How to Limit Carbs to Lose Weight

Carbohydrates are the pitfalls of most well-intentioned diet plans. Foods rich in sugar, starch and flour are called comfort food for a reason-they provide an immediate dopamine rush to the brain that equates these types of foods with happiness to our bodies. But for many individuals, the quickest and most effective way to lose weight is to limit carbs in ones diet. While it may initially be difficult to reduce your carb intake, you will find after time that limiting the amount of carbs you consume becomes easier and easier.

Instructions

• 1

  Keep a food diary for a short period of time that you choose, be it a few days, a week or a month. In your food diary, write down everything you eat in a day, including snacks and small bites of different things. Make a separate column next to the one where you write down the foods you've eaten. In the second column, record how eating the certain food made you feel.

• 2

  Examine your food diary once you've completed your recordings. Look at both the types of foods you are eating as well as the emotional attachments you have to them. Pay special attention to the carbohydrates listed in your food diary. If you experienced feelings of well-being and happiness more so when eating the carbs than other foods, start to detach yourself emotionally from food now to make limiting your carbs in the near future easier.

• 3

  Calculate the ratio of carb to non-carb foods that you are eating after you've examined your food diary. If 50 percent or more of your food intake is coming from carbs, you are following what is considered to be a high-carb diet according to the United States Department of Agriculture food pyramid. Depending on the percentage of carbs in your diet currently, you will be provided with an accurate idea of the extent to which your carbs must be limited to lose weight. A low-carb diet is considered a diet where 25-39 percent of your food intake comes from carbs.

• 4

  Use your food diary as a starting template of your daily eating habits, providing you with a detailed description of what you are eating and when. Make a third column next to the two columns listed in step one. Research some low carb foods which you enjoy that can replace the high-carb foods in your diet. For example, if you enjoy peanut butter sandwiches, try eating a snack of whole peanuts instead and you'll not only reduce your carb intake drastically but also increase the protein in your diet. Some experts say that for every pound of carbs in your body, there are four to five pounds of water attached to while protein has almost none, so by replacing carbs with protein you're accelerating your weight loss at an even more rapid pace.

• 5

  Go shopping for a variety of interesting, tasty and enjoyable low-carb foods to keep you fridge and pantry stocked with options that will help you adhere to your goal of limiting carbs in your diet and losing weight. If you choose foods that you do not like eating and that you have to force yourself to consume, it is unlikely that you will stick to your diet. Examples of low-carb foods include nuts, beans, yogurt, cottage cheese, lentils, skim milk and a variety of vegetables. Get creative and select a menu that allows for taste and enjoyment while still limiting carbs and you'll soon see those pound come off as planned.