Calories vs. Carbs

JosephVitte

Thank you, I figured it could only leave the body so many ways.


I have another question if you don't mind.


I'm on the road a lot, usually just drink my water, but at the end of a long day, sometimes I'm reaching for a large fountain drink of Brisk Raspberry Ice Tea, yes I log it, log everything. It has a TON of sugar in it, and sugar was my problem area I quickly learned after joining this site. I've got it under wraps for the majority of days, a day like today will be different. Off the top of my head, my sugar intake suggested here(MFP) is about 44 grams, I believe, somewhere in this ballpark for sure. That big ole fountain drink has about 100 grams of sugar in it alone! I have been doing a pretty good job staying under my suggested calorie intake. It's not common, but yesterday I was 700 calories under my cal intake, but 100 grams over my sugar intake.

Question: Is this counter productive?

Am I wasting my time staying under my cal intake by going over my sugar intake. I do exercise, but still pretty unknowledgeable in this field.

mmapags

i

Thank you, I figured it could only leave the body so many ways.


I have another question if you don't mind.


I'm on the road a lot, usually just drink my water, but at the end of a long day, sometimes I'm reaching for a large fountain drink of Brisk Raspberry Ice Tea, yes I log it, log everything. It has a TON of sugar in it, and sugar was my problem area I quickly learned after joining this site. I've got it under wraps for the majority of days, a day like today will be different. Off the top of my head, my sugar intake suggested here(MFP) is about 44 grams, I believe, somewhere in this ballpark for sure. That big ole fountain drink has about 100 grams of sugar in it alone! I have been doing a pretty good job staying under my suggested calorie intake. It's not common, but yesterday I was 700 calories under my cal intake, but 100 grams over my sugar intake.

Question: Is this counter productive?

Am I wasting my time staying under my cal intake by going over my sugar intake. I do exercise, but still pretty unknowledgeable in this field.

What's more imporatant than your sugar intake is your overall carb intake. If that is in line, the ice tea is less of a problem. On the other hand, 100 grams of sugar is pretty much nutritionally void. Common sense would dictate not to do this too often and/ or posstible find a more nutrient dense way of getting your carb calories.

lasmit4477

Additionally, protein and fat are of much greater physiological importance than carbohydrates. Typically when calories need to be reduced, it usually makes sense to reduce carbs in order to create the necessary energy deficit -- but obviously this is still dependent on context.

That's true, but only to an extent. After all, vegetables have great nutritional value and are also carbs. So it's not entirely accurate to say your body needs carbs less than protein or fat. If that were true, why would eating vegetables to achieve optimal health and fitness be pushed on dieters so much?

I said that protein and fat are of greater physiological importance. There exist essential fatty acids and essential amino acids that your body cannot supply on it's own. Your body can produce glucose through gluconeogenesis which makes carbs a non-essential nutrient.

EDIT: But obviously I would never suggest that anyone stop eating vegetables or eliminate carbs.

That still doesn't explain why most doctors you speak to and many studies you read will say you need the nutrition that vegetables, a carbohydrate, provide. I'm not saying fats and proteins aren't important, because they are -- I'm saying all three matter and we need to stop making one out of the three this enemy food that needs to be avoided.

Here is where you are confusing my statement with typical ignorant low-carb dogma (read: I agree with your bold part above, but you are assuming that I'm saying things that I am not saying):

I am not advocating low carb diets (although, there ARE some people that would benefit from them and it is not a dangerous approach when done intelligently). I am not suggesting that carbs are evil. Obesity is caused by overconsumption of energy over time. Carbs are your friend and because of the micronutrients they provide, you should probably eat them. I eat 250-300g/day in carbs.

If what you were saying made sense, there would be no point in eating healthy carbs, and medical evidence points to the fact that eating those things does improve your health.

I don't see where you are drawing this conclusion. My original statement was that usually when someone decides to restrict calorie intake (they are overweight, they are learning about nutrition, and they need to create an energy deficit), it makes sense to draw most of the deficit from carbohydrate. I would further conclude that most people, when they start to learn about proper nutrition, learn that they also should increase protein intake due to LBM retention. This further drives CHO intake downwards because you have to make up for that caloric increase in protein.

This is a risk I take for saying "usually" because we're arguing without context. I'm going to make the assumption, that I believe is fair, that the majority of obese people are consuming a diet that is hypercaloric (this is an obvious one) and they are also consuming plenty of carbs, and I'd further speculate they are not consuming enough protein. I'm not going to make the statement that this is the case with all obese people. I think this is the case with "most" obese people.

This does not make carbs the enemy. Carbs are not causing people to be fat. Hypercaloric intake is causing people to be fat. It just so happens that, the math works out such that if you tell Bob to reduce his caloric intake by 1200 to get him to a reasonable deficit, and you tell him that he should also bump his protein up to 150g, he's going to need to put down the donuts (reduce CHO).

^^^ This!! Said perfectly!

JosephVitte

i

Thank you, I figured it could only leave the body so many ways.


I have another question if you don't mind.


I'm on the road a lot, usually just drink my water, but at the end of a long day, sometimes I'm reaching for a large fountain drink of Brisk Raspberry Ice Tea, yes I log it, log everything. It has a TON of sugar in it, and sugar was my problem area I quickly learned after joining this site. I've got it under wraps for the majority of days, a day like today will be different. Off the top of my head, my sugar intake suggested here(MFP) is about 44 grams, I believe, somewhere in this ballpark for sure. That big ole fountain drink has about 100 grams of sugar in it alone! I have been doing a pretty good job staying under my suggested calorie intake. It's not common, but yesterday I was 700 calories under my cal intake, but 100 grams over my sugar intake.

Question: Is this counter productive?

Am I wasting my time staying under my cal intake by going over my sugar intake. I do exercise, but still pretty unknowledgeable in this field.

What's more imporatant than your sugar intake is your overall carb intake. If that is in line, the ice tea is less of a problem. On the other hand, 100 grams of sugar is pretty much nutritionally void. Common sense would dictate not to do this too often and/ or posstible find a more nutrient dense way of getting your carb calories.

I truly appreciate your responses, just possibly keep in mind..............what's common sense to you isn't to me, that's why I made sure to mention I'm unknowledable in this field, and why I started with "dumb question"...........I really do appreciate the responses!

I don't drink them too often, but will admit this is my 2nd one this week, but only drank a half of one the other time.

So your saying if my carb level is on par, sugar is less of a problem, unless I do the 100 grams a day too often.

What are my carb calories?


Once again, super duper beginner here.............i appreciate your patience!

fitsin10

bump

mmapags

I truly appreciate your responses, just possibly keep in mind..............what's common sense to you isn't to me, that's why I made sure to mention I'm unknowledable in this field, and why I started with "dumb question"...........I really do appreciate the responses!

I don't drink them too often, but will admit this is my 2nd one this week, but only drank a half of one the other time.

So your saying if my carb level is on par, sugar is less of a problem, unless I do the 100 grams a day too often.

What are my carb calories?


Once again, super duper beginner here.............i appreciate your patience!

Go to settings and make your food diary public and I can take a look and be a little more specific. Basically, on your diary, 4 key elements are being measured; total calories, protein, fats and carbs in that order of priority (that's not how they typically format). In addition to managing total calories, you want to set and hit reasonable targets on those other 3. You will see them referred to as Macronutrients or Macros. You want adequate protein and fats and then carbs for what's left.

The ice tea once or twice a week is likely not a big issue. If you enjoy it and can hit your targets, go for it. If is causes sugar cravings because it's too much, cut it back or out.

Just a suggestion but, so we don't derail the thread, feel free to PM me with any questions. Be glad to help. Once you understand your macros, you may want some guidance in setting them appropriatley. The default setting here on MFP are not usually optimum.

judychicken

Bump