Low Carb High Protein Questions

friddela

friddela

friddela

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10 Feb 2006
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Location
Nottingham
I've been doing some research over the past week and have decided to go on the low carb high protein diet so i can lose fat and gain fitness hopefully. I've read around and have a couple of quick questions to ask you.

- Some sites say strictly no fizzy drinks, just water. I looked at some diet choices and they show that they have a trace of carbs in them so does this mean that there ok?
- It says your allowed 20g of carbs. Is this per day or per week? Also, do you add 5g to that after you have done 20g for a certain amount of time?
- Lastly, i was just wondering how long it would take to see the effect, i.e. how much are supposed to lose in weight per week.

The reason i am trying to lose fat and gain fitness is because i would like to join the Royal Air Force when i have got the right qualifications, and obviously will need to be in the peak of fitness when i apply :).

I was also wondering if some of you have some good tips to this diet. Any special menus that taste good.

My current diet is pretty much bacon, eggs and tuna. This can only last so long before it starts to get extremly boring.

All the help is much appreciated.
 
"Another good approach is a diet based around the principles of Ketosis. The most famous of these diets being the “Atkins” diet. Despite its over-hyped media coverage and the subsequent bad press it has received, it is actually a very safe and efficient way of losing fat. All recent research done into such diets has proved to be very positive. Atkins did not invent the Ketone diet. Bodybuilders have been using it for decades. He just brought it to the publics’ attention.

On a ketosis diet the idea is to cut carbohydrates drastically. To counter this one must up their protein and fat intake in order to make up their calories. Having a diet high in protein and fat will actually suppress your appetite which can be highly beneficial. I won’t go into the science behind ketosis diets as you can easily find out more just by searching on Google for them."

Taken from the excellent guide in this forum.
 
well it really depends on overall diet and cardio, to create a calorie deficit. Also how low are you talking about, if its 20g like you mentioned, thats way too low. How much do you weigh and what does a typical days diet look like?
 
The information i have been looking says 20g or less for the first 2-4 weeks.

I weigh about 15 stone and i am 6'3".

Currently i am eating the following:

- 2 Eggs for Breakfast
- Tuna Salad for Lunch (Tuna, Lettuce and Cucumber)
- Prawns for a snack
- Some kind of meat combination for tea
 
No do not just eat 20g of carbs a day, thats far to low. The atkins diet is crap for someone in training, dont do it.


- 2 Eggs for Breakfast
- Tuna Salad for Lunch (Tuna, Lettuce and Cucumber)
- Prawns for a snack
- Some kind of meat combination for tea

Thats it? thats all you eat in a day?

Your already having stupidly low carbs in a day. Are you currently loosing/maintaining or gaining weight?
 
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Thats the typical day when on a diet. I do not currently know if i am losing weight because i have only been on this diet for little less then a week. Before the diet i was having no breakfast, stupid amounts of soft drink, for dinner i would usually have a sandwich from the shop and for tea normally something consisting of mash potato, peas and something else meat related.
 
Personally i think you need to make adjustmens, I would go with something like:

4eggs (1 yolk)
50g Oatmeal in 200ml skimmed milk

100g Chicken Breast or Tuna
Vegetables
Piece of fruit

Pita Bread
100g Chicken or tuna

Training

Whey protein + 20g oats in water

100g Meat
Salad
30g basmati rice.

Cottage cheese

And obviously to increase your fittness thats up to the training sie of things. Thats just my personel opinion, I cant see you having much energy with what your eating now
 
The reason i didn't want to start weight training is because i didn't think it would lose fat, just gain muscle on top of fat. Also it's best to eat more callories when weight training.

I suppose i could do light weight training, focusing 1 day a week on different muscles. such as monday for arms, wednesday for legs and friday for stomach.
 
I think you should weight train now, gain some muscle mass and then cut down to your preffered size after this. The Atkins diet is a load of crap steer well clear of it it's the most pathetic thing I've ever seen in my entire life. 20g of carbs a days is WAY TOO LOW do not do this to yourself. You will have no energy, you'll feel tired, you'll be irratable etc etc, it just won't work.

The science behind loosing weight is simple. You'll be burning more calories than you're taking in. If you're serious about it, cut out the rubbish from your diet and get yourself a meal plan. Nitrogen offers some good nutritional advice, which you can work around yourself. Make sure your meals are balanced and roughly the same size in terms of cals, protein, cabs, fats each and you'll find that this MUCH better for yourself than what you were planning.
 
friddela said:
The reason i didn't want to start weight training is because i didn't think it would lose fat, just gain muscle on top of fat. Also it's best to eat more callories when weight training.

I suppose i could do light weight training, focusing 1 day a week on different muscles. such as monday for arms, wednesday for legs and friday for stomach.
Click to expand...

But when you begin training to build mass you'll need to add some unwanted fat. It happens.

The second part is pointless really, you don't seem to need a seperate day for your arms. Just focus around the basics of it all, the compounds, bench, deads, squats, rows etc.
 
friddela said:
The reason i didn't want to start weight training is because i didn't think it would lose fat, just gain muscle on top of fat. Also it's best to eat more callories when weight training.
Click to expand...
The more muscle you have the easier it is to lose bodyfat ;) Also it's perfectly possible to weight train when in a calorie defecit, it's one of the BEST ways to burn that fat off!

Listen to what these guys are telling you though, EAT MORE CARBS!!! No need to go mad but you really need to eat at least 100g a day to be sure you're eating enough fibre, fruit and vegetables. You need to cut out sugary, simple, empty carbs.

Everyone is different, some people need more carbs than others so it's impossible to tell you exactly how much to eat, just be sensible. Eating 20g a day is not sensible for an active human being.
 
fridella, im guessing you are doing the atkins diet, it sounds very much like the starting phase of it.

atkins is not good for building muscle or for any active adult tbh. :]

a good well balanced diet with cardio and some weights thrown in will see you lose fat for sure.
 
friddela said:
Before the diet i was having no breakfast, stupid amounts of soft drink, for dinner i would usually have a sandwich from the shop and for tea normally something consisting of mash potato, peas and something else meat related.
Click to expand...

No need for a no/low carb or specialist "diet", just eat properly!

If your old diet was based on long period of starvation followed by high sugar drinks and snacks its inevitable that you'll gain fat. :eek:

Follow a diet similar to the one Nitrogen posted, its a good balance of complex carbs, protein and fat, train hard and you'll lose the weight. If you launch into a low carb diet your metabolism will crash and you'll feel like crap and lose less weight in the long run. Lift weights to add muscle mass, you might stay the same weight but as your percent body fat comes down you'll look awesome (rather than a bag-o-bones!) ;)

What's your waist size?
 
Morba said:
atkins is not good for building muscle or for any active adult tbh. :]
Click to expand...

Even if it was, the OP is not doing it correctly. IIRC one key point about Atkins is making sure you get ENOUGH fats to force your body into ketosis. The OP looks to be doing more of a low everything diet which will not work

I am currently on a very low carb diet. I only just hit 100g carbs on my training days, and that is mainly from my pre and post workout carbs, and often not going over 30g on non training This is not something i would recommend for someone who is not experienced. I have been training (and readying about BB etc) for 10 years, i lift heavy (this keeps the muscle atrophy down) and am taking in almost 300g of protein a day. I've come to know my body pretty well and how it reacts to things.

Just jumping into a very low carb diet might work for a while, but you will find when you get bored and go back to your previous eating habits, you will soon be back to your previous state.

Bottom line, i have to agree with the others that you're probably going about this the wrong way.
 
Thanks for the comments.

I will take your advice and up the carbs i have per day. I was just wondering if there is a diet any of you advise? The thing is i find it hard to just "eat healthier" i prefer some guidelines like don't eat this and your allowed to eat that. Part of the reason i went on the Atkins diet. I want to gain fitness and a little bit of muscle and lose about 2 stone of my overall body weight, which with the added muscle will be about 3 stone in all. I need to do this by September at the latest because that is when my application needs to go in by. I will be going shopping on Saturday so if you could suggest things i could buy that would be great. I'm deffently going to cut out the sugary drinks and have water most of the time which i actually enjoy drinking and maybe some diet soft drinks on the odd occasion. I don't drink alchol too regularly so this shouldn't be a problem. also about the training, i was thinking should i do cardio and muscle training together? If so i can do cardio 5 nights a week and muscle training 3 nights a week.

Once again thanks for the help, i will indeed quit this diet but i desperately need a new one. It's not a very good social diet either, as the restrictions are high and i have read over the "Atkins" thread a couple of months back and they all say they regained the weight and i really do not want to be on low carbs for the rest of my life.

EDIT: After reading the guide once again i looked in to the C-K-D diet, low carbs in the week and lots on the weekend? I don't know if this is as bad as the atkins but would suit me quite well as i would normally drink/eat out with friends and family on the weekends.
 
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If you are training to be in the forces then you definately don't need to be doing Atkins-esque diets. At has already beem mentioned, simpy cutting out the "bad foods" like sugary drinks, sweets, white bread, etc will make a big difference. Have a good look at Gordy's sticky thread. Yes i know you're not bodybuilding but the advice is sound none the less. Make sure you diet consists of a good amount of protein, complex carbohydrate and healthy fats. This coupled with a good training program, (mixture of resistance and cardio) and come September you should be more than ready.

Again have a read through of the sticky, and get back to us with any questions.
 
Hi, i have read it again. The problems i'm having is getting a plan, i have an obsession with having everything written down in front of me, and i like a week plan that i can stick to every week for pretty much the rest of my life.

My weight in pounds is 210lb. Multiply this by 12 = 2520 Callories per day. I thought this was way too high when i saw it so i'm not quite sure if this is right. I can eat 5 meals a day no problem and will be able to keep in the 2520 limit. I would have thought i could do under 2000 but i'm sure for me if this counts as too low.

I will do weight training 3 times a week and cardio as often as possible.
The weight training will come from GordyR's Guide and will be as follows:

Monday (Chest/Shoulder/Triceps)
Wednesday (Back/Biceps)
Friday (Legs/Abs)

I have all the gear i will need to do the training in my garage. I have a punch bag hanging up which i use very often, pretty much everyday for about half an hour. I am going to purchase a treadmill and bike as there is a good offer on at the minute in a local store. Hopefully i will be working out a lot more. I also have one of those all in one weight machines, arms, legs etc. On top of that i have a bench and dumbells so i am not lost for equiptment by any means.

Also, im guessing i should eat more Protein/Low Fat meals. What are these like, Pasta, Peas and Fish ? something like that. I don't mind having a tuna salad everyday for lunch or something of that nature.

I'm sorry i keep talking about this but i've come across another point, he says in his guide that eating all your carbs in the day and cutting them out in the evening is a good way to go. I may do this, as i will have my carbs for the day and in the evening i could have a nice tuna/prawn salad instead of lunch.

If any would be kind enough to draw out a guide of foods to keep in my limit of calories it would be much appreciated, or any other tips would be great. Thanks for the advice on what i should do, very helpful indeed.

Hope this sounds good.
 
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