How Many Carbs Do You Need to Consume to Lose Weight?
Posted by Liz Delacruz
Dieting is one many physicians are promoting because of the problem of obesity and people overweight in the US. With many diets available, many preach consumption of unrefined carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates but how many carbs are needed to lose weight?
Here are some recommendations on how many carbs are needed to lose weight.
Dietary Guidelines of Americans
In a recent report by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the report suggests that half of a person’s daily calories come from carbohydrates. A person who eats 2,000 calories per day should take in about 250 grams of carbohydrates.
Atkins Diet
The Atkins Diet recommends 20-50 grams per day for the first two weeks and then slowly increasing it to 30 grams over 4 weeks. And then 10 gram increments after that if you stop losing weight. If you need to lose more, cut back on the grams of carbs.
Protein Power
The Protein Power diet recommends 30 grams per day
Schwarzbein Principle
Dianna Schwarzbein recommends at least 60 grams per day
Sugar Busters
The Sugar Busters recommends 140-200 grams per day
So, many diets have their own variations of how many grams of carbs to have per day.
Why do a Low Carb Diet?
I you want to avoid ketosis and wasting of proteins, the average adult needs a minimum of 100 grams of carbohydrates daily. The brain uses the glucose form metabolism of the carbohydrates for fuel and muscle, which uses glycogen. When there is in
adequate carbohydrates in the body, the body will break down protein in the muscle to provide amino acids, which can be used for energy and not the brain. This lads to wasting of muscle tissue than a reduction of stored fat, which a person on a diet wants to do. As for Ketones, ketones is the fuel for the brain and when there is a lowering of ketones, that leads to ketosis (which can lead to death).
Many physicians are concerted of low-carb diets that are too low because some people may have problems with kidney stones (because of the high protein in the diets), high cholesterol levels, heart failure, low blood sugar and dizziness.
So, it’s important to communicate about your planned diet with your physician before attempting any low-carb diet. It all depends on how much activity your involved in and thus; a physician can properly monitor your progress and possibly recommend a diet plan.
Foods with Carbs and How to Count Them
It’s important for people to keep track of carbohydrates and counting carbs (as well as calories) is important. Carbohydrates can come from whole grain breads, cereals, pastas, nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits and vegetables.
As for counting carbs, when you go to a store, look at the nutritional facts. You will see carb facts per serving and most tend to feature the total carbs. When foods are digested, most carbs are converted to glucose thus you will see the term “Digestible carbohydrates”. Then there are “Net Carbs” (or effective carbs) which are non-digestible carbohydrates. Fiber is counted and included on food labels as a carbohydrate but these are not absorbed and have no impact on your blood-sugar levels. So, you will see on labels of total carbs minus fiber equals net carbs.
It is very important for people to stay away from carbohydrate-rich foods such as pastries, sugar-filled snacks, potato chips and soda. These foods contain saturated and trans fats that are known to lead to cardiovascular diseases.
