r/lowcarb

One thing I keep noticing is that a lot of people with type 2 or prediabetes get told to “cut carbs” but not really told what that means.

Like… cut them completely? eat less bread and rice? avoid fruit? only count sugar? count total carbs?

I’m curious how people here figured out their own carb limit or what foods worked for them.

Did you use a meter, a food log, trial and error, a dietitian, or just slowly change meals?

Also what carb foods surprised you the most, good or bad?

I realized how much my meals revolve around carbs as the base so looking to eat healthier without breaking the bank, I appreciate any and all dinner ideas! TIA!

Hey guys of both communities. I am currently wondering the man difference people notice between eating a full on ketogenic diet, as opposed to a low-carbohydrate diet. I want to see what you guys say are the pros and cons of each diet, and the side you personally pick and why.
As of currently, I’m trying to develop a sustainable eating plan for myself, and both of these communities are great places for good advice on low-carb eating, yet I just don’t know how “extreme” I should take it, such as fully committing to keto or not.
I appreciate any reasoning and advice you provide for your take. Thanks.

For clarity, it's low carb, not keto. I've been getting a few issues.

1. I don't feel full;
2. I get headaches;
3. I get a burning sensation in the stomach due to too much salt (it happens right after eating and salting the food)

What I typically eat in a day:

* Breakfast: 6 fried eggs, 2 or 3 small vegetables, 3 tbps olive oil, a few spoons of jarred olives, a salty seasoning or just regular salt and garlic powder.

* Lunch: 2 cans of sardines, 2 or 3 vegetables (carrot, beets, boiled broccoli), 3 tbps of olive oil, a few spoons of jarred olives.

* Dinner: 3 eggs, 1 can of tuna, broccoli, tomato and 2 apples, salt and garlic powder.

I don't eat chicken or red meat but for health reasons, so I only eat eggs and fish. The salt I put doesn't seem much, just a bit more of a pinch, but any amount I use seems too much. I also tried making an electrolyte water by putting salt in it, and the taste was just not pleasant and got more of the stomach burn sensation.

This is my first Reddit post so hope I’m doing it right.

After a few false starts, I want to dedicate myself to a low-carb diet long term. Nothing too strict. Right now I’ve been eating 50 grams net carbs or less per day - with one cheat per day per week. I think this is really sustainable. I started lurking on this sub about a week ago. I have found it to be helpful and encouraging for low-carb living.

What other subs would you recommend?

About a month into this low carb/keto way of eating and honestly it’s been amazing for my mental and physical health. I’m actually trying to maintain weight, yet I still like to track calories to get an idea of my body’s needs.

Last night I was drinking and definitely ate way over my normal calories lol, but what surprised me is that my body still defaulted to stuff like grilled meats, cheese, egg salad, etc.

instead of turning into a giant processed-carb event like I would’ve had before, my carbs only ended up around ~50g net, which is high for me since I usually stay around 20-25g, but still doesn’t load up my body with crap going into the next day.

The craziest part is how different I felt this morning. Before low carb/keto, if I overate, I’d wake up looking and feeling like a bloated swollen mess. Now it’s basically just “oh, I ate a lot,” and that’s it. No crazy puffiness, no food hangover, and hunger today is legitamately non-existent, maybe like my body just balancing naturally.

Big thanks to this low carb community too, because reading everyone’s experiences really helped me get here. Curious if anyone else notices that overeating this way feels completely different than overeating used to.

Bonus points for recipes without lettuce

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I am on week 3 of my weight loss journey, eating low carb and in deficit, but around the 1600, which is correct for my calculated TDEE being on 1980kcal a day. I eat between 70 and 110gr of carbs.

But I feel so tired. I eat quality food, lots of veg, protein, avocados, no sugar, but I am lethargic and just drained, feeling like I am running on empty. It's not that I have issues with feelings of hunger, it's just the energy levels being really low. I do take electrolytes. Blood work is good, had it checked, so it is definitely diet related because before I started it this wasn't the case.

Is it just the transition from high carb to low carb still ongoing? How long did it take for your body to adjust? All advice and answers are welcome. Thank you!

I’ve been doing keto/low carb for about a month now and honestly it’s been awesome so far. I’ve noticed physical, mental, and cognitive benefits pretty quickly — more stable energy, better focus, less brain fog, and overall I just feel better day to day.

Right now though, I’m not doing super intense physical work yet. I’m about to start a house painting job, so I’ll be on my feet all day.

I’m mainly wondering how keto or low carb plays into long-term sustainability and energy levels with a physically active job like that.

For those of you who work active jobs or live a higher-activity lifestyle:
Did your energy hold up throughout the day once adapted?
Did you have to increase electrolytes/calories a lot?
Did you ever feel weak or drained doing hard physical work while low carb?
Do you feel better than when you were eating higher carb?
How long did it take before your body fully adjusted?

I really want to keep eating this way because I genuinely like how I feel on it, but I also want to be realistic going into a much more physical lifestyle.

I appreciate any advice or experiences. Thanks.

Bonjour à tous. Après 75kg perdus en 10 ans et un âge qui avance (F41) voici un an que mon poids ne bouge pas malgré la diète et le sport . Je me lance dans une nouvelle approche plus adéquate à mon profil hormonal en baissant considérablement mon apport en macro journalier (15 à 20% de glucides). Je trouve cela difficile d’un point de vue social surtout voir impossible . J’aimerais avoir un peu les retours des personnes qui suivent ce modèle depuis longtemps et vos avis , conseils , échecs réussites …. Merci à la communauté ❤️

Please be kind. Will delete this if comments get cruel. I‘m not in a good physical or mental state at all

TLDR: I‘m severely ill and can’t lose any weight, makes me hopeless

I (45 f) am mostly bedbound and completely housebound with ME/CFS. I can still get up to go to the toilet, but I have to eat and brush my teeth while lying, having a shower is rarely possible. I can’t cook anymore either other than warming up things in the airfryer or microwave.

My whole life I had an abnormally good metabolism, at least until I came down with ME/CFS 10 years ago after my child was born. My metabolism was like that even without exercising a lot. Had no hyperthyroidism either.

I had a gradual onset with this illness, so I started out mild, but I get a bit worse every year, it’s progressive.

The past ~ 5 years I had put on more and more weight. I haven‘t been eating sugar for years now, and only limited amounts of fruits. Used to have carb sides though and I didn‘t eat low fat either.

I tried eating moderate carb and altogether starved myself for 6 weeks in 2023 - as a consequence I deteriorated a lot and didn’t get back to my prior baseline. All I lost in weight was 200 g (= nothing).

I also had noro virus in 2024 - you know what this entails lol. Hardly ate for a week. I should have lost at least water. Again I didn’t lose any weight.

Instead I slowly put on more and more. Beginning of the year I could get someone from a lab to do a housecall. The tests showed I have insulin resistance. Makes sense.

TSH was in range, ft3 & ft4, other hormones weren’t tested, but will do so in summer.

Been eating low carb since beginning of February of this year, keto since beginning of March.

I don’t have any cheat days, but had 4-5 times when I was more low carb than keto. Yesterday was my birthday and I didn’t cheat even then, other then one small vodka with diet soda. I usually have neither, this was my only treat.

It’s true, I‘m not eating in a perfect keto way. It’s sometimes lazy keto, but I have to eat what my husband/caregiver prepares for me.

I purposefully did not weigh myself when I started eating this way, cause I knew if I didn’t lose weight it would make me feel even more hopeless. I thought if I really lost a noticeable amount, I‘d see it in the way my clothes were getting lose.

I‘m 5.51 ft tall and I‘m guessing I must have had around 189 lbs (168 cm, 85 kg).

It’s very hard to keep on living with ME/CFS and this whole issue is making it so much harder, especially mentally.

I take care of drinking/supplementing electrolytes the way it is recommended.

Exercise is strictly impossible. Unless I want to hasten my demise.

I feel also physically worse since starting low carb / keto. I can do less daily steps.

I‘ve been a severe chronic insomniac since childhood (might be a factor in my insulin resistance), but also my sleep is worse.

My mood is worse, depression and anxiety through the roof. I don’t think it’s keto that causes it, just my lack of results and my despair over it.

I can’t do OMAD or even just intermittent fasting, because I‘m crashing hard from it, it’s too dangerous.

I don’t know if I‘d tolerate Ozempic or metformin because I have a history of severe adverse reactions to many meds.

I don’t have MCAS and antihistamines do nothing for me.

I noticed my face getting a bit slimmer and a teeny tiny bit on my body, but not much. This frustrates me more than words can say.

Can’t even read low carb success stories anymore. Triggers me too much, the contrast is too stark.

Gluten is not the culprit either - i‘m eating gluten free by way of keto.

I frankly cannot give you the exact macros I‘m always ingesting. I managed to check 3 days in a row. I had around 960 calories (a day), but I believe I‘m often around 1200. Daily carbs were between 20-26 g, I had a bit less fat than recommended.

I had an eating disorder as a teen. But since starving (or fasting) has the potential to irreversibly make my ME/CFS worse, I can’t go down that road. I‘m trying to stay alive so I can be with my kid as long as possible.

Other than trialling meds I don’t know what else to do. As I mentioned, it’s possible I can’t even tolerate those.

Low carb/keto helps some ME/CFS sufferers tremendously, some a little bit and it makes others worse - I‘m sadly not part of the former group. I don’t have any better idea though.

Tbh I won‘t manage to eat keto in combo with strictly low fat. I‘m eating a tiny bit less fat than what keto would normally entail, but I need this amount, otherwise I get nasty hunger crashes and stop having any deep sleep — counterproductive

Any idea what to do here?

I’ve got a buddy coming over this weekend and we’ll probably hang out and have a few drinks. I’m trying to stay super low carb/keto though, so I’m looking for tips/tricks from people who’ve figured this out without totally wrecking progress.

I already know the obvious stuff like sticking to straight liquor / clear alcohols and avoiding sugary mixers, beer, etc. But I’m curious about the practical side of it too.

• Do you still need to eat beforehand as much when you’re keto/low carb?
• Do you get drunk faster on low carb?

I just feel so good on this diet, and wouldn't want something silly like drinking to offset how good the diet feels.

Would appreciate any advice from people who’ve done this successfully.

Is it the:

Mental health benefits?
Simplified meal and overall food choices?
The satiation aspect?
Or something else?

For me, staying low-carb definitely helps me stay full for a long period of time.
In addition, eating a low-carb diet doesn’t bloat me and make me feel gross, which keeps me energized and in a good mood all day. It’s the best.

What about you guys?

Hey everyone,

I’m pretty new to low-carb eating and still fairly young, but I wanted to share my experience so far because it’s honestly surprised me.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve started noticing just how much a high-carb diet was affecting me, my mood, energy levels, focus, motivation, sleep… pretty much everything. I didn’t really realize it before, but once I started cutting back on carbs, the difference became really noticeable.

Since switching to low-carb, it doesn’t feel like I’m forcing myself to “stick to a diet.” It just feels normal overall. My energy is more stable, I don’t crash during the day like I used to, and my focus feels clearer. Even my mood feels more steady.

What really surprised me is how natural it’s starting to feel. I think about food way less than I used to. I used to feel like I needed to be eating all the time, but now I can go so long without thinking about it, and it doesn’t feel like a struggle. I’m a few weeks in, but it already feels less like tracking and more like a normal way of eating.

I also realized I used to avoid fats a lot and would end up feeling tired and kind of drained all day. Now eating higher fat and protein while keeping carbs lower just feels way more balanced for me.

It doesn’t even feel like something extreme or restrictive, it just feels like a simpler way to eat that works better for me.

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks to this community. Reading through posts here has been really helpful, and it’s nice seeing other people on similar paths.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Hoping to talk to a few people here for 30 minutes.

Quick context: I'm 44 and got diagnosed pre-diabetic about 18 months ago.
I overhauled how I eat — cut ultra-processed foods, started strength
training, fixed my sleep — and lost 45 lbs. The hardest part wasn't the
kitchen or the gym. It was eating out. Sit-down restaurant menus aren't
built for people trying to stay on track, and I kept getting tripped up.

I'm exploring whether anyone else in this community is dealing with the
same thing, and I'd love to hear your stories. I'm not selling anything,
not pitching a product, not running a survey. I just want to talk.

What I'm asking for:
- 30 minutes on Zoom or phone, whenever works for you
- I'd record audio with your permission, just so I can listen back
- $25 Amazon (or equivalent) gift card as a thank-you for your time

I'd especially love to hear from you if:
- You're managing a metabolic condition, actively losing weight, or
following a strict protocol (keto, Mediterranean, low-carb, etc.)
- You've eaten at a sit-down restaurant in the last month
- You asked the server for some kind of modification — dropped an
ingredient, asked for something on the side, swapped a side, etc.

If that's you, DM me with your time zone and a couple of windows that
work this week. Happy to share more about who I am and what I'm doing
before we talk.

Thanks for reading.