to carb or not to carb.....that is the question!

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  • MichaelRobinson1994
    MichaelRobinson1994 Posts: 83 Member
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    I restricted carbs for a little while (Less than 80g a day) and lasted about two weeks, I was always tired, and couldn't get to sleep restricting them! - I've found keeping sugar low (I don't have a number in g) with only a banana, apple and as little refined sugar as possible helps me best lose weight!
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Nope. Processed carbs = processed junk.
    Carbs can be anywhere from an apple ....honey, etc.
    I don't know where you live, but in the UK 'added sugar' tends to be sucrose. Often glucose is used too.
    However other 'processed carbs' are relevant here.
    Fructose is generally associated with the sugar in fruits and I believe is high in honey too.
    Fructose is has been shown to be about half as good at adding to muscular glycogen levels.

    So, to be clear, if your goal is 'fueling a workout', the "junk" would seem to be the fruit and honey - better to reach for sweets (candy) or similar.

    Finally:
    http://www.simplyshredded.com/the-science-of-nutrition-is-a-carb-a-carb.html
  • CMB1979
    CMB1979 Posts: 588 Member
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    I lost most of my weight with low-carb and have maintained and lost a few more lbs with high carb. It's just calories...calories...calories.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Well, quite a few of the topics and responses I see in the forums (outside of the LC groups) are posted by patrons who ask for "healthy" recipes (meaning recipes that restrict fat), but these patrons have no problem consuming copious amounts of Cheerios, rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, & liquid sugar in all its forms, etc. ad nauseum.

    I agree with you that dietary fat is vital, for many reasons.

    I never think "low fat" when i see "healthy recipes." I assume they are aiming for lower calories. Most people here are all about promoting the fats. That said, if I'm going to be eating rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes, I am going to keep my fat low. It's not because I want to, it's because I have to sacrifice the calories somewhere, and the fat is the easiest to do (for me) for these dishes.

    I like the full fat option as much as anyone, but it's not always realistic for me to eat the real deal if I want to be at a deficit and get to eat other things I want that day.

    That's exactly what I was thinking about the "healthy" recipes questions. If I would have asked that several months or years back, I would have been looking for an alternative to eating [too much] fast food, or ordering a pizza and wings and eating the whole thing myself over a day or three max. If healthy wasn't defined by the inquirer as low fat, I wouldn't assume
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    I don't get it?Is the purpose of this app to eat as few calories as possible ,and making a change by having a better net score from before ?

    You provide your goals/stats to the website or app and it gives you a number of calories to eat per day, which should help you lose a certain amount of weight per week. If you give it a very aggressive goal, it'll give you the lowest number of calories the app can calculate for you - 1200 calories. However, indeed the goal should be to eat as much as you can and still lose weight at a reasonable rate. So if you had just the 10lbs to lose you could set the app at 0.5lbs a week and eat calories based on that.
  • be_patient
    be_patient Posts: 186 Member
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    I've tried but as soon as I said low carb all I wanted was carbs. I could never avoid eating fruit for the life of me. DIfferent body types will respond differently. It is said ectomorphs generally respond better to higher carb in their macros, so I'm going with that. Have a bit of a look, and good luck!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    The only people who truly have to "worry" about carbs are diabetics. All in moderation for the rest of us.

    This sums it up. For me the only reason to limit carbs is that most of them don't fill me up as much as something else would (bread for example - I'd feel fuller with 140 calories of veggies, for example. Same with fruit, it doesn't fill me up at all unless it comes with some protein).
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Going low carb makes sense to me because,if you think about it,most carbs are just processed junk. Pasta,bread,rice and cereals are all bleached,processed and full of salt and sugar. I get my carbohydrates from fruit and vegetables,in moderation,and always before 2pm.

    let the broscience flow from you ….

    wow...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Going low carb makes sense to me because,if you think about it,most carbs are just processed junk. Pasta,bread,rice and cereals are all bleached,processed and full of salt and sugar. I get my carbohydrates from fruit and vegetables,in moderation,and always before 2pm.
    Wait what's wrong with rice, bread, pasta, cereal, ice cream if you can eat them, lose weight and be healthy like I can?

    you are doing it wrong.
  • Snow3y
    Snow3y Posts: 1,412 Member
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    I've yet to witness a single person who eats carbs and been under their caloric allowance(measured), and said they didn't lose weight.
  • HauteLlama
    HauteLlama Posts: 21 Member
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    I have never lost so much weight so easily as I have adhering to a LCHF diet. The reason its so easy is that my hunger cravings are under control and I can stick to my calorie count without an issue. Sometimes its hard for me to hit my calorie goal. I think any doubters struggling with sticking to their calorie counts should consider this diet. I'm not crazy. Ive been on tons of diets before but this is the easiest and most enjoyable so far. x
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    Personally I try and meet my protein and fat macro goals, carb goal depends on how many drinks I want to fit in :happy:
  • greengoddess0123
    greengoddess0123 Posts: 417 Member
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    Limiting carbs triggers my depression. Don't know if that's true for everyone who has depression. And I'm not sure if it's physical or psychological. It's just something I noticed after about the 3rd time I tried low-carb. So I don't limit them anymore.

    Again, this is anecdotal, not scientific. Just throwing this out there in case anyone else has experienced this.
  • jmv7117
    jmv7117 Posts: 891 Member
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    I am re-vamping lifestyle choices and in doing online research, I have come across many conflicting articles about carbs. Some say carbs are vital to weight loss success and some say that you should highly-limit the amount of carbs you eat. What have you found works for you?

    I think it really depends on the person. My experience is that higher carbs slowed my weight loss not dramatically but I could tell the difference if I ate higher carb for a week the weight loss was less than if I ate lower carb. I'm currently eating lower but not low carb so my macros are set to 40/30/30. Carbs can really affect you especially if you are carb sensitive. Here is a quiz you can take to help you determine if you are carb sensitive http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/carbohydrate-sensitivity-quiz/ Based on the results, tweak your carb intake to see if it makes a difference in your weight loss journey.
  • jmv7117
    jmv7117 Posts: 891 Member
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    I've had success in losing weight doing both low-carb and high carb, but i found that a high carb diet makes me feel a lot more energized, helps me recover faster and improves my stamina. It takes a little effort and knowledge to do a high carb diet right. The best high carb foods i've found through my experience are fruits.

    A fruitarian diet is not exactly as healthy as this poster preaches! Be warned...

    http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2013/02/07/ashton-kutchers-fruitarian-diet-what-went-wrong
  • CLFrancois
    CLFrancois Posts: 472 Member
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    Nope. Processed carbs = processed junk.
    Carbs can be anywhere from an apple ....honey, etc.
    I don't know where you live, but in the UK 'added sugar' tends to be sucrose. Often glucose is used too.
    However other 'processed carbs' are relevant here.
    Fructose is generally associated with the sugar in fruits and I believe is high in honey too.
    Fructose is has been shown to be about half as good at adding to muscular glycogen levels.

    So, to be clear, if your goal is 'fueling a workout', the "junk" would seem to be the fruit and honey - better to reach for sweets (candy) or similar.

    Finally:
    http://www.simplyshredded.com/the-science-of-nutrition-is-a-carb-a-carb.html

    Did you read the entire thread?
    The original post was lumping ALL carbs into processed junk. My point was that not all carbs are.
    So, I guess you were backing up my claim?
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Did you read the entire thread?
    The original post was lumping ALL carbs into processed junk. My point was that not all carbs are.
    So, I guess you were backing up my claim?
    I'm suggesting that the only real 'junk' is dismissing a load of food globally as 'junk'.

    I was putting forward a case where apple and honey would be 'junk', but say some low fat (highly 'processed' ice cream) might be an excellent food to eat.

    So to be clear - no food is 'junk', unless it's made out of scrap metal, or something.
    Well, maybe that 'refried chicken' they have in some developing countries, which is sourced from bins in upmarket areas might be considered 'junk', but wouldn't stop me eating it.

    Do explaine why you think 'processed' means it's "junk".

    The first post was questioning if all carbs should be avoided or not.
  • Mangopickle
    Mangopickle Posts: 1,509 Member
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    I dropped wheat, rice and white potato because they are trigger foods for me. I eat mass quantities of beans, gourds and other flours for my starch. These are higher in fiber and my net carbs automatically come out between 55 and 100 when I am sedentary. I adjust them up for exercise. I eat a lot more fat as well. These days I just like the way my body feels after eating a big slice of Farinata as opposed to how eating a big slice of deep dish pizza makes me feel.
  • cwsreddy
    cwsreddy Posts: 998 Member
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    carbs are essential. please eat them. that is all.
  • CLFrancois
    CLFrancois Posts: 472 Member
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    So to be clear - no food is 'junk', unless it's made out of scrap metal, or something.

    touche

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