts, small amounts in vegetables, sometimes fruit (usually a banana & blueberries PWO), little amount in organic dark chocolate, and sometimes I'd have a piece of organic Ezekial toast in the morning.

What works for Joe may not work for Bob, and what works for Bob may not work for Mary.

Listen to your body, it's the best at telling you what it needs.

-c10

[c10d]

Originally Posted by 1quick1

Having absolutely no carbs for 5 1/2 weeks seems kind of dangerous. It just seems the first time you take down 30grams of carbs you are going to bloat like crazy. Plus wouldn't not having any carbs make your body extremely sensitive to carbs?

I think it would probably depend on what type of carbs.

I'm perfectly fine with taking in ~30 grams of carbs from fruits, honey, or agave nectar. Veggies (other than potatos) I'm good with too.

Give me some rice, oats, etc etc just like grains/complex carbs and I get bloated as hell and want to go take a nap.

(Regard complex carbohydrates) "But they're inferior proteins, just lots of sugar, you jerks!"~ Vince Gironda

[lukewbrubaker]

For a carbup day that would be fine...some people shoot for upwards of 500g of carbs/day but experiment and see what works best for you. For a normal keto day the sandwiches would have to go. Maybe just eat the lunch meat, or if you dont have that many options I wouldnt suggest keto. You will be prone to fat gain with all the carbs and fats together.

Originally Posted by 1quick1

Having absolutely no carbs for 5 1/2 weeks seems kind of dangerous. It just seems the first time you take down 30grams of carbs you are going to bloat like crazy. Plus wouldn't not having any carbs make your body extremely sensitive to carbs?

Actually it is perfectly healthy. You could go the rest of your life without eating a carb (I've never heard of an 'essential carb') and live just as healthy as you are now. Most people go on the keto diet cause they are already senisitive to carbs which causes them to gain weight. Its actually starting to be prescribed for type II diabetes patients in order to control their blood sugars.

[Mainframe]

To the OP

Yourt not doing keto correctly You sound like your barley eating anything really but keto is 65% fat 30% protein and 5% carbs. Check out the stickies in keto. They will help a lot.

[SoWise]

carbs at night? Only if you train, otherwise your risking them being stored as fat.

[bigdreams]

I train mon, tues, thurs, fri at the gym. I also do physical training and sport conditioning on Tues and Thrus mornings. I'm in the Military. I'm not gaining weight at all, I'm just losing slower than other keto diets I'm seeing posted on here. In almost 6 weeks, I've lost only about 10lbs, which seems kinda slow compared to others here.

[bigdreams]

Ok, I could eat a double breakfeast (Or triple, or how ever many servings I want) of like 2 cups of Scrambled eggs, about 8 pcs of bacon, and 4 breakfeast sausages, with 2 cups of whole milk.
Lunch probley get my 2 ham sandwhichs, and ditch the bread, have a glass of water, and a glass of milk. Maybe a salad thrown in there too.
Then supper there is usually boneless skinless chicken, I could have like 2 pieces of that, a salad, some boiled eggs, a few blocks of cheese or something. Then about 2 protien shakes in the evening from between supper till I go to bed. And then have one carb up day lets say on sunday, I'll have pasta or something for supper, maybe some whole wheat bread in the morning with my regular breakfeast, and some type of complex carb at lunch, maybe more pasta, i dunno, depends on what their serving.

I don't care if it I have the perfect keto diet here, I'm just looking to improve on what I'm doing now, which is never carb up, never eat carbs. I'll never be able to perfect this diet until I'm out of the school atmosphere in a little more than 1 yr from now, till then I have to just "Make do". So please, don't post if your going to critisize what i'm trying to do. I appriciate the effort, but it's not the posts I want, and this is my thread ^^. Help me with the info "I'm" asking for, or please just skip my thread. Thanks also to those who have already posted trying to help

[TDE]

carb cycling> keto, IMO.

[Mainframe]

Originally Posted by bigdreams

Ok, I could eat a double breakfeast (Or triple, or how ever many servings I want) of like 2 cups of Scrambled eggs, about 8 pcs of bacon, and 4 breakfeast sausages, with 2 cups of whole milk.
Lunch probley get my 2 ham sandwhichs, and ditch the bread, have a glass of water, and a glass of milk. Maybe a salad thrown in there too.
Then supper there is usually boneless skinless chicken, I could have like 2 pieces of that, a salad, some boiled eggs, a few blocks of cheese or something. Then about 2 protien shakes in the evening from between supper till I go to bed. And then have one carb up day lets say on sunday, I'll have pasta or something for supper, maybe some whole wheat bread in the morning with my regular breakfeast, and some type of complex carb at lunch, maybe more pasta, i dunno, depends on what their serving.

I don't care if it I have the perfect keto diet here, I'm just looking to improve on what I'm doing now, which is never carb up, never eat carbs. I'll never be able to perfect this diet until I'm out of the school atmosphere in a little more than 1 yr from now, till then I have to just "Make do". So please, don't post if your going to critisize what i'm trying to do. I appriciate the effort, but it's not the posts I want, and this is my thread ^^. Help me with the info "I'm" asking for, or please just skip my thread. Thanks also to those who have already posted trying to help

I know you're not looking to do full blown keto but you're doing something that will not work.

You need to find out how many calories you need to maintain and, if cutting, eat about 350 less than that.

You need to pick a plan of high fat keto or eat a diet with lean meats, moderate amounts low GI carbs and to a lesser extent "good" fats.

I know where you are. I was just spinning my wheels doing the same thing after I lost 110 pounds.

I recently put on 10 pounds of muscle using a keto bulk but it's used mainly for cutting which is what you want.

Now I'm not saying go on keto if you don't want, I'm just saying go on a diet that will work.

What you are eating now will basically just cause muscle loss and little to no fat loss.

Best of luck and PM me if you have any questions.

[bigdreams]

But that diet, though it isn't perfect, follows the same lines. I'ts a Fat/Protien based diet and one day out of the week is used to carb up. I don't see the major difference, other than adjusting the amount of food at each meal to meet the requirements of my body for my specific goals

[Andrew69]

Originally Posted by lukewbrubaker

For a carbup day that would be fine...some people shoot for upwards of 500g of carbs/day but experiment and see what works best for you. For a normal keto day the sandwiches would have to go. Maybe just eat the lunch meat, or if you dont have that many options I wouldnt suggest keto. You will be prone to fat gain with all the carbs and fats together.



Actually it is perfectly healthy. You could go the rest of your life without eating a carb (I've never heard of an 'essential carb') and live just as healthy as you are now. Most people go on the keto diet cause they are already senisitive to carbs which causes them to gain weight. Its actually starting to be prescribed for type II diabetes patients in order to control their blood sugars.

ding, ding, ding...we have a winner

In the end its about cals in vs cals out.
Keto just makes it easier to do.

[lukewbrubaker]

Originally Posted by bigdreams

Ok, I could eat a double breakfeast (Or triple, or how ever many servings I want) of like 2 cups of Scrambled eggs, about 8 pcs of bacon, and 4 breakfeast sausages, with 2 cups of whole milk.
Lunch probley get my 2 ham sandwhichs, and ditch the bread, have a glass of water, and a glass of milk. Maybe a salad thrown in there too.
Then supper there is usually boneless skinless chicken, I could have like 2 pieces of that, a salad, some boiled eggs, a few blocks of cheese or something. Then about 2 protien shakes in the evening from between supper till I go to bed. And then have one carb up day lets say on sunday, I'll have pasta or something for supper, maybe some whole wheat bread in the morning with my regular breakfeast, and some type of complex carb at lunch, maybe more pasta, i dunno, depends on what their serving.

I don't care if it I have the perfect keto diet here, I'm just looking to improve on what I'm doing now, which is never carb up, never eat carbs. I'll never be able to perfect this diet until I'm out of the school atmosphere in a little more than 1 yr from now, till then I have to just "Make do". So please, don't post if your going to critisize what i'm trying to do. I appriciate the effort, but it's not the posts I want, and this is my thread ^^. Help me with the info "I'm" asking for, or please just skip my thread. Thanks also to those who have already posted trying to help

This is a great plan if you ditch the milk (it has sugars in it which will kick you out of ketosis). I would like to second the advice mainframe gave you..the only thing I would add to it is make sure to find out ~ how many cals you burn a day and one day a week eat at over it (or atleast at maintenance) to restore your leptin levels. If you have been cutting for a while your body will adjust to the calories you are puting in and make it harder to lose fat. Usually after cutting for ~ month I take at least a 3 day break from the diet (sometimes as much as 10 days) then return to it. That seems to help me lose fat. Good luck with which ever diet you choose!

[bigdreams]

Ooooh I see. I didn't know your body adjusts to the calorie intake. Thats something I didn't know (well I didn't know many things, but thats a good solid point thats easy for memory)

I will be doing alot of research on here, and I'll do my best for the keto diet and to retain as much muscle mass as I can. But it's going to take me awhile to learn, and in the mean time, I'm trying to do the best quick fixes I can till I know more. I can't go to the perfect keto diet over night, I can't even tell what I'm going to eat before I get to the mess hall, so it's hard for me to plan out or meassure exact calories. So you can see how hard it is for me to make up a diet like this. I almost HAVE to wing it as best I can, which is why I'm looking for more input advice on my situation via back and forth threads after I can explain to everyone my situation and have them UNDERSTAND the position i'm in, rather than strictly go by the keto instructions in previous threads, where people assume you can take the time to measure your cal intake, and time your own meals, which I can't. The only thing I can control is when I take my protien shakes, lol.

Oh, and breakfeast is always the same. My options are, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, over easy, and bacon, breakfeast sausages, cereal, toast.

The only good thing about eating at a mess hall, is I'm allowed an unlimited amount of food, it's like an all you can eat buffet at every meal, so thats another factor I can adjust, I'm just trying to figure out an eating style for my 3 meals a day, and I'll adjust the quantity afterwards. I think that makes it kinda more clear. ^^