Count carbs or calories?
gregfrompenn
Posts: 13 Member
I weigh 219 pounds, I was thinking about counting only my carbs and reducing them to 200 grams per day, do you think this is a good weight loss plan?
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Replies
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As long as you're in a calorie deficit, that's fine0
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Nope. Sorry. I eat (most of the time) less than 150g a day, but if I don't keep my calories under 1600, I'm not losing. It's all about calories in/calories out.
You'll get mixed reviews, but even the people that do ketosis (where you keep your carbs at VERY low levels) still count calories.0 -
Counting carbs alone will not cause you to lose weight. You can eat 200 g of carbs a day and still very easily be in a calorie surplus. Count calories - it's easy and effective, and it gives you more flexibility in your diet.0
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Count calories - unless you are in a deficit it will not matter how many or how few carbs you eat, you will not lose weight.
The only think you really need to keep an eye on, Macro nutrient wise, when counting calories is that you get adequate protein.
Outside of that, in a calorie deficit, let the carbs and fat just match your taste buds.0 -
No.
Carbs are irrelevant.
Count calories instead.0 -
Calories.0
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It won't matter if you cut your carbs to 20g a day. You could still eat so much fat and protein that you're eating too many calories.
It's all about calories. You need to count them.
I used to think that all you needed to do was count carbs because I read Atkins book and that's what his book makes you think. It's wrong. Calories count.0 -
Calories but keep a watchful eye on the carbs0
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gregfrompenn wrote: »I weigh 219 pounds, I was thinking about counting only my carbs and reducing them to 200 grams per day, do you think this is a good weight loss plan?
I support low carb diets. However, I doubt 200 is low enough to really impact anything.
If 200 seems low to you, I'd suggest calorie counting, or another approach.
Why did you pick carbs, and why 200?0 -
I picked 200 because I was thinking 2000 calories per day, 40% of that equals 800 calories or 200 grams and I know carbs are my problem0
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Oh, I see.gregfrompenn wrote: »I picked 200 because I was thinking 2000 calories per day, 40% of that equals 800 calories or 200 grams and I know carbs are my problem
So you'd be counting calories too? If not, how would you know if you were at 40%?
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Calories
/thread0 -
Calories is what really matters0
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gregfrompenn wrote: »I weigh 219 pounds, I was thinking about counting only my carbs and reducing them to 200 grams per day, do you think this is a good weight loss plan?
This alone will not make you lose weight. To lose weight you have to be in a calorie deficit which restricting carbs may or may not give you.
Track your total cals.0 -
RaspberryTickleChicken wrote: »Calories but keep a watchful eye on the carbs
Why?0 -
Calories.0
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SergeantSausage wrote: »No.
Carbs are irrelevant.
Count calories instead.
Correct, and straight to the point.
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Carbs are not irrelevant.
In order to lose weight efficiently, you need to efficiently burn fat. This is much easier to do with a low carb diet. This is a very simplified explanation, but with a moderate or high carb diet you're burning more sugar and less fat. How efficiently or inefficiently you burn sugar vs fat also varies greatly from person to person.
You can still lose weight ignoring carb intake if your calorie deficit is enough, but it's harder.
So calories and carbs both count.
And 200 mg of carbs is far from a low level.0 -
Assumptions
1. Your weight is more or less stable with your current eating habits
2. You currently consume more than 200 grams of carbs per day
3. You don't replace your reduced carbs with high calorie food
If the above assumptions are accurate then going to 200 carbs will put you in a calorie deficit which will (eventually) result in weight loss. It's not a bad way to get started as it allows you to ease into a new eating style without trying to "fix" everything in one shot. You will stall eventually since your body needs fewer calories as your weight drops.0 -
So counting calories is simpler than counting carbs? Seems like counting calories requires tracking all your foods while counting carbs can be limited to foods containing carbs.ceoverturf wrote: »Calories
/thread
I'm all for making simple things simple and not complicating them. Calories first.0 -
I found great success counting carbs, and I agree calories do count, I just never counted them. I aim for 20 - 25 Net Carbs a day and eat mostly low carb veggies, meat, eggs, cheese, and nuts. The one gripe I have with Atkins is that they don't make it clear that they're banking on the fact that foods like veggies, meat, butter etc are self-limiting foods. Meaning its really hard to overeat on chicken breasts and green beans. So what a lot of people don't realize is Atkins is a reduced calorie diet and that plays a major part in them losing weight. That and the fact that their body has switched to primarily burning stored fat for fuel, like nsoss said.
So you can overeat on Atkins and that will stall your weight loss. My friend was eating 20 Net Carbs a day but also drinking a cup of heavy cream (heavy cream is limited to no more than 3T a day on Atkins). So she wasn't losing, too many calories in and not enough going out.
I've even noticed with myself that the smaller I get the less calories I burn so I need to watch my portions and/or increase my exercise to keep losing. I still don't count my calories though
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I could eat cheese all day and add very few carbs and still gain weight.
Count calories.0 -
It is called an "illustration" or an "example"
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you can count all the carbs you want...but if you go over calories it won't matter. Your energy (calorie) consumption is the bottom line.0
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gregfrompenn wrote: »I weigh 219 pounds, I was thinking about counting only my carbs and reducing them to 200 grams per day, do you think this is a good weight loss plan?
Calories. Reducing your carbs to 40% of your total is not a bad balance but you also need to know how much of the other 60% is fat, and how much is protein so counting calories and staying within set macro limits is the best way to go.
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An "illustration" or an "example" of what? This thread is concerned with the impact of a modest reduction of carbs. How does one get from that to some sort of extreme diet?
It is called an "illustration" or an "example"0 -
Count both. I'm on a low carb diet. I try to keep my carbs under 30 and my calories 1500 or under. So definitely count both.0
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So counting calories is simpler than counting carbs? Seems like counting calories requires tracking all your foods while counting carbs can be limited to foods containing carbs.ceoverturf wrote: »Calories
/thread
I'm all for making simple things simple and not complicating them. Calories first.
You keep using the term "counting carbs" but I don't think you realize what that actually means. LCHF is more work than simple calorie counting, not less. If you want easy, count calories and eat whatever you want, just less than a set point. Not very efficient, but eventually, you'll get there. All the other options, LCHF/IF/LF/exercise, are what you do in addition to counting calories/reducing intake to make the process more healthy and/or efficient.0 -
An "illustration" or an "example" of what? This thread is concerned with the impact of a modest reduction or carbs. How does one get from that to some sort of extreme diet?
It is called an "illustration" or an "example"
a) cheese has few carbs
b) eating too many calories causes you to gain weight
c) Therefore eating lots of cheese (few carbs but lots of calories) will cause weight gain
It is concentrating the gist of the (count calories, not carbs) theme of the answers into something obvious. is it too early in the morning for you, do you take everything literally, or are you being deliberately obtuse?
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