How many carbs can one consume and still be considered a low carb diet.

I've heard anything from 20 carbs per day (sounds kind of ridiculous to me)
to 150 carbs per day (doesn't sound much like a low carb anything)

So lets hear it.

BTW I'm working on the information that 30-35 carbs per day ought to be in the ballpark. Am I right or, am I way off?

Barrabbas

It depends on your plan, Barrabbas. 20g a day is Atkins induction levels. Anything below 72g a day is low carb if you're following Life Without Bread.

How many carbs you should eat depends on the plan you decide to follow, and why you've chosen that plan.

I chose Atkins because I had nearly uncontrollable carb cravings, and going down to 20g for the first two weeks helped me rid myself of those cravings. However, Atkins does not KEEP you at 20g per day. Part of the plan is slowly adding certain carbs back into your diet.

Nowadays, in maintenance, I eat 80 - 100g of carbohydrates a day, but that's because I followed the "nine rungs," as they're called, and slowly increased my carbs until I'd figured out how much I can eat to maintain my normal appetite and desired weight.

In short: it varies.

Ditto......I totally agree.

Although I'm not so sure I can go as high as 150g carbs per day and still maintain or lose weight but I'm sure there are people out there that can and consider themselves "low carbers". More power to them...... .

It depends on the person and their sensitivity to insulin. There are some moderate plans out there that some people lose weight on...and then some people feel that they have to do zero carbs.

I wouldn't worry about the labeling of what you are doing, but instead the effectiveness for your body.

I have lost fine on 30-35 g...but have found myself moving lower because I no longer have cravings or desires for carby foods at a lower level.

Just monitor your progress closely and see how you are losing and how you are feeling to know where to go after 30-35...either up the rung or down.

I think it all depends on the person, as long as your insulin is under control and you have no cravings, there is no magic number.

Anything at or below your individual critical carbohydrate level.

I think it has to do with what makes you feel well, allows you to maintain or lose (depending on your goals) and that you can sustain.

I've read that a cutoff to call it low carb is 130 grams of carbs a day. There is a wide range between 20 a day to 130 a day. So it goes from very low carb to low carb to moderate low carb. Thats the way I see it.

No comment on zero carb as this is not a zero carb support forum.

I follow SB...we don't count carbs. But I did count and our phase I can be upwards of 60 carbs a day as we can eat legumes twice a day in that phase.
I have no trouble maintaining my weight at 100 grams of good "whole" carbs a day. Very little to no processed carbs on my plan.

I think the idea of 100-130 comes from the fact that our brain requires that much carbs a day, so its an anti ketosis threshold, its still low carb, but low carb enough to sustain the brain function.



Judy, I know you are one of the most most most supportive member of this board, and I sincerely like you very much, and very appreciative of your answers and explanations on this board. But as I am experimenting with ZC now I do hope you won’t discriminate against me. ZC is still a form of LC, and I didn’t go for it out of choice, I have tried everything else and still wasn’t able to lose, so I am trying it out, and still hoping people here will have an open mind to give me some support.

I view low carb a little differently....

I think it is best looked at as a percentage of the total diet.

I think low carb ends at about 40% of the total calories consumed.

Example:

2,000 calories with 800 calories from carbs would be 200g of carbs and 40% carbs....

1,500 calories with 600 calories from carbs would be 150g of carbs and 40% carbs....

Now, I believe through my experience that when approaching that 40% marker, weight loss becomes much more difficult. It is an individualistic thing though, not just between ourselves and others, but it changes for us, based on whatever activity and lifestyle habits we're currently maintaining......

I don't want to change this to a discussion of calories, it is about the carbs, not calories..... I've just noticed for myself that using percentages of total calories to determine my carb intake is easier for me when doing the math.....

This article, "Dietary carbohydrate restriction in type II diabetes mellitus and metabolism syndrome: time for a critial appraisal" published in Nutrition and Metabolism, cosigned by a number of well known researchers, including some who were behind the survey associated with this website, says:

"We suggest the following definitions:

The ADA designates low carbohydrate diets as less than 130 mg/d or 26% of a nominal 2000 kcal diet and we consider this a reasonable cutoff for the definition of a low carbohydrate diet. Carbohydrate consumption before the epidemic of obesity averaged 43%, and we suggest 26% to 45% as the range for a moderate-carbohydrate diets. The intake of less than 30g/d, as noted above should be referred to as a very low carbohydrate ketogenic diet (VLCKD). The term Ketogenic Diet should be reserved for the therapeutic approach to epilepsy.

http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.c...43-7075-5-9.pdf

I've lost 58 lbs in 5 months averaging 103 carb grams, which was 24% of my diet, so I consider myself "low carb".

There are two questions here:

One is "How many carbs should I eat a day?"

The other is "At how many carbs per day would you cease to use the 'low carb' label?"

The answers to both questions can vary, but question one varies a lot more than question two! It can also vary in an individual at different times. Many people lose weight on a LC plan, then gradually add in more carbs at the maintenance level, and are able to continue to maintain the weight loss at a far higher carb level than they used for weight loss. There are also people (like myself) who started out at higher carb levels and then slowly reduce the carbs per day until they're able to lose weight. I did that to ease into LC eating rather than doing it "Atkins Induction" style, and to avoid some of the discomfort involved in making the adjustment.

At some point, an eating plan would be defined as "moderate carb" rather than "low carb" but I'm not sure exactly where that cutoff point is.

Unquestionably, 35g per day would be in the "low carb" range and that's about what I've been doing for the past year and a half.

Thanks folks!

That seems to have gotten a lively debate started (not what I intended).

But also alot of good information shared (exactly what I was hoping for).

You have really been very helpful.

Thank You!

I don't see too much need to create cut-off points in order to distinguish "low" carb intake from "moderate", since ultimately, as has been pointed out, the critical carb level needed to maintain will be different for each of us. I feel the best (and most inclusive) name for this way of eating is "controlled carb", since controlling our carb consumption is what every one of us here is doing.

And 150g sounds high, but compare it to what your average non-controlled-carber is stuffing down each day and relatively speaking, it's still extremely "low"! Perhaps lower-carb diet is another more accurate option.

Low for me is 30 grams or fewer.

I think that there is room for everyone here I did not see in the rules established by the board founders where zero carb was not considered low carb. Zero is low.....or maybe we could just call them 1 carbers

As long as we are all respectful of each others level of carbs and personal plans, then information is power in my opinion.

For the record I am not a zero carber, but through the influence of some of the ZCers here on the board I have lowered my carb level and had amazing results.