(another) great calorie & carbohydrate discussion...
alexpn
Posts: 59 Member
What do we all think about carbs? Do we restrict ourselves to certain grams a day, do you have an upper limit?
I've had success with low carb diets in the past, quite a lot of success actually, but my current program has been much more balanced with calorie control, and eating a wider variety of foods including veggies, fruits, grains and so on with health in mind.
I've lost about 30 kilos so far, I exercise a fair bit, reasonably intensely, and my calories are usually well under 2,000. I am 6ft 8 tall, and somewhere around 115/120kg.
My weight is currently sticking in one place, I can't seem to get it to continue coming down... so I'm thinking about slicing the carbs right down again. I've had this issue for about 3-4 weeks now, the scales will not change!
Does anyone think the low-carb is the way to go overall, or not? Any top tips, amazing low carb recipes?
I'd love to hear people's opinions...
I've had success with low carb diets in the past, quite a lot of success actually, but my current program has been much more balanced with calorie control, and eating a wider variety of foods including veggies, fruits, grains and so on with health in mind.
I've lost about 30 kilos so far, I exercise a fair bit, reasonably intensely, and my calories are usually well under 2,000. I am 6ft 8 tall, and somewhere around 115/120kg.
My weight is currently sticking in one place, I can't seem to get it to continue coming down... so I'm thinking about slicing the carbs right down again. I've had this issue for about 3-4 weeks now, the scales will not change!
Does anyone think the low-carb is the way to go overall, or not? Any top tips, amazing low carb recipes?
I'd love to hear people's opinions...
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Replies
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It's been debated a lot here man, and the response is generally the same.
It's whatever fits your calorie goal, for weight training carbs are essential. They are also essential for sprinters.
There are people on the board that eat keto, and that's fine, I did it with moderate success.
My personally view is that I'd rather run into a helicopter blade than spend the rest of my life looking at rice, pasta and bread like it was an enemy.
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There shouldn't be any debate, just do want works for you.
Low carb high fat works for some, others find calorie counting works best for them, some others use other methods.
How far well under 2000cals are you eating? Are you measuring everything that passes your lips?2 -
I don't think it's anything to debate. Low carb is great for those it works for, as in for those that get a good effect on satiety. When I was losing weight (this time), I cut most of my calories from carbs, just because protein and fat are essential nutrients, while carbs are mainly for energy. But we don't eat nutrients, we eat food (hopefully), and foods with carbs also contain lots of other stuff that is good for us.
Keep in mind that as you lose weight, weight will come off slower and slower because your body uses less energy and has less fat stores to take energy from. Macro split will not influence this. It may deplete some water weight, though. Don't look for tips and recipes, focus on tightening up your logging.1 -
robs_ready wrote: »
My personally view is that I'd rather run into a helicopter blade than spend the rest of my life looking at rice, pasta and bread like it was an enemy.
I think that's where I'm at with it to be honest, my head is very much geared into the science side now - calories/out and I don't want to have to exclude myself from occasional bread, potatoes whatever BUT there's no denying that my body just seems to prefer living on meat and good fats, and I get more consistent weight readings on the scales when I'm keeping carb levels round about 20-40g a day.
I've just been checking my food diary now, whilst I'm eating lots of apples, nectarines, sweet potato etc - it's great for my calorie totals in terms of quantity and staying satisfied - but I can see my carb levels are massive!1 -
tiptoethruthetulips wrote: »There shouldn't be any debate, just do want works for you.
Low carb high fat works for some, others find calorie counting works best for them, some others use other methods.
How far well under 2000cals are you eating? Are you measuring everything that passes your lips?
I'm trying to currently stay around 1500-1700 calories a day, and yes, obviously recording my food on here... but even though I am gradually reducing these figures over time, my weight is resisting change.0 -
changed the thread title ;-)0
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Carbs are not the enemy.
Why are you eating well below 2000 cals? I'm a 5'2 female and my maintenance cals are 2100, so as a 6'8 active male you should be eating more than that and seeing results. Are you logging accurately using a food scale?1 -
robs_ready wrote: »
My personally view is that I'd rather run into a helicopter blade than spend the rest of my life looking at rice, pasta and bread like it was an enemy.
I think that's where I'm at with it to be honest, my head is very much geared into the science side now - calories/out and I don't want to have to exclude myself from occasional bread, potatoes whatever BUT there's no denying that my body just seems to prefer living on meat and good fats, and I get more consistent weight readings on the scales when I'm keeping carb levels round about 20-40g a day.
I've just been checking my food diary now, whilst I'm eating lots of apples, nectarines, sweet potato etc - it's great for my calorie totals in terms of quantity and staying satisfied - but I can see my carb levels are massive!
Fats from eggs, fish and nuts are essential to the body and I totally agree. But carbs from rice and vegetables are very different to say, carbs from a donut.
20-40g of carbs a day is very difficult to maintain, especially given that one apple has 8g of carbs in.2 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Carbs are not the enemy.
Why are you eating well below 2000 cals? I'm a 5'2 female and my maintenance cals are 2100, so as a 6'8 active male you should be eating more than that and seeing results. Are you logging accurately using a food scale?
I'm eating these levels just literally experimenting with my intake to see what it does to my energy levels at home, at the gym, and just to see what effect it has on my weight. I haven't been using scales up until the last couple of weeks, but since getting on board with MFP, I'm becoming super OCD now... But yeah, you're not the first person to mention calories levels being too low.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Carbs are not the enemy.
Why are you eating well below 2000 cals? I'm a 5'2 female and my maintenance cals are 2100, so as a 6'8 active male you should be eating more than that and seeing results. Are you logging accurately using a food scale?
Height is not necessarily relative to calorie consumption. If you're active I.e: you run 5 times a week, your maintenance is going to be slightly larger than say a 6.5ft man who sits at a computer all day.0 -
robs_ready wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »Carbs are not the enemy.
Why are you eating well below 2000 cals? I'm a 5'2 female and my maintenance cals are 2100, so as a 6'8 active male you should be eating more than that and seeing results. Are you logging accurately using a food scale?
Height is not necessarily relative to calorie consumption. If you're active I.e: you run 5 times a week, your maintenance is going to be slightly larger than say a 6.5ft man who sits at a computer all day.
He said he exercises strenuously.0 -
This is highly individualized. Some are less hungry when they restrict carbs, others are the other way around. Calories are the most important piece of the puzzle, carbs (and any other macro or food) are just for finetuning appetite and adherence. Now if your chosen
Edit: One thing low carb has over any other macro distribution is that it controls for water weight. The fluctuations aren't as violent. If you are able to tune out these fluctuations, within the same calories any macro distribution produces comparable results.
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Yeah, my last TDEE/BMR report was basically saying BMR 2,250 and TDEE 2700... obviously I am trying to lose weight currently, so I've taken 500 calories off the BMR daily figure to create a 3,500 calorie/1 pound deficit over the week (7x500). But even with this, and my current exercise levels, my weight is still sticking where it is..0
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What do we all think about carbs? Do we restrict ourselves to certain grams a day, do you have an upper limit?
I've had success with low carb diets in the past, quite a lot of success actually, but my current program has been much more balanced with calorie control, and eating a wider variety of foods including veggies, fruits, grains and so on with health in mind.
I've lost about 30 kilos so far, I exercise a fair bit, reasonably intensely, and my calories are usually well under 2,000. I am 6ft 8 tall, and somewhere around 115/120kg.
My weight is currently sticking in one place, I can't seem to get it to continue coming down... so I'm thinking about slicing the carbs right down again. I've had this issue for about 3-4 weeks now, the scales will not change!
Does anyone think the low-carb is the way to go overall, or not? Any top tips, amazing low carb recipes?
I'd love to hear people's opinions...
I think that carbs are fine but different amounts work best for different people. Some carb foods have lots of calories and sodium for not much nutrition or fiber so you might want to choose better carbs most of the time.
I've found that if I am hitting my calorie goal and protein goal then I am naturally moderating my carb consumption. I don't worry about it.
Are you using a food scale? If not get a digital food scale and weigh your food. Log everything you consume as accurately as you can and see if that helps. If you are maintaining your weight for weeks then you are consuming more than 2,000 calories.0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »robs_ready wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »Carbs are not the enemy.
Why are you eating well below 2000 cals? I'm a 5'2 female and my maintenance cals are 2100, so as a 6'8 active male you should be eating more than that and seeing results. Are you logging accurately using a food scale?
Height is not necessarily relative to calorie consumption. If you're active I.e: you run 5 times a week, your maintenance is going to be slightly larger than say a 6.5ft man who sits at a computer all day.
He said he exercises strenuously.
He did indeed my bad
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I try to exercise strenously! Sometimes I think my food control is more strenuous than my exercise..0
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Yeah, my last TDEE/BMR report was basically saying BMR 2,250 and TDEE 2700... obviously I am trying to lose weight currently, so I've taken 500 calories off the BMR daily figure to create a 3,500 calorie/1 pound deficit over the week (7x500). But even with this, and my current exercise levels, my weight is still sticking where it is..
That's where you are going wrong - if you want to lose at 1lb/week take 500cal off your TDEE not your BMR.
Whatever macro proportions you choose your energy levels will plummet after a while on such a massive deficit.
As for carbs - personally I thrive on them. They are the fuel for my exercise regime.
My only limit is on my calorie goal after I've hit my protein and fat minimum goals.
Doesn't mean everyone will thrive on a high carb diet - that's where personal choice, preferences and personal needs come in.3 -
Yeah, my last TDEE/BMR report was basically saying BMR 2,250 and TDEE 2700... obviously I am trying to lose weight currently, so I've taken 500 calories off the BMR daily figure to create a 3,500 calorie/1 pound deficit over the week (7x500). But even with this, and my current exercise levels, my weight is still sticking where it is..
That's where you are going wrong - if you want to lose at 1lb/week take 500cal off your TDEE not your BMR.
So 2,100 per day is pretty much definitive? - this is what someone else said yesterday.0 -
Yeah, my last TDEE/BMR report was basically saying BMR 2,250 and TDEE 2700... obviously I am trying to lose weight currently, so I've taken 500 calories off the BMR daily figure to create a 3,500 calorie/1 pound deficit over the week (7x500). But even with this, and my current exercise levels, my weight is still sticking where it is..
I still think that TDEE sounds low for someone 6'8 and exercising regularly... Where did you get that figure from? Regardless, the 500 cal deficit should be from TDEE not BMR.
Tighten up the logging and make sure you are using a food scale. Keep at it for a few more weeks with a higher, but more accurate calorie count and see what happens.
Cutting carbs will not necessarily make you lose more weight past initial water weight, it is just a way of reaching a calorie deficit. If you find if sustainable and like eating that way you certainly can restrict your carbs but it's not a guarantee of weight loss, only a calorie deficit is required.2 -
Yeah, my last TDEE/BMR report was basically saying BMR 2,250 and TDEE 2700... obviously I am trying to lose weight currently, so I've taken 500 calories off the BMR daily figure to create a 3,500 calorie/1 pound deficit over the week (7x500). But even with this, and my current exercise levels, my weight is still sticking where it is..
That's where you are going wrong - if you want to lose at 1lb/week take 500cal off your TDEE not your BMR.
So 2,100 per day is pretty much definitive? - this is what someone else said yesterday.
Sounds extraordinarily low to me for your size!
You are using a TDEE calculator and not MyFitnessPal to get that number I hope?
MFP isn't a TDEE calculator so its goals are plus exercise calories whereas TDEE includes an average daily amount of exercise calories.0 -
Agreed. That sounds more like a sedentary TDEE for his size. Did the OP say how much they weigh?
Either way, eat more OP.
As for carbs... I think most people agree that calories are #1. Those have to be in check first. After that, macro balance become very personal and are largely influenced by satiety, energy, training plans, and preference. I'm very active and eat 3-400 grams of carbs every day. With some of them being yummy, refined goodness.
When it comes down to it, assuming a reasonable macro breakdown, calories and training will be 98% of the equation on what happens to your weight and body composition.
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I've used an online TDEE calculator that was recommended via another site that I use.0
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Agreed. That sounds more like a sedentary TDEE for his size. Did the OP say how much they weigh?
Either way, eat more OP.
As for carbs... I think most people agree that calories are #1. Those have to be in check first. After that, macro balance become very personal and are largely influenced by satiety, energy, training plans, and preference. I'm very active and eat 3-400 grams of carbs every day. With some of them being yummy, refined goodness.
When it comes down to it, assuming a reasonable macro breakdown, calories and training will be 98% of the equation on what happens to your weight and body composition.
Currently 119kg (was 147.6kg back in March this year)0 -
I seem to get different stats for every calculator site I use. Some factor in day to day activity levels on top of exercise... I have a sedentary job. I should say I'm also 41 years old which I think would send the figures down?0
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I've used an online TDEE calculator that was recommended via another site that I use.
Suggest you try a few others then - I just quickly dialled in:
6'8, 119kg, age 25 (guess) and sedentary (little or no exercise) and got 2800 as your TDEE.
Moderate exercise (3-5 sessions a week) came up to 3600.1 -
I wish I was 25! 41...
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Well you look younger in your avatar fwiw 0
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What do we all think about carbs? Do we restrict ourselves to certain grams a day, do you have an upper limit?
I don't currently have an upper limit, but I do have a minimum protein amount and max calorie amount (I don't have any set numbers I bother with for fat, as I get plenty without trying, but I do focus on including certain sources of fat in my diet. I'm more interested in choices within the macros currently, than how much of each macro I get (again, beyond a certain level of protein).Does anyone think the low-carb is the way to go overall, or not?
It's a good way to go for some people, typically those who struggle with hunger or cravings or who tend to gravitate to higher cal/lower nutrient carbs primarily (although many of these are really as much fat as carbs). If you think you are hitting your calorie numbers without problem (and I agree with others on the TDEE conversation, so am not addressing that), carb percentage is not the issue, although it works for some simply because it's easier for them than counting calories and they end up with a deficit just by making that change.
In the short term adding carbs will add water weight and going low carb will drop water weight. This is why people who do low carb to lose but with the plan to not continue low carb at maintenance are advised to cut a bit lower than their goal and then add carbs back in somewhat gradually.1
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