So according to DCUM, I shouldn't cut carbs, and I shouldn't cut fat, but I also shouldn't be fat.

[Anonymous]

I definitely need to lose weight, and both my teenagers have been gaining a little too fast and need to slow down. All of us exercise regularly, so the obvious next step is to cut calories. But looking at recent posts, it seems as though people think it's a terrible thing to cut either carbs or fat. Other than cutting protein, I don't see another way to reduce the calories in my diet. After all, calories only come from those 3 places.

I should add that I'm comfortable with what I'm doing, which is choosing lean or reduced fat dairy and meat, cooking without a lot of added fat, and and limiting carbs to fresh fruit, and a couple small portions of whole grains a day. Today, for example, I had a lot of fruit and about 1/2 a cup of cereal mixed with nuts and dried fruit to make a trail mix, and then a slice of whole grain bread as part of an open faced sandwich for lunch. Yesterday, I had a lot of fruit, an ear of corn, and a small portion of whole wheat pasta. I'm just really curious what other people think I should be eating.

[Anonymous]

How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Have you ever tracked your calories on an app like MyFitnesspal? You don't have to cut fat or carbs, you can just eat less of them.

How about oatmeal instead of dried cereal and dried fruit? The water content, plus the fruit and nuts you alread had, can make it more filling.

Do you drink calories?

[Anonymous]

You can cut carbs. Just don't cut OUT carbs entirely. So when you put dinner on your plate, make it half veggies, quarter protein and quarter starch.

When you would ordinarily reach for some pretzels, instead reach for some nuts, or a hard-boiled egg, or some carrots, or a banana.

[Anonymous]

I say cut empty carbs, embrace good fats and protein.

[Anonymous]

I'm a research scientist in biology.

1. Portion control will help you lose weight.
Eat less. Particularly in the evening, when you can't burn it off. Going to bed earlier helps with late night cravings.

2. Sharply decreasing fat intake will make your body more defined as you lose fat surrounding your muscles. Apply this rule to animal fats, not nut or fish oils, which protect your heart and brain.

3. Proteins are to build muscle mass.
Find healthy sources of protein, since cutting animal fat means eating less red meat. Lean white meats without skin, more beans, tofu (not unfermented soy products), some fish (not the mercury-laden ones).

4. Added or refined sugar (ie, simple carbs) is the enemy. Your body doesn't need it at all, it gets all it needs already from fruits and vegetables (and the processed crap we all eat from time to time).

5. Complex carbohydrates should be whole grain, to add more fiber and increase satiety. Reduce a little bit, in the spirit of portion control. Carbs are mostly dangerous because of what we put on them (butter on bread, fatty/sugary/salty sauces on pasta, etc). So hold the sauce!

Slimming and toning your body is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. Pay attention to what you eat.

[Anonymous]

low carbs, low sugar, low fat and high protein. that's science.

[Anonymous]

Haha, pretty much!

Low (but not no) carb, low calorie (under 1600), and moderate to low fat will always get you results. Weight yourself very often to see when the weight starts creeping back up, and adjust your diet accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Have you ever tracked your calories on an app like MyFitnesspal? You don't have to cut fat or carbs, you can just eat less of them.

How about oatmeal instead of dried cereal and dried fruit? The water content, plus the fruit and nuts you alread had, can make it more filling.

Do you drink calories?

OP here,

In my mind, cutting something is the same as eating less of it. When I have my sandwich with 1 slice of bread instead of 2, or when I leave the potatoes out of my homemade soup, I cut the carbs in the meal. Similarly, when I make a smoothie with nonfat greek yogurt and frozen fruit instead of a milkshake, I've just cut the fat. Is this a semantic issue?

To be clear, I don't drink calories other than the aforementioned smoothie, and I don't happen to like oatmeal. I'm satisfied with how I eat, and losing weight. I'm just confused about how DCUM thinks I SHOULD eat. Your post has confused me even further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'm a research scientist in biology.

1. Portion control will help you lose weight.
Eat less. Particularly in the evening, when you can't burn it off. Going to bed earlier helps with late night cravings.

2. Sharply decreasing fat intake will make your body more defined as you lose fat surrounding your muscles. Apply this rule to animal fats, not nut or fish oils, which protect your heart and brain.

3. Proteins are to build muscle mass.
Find healthy sources of protein, since cutting animal fat means eating less red meat. Lean white meats without skin, more beans, tofu (not unfermented soy products), some fish (not the mercury-laden ones).

4. Added or refined sugar (ie, simple carbs) is the enemy. Your body doesn't need it at all, it gets all it needs already from fruits and vegetables (and the processed crap we all eat from time to time).

5. Complex carbohydrates should be whole grain, to add more fiber and increase satiety. Reduce a little bit, in the spirit of portion control. Carbs are mostly dangerous because of what we put on them (butter on bread, fatty/sugary/salty sauces on pasta, etc). So hold the sauce!

Slimming and toning your body is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. Pay attention to what you eat.

Thanks for posting, sick of the full fat cholesterol heart diseased freaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely need to lose weight, and both my teenagers have been gaining a little too fast and need to slow down. All of us exercise regularly, so the obvious next step is to cut calories. But looking at recent posts, it seems as though people think it's a terrible thing to cut either carbs or fat. Other than cutting protein, I don't see another way to reduce the calories in my diet. After all, calories only come from those 3 places.

I should add that I'm comfortable with what I'm doing, which is choosing lean or reduced fat dairy and meat, cooking without a lot of added fat, and and limiting carbs to fresh fruit, and a couple small portions of whole grains a day. Today, for example, I had a lot of fruit and about 1/2 a cup of cereal mixed with nuts and dried fruit to make a trail mix, and then a slice of whole grain bread as part of an open faced sandwich for lunch. Yesterday, I had a lot of fruit, an ear of corn, and a small portion of whole wheat pasta. I'm just really curious what other people think I should be eating.

Of course you're not wrong here, but this is a pretty reductionist way to think about food, which may be contributing to your problem. Maybe you should think more in terms of whole foods, how to eat til you feel sated, and making less-processed choices than about your food's components and whether you are hitting the right combination of building blocks for a specific outcome.

[Anonymous]

Cut calories.

If you're losing weight, and what you're doing is working, why are you confused?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cut calories.

If you're losing weight, and what you're doing is working, why are you confused?

Agree. Who cares what DCUM says?

Forget fads. Eat less move more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Have you ever tracked your calories on an app like MyFitnesspal? You don't have to cut fat or carbs, you can just eat less of them.

How about oatmeal instead of dried cereal and dried fruit? The water content, plus the fruit and nuts you alread had, can make it more filling.

Do you drink calories?

OP here,

In my mind, cutting something is the same as eating less of it. When I have my sandwich with 1 slice of bread instead of 2, or when I leave the potatoes out of my homemade soup, I cut the carbs in the meal. Similarly, when I make a smoothie with nonfat greek yogurt and frozen fruit instead of a milkshake, I've just cut the fat. Is this a semantic issue?

To be clear, I don't drink calories other than the aforementioned smoothie, and I don't happen to like oatmeal. I'm satisfied with how I eat, and losing weight. I'm just confused about how DCUM thinks I SHOULD eat. Your post has confused me even further.

Cut calories from all sources, not just carbs.

A lot of times, when people say they are cutting carbs, they increase the amount of fats and proteins. If a woman was consuming 1200 calories per day, at approx. 30% fat, 30% protein, 40% carbs--then she changes her diets to 2,000 calories per day at 45% fat, 45% protein, 10% carbs, then she is not going to lose weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely need to lose weight, and both my teenagers have been gaining a little too fast and need to slow down. All of us exercise regularly, so the obvious next step is to cut calories. But looking at recent posts, it seems as though people think it's a terrible thing to cut either carbs or fat. Other than cutting protein, I don't see another way to reduce the calories in my diet. After all, calories only come from those 3 places.

I should add that I'm comfortable with what I'm doing, which is choosing lean or reduced fat dairy and meat, cooking without a lot of added fat, and and limiting carbs to fresh fruit, and a couple small portions of whole grains a day. Today, for example, I had a lot of fruit and about 1/2 a cup of cereal mixed with nuts and dried fruit to make a trail mix, and then a slice of whole grain bread as part of an open faced sandwich for lunch. Yesterday, I had a lot of fruit, an ear of corn, and a small portion of whole wheat pasta. I'm just really curious what other people think I should be eating.

No one says that it's bad to cut carbs or cut fat. What people say is bad is COMPLETELY eliminating carbs or fat. And when they make those comments, it is in response to someone talking about a fad diet -- like paleo or atkins or no fat, et cetera.

No one online is going to be able to tell you what or how much to eat or even assess whether the exercise you are doing regularly is appropriate. It's something you have to figure out for yourself, either via trial and error or by consulting a nutritionist or a personal trainer. But even with a nutritionist and a personal trainer, there's still a bit of trial and error involved, because ultimately, you have to figure out something that is sustainable and works for your body and your schedule.

Now, for my personal anecdotal internet opinion: Most Americans eat way more protein than they actually need. If you are looking to cut calories, I would do it across the board. Don't just cut one food group and eat a ton of protein. Instead, just reduce the portion sizes of everything you eat by a little bit.

I will also add that nuts and dried fruit are very dense foods. Sure, they're packed with nutrition, but they are so dense calorie wise, that you have to be careful about how much of them you eat.

The other thing I will add is the exercise part. My personal experience and what I have casually observed in other middle-aged women is that women tend to focus on cardio. The problem is that as you age, your metabolism slows down. Women also tend to lose bone mass. You can really see a huge difference if you alternate the cardio with strength building circuits. It's good for bone strength do some weight bearing activities, and building (even incrementally) muscle will help boost your metabolism. And the trick with exercise is to find that sweet spot where you are exercising enough to constantly challenge your body and find an edge without necessarily working out to exhaustion and end up stressing your body. Does that make sense?

You have to find the right balance for you. And no one on here is going to give you an exact amount of food and what kind will do that.

Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Have you ever tracked your calories on an app like MyFitnesspal? You don't have to cut fat or carbs, you can just eat less of them.

How about oatmeal instead of dried cereal and dried fruit? The water content, plus the fruit and nuts you alread had, can make it more filling.

Do you drink calories?

OP here,

In my mind, cutting something is the same as eating less of it. When I have my sandwich with 1 slice of bread instead of 2, or when I leave the potatoes out of my homemade soup, I cut the carbs in the meal. Similarly, when I make a smoothie with nonfat greek yogurt and frozen fruit instead of a milkshake, I've just cut the fat. Is this a semantic issue?

To be clear, I don't drink calories other than the aforementioned smoothie, and I don't happen to like oatmeal. I'm satisfied with how I eat, and losing weight. I'm just confused about how DCUM thinks I SHOULD eat. Your post has confused me even further.

Sorry to have confused you. From your original post, I thought you were asking: "should I go low carb? Or should I go low fat?" And I said you dont have to choose one or the other to cut out--you can eat a balance of fat/carbs/protein, just cut the portion sizes and make wise decisions (like a pp said--hard boiled egg vs pretzels).

I agree with the above--if it's working for you, why do you need a second opinion?