surgtech1956

Those of you that eat a low carb diet, what is your typical day of meals like?

JMallez

This is everything I eat in a week, you can pretty much guess what's for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and after workout. I don't believe in low carb diets (not healthy), just eat healthy and try to be well balanced...i do know i need a little more balance in my meals though.

Egg, Lunch Meat, Spinach, Whole Grain Bread, Cheese, Milk, Oatmeal, Beans, Salmon, Sardines, Apple, Grapefruit, Whey Protein Shake

Noir Lethal

Diet Consists of about 65% fruits/vegtables 20% meat and 15% whole grains


Breakfast

1 instant oatmeal and as many fruits as I need to feel ready to work out

Lunch

Salad with vegetables and 1- 80 cal whole wheat pita

Dinner

slices of turkey or roast beef or roasted chicken. with green beans, arthichokces, etc. followed by dried fruit.

Snack

Nuts of all types (very sparingly) more fruit

mgilman

none of those are close to a low carb diet

Lamp-Shade

/\ Agreed.
The thing with carbs: If you want that altered metabolic state in which carbs are no longer the dominant source of energy, you gotta get rid of them. None of this, "Oh, just half a cup of oatmeal," half-assery.
Why you would ever want this is beyond my understanding, when you can simply
EAT LESS
MOVE MORE.

Edit: Heres an example of how I eat

Morning: Coffee, a fruit or two.
Lunch: Salad
Dinner: Huge salad, cooked broccoli and carrots, whatever protein I want with whatever fat I want with whatever carbs I want in whatever quantity I want.
Preworkout (if needed): Couple egg whites topped with a sliced banana and cinnamon
Post workout (if needed): Milk/yogurt/egg whites with some fruit, usually a banana.

rumrunn6

breakfast:
scrambled egg sandwich - then I swim 1500 meters or do an hour of intense weight training. the toast is a minor concern due to the training

after training snack:
1 or 2 wakeup wraps from Dunkin Donuts, no cheese or bacon

morning snack:
granola bar

pre lunchtime run snack:
banana - then a 2 mile run

after run lunch:
McDonalds Southwest salad with grilled chicken, plus 1 crispy snack wrap

afternoon snack:
apple or orange

evening snack before driving home for dinner:
instant oatmeal

dinner:
2 ground turkey patties pan drilled with onions; peppers and mushrooms

evening snack:
Perdue breaded and baked chicken tenderloin toasted in the toaster overn

C_Heath

I think the OP wants to know whats a good days worth of high protein, low carb. I tried it and it didnt do anything but make me feel bleh..but anyhow, here you go....

Breakfast, 3 turkey sausage links.
snack cheese string.
lunch grilled chicken and salad, no dressing.
Snack, cheese string
Supper, 5 eggwhites, bologna, or turkey bacon.

You will feel like crap at bedtime but you will be ultra slim and deflated the next morning.

paulclaude

100% agree. I think that some body types/metabolisms can cope with it ok, but when I tried it I was lethargic and weak after a couple of days. Felt awful. I had zero motivation to ride the bike, and when I did I went like crap. I seem to lean down better just watching portions and eating high carb whilst putting the miles in.

rumrunn6

oh yeah - if you're talking about a quick slim down over a 30 day period, then yeah tuna and carrots, etc is a good way to trim inches fast but also a good way not to have energy to exercise except for walking. it's a good way to jump start you and get you feeling good (slimmer) quickly but then when you start eating you better start exercising. it can be a tricky transition.

Noir Lethal

he said low carb not no carb, my example was a very practical example for an active person, if you want less carbs... good luck! you "carbs=satan" die hards are hilarious acting as if a serving of oatmeal is a bad thing. I would not be surprised to see you collapse of malnutrition or get a heart attack like old man Atkins himself.

Lamp-Shade

What you are doing isn't low carb, though. No one here is saying what you are doing is bad, it's just not low carb.

InTheRain

It's sad that there are so many people that believe they are eating a low-carb diet and really have no idea how to define it (or they don't understand what a "carb" is, or what foods have them.)

I would define a low-carb diet as a diet that includes less than 30 grams of carbohydrate per day. I think this is pretty close to the Atkin's diet.

Oatmeal is not low carb - 100 grams of Oats include 67 grams of carbs (your allotment for more than two days)

1 slice of bread typically has 20-30 grams of carbs... a slice of toast in the morning, you're done with carbs for the day.

Fruit... is not low carb.

Carrots... are not low carb.

This guy, Charles Washington, is the ultimate low-carb athlete. He lives a "zero carb" lifestyle. He has phenomenal results. And... he participates in endurance events. He has reprogrammed his body to use fat for energy and not carbs.

https://blog.zeroinginonhealth.com/about/

I've done quite a lot of research on the effects of carbohydrates and insulin. I can't say that there is much benefit nutritionally from the "blood sugar/insulin cycle" that is the result of a diet that includes anything more than the minimum of 30 grams of carbs per day. I've heard about "healthy" eating habits for years. All of us have... and we have a rate of diabetes that is higher than it has ever been (I'm included in the numbers.)

It might be time to actually question what are "healthy eating habits."

InTheRain

Typical foods consumed on a low carb diet:

eggs, cheese, fish, poultry, beef, broccoli, green beans, lettuce,

avoided on a low carb diet:

pretty much eveything else that was not mentioned above. No milk, no fruit, no bread, no pasta, almost all sauces, anything with refined sugar or corn syrup, no cereals, no juices, no legumes. It sounds drastic... it is - so is diabetes and heart disease.

You can get to the 30 g of carbohydrates by eating low-carb vegetables such as the broccoli and green beans.

InTheRain

What you have here, is a low-fat diet. It is not a low-carb diet.

krazygluon

This is the thing that everyone keeps missing about low carb if they haven't read the books. You do NOT replace carbs with protein in low carb. You replace it with fat. Protein has roughly equal usefulness in both fat burning and carb burning metabolic modes. If you go low carb high protein and don't get enough fat you'll feel like dirt because at that point the only thing your body has to burn is protein (which it doesn't like doing) and your own fat. Atkins phase one calls for something like 65% of your daily calories coming from fat.

Granted I've only been doing this a few days now, but I wake up easier, don't experience the 2:30pm post lunch energy drop that I used to feel, and my endurance/ability to go to the gym is pretty much the same as its always been.

Chaco

Check out books by Gary Taubes.

Also, not all carbs are equal. The main ones I avoid are easily digestible carbs -- sugar, sryups, non whole-grain bread, white pasta, polished rice, potatoes, etc.

oban_kobi

3 fruits a day? Those are nearly pure carbohydrate (simple ones at that), you do realize that, right? Much more than a half cup of oatmeal.

Doohickie

Look at the meal plans in the South Beach Diet book. It worked like a charm for me to lose the weight back in '05. I lost 70 lb. in 6 months, from 238 lb. to 168 (I'm 6'-2") unfortunately it worked too well and I purposely tried to put a few pounds back on. Then I kept going.

The tough part about a low carb diet like SBD is that if you're riding, you need some carb energy. The SBD (and other low carb plans) have a 2-3 week period at the beginning of the diet that includes almost no carbs at all, with the goal of reducing your craving for carbs. After that, a low level of carbs is reintroduced. If you try to ride during that first phase of the diet, you're gonna be in tough shape- no energy. But... IF you can get through the first phase, and IF you've lost at least about 8 pounds in that two weeks, you KNOW that the diet works for you and it is a powerful motivator to stick with it.

For myself, I still try to keep my carbs limited, but the foundation of my current weight loss plan is that I'm eating vegetarian dinners with my wife (who's been vegetarian for a few years now) and trying my best not to snack in the evenings. It seems to be getting traction.

yoder

Exactly. I was about to post this, and glad someone got to it. Fat is not to be avoided. It is what you need for energy, and it doesn't make you fat at all. Getting energy from protein is very inefficient, and you will not feel good being active doing that. If you eat lots of fats (as opposed to more carbs) for energy, your blood sugar and insulin will be more stable, and so your energy level and appetite will be less spikey.

yoder

I don't specifically eat a low-carb diet, but my diet turns out to be pretty low-carb, though it could be more so without losing important nutrition. I eat nutritionally dense foods and avoid processed foods, grains, legumes, and sugar. I make sure to get lots of good fat. So, the end result is pretty low carb; I've probably gone into ketosis a couple times (not a problem), but that's not normal for me.

Whenever I cook vegetables, eggs, or meat (when needed), it's in a good amount of fat (like bacon fat (the best), coconut oil, olive oil, good butter, palm oil or ghee).

I will base this loosely on last week, but I can't remember all details. A week might be something like:
Monday:
Breakfast: 3 quality eggs scrambled maybe with some mushrooms, spinach, or other vegetables, 3 pieces of bacon
Lunch: Skip it. Busy and not hungry.
Dinner: Lamb Shoulder roast with sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, Jerusalem artichokes

Tuesday:
Breakfast: a little full fat plain greek yogurt with some berries
Lunch: leftover salad with chicken and bacon (avocados, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, etc)
snack on some almonds
Dinner: Huge Cheeseburger with tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, onions etc

Wednesday
Breakfast: 3 eggs with smoked salmon. handful of blackberries.
Lunch: an apple. Some pieces of it dipped in almond butter.
Dinner: Short Ribs with various vegetables

Thursday
Breakfast: Nothing. Not hungry
Lunch: Nothing. Might as well turn it into a fast.
Dinner (had an apple right before): Chuck roast (a lot of it) and veggies. Snacked on sweet potatoes after sprinting workout.

Friday:
Breakfast: short ribs and a few berries
lunch: Chuck roast and veggies
dinner: Salmon, asparagus, salad

Satuday:
Breakfast: Power omelet (4 eggs with all kinds of veggies), 4 pieces of bacon, a few bites of full fat yogurt with a few blueberries
Lunch: a little salmon and a few bites of salad. Some avocado. Snack on macadamia nuts, banana
Dinner: Bison chile (no beans). Snacked on some bacon after workout.

Sunday:
Breakfast: none
Lunch: Bison chile. Snack on a pear, shared a sausage, and had almonds dipped in guacamole.
Dinner: a lasagna-type dish with ground beef, but with zucchini instead of noodles.

yoder

Atkins didn't die of a heart attack. He fell and hit his head. I've never followed the Atkins diet or anything, but no reason to perpetuate lies about him.

Also, carbs themselves don't have any nutrition that you need, unlike other macronutrients which are essential. Carbs are an energy source (not the only one), but the idea that you will suffer severe malnutrition because you lack enough carbs is silly. Carb-heavy foods have vitamins of course, but so do low-carb animal products, at a much more efficient (and more complete) rate than carb-laden foods (including the healthiest fruits and vegetables). Vitamin C is about the only thing fruits and veggies are generally better for, but if you eat liver or some others you're fine there too, while there are some essential things you just can't get from fruits and vegetables (or the even less nutritious grains). But these are secondary things anyway. There's no requirement for carbs themselves.

palesaint

The wife did a full month of almost zero-carb diet. She ate tons of hummus and salsa dipped with snap peas, cucumbers, bell peppers, etc. Ate tons of salad (oil and with-the-mother-apple-cider for dressing), LOTS of quinoa and carb-free pasta (made from quinoa I believe). Plain almond milk, almond cheese, etc. "Ate" plenty of chicken broth also. She declared it quite possible to live completely sugar-free and almost carb-free, but definitely something you really have to plan out.

yoder

Looks like you're confusing carbs with fats, as was done earlier in the thread. Although there is some fat in what is mentioned, it's very low fat, and not low carb. It is certainly possible to eat basically zero carbs. Many people do this optionally with no problems, and traditional hunter cultures like the Inuit always ate that way and were healthy. You can't live without fat, however.

Most of the energy source of the diet quoted is carbs, not protein or fat, and no one on that would go into ketosis and use ketones either,

rumrunn6

I did low (nearly no) carbs for a while a while back and I had great results. it was a fabulous jump start to weight loss. tough to do while training though. I did it with a daily walkign routine and that seemed to work OK.

right now I'm doing 2 weeks of no bread cuz this winter has featured too many bagels etc. even no bread is tough and i find myself sneaking in small bits of flat bread or a few crackers here and there. even a burger with 1/2 the roll.

the point is if you reduce the junk that makes you fat even if you can't cut it out completely, you'll feel great and lose weight. no carbs works but if you can't hack it there is still something to be gained with variations using reduction of carbs, especially if you've been overeating them.

best carb I know is a banana before a workout!

palesaint

What I meant was that she was an almost-zero SUGAR diet. You are correct that there are plenty of carbs, but they are all complex carbs with no simple sugars. She ate plenty of meat and eggs and oil, so fat wasn't too much of a concern. Most emphasis was on green veggies and legumes/quinoa though.