Another annoying question about carbs hit me with science

LavenderBouquet

On the subject of low carb diets, the reason most people lose weight on them is because they end up eating fewer calories overall, so it is really just another calorie reduction system.

I'm not sure if this is necessarily true. I know myself, and multitude of friends I have on here that are paleo/primal, all eat at similar deficits that we always did. I choose foods with appropriate calorie-densities to ensure I meet my calorie goals daily. I've lost more weight than I've ever been able to before, and it's been MUCH easier. I would think anyone eating low-carb and who also tracks calories would be eating similar to their previous calorie goals.

divemunkey

Seriously, people???

The water weight "lost" initially with a lower carb diet is due to the fact that your body actually needs to hold more water to process carbs. If you don't eat the carbs, your body gets rid of the water. it is not dehydrating itself in the unhealthy sense. If you start to eat more carbs, your body will retain water to process it. That is why you might start to feel bloaty after eating breads and pastas if you don't normally eat them.

There, science in layman's terms.

megsmom2

Eat your food and like it! You'll lose at a deficit.

This! And try to get off this dieting merrygoround you're on. Make a decision to eat sensibly all the time and enjoy what you eat.

Stephiestephs

Purplesaurus I don't want to go primal again because I will just go insane one day and shove everything i love in my face and gain back weight. So like a bunch of you said I need to find a balance. Plus primal makes me eat tons of sweet potato because I am hungry all the time. Coconut milk tastes like crud in coffee I don't care what anyone says.

Stephiestephs

I do lose the weight awesome like that but the minute I get comfortable with my weight I start eating things I love here and there before I know it I gained 15 pounds. It's annoying

nxd10

I am not diabetic or ever been diagnosed with a pre-diabetic condition.

If I keep my carbs around 35% not only am I less hungry than when I've higher but also lose weight faster at the same calorie level.

The major change in my diet since I started here almost a hear ago (and less 35 pounds - everything I needed to lose) - is lowering my carbs from 45% to 35%. That made it easy to eat more without going over calories.

I found the book Why We Get Fat, a summary of science of fat deposition and weight loss by the Science Editor of the NYTimes, helpful. It explained why this would be true. Essentially high glycemic foods (fast digestion, like carbs - especially liquid carbs) causes an insulin spike. During high insulin levels, you lower blood sugar by quickly storing it as fat and stopping breaking down fat into sugar. The more time your body spends doing that, the more you will store fat and the less you will burn it - even at identical calorie levels. It's what your body does to keep you from having dangerously high blood sugar levels. Long term, it will not only make you fat, it will also make you hungry and give you diabetes if you are vulnerable to it.

The NIH did a good review of diets last year and essentially came up with recommendations that mirror the book's.

You can go lower carb and lose weight faster, but long term, 35% is easy to maintain and does the same thing. This is a lifetime goal of weight maintenance, not a diet.

BTW, you probably saw the stuff in the news last week about high quantities of red meat creating a favorable environment for gut bacteria that mess up your heart. There's more to eating than any one component. If one reason for losing weight is reducing risk of heart attack and stroke, you may want to watch red meat intake as well.

SadKitty27

I've been doing LC since I started MFP. I've lost more than water (I've lost almost 3 dress sizes.)

I'm not saying it's a magical diet; as everyone else said - if you're in a calorie deficit you should lose weight.

However, LC works better for me because it takes the body more time to process fat/protein for energy thus making me feel full for longer periods of time for less calories and amounts of food in general.

It's the deficit that makes me lose weight, but it's the feeling of fullness all the time that keeps me in said deficit. Before I went LC I was always ravenous.

I'd also like to add that if you can't maintain a LC life style, then odds are the diet isn't for you. You have to find what works for you.

Stephiestephs

Hi PU 239 I am following ur tdee formula about 2 weeks now. I guess after thinking and reading the comments I shouldn't have said low carb. I eat low grain. I use spaghetti squash and zucchini ribbons in place of pasta, and like I said try to have grains in small doses per day. I can't cut them out for weeks on end. I will binge.

Stephiestephs

Eating low carb or low grain doesn't make me more satisfied at all as some have said. I am starving all day when I do it and I do keep eating all day so it's not like I follow a calorie deficit when I low grain it. It's opposite for me if I start my day with a bagel I won't be hungry for hours and hours. I had fried eggs over salad this morning I am starving after. When people say they stay fuller longer on low carb/grain i can't believe it

Stephiestephs

Hi PU 239 I am following ur tdee formula about 2 weeks now. I guess after thinking and reading the comments I shouldn't have said low carb. I eat low grain. I use spaghetti squash and zucchini ribbons in place of pasta, and like I said try to have grains in small doses per day. I can't cut them out for weeks on end. I will binge.

If you want to eat grains eat them, if you don't don't.

Lol. I want to eat them sometimes. I just don't want it to set me back. But you all have really helped me out here. I will have them......sometimes, when I want and in my calorie goal

LavenderBouquet

Eating low carb or low grain doesn't make me more satisfied at all as some have said. I am starving all day when I do it and I do keep eating all day so it's not like I follow a calorie deficit when I low grain it. It's opposite for me if I start my day with a bagel I won't be hungry for hours and hours. I had fried eggs over salad this morning I am starving after. When people say they stay fuller longer on low carb/grain i can't believe it

Were you eating enough protein and fat? That's a common reason why many who try low carb don't feel satiated throughout the day. Sorry about the previous comment, it wasn't clear that you do not want to do primal again.

Stephiestephs

Eating low carb or low grain doesn't make me more satisfied at all as some have said. I am starving all day when I do it and I do keep eating all day so it's not like I follow a calorie deficit when I low grain it. It's opposite for me if I start my day with a bagel I won't be hungry for hours and hours. I had fried eggs over salad this morning I am starving after. When people say they stay fuller longer on low carb/grain i can't believe it

Were you eating enough protein and fat? That's a common reason why many who try low carb don't feel satiated throughout the day. Sorry about the previous comment, it wasn't clear that you do not want to do primal again.

That's ok! I like to eat that way most of the day. But if I go out and I want a wrap or a latte or whatever I don't wanna beat myself up. Yes with primal I was eating tons of meat fish veg fruit sweet potato squash.....

Stephiestephs

Hi PU 239 I am following ur tdee formula about 2 weeks now. I guess after thinking and reading the comments I shouldn't have said low carb. I eat low grain. I use spaghetti squash and zucchini ribbons in place of pasta, and like I said try to have grains in small doses per day. I can't cut them out for weeks on end. I will binge.

If you want to eat grains eat them, if you don't don't.

Lol. I want to eat them sometimes. I just don't want it to set me back. But you all have really helped me out here. I will have them......sometimes, when I want and in my calorie goal

Only 2 things will set you back, not eating enough, and eating at your TDEE.

Thanks!!

LavenderBouquet

People think, "I will just eat more fat, it will cause me to burn more fat." If you eat more fat, you will burn some, then replace the fat you just burned with the fat you just ate. So you're in the EXACT same place you started.

It doesn't exactly work that way. Fat consumption doesn't equal you get fat or that any fat you do lose will be instantly replaced. It's easier for your body to store carbs as fat technically. It is definitely about calories, but the way in which you reach those calories can definitely make a difference.

bethko1

I would love to know too, I don't eat any bread, no cheese, I do eat yogurt and have milk on occasion. Are you still trying to lose or maintain? I can't see losing if you still have those things in your diet on a regular basis, but it depends on your exercise too. I think everyone is different too.

LavenderBouquet

People think, "I will just eat more fat, it will cause me to burn more fat." If you eat more fat, you will burn some, then replace the fat you just burned with the fat you just ate. So you're in the EXACT same place you started.

It doesn't exactly work that way. Fat consumption doesn't equal you get fat or that any fat you do lose will be instantly replaced. It's easier for your body to store carbs as fat technically. It is definitely about calories, but the way in which you reach those calories can definitely make a difference.

It's easier to store carbs as fat? Compared to storing fat as fat? That's not correct.
Fat is the easiest thing to store as fat. There is no conversion. If you ate carbs, and they are converted to fat, energy has to be used, aka calories.

With out getting in to too much detail..

Fat consumption doesn't equal you get fat or that any fat you do lose will be instantly replaced.

How much fat is replaced??? depends on how much you eat. The more you eat, the more will be replaced. The less fat you will burn from the body. If you eat less fat(assuming every other macro is constant) what is this called? a calorie deficit.

So once again, it's about the calorie deficit.

Yes, I did agree with you that it is about the calorie deficit. I retract my comment about carbs being more easily stored, it is not as easy as saying if you eat high fat you are defeating the purpose. If calories are also taken into consideration, as they should be, you can eat A LOT of fat and still lose weight. I'm moreso trying to state that the conventional wisdom on fat is bad and makes you fat, isn't necessarily true. I also don't believe that your body instantly replaces fat stores just because there is excess fat around, there is so much more to it than that.

Stephiestephs

A topic i wrote about calories a while back

People fully don’t understand calories and macro nutrients. Some believe that if they follow a specific macro nutrient ratio they will lose more weight. To understand the link between calories and macro nutrients we first must understand what a calorie is.

calorie - A calorie equals the amount of thermal energy necessary to raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 Celsius degree, at a pressure of 1 atm.

The Calories in food were determined by putting them in a container, then they putting the container in water and exploded the food. They would then determine the temperature of the water, the higher the temperature the more calories it has. Calories is just a unit energy. It’s a measurement of how much energy is used. It’s like how we use feet or meters to measure distance, we can use calories to measure energy. I will state this now, calories in food, and calories used in science aren’t exactly the same thing. For every calorie used in science there are 1,000 food calories. Food calories are identified with a capital C, “Calories”. The ones used in science are lower case “calories.” Due to the fact I am using word pad to write this, it has auto correct and capitalizes the first word of a sentence I will use calories and Calories interchangeably. I am referring to food calories in both cases.

Macro nutrients such as carbs, proteins, fats are NOT calories. They contain calories, but they are not calories. So yes, a calorie is a calorie just like a foot is foot, and a meter is a meter. If your body burns 2000 calories(energy) at rest, what would happen if you consumed 1,500 calories? Energy can’t be created or destroyed, only transformed. For your body to burn 500 calories more it has to use energy from the body, such as fats, proteins, or carbs. The energy is used to support your normal body functions. Since you’re using energy from the body it will contain less energy from protein,carbs,fats. Since you have less energy in the body you will weigh less. If you consume more energy than you burn it will be stored. The law of thermodynamics states “Energy can’t be created or destroyed, only transformed.” Turning food in to fat is a transformation of energy.

Some people do low carb for health reasons. Others do it because they think it burns more fat which will result in greater weight loss. It does burn more fat, but this doesn’t mean it will result in more weight loss. The reason is because if you're burning a lot of fat and consuming a lot of fat you're in the same spot initially, only a limited net change in body composition. So you can't out trick your body. Some low carbers shoot for ketosis. This just means the body isn’t using carbs so much as an energy source, they are using mostly fat. What some of these people fail to realize the more protein you eat the more protein you burn(prevents the body from using fat). The more fat you eat the more fat you’re storing. In the end it doesn’t make a difference. It will always boil down to calories.

A lot of people say “well I ate under my TDEE(Total Daily Energy Expeniture) and I didn’t lose weight doing x method.” How do you know what your TDEE is? Because some formula told you? Calorie tracking devices such as bodybugg, fit bit, or calculators don’t tell you anything about your metabolic situation. It can be highly suppressed. You maybe burning less calories than you think.

Thank you for this. As far as my tdee I tried my best to get it right. I used an average of a bunch of different body fat calculators and used that avg in scooby formula and your method too they were one calorie off. What do you think of body fat scales. Mine says 31.4 but my avg is 34 % with taking measurements. Also I stay in between lightly active and moderately active. Mostly moderate tho. I am stay at home mom who does chores and incline walking 4-5 days a week and short hiit workouts 3 days.

Stephiestephs

A topic i wrote about calories a while back

People fully don’t understand calories and macro nutrients. Some believe that if they follow a specific macro nutrient ratio they will lose more weight. To understand the link between calories and macro nutrients we first must understand what a calorie is.

calorie - A calorie equals the amount of thermal energy necessary to raise the temperature of one gram of water by 1 Celsius degree, at a pressure of 1 atm.

The Calories in food were determined by putting them in a container, then they putting the container in water and exploded the food. They would then determine the temperature of the water, the higher the temperature the more calories it has. Calories is just a unit energy. It’s a measurement of how much energy is used. It’s like how we use feet or meters to measure distance, we can use calories to measure energy. I will state this now, calories in food, and calories used in science aren’t exactly the same thing. For every calorie used in science there are 1,000 food calories. Food calories are identified with a capital C, “Calories”. The ones used in science are lower case “calories.” Due to the fact I am using word pad to write this, it has auto correct and capitalizes the first word of a sentence I will use calories and Calories interchangeably. I am referring to food calories in both cases.

Macro nutrients such as carbs, proteins, fats are NOT calories. They contain calories, but they are not calories. So yes, a calorie is a calorie just like a foot is foot, and a meter is a meter. If your body burns 2000 calories(energy) at rest, what would happen if you consumed 1,500 calories? Energy can’t be created or destroyed, only transformed. For your body to burn 500 calories more it has to use energy from the body, such as fats, proteins, or carbs. The energy is used to support your normal body functions. Since you’re using energy from the body it will contain less energy from protein,carbs,fats. Since you have less energy in the body you will weigh less. If you consume more energy than you burn it will be stored. The law of thermodynamics states “Energy can’t be created or destroyed, only transformed.” Turning food in to fat is a transformation of energy.

Some people do low carb for health reasons. Others do it because they think it burns more fat which will result in greater weight loss. It does burn more fat, but this doesn’t mean it will result in more weight loss. The reason is because if you're burning a lot of fat and consuming a lot of fat you're in the same spot initially, only a limited net change in body composition. So you can't out trick your body. Some low carbers shoot for ketosis. This just means the body isn’t using carbs so much as an energy source, they are using mostly fat. What some of these people fail to realize the more protein you eat the more protein you burn(prevents the body from using fat). The more fat you eat the more fat you’re storing. In the end it doesn’t make a difference. It will always boil down to calories.

A lot of people say “well I ate under my TDEE(Total Daily Energy Expeniture) and I didn’t lose weight doing x method.” How do you know what your TDEE is? Because some formula told you? Calorie tracking devices such as bodybugg, fit bit, or calculators don’t tell you anything about your metabolic situation. It can be highly suppressed. You maybe burning less calories than you think.

Thank you for this. As far as my tdee I tried my best to get it right. I used an average of a bunch of different body fat calculators and used that avg in scooby formula and your method too they were one calorie off. What do you think of body fat scales. Mine says 31.4 but my avg is 34 % with taking measurements. Also I stay in between lightly active and moderately active. Mostly moderate tho. I am stay at home mom who does chores and incline walking 4-5 days a week and short hiit workouts 3 days.

They are highly inaccurate.

I helped you figure out your weight loss calories last week, or the week before. So what are you doing? You have your numbers... all you have to do is try it out for a month. Forget all this carb/grain stuff... forget about your body fat scale... just hit your calorie goal, that's it. You're making it complicated, no point in worrying about anything in this topic so far. Hit your calories, that's all there is to it. If it doesn't work in a month, take away 10%. Try again for another month, still no results? take away 10%.

Lol, yes you did help me. I was just curious about the body fat scale. The grain thing was hard to understand so I needed to ask questions but I think I got it, Thank you for your help

estherlion

I don't have much advice as i have similar questions as you. But wanted to mention you are my twin! Same weight, height, and goal. I am planning on jus reducing carbs and sugar and sticking to my calorie goal. How many calories a day are you shooting for? Sounds like you got lots of advice and used many calculators.

Stephiestephs

I don't have much advice as i have similar questions as you. But wanted to mention you are my twin! Same weight, height, and goal. I am planning on jus reducing carbs and sugar and sticking to my calorie goal. How many calories a day are you shooting for? Sounds like you got lots of advice and used many calculators.

After averaging everything out my bf% is 34 I am having about 1700 a day on moderate activity level. For simplicity, you can try scooby's accurate calculator. It came out to almost the same as most tdee formulas here. Sometimes I have a little less like 100 cals or so. Or shoot for 1600-1700 and see how you do. I think my diary is open, I try to eat healthy most of the time, trying to concentrate on my calorie intake though