How to Use Carb Counting
Carb counting can be an effective way to lose weight. In a theory popularized by Dr. Atkins, creator of the Atkins Diet, your body uses carbohydrates as energy before it uses fat. By limiting the amount of carbohydrates you eat, your body will have no choice but to use its fat stores as energy. The key to losing weight on a low carb diet is to count the amount of carbohydrates that you eat instead of the total number of calories.
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Instructions
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Determine the amount of carbs in the food that you eat by looking at the nutrition labels. You can easily learn how many carbohydrates a particular food has by looking at the labels. For foods that do not have labels, such as fruits and vegetables, you can look up the values online. In general, foods that are sweet, such as fruits, or foods that include grains, such as rice or bread, are high carb and you should avoid these if you want to lose weight through carb counting.
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Set a goal of carbs to eat per day. If you are following the Atkins diet, the first phase limits the amount of carbs that you can eat each day to just 20 grams. Other low carb diets are less restrictive and allow you to eat more. If you are counting carbs in order to control diabetes, you can eat much more. Based on the diet that you are going to follow, determine the number of carbs you can eat each day.
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Divide your daily number of carbs by the number of meals that you eat. Knowing how many carbs you can eat in a day, you should set a goal for how many carbs to eat each meal. One way to do this is to divide by the number of meals that you eat in a day. Another method is to eat fewer carbs during some meals so that you can eat more during another. This is a good strategy if you want a treat or will be going out to eat.
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Use ketone strips to test your urine for ketones. The goal of following a low carb diet is to lose weight by putting your body into ketosis, a state in which it is using fat for fuel. You can test this by urinating on a ketone strip, which you can purchase in the diabetic section of a drug store. If the strip measures ketones, you are losing weight.
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Add five grams of carbs per day until your body goes out of ketosis. After the initial restrictive phase of carb counting, you should be able to add some carbs and still lose weight. You can eat just five additional grams of carbohydrates each day, testing your urine with the ketone strips. When your body goes out of ketosis, reduce the number of carbs again.
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