Can we talk carbs?
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athenalove46
Posts: 182 Member
Kind of a scary subject for me. lol I have eaten Primally the past 3 years or so. I think I got chronically low carb in the past, netting well under 30 grams a day. I have recently started upping my carbs to 100 grams a day. I do NOT and will not eat refined carbs and grains. They make me sick and all the science behind eating that stuff has made me aware of what I put in my body and I don't want that. With that said, do you think 100 grams is enough? I have my macros set at 25% protein/20% carbs/55% fat. Anyone else with similar macros? Do I really NEED to up my carb intake to 30%?
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Replies
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Hi,
My body demands Carbs. For ages I went down the path of trying to lower my carbs and upping my protein thinking I was doing the right thing. I run on average 25 Km a week (15.5 miles) and I know when my legs are like cement and my body is crying out in pain that I have not fuelled it properly. So I eat on average 150-200 grams of Carbs a day due to my running. Since I have increased my carbs and calorie intake my running has improved, I can lift heavier and I have actually started to lose weight! My macros are 40 carb, 30 protein and 30 fat.
Its not easy finding the sweet spot for macros and your body can change week to week but hang in there.0 -
Shoot for more starches, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, taro... that sort of stuff, then. I guess quinoa is really a seed, and lots of people are starting to use that without issues. I added rice back in, mostly because I don't like sweet potatoes and I just need more carbs to fuel my activities, and it doesn't bother me.0
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I have to have at least 35-40% carbs or I fizz out during my workouts.
I guess you have to base your question of whether to increase your carbs or not on how much energy you have? Do you feel like you're working at your maximum during your workouts? Do you feel like you could use more energy?
If the answers are no, then it may be time to increase those carbs. Carbs are not necessarily evil, as some of us have been trained to think. Sweet potatoes, brown rice, veggies, fruits....it's all good stuff!!!0 -
Kind of a scary subject for me. lol I have eaten Primally the past 3 years or so. I think I got chronically low carb in the past, netting well under 30 grams a day. I have recently started upping my carbs to 100 grams a day. I do NOT and will not eat refined carbs and grains. They make me sick and all the science behind eating that stuff has made me aware of what I put in my body and I don't want that. With that said, do you think 100 grams is enough? I have my macros set at 25% protein/20% carbs/55% fat. Anyone else with similar macros? Do I really NEED to up my carb intake to 30%?
Depends on what you plan to do for exercise.
You realize those Primal/Paleo and other type programs label cardio as killer-cardio for a reason - it doesn't fit in well at all for eating low carb.
Shoot, those sites do have articles because many following the program do want to do more than walk and lift heavy things a couple times a week - and it is increased carbs.
You might check out their recommendations not only on amounts, but on what type of exercise.0 -
Kind of a scary subject for me. lol I have eaten Primally the past 3 years or so. I think I got chronically low carb in the past, netting well under 30 grams a day. I have recently started upping my carbs to 100 grams a day. I do NOT and will not eat refined carbs and grains. They make me sick and all the science behind eating that stuff has made me aware of what I put in my body and I don't want that. With that said, do you think 100 grams is enough? I have my macros set at 25% protein/20% carbs/55% fat. Anyone else with similar macros? Do I really NEED to up my carb intake to 30%?
Depends on what you plan to do for exercise.
You realize those Primal/Paleo and other type programs label cardio as killer-cardio for a reason - it doesn't fit in well at all for eating low carb.
Shoot, those sites do have articles because many following the program do want to do more than walk and lift heavy things a couple times a week - and it is increased carbs.
You might check out their recommendations not only on amounts, but on what type of exercise.
Thanks. I have done my research on Paleo and what is recommended. I just was trying to get a consensus on what people around here though.
And I don't do steady state cardio....does nothing positive for the bod. I used to do Crossfit, recently got into bodybuilding.
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Kind of a scary subject for me. lol I have eaten Primally the past 3 years or so. I think I got chronically low carb in the past, netting well under 30 grams a day. I have recently started upping my carbs to 100 grams a day. I do NOT and will not eat refined carbs and grains. They make me sick and all the science behind eating that stuff has made me aware of what I put in my body and I don't want that. With that said, do you think 100 grams is enough? I have my macros set at 25% protein/20% carbs/55% fat. Anyone else with similar macros? Do I really NEED to up my carb intake to 30%?
Depends on what you plan to do for exercise.
You realize those Primal/Paleo and other type programs label cardio as killer-cardio for a reason - it doesn't fit in well at all for eating low carb.
Shoot, those sites do have articles because many following the program do want to do more than walk and lift heavy things a couple times a week - and it is increased carbs.
You might check out their recommendations not only on amounts, but on what type of exercise.
Thanks. I have done my research on Paleo and what is recommended. I just was trying to get a consensus on what people around here though.
And I don't do steady state cardio....does nothing positive for the bod. I used to do Crossfit, recently got into bodybuilding.
In that case, 100-125 grams should be enough with protein high enough to convert to needed glucose.
You have a day of eating more carbs though, you will have instant water weight gain storing that glucose, but with that type of diet, it'll drop again.0 -
Hi
I used to eat low carb around 1200 cal for 3.5 years.
I jumped straight in to EMTWL and ate 2000-2200 calories (start feb) with obviously lots more carbs then usual 100-150g. I've put on about 6kg and 2 inches on waist/hips/thighs, so it ain't water weight here :sad: . Yesterday I fessed up to my trainer after he finally nailed me during a cat-n-mouse runaround for 4 months, me trying to avoiding his callipers!
I do weight training x 3 times a week, but thats it, fairly lazy other than that.
He said that I should have started slowly increasing the carb amounts as my body wasn't used to it at all, like 5% increments. He said go back down to 50g carb and add in more fat to make it up to my now 1800 daily calories (officially my cut amount now) and we will take it from there.
If you have eaten low cal for a long time like me you will def gain weight. I was around my goal weight and bodyfat before I started and I wish I had done it slowly but it was lovely not to worry so much about carbs to much (I used to have big carb binges at weekend then I used to return to low carb during week, but this binging subsided somewhat since I have eaten carbs daily so something good has come of realising that I wasn't just weak willed when I came to carbs, I was just starving!). Now saying this I wonder whether increasing the Fat % up high to get to TDEE initially would have the same effect of increasing carbs% maybe another poster here could give us a bit of insight.
So at the moment my % is 40% protein, 10% carb, 50% fat
1g protein per 1 lb bodyweight (or at least 1g per 1lb lean mass)
50g carb (we will see how this goes for now)
99g fat
Some members can jump right in up to TDEE but I think us longterm low carb-ers and low calorie ones need to be extra careful, especially if a history of yo-yo weight is included. Hopefully if I can get the weight off I will slowly up the carb %, but if I feel like carb binging again I may have to look at the macros again.
Please note that this is just my personal experience so far and I'm not long into EMTWL, but eating more has definitely been worth the gain if only sometimes I have a meltdown that I've been wearing leggings for 4 months now as my clothes won't fit!0 -
I personally have found the opposite. I try and keep carbs under 100g a day and I have more energy. I teach 9+ classes of group ex a week...many of it cardio...and I feel great. I make sure I eat enough and have good fats in there, but the added carbs personally made me sluggish and kept me hanging on to extra weight. I think every body is different. Just my 2. :-)0
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I personally have found the opposite. I try and keep carbs under 100g a day and I have more energy. I teach 9+ classes of group ex a week...many of it cardio...and I feel great. I make sure I eat enough and have good fats in there, but the added carbs personally made me sluggish and kept me hanging on to extra weight. I think every body is different. Just my 2. :-)
This.0 -
Hi
I used to eat low carb around 1200 cal for 3.5 years.
I jumped straight in to EMTWL and ate 2000-2200 calories (start feb) with obviously lots more carbs then usual 100-150g. I've put on about 6kg and 2 inches on waist/hips/thighs, so it ain't water weight here :sad: . Yesterday I fessed up to my trainer after he finally nailed me during a cat-n-mouse runaround for 4 months, me trying to avoiding his callipers!
I do weight training x 3 times a week, but thats it, fairly lazy other than that.
He said that I should have started slowly increasing the carb amounts as my body wasn't used to it at all, like 5% increments. He said go back down to 50g carb and add in more fat to make it up to my now 1800 daily calories (officially my cut amount now) and we will take it from there.
If you have eaten low cal for a long time like me you will def gain weight. I was around my goal weight and bodyfat before I started and I wish I had done it slowly but it was lovely not to worry so much about carbs to much (I used to have big carb binges at weekend then I used to return to low carb during week, but this binging subsided somewhat since I have eaten carbs daily so something good has come of realising that I wasn't just weak willed when I came to carbs, I was just starving!). Now saying this I wonder whether increasing the Fat % up high to get to TDEE initially would have the same effect of increasing carbs% maybe another poster here could give us a bit of insight.
So at the moment my % is 40% protein, 10% carb, 50% fat
1g protein per 1 lb bodyweight (or at least 1g per 1lb lean mass)
50g carb (we will see how this goes for now)
99g fat
Some members can jump right in up to TDEE but I think us longterm low carb-ers and low calorie ones need to be extra careful, especially if a history of yo-yo weight is included. Hopefully if I can get the weight off I will slowly up the carb %, but if I feel like carb binging again I may have to look at the macros again.
Please note that this is just my personal experience so far and I'm not long into EMTWL, but eating more has definitely been worth the gain if only sometimes I have a meltdown that I've been wearing leggings for 4 months now as my clothes won't fit!
Thank you! I was hoping to hear a story like this! I unintentionally ate around 1200 calories at the time I did Crossfit (I "felt" full and "thought" I ate all the time!). In the past month, well before I found EM2WL, I started upping my calories because I started New Rules of Lifting and it was recommended to eat when weight lifting. I was also at the same time trying to increase my carbs a bit. I'm finding that I feel GREAT at that 100-130 gram mark, but anything over that kills me. I ate a double batch of homemade pasta sauce one day which brought my carb count up to around the 200 gram mark and boy did I feel like crap! I actually had to take a nap after which is not at all normal for me. I have gained 5 lbs already, I'm sure it's all from the increase in carbs. I've been eating at my TDEE for a week and I'm feeling so good.
I think I'm going to be okay with keeping it at the 100 gram mark! Thanks everybody. 0 -
Great post, I think. Have a look:
http://www.fitnessbaddies.com/why-lifting-weights-lets-you-eat-more-carbs-and-all-about-metabolism/0
