carbs

i am a pescatarian and i am curious about this as well!
i seem to eat TONS of carbs.... i have been cutting back slowly- to around 100g a day.
(except days when i exercise, i eat more to help me power through my intense workouts.)

i know that all carbs arn't created equal... but i am still weirded out by how much i should eat...

I am a pescetarian and I notice that the lower my carbs are the better my weight loss is. I am a yoga teacher, practice yoga, and do some beachbody workouts at home and I have plenty of energy to do it with a low carb diet. My family has a history of diabetes and a low carb way of eating is the right way of eating for me.

When my weight loss journey began nearly five years ago, my doctor sent me to a dietician. My blood sugar was elevated, and that was the biggest concern. My doctor truly felt that if I was able to lose weight, I could avoid being on medication for diabetes. I had also quit taking my cholesterol medication cold turkey because I didn't like the way it made me feel.

The dietician told me these three things:
1. Watch your portion size (i bought a food scale).
2. Write down everything you eat.
3. Keep your total "carbs" to under 15 a day. In her world, 15 grams of carbohydrate was 1 "carb."
I left her office thinking she was a total quack. 4+ years, and maintaining a 60 pound weight loss later, I no longer think that.

In addition to beginning to eat more healthily--whole grains instead of white bread, etc, I also began walking -- last year, it was over 1600 miles.....and I only log the miles that are intentional walking exercise.

Good luck!
Kaye

I'm a vegetarian, I work out intensely 5 days a week doing spin class burning about 400 cals each time, I also do the 30 days shred (may move on to p90x) and do yoga 3 times a week and walk everywhere. Am I eating too much carbs? I ONLY eat 1200 calories per day, that is what I put in my mouth, I do not eat back my exercise calories.

What I'm confused about is people saying eating too much carbs will stop your weightloss. I eat about 150g of carbs a day on average, and about 100g of protein and about 30g of fat. I don't eat so much less fat on purpose, my foods just don't have a lot of fat as I'm a veggie.

EVEN THOUGH I'm only eating 1200 calories per day, will eating 150g of carbs stop my weightloss or effect it? or does that only apply if you are eating 2000 calories and 150g of carbs?

I want to finally put my mind at rest with this, because I see people on atkins that live on 20g of carbs a day and it baffles me, I eat triple that in my breakfast alone. How do these people work out without collapsing?!

Please someone tell me if I'm eating too much (I really hope I'm not! haha)

150 carbs is a great amount of carbs for an active person to be eating! So keep it up girlie. (standard american diet suggests 60% carbs, which would mean 720 of your calories would come from carbs, so thank you for not doing that!, and your body thanks you!) but yes, percentage of carbs matter. and people that eat low carb to lose fat are using fat stores as energy instead of constant feeds of sugar (what carbs are) Your body can use either very efficiently. It's not baffling, some people run smoother on fat instead of sugar. (healthy fats ofcourse)

This is what I would do: Add MORE fat to your diet from olive oil and what not ( although animal and butter would be best), and cut your carbs down to 50-75 g per day.

Simple Carbs are sugar, and sugar is the enemy, NOT fat.

good luck!

I don't eat simple carbs, I only eat wholegrain. I'm so confused about this, I've just tried to alter my meals and im finding it impossible! I don't want to be on a 'diet' right now I'm eating little calories but enjoying every bite, if I stop eating my fruit, and my wholegrain cereal and banana every morning, and start cutting out foods that I love, how realistic will me sticking at it be? Once i get to my goal weight I'll still love those foods and its more likely to gain the weight back no?

If it works for you then don't worry about it! To get true lasting weight loss and maintenance you have to change your lifestyle of eating...for life! So you need to find what you can live with forever and stick with it. Me personally, I was a carbaholic. I would try to watch calories but would end up starving and i would binge on bread and sweets way too much, enough to undo all the work i was doing most of the week.yes, I loved those foods, i could eat a whole loaf of bread by myself, honestly! (esp the homemade stuff!) yes, i could lose weight counting calories(if i stuck to it) and i did several times, lost 50, gained 60 in 07 and did similar type things for the past 8 years. but i would always go back to eating the way i used to and gain it all back. now, i have chosen a lifestyle and it makes me happy I have faced my carb addiction head on. and i'm conquering it. I don't ever feel starved, and if i ever do mess up and eat something i shouldnt (like sunday i had cake) i can immediately feel the effects it has on me. (makes my cravings come back, bloats me up, my blood sugar drops a few hours after eating it) I am learning to love cooking fresh healthy meats and veggies. I used to wouldn't eat onion or broccoli or spinach for nothing, now i am learning to love it! would i rather have a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich? yeah! lol, but it's a lifestyle change!!

I'm a vegetarian, I work out intensely 5 days a week doing spin class burning about 400 cals each time, I also do the 30 days shred (may move on to p90x) and do yoga 3 times a week and walk everywhere. Am I eating too much carbs? I ONLY eat 1200 calories per day, that is what I put in my mouth, I do not eat back my exercise calories.

What I'm confused about is people saying eating too much carbs will stop your weightloss. I eat about 150g of carbs a day on average, and about 100g of protein and about 30g of fat. I don't eat so much less fat on purpose, my foods just don't have a lot of fat as I'm a veggie.

EVEN THOUGH I'm only eating 1200 calories per day, will eating 150g of carbs stop my weightloss or effect it? or does that only apply if you are eating 2000 calories and 150g of carbs?

I want to finally put my mind at rest with this, because I see people on atkins that live on 20g of carbs a day and it baffles me, I eat triple that in my breakfast alone. How do these people work out without collapsing?!

Please someone tell me if I'm eating too much (I really hope I'm not! haha)

Holy cr*p! My first thought when I read this is, "How is this girl even POSSIBLY fueling her grueling workouts???" Seriously, you are 20, 5' 8", already quite slender, and you eat next to nothing. You are not even CLOSE to eating enough. I'm more than 2x your age, shorter, and weigh more than your gw, and eat much more, and work out much less. Your caloric need should be almost double mine!

Here's what I figured out to lose that last 10 lbs, and to increase my muscle mass:
1. I increased my daily caloric intake by decreasing the amt. I wanted to lose each wk. I have my goals set for .4 lbs/wk, which gives me more cal/day, and is a more realistic amt. of weight to lose/wk when you get close to your goal
2. Reduced carbs to 100 gm or less/day
3. Increased strength training, and decreased cardio
4. Increased protein to at least 100 gm/day (1 gm/prot per lb of lean body weight)
5. Eat clean - REAL food, no processed crap

I try to follow the above as best I can, but of course, I slip up. Even so, just in the last couple of mos. I have toned up considerably, have lost that little bit of extra, and look better (and feel better) than I ever have. Feel free to look at my pix (before and after), and my diary. Hope that helps!