Exercise and Carbs

debbiehanuman1027

Hello,
I exercise regularly and after an intense workout, my carb number goes up. I am trying to lose weight-and I am watching macros. Do I need to eat that amount of adjusted carbs and will I lose weight? I don’t understand the science behind eating more carbs and losing weight . This is my first post!

Retroguy2000

Do you mean when you add workout calories to MFP, your daily allowance goes up and so each of the macros go up with it?

First, make sure you're being conservative with the amount you've added.

Second, don't worry about the macros, provided you are getting enough nutrients etc. I don't even remember what my macros are set to. I target X grams of protein per day, and I have MFP set to maintenance so that I can feel good about hitting a calorie deficit. Protein and calories is all I pay attention to, the rest sorts itself out.

The science is simply CICO. Deficit == weight loss.

PAV8888

Your Calories IN vs Calories OUT balance (CICO) over a long enough time is what will determine your weight trend and trajectory. To lose weight you need to create a caloric deficit as compared to maintenance.

The exact macro mix may influence satiation or have health implications for subsets of the population but overall any reasonable macro mix that suits you will work.

Many of us choose to consider protein a minimum, target a certain amount of fat and fiber and consider the rest information as opposed to targets. People on certain diets may seek to keep carbs under a specific amount in grams.

MFP, by default, targets percentages, not grams. So when your calories change the macro mix changes because it is based on percentages.

MFP "targets" as given include a deficit to lose at a specific target rate. As such the actual calories that you use up in exercise should be added to your target to keep to your desired deficit without creating too large of a deficit which can be counterproductive as opposed to helpful.

That said there are a few "gotchas" when it comes to estimating exercise calories. Depending on how they are "generated" people may choose to eat all of them or a sub-set of them.

If you log all intake carefully and eat at a deficit for a few weeks, you should be able to observe your weight trend and compare it to your estimated deficit and then apply a correction based on how close the two follow each other.

If your increased calories come from a connected device and the exercise is early in the day with the remainder of your day sedentary, then do leave some calories on the table as the number will go down over time. That number will be "correct" at midnight.

AnnPT77

What they said.

Plus this: Your post implies that there's something universally extra-special about carbs when the goal is weight loss. There isn't, even though a bunch of nonsense in the blogosphere suggests otherwise.

Some people do need to manage carbs somewhat carefully - people who are diabetic, medically diagnosed as insulin resistant, or with some other relevant diagnosed medical condition.

Beyond that, some people subjectively find that if they eat too many carbs, their appetite spikes. They will do best keeping carbs below that level, whatever the level is for them individually. Some other people subjectively find that if they eat too few carbs, their energy level tanks. They will do best keeping carbs above that level, whatever that level is for them individually.

You can figure out whether any of that applies to you by experimenting.

Good nutrition is important. Protein and fats (or more precisely, some of their subcomponents) are "essential nutrients", in the sense that we need to eat some, because our bodies can't manufacture them out of any other nutrients. Carbs are more flexible - we can eat more of them, or less, as we feel we need. In the long run, it's calories that determine weight gain/loss/maintenance. Macros only affect body weight indirectly, through energy level or satiation.

I ate 150g+ carbs daily all through losing weight, 50-some pounds in less than a year. (Most of the carbs were from veggies, fruits, and no-sugar-added dairy foods). I've eaten 225g+ carbs daily for 7+ years since, while maintaining weight in a healthy range. Carbs are much demonized, but I think unreasonably much so.

Your subjective response to carb intake matters. Other than that - which is more about compliance than about weight per se - calorie level is what matters if weight management is the key goal.

cmriverside

^^What they said.

Just eat enough fats and protein and get good well-rounded nutrition. This site does calculate exercise calories separately from daily activity so your numbers will all increase when you do exercise or if you're using a tracking device like fitbit, it will add more if go above your chosen Activity Level.

So, you do need to eat more on exercise days in general. How you break that down, macro wise, is up to you.

I'm with Ann above though. I ate 125-150g of carbs all throughout my weight loss of 80 pounds. Carbs are fine, they don't directly affect weight. I am one who needs to watch sweets and wheat when I'm trying to lose weight because they trigger me to over-eat but other than that I can eat all the other grains, dairy, legumes, whole fruit and vegetables that I can fit in.

It's about calories, bottom line. Stay as close to your Goal as possible. Not under nor over by a lot.

westrich20940

I am assuming what you mean is that when you workout (do a cardio workout) and put it in MFP (or it is logged automatically by a Fitbit, or similar thing) your amount of carbs go up. This will happen with all of your macros since MFP adds the exercise calories that you just burnt.

This is how MFP is set up. The calorie goal it gives you (assuming you chose 'lose weight' when setting it up) is already at a deficit from your maintenance calories....so if you then burn calories by working out, it will give those back to you to eat. And you can experiment a bit with how much of those to eat --- 50-100% though, depending on how hungry you are.

If you DO NOT eat them back, you can create too large of a deficit and not NET enough calories in your day.

AnnPT77

Just an observation: If you've set your macro goals thoughtfully, i.e., with knowledge of the minimum number of grams of protein and fats (the "essential macros") that you ought to get, and you've hit those minimums (or close) you can spend your extra exercise calories on whatever macros or foods seem like a subjective good thing to you (for satiation, other nutrition, or just happiness/tastiness).

They're not essential features by any means, but FYI two of the features of MFP premium are that you can set macro goals in grams (not just percents) and that you can explicitly tell MFP how to distribute your exercise calories, potentially differently from your base calories. Because I've done what I described above, given myself gram minimums for protein & fats, I have MFP put all my exercise calories into carbs (because I don't really care what amount of carbs I eat, as long as I'm close to calorie goal, have hit my personal protein/fat minimums, and have hit at least close to my goal of 10 80g servings of veggies/fruits).

I don't always spend the extra calories on carbs, but putting them in a macro I ignore is to me like stashing them for any use I want. Sometimes that's veggies and fruits (largely carbs), sometimes it's extra protein (sating for me), sometimes it's treats like chocolate (fat/carbs) or occasionally beer/wine. (Alcohol has calories, 7 per gram, but isn't fats, protein or carbs.)

tomcustombuilder

Carbs get a bad rap by certain nutritional "experts" for a variety of reasons. Get in your necessary protein and some good fats and you can fill in the remaining calories with what ever macro you want as long as you stay within your target calorie amount. Ultra processed carbs generally will be highly caloric and not satiating so you have to watch those.

coffeeandtruecrime

Carbs are perfectly fine, the diet industry likes to villainize them but the true is they are a great energy source and how we get energy and our bodies need them.

cinnamongrn

I think it just depends on person to person. When I am on a cut my carbs are still quite high. But I wouldn't function on a low carb diet just because I am quite active and I have tried it before. It's just about experimenting and finding out what works for you.

cwgrant67

I try to eat enough protein, not go over in my fats and keep my carbs under 20 net as much as possible. Drink lots of water. I usually have enough energy to work out. I just listen to my body and quit when I need it. My focus is weight loss right now though. I exercise to keep in a calorie deficit but not for solely weight loss. More for toning and cardio benefits.

SuzanneC1l9zz

There's actually no science behind eating LESS carbs and losing weight, other than water weight, which isn't what most people focusing on weight loss actually want to lose. But not with respect to fat loss. That said, different nutrient ratios work better for different people. Figure out what works for you instead of trying to stick to an arbitrary plan based on what worked for someone else.