Confused about carbs..
groversa
Posts: 450 Member
So I'll keep it simple.
I have no idea how many carbs I should limit myself to.
My automatic chart on MFP set me up for 191 per day, but when searching online it says a normal person should be eating 100-150 to maintain weight.
(Btw, wanting to lose, not maintain)
If anyone who has knowledge on the subject could help me figure this out it would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance!
I have no idea how many carbs I should limit myself to.
My automatic chart on MFP set me up for 191 per day, but when searching online it says a normal person should be eating 100-150 to maintain weight.
(Btw, wanting to lose, not maintain)
If anyone who has knowledge on the subject could help me figure this out it would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance!
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Replies
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Most will suggest getting 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass, .35g of fat and the rest carbs. But carbs dont' make you maintain weight, total calories do. You can eat a 80/10/10 diet and still lose weight... heck, look at most vegetarians and vegans.. they can lose weight as well and most of their calories are carbs.0
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MFP gives a standard for macros and are a bit high IMO on carbs. Go into goals, custom and change to whatever will suit your needs best (everyone is different). For instance, I'm 30 35 35.0
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So why is there such a hype about low carb diets?
My mom has been on them and lost weight pretty quickly.
I understand that carbs are beneficial to help our energy and fruits have a lot of carbs which are good. I just don't know if I just try to be eating less.0 -
So why is there such a hype about low carb diets?
My mom has been on them and lost weight pretty quickly.
I understand that carbs are beneficial to help our energy and fruits have a lot of carbs which are good. I just don't know if I just try to be eating less.
Some people do it for medical reasons, some do it as a fab, some do it because fats and proteins will give you a lot of satiety. For me, I low carb kills my performance.
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Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).0 -
I'm a vegetarian and I have my macros set to 40 30 30. I eat moderate carb, high protein. Low carb gives you a nice initial water weight loss and works great short term by suppressing appetite, but long-term isn't easy to stick to.
It's best in my experience to find a way of eating that is sustainable for life and just eat portions that are small enough to be a caloric deficit for you.0 -
Liftng4Lis wrote: »MFP gives a standard for macros and are a bit high IMO on carbs. Go into goals, custom and change to whatever will suit your needs best (everyone is different). For instance, I'm 30 35 35.
So how did you decide on the 30-30-35 ratio. Did you just try and redo it when it didn't work or did you base it off of something?
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Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.
Technically, if you maintain calories but add more carbs, then BAM hello water weight, lol
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mamapeach910 wrote: »I'm a vegetarian and I have my macros set to 40 30 30. I eat moderate carb, high protein. Low carb gives you a nice initial water weight loss and works great short term by suppressing appetite, but long-term isn't easy to stick to.
It's best in my experience to find a way of eating that is sustainable for life and just eat portions that are small enough to be a caloric deficit for you.
Thanks, this is helpful.
I was vegetarian for almost 5 years until recently so I eat a ton of fruit, which obviously has carbs. I don't know how I wouldn't eat fruit through out the day without feeling constant cravings haha
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Liftng4Lis wrote: »MFP gives a standard for macros and are a bit high IMO on carbs. Go into goals, custom and change to whatever will suit your needs best (everyone is different). For instance, I'm 30 35 35.
So how did you decide on the 30-30-35 ratio. Did you just try and redo it when it didn't work or did you base it off of something?
Well protein and fat are super important in my goals (protein because I lift, fat because it helps stabilize hormones). So in my case, I chose those two to be higher. As aforementioned, everyones going to have different needs based on their goals.0 -
Sure. How many pounds is that? 5? 10 maybe?Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.
Technically, if you maintain calories but add more carbs, then BAM hello water weight, lol
Funny, when someone quickly loses a few pounds everyone calls it water. When they quickly gain a few after stopping low carb, it's "bam" weight.0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Sure. How many pounds is that? 5? 10 maybe?Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.
Technically, if you maintain calories but add more carbs, then BAM hello water weight, lol
Could be, depends on the person...
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But if someone, say, loses 150LBS low carb and reintroduces carbs, but eats at maintenance.... then of course there's no BAM 150 pound weight gain. if it is, indeed CICO...Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Sure. How many pounds is that? 5? 10 maybe?Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.
Technically, if you maintain calories but add more carbs, then BAM hello water weight, lol
Could be, depends on the person...
I don't honestly know how many pounds of water either since that depends on the amount of carbs before and after... and, well, I've never really done it. I tried low carb as a brief experiment on here, and the scale went down maybe 2LBS, of water.0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
But if someone, say, loses 150LBS low carb and reintroduces carbs, but eats at maintenance.... then of course there's no BAM 150 pound weight gain. if it is, indeed CICO...Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Sure. How many pounds is that? 5? 10 maybe?Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.
Technically, if you maintain calories but add more carbs, then BAM hello water weight, lol
Could be, depends on the person...
Of course not.. .CICO always applies....
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There is a reason low carb diets work. When you introduce carbs
back, it is not the carbs that make you gain. It is the amount of food you eat. I have lost 100lbs without ever felling hungry. I have explained it to people, but not everyone follows it. The few that have, lost weight easily. My son is down over 65lbs. Anyone interested can message me. It is too long to put ina post0 -
I did Atkins and even after induction I tried to stay under 25 carbs. Lost 20 lbs that way and haven't gained a pound back. That may be a bit extreme though. I still watch my carbs.0
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
But if someone, say, loses 150LBS low carb and reintroduces carbs, but eats at maintenance.... then of course there's no BAM 150 pound weight gain. if it is, indeed CICO...Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Sure. How many pounds is that? 5? 10 maybe?Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.
Technically, if you maintain calories but add more carbs, then BAM hello water weight, lol
Could be, depends on the person...
Of course not.. .CICO always applies....
Thus my reply to Liftin4Lis..... to which you replied.0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Yes CICO always applies and my initial post was pointing out the reintroduction of carbs,usually encouraged weight gain. Probably because they're so yummy! As for the 5-10 pounds, to me, that would be devastating. To someone who's lost 150 pounds, not so much.0 -
La_vie_est_belle_toujours wrote: »I did Atkins and even after induction I tried to stay under 25 carbs. Lost 20 lbs that way and haven't gained a pound back. That may be a bit extreme though. I still watch my carbs.
Can I ask what type of things you ate during the day to stay that low?
I know just the fruit I eat makes me go way above that. I don't eat much grains either. I do drink Herbalife shakes for meals on the run which have carbs. Did you just eat meat all day? haha0 -
So reintroducing carbs for you leads to overeating. VERY different than reintroducing carbs leads to weight gain.Liftng4Lis wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Yes CICO always applies and my initial post was pointing out the reintroduction of carbs,usually encouraged weight gain. Probably because they're so yummy! As for the 5-10 pounds, to me, that would be devastating. To someone who's lost 150 pounds, not so much.
5-10LBS of water weight would freak me out as well. fwiw. Unless I knew what it was. Water weight. Not "bam".
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So I'll keep it simple.
I have no idea how many carbs I should limit myself to.
My automatic chart on MFP set me up for 191 per day, but when searching online it says a normal person should be eating 100-150 to maintain weight.
(Btw, wanting to lose, not maintain)
If anyone who has knowledge on the subject could help me figure this out it would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance!
Should do some research on your own, you'll get allot of opinions when asking here.
IE I go over my carbs daily ... but I all consume is fruit and vegetables as my carb source... so it's not bad that I go over daily due to the kind of carbs I eat... but then someone else will say "a calorie is a calorie and the source of carb doesn't matter" (it does matter IMO so just do some reading of your own)
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So why is there such a hype about low carb diets?
My mom has been on them and lost weight pretty quickly.
I understand that carbs are beneficial to help our energy and fruits have a lot of carbs which are good. I just don't know if I just try to be eating less.
For TII diabetics, controlling carbs can really help with keeping things in check. And a lot of adults in the U.S. have this condition.
Low (or lower) carb diets also reduce the amount of water in your body, hence helping with bloating - but that can also create an illusion, because it's not fat you're losing, it's water.
And eating low-carb really helps reduce appetite.
I control my carbs but am by no means low-carb. I find too many carbs at a sitting drive my hunger through the roof. In addition, my doctor told me I am pre-TII diabetic. So for me, bringing carbs lower than the Standard American Diet generally recommends (and my MFP settings recommend) does help. I eat about 100g/day. As I said, definitely not LC per se, but lower than recommended, and it works for me.
If you don't have severe appetite issues and/or do not have blood glucose/insulin issues, you probably don't need LC at all. It's up to you and your body. Everybody is different.
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La_vie_est_belle_toujours wrote: »I did Atkins and even after induction I tried to stay under 25 carbs. Lost 20 lbs that way and haven't gained a pound back. That may be a bit extreme though. I still watch my carbs.
Can I ask what type of things you ate during the day to stay that low?
I know just the fruit I eat makes me go way above that. I don't eat much grains either. I do drink Herbalife shakes for meals on the run which have carbs. Did you just eat meat all day? haha
Try eating more fat.. it seems to be very low.
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Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
So reintroducing carbs for you leads to overeating. VERY different than reintroducing carbs leads to weight gain.Liftng4Lis wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Yes CICO always applies and my initial post was pointing out the reintroduction of carbs,usually encouraged weight gain. Probably because they're so yummy! As for the 5-10 pounds, to me, that would be devastating. To someone who's lost 150 pounds, not so much.
5-10LBS of water weight would freak me out as well. fwiw. Unless I knew what it was. Water weight. Not "bam".
Not me, I love carbs and chocolate! Unfortunately, I have a lot of friends who went that route and gained it back (yep they ate too much). I would melt down even if I knew it was water weight, I'm a stress ball!0 -
Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
But if someone, say, loses 150LBS low carb and reintroduces carbs, but eats at maintenance.... then of course there's no BAM 150 pound weight gain. if it is, indeed CICO...Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Sure. How many pounds is that? 5? 10 maybe?Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »Liftng4Lis wrote: »Ton's of people eat low carb and yes it does allow you to drop weight quicker.....but then you reintroduce them and BAM!
You will get so many opinions here. I'm more about CICO and a sustainable life change. I have my whole life, so I'm not in a hurry to get anywhere. (Doesn't mean it doesn't get frustrating now and again).
No. You eat above maintenance and BAM. If it's "CICO" you don't get to have it both ways.
Technically, if you maintain calories but add more carbs, then BAM hello water weight, lol
Could be, depends on the person...
I don't honestly know how many pounds of water either since that depends on the amount of carbs before and after... and, well, I've never really done it. I tried low carb as a brief experiment on here, and the scale went down maybe 2LBS, of water.
IRL I've only seen people go low carb without counting calories. They don't understand that they've suddenly cut out tons of high calorie foods as well as high carb. Then they reintroduce bread. Lovely, wonderful, tasty bread and go ballistic. Because they never understood that there was a calorie deficit in play they gain back a ton and blamed the carbs.
I don't know how common that is outside of my friends and family, but everyone I know IRL who went on Atkins and similar diets gained it back the second they started to eat carbs again--not because of evil carb voodoo, but because they never understood the calorie deficit their low carb diet produced.0 -
Not you what? Not you you'd freak because you like carbs? You'd freak at water weight?Liftng4Lis wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
So reintroducing carbs for you leads to overeating. VERY different than reintroducing carbs leads to weight gain.Liftng4Lis wrote: »Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
Yes CICO always applies and my initial post was pointing out the reintroduction of carbs,usually encouraged weight gain. Probably because they're so yummy! As for the 5-10 pounds, to me, that would be devastating. To someone who's lost 150 pounds, not so much.
5-10LBS of water weight would freak me out as well. fwiw. Unless I knew what it was. Water weight. Not "bam".
Not me, I love carbs and chocolate! Unfortunately, I have a lot of friends who went that route and gained it back (yep they ate too much). I would melt down even if I knew it was water weight, I'm a stress ball!
Again, that's not CICO.
You probably also have a lot of friends who "dieted" via jenny craig, weight watchers, etc. etc. etc. etc. and gained it all back. something like 90% of all folks who lose gain it back.
The goal for each of us is to find what works for losing it and more importantly KEEPING IT OFF.
agreed?0 -
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okaySabine_Stroehm wrote: »Not you what? Not you you'd freak because you like carbs? You'd freak at water weight?
Again, that's not CICO.
You probably also have a lot of friends who "dieted" via jenny craig, weight watchers, etc. etc. etc. etc. and gained it all back. something like 90% of all folks who lose gain it back.
The goal for each of us is to find what works for losing it and more importantly KEEPING IT OFF.
agreed?
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This discussion has been closed.
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