Like many I had a crack at the Atkins diet. A diet which I must admit I quiet enjoyed due to the bacon and fats I consumed. I do member a particularly delicious, extremely rich chocolate desert recipe in the book. Any way I digress... It was fairly effective, but I as I was training a lot it wasn't something that felt right for me. I also wasn't sure about the concept that eating fatty bacon was fine but some veg was a no go!
I recently blogged about reducing carbs on my non exercise days and ensuring I ate good carbs on exercise days. What I haven't done is look into what quantity of carbs I should be consuming. I generally found the consensus was you should be eating between 45%-65% of my daily calorie intake should be carbs. Then there were suggestions that to lose weight the amount of carbs should be reduced to 50 -100g. There were all sorts of calculations I could do to work out the right amount for me.
For example, Food For Fitness explained that the ideal amount of protein to consume is around 1 gram per pound of body weight. Therefore I want 145 grams (rounding up). There are 4 calories per 1 gram of protein, therefore 580 calories I consume should be protein. If I aim for 1200 calories per day (my body generally use about 1400 on a normal no exercise day according to my Garmin) that leaves 620 calories to play with. I then need to decide what ratio of fat to carbohydrate I want to eat 50/50 of 30/70. Lets say 70% carbs, therefore I need to eat 434g of carbohydrates per day.
- They do however have a simpler way. 1 serving = 1 handful. If you are trying to achieve fat loss, which I am. Food For Fitness recommends 1 serving of carbs pre-workout, 1 serving post-workout, and 1 at any other meal. They also suggest dropping carbs as any other meal once you have only the last few pounds to lose.
Then you have the minefield of what are actually carbohydrates and what are good carbs and bad carbs. Most of us are aware that pasta, rice, potatoes and bread are contain carbs but vegetables, fruit and dairy items also contain carbs.
I don't think I have it in me to become a food expert and workout exactly what I am eating gram for gram. For me I am going to just have to apply a bit of common sense. On workout days add "obvious" carbs to my meals - pasta and rice but keep this to a handful. On non workout days I will avoid the "obvious" carbs but will need to ensure I include of veg and fruit.
I also have MyFitnessPal to help me out as it calculates the nutrients I require each day and adjusts the figures based on how active I am and if I undertake a workout.
What are you tips and tricks for managing carbs and weight loss?
