Calories vs. Carbs

tworthen79

When I first started this journey in April, I counted carbs and kept them under 50. But since I've been actually tracking my food on here, I stay under my calorie limit of 1700, but the carbs MFP allots me is well over 200. And so I'm struggling with that. Do I change the carbs manually to a number I'm more comfortable with or will I still lose weight with the number of over 200? Where do you set your carbs?

tassake

I'm in no position to give advice on what a "good" amount of carbs should be, but I do know that you can change the amount that MFP allots you by changing the percents you want a day. For example, I have my carb/protein/fat ratio set at 5/35/60. At the start of every day it suggests that I limit myself to 15 carbs.

To set these percents, you go to My Home > Goals > Change Goals > Custom > and then change the targets!

grandmamere

Be aware that when you choose manual setting and change the carb percentage it will change the others. Look at 100 percent and pick a percent of carbs you want to target and look at the fat , protein etc they change to equal 100 percent. Good luck.

grandmamere

Be aware that when you choose manual setting and change the carb percentage it will change the others. Look at 100 percent and pick a percent of carbs you want to target and look at the fat , protein etc they change to equal 100 percent. Good luck.

TwoPointZero

When I first started this journey in April, I counted carbs and kept them under 50. But since I've been actually tracking my food on here, I stay under my calorie limit of 1700, but the carbs MFP allots me is well over 200. And so I'm struggling with that. Do I change the carbs manually to a number I'm more comfortable with or will I still lose weight with the number of over 200? Where do you set your carbs?

You certainly can change it manually, but, in some sense, whether you lose weight is is only weakly dependent on how much carbs you eat . . . You will lose weight if you (on average) eat less than some number (say 1700) of calories per day, period. Theoretically, you could eat those calories _all_ in carbs if you wanted, and you would still lose weight. Of course, no one actually does that . . . I am guessing that your previous macronutrient ratio was either (1) seriously protein heavy, or (2) specified a total calorie count that was way too small . . .

michellekicks

Your body only needs so much protein, even in a deficit. To lose as little lean mass as possible, eat between 1g of protein per pound of lean body mass to 1g per pound of body weight. Once that is covered off, take 20-30% of your diet as fat and the rest should be carbs.

I like what Layne Norton says on the topic (paraphrased): Eat as many carbs as you can and still lose. Once you plateau, you will reduce carbs a little to jump-start losses again.

In the long run, you'll have a way easier time both maintaining your weight and losing weight in future (if you decide to do bulk/cut cycles) the more carbs you eat in the first place.

ngyoung

The ratios are based on the standard USDA recommended diet. If you are having success eating the way you are and are happy with the foods you're consuming I wouldn't change it. Most people don't need as many carbs as is recommended from those guidelines. Eating between 50-100g is perfectly fine. For a many people, just focusing on eliminating refined sugar and carbs is enough. For me I find it easier to control hunger and in turn total calories by limiting my total to around 50g.

tworthen79

My current weight is 196. So my protein should be 196g's? I will just go in manually and play around with the numbers. And once I do find a comfortable amount of numbers, how long do I do that before I change it again, if I don't see results?

singer201

I set my carbs manually at a % that gives me 100 g/day at my average daily calorie intake (including exercise calories). Fat and protein will be at increased percentages. MFP default values has carbs too high and fat and protein too low. If you have an eating plan that works, modify MFP macros to match.

scottaworley

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/
this website is helpful for these purposes.
To answer your question, carbs do not make you fat (assuming you don't have rather rare disorders). As always, go with what your doctor recommends based on your needs if you do have a medical reason to restrict calories.

michellekicks

196g would be the absolute MOST you'd need in a day. Probably somewhere around 150g would suffice, but anywhere between, say 130-190g. If you eat all that in meat, eggs, yogurt, cheese, beans, and other protein-rich food sources, you just naturally won't have many cravings or blood-sugar swings. You'll be full most of the time. Aim for the protein within your allotted calorie target... let carbs and fat land where they will to start. Once you have a few weeks to look at, see what you naturally gravitate towards.

I started MFP at 180 lbs and was losing steadily on a calorie target of 1650 plus all my exercise calories. That ended up being about 2100 calories daily.

If you eat 190g protein, that's 760 calories. If you get an additional 585 calories from 65g fat, that will leave you approximately 655 calories to come from carbs on a 2000 calorie diet... or about 165g daily.

Even if you don't exercise and you're eating around 1600 calories daily, you'd have a breakdown like this:

35-53g fat - 320-480 calories (20-30% of diet)
150-190g protein - 600-760 calories
90-170g carbs - 360-680 calories

So really, there's no good reason why your carbs should have to be under 90 or 100g daily. But if you can lose weight eating more like 150-200g daily, you'll be better off in the long run.

tworthen79

I changed it to 10-45-45 which is 43 carbs, 191 protein and 85 fat. And I'm 5'7 196. TDEE is 2239 BMR is 1629 and I'm eating 1700 calories a day. I'm hoping this works. I've hit this plateau.