How many carbs daily for a low carb diet?

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Daily Carbs on a Low-Carb Diet

If you are trying to lose weight, 20 - 50 grams are recommended depending on your level of activity. If you are NOT trying to lose weight, 180 - 300 grams are sometimes recommended. However, there is no minimum daily requirement for carbohydrate.

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There are a wide variety of lower carb diets including Atkins, South Beach, the Zone, Suzanne Summers, and Protein Power. Each has its own guidelines for how many carbs you can consume, and what types. Atkins has the fewest carbs, at less than 20 grams per day, and the Zone has the most, at 30% of calories. Many people who haven't had success on low-fat diets have found that low-carb diets work for them. Some doctors prefer the South Beach diet, which allows fruits and vegetables, is low in saturated fat, and was developed by a cardiologist.

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In the book by Dr. Atkins, he recomends no more than 20 grams of carbs per day for two weeks. After, you slowly increase the carb intake to 30 grams over four weeks, and then by 10 gram increments slowly after that until you have stopped losing. If you need to lose more, cut back, if not just maintain. It is best to read his book first though.

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It depends on which low carb diet you are using and what stage you are at. If you are following the Atkins approach for example ( www.atkins.com), in the beginning stage I think you can eat 10 good carbs a day and in the middle stage 20.

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The answer can vary according to levels of activity. The range is from 20 up to 70 grams daily (with the exception of the first stage of Atkins). However, 70 grams daily is very generous and is usually only for those who are engaging in weight training in addition to cardio exercise.

The normal low carbohydrate range is 20 to 50 grams daily. You must determine how strict you need to be; the best way is to experiment and discover what amount works well for you as an individual.

There is no minimum daily requirement for carbohydrates, but they do have many beneficial phytochemicals and fiber so eating some is fine (as long as they are unprocessed). Get those carbohydrates from natural sources such as (preferably organic) fresh non-starchy vegetables and low carb fruits such as berries.

Recent good books on the subject are Protein Power, The Protein Power Lifeplan, The Paleo Diet, and The X Factor Diet. (If you wish to read those books but don't want to buy them, you should be able to borrow copies from your local library.)

To learn about the low carbohydrate foods that are also metabolism-boosting foods see the relevant page link, further down this page, listed under "Related Questions."

First answer by layna. Last edit by Sepp2. Contributor trust: 655 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 422 [recommend question]