Carbs - I hate you.

So I did some looking and figured I would need about: 72 to 100 grams of Protein, 30ish grams of Fat and 50grams of carbs to kind of kick things into gear.

But how, in the world do you only get 50 grams of carbs and eat anything?

I just got a large red apple out of my fridge and added it to my food entry and it has 29.28 carbs! In an apple!!

Im pretty disgusted by those numbers :/

I think I'll give up on the carb, protein, fat count and just go for calories and exercise. While keeping in mind some foods are just way over the top than overs.

I just needed to complain Thanks for listening!

lots of meat and certain veggies is the only way I know to lower carbs

Fruit is high in sugar and thus carbs (sorry). Was a wake up for me too.

Stick with veggies instead.

I eat around 20-25 net carbs a day (carbs minus fiber). I still eat very well and am satisified and not hungry.

The veggies I stick too mainly are green beans, mushrooms, brocolli, cauliflower and in the summer lots of lettuce etc.

It is definitely doable, and I have never felt better than eating low carb. It's worth giving it a try. Check out my food intake to get an idea.... I do need to finish putting in yesterdays food though LOL

Along with counting calories, you can look at swapping out refined and processed carbs for healthier ones, like fruits, veggies, legumes and whole grains.

Hi! I just saw your post that you are thinking of counting calories instead of carbs. I know there are people on both sides of that. So you will know where I am coming from, I have tried many diets, many! I have successfully lost on every one of them. Losing is easy for me. What is hard for me is keeping it off. I believe that is because when I was on a diet I was on a diet. When I was off of a diet, I didn't think about what I ate. I have decided that I can lose it and keep it off if I can eat what I want, just change the proportions of what I eat. Since I have been on FatSecret I have found a lot of people that are taking the same course. Our diets are all different because we have differenct tastes but we are all losing, feeling good, and not depriving ourselves of the foods we love - like appples. You can find a lot of us at the group We Don't Need No Stinkin' Diet. You will find tons of support and and learn a lot there. It is a very friendly and helpful bunch. Check us out!

moonswip, i would try to reduce sugar intake to start with, then try taking white breads away and gradually go towards whole grain breads and cereals. then see how much carbs you are taking and see if you can reduce even more.

Are you on a specific diet that restricts carbs?

Whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables are all very healthy carbs. They are loaded with fiber which is very important for overall health and dieting. Here's a quote from the American Heart Associations website:

"Fiber-containing foods such as whole grains help provide a feeling of fullness with fewer calories and so may help with weight management."

I don't know about you, but a diet that limits me to 50 carbs a day would last about 2 days at best. I think you are on the right track to focus more on total calories.

No I'm not following any specific diet. Just trying to exercise more and eat a little less.

Thanks for all your responses

Oh deary me, something is very wrong here. I can't believe no one else has caught on. Of course it's difficult to do what you're trying to do, because you're either
A) Starving yourself
B) Not realizing the math behind macro-nutrients and carbs.

Based on what you said (100g protein, 50 g carb, 30 fat), you're only trying to eat 870 calories a day???!?

100 g protein x 4 calories per gram = 400
50 g carb x 4 calories per gram = 200
30 g fat x 9 calories per gram = 270

400 + 200 + 270 = 870 which = WAY TOO FREAKING LOW!

Everyone on this site seems to advocate at least eating 1200 calories a day (which I agree with, even though I think you should eat even more than that), but no one seemed to mention this massive flaw.

The current eating plan I have in place (for muscle building, not weight loss per say) has me eating about 30-60 carbs 6 days out of the week. I thought that would be impossible too... fortunately though, the whole idea behind what I'm doing involves putting my body in a state of ketosis (being fat adapted), so I eat around 130g fat per day and generally over 150g protein. This is at my weight of 135!

It is very possible, but the easiest (and only way for me) to do it is to plan out your entire day's meals ahead of time. That way, you can adjust all your foods accordingly. Also, remember to count only net carbs. Some great low-carb, high fat/protein foods are:

Chicken, tilapia, beef, pork, eggs, almonds, peanuts, low-carb tortillas, bacon, butter, natural yogurt, heavy cream, walnuts, etc.

If you want a better/more thought out list, check out my diet calender for any time in the last three weeks, excluding Fridays. It should help. Also, I concur with the above advice. Probably the hardest type of diet to follow is one that restricts carbs, but it's very possibly with the right mindset.

I realize you're most likely a female, and therefore have to eat less than males at your weight, but that doesn't change the facts, you should be eating WAY more than you would be on that plan. I don't know who told you to restrict yourself to those numbers, but they're either uneducated on the subject or they're trying to seriously cause you a health issue.

I set my RDI to 1500 calories a day. Which I have been going over a bit. I want to keep it under 2000 calories a day.

I got the Protien, Carbs, Fat grams from doing some research online on the daily amount a person should be eating trying to lose weight.

They are ridiculous though - defiantly not obtainable for me.