I have a very large extended in law family. Across all the women over 50 they basically fall into three categories. Normal BMI - thin to normal who eat like birds and have always eaten like birds, Normal BMI - thin to normal who don’t eat carbs but eat a normal volume of food, and Obese BMI - maybe over 30 into the next category but nothing like what you see in some of the midwestern states. The obese ones are not bing eating or eating massive amounts but they do eat carb heavy foods.

Carbs seem to have a very bad impact on women over 40-50.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe people are eliminating fruits and vegetables due to carb content. Avoiding white flour/low quality grain, refined sugars, sure. But to not eat a carrot because of carbs is wacko

Unless you have a pre-disposal to or have already developed insulin resistance.

I wonder if those who are saying they could only lose weight by vigorously scrubbing their diet of carbs are really below their natural weight. I am 5'2, 125lbs, and my labs are good. I got here by reducing my intake of simple carbs; when I was just eating all the carbs in front of my face, I weighed 140. But I could get smaller than 125 by cutting out even more carbs, and if I wanted to be 105 it would probably be accurate to say I could only get there by cutting out almost all carbs.

No. I was obese and it was the carb cutting that worked for me. Might be different for other people. Like the poster below, I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand that different bodies might work in different ways.

PP here. I should have said "some of those saying they had to cut out basically all carbs," because you're right, all bodies truly are different. It's just that when somebody says they had to cut out carbs to lose weight, and others say they didn't, they might just have different weight goals rather than bodies that react differently to carbs.

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe people are eliminating fruits and vegetables due to carb content. Avoiding white flour/low quality grain, refined sugars, sure. But to not eat a carrot because of carbs is wacko

It’s not all fruits and veggies it’s the high carb ones. For the moderate carb ones, it’s eating them occasionally.

I will eat small amounts of carrots. Some shredded ones in certain stir fries or salad, some in bolognese sauce but I don’t snack on carrots. No one craves carrots so easy to reduce.

High carbs are fruit juices, bananas, mangos, potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, peas all of which are easy to avoid and honestly not the most nutrient dense any way.

Peppers - grren, yellow, red, poblano, jalapeño , Serrano, Thai,etc, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, zucchini, mushrooms, asparagus, cabbage, bok choy, lettuce, herbs, strawberries, raspberries etc are all super low. Tomatoes, and onions are not super low but low enough that I eat them all the time. I use lemon juice in cooking and add a lemon slice to water.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe people are eliminating fruits and vegetables due to carb content. Avoiding white flour/low quality grain, refined sugars, sure. But to not eat a carrot because of carbs is wacko

Unless you have a pre-disposal to or have already developed insulin resistance.

I wonder if those who are saying they could only lose weight by vigorously scrubbing their diet of carbs are really below their natural weight. I am 5'2, 125lbs, and my labs are good. I got here by reducing my intake of simple carbs; when I was just eating all the carbs in front of my face, I weighed 140. But I could get smaller than 125 by cutting out even more carbs, and if I wanted to be 105 it would probably be accurate to say I could only get there by cutting out almost all carbs.

No. I was obese and it was the carb cutting that worked for me. Might be different for other people. Like the poster below, I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand that different bodies might work in different ways.

Cutting most carbs has lowered my A1C, my insulin levels and triglycerides, and I lost weight (and have more to go). If I can do this under doctor's orders and over the age of 50, without medicine or surgery, I am going to do it. And yes, without white flour tortillas and pasta too. This is a successful approach for many of us when nothing else worked after menopause. I'm not sure why that makes so many people critical.

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe people are eliminating fruits and vegetables due to carb content. Avoiding white flour/low quality grain, refined sugars, sure. But to not eat a carrot because of carbs is wacko

Unless you have a pre-disposal to or have already developed insulin resistance.

I wonder if those who are saying they could only lose weight by vigorously scrubbing their diet of carbs are really below their natural weight. I am 5'2, 125lbs, and my labs are good. I got here by reducing my intake of simple carbs; when I was just eating all the carbs in front of my face, I weighed 140. But I could get smaller than 125 by cutting out even more carbs, and if I wanted to be 105 it would probably be accurate to say I could only get there by cutting out almost all carbs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't eat pasta, rice, bread, or cereal. The fruits I eat are strawberries and blueberries, sometimes blackberries. The veggies I eat are brussels sprouts and spinach.

I dropped 25 pounds on keto very quickly and kept it off easily.

I am baffled by people who say it's not sustainable because I find it very easy to sustain.

Don't complain the diet "doesn't work" if you stop doing it.

People all over the world subsist on mainly carbs- it is very difficult for most of us to permanently reduce them in a keto loss way. I do not feel sick, sluggish or bloated when I have good sourdough or a delicious flour tortilla. I feel happy, except for the wishing I wasn’t fat part.I love all fruits and can’t imagine a world where I am just reduced to berries.

+1. A life without tortillas or fruit is not a life I want. I’d rather have the extra 10 pounds!

I'm a person who eliminated most fruit, but I don't really like fruit. Sometimes I do eat a tortilla or bread. I eat food that I love. I've lost over 75 lbs so it wasn't just a "last ten pounds" issue for me, but a real health concern. But go off!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't eat pasta, rice, bread, or cereal. The fruits I eat are strawberries and blueberries, sometimes blackberries. The veggies I eat are brussels sprouts and spinach.

I dropped 25 pounds on keto very quickly and kept it off easily.

I am baffled by people who say it's not sustainable because I find it very easy to sustain.

Don't complain the diet "doesn't work" if you stop doing it.

People all over the world subsist on mainly carbs- it is very difficult for most of us to permanently reduce them in a keto loss way. I do not feel sick, sluggish or bloated when I have good sourdough or a delicious flour tortilla. I feel happy, except for the wishing I wasn’t fat part.I love all fruits and can’t imagine a world where I am just reduced to berries.

+1. A life without tortillas or fruit is not a life I want. I’d rather have the extra 10 pounds!

Anonymous wrote:Can’t believe people are eliminating fruits and vegetables due to carb content. Avoiding white flour/low quality grain, refined sugars, sure. But to not eat a carrot because of carbs is wacko

+1

I lost 20 pounds cutting rice at dinner, white flour, and sugar and I’m not even a fanatic about it.

Can’t believe people are eliminating fruits and vegetables due to carb content. Avoiding white flour/low quality grain, refined sugars, sure. But to not eat a carrot because of carbs is wacko

I basically eliminated the extra carb or starch at meals. So no rice as a side dish or potatoes or bread. I also cut out crackers as snack and instead did something like cheese and apples or grapes. But I did eat pasta if it was the main meal - for ex sometimes we had spaghetti but I just skipped the garlic bread.

In addition to that I did cut back a lot on processed meals - no frozen meals for example - for a long time as well as processed desserts. I decided that if I wanted cookies for example that I would have to go through the effort to make them. I usually did it every few months and then frozen them and ate them over time. For the kids, I bought those snack packs for crackers and cookies. I bought ones they like and I didn't and that helped but I occasionally snuck a bag. It's been a few years and I lost 20 lbs and have mostly maintained the same way of eating.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't eat pasta, rice, bread, or cereal. The fruits I eat are strawberries and blueberries, sometimes blackberries. The veggies I eat are brussels sprouts and spinach.

I dropped 25 pounds on keto very quickly and kept it off easily.

I am baffled by people who say it's not sustainable because I find it very easy to sustain.

Don't complain the diet "doesn't work" if you stop doing it.

But everyone is different. I lost 45 pounds in 6 or 7 months while eating any fruit or vegetable I wanted, bread, pasta, rice, oatmeal. I've kept it off for 18 months. The only thing I needed to do was cut sugar and highly processed foods and add an hour of moderate exercise daily.

Why would someone swear off carbs forever if they don't need to? That's not to say I'm eating sandwiches and pasta daily, but I normally have oatmeal and some sort of bread on any given day and pasta and rice at least once a week.

Because a lot of people need to. That’s what you’re missing.

Yes. When I started tracking my a1c, glucose, and insulin levels, it was very clear I needed to give up carbs, even though I wasn't fat.

I love all fruits and can’t imagine a world where I am just reduced to berries.

Berries are really the only fruits I love, so I didn't feel "reduced" for just eating them.

Before I went low carb, I also ate bananas and sometimes apples, but it wasn't a big deal giving them up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't eat pasta, rice, bread, or cereal. The fruits I eat are strawberries and blueberries, sometimes blackberries. The veggies I eat are brussels sprouts and spinach.

I dropped 25 pounds on keto very quickly and kept it off easily.

I am baffled by people who say it's not sustainable because I find it very easy to sustain.

Don't complain the diet "doesn't work" if you stop doing it.

People all over the world subsist on mainly carbs- it is very difficult for most of us to permanently reduce them in a keto loss way. I do not feel sick, sluggish or bloated when I have good sourdough or a delicious flour tortilla. I feel happy, except for the wishing I wasn’t fat part.I love all fruits and can’t imagine a world where I am just reduced to berries.

Have you ever eaten with a Japanese person? Typically they don't eat much, and they eat slowly.

I honestly think that if you're happy and your labs are good, you'd be better off making the effort to make peace with your body than trying to lose weight.

Anonymous wrote:What does that actually mean?

I’ve lost weight on Keto a couple of times, but find it hard to sustain and eventually gain it back. So I keep yo-yo’ing with the same 10 lbs. I do feel better when I don’t eat pasta/rice/bread. But what about high carb vegetables like carrots, which I love? Or fruits?

When I was younger, I’d eat a baked potato and broccoli for a meal and lose weight, but that wouldn’t work today. Now that I’m mid 40’s (female) I feel like I’ve forgotten how to lose weight and my body just doesn’t respond the same any more.

Curious what works for you? I’m not looking for “eat 3 tablespoons of celery for every meal” kind of advice. Would appreciate recommendations for realistic long term changes. I’m willing to count macros to start if that’s something that works.

Writing down every bite in one of the apps that tracks nutrients and keeping carb consumption to less than about 30 per meal/100 per day. Eating more fiber. Water. Exercise.

More mindful eating and exercise is key