"Do Carbs make me fat"

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Replies

  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    Carbs help build this bod.. so for me... no.

    This.
  • thelovelyLIZ
    thelovelyLIZ Posts: 1,227 Member
    Noooooooo. If It Fits Your Macros and you are eating at a deficit you'll lose weight.

    I roll my eyes every time I hear this because at my first go at losing weight I was not restricting carbs in anyway. Oatmeal for breakfast, lunch was usually some sort of quinoa salad with beans and veggies or maybe avo toast with eggs. Dinner was typically balanced with a protein, with a grain and vegetable. I was eating mostly vegetarian so eating high protein without supplements like whey powder was hard, so I ended up eating pretty close to the way MFP recommends with the majority going to carbs. It's worth mentioning I was also half marathon training so I needed all those carbs but if you're at all active carbs aren't going to hurt you.
  • melaniedscott
    melaniedscott Posts: 1,465 Member
    edited December 2016

    The term I think you might be after is refined carbs. Simple carbs include things like apples. Complex carbs include things like dreaded white bread.

    Won't comment on insulin resistance, but it seems you aren't totally up on complex vs simple. Simple just means it has one or two sugars, so apples are, yes, simple, but so is table sugar. It means we process them quickly, creating an energy spike.

    Complex carbs have three or more. Yes, white bread is considered complex, but so is whole wheat or whole grain bread and many veggies.

    The key is glycemic index tells us how quickly the food raises our blood sugar. Low gi raises our blood sugar more slowly than high gi foods. Apples are low gi, wheat bread and whole grains are medium and white bread, highly processed grains, candy and such are high. You feel fuller longer with low/med gi foods because they take longer to digest because of fiber content.

    Even so, they're not good or bad, they don't make you fat or thin, etc. Too many high gi foods can spike your blood sugar fast, which can be less healthy, esp. if you're diabetic.

    For those of you interested in sources, Harvard School of Public Health.

    And, for the original question, no. Eating too much makes you fat. Whether is is carbs or fat or protien, candy or bread or fruit, beef or pork or chicken or whatever, too much is too much. And without proper fiber, we don't eliminate properly, which gets unpleasant and ugly really fast.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Lettuce will make you fat if you eat enough...along with literally every food that ever existed.
  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
    Hormones mean nothing! Neurotransmitters mean nothing!
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    kirkor wrote: »
    Hormones mean nothing! Neurotransmitters mean nothing!
    Let me guess, you're low carb or keto?

    No matter how it's cut, carbs do not cause weight gain. ;)
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Modern farm animals are pretty lean. We say "fatten them up" but livestock are also putting on a pretty decent layer of muscle on that corn diet.
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    Absolutely it's excess calories that makes you fat.

    But for me personally, when I overeat, carbs are guaranteed to be involved.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    These were the main culprits in my weight gain :

    Popcorn
    pretzels
    chocolate biscuits
    breakfast cereal
    pasta
    pastries

    Yes they're all carby foods, and for me carbs beget more carbs. But if I'm to be totally honest, i got fat because i ate too many calories, it's not the carbs fault, i just lack willpower around certain foods.
    And yes, if i reduce carbs my cravings and appetite reduce too. I have more self control around protein and fat type foods. Whereas one bowl of cereal will lead to another, one donut will turn in to two.

    Does my body and mind react like a piglet when i eat carbs, is it lack of self control and willpower, or is it a smattering of all of them...


  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    For me? Yeah. Carbs make me fat.

    When carbs go up, my fat intake goes down and my hunger goes up. I am hungrier when I eat more carbs.

    I'm also more fatigued when I eat more carbs and experience large blood glucose swings (reactive hypoglycemia) which also drives my appetite.

    I can't ignore hunger and cravings that are present so much when I eat higher carbs. I can't really ignore the shakes and cold sweats from plummeting BG every 2 hours after I ate. I ate more for those reasons. I gained weight.

    Plus I gained about 20lbs in the year after I became insulin resistant (most likely due to steroids to treat autoimmune issues). I was not aware that I was eating 200 kcal more per day but I must have. Nothing else in my life changed but my higher levels of insulin. I ate moderate to high carb so I'm guessing my insulin was pretty high. Did it help me store fat more effectively? Make me hungrier and eat more? Coincidence? Who knows. I'll never eat that way again so I can't test it.

    If I eat very few carbs, I am less hungry, more energetic, and healthier. All of that leads to weight loss. I also seem to have the CO of CICO slightly raised when I avoid many carbs, and drop when I eat a lot of carbs.

    Carbs lead to weight gain for me. YMMV.
  • HappyGrape
    HappyGrape Posts: 436 Member
    absolutely! Carbs can make you fat. Fat can make you fat. Protein can make you fat. If you overeat on any of them often yes, they will make you fat

  • BarryBrownFitness
    BarryBrownFitness Posts: 18 Member
    nvmomketo wrote: »
    For me? Yeah. Carbs make me fat.

    When carbs go up, my fat intake goes down and my hunger goes up. I am hungrier when I eat more carbs.

    I'm also more fatigued when I eat more carbs and experience large blood glucose swings (reactive hypoglycemia) which also drives my appetite.

    I can't ignore hunger and cravings that are present so much when I eat higher carbs. I can't really ignore the shakes and cold sweats from plummeting BG every 2 hours after I ate. I ate more for those reasons. I gained weight.

    Plus I gained about 20lbs in the year after I became insulin resistant (most likely due to steroids to treat autoimmune issues). I was not aware that I was eating 200 kcal more per day but I must have. Nothing else in my life changed but my higher levels of insulin. I ate moderate to high carb so I'm guessing my insulin was pretty high. Did it help me store fat more effectively? Make me hungrier and eat more? Coincidence? Who knows. I'll never eat that way again so I can't test it.

    If I eat very few carbs, I am less hungry, more energetic, and healthier. All of that leads to weight loss. I also seem to have the CO of CICO slightly raised when I avoid many carbs, and drop when I eat a lot of carbs.

    Carbs lead to weight gain for me. YMMV.

    I would have to ask tho how many calories are you taking in? When you compare a low carb diet to a high carbs diet and both have the same amount of calories matched then there shouldn't be a difference.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,288 Member
    Umm what does this sentence mean?

    How are carbs, or any macro, or any inanimate matter, socially redeeming or not ???

    anyway I successfully lost weight without any cutting down of carbs - other than cutting down to reach my right calorie level
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »

    The term I think you might be after is refined carbs. Simple carbs include things like apples. Complex carbs include things like dreaded white bread.

    Won't comment on insulin resistance, but it seems you aren't totally up on complex vs simple. Simple just means it has one or two sugars, so apples are, yes, simple, but so is table sugar. It means we process them quickly, creating an energy spike.

    Complex carbs have three or more. Yes, white bread is considered complex, but so is whole wheat or whole grain bread and many veggies.

    Umm, not sure why you think this is different from what BurnEm said. Weird.

    And as you can see by the examples, being "simple" or "complex" has nothing to do with how satiating the food that contains the carbs is or how nutritious, so the idea that we should avoid simple carbs and eat complex is not nutritionally sound advice.

    As for how quickly the carbs are digested, that has to do with a variety of things, including especially what else is eaten with them.
    The key is glycemic index tells us how quickly the food raises our blood sugar. Low gi raises our blood sugar more slowly than high gi foods.

    This is not the same as simple vs. complex carbs. It is also (1) irrelevant (it is GL that matters -- fruit actually tends to have high GI, as do carrots, but not GL), (2) even GL of an individual food is irrelevant if you eat it with other foods -- the meal as a whole is what matters, and (3) even still generally irrelevant unless you have a problem with insulin resistance, which many of us do not.

    They have tried to make a connection with GI and satiety and generally failed (and satiety is pretty individual). For example, roasted potatoes have a high GI, but tend to score high on satiety tests.

    I know this is something people pick up from all kinds of sources and it's a simplistic way to divide between foods, but it really is way over-emphasized. If you eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and other whole food carbs, as well as a nice balance with healthy fats and protein, the diet as a whole won't be particularly high GI, and that seems way more evidence-based than obsessing about individual foods as if they were eaten alone.

    FB_IMG_1440803945039.jpg?fit=480%2C552
  • jlemoore
    jlemoore Posts: 702 Member
    I would love to find out we're it came from "Carbs make you fat"

    Check out Food Matters on Netflix.
  • andyluvv
    andyluvv Posts: 281 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »

    The term I think you might be after is refined carbs. Simple carbs include things like apples. Complex carbs include things like dreaded white bread.

    Won't comment on insulin resistance, but it seems you aren't totally up on complex vs simple. Simple just means it has one or two sugars, so apples are, yes, simple, but so is table sugar. It means we process them quickly, creating an energy spike.

    Complex carbs have three or more. Yes, white bread is considered complex, but so is whole wheat or whole grain bread and many veggies.

    Umm, not sure why you think this is different from what BurnEm said. Weird.

    And as you can see by the examples, being "simple" or "complex" has nothing to do with how satiating the food that contains the carbs is or how nutritious, so the idea that we should avoid simple carbs and eat complex is not nutritionally sound advice.

    As for how quickly the carbs are digested, that has to do with a variety of things, including especially what else is eaten with them.
    The key is glycemic index tells us how quickly the food raises our blood sugar. Low gi raises our blood sugar more slowly than high gi foods.

    This is not the same as simple vs. complex carbs. It is also (1) irrelevant (it is GL that matters -- fruit actually tends to have high GI, as do carrots, but not GL), (2) even GL of an individual food is irrelevant if you eat it with other foods -- the meal as a whole is what matters, and (3) even still generally irrelevant unless you have a problem with insulin resistance, which many of us do not.

    They have tried to make a connection with GI and satiety and generally failed (and satiety is pretty individual). For example, roasted potatoes have a high GI, but tend to score high on satiety tests.

    I know this is something people pick up from all kinds of sources and it's a simplistic way to divide between foods, but it really is way over-emphasized. If you eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and other whole food carbs, as well as a nice balance with healthy fats and protein, the diet as a whole won't be particularly high GI, and that seems way more evidence-based than obsessing about individual foods as if they were eaten alone.

    FB_IMG_1440803945039.jpg?fit=480%2C552

    I have something to add to this.
    I tried to go "fully raw" and avoided most proper starchy carbs from my diet. No bread, potatoes, crisps...
    Or at least I'd avoid them really badly.

    I got to a point where I've been constantly hungry every couple of hours.
    Eventually my diet became vegetables and protein mostly...and then I'd go into a binge, feel horrible and the cycle would restart.

    I've been seeing a therapist for this who said my body was "starving". I'm quite active (around 20 km of walking a day!) and he said my diet was just not sustainable for my activity level/
    I've been adding carbs and it has been working...it seems to help me feel less hungry for a little while longer.

    Anyone else with similar experience/feedback?
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »

    The term I think you might be after is refined carbs. Simple carbs include things like apples. Complex carbs include things like dreaded white bread.

    Won't comment on insulin resistance, but it seems you aren't totally up on complex vs simple. Simple just means it has one or two sugars, so apples are, yes, simple, but so is table sugar. It means we process them quickly, creating an energy spike.

    Complex carbs have three or more. Yes, white bread is considered complex, but so is whole wheat or whole grain bread and many veggies.

    Umm, not sure why you think this is different from what BurnEm said. Weird.

    And as you can see by the examples, being "simple" or "complex" has nothing to do with how satiating the food that contains the carbs is or how nutritious, so the idea that we should avoid simple carbs and eat complex is not nutritionally sound advice.

    As for how quickly the carbs are digested, that has to do with a variety of things, including especially what else is eaten with them.
    The key is glycemic index tells us how quickly the food raises our blood sugar. Low gi raises our blood sugar more slowly than high gi foods.

    This is not the same as simple vs. complex carbs. It is also (1) irrelevant (it is GL that matters -- fruit actually tends to have high GI, as do carrots, but not GL), (2) even GL of an individual food is irrelevant if you eat it with other foods -- the meal as a whole is what matters, and (3) even still generally irrelevant unless you have a problem with insulin resistance, which many of us do not.

    They have tried to make a connection with GI and satiety and generally failed (and satiety is pretty individual). For example, roasted potatoes have a high GI, but tend to score high on satiety tests.

    I know this is something people pick up from all kinds of sources and it's a simplistic way to divide between foods, but it really is way over-emphasized. If you eat a healthy diet with lots of vegetables and other whole food carbs, as well as a nice balance with healthy fats and protein, the diet as a whole won't be particularly high GI, and that seems way more evidence-based than obsessing about individual foods as if they were eaten alone.

    <3

    I wish I could have gathered my thoughts to say all that, but eh, brain fog happens. You're my hero.
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