carbs

this might be a silly question but i am a bit confused.

i am currently on a low calorie diet, i have pre made calorie counted dinners mostly made up of pasta.

my question is, if i am to eat a lot of carbs each day but stay within my calories would that affect weight loss?
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Replies

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,755 Member
    No, you would lose weight just the same. However, many people find protein helps with hunger
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,069 Member
    If you stay in your calories, you will still lose.
    The biggest issue with meals heavy on processed carbs like pasta is that for some people, they do not fill you up or leave you feeling full for long. Some people do just fine - I am not one of them. I really have to limit carbs to stay in a calorie deficit and not feel like I'm starving all day long.
    Be sure you are weighing your meals and pasta - unfortunately pre packaged meals can have more in there than they claim. Also check serving sizes since sometimes there is more than one serving in something that seems like it should be a single serving.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    Carbs are love!
    Have to say though that making pasta yourself is so easy, and so much more delicious. Btw, I'm a person who feels very full on a big plate of pasta, or rice. Protein, while more important doesn't fill me up as much, and fats even less.
  • claireeeyc
    claireeeyc Posts: 6 Member
    If you stay in your calories, you will still lose.
    The biggest issue with meals heavy on processed carbs like pasta is that for some people, they do not fill you up or leave you feeling full for long. Some people do just fine - I am not one of them. I really have to limit carbs to stay in a calorie deficit and not feel like I'm starving all day long.
    Be sure you are weighing your meals and pasta - unfortunately pre packaged meals can have more in there than they claim. Also check serving sizes since sometimes there is more than one serving in something that seems like it should be a single serving.

    Thank you! i was always a one meal a day person so i do not struggle with hunger, if anything i find it hard to reach my calorie goals each day but i guess it’ll be something that will become easier with time!

    The pre made meals are by MyProtein, they are high protein, low carb meals. i trust they are accurate with the calories but if anyone has experience with these meals please do let me know.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,246 Member
    edited February 2023
    Satiation is individual and can even change over time. Experimentation is necessary. Certain minimums of ALL macros are required for basic health. Yes, even on keto or ornish. A bit mores of each macro are probably required for optimal health for most people. Macro mixes won't determine fat level loss in the long run other than through adherence. Some macro mixes encourage short term water weight changes that are often incorrectly interpreted as true fat loss and regain
  • claireeeyc
    claireeeyc Posts: 6 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    Carbs are love!
    Have to say though that making pasta yourself is so easy, and so much more delicious. Btw, I'm a person who feels very full on a big plate of pasta, or rice. Protein, while more important doesn't fill me up as much, and fats even less.

    the meals i use are high protein, low carb but most of the meals include pasta! i use these meals 4/5 days a week and cook the other days, when i do cook i would make wraps, pasta or noodles but i was worried that having carbs every day would affect my weight loss as there’s a lot of people online that say you shouldn’t be eating carbs!
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,223 Member
    You will lose however too many carbs at the expense of not enough protein is suboptimal.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,246 Member
    edited February 2023
    claireeeyc wrote: »
    but i was worried that having carbs every day would affect my weight loss as there’s a lot of people online that say you shouldn’t be eating carbs!
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Some macro mixes encourage short term water weight changes that are often incorrectly interpreted as true fat loss and regain

    Above quotes juxtaposed on purpose.

    Moving on:
    https://examine.com/articles/really-low-fat-vs-somewhat-lower-carb/

    Note: this is not to suggest that keto or low carb don't work. To the contrary. This is to suggest that ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that successfully allows you to create a deficit you adhere to works.

    I add my own opinion that this may be different for different people. And my even more own own opinion of my own developed by Mr. Own. That it may even change for the same person over time. And that long term adherence (i.e. figuring out while you lose what may prove to be a sustainable way of eating and living for you) is THE name of the game.
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  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,374 Member
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    Without getting into the keto/low-fat diet fight, I'd like to point out that the science around metabolic syndrome (Diabetes Type 2) is indisputable that a diet low in carbs and fat and high in protein (roughly 25/25/50%) SIGNIFICANTLY lower your risk of diabetes.

    Got some links to prove this?
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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited February 2023
    claireeeyc wrote: »
    this might be a silly question but i am a bit confused.

    i am currently on a low calorie diet, i have pre made calorie counted dinners mostly made up of pasta.

    my question is, if i am to eat a lot of carbs each day but stay within my calories would that affect weight loss?
    claireeeyc wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Carbs are love!
    Have to say though that making pasta yourself is so easy, and so much more delicious. Btw, I'm a person who feels very full on a big plate of pasta, or rice. Protein, while more important doesn't fill me up as much, and fats even less.

    the meals i use are high protein, low carb but most of the meals include pasta! i use these meals 4/5 days a week and cook the other days, when i do cook i would make wraps, pasta or noodles but i was worried that having carbs every day would affect my weight loss as there’s a lot of people online that say you shouldn’t be eating carbs!

    Unless the pasta is made from something other than wheat like tofu ("miracle" noodles), I don't see how it is possible for both "mostly made up of pasta" and "low carb" to be true.

    Never the less, for weight loss only, calories are all the matter.

    Satiety (and nutrition) are other matters. Satiety is very individual. I can eat a ton of calories of something like just pasta and butter or cheese, but if I reduce the pasta and add protein and veggies and a little fat, I am full for far less calories.
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  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,223 Member
    edited February 2023
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    ccrdragon wrote: »
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    ccrdragon wrote: »
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    Without getting into the keto/low-fat diet fight, I'd like to point out that the science around metabolic syndrome (Diabetes Type 2) is indisputable that a diet low in carbs and fat and high in protein (roughly 25/25/50%) SIGNIFICANTLY lower your risk of diabetes.

    Got some links to prove this?

    JFGI.

    Doesn't work that way - you make the claim, you support it.

    Seriously. Every Weight loss surgeon in the country supports this.
    What exactly is a “weight loss surgeon”

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    claireeeyc wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Carbs are love!
    Have to say though that making pasta yourself is so easy, and so much more delicious. Btw, I'm a person who feels very full on a big plate of pasta, or rice. Protein, while more important doesn't fill me up as much, and fats even less.

    the meals i use are high protein, low carb but most of the meals include pasta! i use these meals 4/5 days a week and cook the other days, when i do cook i would make wraps, pasta or noodles but i was worried that having carbs every day would affect my weight loss as there’s a lot of people online that say you shouldn’t be eating carbs!

    Don't worry about carbs. Some people don't find them filling and eat more and gain more weight. But that's not true for many people. The only thing that counts for weight loss is calories, regardless they are from carbs, fat or protein.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,223 Member
    One point is that the TEF of carbs is almost 5 times lower than protein so a protein rich diet will have lower net calories than a high carb diet. Protein and fiber are your friends when attempting to lose fat.
  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,755 Member
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    Without getting into the keto/low-fat diet fight, I'd like to point out that the science around metabolic syndrome (Diabetes Type 2) is indisputable that a diet low in carbs and fat and high in protein (roughly 25/25/50%) SIGNIFICANTLY lower your risk of diabetes.

    It's very disputable, actually. The leading researchers in diabetes have demonstrated diabetes is a direct result of having more fat on your body than it can handle and is almost entirely preventable and reversible through weight loss. Regardless of how you lose weight.
  • debrag12
    debrag12 Posts: 1,071 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    claireeeyc wrote: »
    this might be a silly question but i am a bit confused.

    i am currently on a low calorie diet, i have pre made calorie counted dinners mostly made up of pasta.

    my question is, if i am to eat a lot of carbs each day but stay within my calories would that affect weight loss?
    claireeeyc wrote: »
    yirara wrote: »
    Carbs are love!
    Have to say though that making pasta yourself is so easy, and so much more delicious. Btw, I'm a person who feels very full on a big plate of pasta, or rice. Protein, while more important doesn't fill me up as much, and fats even less.

    the meals i use are high protein, low carb but most of the meals include pasta! i use these meals 4/5 days a week and cook the other days, when i do cook i would make wraps, pasta or noodles but i was worried that having carbs every day would affect my weight loss as there’s a lot of people online that say you shouldn’t be eating carbs!

    Unless the pasta is made from something other than wheat like tofu ("miracle" noodles), I don't see how it is possible for both "mostly made up of pasta" and "low carb" to be true.

    Never the less, for weight loss only, calories are all the matter.

    Satiety (and nutrition) are other matters. Satiety is very individual. I can eat a ton of calories of something like just pasta and butter or cheese, but if I reduce the pasta and add protein and veggies and a little fat, I am full for far less calories.

    If it's the MyProtein meals that I have only ever seen in Iceland (UK store) then 1 meal (350g) has 47.3g (beef pasta). I'm going to assume they buy these somewhere else as Iceland only have 2 of the meals with pasta.
  • I think that depends…I have insulin resistance so I have to not just lower my calories but also lower my carbs. When I’m losing I lose more when I keep my carbs under 100. That’s just my personal experience though🤗. Everyone is different.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    Without getting into the keto/low-fat diet fight, I'd like to point out that the science around metabolic syndrome (Diabetes Type 2) is indisputable that a diet low in carbs and fat and high in protein (roughly 25/25/50%) SIGNIFICANTLY lower your risk of diabetes.

    Diabetes and metabolic syndrome aren't caused by carbs...for the most part, these diseases are a result of obesity. If carbs were a direct cause of metabolic syndrome and obesity, pretty much every vegan on the planet would have these diseases. Carbs are only an issue once you've acquired these diseases, they aren't the root cause of these diseases.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,246 Member
    edited February 2023
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    Without getting into the keto/low-fat diet fight, I'd like to point out that the science around metabolic syndrome (Diabetes Type 2) is indisputable that a diet low in carbs and fat and high in protein (roughly 25/25/50%) SIGNIFICANTLY lower your risk of diabetes.

    For the purposes of controlling or placing in remission or avoiding tipping into type II.... Forest > Trees

    Losing from Class III to normal > eating 50/30/20 or 25 / 25 / 50 or even 44 / 33 / 23 or any macro combination.

    Changing from perhaps being sedentary to moving in a way that makes substantial use of your energy as it arrives > ideal macros and food choices while sedentary and overfeeding

    Some people can lose weight, change their diet, and still not achieve remission. Many people, dare I say most people, if they succeed in significantly reducing their fat reserve levels and increase their movement do achieve remission.

    Eating 23.13% protein =148g per day on average during the year I lost > 70lbs was more than sufficient protein. I have doubts that I would have either succeeded or seen incremental health improvements if my goals had included increasing protein to 320g per day :neutral:
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,216 Member
    edited February 2023
    OP, I'm in to agree with the idea that it's the calories that matter directly for weight management. The nutrient composition can affect weight management indirectly, because sub-ideal nutrition could cause fatigue (making us burn fewer calories via resting more) or spike appetite (making it hard to stick with calorie goal).

    Macronutrients are more about health, satiation, body composition and that sort of thing, rather than weight management per se. But those things are also important, since most of us want to be healthy and happy, not just thin. Consequently, I'd suggest getting an adequate minimum of protein and fats, at least.

    IMO, carbs are more flexible. I ate 150g or so carbs daily during moderately-fast weight loss (50ish pounds in less than a year), and now eat 250g+ carbs daily most days in maintenance, have no major difficulty maintaining weight. I'll admit that the majority of my carb intake is from fruits, veggies, and no-sugar added dairy foods, which tend to be sating for me.

    YMMV because energy level and satiation are IMO pretty individual, and some people do find that carbs spike appetite, or that they need to manage carbs closely because of being insulin resistant, pre-diabetic, or diabetic (none of which I am).

    Pasta as such probably doesn't matter at all, as long as your calories are in the right range, and (assuming you want to be healthy as well as thin) your overall nutrition is decent on average over time.
    One point is that the TEF of carbs is almost 5 times lower than protein so a protein rich diet will have lower net calories than a high carb diet. Protein and fiber are your friends when attempting to lose fat.

    Yeah, I agree about protein and fiber being sating for many people.

    But comparing the percentages makes it sound much more dramatic than it actually is.

    "The reported TEF for protein is 20–30% of energy content compared to fat (0–3%) and carbohydrates (5–10%)"**

    So, if I get 20% protein on my 1800 calorie diet and 50% carbs (I think that's the MFP defaults), that's 360 calories of protein (90g) and 900 calories of carbs (225g). I'd get around 72-108 calories of TEF from the protein, and 45-90 calories of TEF from the carbs. That's a total of 117-198 calories from TEF for those macros.

    Flip those percentages to 50% protein (which would be stupid-high for me at 225g and probably many other people rationally eating 1800) and 20% carbs, that's 180-270 calories of TEF from protein, 18-36 calories of TEF from carbs, for a total estimate range of 198-306 calories from TEF.

    Between the two options (the second of which is arguably dumb), the difference at the low end of the estimating range is around 81 calories, 108 at the high end, or 189 calories if I assume the worst from scenario 1 and the best from scenario 2. (That's assuming I did all the arithmetic right, which I don't always do. :D )

    While 189 calories is meaningful to me, a bit over 10% of the 1800, it's IMO not as dramatic as "5 times lower" would seem to imply once one does the math . . . and I used an example with a protein percent that would be silly for many people eating 1800 to even get the numeric difference to come out that high. I'd also point out that quite a few people doing low carb are going high fat, moderate protein - not ultra high protein as per above - and fat has that 0-3% TEF so the TEF of fat is (I guess) two to three times lower than carbs, maybe even infinity times higher if fat's TEF is actually 0%. :D

    Yeah, worrying about satiation and nutrition are important, but worrying about TEF is kind of majoring in the minors IMO.

    ** https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3873760/#:~:text=The reported TEF for protein,–10%) (3).

    Picked at random from a typical study using pretty standard estimates.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,223 Member
    edited February 2023
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    worrying about TEF is kind of majoring in the minors IMO.

    .
    Nothing to worry about however understanding that macros are processed differently is something that a lot of people weren't aware of. For some of us that take in 200G of P a day when dieting down on 1,700 calories it is a factor

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,219 Member
    edited February 2023
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    PaulDalen wrote: »
    Without getting into the keto/low-fat diet fight, I'd like to point out that the science around metabolic syndrome (Diabetes Type 2) is indisputable that a diet low in carbs and fat and high in protein (roughly 25/25/50%) SIGNIFICANTLY lower your risk of diabetes.

    Diabetes and metabolic syndrome aren't caused by carbs...for the most part, these diseases are a result of obesity. If carbs were a direct cause of metabolic syndrome and obesity, pretty much every vegan on the planet would have these diseases. Carbs are only an issue once you've acquired these diseases, they aren't the root cause of these diseases.

    Makes you wonder, what is the root cause of obesity, doesn't it.

    I heard that diabetes was caused from the chronic high levels of sugars in the blood and consequentially a dysfunctional pancreas that no longer is capable of supplying enough insulin to remove those sugars.
  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,755 Member


    Diabetes and metabolic syndrome aren't caused by carbs...for the most part, these diseases are a result of obesity. If carbs were a direct cause of metabolic syndrome and obesity, pretty much every vegan on the planet would have these diseases. Carbs are only an issue once you've acquired these diseases, they aren't the root cause of these diseases.[/quote]

    Makes you wonder, what is the root cause of obesity, doesn't it.

    I heard that diabetes was caused from the chronic high levels of sugars in the blood and consequentially a dysfunctional pancreas that no longer is capable of supplying enough insulin to remove those sugars. [/quote]

    Obesity is caused by overeating fat, protein, and carbs. Overeat fat, you'll get fat. Overeat protein, you'll get fat. Overeat carbs, you'll get fat. You have a tendency to try and act dumb about these things to "prove a point".
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,219 Member
    edited February 2023
    What I tried to do was get that person to think for a minute, it's kind of obvious that the over consumption of food causes weight gain (obesity) and the possibility that some of those food could actually be involved in a process that involves diabetes. Maybe I should have been more direct and just called out the misinformation.
  • avatiach
    avatiach Posts: 298 Member
    Just want to point out, all carbs are not equal. You could eat straight sugar or have a potato or eat fruit or have whole wheat bread...