Happy medium in the low carb arena?

March 4, 2017 1:09 PM

Is there still a good benefit to cutting carbs if I'm not going full-on ketosis?

I want to lose weight. I know a fair bit about how to go about it. I'm watching my calorie intake, exercising, making good food choices.

I would like to know if cutting carbs still has a good benefit for weight loss if I'm not going to do the full low-carb (ketosis) regime. I'd still like to eat fruit and the occasional piece of bread or chocolate.

I can't really find anything that refers to a point between ketosis and low-card in general.

Thanks.

posted by tunewell to Health & Fitness (15 answers total)

Check out carb cycling. Chris Powell has a book about it that I got from the library, although there's plenty of information online.
posted by kevinbelt at 1:20 PM on March 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I would say it's worth trying. For me, the key with keto/low-carb is that I stay full on fewer calories, so I'm able to maintain a significant caloric deficit without feeling miserable. Cutting out most processed sugar is especially key, so you don't get escalating sugar cravings.

Apparently the keto gold standard is 20g/day net carbs. I couldn't easily manage that, and I wouldn't want to, because I'd have to watch my vegetable intake like a hawk, which seems absurd. Sticking to 40-50g/day is completely doable for me, and I've lost about 40lb over the last 4-5 months. I'm thinking about bumping it up a little more when I'm looking at maintenance rather than weight loss.
posted by ktkt at 1:57 PM on March 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Definitely when I quit carbs I immediately lose a few pounds, and it stays off until I start eating them in large quantities again. All bodies are different, but I can think of no reason why you shouldn't give it a shot.
posted by potrzebie at 2:14 PM on March 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: The recommendation these days is to try to eat what people call "smart carbs". In choosing bread, they recommend using the 10-to-1 ratio of carbs to fiber to help pick healthier options.
posted by gudrun at 2:23 PM on March 4, 2017

Short answer: yeah, I think so. I am currently following South Beach which is not full blown keto but limits carbs, sort of like you described. It's been good for me, lost some weight but still feeling full most of the time. Their lists have helped me identify better carbs (i.e. Going to make me feel fuller on less) when I do want to splurge.
posted by Zephyrial at 2:27 PM on March 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Now that I'm in maintenance i have some carbs. I'd estimate under 60-80g on most days and in doing fine.

I would say a bit of fruit and dark chocolate is fine. I'd stay away from bread though.
posted by pyro979 at 2:55 PM on March 4, 2017

Best answer: Yes. The glucose meter says less carbs are better than more carbs, even if less isn't as good as none.
posted by Bringer Tom at 3:03 PM on March 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

My experience has been pretty much like ktk's above. I realized when I started 2 1/2 years ago that there was no way I was going to be able to do 20g/day so I generally tried to stick to somewhere around 40-50g. I dropped 40 lbs over 3-4 months and straightened out a high-ish blood sugar and then eased off a bit, since that's about where I wanted to be. Whether it was mostly a calorie thing or carbs or a combination, I don't know, but it worked for me. I've maintained well until a little too much slippery-slope cheating over the holidays this winter put 5 lbs back on (gotta deal with that this spring).
posted by ClingClang at 3:27 PM on March 4, 2017

Losing weight by cutting carbs does not require getting into ketosis for me. I find that when I make an effort to eat fewer carbs and fill it in with more protein, I'm less hungry so I tend to eat fewer calories in general and usually lose some weight. I do think this is a ymmv thing though, so if you're curious, try it for a couple weeks and see what happens.
posted by ch1x0r at 4:10 PM on March 4, 2017

Outside of "does it directly cause weight loss," toning down my sugar intake (pretty much only eating fruit and the occasional piece of chocolate or special dessert) means that sometimes my craving for a sweet goes away after I... brush my teeth, because my toothpaste tastes too sweet (!). So it definitely has helped me manage cravings.
posted by stoneandstar at 5:42 PM on March 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

For me, cutting carbs resulted in the following benefits:
Huge reduction in joint paint
Stomach issues disappeared, as in no gas for the fist time in my entire life
Amazing increase in energy level

The downside was with sleep issues. Those carbs make me sleep like a baby.
posted by raisingsand at 7:18 PM on March 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I didn't keto but I did do calorie counting. I was quite surprised by how "empty" carbs were - in that, I could eat 200 cal of carbs without even really noticing it, and I was hungry again later. 200 calories of fat or dairy was much more satisfying.

If you want to reduce your overall intake of calories, replacing carbs with something else is a good idea, in my opinion.
posted by rebent at 8:34 PM on March 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Like rebent and a couple others here, reducing carbs for me meant feeling full on much fewer calories total and makes it easy to stay at a healthy intake level.

I don't think there's any dramatic biochemistry involved in the same vein as ketosis, so you'll either find it works for you or doesn't.
posted by mark k at 10:49 PM on March 4, 2017

Per my acupuncturist & a registered dietitian, I found great success with a "soybean" guide diet. As with soy, 40% of calories from protein, 40% of calories from fat, 20% of calories from high-fiber carbs. (Over a year lost 30% of body weight, much more energy.) But this does require calorie counting.
posted by Jesse the K at 7:07 AM on March 5, 2017

I agree with potrzebie that all bodies are different, but to give one piece of anecdata:

I lost weight by counting calories and shrinking portions. I started from a "fat is BAD!" perspective, quickly dropped that, and when I started really paying attention to what I was eating and how many calories things had, I discovered that both fat and sugars/carbs have a lot of calories in them. My personal approach, that has worked for me, is to not avoid either one, but just to recognize that they add up fast.

I lost ... 20%? ... of my total weight and kept it off, and even with occasional overindulgence, I am still losing, extremely slowly. And I eat pizza every weekend and had half a baguette with butter and jam for lunch yesterday. But I know how much I'm eating (I would not be losing weight if I had a WHOLE baguette, for example), and I eat a lot of leafy greens and fruit, so those carbs and fats are well balanced by lower-calorie items.

If you can handle counting calories for 2-4 weeks, just so you get a really clear handle on the calories in the things you eat most often, that might help.

In any case - for me, continuing to eat and enjoy carbs did not interfere with losing weight.

Good luck!
posted by kristi at 10:57 AM on March 7, 2017