whats more important - calories or lowcarb???

jnnfrch

so 2 things:

-cut refined carbs (keeping healthy stuff like fruit/veg/sweet potatoes/quinoa/ryebread ETC)

-reduce your calories to a certain limit (eg 1200 a day)


GRANTED its better to do both (so please dont say both! because i knoww :P) but im just curious from people who have experienced it personally, which is more important for weight loss;

Eating clean but being a bit lax on your calorie intake or staying at/under your calorie limit and eating things like bread???

harrybananas

For weight control, it all comes down to calories.

KhinoHoang

I'm trying out both. I'm aiming for 1.5g of protein per lb, around .5g fats, and low carbs and I'm planning to change my macros and carb up every few days. So far so good though. I feel leaner, but I'll have to wait longer for more results.

DopeyDudleyDursley

Calories byyyyyyyyyy far in my opinion!

Some parts of India/ Asia consume around 60%+ diet from carbs (a lot of white rice, which seems to be viewed by many as "unhealthy/refined" and they seem to be doing fine!)

That said as for refined carbs, particularly such as white sugars etc. it really depends how active you are. If your body is deprived of glucose your body may start to use muscle for fuel after a workout. Aka when you start to lose pounds, a higher percentage of this may actually be muscle. I found in HS/Early college when I limited sugars too much I started to become "skinny fat" as people call it. If you are cycling/running etc for a decent amount of time you must ensure you supply yourself with enough of glucose/fructose and other sugars as well as protein to refuel your muscles. In my personal opinion.

shadow2soul

Just watching the amount of calories for me.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

Calories.

55in13

Another broken record - calories! For losing weight, it is all about the deficit. For general health, a mix of sources of calories is important. But if you are going to go just by carbs versus calories, go with low calories.

_Zardoz_

Carbs are not the enemy just part of a balanced diet.

LoraF83

Calories.

Unless you have a medical condition, carbs shouldn't be a problem. You should aim to meet your protein and fat requirements first, but after that, carbs can make up the rest of your intake if you wanted.

GGut

I was doing both for a while, watching calories and carbs. I was trying to cut carbs out after 3 pm. That lasted for a month but I stopped. I still kept an eye on portion size and cals and lost weight at the same rate. Now I dont worry so much about what time I eat carbs. I just make sure im not over eating... Calories for me

jukyu

Calories.

watfordjc

In 2008-10 I ate at TDEE-20% and ate clean with starchy carbs limited to mornings and simple carbs limited to after workouts.
In 2012-14 I am eating at a weekly deficit of the equivalent of 1% of my body weight and not worrying about carbs (although most of my simple sugars are consumed during or after exercise).

The weight loss from both for me is similar, the only difference being compliance rate (last time I had to re-lose weight as I kept giving up for a few weeks at a time - 26% of the time I was maintaining or gaining weight).

Low carb will mostly be water/glycogen weight, overall weight loss comes down to calorie balance.

ETA: I have not tried eating at maintenance or between my deficit goal and maintenance while eating clean. However, most of the weight I regained during each slip up was water weight. I would assume if water weight was taken out of the equation, it still comes down to calories although the thermic effect of food might be different.

Fit_French

I cut out processed carbs and its working for me! I don't eat grains, my carbs come from fruits and veggies and the occasional caramel swirl iced coffee or a tortilla It cut wayyyy down on after meal bloating foe me!

candicane32081

I have been more successful with counting calories. I just can't give up my potatoes! I do try to make sure I eat plenty of protein, b/c I don't feel like I'm starving all day.

endoftheside

For weight loss, calories all the way. Overeating on healthy stuff = overweight.

Hezzietiger1

don't eat junk.. eat at a deficit. End of story. Other than 1 meal a week where I just don't care what so ever about what I put in my mouth, I eat brown rice, sweet potatoes, brown rice, fruit and veggies and on a very rare occasion a small small portion of pasta or whole grain bread. My protein matches my lean body mass and i keep my fat low because it forces me to eat clean.

Mrsallypants

Low carb craze is like the low fat craze, people who do low fat eat too many carbs and get fat, and people who do low carb diets eat too much fat and get fat.

Without watching your calories, a low carb diet is useless.

princessputz

Honestly it's all in what works for your body.. I personally eat low carb but I also have a medical condition that warrants that so...

Do what your body is telling you!

LovelyLibra79

count calories and its not a bad idea to watch "bad carbs" like pastries, white bread..etc.

recesq

The answer you hoped for is the answer you'll see and conclude from all these posts......

Eat 1200 calories of twinkies a day and let me know how much you lose.

Every body is different.

IF one does not have insulin resistance, then one may not be as sensitive to carbs.
If however, one is very insulin resistant, then carbs for that person will impact their weight more than calories alone.

Those are the ends of the spectrum....then there's the multitude in the middle.......

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Calories. I tried keto but my lifts more than stalled. I couldn't even keep my previous weight on the bar. Right now I eat around 90-100g carbs. When I do the fiber reduction for my net carbs it's typically around 60-80g net carbs. Other than the initial water weight drop, my weight loss was pretty much the same when my calories were the same.