Carbs/Weightloss??

gangstagirl625

for me low carbs =30 pounds lost in six weeks

BTW - low carbs = 30 pounds lost in 5 months.

High carbs = 45 pounds lost in 6 months.

Your mileage may vary.

islandnutshel

For me it is calories in vs calories out. I don't pay any attention to what is carb/protein, but I do look for high nutrient food and I don't eat wheat or any glutenous grain. I am losing at a steady rate of 2 pounds a week.

MeadowSong

I was noticing that even though I watch my carbs because of blood sugar issues--I get hungry WAY to fast if I eat too many, and straight sugar puts me out until I recover from it--my carbs are still higher on MFP than the roughly third of my calories that I was aiming for. I'm thinking it's partly like the one person said-we tend to underestimate them. But also, I don't worry about carbs from fruits and veggies, I try to avoid as much as I can pasta and bread and such. Carbs in general are not as satisfying as protein and fat, even without blood sugar issues.

Basically, I don't think it's COMPLETELY calories in--calories out, because you're just going to feel better and DO better when you eat real food. But you can just count calories and do fine if you are reasonable in your food choices. One thing that helped me was using the diabetic meal planning where you choose numbers of servings from each group--breads (carbs), meats (proteins), veggies, fruits, milk (which they should have just put under meat--but I think they've redone it, perhaps they have). It really helped me to understand just how many (WAY to many) carbs I was eating; I do much better now.

MaraDiaz

Glycogen requires the water for storage. Cutting carbs reduces your glycogen supply, as your body doesn't refill glycogen stores from protein or fat, only from carbs. Without the stored glycogen, the water is unnecessary.

Thanks for answering that. I have a tendency to dehydrate myself as it is, plus I drink coffee, so I was kind of worried.

mrsm220

Just been reading through this thread because I am switching to low carb after a ocuple of monthsof calorie restriction only.

Ok,my thoughts.

I know two people, obese over their whole lives, who went back down to normal BMI's only after using Atkins diet for a year. They are on maintenance for life and it's just ordinary eating to them now.

I am sure that for the majority of people, sticking to a very low calorie diet for a prolonged period, and adding exercise into the mix, will lose tons of weight. That's for sure, although not universal (is anything?)

The problem here is blood sugar. Carb cravings. Most people are going ot struggle to lose weight on a low cal, low fat diet because they are so friggin hungry all day long. Cutting down on meat and other rich protein and fat sources means your blood sugar will be going haywire all day and few are going ot resist this long term. It's not natural nor is it healthy. Nor is it, in most cases, very effective at permanent and susatinable weight loss.

Cutting the carb crap, however, brings lots of other benefits, such as blood sugar regulation, feeling fuller for longer (thus naturally reducing calorie intake without the starvation factor) and actual fat burning, which is much more difficult when you keep overfeeding your body sugars.

I am changing my mind. I couldn't be bothered to low carb because I love cake and chocolate. It's a huge sacrifice. But after just a week I will forget they exist. I'll report back on this thread on if it shifts my weight that I just can't lose otherwise.

Helloitsdan

Seems level of exercise is key.

Strength training or runner = need the carbs.

Sedentary people (or people with insulin resistance) = need to reduce the carbs.

A sedentary person does absolutely nothing during the day.
I dont think you know what you are doing.

My wife set herself up as sedentary.

We recently figured out she takes 16k steps a day and burns 2600-3k/day.
Zoiks!

andric1

I think most of you people should first check on why and how the low carb diet works. Ketose, refeed, a strict <20-30g carbs per day, etc etc are absolutely non negotiable. You'll easily gain weight if you don't know what you're doing or just yo-yo the **** out of your body.

There's people who devote their life to study and research diets, don't try to think you can learn all that in one day.

Kara_xxx

I was a long distance runner & triathlete and used to eat A LOT of carbs... at least 400-500g a day, none of it in some eyes particularly bad stuff just a lot of pasta, rice, bread, cereals etc. Then there are the extra carbs in sports drinks etc. I also used to take extra sugar in hot drinks.

All this was sort of fine while I was training like a demon (15 hours a week plus), but the moment you tone that down it comes to bite you in a spectacular way.

I'm now limiting my carbs primarily to vegetables, fruit and maybe a slice of bread here or there and keep it to 100-150g of carbs, with 1g of every pound of lean mass in protein (for me around 100g) and I feel HEAPS better for it.

My energy was a slave to available carbs. If there were no carbs I had no energy. It was like my body had nothing of its own to utilise. With a higher protein, more good fats and fewer carbs eating regime I am by no means deprived of anything but I feel a lot better in terms of having sustained energy.

I see a lot of people new to running indoctrinated into this "carb loading" lifestyle that's totally unnecessary. You don't need all those carbs. I do two back to back spin classes without them with no prop in performance.

petiteLady89

Continue to eat carbs, but make sure you are keeping true to the portins. Pasta is normally only 1/4 cup. Potato is 1/2. Brown rice 1/2 cup. Bread is one slice. I try to keep my carbs at or under 150g. This includes carbs from all sources. So I do have to limit those grain carbs as much as possible. But I don't deprive my self because I am trying not to "diet". I don't want to go to low and then introduce those types of food again and gain the weight back. Just make sure you keep those carbs healthy! No white refined stuff. Or very minimal. Keep it true whole grain.

Anyways, I am not a doctor. This is just what personally works for me and what I have learned through online research the past three years.

petiteLady89

Continue to eat carbs, but make sure you are keeping true to the portins. Pasta is normally only 1/4 cup. Potato is 1/2. Brown rice 1/2 cup. Bread is one slice. I try to keep my carbs at or under 150g. This includes carbs from all sources. So I do have to limit those grain carbs as much as possible. But I don't deprive my self because I am trying not to "diet". I don't want to go to low and then introduce those types of food again and gain the weight back. Just make sure you keep those carbs healthy! No white refined stuff. Or very minimal. Keep it true whole grain.

Anyways, I am not a doctor. This is just what personally works for me and what I have learned through online research the past three years.

I should add that you may need more carbs depending on your height and weight.

Helloitsdan

I think most of you people should first check on why and how the low carb diet works. Ketose, refeed, a strict <20-30g carbs per day, etc etc are absolutely non negotiable. You'll easily gain weight if you don't know what you're doing or just yo-yo the **** out of your body.

There's people who devote their life to study and research diets, don't try to think you can learn all that in one day.

I cycle the carbs.
Lift days I hit about 500g.
Rest days between 100-150g.

andric1

I cycle the carbs.
Lift days I hit about 500g.
Rest days between 100-150g.

Perfectly fine by me, but it's not really low carb since you're way above any amount that would allow ketosis.

abbylg1983

The two schools of thought (calories in vs. calories out and Paleo/low carb) are actually more similar than people realize. By cutting your carbs, you are cutting calories, most likely. Sidebar- when I say low carb, I really mean low grains and starches, I think any diet right now recognizes you need vegetables.

Here is what you get for 100 calories that are carbs:
6 ritz carckers
I piece of bread
1/2 of a cup of most cereals (except for Cheerios which is a whole cup) (fyi, a half cup might not even fill the bottom layer of the bowl)
1 banana
1/6 of a pasta dish at Olive Garden (i'm too lazy to look up what pasta is I just know that most Olive Garden dishes run about 600-1000 calories each)

Here is what you get for 100 calories on Paleo/low carb
6 egg whites (or 1.5 whole eggs)
1 3 oz chicken breast
3 or 4 cups of broccoli
1 can of tuna (okay cheating a bit since I don't think canned tuna is allowed in Paleo)
1 3 oz serving of shrimp

I mean, you're going to eat a LOT of food trying to get to 1500+ calories on a strict paleo diet. But most people who have cereal for breakfast don't measure by cups- they fill up the bowl. That's about 3 cups probably. Even the average "healthy" cereal is probably around 120-150 calories a cup, so now you're talking about 360-450 calories just on dry cereal. Add a cup of milk and you've just topped 500. Add a banana and you're now at 600. Add a piece of toast with light butter and you're over 700 calories. The first time I started myfitness pal I added up my breakfast and was FLOORED. And I thought I was a healthy eater! But most carb heavy foods are pretty high in calories.

That being said, I do believe calories in calories out is effective for weight loss. Note- weight loss. Not fat loss. You can lose a lot of weight and still have a potbelly. For me, I was always slender as an adult (I was kind of chubby in high school because I ate horribly) but I always had a roll of belly fat and what I considered thunder thighs. Now I don't count calories and eat a more Paleo diet and I haven't lost much more weight, but my legs are noticeably thinner and my stomach is flattening out. I have a ways to go, but phasing out grains has been helpful to me. For me, calories in < calories out = weight loss, cutting out grains = leaning out.

Helloitsdan

I cycle the carbs.
Lift days I hit about 500g.
Rest days between 100-150g.

Perfectly fine by me, but it's not really low carb since you're way above any amount that would allow ketosis.

Keto takes time.
I cycle every other day.
The rest days turns out somewhere around 20% of total cals.
I'ts all thats needed for the water retention to go bye byes.
=D
A 4mi walk fasted in the AM tends to help move things along as well.

Annie_ga

All I know is that when I eat a meal heavy in carbs, I stay hungry. And when I eat a meal heavier in protein with some carbs - I feel very satisfied = not hungry. When I am not hungry, I eat less This is how I've lost weight: eat less, exercise more. After I get to my goal weight, I'll still favor protein - so it's a lifestyle change for sure.

jdavis193

I get the oxygen fitness mags and the nutritional said women need 40 to 60 % of carbs

LesterBlackstone

Still disproves losing fat is simply cals in/ cals out. That was my point.

Anecdotal evidence. Your results are not universal, so it doesnt disprove anything.

Check out the guy who lost 27 lbs, 9% body fat, lowered his bad cholesterol and didn't increase exercise being on a TWINKIE DIET. You know what he did? He restricted his calories. Just that.

Not saying it's safe or healthy, but just showing that different things work for different people.

garentee he lost quite a bit of LBM as well though, still proving that cals in/cals out may be the answer to weight loss, but for efficient fat loss while preserving muscle mass... Not so much.

I like how you jump to conclusions without actually looking things up.



On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months.

He now weighs 174 pounds.

Haub's body fat dropped from 33.4 to 24.9 percent.


Do the math. He lost about 3lbs of LBM.

ONOEZ!!!! His muscles fell off!!!

bulbadoof

The way I understand it is that fats and proteins can be used by your body to create and repair cells, muscles, etc. whereas the only thing carbs can be used for is energy. That implies that fats and proteins have more bang for their buck, as it were. I definitely don't think carbs are evil or something to be completely avoided, but I agree they don't really benefit you as much as the other macros; I find they're often not "worth it" in terms of how much they contribute to my nutritional goals and how satisfied I feel after them compared to proteins or fats.