Quote:
Originally Posted by PatsRS
I am trying to do this too. I have have almost totally cut most carbs I used to eat, potatoes, breads, rice, etc. Totally cut sweets, cakes, ice cream, candy except for some occasional dark chocolate. Hoping to get back to my gym after I shake this cold that has hounded me through the holidays. So far I have dropped about 8 lbs since Thanksgiving. But I am not sure what to snack on between meals and what is better for snacks, nuts? veggies? protein bars? I really like the Zone bars I usually try have one for breakfast everyday with an apple.
I see lots of good ideas here but a lot of different opinions too. Trying to find what makes sense.
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Cutting carbs too low is not a good idea, doing so will have almost the same effect as not eating enough, it will send your body into "starvation mode" and most everything you eat will be stored as fat. Instead try cutting out processed carbs and switch to whole grains, brown rice and seewt potatoes etc. Eat these carbs earlier in the day, later in the day eat fiberous carbs such as green veggies etc. Normally a good starting point would be 50% carbs , 35% protein and 15% fat. If you need a larger amount of fat loss lower your carb intake and increase your protein and fat intake something like 40%,40% 20%. Not knowing specifics if you are lets say a middle aged woman and not very active you should probably be eating around 1600 cals a day, divide this by prefferably 5 meals/snacks a day so your meals should be around 340 to 350 cals eack and snacks slightly lower. Now pick your proteins carbs and fats to meet the ratios above and your off to a great start. Remember the food sources you get these ratios from are more important than the ratios themselves in other words you wouldn't want to get your fats from candy and soda, instead fish, nuts, all natural peanut butter, avacado's etc. the same with the other groups as well. Also I cannot express enough how important water is especially if you are eating more proteins.