CARBS???

That's really going to depend on your personal needs. I try to eat around 125 grams of carb a day, but I don't sweat it if I go over...or under. If I go too low I feel like garbage, if I go much higher than 175 on a regular basis I don't feel real well either.

30%-40% carbs is a great place to start for reducing body fat %. I've done 50/30/20 and 40/40/20 macros (protein/carb/fat) and they both work great.

Allan

Play with your macros and find a number that works for you. There's no specific target for carbs like there is for, say, protein. If you're looking to do a ketogenic diet, there are stricter boundaries on your macros, but that's a bit beside the point since it doesn't sound like that's your plan. Set a target and see how that works out for a few weeks, then adjust as needed.

Cutting back on carbs ins't a bad idea but you have to make sure that you see the reduction in carbs as part of a broader alignment of how you approach food rather than just cut back on those evil, evil carbs and replace those calories with other unhealthy foods.

The first step is to have a good idea of the calories you need to meet your target. One of the best ways is to start with a TDEE calculator (a google search should get you a pretty decent sized list of them). Once you have that information, try to stick to this number for a week and see if you gain/lose/maintain your weight. If you're gaining weight, reduce the calories and try that for a week. If you are maintaining weight, then reduce the calories by 500 and use that as your bench mark. If you're losing weight then stick to that number and use it as your benchmark. Remember... there will never be a precise number and that number will change as your body and activity levels evolve. Also, trying to cut your calories TOO FAST will send your body into starvation mode which will actually slow down your weight loss efforts while making you weaker and slower.

Once you have your caloric estimate, start by estimating how much protein you should be consuming. A good rule of thumb is 1 g/lb. Assume that 1 gram of protein = 4 calories. Now, if you're 230 lb, you should have about 230 g of protein a day. If you're keeping track, that means that 920 of your calories should come from protein.

Next, you need to calculate your fat intake. Fats are actually really useful for weight reduction (though they are more dense from a caloric perspective). A good rule of thumb is to have 0.4 g per lb of body weight. That means that you should be having about 92g of fat a day. Assuming that each gram of fat - 9 calories, 828 of your daily calories will come from fats.

If you've calculated correctly, you still have a gap between how many calories you can eat and how many you'll fill with proteins and fats. THAT is your daily allowance for carbs. To calculate the grams of carbs you can eat, just divide the number of calories by 4 (the estimate for calories/g of carb).

Hope this helps.

+1

I do not eat rice/bread/pasta but still consume around 100-125g of carbs a day in my fruit and vegetable intake.

I use this calculator to decide on my carbs. Great website also! http://www.ruled.me/keto-calculator/

I try to stay under 200g of carbs-I had gestational diabetes and I keep to a close approximation of the diet I was on for that. I don't know if 200g is really considered low or not, but I would go crazy if I did any less, and I HAVE to plan my days in advance to even keep to this.

If you don't have a medical reason to go low carb, its not really necessary. I only do it because I'm at higher risk of developing Type 2.

Cutting back on carbs ins't a bad idea but you have to make sure that you see the reduction in carbs as part of a broader alignment of how you approach food rather than just cut back on those evil, evil carbs and replace those calories with other unhealthy foods.

The first step is to have a good idea of the calories you need to meet your target. One of the best ways is to start with a TDEE calculator (a google search should get you a pretty decent sized list of them). Once you have that information, try to stick to this number for a week and see if you gain/lose/maintain your weight. If you're gaining weight, reduce the calories and try that for a week. If you are maintaining weight, then reduce the calories by 500 and use that as your bench mark. If you're losing weight then stick to that number and use it as your benchmark. Remember... there will never be a precise number and that number will change as your body and activity levels evolve. Also, trying to cut your calories TOO FAST will send your body into starvation mode which will actually slow down your weight loss efforts while making you weaker and slower.

Once you have your caloric estimate, start by estimating how much protein you should be consuming. A good rule of thumb is 1 g/lb. Assume that 1 gram of protein = 4 calories. Now, if you're 230 lb, you should have about 230 g of protein a day. If you're keeping track, that means that 920 of your calories should come from protein.

Next, you need to calculate your fat intake. Fats are actually really useful for weight reduction (though they are more dense from a caloric perspective). A good rule of thumb is to have 0.4 g per lb of body weight. That means that you should be having about 92g of fat a day. Assuming that each gram of fat - 9 calories, 828 of your daily calories will come from fats.

If you've calculated correctly, you still have a gap between how many calories you can eat and how many you'll fill with proteins and fats. THAT is your daily allowance for carbs. To calculate the grams of carbs you can eat, just divide the number of calories by 4 (the estimate for calories/g of carb).

Hope this helps.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say there's no way in hell she needs 230g of protein per day. Even 1g/lb of LEAN mass is on the high side for what you "need" and given that the OP hasn't said anything about a heavy lifting routine, her needs are likely more like 0.7g/lb of LEAN mass or less. Going over your target a bit won't hurt assuming calories stay in check, but 230g as a target? That's laughably wrong.

I consume about 200 grams of carbs per day and that was advised by my nutritionist. In her words " Carbs are a great source of fuel for the body ".

She did however stress the importance of using the majority of my 200 grams on Fruits, Veggies, and yes...even Pasta.

Before I was eating about 500 grams of carbs per day.....mostly coming from Pepsi and Sweet Treats. I'm down 10 pounds in less than a month. So the carbs aren't hurting my results.

I actually did a low carb diet and lost 40 pounds, however when I tried to raise my carbs back to a normal level ( yes, healthy carbs ) the weight poured back on. I guess i'm just not a fan of no/low carb lifestyle changes. It may work for you, but I must have the carbs _

I suggest you read the Primal Blueprint (by the same author that writes MarksDailyApple.com). This book mostly promotes a paleo lifestyle, but I'm recommending it because he does a good job explaining what carbs have to do with weight management.

In the back, he recommends a diet approach that makes sense (I've seen similar advice on MFP, but I can't find it right now):

1) Determine your calorie budget. There are perfectly good resources on MFP to help you with this.

2) Determine how much protein you need. I've read 0.7 g - 1.0 g per lb of LEAN body weight (not total weight). You calculate your body fat, subtract it from 1, and multiply that answer by your weight to find your lean body weight.
This article might be of some help: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-much-protein-should-you-be-eating/#axzz32ICAsmce

3) Decide how many carbs you'll eat. I reference this article to choose: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-succeed-with-the-primal-blueprint/#axzz32ID389FV
Bear in mind, the ranges provided are going to be higher if you are very active. And I'm not sure the statement that you will gain weight if you eat more than 150 g is completely true. I think what really happens is that if you eat less than 150 g/day, your body can burn all of the glucose and does not need to store it as fat. More than 150 g/day and you are storing some of the glucose as fat. If you're eating at a deficit, you can still lose weight. But you'll be producing new fat cells at the same time that you're trying to burn the old fat cells, making weight loss or maintenance harder. That's just my interpretation, I may be wrong.

4) Calculate how many calories you'll be consuming from protein and carbs, and allot the remaining calories to fat.

Example:
Assume someone is 230 lbs, 40% fat. Further assume they've already determined a calorie limit of 1500 per day

Protein: 230 x (1 - 0.4) x 1.0 = 138 g protein. @ 4 calories/gram, this is 552 calories
Carbs: Per the carbohydrate curve, pick 90 grams/day. @ 4 calories/gram this is 360 calories
Fat: That leaves 588 calories for fat. At 9 calories/gram, this means 65 grams of fat per day.

Converting this to percentages: This will be about 35% from Protein; 25% from carbs; 40% from fat

Edit: I think somebody else already mentioned this, but it's important. 1 g/lb lean body weight protein is the high end, and that's more for body builders. If you're just trying to lose weight, you need closer to 0.7 g/lb lean body weight.

I suggest you read the Primal Blueprint (by the same author that writes MarksDailyApple.com). This book mostly promotes a paleo lifestyle, but I'm recommending it because he does a good job explaining what carbs have to do with weight management.

Very helpful reply.

Why do you feel you need to cut out carbs? Is it to lose bodyfat? Is it to go paleo?

If you need to cut bodyfat all you need is a calorie deficit. In men (not sure on the percentage in women) only when you reach really low fat levels (i.e. single digit bodyfat) do you need to play with lower carbs.