Send help.

This was me when I went vegetarian and realized that it wasn't the meat making me fat, it was all the carbs and bread that I'm still addicted to

Same... turns out, milkshakes and pizza (with the right toppings) are vegetarian, and eating them multiple times a week will, in fact, expand your waistline.

Why avoid carbs though?

Genuine question.
If we're talking bad carbs like sugar, that only make you crave more bad carbs, thus pushing you into a calorie surplus, then yes, avoid those.

But carbs in general? Why avoid them?

In the end carbs are just sugars of different complexity. For example add some saliva to starch and you got glucose. Hence white bread, pasta and even potatoes are really bad for your blood sugar.
You don't have to avoid them, but carbs are not necessarily part of a healthy and balanced diet. Their only benefit is that they are cheap sources of energy. If you don't eat carbs the body has to use fat to metabolize sugar which works just as well.
It is useful to avoid carbs for a diet, because you can remove a lot of calories from any meal by replacing them with mostly vegetables without reducing the portion size at all. Also it helps with cravings a lot.
- I think they are super useful as sources of energy for an active lifestyle that includes strenght and hypertrophy training.
  Which in turn is something you should do anyway if you want to lose weight. Well, bodyfat specifically.
- To effectively diet you have to reduce the amount you eat. You can do this through calorie restriction, time restriction, or food restriction. Low carb diets are a form of food restriction that are particularly effective because dropping carbs also drops hunger levels so it is easier to sustain the restriction.
- Yeah okay, that should go without saying. If something is genuinely bad for a person for whatever reason, then of course they should avoid it.
Not all carbs are made the same. But generally your body was never built to consume pure carbs. Our bodies are built on fats.
Drinking a can of coke when you're hungry and seeing yourself gets more hungry. Eat 2 avocados and you can probably skip the next meal.
- Not all carbs are made the same
  Yeah, that's my point. Take some pasta with tuna and you have a meal that
  Consistently supplies energy for the next hours
  Satiates you with high quality protein
  Banger meal for when I need to be out and chop wood all day
- It wasn't build to consume pure fats either. A healthy mix of complex carbs, protein and fats release energy over a long period of time and satiate the stomach. Cutting sugar, sweeteners and fatty snacks does a lot to fix addictive food behaviour, but it's hard.
  Fun fact, all your body fat you want to get rid of has to leave through your breath.

As someone who is gluten intolerant this picture scares me

Have you tried Fathead Pizza Dough? It's keto-friendly (and probably many other similar diets-friendly).

Damn thank you! Didn't even think of making my own keto pizza dough
Can confirm. This shit SLAPS.
When I was doing that stuff I used a Cauliflower pizza base. Either way there is so much protein / fiber in the base you end up feeling full after just a few slices.

I have up carbs once. It was awful. All I could think about was bread. Day and night it consumed my every thought. Started thinking about baking bread, started reading reviews on bread makers...

I made these cookies but mixing like 3/4 almond flour and 1/3 keto protein powder so like this stuff you would use for a workout and then you add in softened butter so like not so like warm then you would add in baking soda and then add monk fruit erythritol blend then you would like add in an egg mix it up and then you're done but I like to add in is Lily's white chocolate and crushed walnuts but you can add in whatever you like then divvy out the batter onto a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper then put in the oven at 310 f wait for 15 minutes make sure you stick it with the toothpick and if it comes out clean it's done put in the fridge and after it's cooled down it's ready to eat

Oh wow really?
- yep
- Yep