I still consider myself to be semi-low carb. Most people think of low carb as Induction type 20 gm or less. I do that occasionally, just by what foods I choose on a particular day, but not daily. My carbs usually come out to around 50-70 gm per day. Eating low carb got me into a very bad snacking habit. I felt that it was OK as long as what I was eating was low carb. Those bites here and there add up! So now I'm working on limiting my eating to my meals. It's a very hard habit to break! Once I master this, if I'm not showing losses, I will reexamine my portion sizes. I broke my sugar habit a long time ago, thank goodness.

Way to go Carole! Snacking habit is, in my opinion, not related to what you eat but how your mind works. One can become comfortable with being bored or doing nothing instead of shoving food in their mouth to pass the time

I can do both now quite well. I choose the former more now than the later.

PS, I also consider myself semi-low carb - It's an unusual day lately that I'm below twenty net carb. Go Semis!

I may wind up joining you here. I did a month and a half of Atkins induction, and let's just say ketosis doesn't work for me. I'm back up to 50+ g a day, enjoying my banana and yogurt in the morning (ooh, I said the B word!), and feel much better. I used to think low carb was 50-100 g a day and very low carb was below 50, characteristically around 20-30, but it seems like the definitions have changed.

Barb, I think low carb is variable. It is whatever level of carbs you can eat and still lose weight. For some that's Zero Carb and for some it's 20 per day. Some more. Even Dr Atkins said to add 5 gm of carb at a time until you find your nitch!

Thanks, Carol, I know. That's according to the Atkins book. But folks on these boards and elsewhere, at least the most vocal ones, seem to define anything over 20 g as "semi" low carb. But it's moot because, after some floundering, I have decided to go full-tilt primal for now and leave Atkins aside.

I think it's trial and error. It's often said, but we really are all different and what works for one may not work for another. If I try too low on the carbs I just don't get enough sleep and that is a game changer for me. I risk letting loose my carb monster by having carbs in the evening rather than lie awake at night. At the moment trying to keep them low through the day and save for evening. Not only does that help the sleep situation but it gives me something to look forward to as it's the unwind time that things can go drastically wrong. Be interesting to see how you get on with primal, we just have to keep trying that's the main thing.

the 20g thing is not how I'm interpreting what most people around here as "low carb". 20g seems to be sort of a minimum threshold number for the worst case metabolically challenged. It's a starting point, not a definition of low carb perhaps. Look at the word "keto" now - that means so many things to so many people. Dang interents

Again, that's how I read it. This weekend on Saturday I counted 38 net carbs and yesterday ~30 - Is that low carb? For me, YES - I measure that I'm producing ketones in urine and blood. Does this have anything to do with weight loss? Not really. I've been stable for the last month.

"semi low carb" and "low carb" are just words put together in a string. The values seem to be all over the board However, that "20 carbs a day" thing seems to be a relevant threshold for many or at least the worst cases to cause a certain chain of events to occur. For you it seems to cause distress or at least uncomfortableness in your body and mind - excuse me if I'm miss-reading that

Have a great semi low carb day, I hope I will have one!

Some of us have just been down so very d* low... that it looks like up to us.

The variation is interesting, esw seems to need carbs to sleep right--I sleep better on a ketogenic version of low carb than on a diet with 50 grams of carbohydrate or so, although it also involves control of protein intake, I've never tried semi-low carb but with my current levels of protein. But when I do eat higher protein, eating it late in the day seems to be worse for sleep than eating it early in the day.

Thud and Teaser, I'm very happy to see you stop in on our Semi Low Carb thread! I read both of you around the forum and consider you to be very knowledgeable. Thanks for your input!

I seem to sleep better without much food in my stomach at all, no matter if it's carb or protein. Funny, but I can go to bed hungry and wake up not hungry. It's like my stomach just gives up during the night!

Thud, no, you didn't misread it at all. You hit the nail on the head. That's pretty much exactly what I've been thinking, feeling, experiencing. I'm working on getting everything in balance, and it involves trial and error, as esw said. I'll get there.

I've done primal before and felt great on it but was up around 100-150 g a day of carbs. I maintained my weight but did not lose much, maybe seven pounds over many months. Now that I've been through the Atkins induction mill, I'm no longer craving big bowls of pasta, potatoes and rice and so hope to see more weight loss on 50-100 (probably closer to 50 for now, but nice to have that leeway). We shall see.

Thanks again for chiming in.

Ditto from me!

Love the musical reference!

There you go, further proof that every body's different and we have to find our individual sweet spots, so to speak.

You're so right about the trial and error, and above all keeping at it. I take mental notes about what works for me and what doesn't as I go along. I'm optimistic that primal will work well for me as I've done it before but at a too-high carb level. By slashing the starches, I should be fine. I'll let everyone know how it goes. Thanks! By the way, I tend to eat most of my carbs early in the day. No wonder I'm a napper.

I woke up with what I consider to be success this morning. I finally dropped a little weight after a week of expanding my diet and upping my carbs, and I feel much better. Yay! I guess I would consider what I'm doing mostly primal although I'm still incorporating some Atkins. There's a huge overlap between the two once you get past induction, but there's a little bit about each that helps keep me on track.

Well done, it's so encouraging when things go right.
Can't say I'm doing well and I think I know the reason. I decided to cut back on the carbs!! I know maybe I should have put up with the hunger pangs but well.......
Looked back through my MFP food diary to find a time when I was enjoying what I was eating and at the very least not gaining and not binging. So back to that and see how it goes. I'm like a hamster on a wheel