Do Carbs Really Matter?

donewithmyself

In the end, isn't it just calories in calories out? Will counting carbs benefit me in anyway?
(This just popped in my head after my family announced that it was donut time again and bought about a dozen of Krispy Kreme Krispy Skremes for Halloween--I automatically plan on eating about half that box because I know there is no way I can hold back).

donewithmyself

BUMP

kckBxer396

To me? Yes,but only because I have to manage my carbs for medical reasons,and not doing so causes me to pack on weight like crazy. However, I have heard time and time again that counting carbs isn't necessary if you don't have a medical need to do so. I don't actually KNOW though. haha

AnabolicKyle

for the most part yes, its just cals in vs cals out

for health, no
for what the body chooses to keep vs burn fat/muscle, no


i personally like to hit minimums on my fat and protein intake everyday

enjoy those donuts =D

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ladymiseryali

FOR ME, limiting my carbs and upping my fat intake led to dropping 20ish lbs since the end of July, after not being able to lose weight for months. For others, it doesn't matter what the carb intake is.

hookilau

It's not even about using the search function. Just scroll through 1 or 2 pages. These are just from today.


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1110992-are-carbs-evil?page=1#posts-17181400

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1110903-limit-carbs

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1107114-are-carbs-bad

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1109982-carbs

With that said l, eating half a box of donuts just shows lack of self control.

yeah, it's a subject that comes up like every 4 hours on here and has been discussed ad nauseum.
search function is your friend

toniretman

I just seen a dietitian 2 weeks ago. She told me cardio isn't as good as what we thought, even though it's still very good for your heart. She told me weight training was the best way to go along with carb counting. I personally already count carbs cuz I'm diabetic. So on average she says cut the carbs down 100 and up the healthy fats, do more resistance. It's been 2 weeks, I've cut my cardio in half, upped weight training, and am eating 100 carbs or less (keep in mind before I was seeing her I was eating like 130-170 carbs) and have not noticed anything. She told me to eat 50-75 carbs and to make sure I eat more healthy fats.

Cinloykko

Bump

magerum

No.

LaurenAOK

Carbs don't matter unless you have some sort of metabolic disorder. There are several disorders that are fairly common in women which can make it harder to lose weight unless you cut carbs. If you don't have a disorder like that, carbs are fine

I love my carbs. I've lost weight and gotten healthy while still eating all my favorite foods. It's definitely calories in v. calories out.

One thing I will say though, is that cutting carbs can help you lose water weight (this is often why people praise low-carb diets; they lose 5lb the first week and don't realize that that's just water weight which they'll gain right back when they eat carbs again). If I have a photoshoot or show coming up, I cut carbs for a couple of weeks beforehand and it definitely does help me *look* leaner. This is not to be confused with actually losing more fat.

GymTennis

It pretty much is.. You can eat bacon and doughnuts every day.. If you're in a caloric deficit on a day to day basis, you will lose weight.. However, that's not the smartest thing to do because of your health... You should eat as clean and as healthy as you can.. You should stick with good carbs most of the time, every now and then a doughnut is not gonna harm you .. Carbs are fuel for your body, more so important if you're a very active person... However, all macro nutrients are important too.. Hope this helps

pcastagner

Yes carbs matter!

Some nice bread or pasta the night before a big workout helps you hit it harder the next day.

Complex carbs are great for recovery too.

Hit your fat and protein minimums, but don't forget your carbs!

willdob3

No, it is not just calories in, calories out. It is way more complicated than that.

cafeaulait7

I haven't read all the threads about it, but I think the deal with carbs is just an insulin thing. If you have a problem with it (and many folks do in the US at least - you don't have to be full-blown diabetic), the metabolism of insulin promotes more fat.

I have a problem with it, and I think you usually notice that there's a problem. If you have a huge sweet tooth, it could be a sign. It's simple to tell, though: Eat like a diabetic for a couple of weeks and see if a lightbulb goes on. It'll feel very different. And you could start losing weight quickly. If it doesn't change anything, you most likely don't have the issue(s). Simple

leticia165

Although carbs are important I still try to limit my intake. I did the Atkins life style for several years and the pounds stayed off. I was able to eat meat, fat, bacon, oils and lots of lower carb vegetables. It's hard to stay off the bad carbs but the results are great.

swhiteism

I don't care about counting carbs. I love carbs and eat them everyday, and I continue to lose weight. I will maybe consider limiting my carbs if I hit a serious plateau, but I'm not going to deprive myself from the foods I love if simply eating a calorie deficit works for me.

hookilau

I haven't read all the threads about it, but I think the deal with carbs is just an insulin thing. If you have a problem with it (and many folks do in the US at least - you don't have to be full-blown diabetic), the metabolism of insulin promotes more fat.

I have a problem with it, and I think you usually notice that there's a problem. If you have a huge sweet tooth, it could be a sign. It's simple to tell, though: Eat like a diabetic for a couple of weeks and see if a lightbulb goes on. It'll feel very different. And you could start losing weight quickly. If it doesn't change anything, you most likely don't have the issue(s). Simple

Excellent post.
I wish I'd read something like this 6 months ago when I first started here on MFP. I kept reading posts where people talked like it's such a rare thing that it never occurred to me that this was my problem. :noway: So there I am, eating my healthy whole grains & healthy fruits :laugh: :sick: There I was with a casual blood sugar of 266mg/dl discovered during routine bloodwork 'cause I was feeling so crappy.

The point is, if you have a family history of blood sugar dysregulation or can't seem to stop eating, feel full, lose weight despite working out regularly, etc. then definitely try cutting the carbs and see how you feel.

It's weird though, I had these issues for so long and it comes on so slowly (it can take years) that I had no idea I was abnormal. Blood sugar regulation breaks down slowly in the case of T2 :ohwell:

I'm VLC and doing really well now though! :drinker:

bridgie101

the only thing I find wrong with carbs is it takes lots of calories worth to feel full.

EG I would be quite happy to eat four slices of toast with butter and jam. Maybe six. But stopping at two? Can't even consider it.

So I avoid bread entirely.

I eat rice and cornflakes and such though. Just eat what you want to eat.

BrainyBurro

In the end, isn't it just calories in calories out? Will counting carbs benefit me in anyway?
(This just popped in my head after my family announced that it was donut time again and bought about a dozen of Krispy Kreme Krispy Skremes for Halloween--I automatically plan on eating about half that box because I know there is no way I can hold back).

i only track fats and protein. my carb intake is irrelevant for me to know (however, by knowing my calories and fats and protein i can always easily calculate my carb intake if i want to).

weight loss is about calories in and calories out.
nutrition is about micronutrients and macronutrients
fitness is about exercise (cardio and strength training) and for some people, flexibility (such as yoga)

also OP, why do you want to be 92lbs? is that a healthy weight for your height/age? please don't fall into a self-image trap that leads to EDs that can take a long time to claw your way out from...

Fivepts

Does the same apply to sugar and fat? I've been stuck at the same weight for a while and wondering if my problem is that I'm eating the wrong kinds of sugar (from rice, pasta, bread), carbs (same sources) and fat (meat, butter, oil) rather than from good sources like fruits, beans, olives? I find it difficult to get enough calories when I'm eating healthy.

pcastagner

Does the same apply to sugar and fat? I've been stuck at the same weight for a while and wondering if my problem is that I'm eating the wrong kinds of sugar (from rice, pasta, bread), carbs (same sources) and fat (meat, butter, oil) rather than from good sources like fruits, beans, olives? I find it difficult to get enough calories when I'm eating healthy.

Sugar is a carb.

"Eating healthy" and "eating clean" are essentially terms with no definition and completely arbitrary. If you aren't losing weight, and aren't gaining, then whatever you are eating is your maintenance calories, AT THE MOMENT. It can change, keep in mind that some foods track more accurately than others. Look for some kind of error in your logging first. Are you weighing and logging cooked meat as if it were raw? Are you logging pork loin that is fattier than the pork loin from which the MFP database entry is derived, and thus higher in calories? Are you overestimating TDEE? Are you eating too little and low on energy, and changing your behavior to conserve energy (very difficult to judge on your own, everyone does it but almost nobody believes they do)? Have you been dieting for a long time?

All we can ever KNOW for sure is that if you are gaining mass, more material is going into you than is coming out. The why part of this is much more tricky, and the where (where is the material going) is equally tricky to predict (but not measure).


Nobody likes to think they've been wasting time or made a mistake, so much so that they will question the basic laws of thermodynamics rather than keep looking for the error, or develop some other system that reinforces the notion that they are not like everyone else and even though they did everything right, it didn't work for them. Bit if you are patient and assume you are always making a mistake, and keep looking for it, you have a high likelihood of figuring out the problem eventually.

hookilau

Does the same apply to sugar and fat? I've been stuck at the same weight for a while and wondering if my problem is that I'm eating the wrong kinds of sugar (from rice, pasta, bread), carbs (same sources) and fat (meat, butter, oil) rather than from good sources like fruits, beans, olives? I find it difficult to get enough calories when I'm eating healthy.

It could very well be.

My understanding is you can eat low fat/high carb OR high fat/low carb but NOT both, as in high fat/high carb.
The combination of too much carbs (sugars and starches) and high fat will make you put on excess fat.

You could always reduce your starches and sugars and replace with leafy greens/veggies and see how you do.
ETA: you'd need to increase fat from 'healthy' sources to meet your caloric requirements if you end up with too big of a deficit.

pcastagner

Does the same apply to sugar and fat? I've been stuck at the same weight for a while and wondering if my problem is that I'm eating the wrong kinds of sugar (from rice, pasta, bread), carbs (same sources) and fat (meat, butter, oil) rather than from good sources like fruits, beans, olives? I find it difficult to get enough calories when I'm eating healthy.

It could very well be.

My understanding is you can eat low fat/high carb OR high fat/low carb but NOT both, as in high fat/high carb.
The combination of too much carbs (sugars and starches) and high fat will make you put on excess fat.

You could always reduce your starches and sugars and replace with leafy greens/veggies and see how you do.

If only this were true. It would make my current bulk a lot easier. Unfortunately it's rubbish and the easy way to prove it is to attempt a lean bulk (you try to gain weight slowly to put on muscle but almost no fat).

I'm both lots of fat and lots of starch (pasta and bread), and having trouble gaining anything at all. According to your theory, I should be at least putting on fat.

These kinds of things are easy to believe if all you're paying attention to is weight LOSS. When you are trying to gain on purpose, it gets more and more obvious that if it doesn't work in reverse, it probably wasn't true to begin with. The biggest difference is that losing weight is an emotionally loaded subject, so logic and empiricism fly out the window and the human mind turns to ANYTHING that helps it feel like things are not so out of control.


OF COURSE if you replace all your starches and sugar sources with leafy greens, you will start to lose weight. It's extremely difficult to eat 1000 calories of broccoli or spinach, but very easy to eat 1000 calories of spaghetti carbonara

SezxyStef

for the most part yes, its just cals in vs cals out

for health, no
for what the body chooses to keep vs burn fat/muscle, no


i personally like to hit minimums on my fat and protein intake everyday

enjoy those donuts =D

This

Fivepts

Thanks everyone. That's helpful.

Code7526

This is just my opinion because no one diet or exercise program fits all. You have to do what works for you.

I have found that cutting out refined sugar and white flour has made me feel a lot better.

LisaNSW

I've tried cutting back on carbs before, but just end up feeling fatigued with headaches if I cut them right down.

At least now I try to eat the right kind of carbs in moderation, rather than stuffing my face full of the bad ones regularly.

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pcastagner

I've tried cutting back on carbs before, but just end up feeling fatigued with headaches if I cut them right down.

At least now I try to eat the right kind of carbs in moderation, rather than stuffing my face full of the bad ones regularly.

There are no "good and bad"

I beg to differ.

Good carbs: 100% semolina pasta! cooked al dente

Bad carbs: freaking whole wheat pasta. Gross, man.

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