jrousseau221: What I hate about “low carb” or “low fat” is that they demonize a certain nutrient group for no reason. If you cut out processed white carbs of course you are going to lose weight, becuase you are cutting out those calories. Nobody was meant to eat pasta everyday. On a low carb diet you could have pork rinds as a snack (my mother does this, bothers me to no end) and you are technically sticking to a diet. Like what?! Nevermind that these diets tend to be way to high in protein, which eventually causes kidney damage.
You need a healthy ratio of everything, and a minimum of 1200 calories a day. I’ve lost over 60 pounds eating brown rice and whole grain toast every single day, eating 1200 calories a day and no processed foods.
1. Get enough lean protein (plant sources are healthiest, beans, lentils, etc.)
2. Eat only minimally processed healthy carbs in the right proporitions (read: brown whole grain breads and rice, vegetables)
3. Get a small amout of healthy fats as well. Do not justify eating half of the peanut butter jar because it is a healthy fat. You will get plenty for the day in a handful of almonds, or drizzling a small amount of olive oil on a salad.
Sample of what I’m eating today:
Plant based protein powder in the morning with coconut milk ~200 cals, 34g protein
Curried chickpeas on brown rice for lunch ~400 cals, 10g protein
Good quality veggie burger (beans and veggies, no funny stuff) on whole grain toast with organic ketchup ~400 cals, 12g protein
Another shake post-workout. ~200 cals, 34g protein
Total: 1200 calories, 90g protein. Plenty for my 145lb, 5’10” self on a work-out plan.
Recommendations are anywhere between .5-1 g protein per pound. You don’t need anything over that. Extra protein gets fed into the biomolecular pathways and stored as fat, just as extra fats and carbs do