Low Carb & Myfitnesspal

[Artyjools]

Hi, Can anyone help me sort out my Myfitnesspal targets on a fairly low carb diet please. I don't want to do hard core low carb, as I know I'll not be able to stick to it, but I would like to keep it reasonably low and am particularly keen to keep the sugar levels low.

I am 5ft 5ins, weigh 185lbs and have a target of 140lbs. I would love to lose it as quickly as possible, but I want to do something that I can sustain. I am a serial yo-yo dieter (hangs head in shame).

I haven't a clue as to what to put in for my carbs, protein and fat levels, but the default settings are not going to work as the carbs are too high.

My fitness pal is annoying, it doesn't seem set up for low carb. You can reduce the carbs by setting your weightloss target to 2lb a week but even then the carbs will be too high. Best option might be just to use it as a food diary and keep an eye on how many carbs you have in a day.

In theory you can lose weight most rapidly by going to 20 -30 carbs a day as this should induce Ketosis. You can lose wight more slowly however by keeping between 50 -100. It seems as though the amount varies from person to person so you would have to experiment.

Thanks giraffe. No, it isn't set up for low carb, but you can set it up yourself. Trouble is I have no idea what % I should put for carbs, protein and fat. If someone could help me with that, I could sort the rest out myself. I think carbs of 30 per day is probably a little low for me.

If you are interested in maintaining blood sugar levels there is a thread about the Insulin resistance diet which gives some guidelines about carb and protein amounts. You could try that for a while and if need be move to something which involves cutting out specific foods like BIWis bootcamp or paleo in the new year?

A quick browse brought up this ratios 'The optimal default mix of macronutrients is probably at around 20% carbohydrates, 65% fat and 15% protein for most people'. Guess you could start with these ratios and adjust carbs down if there is no weightloss?

Have adjusted my percentages on MFP, I had forgotten it was possible to do that so thank you!

Use custom settings rather than guided. But you still need to know what carbs level you want! I've mine set to 100g per day because I've found by experimenting that that's what my body works best on. Carb sensitivity does vary a lot from one person to the next.

Thanks for the links, Giraffe - very interesting.

Thanks Melanie. Yes, I think I'll play around with it and see what works for me.