carbs are good?

giag09

i just saw a post of a women who eats only 30 carbs and like 150 protein she is ripped but i dont think i could survive on only 30 carbs thats not healthy right?

giag09

bump

giag09

bump

JMarigold

BUMP!!

LOL Seriously I could never do that! Someone who is actually nice and muscular/lean answer! :laugh:

giag09

i so badly want someone's advice who is lean and eating their correct tdee!!!

wowmom23

I look forward to reading the responses! I tried Adkins once and lost about 7 lbs in 2 weeks. Then, the second I added a carb back, it all returned - water weight?! I was also SUPER-grumpy.

DecemberNick

30g of carbs total?! That, without understanding the full circumstances of this other woman's situation, seems absolutely insane. Let's just be clear on something, you can be absolutely ripped eating anything. A calorie deficit of any kind will make your body burn fat and lose weight. That aside, I don't think it's the lack of carbs in her diet or the mass of protein that makes her ripped. You can do the same thing with carbohydrates and it would probably be a lot less miserable.

Personally, I think living on 30g of carbs a day would be terrible (hard to avoid carbs and then the feeling I've had when I lowered my carbs was awful). I don't have a number of studies I can quote but I share sentiment with this article:

http://healing.about.com/cs/uc_directory/a/fatlosscoach.htm

I need fuel for my exercise and my body wants carbs...why force feed it protein? The majority of my calories is and will probably always be in my carbs.

The immediate gaining of 7 lbs. is probably your body gleefully restoring the depleted glycogen stores

gemiwing

Unless you have a metabolic disorder, diabetes or PCOS- you do not have to go to extremes or fear carbs. If your body processes food normally then you're fine.

I could eat nothing but bananas and still lose weight if I had a good enough deficit. Same with potatoes.

Don't fear the food

PinkAndSparkle

My nutritionist told me that carbs are essential for muscle growth and energy. Everyone always thinks that if you cut carbs your body will learn to use protein and fat as energy, but it's much less efficient, and you'll get fatigued much quicker. Real food is where it's at...not processed white carbs.

31prvrbs

@Giag- hope you don't mind, but I'm re-posting the reply that I gave you via PM, since others were wanting to see an answer....

Yes, girl. You NEED carbs & fat. Good fat is crucial for brain function, helping your body to absorb vitamins, helps your immune system as well as several other important bodily functions. In addition it helps you to have smooth skin, shiny hair & nails, etc.. Lack of enough fat is what signals "starvation" to your body. Healthy fats are found in nuts/nut butters, oils, seeds, avocado, etc.

Carbs are also essential. They provide energy. If you don't have enough carbs, your body will try to pull energy from other sources, which is usually your muscles. Your body will break down (catabolize) it's own muscle tissue to conserve energy, which in turn slows down your metabolism. Your body adjusts to accommodate what it lacks.

Paring carbs with protein after workouts assists your workout efforts by sweeping the protein directly into the muscles. Good carbs also provide fiber to help flush everything out.

So yes, your body needs them both. Keep your fats at least 25-30%, and carbs 35-40% of your daily intake for maximum fuel without overdoing it

Too much protein isn't good either, so keep it limited to around 30% or 1-1.5g/lb of body weight

ellie78

I think what the person you saw was probably doing was called a ketogenic diet. I've run across it in some forums and seems to be one of those short-term, last ditch efforts used by professional bodybuilders to get their body fat super low right before a competition. Even short term this would have to be super unhealthy.

Buddhasmiracle

@Giag- hope you don't mind, but I'm re-posting the reply that I gave you via PM, since others were wanting to see an answer....

Yes, girl. You NEED carbs & fat. Good fat is crucial for brain function, helping your body to absorb vitamins, helps your immune system as well as several other important bodily functions. In addition it helps you to have smooth skin, shiny hair & nails, etc.. Lack of enough fat is what signals "starvation" to your body. Healthy fats are found in nuts/nut butters, oils, seeds, avocado, etc.

Carbs are also essential. They provide energy. If you don't have enough carbs, your body will try to pull energy from other sources, which is usually your muscles. Your body will break down (catabolize) it's own muscle tissue to conserve energy, which in turn slows down your metabolism. Your body adjusts to accommodate what it lacks.

Paring carbs with protein after workouts assists your workout efforts by sweeping the protein directly into the muscles. Good carbs also provide fiber to help flush everything out.

So yes, your body needs them both. Keep your fats at least 25-30%, and carbs 35-40% of your daily intake for maximum fuel without overdoing it

Too much protein isn't good either, so keep it limited to around 30% or 1-1.5g/lb of body weight

Great explanation of the value of carbs. Fruit, veggies, legumes -- all complex carbs and in many cases the source of fiber.

LoriInIowa

Don't know if anyone else is Type 2 diabetic, but when I was first diagnosed I about freaked *myself* out about carbs. We hear so many negative things about carbs, but not all carbs are created equal.

Complex carbs are where it's at...processeed, refined, ect--not so much.

The closer we can eat our food to where it actually came from----the better.

BTW, the diabetic nurse/dietician recommended 45-60 grams of carbs per meal and around 15 grams for snacks (2X/day). So 30 a day sounds NUTS to me. Just MHO.