Easiest and Effective Way to See Weight Loss is to Cut the Carbs

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

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I've done this myself in the past, just vow for two weeks not to eat any bread, pasta, etc. Combine that with replacing heavy fatty desserts with lighter healthy ones and there should be a noticeable difference on the scale for your efforts.

When I did this, even if ate a homemade hamburger, I'd leave the bun. If I had eggs, I wouldn't have them with a bagel, etc.
 

as a diabetic i can tell you carbs take water to process . when you stop eating carbs the weight loss you see early on is water . i can put on pounds when i eat more carbs and shed it just as fast when i stop and pee it out .

before i was diabetic i lost 40 lbs on a high carb low fat diet . it all boils down to calories at the end of the day . eat less or move more . it really does not matter much as to what you eat . you just need to burn more then you take in .
 
Good advice, I might add a phrase that's effective: Portion control. You can eat enjoyable foods, just eat less. :cupcake:
 

Portion control is key Tnthomas I agree, I still don't measure anything but don't eat the humungous servings I did when I was younger. Now that I'm a senior, I can't be that careless, the pounds pack on too quickly. I'm not pre-diabetic yet, but I always have that in the back of my mind. Nobody in my family was/is obese, but my father developed diabetes in his old age that he was able to just control with dietetic foods, but my sister is on daily medication for her diabetes and my mother was taking insulin injections and ended up dying from a diabetic stroke which led to coma.

Mathjak, eat less and move more works well too, no doubt. I notice if I'm out camping and taking long hikes every day and getting in extra activity, I'll always come home with a loss of around 5 pounds in a few weeks without even trying. We eat well on those trips, not denied anything really, actually extra treats, etc.

When I was going to the gym and doing exercise classes like Zumba, I was able to shed ten pounds over time. I'm usually just ten pounds over where I'd like to be, lose it and gain it back again...but I try not to exceed that.
 
I just gave up drinking...that's gonna be a crap load less calories right there. I rarely eat meat or fried stuff and exercise like a hamster. But 90% of our meals for the week are pasta or rice based. My average weight is between 120-130 at 5'4. More exercise and portion control...works for me. BTW I just discovered the new treadmills at the Y, like no treadmill I have ever seen...you can go on hikes like Google earth.
 
Congrats on giving up the drinking Fur, were you drinking hard liquor or just wine and beer? Empty calories on all of them I guess, I'll have a beer or two with dinner but other than that I don't drink anything else. Those treadmills sound great!
 
tnthomas said:
Good advice, I might add a phrase that's effective: Portion control. You can eat enjoyable foods, just eat less. :cupcake:
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I think That is the key...especially as we get older. Our old bodies don't require the amount of calories we needed when younger. A moderate portion of well rounded meals, and staying reasonably active, should suffice for most people unless they have health issues that upsets their metabolism. Also, the timing of the meals becomes more important. A healthy breakfast is generally considered good, but to eat a big meal for Supper, then flop down on the couch watching TV for 3 or 4 hours certainly doesn't help.
 
it is funny , because exercise alone will not do the trick . the days i run my 5 miles i don't even get full . my arm gets tired lifting food in to my mouth as i am hungry all day .

i burn more but eat more so usually some form of restricting calories is needed
 
mathjak107 said:
it is funny , because exercise alone will not do the trick . the days i run my 5 miles i don't even get full . my arm gets tired lifting food in to my mouth as i am hungry all day .

i burn more but eat more so usually some form of restricting calories is needed
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For most people exercise contributes to only 5-10% of weight loss. Has lots of other great benefits though. But people who think they can exercise and still have the same bad eating habits are dead wrong.
 
exercise can actually backfire . i see the women doing cardio only , no weights . they are actually burning muscle with fat and are slowing their metabolisms even more then they were .

it is important to rebuild muscle with any weight loss routine .
 
mathjak107 said:
exercise can actually backfire . i see the women doing cardio only , no weights . they are actually burning muscle with fat and are slowing their metabolisms even more then they were .

it is important to rebuild muscle with any weight loss routine .
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I do a lot more muscle work than I do cardio. Muscle work is very important but is often ignored, especially by women.
 
my wife and i have been gym rats for 15 years . the classic mistakes we see , especially by the women is sending their body's in to starvation mode by not eating enough . that just slows their metabolism's down , and then burning muscle doing cardio . they tend to hang on to all their weight and get frustrated eventually
 
Another thing that I've just recently read about is 'intermittent fasting' and at it's most basic and easiest to manage is stopping eating at 7:00 in the evening and having your first food the next day at 11:00. Either that or two days out of each week, consume half the calories you normally do the rest of the days.

The way it works apparently is that it for eight hours you're eating normally, then you quit eating and it takes a further eight hours for your body to burn the calories you've eaten in the previous eight hours.

By hour sixteen, you've consumed the available calories and now your body begins to consume other forms of energy. It will begin to use up fat and it burns other cells that are breaking down and apparently white blood cells which I think I read, cause inflammation in your body. So you're burning fat and reducing the causes of the inflammatory response (which is so bad for your heart).

And now at 11:00 when you break your fast, you're doing that before you trigger your body's change to the famine mode where it begins to conserve fat by slowing the metabolism.

That's probably a rather poor explanation of the process, but I've got an interesting link here that talks about it if anyone is interested. The speaker in the video was giving a talk at the Johns Hopkins University, about the subject.

http://www.collective-evolution.com...s-to-your-brain-why-big-pharma-wont-study-it/
 
Cutting carbs worked well for me. I lost 25 pounds and can keep them off, if I don't start adding back carbs, especially sugar.

I do not subsribe to the "It worked for me, so it must work for you" school of thought. It's just my story. Take it or leave it. If you can lose weight being a vegan, or a paleo person, or a low-fat person, or a high sugar and junk food person, then good for you. We are all different.
 
Ameriscot said:
For most people exercise contributes to only a 5-10% of weight loss. Has lots of other great benefits though. But people who think they can exercise and still have the same bad eating habits are dead wrong.
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Very true. We act as though one thing at a time happens with our bodies. But, in reality there are always many things going on. In the case of our bodies it is the fact that we must burn most of or daily supply of calories just to stay alive and live as couch potatoes.
 
...eating like about 5 little meals[snacks] a day, of lower fat items will keep you metabolism revved and your appetite satisfied.

No cookies for you!

soup_nazi_from_seinfeld.jpg
 
while i had no trouble losing 40lbs on high carb low fat through the years genetics took over and i turned diabetic . today i am on very low carbs and now am at prediabetic levels with no meds .

the point is just about any system that has you eating less calories and moving more will work .
 
I agree that a healthy diet can be rewarding on losing weight, but beyond that it is important to maintain a regular schedule of physical exercise. Resistance training and a combination of leisure and physical activities have worked best for me to keep up my motivation and see results. Physical exercise can show results in the present and prevent a worsening of health in the future.
 
I eat small meals low in calories for breakfast and lunch then a larger one for dinner. I am aware that rice, noodles, pasta, and bread should be eaten sparingly and try to do that. I drink wine that is very dry and low in calories. Wine is also good for the heart at a glass or two per day.
 
I decided to read every food label for a week to learn more, and the #1 thing I'm learning is how much sugar is in food. I'm not diabetic, but I'm more concerned about what's been in the news about how sugar impacts heart health, and the sugar industry's coverup (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html).

The daily recommended max for women is 25g of sugar a day, and it's amazing how quickly that adds up. I don't add sugar to my food, but I realized I was eating much more than that in things I buy form the store, things that didn't seem that sweet.

For example, although I drink primarily water, I enjoy a glass Newman's Orange Mango Tango sometimes, but learned 8 ounces has 26g of sugar. That's one day's total sugar in one glass, whew! That little one packet of instant oatmeal I like so much that touts heart health on the box has 14g of sugar. A couple of examples of things I changed this week are making my own salad dressing and stop putting Craisins in my salad.

I don't think I could go sugar free, but I realize it's going to take some discipline and practice to come under that 25g/day.
 
Yea, I've read that one regular soft drink can have 38g of sugar- yikes! I only drink water, coffee(w/o sugar) and store brand club soda(0 sugars); I read the label on everything and avoid sugars like the plague. However, I know that breads have sugar, I brown bag lunch so sandwiches are common items I have. Also, my wife makes bran muffins, which I have 3 or 4 times a week- they do have considerable sugar content. My dad had and brother has diabetes, so I know my chances are probably 'elevated' if I don't watch what I'm doing.

Daily exercise helps to decrease to odds of having high cholesterol, diabetes, weight related disorders and such. I try to ge 30 minutes a day of walking (or greater), and lift weights a couple days a week.
 

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