Carbs vs. calories

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  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,005 Member
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    You will only lose weight if you eat low calorie - low enough to be less than you burn. That is regardless of whether you eat high carb, low carb, pay no attention to carbs.

    I doubt anyone recommends eating huge quantities of cheese, bacon etc or cutting out fruit and veg - but that is a separate issue to low calorie.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,926 Member
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    Luciicul wrote: »
    Depends on the person.

    Interestingly I saw a BBC doco last night called The Truth About Carbs and they showed a quick test anyone can do to see if they are the type of person who can eat loads of carbs, should minimise them, or eat in moderation:

    Time this: Chew a plain unsalted unsweetened cracker (don’t swallow). If it starts to taste sweet in under 15 seconds, your body metabolises carbs well and you can eat plenty of carbs, if it takes 15-30 seconds to taste sweet, you can eat a moderate amount of carbs but not too much, and if it doesn’t taste sweet for you in 30 seconds, you should consider eating a lower carb diet because your body doesn’t handle carbs as well.

    Some people have more enzymes for carbs than others, and the breakdown process begins with saliva.

    Crackers never taste “sweet” to me, and this confirms what I already found with my own trial and error that I can’t lose weight on a moderate carb diet even if in calorie deficiet because the effect on my blood sugar affects my metabolism etc.

    It’ll be a completely different story for someone else.

    I'm not vouching for the scientific validity of this, but did the same test with raw potato years ago. (I would never have unsalted crackers in the house, lol.)

    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/cracker-test-carbs-how-many-should-you-eat-calculator-a7377231.html
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
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    Ziaki wrote: »
    Just my personal experience.

    Last year at work we did a Biggest Loser Challenge. I've lost weight before (even getting down to my goal weight) so I know what works for me. I counted every calorie that went into my mouth.

    My friend also participated and decided to try Keto but very loosely counted her calories.

    Guess who won. . .

    (Spoiler alert)

    It was me. I beat her by 4%.

    Neither of us really stuck to our diets over the last year and I gained about 5 lbs back of the 25lbs I lost. She gained all of her weight back.

    We are doing another biggest loser challenge this year. She's doing the keto thing again. And I'm counting my calories again. I'm fairly confident I'm going to win again, at least between the two of us.

    Ultimately it is whatever works for you but I'll stand by calorie counting over worrying about carbs any day.

    For some people, keto can be a perfectly valid way to eat. The key is sustainability for that individual. If it fits their preferences and they are happy and satisfied on it, it can work fine over time.

    If someone is just using as a quick fix, like it sounds like you coworker was/is, the likelihood of regaining and essentially yoyo-ing is high.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    alexmose wrote: »
    Hi this may be a dumb question, but how important is it to remain within your carb limit? I stay within my calorie limit. Has anyone had success ignoring their carbs and paying attention to only calories and vice versa? I am not interested in Keto or fad diets. I obviously like carbs a bit too much.

    Calories drive weight management...they are the unit of energy that fuels your body. Carbs are just one of three macro-nutrients...outside of certain medical conditions, they don't really matter for weight management.
  • OldAssDude
    OldAssDude Posts: 1,436 Member
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    whmscll wrote: »
    OldAssDude wrote: »
    Eat all the food groups, but just stay within your calories (either by burning more, eating less, or a combination of both).

    If you are exercising regularly, you need more carbs to fuel your workouts. Good carbs (veggies), not bad carbs (pizza).

    But if you exercise a lot like me there is certainly nothing wrong with have "some" pizza.

    I think defining “good” carbs as veggies only is really short-sighted. Plenty of good carbs in whole grains, beans, legumes and even dairy products. And pizza is mostly fat (think cheese).

    i was just using an example of good and bad.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,005 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    paperpudding wrote: »
    You will only lose weight if you eat low calorie - low enough to be less than you burn. That is regardless of whether you eat high carb, low carb, pay no attention to carbs.

    I doubt anyone recommends eating huge quantities of cheese, bacon etc or cutting out fruit and veg - but that is a separate issue to low calorie.

    I wish you were correct, but there are people who argue we will be better off eliminating fruits and vegetables from our diet.

    I think anyone arguing we should eliminate fruit and veg from our diets is very confused about nutrition - but ok, I take your point there are such people.

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