CARBS!!!! UGH! What is the TRUTH?!!!?!?!?!?!!

Argent78

Eating right is for life.

Could I live without carbs? NO! So, I include them in my diet. I haven't cut anything out except junk food (and even that I have on occasion).

It is all about finding a balance and eating everything in moderation. By cutting carbs out now I could potentially drop the weight a lot faster but then as soon as I go back to eating carbs I'd pick-up the weight faster than I lost it!

So...slow and steady wins the race.

Carbs are essential to any balanced diet. Focus on fruits and veggies and whole grains.

THIS!!! cutting anything will make you loose weight... if you can sustain that for life, it is fine. But in reality, if you eliminate carbs, when you go back to "normal" balanced eating, you will gain weight very fast.
The nutritionist (and you should listen what professionals have to say) tell you to eat the carbs, because is a helthy and sustained way to go. If you don't trust your fitness nutritionist, go to a second consult.
But I would trust what she has to say, better than the individual stories on this site.

Internet does not have the truth. And, as another person said in this thread, you can find evidence to contradict whatever you want if your search on the web. Trust professionals.

Why would cutting anything cause you to lose weight when you can just switch to a different food to fill the caloric void? Also why would reverting back to a balanced diet cause you to gain weight very fast? Why wouldn't someone just eat the same amount of food regardless of how they change up the macro nutrients?

OK Grinch031 --> if it was as easy as you make it look, we wouldn't be here. First, we are talking about carbs. Second, you are not adding anything by just asking questions trying to find the "flaw". as I said, go and ask a nutritionist!

grinch031

Eating right is for life.

Could I live without carbs? NO! So, I include them in my diet. I haven't cut anything out except junk food (and even that I have on occasion).

It is all about finding a balance and eating everything in moderation. By cutting carbs out now I could potentially drop the weight a lot faster but then as soon as I go back to eating carbs I'd pick-up the weight faster than I lost it!

So...slow and steady wins the race.

Carbs are essential to any balanced diet. Focus on fruits and veggies and whole grains.

THIS!!! cutting anything will make you loose weight... if you can sustain that for life, it is fine. But in reality, if you eliminate carbs, when you go back to "normal" balanced eating, you will gain weight very fast.
The nutritionist (and you should listen what professionals have to say) tell you to eat the carbs, because is a helthy and sustained way to go. If you don't trust your fitness nutritionist, go to a second consult.
But I would trust what she has to say, better than the individual stories on this site.

Internet does not have the truth. And, as another person said in this thread, you can find evidence to contradict whatever you want if your search on the web. Trust professionals.

Why would cutting anything cause you to lose weight when you can just switch to a different food to fill the caloric void? Also why would reverting back to a balanced diet cause you to gain weight very fast? Why wouldn't someone just eat the same amount of food regardless of how they change up the macro nutrients?

OK Grinch031 --> if it was as easy as you make it look, we wouldn't be here. First, we are talking about carbs. Second, you are not adding anything by just asking questions trying to find the "flaw". as I said, go and ask a nutritionist!

So why make claims that you don't understand enough to even back up or clarify? It makes zero sense to me that switching from a low carb diet to a balanced diet would result in rapid weight gain, yet we should feel encouraged to eat these carbs?

grinch031

Although science is catching up on seeing the benefits of low carb dieting, it is still generally looked upon as an unhealthy diet method.. including here on MFP. There are a few different approaches to low carb dieting. One being you limit your carbs to about 20 per day, starting out; this would be your ketosis type diets where your body burns its own fat instead of from what you feed it (Atkins for example), so calorie counting is not necessary. Others go up to as many as 150 per day for maintenance, where calorie counting is still very important.

So what happens to the food that you feed to your body?

Mostly, it comes out the other end? When your body doesn't have carbs for energy it converts its own fat. I just know it works. There's probably a lot more going on that we don't know about and that's why I have chosen not to lose weight this way again. I may reconsider down the line when the scientific community starts delving in deep. Most of the negative data out there is knee-jerk reactions to what the experts THINK should happen if you eat a diet low in carbs and high in fat/protein.

Edit: @ grinch
I know it's natural to be skeptical, but when I was on the low carb diet, about 15-20 years ago, I ate high fat ground beef smothered with melted cheese and dipped in sour cream (catsup is high carb). I ate at least 5000-7000 calories per day and still lost weight rapidly. Your body just doesn't see what you eat as useable energy.

Sorry but it has already been easily disproven that excess calories eaten on a very low carb diet come out the other end. What truly happens is that those calories get stored as fat, and you end up gaining weight. The magic is that it is actually hard to consistently overeat such that you can maintain a caloric surplus for a very long time on a very low carb diet because its so satiating.

However there are cases of sustained weight gain, look up Jimmy Moore a blogger as linked below:

http://www.livinlavidalowcarb.com/

The very low carb diet is a tool to help correct weight problems, but its effectiveness still varies from person to person. Another problem that the diet doesn't address though is leptin deficiency that occurs after weight loss, which is the primary reason people regain weight. I believe in the diet as I'm not impressed by the alternative diet solutions, but lets get real here on how it works.

songbyrdsweet

IT DOESN'T MATTER!!

Try it and see if you like it!

Maverick60

Carbs store glycogen in the muscles, and muscles will use that source of energy since it's easier that converting it from fat. So therefore people think, avoid carbs and the body will burn fat. Here's the rub -- the muscles don't really deplete their glycogen levels unless you are an endurance athlete.

Don't want to sound like that guy but muscular glycogen stores get burnt up in about 20 seconds of steady, continuous exercise. Then muscles go to using the anaerobic aspect of the ATP cycle (lactic acid production as a by product) as it is difficult to provide sufficient oxygen for normal energy production. Once your muscles have signalled your body that you are doing this then your breathing and pulse accelerate to compenstate for the oxygen shortage. GCSE human biology.

grinch031

Carbs store glycogen in the muscles, and muscles will use that source of energy since it's easier that converting it from fat. So therefore people think, avoid carbs and the body will burn fat. Here's the rub -- the muscles don't really deplete their glycogen levels unless you are an endurance athlete.

Don't want to sound like that guy but muscular glycogen stores get burnt up in about 20 seconds of steady, continuous exercise. Then muscles go to using the anaerobic aspect of the ATP cycle (lactic acid production as a by product) as it is difficult to provide sufficient oxygen for normal energy production. Once your muscles have signalled your body that you are doing this then your breathing and pulse accelerate to compenstate for the oxygen shortage. GCSE human biology.

I don't think either of these posts are true as it pertains to glycogen stores. You can deplete glycogen stores in 90 minutes or so with endurance training. I think you can do the same with resistance training, but maybe it'll take longer because the exercise isn't continuous. But as long as you are using your muscles, glycogen stores will eventually be depleted. You certainly can't deplete glycogen stores in 20 seconds.

ATT949

Ok... I need some valid and correct information. Everyone and every thing is contradictory! And it is pissing me off!!!!

My understanding was this... and it very well could be wrong. If you eat carbs... and they are not used for energy(fuel)... then they are stored. and become fat.
Therefore the less carbs you eat... still provided you are giving your body some fuel... then your body turns to the stored fat for energy... Thats what makes fat loss.

So, today, after having my RMR tested. See Post here...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/596623-i-had-my-rmr-tested-here-is-what-it-said
...The "fitness professional" asks me how I am eating... I told her mostly clean... and lower carbs. No processed breads...mostly fruit, veg, sweet potatos and lots of meat. ..etc..... about 25-40% carb... 30-40% protein and remainder fat..nothing exact just lower carb.
She says I need to eat about 50-60% carb. That is what will make me lose the fat.
Also increases energy. They should be whole grains... rice, quinoa, couscous... etc. Which all seems "processed" to me.

So, whats the truth about carbs?

Edit to add....

Since I have been cutting grains out of my diet... like breads and beans crackers EVEN!... I have been less bloated and gassy.... and when I happen to have some of those things... Dude... watch out!!

I need to formula for fat burning majic!...

Sorry to see you're still struggling.

As I wrote to you some time ago, you could eat nothing but lard and you'll lose weight.

What amazes me about the diet industry is that it's turned us all into "measurebators" - we spend hour after hour after hour tweaking this and fiddling with that and we forget the one simple things that's key to losing weight.

Eat less and exercise more.

Like lots of other folks, I look at my macros because I want to keep maintain my weight (actually, I want to stay at my current BFP of 16.3%) and, because I'm a runner, I want my diet to be 55% carbs. Everything I've read about running nutrition tells me to have that level of carbs in my diet but when I was losing, I had a high protein diet to keep my satiety level up.

Try the "plateau buster" menu that I sent you a few months ago. Or, flip to early last year in my diary and eat what I ate for a month.

When I was losing weight I had periods of weight loss and I had "recovery phases", which lasted as long as 9 days (http://cbeinfo.net/weight.htm). When I was losing weight, my average daily weight loss was 0.78 pounds per day. And that worked when I was obese and also when I was 18% body fat (I dropped 8 pounds in the first two weeks in January to lose weight for running).

We can't be sure that you'd get the same results as I did but why not try it? What have you got to lose?

_Kitten_Kate

Ok... I need some valid and correct information. Everyone and every thing is contradictory! And it is pissing me off!!!!

My understanding was this... and it very well could be wrong. If you eat carbs... and they are not used for energy(fuel)... then they are stored. and become fat.
Therefore the less carbs you eat... still provided you are giving your body some fuel... then your body turns to the stored fat for energy... Thats what makes fat loss.

So, today, after having my RMR tested. See Post here...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/596623-i-had-my-rmr-tested-here-is-what-it-said
...The "fitness professional" asks me how I am eating... I told her mostly clean... and lower carbs. No processed breads...mostly fruit, veg, sweet potatos and lots of meat. ..etc..... about 25-40% carb... 30-40% protein and remainder fat..nothing exact just lower carb.
She says I need to eat about 50-60% carb. That is what will make me lose the fat.
Also increases energy. They should be whole grains... rice, quinoa, couscous... etc. Which all seems "processed" to me.

So, whats the truth about carbs?

Edit to add....

Since I have been cutting grains out of my diet... like breads and beans crackers EVEN!... I have been less bloated and gassy.... and when I happen to have some of those things... Dude... watch out!!

I need to formula for fat burning majic!...

OP here...

Thank you all for your oh so meaningful...uh humm... information.
But I found what I was looking for; along with much more great info.

And I am here to share.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/how-many-carbohydrates-do-you-need.html

Thanks!

Scorpioangel

I eat 50% carbs and have the entire time through my weight loss journey and now am at 104 and 10% body fat with good muscle tone. I seriously think everyone is different because when I tried to cut carbs (as a bunch of people were suggesting) I didn't have the energy to do my workouts (running 10+ miles, Insanity, etc.).