Carbs, are they good or bad?
rsclause
Posts: 3,103 Member
I am supposed to be maintaining but decided that there is a touch of belly fat left between me and my first "sixpack" Anyway I looked at my diet and decided to keep my active exercise routines (run about 25 mi/wk, lift 3 x week, abs daily) but also up my protein intake and lower carbs. I still eat a lot of fruit but have stopped eating the bun in a chicken sandwich. I have also given up Scotch and beer and limited my wine intake. Does it sound like I am on the right track? Not trying to lose more weight and also not trying to bulk up, just be fit and trim.
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Sounds right to me but, I'm the guy who should be asking you!0
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The general consensus will probably be calories in calories out is all that matters, eat whatever you want as long as it fits in your calorie budget, but I disagree. From my experience it's easiest for me to get very lean when I eat lower carb.
Maybe it all comes down to the fact that I'm eating less, but lower carb makes it so easy to stick to a diet because I'm not starving, or battling with cravings. That is a major plus in my opinion.0 -
I am supposed to be maintaining but decided that there is a touch of belly fat left between me and my first "sixpack" Anyway I looked at my diet and decided to keep my active exercise routines (run about 25 mi/wk, lift 3 x week, abs daily) but also up my protein intake and lower carbs. I still eat a lot of fruit but have stopped eating the bun in a chicken sandwich. I have also given up Scotch and beer and limited my wine intake. Does it sound like I am on the right track? Not trying to lose more weight and also not trying to bulk up, just be fit and trim.
Carbs are essential to human life. And no giving up scotch and beer and limited wine, I don't think you're going about it the right way0 -
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Would need more specfics to advise. Current weight, estimated bodyfat %, current macros and type of weight training. Abs every day? That would be the first thing to go. I wouldn't advise cutting carbs if you're doing that much activity. I train abs once per week (if that), do a very moderate amount of cardio, eat at least 175-200g carbs per day (350-450g on refeed day), and I'm losing fat consistently. And I'm almost 50....0
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Height 6'2"
weight 178 lbs.
Aria scale has me at 17% FWIW
MWF one easy set of 12 reps Nautilus machines
Run 4 miles MWF, Run 6 miles Tue Thurs
Runtastic Sixpack ab workout weekdays
I logged 179 g carbs yesterday and usually hit 200 g to 250 g
Still eating at a slight deficit with a little less calories this week since I went hog wild with Hot wings and ribs over the holiday weekend. I am just playing around to see what affects what. Slight belly fat to trim, very slight. Don't want to really lose weight and don't want to bulk big. Just hoping to burn some fat.0 -
Good
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Carbs are the love of my life.0
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I think your plan sounds like a good one. You are still eating carbs but the good kind that comes with lots of fiber and other vitamins and minerals.0
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With that much activity, I wouldn't recommend cutting carbs back, your lifts and runs could suffer. However, if you can maintain performance, there's no reason for it.
I would never give up a good scotch or beer, however, that's crazy talk.0 -
They are the playthings of the devil. :explode:0
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sounds good to me but i would eat back the alcohol calories…….0
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If cutting out those foods keeps you from going over on your calorie/macro goals then that is fine. But, by themselves, they are not causing or preventing you from losing body fat.
Learn how to include foods you like into your diet, use them to fuel your activities and you will have success. No one type of food/macro is good or bad by itself.0 -
Carbs are good in moderation.
They are not essential but for an active lifestyle they are optimal.
You will probably not need many carbs for you walks and if you are resting 48 to 72 hours between lifting you probably won't need many to replenish your muscles glycogen stores as your body will do this naturally.
If you are going to be doing anaerobic exercise you will probably need to take in extra carbs to fuel that.
100 g of carbs a day should be enough to cover the micros you need (more on heavy exercise days).
There are low carb forums which will probably give you more knowledgable feedback on low carb diets.
A lot of people have had great success with training and weight loss on MFP, but not many on the general forums have done it on a low carb diet.0 -
Carbs are essential to human life.
but eating them is not, as we can make them.0 -
Carbs are essential to human life.
but eating them is not, as we can make them.
Yes, forgot to mention the words dietary carbs in my post about.0 -
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Cheers0 -
Thank all!
I know I can't really build muscle at a calorie deficit and I can't cut fat on a calorie surplus. I am having fun tweaking things to see what happens. I think the little fat left is due to alcohol. Yes I love my cocktails and even when I was losing my 50 pounds some days I would get a third of my calories from booze. To a degree booze is carbs so I cut back. Now I am cutting that back more, time will tell soon enough. Thanks again and I will try to update.0 -
The human body doesn't replenish glycogen stores naturally. You need to eat carbs to replenish glycogen. That's why when athletes eat low carb, they have "carb up" or "refeed" days regularly.Carbs are good in moderation.
They are not essential but for an active lifestyle they are optimal.
You will probably not need many carbs for you walks and if you are resting 48 to 72 hours between lifting you probably won't need many to replenish your muscles glycogen stores as your body will do this naturally.
If you are going to be doing anaerobic exercise you will probably need to take in extra carbs to fuel that.
100 g of carbs a day should be enough to cover the micros you need (more on heavy exercise days).
There are low carb forums which will probably give you more knowledgable feedback on low carb diets.
A lot of people have had great success with training and weight loss on MFP, but not many on the general forums have done it on a low carb diet.0 -
I am supposed to be maintaining but decided that there is a touch of belly fat left between me and my first "sixpack" Anyway I looked at my diet and decided to keep my active exercise routines (run about 25 mi/wk, lift 3 x week, abs daily) but also up my protein intake and lower carbs. I still eat a lot of fruit but have stopped eating the bun in a chicken sandwich. I have also given up Scotch and beer and limited my wine intake. Does it sound like I am on the right track? Not trying to lose more weight and also not trying to bulk up, just be fit and trim.
6-pack comes when BF% is pretty low.
So weight loss is part of the puzzle to get them to show
Oh and you can do all the things you are doing, but it won't matter a hill of beans if you ain't in a caloric deficit0 -
Thank all!
I know I can't really build muscle at a calorie deficit and I can't cut fat on a calorie surplus. I am having fun tweaking things to see what happens. I think the little fat left is due to alcohol. Yes I love my cocktails and even when I was losing my 50 pounds some days I would get a third of my calories from booze. To a degree booze is carbs so I cut back. Now I am cutting that back more, time will tell soon enough. Thanks again and I will try to update.
still calories, and you were consuming more calories than your body needed.
Got to pick one....
Build muscle, or lose BF.....
Take your pick, can't do both0 -
That's a good point. At 17% body fat, OP has a good 15 pounds of fat or so that he needs to lose to get into 6 pack range. Calorie deficit really is the most important aspect.I am supposed to be maintaining but decided that there is a touch of belly fat left between me and my first "sixpack" Anyway I looked at my diet and decided to keep my active exercise routines (run about 25 mi/wk, lift 3 x week, abs daily) but also up my protein intake and lower carbs. I still eat a lot of fruit but have stopped eating the bun in a chicken sandwich. I have also given up Scotch and beer and limited my wine intake. Does it sound like I am on the right track? Not trying to lose more weight and also not trying to bulk up, just be fit and trim.
6-pack comes when BF% is pretty low.
So weight loss is part of the puzzle to get them to show
Oh and you can do all the things you are doing, but it won't matter a hill of beans if you ain't in a caloric deficit0 -
Hi,
Re your alcohol question ... thought you may want to read this link http://www.shapefit.com/alcohol-calories.html
Hope it helps
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Thank all!
I know I can't really build muscle at a calorie deficit and I can't cut fat on a calorie surplus. I am having fun tweaking things to see what happens. I think the little fat left is due to alcohol. Yes I love my cocktails and even when I was losing my 50 pounds some days I would get a third of my calories from booze. To a degree booze is carbs so I cut back. Now I am cutting that back more, time will tell soon enough. Thanks again and I will try to update.
still calories, and you were consuming more calories than your body needed.
Got to pick one....
Build muscle, or lose BF.....
Take your pick, can't do both
agreed.
Too much running, not enough resistance training IMO. You definitely don't need to lose weight at your stats. You are 7lbs lighter than me and 6" taller. Add some mass, then cut the fat.
Yes carbs are good if you plan to do some exercise 0 -
Thank all!
I know I can't really build muscle at a calorie deficit and I can't cut fat on a calorie surplus. I am having fun tweaking things to see what happens. I think the little fat left is due to alcohol. Yes I love my cocktails and even when I was losing my 50 pounds some days I would get a third of my calories from booze. To a degree booze is carbs so I cut back. Now I am cutting that back more, time will tell soon enough. Thanks again and I will try to update.
still calories, and you were consuming more calories than your body needed.
Got to pick one....
Build muscle, or lose BF.....
Take your pick, can't do both
agreed.
Too much running, not enough resistance training IMO. You definitely don't need to lose weight at your stats. You are 7lbs lighter than me and 6" taller. Add some mass, then cut the fat.
Yes carbs are good if you plan to do some exercise
I agree both can't be done together but it seems like most opinions want me to build then cut. Is it wrong to lose some fat and then build? Keep in mind I am not trying get "big" just fit toned and if lucky a six pack.0 -
Thank all!
I know I can't really build muscle at a calorie deficit and I can't cut fat on a calorie surplus. I am having fun tweaking things to see what happens. I think the little fat left is due to alcohol. Yes I love my cocktails and even when I was losing my 50 pounds some days I would get a third of my calories from booze. To a degree booze is carbs so I cut back. Now I am cutting that back more, time will tell soon enough. Thanks again and I will try to update.
still calories, and you were consuming more calories than your body needed.
Got to pick one....
Build muscle, or lose BF.....
Take your pick, can't do both
agreed.
Too much running, not enough resistance training IMO. You definitely don't need to lose weight at your stats. You are 7lbs lighter than me and 6" taller. Add some mass, then cut the fat.
Yes carbs are good if you plan to do some exercise
I agree both can't be done together but it seems like most opinions want me to build then cut. Is it wrong to lose some fat and then build? Keep in mind I am not trying get "big" just fit toned and if lucky a six pack.
Get off the nautilus machines and get under a barbell. Learn the squat and dead lift. I'd also say continue to cut but do it very slowly at no more than 1/2 pound or so a week. I say this assuming that running is your priority and a lean runner is a fast runner0 -
Thank all!
I know I can't really build muscle at a calorie deficit and I can't cut fat on a calorie surplus. I am having fun tweaking things to see what happens. I think the little fat left is due to alcohol. Yes I love my cocktails and even when I was losing my 50 pounds some days I would get a third of my calories from booze. To a degree booze is carbs so I cut back. Now I am cutting that back more, time will tell soon enough. Thanks again and I will try to update.
still calories, and you were consuming more calories than your body needed.
Got to pick one....
Build muscle, or lose BF.....
Take your pick, can't do both
agreed.
Too much running, not enough resistance training IMO. You definitely don't need to lose weight at your stats. You are 7lbs lighter than me and 6" taller. Add some mass, then cut the fat.
Yes carbs are good if you plan to do some exercise
I agree both can't be done together but it seems like most opinions want me to build then cut. Is it wrong to lose some fat and then build? Keep in mind I am not trying get "big" just fit toned and if lucky a six pack.
Put it this way. I'm 5'8" and my lowest weight was 67kg. I was skinny fat. Very light, definitely no six pack. At the time I was running a lot and doing no resistance training.
Started lifting with bw stuff only and got up low 70's. Relatively low BF% but still no six pack.
Started lifting properly with progressive tension overload (I was focusing on the big 3 primarily) and started to eat more. Got to 78kg and was dexa'd at 7% BF. Full six pack.
Continued to eat more and gain strength over the following years to get to 85kg and still have visible abs (not 6 pack all the time) for most of the year and sit around 11% most of the time.
Trust me, you don't just get "big" overnight. It's taken me 6 years of consistent hard training and appropriate nutrition to get to where I am at now.
So basically what I'm saying is that if you continue to lose weight, you will likely get to a very low BW and still not be happy.
To grow core muscles, you need to provide it with a high stimulus ie. not doing 100's of situps. Do some heavy stuff that you can only do for 10 reps or so max. Do this every second day.0 -
Agree with Chris...
Man it takes time, and staying on point with your goals
So that is why we say pick which way you want to go.
If you want to go 6-pack.
Then that means getting in the gym, pushing around heavy weight....incorporate compound lifts into your workouts......
Full body ones where you can.
And get your caloric deficit set and stick to it.
If Muscle and mass is what you are going for.....
Then you are gonna want to go at maintenance, and maybe slightly above in calories, and push around those weights, and make sure you are trying to always overload when you workout.
I am 6'1" and currently 168 lbs.
But it takes time.0
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