How much of my diet should be carbs

caitlinoreilly1

What % of carbs should I eat on MFP to lose weight but not crave carbs all day?

Gallowmere1984

This is impossible to answer without being in your head.

kommodevaran

That's up to you to find out. Eating too much as well as eating too little of something can increase cravings.

Investigate WHAT it is that you crave - "carbs" is sugar, starch and fiber, and are in a wide range of different foods - for instance fruit, vegetables, milk, nuts, chocolate, potatoes, bread, rice, pasta.

Make sure you are getting in all the nutrition you need every day. A variety of fresh, whole foods takes care of this. Even tiny deficiencies can create cravings in susceptible individuals. Feelings of "missing out" also tend to create cravings, so eat food you like.

Find out if your cravings come from just a lack of structure and bad habits - if you eat all the time, you'll tend to want to eat all the time.

Lessen the burden by protecting yourself from temptation. Don't buy foods you don't intend to eat, don't sit next to the candy jar at work if you have such a thing, don't volunteer to bake for a cake sale, things like that, avoid as much as possible whatever seems to trigger cravings.

But don't demonize foods, either. All foods can be eaten in moderation. You have to find out what "moderation" means to you.

Oh, I forgot: You lose weight by eating less than you burn - a sustained calorie deficit - not by any magical weight loss macro split.

TavistockToad

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

This is impossible to answer without being in your head.

This!

Personally for me it's about 40% but then I have never craved carbs so....

crzycatlady1

In terms of weight loss the only thing that matters is calories. There's no magical macros breakdown, it will vary greatly from person to person based on satiety levels etc. Some do better with higher fat and others, like me, do better with higher carbs.

rainbowbow

that's purely objective.

According to the USDA between 40-65% is an acceptable range.

zamphir66

rainbowbow wrote: »

that's purely objective.

Sorry, "Subjective" is the word you're looking for there. Subjective.

Pick a category, crzycatlady1.

rainbowbow

zamphir66 wrote: »

rainbowbow wrote: »

that's purely objective.

Sorry, "Subjective" is the word you're looking for there. Subjective.

Pick a category, crzycatlady1.

SUBJECTIVE

PURELY SUBJECTIVE****

I was on my phone and not paying attention.

kshama2001

If I get my carbs from foods like rice and beans, I don't have cravings. However, I have to be careful with carbs that come from flour and sugar. My (fit) vegan friends eat a lot more carbs than I do, but a lot of them come from legumes, which have a lot of fiber.

40 to 45% carbs is a good amount for me, as long as that includes foods with fiber and I hit my fiber goal. (I swapped out Sodium and Sugar for Fiber and Iron (I'm anemic.))

GottaBurnEmAll

You really have to experiment and find out what works for you. And yes, as kshama said, you might find some carbs like whole grains, legumes, and tubers don't trigger cravings while sweets do. You may even find it's only certain sweets that are problems.

dragon_girl26

I don't pay too much attention to the macros at this point, but my split tends to fall at 50 carbs/30 fat/ 20 protein, and that seems to work well for me. As long as I make the focus on eating a balanced diet each day, I can hit those targets pretty easily.

kgirlhart

You are the only one who can say what your personal carb ratio should be. It will be trial and error to figure it out. I have my macros set at the default of 50/20/30, c/p/f. I usually end up with 40-50% carbs. I really only focus on Protein and let carbs and fats fall where they may.

Traveler120

For me to not crave carbs, I need to be at about 75%. You need to figure it out yourself. There's no magic number.

JaydedMiss

majority of my diet is carbs XD