Calories in/out vs. low carb

bluecheesesticks

I'm trying to do the best thing to lose weight but I'm finding myself confused due to all kinds of different information/research. Is low carb a good solution for weight loss or does it not matter the source of the calories (macronutrient-wise) as long as you are restricting and in a caloric deficit?

ogmomma2012

No matter what eating style you choose, if you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight.

Christine_72

ogmomma2012 wrote: »

No matter what eating style you choose, if you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight.

Yep!

Follow the calories that mfp has given you, and off you go. The only thing that matters in weight loss is creating a calorie deficit.

You can do low carb, and still eat too much and maintain or gain. Low carbing isn't a magical fix, that allows you eat unlimited calories and still lose weight..

RodaRose

Calories count for everything. Some people feel that going low carb helps them with the calories.

galgenstrick

It's easy to eat too many calories in the form of carbs. Especially highly processed carbs, which have almost no satiety. Because of this, carbs have been shunned lately by the media and "experts".

Carbs don't make you fat, eating too much food makes you fat. It's easy to eat too much food when you're not counting calories and eating lots of processed carbs. That's why so many Americans are over weight.

Machka9

It's all about Calories In < Calories Out.

tomatoey

For weight loss, doesn't matter what you eat as long as you're under your goal.

That's only technically, though. In real, human terms,

- Getting enough protein, fat, and fiber does help with satiety, which is important for meeting your daily goal (i.e. not eating too much at the end of the day, because you're hungry, because the 500 calorie muffin you had for breakfast didn't do the trick until lunch). To get a helpful amount of fiber in, you're probably going to have to eat veg and fruit and grains and legumes, which is basically eating somewhat lowish carb compared to how most Americans eat. Getting good macros (and fiber, which comes from veg and fruits) helps with meeting your daily calorie target.

- But having some treats is important for long-term success, because if you love muffins and never have them, you might start to get resentful and throw off the whole diet. Having some treats, including carbs if you like them, can help with sticking with this long enough to see results.

- For health, you obviously want to eat good stuff. Health = real things like the functioning of your digestive tract, even blood sugar, cholesterol (although they're saying dietary cholesterol doesn't matter for blood cholesterol, fiber apparently can help keep it down). Getting micros in helps you stay well. Lower carb eating (compared to how most non-dieters eat) is an easy way to do this.

A lot of successful dieters put most of their focus on healthier stuff (80% is a good goal to shoot for) with less on treats.

But no, you don't have to go low-carb. Lower-carb (than most) can help a lot.

lemurcat12

People way overestimate the carbs in the SAD, which are apparently more like 50%. The problem is total calories, not carbs, but of course you'll want to cut carbs as part of cutting overall calories.

50% is the MFP guidelines, and it's totally fine for weightloss, although I personally like my carbs a bit lower (40%, not a big difference).

The issue with the SAD is food choice, not macros. I again do like my protein a little higher than the average in the SAD, but lately it seems everyone around here is claiming that Americans already eat too much protein, so you will get disagreement on that too.

Beyond getting your minimum fat and protein, feeling satiated, and general personal preference, what matters is calories not macros. After calories I'd say food choice--getting a basically healthy diet. I think most people know what that means, of course, and it's important for health and perhaps satiety, not specifically weight loss (although feeling good tends to help and IMO focusing on health is motivating for many).

stevencloser

You can do low carb if you want to, but you NEED to be in a calorie deficit to lose fat.