Feeling better and looking better without carbs.

[kurtis1400]

basically, when I wake up every day I have the body ive always wanted, before I eat or drink anything I look very lean and defined
however that dwindles as I intake food and water throughout the day and by my 2nd or 3rd meal of the day, the body I like is gone.

Until 2 days when I started toying with carb cycling, over the past 2 days i have had less than 40g of carbs, and while my caloric intake has only gone down by about 200-350 cals. I am way tighter, way more defined and look way better, all day, morning until night, bloating almost COMPLETELY GONE. I also do not experience any of the negative affects of low carb, Im more energetic. Much more energetic, after eating lots of carbs I often felt very drowsy not energetic. Now im feeling more energetic all day long.

Its like my body is allergic to starchy carbs. I feel and look better without them.

Can somebody give any insight on any experience with this?

[Hannah73Louise]

You've dropped loads of water weight as every gram of carbs your eat needs about 3 grams of water to store with it. Plus you've probably become ketogenic which means your body is making ketones to make up for the 120g of glucose your brain needs to run every day and these can give you a feeling of euphoria. You're only 2 days into low carb so you may find you're not feeling so great after a few more days.....
Personally I've not found very low carb diets to be a sustainable long term healthy diet. Maybe it's just a case of experimenting with different carb sources to see if there's anything in particular that doesn't agree with you?

[jrobb82]

I personally feel horrible when carbs are lowish although like you OP do like my shape much better on waking but I think lots of people would (to do with being depleted)..

Great response above though ... Very informative - thanks!!

[MCostley]

40g is very low for carbs everyday - they should be used as energy. As Hannah said, it's only day 2 - give yourself some more time and you may not be feeling so great.

[mavd]

It's hard to say without pictures (what you think is major bloating might be totally normal or it might be, well, major bloating). However, you may have a gluten intolerance as well.

[kurtis1400]

Yeah I was kind of just wondering if I was exhibiting signs of some sort of gluten intolerance or something. Signs I mentioned above like;
Feeling more energetic without carbs
Wanting to nap after I eat carbs
Becoming bloated after eating carbs.
Also I feel way more full on high fat high protein.

[hasinutella]

Yeah I was kind of just wondering if I was exhibiting signs of some sort of gluten intolerance or something. Signs I mentioned above like;
Feeling more energetic without carbs
Wanting to nap after I eat carbs
Becoming bloated after eating carbs.
Also I feel way more full on high fat high protein.

you're lucky. i tried doing low carb but fail every time. what do you normally eat for the day if you don't mind me asking?

[BubsNBean]

Yeah I was kind of just wondering if I was exhibiting signs of some sort of gluten intolerance or something. Signs I mentioned above like;
Feeling more energetic without carbs
Wanting to nap after I eat carbs
Becoming bloated after eating carbs.
Also I feel way more full on high fat high protein.

I think these things are normal, since water is held with carbs.

No/super low carbs = less water, water weighs a lot, so of course you're going to drop the lbs.

But, like mentioned above, your brain needs glucose to function, there's no way to get around it. So if you don't eat it, it'll use your liver to make it. You might notice feeling "foggy" brained or like you can't think properly... that's because your brain is lacking the energy it needs. It takes a little while to adapt to this feeling while your liver figures out it has to make glucose regularly.

Cliffs:
It's water weight.
Be careful on too low carbs- body tends to get a little pissy, although it adjusts.

[kurtis1400]

you're lucky. i tried doing low carb but fail every time. what do you normally eat for the day if you don't mind me asking?

I eat on low carb days
Lots of whey protein with almond milk
Eggs, egg whites. With or without TeX Mex
Ground turkey
Peanut butter - litteraly just eat a tblspoon of it, keeps me feeling pretty full for a bit.
And chicken breast

[MilaGroski]

There definitely are people who are carb sensitive. I function better on less carbs,
I eat high protein and good fats generally, mod carbs from complex sources only.

But I do have a higher carb day on the weekend, say popcorn, pizza, something, maybe even candy. Without the refeed you can end up looking flat and deflated, carbs bring water into the muscles. I HATE my normally round butt when I am carb depleted, lol.

When I do reload carb, I definitely feel it and any bloating goes away in a day. I usually gain 3 or so lbs of water which goes away in a few days. I am one of the weird ones that can do HIIT on 10 gms of carbs a day when cutting, lol, so everyone is different .

Oh and I follow the general...carbs and fats should not be eaten together... philosophy.

[tvist]

I would totally try a low-carb diet but I LOVE oats and bananas and other fruit and I just can't bring myself to eliminate them. By the time I've logged my breakfast I'm already at 130g of carbs!