How many carbs in a cucumber?

[cshelia]

Does anyone know how many carbs a cucumber has? I have looked online in the google search, and a few places say an 8 in one has about 2 carbs without the peel. But I'm not sure if they are right. My first week on this diet I lost about 5 lbs, but then for the last 3 days I have slowly gained. I have been eating the right way the whole time. The only difference is the cucumbers, so I was wondering if they have more carbs than I am aware of, and if this could be causing the weight gain. If anybody knows the answer, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks:nod:

[Spruce Goose]

Try: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/index.html

Search on cucumber. You'll have to choose raw or peeled, then how much.

Site can be a bit confusing but solid numbers.

[dvdmon]

Does anyone know how many carbs a cucumber has? I have looked online in the google search, and a few places say an 8 in one has about 2 carbs without the peel. But I'm not sure if they are right. My first week on this diet I lost about 5 lbs, but then for the last 3 days I have slowly gained. I have been eating the right way the whole time. The only difference is the cucumbers, so I was wondering if they have more carbs than I am aware of, and if this could be causing the weight gain. If anybody knows the answer, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks:nod:

Hey there,

Just wanted to let you know that our bodies aren't predictable machines and will not lose the same amount of weight each week even if we eat the exact same thing (and exercise the same). There are lots of hormonal and metabolic processes going on and the body is also reacting to changes in diet and gets more efficient about burning fat for fuel over time. There are also monthly hormonal cycles for women that play a roll. Weight itself is not a very good metric for deducing progress, even on a weekly basis, but certainly not on a daily or even every few day basis. Weight can be influenced greatly just by hydration levels and these have nothing to do with excess body fat, but can throw us off and make use believe we are doign something "wrong."

Cucumbers might have a couple of grams of carbs, but it's extremely doubtful that those 2g of carbs, even if you were eating 5 of them a day, would be the cause of your gain. Cucumbers do have a lot of water in them so it's possible this means you are taking on more water than you normally do and if your body needs that then you are holding onto that water a little more.

I know it can be discouraging gaining a bit especially after losing 5lbs on your first week, but almost everyone loses a bunch of weight in their first week or two, and usually that's ascribed to water weight. Most people just don't lose more than a couple lbs of fat (what you really want to lose) per week. There are exceptions, but mostly this seems to be the case, unless you are creating a huge caloric imbalance by eating very little and excercising a lot.

I would give it a little bit and see if this is a continuing trend and if it is you could look at your caloric intake, since having a very larger caloric intake (while not expending much) can make losing weight very difficult. It may be harder to GAIN weight using LC, but even with LC you can't lose much weight if you are consuming 4,000 calories and not being very active!

[cshelia]

Thank you for your responses. I need to just focus on feeling and being healthier and not the weight loss, it just so hard to get my mind there. Again thank you for responding.:)

[nougat]

hi cshelia

your experience is very similar to mine...
it is sooo discouraging. my lifelong enemy, the scales, have told me i have GAINED 1lb this week....sigh
good luck!

[avnndd]

The scales seem to have a mind of their own. This is my second (or third) time around with PP, and I have learned that you can't rely on any one factor. I have been steadily losing about 2 pounds a week for the past 14 or so weeks. Last night I went out to a Mexican restaurant with some friends, and got sucked in by the freshly made tortilla chips. This morning...not a change either direction. But sometimes, I can eat perfectly on plan, only to wake up with a 3 or 4 pound 'gain.' That gain usually goes away in a few days along with a net loss of a pound or two. We call it the "whoosh," brought to us by the 'whoosh fairy.' As silly as that last part sounds, it IS something you can usually look forward to IF you stay faithfully on plan. Once your body starts burning that fat, it's amazing how consistently the weight comes off. As usual, ymmv (your mileage may vary).

[dvdmon]

Yeah, I've basically sworn off scales. I think they are useful in a very macro way, but the things that can effect weight are so varied that trying to guage cause and effect on anything less than a weekly (or even more) basis, can seriously drive one crazy. Best to eat the way that you are convinced is healthy and also makes you feel good (other than the initial breaking in period if you are just starting the diet), etc.

Our society is so obsessed with numbers when they are only really a tool (one of many) and not something to obsess about as the main weight to measure your progress. I would argue that it is pretty detrimental (although hard to resist) to the ability to stay with a way of eating.

On the other hand, the mind has a great way of tricking itself into eating more - or more of the bad stuff - than what you should by justifying it or just denying the amounts, etc. In that sense it is good to have SOME kind of objective measurement tools like scales (or perhaps better clothes if they are not so loose that you would never be able to tell). I think I've heard the idea mentioned before here or elsewhere and it might or might not be practical for people, but basically the idea would be to give your scale to a good friend and tell them that you only want to weigh yourself every week (or every 2 weeks or whatever). Tell them to hide the scale in their house and only take it out when you come there on that one occasion to weigh yourself. Then you are compelled to only weigh yourself at that one time, and so at least the possibility that you will obsess is less. Of course, if you only weigh yourself once every two or more weeks, that one weigh-in can potentially carry more weight, no pun intended! So you'll still need to guard against the possibility that your body is retaining water or some other issue that might cause a non-loss, smaller-than-expected loss, or even a gain...

[isisrose]

I think another thing to consider, if female who isn't post menopausal, where in your cycle are you? It is very easy to start gaining weight right before and during TOM. You should then pretty much see it leave in the toilet once he comes. :)

The scale doesn't consider if the weight is water, muscle or fat etc... it just tells you how much you weigh with everything inside of you at that moment. If you are gaining muscle at a higher rate than loosing fat for instance the scale will go up but the measuring tape will go down and your clothes will be looser.

Don't rely on just the scale...in a sense it lies.