Low Carb diet

[thrasherfox]

Ok, so I have decided I want to change my body type.

I want to get ripped and shredded. I consider myself in good shape, and while I have bulk it just makes me look big.

I dont think I have a lot of fat in comparison to muscle because I cant float worth a crap in water, I literaly sink to the bottom if I am not swiming like a mad dog. Well lets re phrase, I must have a high body fat percentage because I am not ripped like I want, but I guess it is distributed well enough

So on my last doctors visit I told my doctor that I work out all the time:

Lift weight 5 to 6 days a week
Run for cardio 3 to 4 days a week.
train in martial arts.
and I help coach football 5 days a week, and I mention this because I am like the only coach that will motivate the kids by running with them, giving them some competition. So I get a workout during football practice

Anyway, the reason for the explanation is I just cant seem to shred the last bit of body fat so I can get shredded.

She (my doctor) tells me "If you keep your carb intake down to under 30 grams of carbs a day you will lose weight"

So I am thinking, cool, no problem I can do that.

So I get home and start looking at all the "healthy" stuff I eat and I am thinking WTF!!! 30 grams of carbs!!

I look at the protein bars I eat, the lowest carb rating is like 35 grams, I have one protein bar I eat that contains 79 grams of carbs!!


I “used toâ€￾ drink SOBE Adrenaline Rush in the morning, I don’t like coffee so that was kind of my coffee, it contains 37 grams of carbs

I had Top Ramen noodles yesterday for lunch, it contained 27 grams of carbs

You cant eat apples, they contain carbs

Wife goes out and buys me this low carb cereal, 8 grams of carbs, so I am getting somewhere (expensive though) and then she bought me some special milk that is low carb (about 3 grams of carbs)

So this morning, my breakfast contained about 11 to 15 grams of carbs.

Aside my starving myself to death, has anyone had any experience with low carb diets and what kind of food you can eat?

I want something I can take to work with me that is easy to transport around, something I can snack on when I want that is either zero carbs or low carbs


So basically, I am looking for low carb food inputs from any of you that have ideas..

Also, I know from past experience, after restricting your carb intake for an extended period of time, you begin to feel sluggish, lose energy and you mental process will begin to not function at 100%, anyone have any advice how to counter act those affects when they occur?



Thanks in advance



The Count of Monte Carbo

 

[Lazerblade]

If you like to grill, you got it made. For some reason Pork Rinds <--sp? (I like the hot ones) are a good snack, zero carbs. Get a bag of Cheese Curds and if you need something for a fix on sweet, I like a tablespoon of whipping cream.

 

[BulletTrain]

Dude, watch the "low carb" products like the milk. It's prolly the Atkins approved stuff from Hood. They use sweeteners that can be BAD for you. I can't remember which sweetener it is (splenda maybe?) that is simply a chlorine molecule slightly modified. Talk about toxic!

I'm on a restricted carb plan, but I'm not restrictin' to a certain number of carbs, I'm just watchin' my carb intake and restrictin' the types of carbs I eat. Actually I'm following a Metabolic Typing diet. After readin' two excellent books on the topic (listed below) I came to the conclusion that metabolic typing makes SOOOOOO much better sense than ANY of the one diet fits all programs like Atkins, The Carb Diet, etc... To quote from one of the books, "One person's food may, almost literally, be another person's poison."

There are certain carbs that I can eat that do not negatively affect my mood, energy levels, mental process, etc... Others cause my blood sugar to spike and crash, causing my energy level to do the same. When the crash hits, that's when the mental process bottoms out. I also function better after consuming certain proteins compared to when I comsume others. According to the books' outline for my metabolism type, and what my body tells me after eatin' different foods, I thrive off of high fat content proteins. If I eat a fat, juicy hamburger steak or a nice juicy fatty cut steak I feel energized for hours. If I eat lean meats like white meat chicken, or turkey I seem to get dehydrated fairly easily and I don't have the energy I get from the fatty cuts. If I go a few days eatin' the lower fat meats and proteins I can actually feel a loss in strength and muscle mass. If I take in plenty of the proteins that my metabolism and body needs my strength stays consistent and I can still lose fat without losin' muscle mass.

As for carbs, I can eat non starchy vegetables without problems as long as I don't overdo it, and as long as I eat a good protein source with 'em.

I can't say enough good things about the metabolic typing diet. It's amazing what your body will tell you about what you're eatin' when you learn to listen to it.

Here are the book titles...

The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott and Trish Fahey

The Nutrition Solution: A guide to your metabolic type by Harold J. Kristal, D.D.S. & James M. Haig, N.C.

The first book is more about the Metabolic typing process and it's history. The second goes more into depth in feeding your particular metabolic type. If you don't want to buy both, get the second one. Both books contain metabolic typing "tests". I took both and although they're different, both came out the same. I'm a protein type who needs proteins with higher purine levels.

The two best aspects of metabolic typing are:

1) It's not one size fits all. Your own body actually tells you what's right and what's wrong, not some guy with a degree who has no idea what your metabolism is like.

2) It's a dynamic plan, not static like Atkins and all the other "no more than 30 grams of carbs" type diets. You continuously monitor how foods affect you. Your metabolism can change quite a bit due to outside and inside influences. Both books recommend retesting and "retyping" yourself periodically so that if your metabolism has changed you can fine tune your diet to your new metabolism's requirements.

Supposedly, when you optomize your intake to your metabolism your body starts to "normalize" toward it's "healthy" weight and proportions whether you're overweight or underweight, lean or fat, etc... I have to say that my body has definitely gone in the right direction since I started feeding my metabolism.

Anyway, just food for thought. I think you'd be pleased if you were to try metabolic typing and could get your diet find tuned to your individual metabolism. In addition to the tests in the books there are doctors who specialize in metabolically typing people through more in depth tests, such as blood PH, etc... I can't afford that route so I'm just doin' the best I can with what I have (the books) and what my body tells me. I figure someone that could afford to get typed professionally and then fine tune their diet could really make some progress. Hell, +/- 50 pounds of fat loss and a decent gain in muscle tone, strength, and size in just a few months ain't bad I don't guess.

If you want more info on the books, the process, or just wanna BS about the topic hit me up. We can discuss it by email or I could give you my phone # and you could call if you want. I don't know everything about metabolic typing but I've learned a few things. I'd be glad to share what little I know with ya.

Chris

 

[BulletTrain]

If you like to grill, you got it made. For some reason Pork Rinds <--sp? (I like the hot ones) are a good snack, zero carbs. Get a bag of Cheese Curds and if you need something for a fix on sweet, I like a tablespoon of whipping cream.

I occasionally do pork rinds because they're so damned convenient, but not every day. The problem I have with them is that when fat is fried (which is all pork rinds are) the molecules are transformed into some nasty stuff.

 

[PACIFICBUSA]

Hmm...plain and simple Thrash: more ripped = less bulk

Less bulk = more cardio - try switchin yer routine around, do cardio 5-6 times a week and lift 3-4 days

start eating bigger, more frequent meals (keep them clean, of course) - I'm assuming that since you're very much into lifting, you're probably doing the small incremental meals. I only say to eat bigger more frequently so that you can offset your body's rythm (did I spell that right?). Do it for about a week or two...then cut back down and increase that cardio!

When you lift - I don't know why I'm telling you this, as you probably know a shidload more than me about lifting, but keep that weight down and get those reps up. I used to work out 5 days a week, doing anywhere from 3-4 sets of 9-12 reps, but before that, I would always hit the road and run about two miles before the workout. Burnout was my favorite thing, and although I wanted more bulk, I know that I over-did it.

Metabolism, my friend...get yours up and running like Bush and Kerry campaigning across the country and I'm sure you'll get ripped...just be sure you watch your body fat...too little is not great. Remember Sonny Schmidt?

I dunno if this helped you out or if it seemed like a total bunch of hogwash...

 

[billbell]

I did the low carb thing a year ago or so and lost 26lbs in about 6 wks. I don't workout but I was feeling better with the weight loss. I went from 238 to 212. I couldn't go without pasta and bread any longer though. I now am up to around 245. I have to figure out something to do to lose weight. Maybe quit drinking beer? Don't know about that one? LOL

 

[thrasherfox]

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

BT - I am going to stick with the Atkins / Low carb thing for now, but I will definitely throw your advice into my pool of tricks for when I want to change things up a bit with my routine and diet.

Well, I did not make my goal of 30 carbs today, had about 50 carbs, but it ws mainly because I was not totally prepared with the right food in the house. Tomorrow should be a better day.

Actually shooting for 20 carbs a day for the first 2 weeks then increasing by 5 carbs a week for a couple of weeks.. See how that turns out.

Currently with my size, workout routine etc I can take in about 100 or more carbs a day and maintain, so anything under 70 carbs a day should get me losing weight..

Actually, at my weight of 225 pounds, ad in the amount of exercise I do, if you calculate 3 grams of carbs for every pound of body weight (that is a close formula, intense athletes can take into 4 grams of carbs per body weight) , I can maintain what I have for under 675 carbs per day.

So getting down to 20 grams a day is going to suck lol.. oh well, I should either be ripped or dead within a few months lol

 

[TulBusa]

The low carb thing is VERY hard to do, especially if you have not really tried it. It seems that everything that tasted great is full of carbs...sucks! Anyway, my girlfriend and I have been doing the South Beach diet(you can buy the book at any bookstore, or WalMart for that matter) and it works great and is excellent on eating the "right" carbs. I have to disagree with the Atkins diet. I have tried that diet and it is absolutely TOO restrictive, granted, people have lost weight, but when you go off of it people tend to just gain the weight back.The South Beach diet was actually written by a doctor for diabetics, but is not too restrictive and is all about eating the right carbs. The book also gives details on what food you can and cannot eat, as well as recipes. I think it's worth a thumb through at the book store. I don't think you'll be disapointed. Good luck!

 

[Big O]

If I were you, (I'd weigh more than 170lbs) I'd go to GNC and ask somebody about getting ripped. Don't they have all the stuff for the body builders who get ripped and still stay healthy?

As far as the Atkins diet, I think it's the latest fad diet. Shortly there will be a new diet, or they'll find out some bad long term effects of Atkins. Remember when red meat was bad for you? Remember when pasta was IN? Everyone used to want Lowfat, now it's highfat. I'm probably the worst person to ask about a diet, I eat once a day with a couple of small snacks here and there, maybe. It works for me. But if I want start to gain weight, I cut down on the portion size.

 

[flyboy]

Don't starve yourself....eat Fish, Salmon is good, Pork, Chicken, Turkey, Eggs, Green Salads, Green Beans and drink lots of water. There are also a lot of low carb foods on the shelves at the store now that you can purchase. Just keep working out and you will get ripped, but remmeber when lifting weights if you go heavy with low reps you will build bulk. If you go light weight and high reps you will get defenition. Good luck!

 

[Big O]

Turkey eggs?!