too many carbs, scary numbers, not too many calories!

IdcShrimp
IdcShrimp Posts: 71
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I track my food on MyFitnessPal although I'm not dieting I'm just maintaining my weight. I don't eat too many calories per day, however startlingly enough I ate too many carbs today. I was supposed to have 150 g of carbs, and I had 260 g!

It scared me a bit, honestly. However, most of my carbs came from dried fruits, honeydew melon, whole grain waffles, couscous, admittedly one white-wrap burrito, grapes, carrots, pineapple, two huge apples, cantaloupe, and tomato wraps. So I ate 1334 calories today, and my target for my height and weight to maintain is 1337. So does this overload of carbs equate weight gain? I'm scared!

I didn't eat too MUCH, I ate "too many" (according to this site) carbs in grams. So, ultimately, does this matter, or will I stay the same weight cause I don't overeat? I'm not saying everything I ate today was healthy, either! So i'm scared the carbs will make me gain weight because about 1/4 of them were from white bread products or processed carbs.

in my case, is it calories in calories out? i hate when people say "oh its what kind of carbs you eat that matters/carb quality" because if I eat 99% good carbs and 1% bad carbs but I eat too many grams of carbs, wouldn't that make me gain? and do these macronutrient tallies ultimately even matter as much as I'm making them? like the whole grams of carbs per day thing...HELP

Also forgot to add: my carbs have been crazy high like this for 24 days now

Replies

  • CariS001
    CariS001 Posts: 169 Member
    My concern would be that at 260g carbs, where are you getting any protein and fat? That takes up 1040 calories, leaving you less than 300 for fat and protein.
  • IdcShrimp
    IdcShrimp Posts: 71
    no somehow i managed to get all the protein and fats! i was 1 g over on protein
  • oc1timoco
    oc1timoco Posts: 272 Member
    I pay more attention to the net carb. Fiber is a carb. but it does not break down into sugar molecules, it passes through your body undigested. Fiber burns 7 calories to convert but it cant. So 50 gr. of fiber would burn 350 cal. Take your carb. number and subtract the fiber and you have actual carbs. consumed.
  • changergirl
    changergirl Posts: 81
    If you hit your total calorie count and hit your fats and protein level there's no way you were 100 grams over on carbs.

    Carbs and Protein have 4 calories/gram while fats have 9. If your total calories are 1337 and you're only supposed to have 150g that would mean 600 calories come from carbs and the remaining 737 calories come from fats and protein. Let's say your protein is set for 92 grams, that'd be 368 calories and your fat is 41 grams or 369 calories.

    IF you met your fat and protein totals then you'd only have 600 calories left for carbs or 150 grams. But you had 260 grams or 1040 calories meaning if you were under your calorie goal you could not have met your original protein and fat goal because you would have less than 300 calories for fat and protein instead of the 737 your plan has.

    What are your macros set at? And do you input your own nutrition for food? There's quite a few foods on MFP that are put in by other people so you never know if they've input the correct macro info. A lot of people are only concerned about calories.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    Agree with changergirl, there is something strange going on and some of your items must be mis-entered.

    But no, eating extra carbs won't cause you to gain fat while staying under calories. It may cause you to retain extra water, but this is not fat gain.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Much as I like MFP, one of the things it does poorly is carbs. Specifically, it doesn't distinguish between added sugar and natural sugar.

    That said, dried fruit is very calorie and carb dense. I try to keep my carbs at 35% because it makes me less hungry and keeps my weight much more stable.
  • Myxalplyx
    Myxalplyx Posts: 129 Member
    You could always burn off any extra calories through exercise. Either immediately/all at once or break it down in parts throughout your week. You'll still meet your goal.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Any chance you could set your diary to public so we can see if there's something strange with the maths?
  • jaxxie
    jaxxie Posts: 576 Member
    Really hard to make a true comment since we can't see the overall concept. If you change your diary to Public, at least then we could have a bit more insight. In the meantime, I wouldn't stress.

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