Carbs/Sugar don't make you fat.

TXBelle1174

Sorry - I hate to tell you this, but that is not true. Not for everyone. I was on a 1500 calorie, low fat diet for a year and gained 40 pounds. I have been on a low sugar, low carb diet (given to my by my endocrinologist) and have lost 20 lbs. Low carb is not for everyone but just as I cannot say - YOU need to be on a low carb, low sugar diet because then you will lose weight... You cannot make that generalization about the millions of people in this world. I have a metabolic disorder combined with PCOS and Insulin Resistance which means I basically dont metabolize sugar and my body converts it to fat almost immediately. I was told this by a medical professional who is deemed the best in the state. There are thousands of women out there with the same disorder that have discovered the same thing. So, while carbs and sugar might not make YOU (or a lot of people) fat, that doesnt hold weight (no pun intended) for the entire population.

Let me be clear for a moment - I am not talking about healthy carbs from veggies and fruits or whole grains - I am talking about sugar, white flour, heavy starches, etc. I still eat veggies and most fruits (in moderation) but have completely cut out almost every other type of "processed" carb or heavy starch.

DominiqueSmall

Eating too much.....(more than your maintenance) regardless of macronutrient composition makes you fat. Just had to throw this out there.

Obviously you have not read Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes or you would not make such ignorant statements

Agreed.

galegetsthin

okay..... you know what. You do what you do if it works. I will do what I do if it works. I have lost nearly 200 lbs doing things the way that my body needs them to. It has taken me a while, but I have done it, dont look like I was ever that big and my body runs a lot better. I still have carbs. I just try to make them as close to natural as I can.

But if you wanna eat a case of snickers bars and lose, good. Hope it works for you. I am gonna get back to doing my thing, now. None of you are worth the argument. I have things that *actually* matter in my life.

Sidesteal

Believe what you want. But I will bet you anything that if you look at the people with 6 packs, or look at any fitness site/mag (like bodybuilding.com or Oxygen), you will see that it is critical to clean up the diet - eliminate processed foods, esp. those high in sugar (and refined flours/pasta etc are included in that).

I will take that bet. You need to eat at a calorie deficit and you need sufficient macronutrients. Now it may be in your best interest to reduce your intake of "junk" food, but elimination of such foods is not necessary and clean eating is ambiguous.

EDIT: Showing my abs to validate my claim. LOL.

SergeantSunshine_reused

Believe what you want. But I will bet you anything that if you look at the people with 6 packs, or look at any fitness site/mag (like bodybuilding.com or Oxygen), you will see that it is critical to clean up the diet - eliminate processed foods, esp. those high in sugar (and refined flours/pasta etc are included in that).

I will take that bet. You need to eat at a calorie deficit and you need sufficient macronutrients. Now it may be in your best interest to reduce your intake of "junk" food, but elimination of such foods is not necessary and clean eating is ambiguous.

EDIT: Showing my abs to validate my claim. LOL.

LOVE!

Sidesteal, Acg, fpacudan, sublog, joe, other amazing people on here!
Hell even me. Pretty lean and have my fair share of "junk" with my healthy food.

jilltaylor86

I've been driving myself crazy with the low carb/high fat debate, and lost zero weight because of it. I've decided to cut out most processed junk foods and empty calories and sticky to healthy choices and whole grains. Low carb is not for me and I don't like who I am or how my body feels when I'm on it. Constipation, extreme grumpiness, low energy, and hair loss? no thanks, I'll keep my healthy carbs.

russellma

Interesting discussion!

What about this question?... If carbs/sugar don't MAKE you fat, can carbs/sugar KEEP you fat?

I'm asking this for the sake of those who have struggled with insulin resistance and/or PCOS.

As already said, insulin resistance is a symptom of obesity (although not necessarily clinical obesity according to BMI), which is the result of a metabolic problem or overeating or both.

For me, the trigger was pregnancy. I gained a little too much weight, which I don't blame on carbs, but which was impossible to get back off postpartum. I tried cutting calories and I tried burning calories through exercise, but due to the insulin resistance, a lot of the carbs I ate were still stored as fat because my body couldn't keep up with them. I was never able to lose more than 5 or so lbs., and was extremely frustrated.

Then, I lowered the amount of carbs to an amount that my body could keep up with and maintained a moderate calorie deficit, and the pounds started coming off. Once I had lost enough weight to tip the balance, the insulin resistance resolved itself and I could add the carbs back in slowly, while still maintaining my weight.

So, although my experience is that carbs probably don't make you fat, it seems that for some people, carbs may KEEP them fat.

Thoughts?

BrettPGH

Believe what you want. But I will bet you anything that if you look at the people with 6 packs, or look at any fitness site/mag (like bodybuilding.com or Oxygen), you will see that it is critical to clean up the diet - eliminate processed foods, esp. those high in sugar (and refined flours/pasta etc are included in that).

At the end of the day, it is true that you will NOT look the same if you eat 1200 cal/day of junk vs. 1200 cal/day of REAL food. I speak from first hand experience, too.

Well since unverified, anecdotal evidence seems to be ALL that matters in this mess of a thread...

I am getting abs for the first time in my life. A 4 pack so far on my way to six. I eat under my calories and have pasta; processed, worthless, white pasta, 2-3 times a week. In large amounts. Seriously big, heaping bowls.

So now my anecdotal evidence wipes away your anecdotal evidence. We could do this all day with all the people here. OR we could maybe rely on verified studies that actually prove things.

tigersword

Sorry - I hate to tell you this, but that is not true. Not for everyone. I was on a 1500 calorie, low fat diet for a year and gained 40 pounds. I have been on a low sugar, low carb diet (given to my by my endocrinologist) and have lost 20 lbs. Low carb is not for everyone but just as I cannot say - YOU need to be on a low carb, low sugar diet because then you will lose weight... You cannot make that generalization about the millions of people in this world. I have a metabolic disorder combined with PCOS and Insulin Resistance which means I basically dont metabolize sugar and my body converts it to fat almost immediately. I was told this by a medical professional who is deemed the best in the state. There are thousands of women out there with the same disorder that have discovered the same thing. So, while carbs and sugar might not make YOU (or a lot of people) fat, that doesnt hold weight (no pun intended) for the entire population.

Let me be clear for a moment - I am not talking about healthy carbs from veggies and fruits or whole grains - I am talking about sugar, white flour, heavy starches, etc. I still eat veggies and most fruits (in moderation) but have completely cut out almost every other type of "processed" carb or heavy starch.

*sigh*

Ok, if your body couldn't metabolize sugar, it wouldn't be able to convert it to fat, because that requires metabolizing it. Insulin resistance means the insulin receptors in your body don't respond effectively to insulin in your blood, whether due to metabolic and genetic issues with the receptors themselves (less common) or due to an excess of fat and sometimes BCAA's in the blood stream physically blocking them (more common.) The latter is why most cases of insulin resistance improve markedly, and even disappear completely, with weight loss. Now, for people with insulin resistance, when the insulin carrying glucose gets rejected by the receptor, or is unable to attach to it for any reason, it is transported back to the liver, where the glucose is converted into glycerol and then into a triglyceride, which is then transported to an adipose station for storage. This also happens in perfectly healthy people, when cells are full of glycogen/glucose, excess gets stored as fat until needed. Now, in a healthy human being, when glucose drops, the body draws triglycerides back out of the adipose stations and converts them back into glucose (well, glycogen) and then insulin carries them back through the blood to where it needs to go. All is right. Unfortunately for the insulin resistant person, the body pulls the triglyceride out of the adipose station, converts it to glycogen, ships it off to where it's needed, but again, due to the insulin resistance, the glucose carrying insulin once again fails to connect with the insulin receptor and gets sent back to the adipose station for storage. Again, carbs don't cause this, and also, since gluconeogenesis can create glucose from both protein, and fat, carbs aren't the sole problem with this, either.

darrensurrey

I like carbs... I also like protein... but which is best? There's only one way to find out...

*inhales*

Lipodestroyer

I think making blanket statements like this is dangerous. I've been on several diets during my battle with my weight and I can say the best I've felt and the most I've lost has been while on a low-carb kick. Now, low carb to me means <100g day. I've tried NutriSystem, Weight Watchers, and a few others but the generic low carb diet has allowed me to lose more weight in less time than any other diet. Also, I was beginning to slip into insulin resistance but after a month of low carbing it up my blood tests all look great now. Everyone's metabolic processes don't uniformly respond/work the same way to food we eat. Oh and just to get this out there my caloric content on the low carb vs the other diets has been the same (~1500/day) the only thing that has changed is the amount of carbs.

tigersword

I think making blanket statements like this is dangerous. I've been on several diets during my battle with my weight and I can say the best I've felt and the most I've lost has been while on a low-carb kick. Now, low carb to me means <100g day. I've tried NutriSystem, Weight Watchers, and a few others but the generic low carb diet has allowed me to lose more weight in less time than any other diet. Also, I was beginning to slip into insulin resistance but after a month of low carbing it up my blood tests all look great now. Everyone's metabolic processes don't uniformly respond/work the same way to food we eat. Oh and just to get this out there my caloric content on the low carb vs the other diets has been the same (~1500/day) the only thing that has changed is the amount of carbs.

Low carb diets are infamous for fast initial weight loss, because reducing carbs in your diet reduces glycogen, and glycogen is stored with large amounts of water. Using up 1 pound of glycogen and not refilling it (which is basically what happens on a low carb diet) leads to 4 pounds of water weight lost. So that would show an initial weight loss of 5 pounds, without actually burning any fat. When you spread all diet plans out for a year, there is no difference in fat loss or weight loss between them (non-low carb diets also reduce glycogen stores, but much more gradually, hence it takes more time for total weight loss to equal a low carb plan, as it takes time for the water weight to catch up.)

10KEyes

Low carb diets are infamous for fast initial weight loss, because reducing carbs in your diet reduces glycogen, and glycogen is stored with large amounts of water. Using up 1 pound of glycogen and not refilling it (which is basically what happens on a low carb diet) leads to 4 pounds of water weight lost. So that would show an initial weight loss of 5 pounds, without actually burning any fat. When you spread all diet plans out for a year, there is no difference in fat loss or weight loss between them (non-low carb diets also reduce glycogen stores, but much more gradually, hence it takes more time for total weight loss to equal a low carb plan, as it takes time for the water weight to catch up.)

True. However, depending on the diet regimen some leave you hungry/craving food every 2 or 3 hours and others minimize or completely does away with the cravings and hunger every 2 or 3 hours. That has certainly been my experience over the years. YMMV.

keola64

Eating too much.....(more than your maintenance) regardless of macronutrient composition makes you fat. Just had to throw this out there.

Seriously? Sugar... one of the main contributers to belly fat,you will rarely find someone with beautiful ABS consuming high quantities of sugar daily,added/fruits/ect. As for carbs,good carbs are needed but bad carbs will cause unwanted effects on the body in most cases.

There are lots of people on here that eat sugar/fruit/ice cream and have great abs.

. Yeah ok not the majority ,and besides I meant an over indulgence of sugar ,different metabolic rates and amount of exercise are also factors but if you deny the FACT THAT SUGAR IS ONE OF THE MAIN CONTRIBUTES TO BELLY FAT YOU ARE MISS INFORMED!

Sidesteal

FACT THAT SUGAR IS ONE OF THE MAIN CONTRIBUTES TO BELLY FAT YOU ARE MISS INFORMED!

Context and dosage are always relevant when making blanket statements like this.

tigersword

Eating too much.....(more than your maintenance) regardless of macronutrient composition makes you fat. Just had to throw this out there.

Seriously? Sugar... one of the main contributers to belly fat,you will rarely find someone with beautiful ABS consuming high quantities of sugar daily,added/fruits/ect. As for carbs,good carbs are needed but bad carbs will cause unwanted effects on the body in most cases.

There are lots of people on here that eat sugar/fruit/ice cream and have great abs.

. Yeah ok not the majority ,and besides I meant an over indulgence of sugar ,different metabolic rates and amount of exercise are also factors but if you deny the FACT THAT SUGAR IS ONE OF THE MAIN CONTRIBUTES TO BELLY FAT YOU ARE MISS INFORMED!

Excess calories contribute to fat. Period. No excess calories, no fat. Anyone who believes any one nutrient is responsible for fat is misinformed.