Has anyone lost weight not cutting down on carbs?

CyberEd312

The OP has 150 pounds of excess fat which means she has very good reason to keep her carbs low. Excess fat causes insulin resistance, a real medical condition which means eating carbs can hamper her weight loss goals. I'm not saying she's insulin resistant but i'm saying she has a pretty damn good chance as the AMA recommends you get tested at only 30 pounds of excess fat. She was however, in excess of 150 pounds.

I was insulin resistant and diagnosed type 2 diabetic in 2009 and had over 300 to lose when I started my journey and worked with a Dietician through my Endo dr. and never once did she mention low carb. She had me set to eat 60-70 grams at my main meals and 20-25 at my snacks which averaged 240 to 290 grams of carbs a day... I have since lost a few pounds and my Carbs make up over 50% of my macro intake today which puts me over 400 grams a day... My A1c's the last 2 years have averaged 5.3........ OP there is nothing wrong with your plan as long as you are losing weight and exercising you will achieve your goals.... Best of Luck.....

TheCaren

I lost the weight merely through portion control and elimination of some bad habits. I still ate carbs on a daily basis.

MrsPong

I eat whatever I want in moderation...including carbs. EVERY day. 22lbs lost now since June. So it's possible.

lynalinda

So far, i've lost 20 lb eating as much carbs as i could care for. I went vegan (not for weight loss), and i eat more than what i used to do. I don't count calories, but when sometimes i do just to check out, i find myself eating around 1500 cal/day. I eat tons of fruits, vegetables, good carbohydrates (whole wheat pasta and bread, brown rice, legumes, lentils, beans,tofu, etc) i even have dark chocolate every day and i feel full. I'm never counting calories ever again because this works for me and i found a lifestyle that suits me

Sarahloulalou

Well I will carry on eating carbs and having a balanced diet and see how I'm doing in a few weeks.

Thankyou for everyone for replying, very encouraging :flowerforyou:

AbsoluteNG

The OP has 150 pounds of excess fat which means she has very good reason to keep her carbs low. Excess fat causes insulin resistance, a real medical condition which means eating carbs can hamper her weight loss goals. I'm not saying she's insulin resistant but i'm saying she has a pretty damn good chance as the AMA recommends you get tested at only 30 pounds of excess fat. She was however, in excess of 150 pounds.

I was insulin resistant and diagnosed type 2 diabetic in 2009 and had over 300 to lose when I started my journey and worked with a Dietician through my Endo dr. and never once did she mention low carb. She had me set to eat 60-70 grams at my main meals and 20-25 at my snacks which averaged 240 to 290 grams of carbs a day... I have since lost a few pounds and my Carbs make up over 50% of my macro intake today which puts me over 400 grams a day... My A1c's the last 2 years have averaged 5.3........ OP there is nothing wrong with your plan as long as you are losing weight and exercising you will achieve your goals.... Best of Luck.....

Yes, the amount of calories still matter but it is easier to lose weight on low carb if you are insulin resistant. You are just making it harder on yourself by including carbs in your diet. Link below to read more on the topic.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/insulin-sensitivity-and-fat-loss.html




In addition to that, abnormal spikes in glucose levels still cause damage to your microvascular system(tiny arteries) even if it's just a 2 hour high spike.

http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/20/2/71.full


.

Binkie1955

The challenge with your question is that most people who come to MFP were probably not carefully tracking their calories or carb intake BEFORE they started MFP. something in their life changed and they decided to use MFP and it was only then that they began getting decent data to respond to your question.

the odds are very good that anyone who counted calories to lose weight necessarily reduced their carbohydrate intake from whatever it may have been prior to their having the data available. they might still be taking in carbs but if they reduced their calories from wherever they were before, it is highly unlikely they did this without reducing their carbohydrate intake from whatever it was before they began MFP.

and that's not unusual. if you reduce calories, you'll reduce carbs. if you reduce carbs you'll reduce calories.

the nice thing about low carbohydrate diets is that you can INCREASE calories and still lose weight or be INDIFFERENT to calories and still lose weight (or at least not gain FAT weight) depending on your objectives.

Warchortle

I lost all my weight without counting one carb. Calories, calories, calories

Sort of...

2000 calories of fat vs. 2000 calories of protein vs. 2000 calories of carbs are not all going react the same way in the body. Generally speaking it's about energy balance... for body re-composition it's about getting the correct amount of macro and micro nutrients.

ewrob

The OP has 150 pounds of excess fat which means she has very good reason to keep her carbs low. Excess fat causes insulin resistance, a real medical condition which means eating carbs can hamper her weight loss goals. I'm not saying she's insulin resistant but i'm saying she has a pretty damn good chance as the AMA recommends you get tested at only 30 pounds of excess fat. She was however, in excess of 150 pounds.

I had a similar amount of weight to lose when I started. I switched to a plant-based diet and eat between 200 and 350 carbs per day as an estimated average and I've lost 97 lbs in 5 and 1/2 months.

I do not believe there is anything wrong with a diet rich in carbohydrates as long as you are eating the right foods. (Read: minimally processed, avoiding added sugars and fats)

TheBitSlinger

The OP has 150 pounds of excess fat which means she has very good reason to keep her carbs low. Excess fat causes insulin resistance, a real medical condition which means eating carbs can hamper her weight loss goals. I'm not saying she's insulin resistant but i'm saying she has a pretty damn good chance as the AMA recommends you get tested at only 30 pounds of excess fat. She was however, in excess of 150 pounds.

Not necessarily disputing you, but I went from insulin dependent type 2 diabetes to nothing more than Metformin, and I all I'm doing is limiting my calories to around 1,500 per day and running my buttocks off on an elliptical four times a week. I try to make sure my carbs come from whole grains, but I'm not restricting myself to a certain number of net carb grams.

Mischievous_Rascal

I have the best success with my macros at 35P/35C/30F. I hit my protein and fat macros as first (as much as possible) and then if I want wine, chocolate and/or ice cream and I have the calories left, I eat what I want. (And I eat just a little below my TDEE, so I ALWAYS have room for what I want. )

SailorKnightWing

Tonight I'm having fettuccini alfredo, garlic bread and cheesecake while staying under my calorie AND carbohydrate goals.

Though, to be fair, this is an unusually carby meal for me. I needed to cut down on calories and carbs are usually the most calorie-dense portion of my meals, so they were the first thing to go. I still get plenty of carbs (often eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast and a smoothie for lunch).

swillybay

I'm another one who has been simply counting calories and making sure I exercise - there are MANY days where I go in the "red" on carbs. I've been losing very slowly, but that has been my plan all along. Thankfully it is staying off and I am not starving on this so-called diet. Only a few more pounds to go!

quiltlovinlisa

Still eating carbs here. :-)

herblackwings39

I still eat carbs. The only change I've made was to try not to eat them all at one time.

rabblerabble

Carbs from 'heavy' sources are what I have to avoid. I eat a LOT of fruits and vegetables throughout the day. Other than that, my carbs essentially consist of a bowl of old fashioned oatmeal in the morning, high quality whole grain bread in my sandwich for lunch, and a couple of times a week at dinner, I'll have a small portion of whole grain pasta or a potato (often it's just a salad or steamed veggies with my protein at dinner however.) The weight has been pouring off. During the weeks I falter and eat a lot of the heavier carbs is when I don't drop as much weight.

taitmamly

I lost five and half stone last year without cutting my carb intake I stuck to a nice 50/25/25 ratio (carb, protein, fats) but I was careful about what kinds of carbs and fats I ate. Low GI carbs (so oats, etc, though I did often cheat and eat toast ), fruits and vegetables, and more natural mono/polysaturated fats such as nuts, seeds, eggs etc. I kept away from butter, margarine and kept olive oil for cooking to and absolute bare minimum.

If you change too much or cut things out more often than not when you lose the weight and you go onto maintenance you'll find it really hard to not gain weight back.

born2drum

I eat carbs everyday. Under 200g, though. Muscles need carbs. Carbs are energy.

JonsieMcJones

I eat everything I normally use to, just in smaller amounts. You don't need to cut out anything in your diet so long as you learn to cut down on the vast amount you're eating. Heck, with just portion controlling I lost something like 2.2 lbs this past week

Confuzzled4ever

i eat whatever... sometimes i have low carbs days.. certainly not intentionally.. and i tend to gt a headache if I have too many of them in a row. I do focus on protein.. the more protein i get the less carbs i get. But i also eat a lot of fruit. :~)