Not able to maintain Low Carb page 4

[Zach]

Eat carbs.

[Timthetaco]

you may not require carbs, but you certainly require glucose, and the body's ability to manufacture it from substrates does not come without added stress. not everyone's body adapts to gluconeogenesis equally well. this is where the word 'optimal' comes into play. it just aint optimal for everyone. what's the point of forcing yourself to deplete all glycogen. there's nothing particularly 'natural' about that.

also, everytime someone points out that you don't need to eat carbs to make glucose, i'd like to point out that you don't need to eat a single solitary drop of saturated fat to manufacture all the saturated fat you'll need. no essential carbs, no essential saturated fat, or monounsaturated fat either. essential only applies to the n6 and n3 fats, and denotes the fact that you can't make them. i dare you to eat a low-fat vegan diet and manage to avoid all n6 and n3. it won't happen.

There's also no dietary requirement for cholesterol and very little need for sodium. But salt is practically a food group when eating VLC.

[Leida]

I am so confused with these macro games. I went far longer on high carb/low fat with the fat loss and low body weight than on the VLC. I managed months on 70% carb and <15% fat. I felt horridly hungry, but I was restricting calories and working out like 3 hours a day (118 lbs). I had energy to do it.

On the under 30 grams carbs and >70% fat, I fought for a month, but never left the lethargic zone. I still worked out, of course. Anything I have lost in the first 2 weeks, I gained back. I was unable to reduce my body weight to the same point as during the low fat diet, staying 5-6 lbs above it (123 lbs).

The most dramatic fat loss I have ever experienced was on the cyclic diet with VLC days coupled with very low calories for 5 days (~ 50 g carbs), 1 day of 700 g carbs and 1 day relatively normal (~200 g carbs). That regimen along with the workouts that correlated to the specific stage of depletion stripped me about 5 lbs lower than the low carb (113 lbs).

For me, it was all about calories IN. If I manage to average about 1300-1350 calories a day with ~ 1.5 hours of working out a day, I lose weight. If I go higher, I gain weight. Macros seem to matter a zilch.

Some people say that macros allows you to survive on those low calories without hunger. Never happened to me. Always hungry.

No I eat to keep hunger at bay, and I am 132 lbs (and gaining). I probably eat 1800-2000 cals a day if I am not experiencing persistent hunger (>1 hour duration)

So, I just don't see how being low carb helps to either lose or maintain weight. I know Mark quotes the magic number of 100 g carbs, and all that, but it just doesn't seem all that magical after all these years no more.

And, I keep seeing women with gorgeous bodies eating plenty of carbs. Much better bodies than mine. I have never seen in real life a gorgeous woman who ate high fat VLC diet. Even Mark's wife is peskatarian. Bet her carbs are over 100 g a day.

What gives?

[The Rebooted Body]

For me, it's not that I feel bad at 3-4 days. I actually feel good! So I don't think for me it's sugar addiction or carb flu. But like OP said, there is an urge that kicks in (for me it's at about 7 days) to find carbs. I look a meat and think "ick".

It makes me think that my body craves carbs because I need them. I'm not talking loads of crap, I'm talking a couple of pieces of fruit a day!

Like I said, look up extinction bursts. Extinction bursts from addictions last months and come at different intervals.

[Derpamix]

I'm suffering, but it's okay I'll eventually get over it and be a far better person for eating less carbs instead of just functioning like a human being and getting adequate physical activity and eating a balanced diet.

R-right...?

[ybqpvjst]

Below 50g a day is incredibly difficult to maintain.

[Zach]

Like I said, look up extinction bursts. Extinction bursts from addictions last months and come at different intervals.

This is like saying im addicted to water because if i stop drinking anything for a few days i start to crave it. We have a "sweet tooth" for a reason.

[Winterbike]

I eat high carb. Low carb is soooooo 2010.

[Forgotmylastusername]

16 ounces broccoli = 1.68 grams of fat

I would go insane eating that little fat and end up having a massive binge after visions of chocolate mousse, boursin, and fatty meat. I suppose there are people who can live on what is essentially a fat free diet as you describe. I know I couldn't, and I know diet forums are full of people who are blaming themselves for binging after being on such a diet for not very long.

Eating <2 grams of fat is far more imbalanced than eating 30 - 50 grams of carbs each day.

There's higher fat green vegetables that you could easily eat to get your EFA requirement. Both 06 and 03. The actual biological requirement is so small that no one is going to realistically run into a deficient. Fat deficiencies were only discovered by putting people on 0% fat tube feeding formulas in which they started to develop symptoms after weeks/months. A cup of oatmeal itself contains about 10g of fat. A cup of corn contains about 6g of fat as well.

[AngryKiwi47]

I am so confused with these macro games.

Lol. I CBF with any of them; low carb, high carb, carb cycling, whatever. I like it simple. :P

2g protein and 1g fat per KG of bodyweight as a bare minimum, then fill the remainder of my cals with whatever. Fat, or carbs - depends what I'm craving. Seems to work for me.