Carbs

My daily goal for carbs is 37 grams.  I don't usually have a hard time with that, although I have had a couple of days where because of cir****tances, I have been as high as 100 grams.  They are not even bad carbs, typically baked beans, kidney beans, yogurt, etc.  Whenever this happens, I immediately gain 2-4 pounds and it takes 4-5 days to take it off.  I assume I'm retaining water.  I'm about 11# from goal and my question is once I get to goal what do I do?  I had planned to add some carbs back in but based on the above I don't think I want to.  Should I just increase my calories using my current food options?

It all depends.....

If you are struggling to lose the last few pounds and WL is very slow......

You don't do much...... you pretty much are at your balance/maintenance point.

If you are still losing past your intended goal weight, you can gradually start adding cals.

100cals per day increase for several weeks..... repeat till weight is stable.

Remember a couple things..... that balance point can change the further out you get..... access and react.

It's always better to increase content vs quantity.

Hope this helps.

frisco

does not sound like a carb problem , you will not gain 4 lb from eating 100 gm carbs , sounds more like a salt problem , if there caned beans there could be a ton of salt in them

I was going to suggest the same. I know we all micro manage our carbs, but having a few more carbs once shouldn't make a 4pd difference. A salt binge however....

Whenever I indulge in carbs, I retain water for a few days and my weight jumps a few pounds.  But it comes off pretty fast when I get back to basics.

I did add some carbs back in maintenance, and I know that my current weight includes a few pounds of water.  But I'm ok with that.

best wishes,

Carol

Thanks all.  I'm at 7.5 months and yes my weight loss has slowed.  Not horribly, 5.6 pounds this month.  I also know sodium is a problem, so the canned bean could be an issue.  I suppose I will take the advice to change what I'm eating when the time comes not how much.  Thanks for the observations and advice.  Much appreciated.

I think that what you are seeing is the normal response to the body when it has been in a glycogen deprivation mode as is usually the case when on one of these ketogenic diets. Our bodies normally store about two pounds of glycogen (our short term store of carbs and energy) along with about eight pounds of water to keep it in solution. One of the hypotheses of the keto diets is that by keeping glycogen low, you supposedly burn fat more readily for energy (at least that's the sales pitch.) The upshot of this is that when you do consume a little more carbs, it causes some water retention as your body attempts to return to normal glycogen levels, so by being on a keto diet, you probably do have 4-5 lb of water retention in escrow, so to speak. Once your glycogen level gets back to normal, your weight stabilizes, and you will return to whatever weight loss rate your caloric deficit provides. If you return to a keto style diet, then you will lose back those few pounds of water retention, and continue your normal caloric deficit loss. You will then gain back those few pounds of water retention once you decide that you are at goal and boost your calorie levels. This is one of the reasons that we typically see people here have a bit of a snap back on their weight once they get to goal.

I never kept my carb levels all that low (about 70 on the low side but typically around 100), so consequently my glycogen was maintained at a fairly normal level throughout my loss phase, and I never experienced any notable water retention due to changes in my carb intake. By all means, continue with what you have been doing and has worked for you, but be prepared to give back those few pounds of water when you finally do stabilize your diet at a healthier composition.

Thanks for explaining that so well.  I was thinking I may have to go by my goal by 5 pounds to try and maintain my goal weight.