Low carb or low fat diet?

[WaylonJennings]

I've got 10-15 pounds of stubborn belly fat to get rid ASAP (I plateaued a while ago despite consistent and hard cardio, etc., etc.).

Thoughts? I tried the low carb thing for a couple days but felt sluggish. Should I just stick with it anyway? Or would really watching my fat content - along with sugary sweets - get me past this?

 

[Ace]

Stubborn Belly Fat would be a good name for a band.

I got nothing for you, though. Have you priced liposuction?

 

[ADifferentOkie]

I've seen studies that show you'll lose weight both ways, but you will be healthier, keep it off longer and lose slightly more going low fat.

 

[spinning27]

I've got 10-15 pounds of stubborn belly fat to get rid ASAP (I plateaued a while ago despite consistent and hard cardio, etc., etc.).

Thoughts? I tried the low carb thing for a couple days but felt sluggish. Should I just stick with it anyway? Or would really watching my fat content - along with sugary sweets - get me past this?

If you go totally low carb, you'll drop those 10 pounds fairly quickly. If you're trying to fit into a tux for a wedding or look good for a high school reunion, that may be the way to go for a quick fix. But you can't sustain the low carb thing as a long-term lifestyle, which means it's a bad idea and a bad way to diet. In other words, you'll lose the 10 pounds but gain them back very quickly.

How much cardio are you doing? What does your diet look like now? How much are you drinking alcohol? How many sweets are you consuming? If you cut out drinking and cut out any sweets, that'll help get you over the plateau. Cutting down your starchy carbs to say one meal a day -- but not completely out -- will also help. Also, I'd advise cutting way down on dairy.

When I'm trying to lose weight, my diet will look like this:

Breakfast: A lowfat yogurt, fruit, maybe a granola bar

Lunch: Grilled chicken salad with low fat dressing and no cheese. (If you miss the flavor, replace cheese with avocado or something like that)

Dinner: Grilled chicken or fish or lean pork with a steamed vegetable (broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus) and a reasonable portion of whole wheat pasta or brown rice.

IF you need snacks in between meals, stick with bananas, apples, carrot sticks, a handful of nuts, things like that. If you are the type of person who must have dessert, take some low fat cool whip, put it in the freezer and combine a few tablespoons with either blueberries or maybe a few chocolate chips.

Combine that diet with plenty of cardio, and the weight will come off, I guarantee you. You won't drop it all at once, but it will come off in time, and it will be way easier to keep it off.

 

[21]

Maybe polish off a 12-pack of beer a week.

 

[spinning27]

Probably 40-60 minutes of cardio a day, five days a week (treadmill, with the intensity progressively cranked up, especially in the last 10 minutes).

I definitely don't eat too well. You know how the job gets. A trip to the vending machine here. A venture to Taco Bell or Burger King there because you were short on time. Covering a game and the spread's free. Etc., etc., etc.

Don't drink too much dairy, though. Maybe polish off a 12-pack of beer a week.

I understand. If you do that amount of cardio, you'll pretty much be able to maintain where you're at no matter what you eat (within reason). Sounds like that's your situation.

The diet I outlined is pretty easy to maintain, even if you're short on time. The key is making things ahead of time. Go get a big thing of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cook them all at once. That will give you a huge head start. You can use them with salads, pastas, whatever, for pre-made portions that you can take with you for a lunch or dinner on-the-go.

Honestly, there's no other way to do it. There's no way to maintain a healthy diet without some inconveniences.

 

[Flash]

Neither. You need a sufficient amount of carbs and healthy fats to keep your energy stores full.

Everything in moderation.

 

[21]

And it's not about all carbs, it's the crappy carbs...the white stuff. Bread, pasta, sugar, potatoes. Fruits and vegetables are carbs, whole grains, brown rice...just cut out the sugar and white bread, and the beer, you'll drop 10 pounds in less than a month.

 

[21]

But how does one eat a turkey sandwich without white bread???

That's a go-to diet item in my world.

Whole wheat. No mayo. Sorry.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

21 beat me to it...

 

[WaylonJennings]

Wheat has less "bad carbs"? I guess that's common knowledge, but I'm not to up on that.

 

[Flash]

And it's not about all carbs, it's the crappy carbs...the white stuff. Bread, pasta, sugar, potatoes. Fruits and vegetables are carbs, whole grains, brown rice...just cut out the sugar and white bread, and the beer, you'll drop 10 pounds in less than a month.

Yup, what 21 said. Drink much soda? Stop it.

 

[WaylonJennings]

And it's not about all carbs, it's the crappy carbs...the white stuff. Bread, pasta, sugar, potatoes. Fruits and vegetables are carbs, whole grains, brown rice...just cut out the sugar and white bread, and the beer, you'll drop 10 pounds in less than a month.

Yup, what 21 said. Drink much soda? Stop it.

Just Diet.

 

[21]

Drink water.

 

[Flash]

And it's not about all carbs, it's the crappy carbs...the white stuff. Bread, pasta, sugar, potatoes. Fruits and vegetables are carbs, whole grains, brown rice...just cut out the sugar and white bread, and the beer, you'll drop 10 pounds in less than a month.

Yup, what 21 said. Drink much soda? Stop it.

Just Diet.

No. Not even. Like 21 just said, water.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

You can drop 10 pounds in two weeks going low-carb...

 

[Flash]

And then put 20 back on.

 

[PhilaYank36]

Neither. You need a sufficient amount of carbs and healthy fats to keep your energy stores full.

Everything in moderation.

Bingo, bingo, bingo! There are waaaaaaaaay too many fad-diets out there that capitalize on actual fact, then preach it like that is the only way to go in order to sell product. There's a saying in my family: too much of a good thing isn't good either. Here are some of the things I've been doing:

• Eliminate as many processed sugars from the diet as I can
• Breakfast cereals consist of Cheerios, Wheaties, Total & the like, with Honey Nut Cheerios being an occasional treat
• Smoothies are a great way to mix fruit into your diet
• Have three main meals a day with at least two snacks spaced out so your body's energy level doesn't turn into a roller-coaster
• Get a good amount of protein in your diet, but be easy on the lunch-meats
• Hit the gym for 1-1/2 to 2 hours a day, 5 or 6 times a week. Plan it out, make sure you have proper form, and switch up the exercises every six weeks or so
• Down a protein shake within 30 minutes of finishing your workout, which allows your body to maximize the protein synthesis into muscle
• Take steroids and be trained by JDV. He'll show you proper form
• Once a week, don't hit the gym and eat whatever the hell you want. It'll keep you from going crazy.

Green tea is fantastic. Also helps reduce stress levels a lil' bit.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

And then put 20 back on.

Yeah, if you eat like a dip**** afterwards...

 

[Flash]

And then put 20 back on.

Yeah, if you eat like a dip**** afterwards...

Dropping your carb load causes many to do so ... you need carbs. You only need to eat healthy carbs, as 21 pointed out ... not eliminate them.