Carbs

MajorMommy4

I am 5'0"
I currently weigh 118lbs
I've lost just over 100lbs. I'm terrified of gaining it back. I'm good with my calories and protein etc but wondering what everyone thinks in terms of carbohydrates? I have PCOS and feel like I'm a little sensitive to them. How many grams a day would you think I should be consuming to maintain the weight I am at?
TIA

JeromeBarry1

If your most recent pounds have been lost slowly, review your food diary and make only very slight adjustments as you search for stability.

LiftHeavyThings27105

Hey @MajorMommy4 first of all CONGRATS on the 100lbs weight loss. That is quite an accomplishment.


I know what PCOS is but I do not know enough about it to give any advice to someone with it. So, please be very very very clear when reading my reply that I AM NOT qualified to be saying anything. I will educate myself....but at the moment....not qualified.

So, if you were 30 years old....your TDEE would look like this:

Basal Metabolic Rate 1,177 calories per day
Sedentary 1,412 calories per day
Light Exercise 1,618 calories per day
Moderate Exercise 1,824 calories per day
Heavy Exercise 2,030 calories per day
Athlete 2,236 calories per day

So, assuming a "Light Exercise" Physical Activity Level - and totally using this PAL as an example - then you would need to have a caloric intake of 1,618 calories a day to maintain your current weight. So, to be clear - these numbers are from a TDEE calculator based on gender, age, height, weight and PAL. This is NOT from mfp where you would need to add back your workout calories. The numbers above are it! Well, again, as I have stated 1,000 times....these numbers are a starting point. You need to find what works for you.....but these numbers should be (generally speaking) somewhat close and a great starting point.

So, if you kept your protein intake around 115g that gives you 460 calories. You have 1,158 calories left for the day. So, let's break down your fats and carbs breakdown.

Let's just assume 30% of your caloric intake for fat is what you think is good. Not a bad starting point. So, if you are consuming 1,618 calories a day then 30% of that is 485 calories. Well, close enough, right? That translates to 54g of Fats each day.

So, now we know your Protein (115g) and your Fats (54g) per day. We also know that of the 1,618 calories a day you have accounted for 945 (460 + 485). That leaves 673 calories a day. That translates to 168g of Carbs a day.

So, your breakdown looks like this:

Protein: 115g
Fats: 54g
Carbs: 168g

So, this would be a possible break down of both caloric intake as well as macro-nutrients with the goal of maintenance. Generally speaking.

I do not know if 168g of Carbs a day are too much for you. Some would suggest that if you are in maintenance then you want to stay right around 150g of Carbs. What works best for you? That is what is important here.

What does your current breakdown look like?

Others would also likely add that if you are at maintenance that you might want to increase your protein intake (and I would not disagree with that one bit). So, a protein intake of 125g a day would likely be more realistic for you. I intentionally used 115g in the above sample breakdown. Again, based on what you provided (and my 'assumption' that you are 30 years old)....If you are in a cut you might want to increase the protein intake yet a little bit more....

sijomial

I've lost just over 100lbs.
Wow - well done!

I'm terrified of gaining it back.
Terror is an emotion - you need to override it with logic.....
You can't accidentally eat a surplus of 350,000 calories.
You set a maintenance weight range, if you exceed that range you react - that's your safety net.
The more realistic fear is a slow creep over an extended period of time or a quick short term gain (holidays for example). It's noticing those events and dealing with it that keeps you on track long term.

I'm good with my calories and protein etc but wondering what everyone thinks in terms of carbohydrates?
Personally I love them - but I'm not you.
The foods that are carbs (or predominately made up of carbs) include a hell of a lot of very healthy foods full of nutrients. Most of the healthiest populations have high carb diets.
But there's also a lot of pretty poor carb choices with low nutrition and low satiety that are easy to overeat.

I have PCOS and feel like I'm a little sensitive to them.
Not something I know about. (Is there a MFP group for PCOS sufferers?)

How many grams a day would you think I should be consuming to maintain the weight I am at?
Your weight maintenance is a function of calories and not carbs. The macro and food choices you make are personal according to your tastes and needs but it's the overall calorie balance that determines weight loss, gain or maintenance.
Extreme example: I ate over 600g of carbs one day and ended up in a significant calorie deficit, I would still have lost weight that day.
My personal view is that setting rigid goals in grams or percentages is a horrible thing to do when you are maintaining - that would feel like a permanent and restrictive diet to me. It's also completely unnecessary, bodies are very adaptable and as long as you are hitting minimums for health you can be very flexible.

Your recent rate of loss is the best guide to how many more calories you will need to maintain. Make small adjustments and be patient.

sijomial

@CWShultz27105

Others would also likely add that if you are at maintenance that you might want to increase your protein intake (and I would not disagree with that one bit)

Protein needs actually decrease at maintenance as one of the drivers of increasing protein (muscle sparing when in a calorie deficit) has been removed.
There's other good reasons to keep protein higher than RDA of course. Strength training or endurance cardio for example. Plus personal preference in food choices of course.

TimothyFish

Don't be afraid of carbs. As long as you eat only the number of calories you burn you could literally eat nothing but carbs and not gain weight.

amusedmonkey

Congratulations on losing the weight. That's such an accomplishment!

Don't be terrified. Weight gain does not happen suddenly and by accident. You won't wake up one day 50 pounds heavier because you had a high calorie day. You need to consistently overeat to see any meaningful weight gain, and that's the beauty of it. As soon as you notice a creep up you can tighten your logging and lower your calories to reverse it. Set up a range for yourself and operate within it. For example, if you set a range between 115-125 as soon as you see a number that is higher than 125 even by one ounce halt immediately and start dieting again until you're back down within that range.

I have PCOS too and some types of it are characterized with high cortisol. If your blood sugar is okay but cortisol is not, your focus should be to minimize stress, including stress induced by being afraid of carbs. Weight management is all about calories. Setting your level of carbs has little to do with weight management and more to do with pre-existing conditions like high blood sugar, or preferences like being able to sustain your desired calories better on a lower carb diet (which is not always the case for everyone). For now, weight maintenance (keeping a level of calories that won't cause you to gain weight) is the most important thing for PCOS, followed by being active. My personal priority looks like this: calories > exercise > stress. Carbs aren't even on my priority meter because reducing them messes up with all 3 PCOS priorities.

What's a good level of carbs for you? Any level that you are comfortable with and can sustain within your calorie level. To maintain your current weight you need a certain number of calories, everything else (including carbs) is just things that you feel help you stay within that level of calories consistently and relatively easily.