Is my carb intake bad?

tumsbums

Hello! I am a very sedentary 20 year old female "trying" to eat a healthy balanced diet, but something that always confuses me about this is the carbs?
I have read from different sources we should aim for around 200g a day, but then elsewhere it is said that you should never go over 100g carbs a day or all hell will break loose! haha So many different opinions, and I was wondering if anyone could share their insights?

Each day I eat around 2000 cals. I have lately been having around 240g carbs a day! Each day, this usually comes from:
2 bowls of oatmeal
a fruit smoothie
2 pots of Yogurt
a latte
Lots of veg and salad at dinner and lunch
2 slices of bread
potion of rice or pasta
(one small biscuit :embarassed: )

So even though most of my carbs don't come from refined sources.. is it still bad and unhealthy to eat such a high amount?

Thankyou!

jillyrose0711

It sounds like you're eating a good amount of carbs from good sources, depending on what kind of bread & yogurt you're having. If you want to cut down on your carbs, you could try eating plain yogurt sweetened with honey and make sure you're eating a nice hearty whole grain bread in my experience, it's better and easier to eat a nice generous amount of healthy carbs rather than restrict myself and then go crazy with unhealthy things when I can't handle the cravings

nicsflyingcircus

As long as you are getting a good amount of protein (I shoot for a minimum of 30% of my daily calories from protein) and consuming enough good fat, then I wouldn't worry about your carbs if you are staying at your calorie goal.

For me, one side effect of upping my protein and restricting my fat intake less is that it has naturally depressed my carbs. For example, last week I averaged about 106gram of carbs per day, with 26.85grams being fiber for a daily net carbs of roughly 80-81.

Have you messed about with your macros? Percentages of carbs to fat to protein within your diet? I have mine set to 40/30/30 but they actually break down more like 35/30/35 in my actual diet.

ETA: Most of my carbs come from fruits/vegetables and sprouted grain bread.

junlex123

The tl;dr version: if your 2000 calories contain sufficient protein and fat (as well as enough micro-nutrients - vitamins etc) then what makes up the rest really doesn't matter all that much.



The longer version: carbs, like fat, are primarily used by the body as a source of energy. Take in more energy than you use up (calorie surplus) and you'll start to store fat. Take in less and you'll start to use it up. If 2000 calories is a deficit for you, you will see weight loss over time regardless of if those 2000 calories are from 150g protein, 100g carbs, 111g fat or from 100g protein, 240g carbs, 70g fat. The second macro breakdown is a lot easier to get in a normal diet though.

If it turns out that 2000 cal is not letting you lose weight, you'll want to reduce your calorie intake. It's important to maintain a certain amount of protein intake to reduce how much your body breaks down your own lean body mass for fuel, and it's important to maintain a certain amount of dietary fat to stay healthy. Carbs are generally the easiest/healthiest place to cut calories.


Obligatory sexypants link: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

PS: the reason people suddenly lose a lot of scale weight when going from consuming plenty of carbs to restricting them severely/completely, is because as a result of this dietary change the body's form of carb storage, glycogen, gets used up at a much faster rate than it is replenished. Water molecules bind to glycogen very readily, so when the body loses glycogen, it also gets rid of the excess water that is released. However, this doesn't mean the body's lost much fat at all, and once a regular diet is resumed, the glycogen comes back, along with the associated water, so this type of weight loss is a) not very healthy, as your performance in physical activities, and potentially in mental activities as well, will be impaired b) not really going to affect your aesthetics in the same way as losing fat would.