Hi All,
I’ve noticed people talking about keeping carbs under 50g or under 20g and would like to understand where these figures come from. I’ve just finished reading the 8 week BSD book and whilst it talks a lot about significantly reducing carb intake, I can’t see where it mentions the numbers. It’s early days for me, so I’m concentrating on calories and not eating the obvious processed carbs (bread, pasta, rice, sugary things) but clearly there are carbs in certain veg & fruits. So, what’s the deal? How strict should I be with non-processed veggie/fruity carbs?
TIA!
CC

Hi Custardcrumble – you are right, there is no mention of specific carb levels in the Fast 800. The numbers you have read about on the forum have come from guidelines for low carb keto diets, which broadly speaking recommend eating around 50g of carbs per day. This will put most people into ketosis, which means the body is burning fat and not living on carbs. The 20g figure is recommended for those people who are insulin resistant, so for whom even eating at sub-50g carbs per day, will not result in ketosis and so for whom weight ‘discard’ is very slow.
This description is very simplistic and I’m sure someone with more extensive knowledge will be along soon to offer further information and a more detailed explanation.
I suggest if the scales are moving in the right direction, that you continue doing what you are doing, but if things stall for any length of time, consider looking at your carb intake with a view to modifying it, as not all calories are equal. Be cautious with fruits, berries are the best option there and remember that things like tomatoes, carrots and root veggies, as well as onions and the like are quite surprisingly high in carbs, so limit these. Lots of leafy and above ground veggies are the best option if you are only counting calories and not tracking carb intake.
Hope this helps …

SunnyB, thank you! That’s the perfect balance of simplicity and detail – just what I needed :o)

I’ll be shopping later for buckets of leafy greens and protein! Last 3 days have been just a smidge over 50g per day but the weight’s already dropping (probably water), so I’ll re-focus on keeping below 50g (difficult as I *love* onions and toms!)

Thanks for being brill!
CC

Glad to be able to help CC. Being a smidge over 50g on some days will probably not make a lot of difference, but if you can pull it down to sub 50g most of the time, all the better. You can still have your onions and toms, just make the portions a little smaller.
Stay with us on the weekly threads, as they are great places to ask questions, celebrate successes and vent when things aren’t going so well.
Best wishes to you …