I need help in learning the good carbs and the bad carbs can you help me? I need to lose 218 pounds

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TS054
TS054 Posts: 27 Member
in Getting Started
I just joined this sight tonight. I am disable and in a power chair. The doctor put me on a heart monitor today, and I need to lose 218 pounds can you help me with some exercises andd what the good and bad carbs are. It would greatly be appreciated.

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  • jswede1149
    jswede1149 Posts: 44 Member
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    The "bad" carbs are: bread, pasta, cookies, cakes, pastries, ice cream, carrots, etc. The "good" carbs are fruits and veggies. You can technically eat the "bad" carbs as long as you eat within your caloric goals. As far as exercise, you need to consult with your doctor especially that you were placed on a heart monitor.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    OP, don't make this more complicated than it needs to be when starting out. Weight loss comes down to eating less calories than you burn. So put your stats into MFP, choose your goal for lbs to lose per week, and start weighing and logging your food. Be honest and accurate, it's the only way you will learn over time what foods to eat that will fill you up and fit under your calorie goal.

    If you don't have one, get a food scale, it will really help.

    I would ask your doctor what kinds of exercise you should be doing.

    Take care of yourself and good luck!
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    Double post

    There's no reason to fear carbs unless you have a medical condition that warrants you to restrict carbs. Otherwise, eat at a deficit and you'll lose weight . cico .
  • wendy82559
    wendy82559 Posts: 5 Member
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    Eating less carbs is a good way to go. When your body doesn't have the carbs to burn it starts to use the fat for energy and you start to lose weight. Bad carbs are the ones with all the refined sugars. Cakes, cookies, white pasta and breads, etc. Eat vege's and lean protein. Limit fruit but be sure to still have it in your diet. Berries and avocados are great. Good luck with everything.
  • phoenix26z
    phoenix26z Posts: 12 Member
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    There are carbs labeled as 'bad' because they don't have additional nutritional value. For example, when you think about pasta, do you think "Hmm... it also has a lot of fiber and Vitamin A, B, and C."? Most likely not, because these 'bad' carbs are simply empty carbs. The carbs from fruit and vegetables are loaded with extra benefits. Inside your body, 'carbs' are 'carbs'. Just think about eating carbs with extra benefits, load them into your MyFitnessPal diary, and watch your nutrient levels. If you replace your bad carbs with good carbs over time, your body will detox naturally. But yes, I agree wit the others. Focus more on making small adjustments to a new lifestyle rather than a drastic one. Your weight will come off. And I'm glad you asked about the differences. By becoming more educated, you are ahead of the game and becoming healthier instead of skinny fat.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    OP, again, don't overcomplicate this. There is nothing wrong with pasta or fruit or any other carb unless you overeat it, and you don't need to detox from anything, your liver does that for you every day. If your doctor suggested low carb due to a medical condition, then you need to find out from them what they want you to avoid. Plenty of people here have lost a lot of weight eating "bad" carbs. You just have to find what works for you!
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    Double post

    There's no reason to fear carbs unless you have a medical condition that warrants you to restrict carbs. Otherwise, eat at a deficit and you'll lose weight . cico .

    This^

    Unless you have medical issues....it's not about "good" carbs or "bad" carbs. I don't limit carbs because that's not a lifestyle change for me. Taking the weight off is step 1.........keeping it off will require changes for life.

    You will find that some foods are more filling than others. You will find that less processed foods often contain more nutrients (naturally).....example: whole wheat bread has more fiber and protein than most white breads. That doesn't make white bread a "bad" carb. But when you are eating fewer calories, it helps if you "get the most bang for your calorie buck."

    It's really just calories in vs. calories out. Eat less & move more.

    To move more...google seated or chair exercise. There are lots of workouts on YouTube.
  • FunFitFaithFaith
    FunFitFaithFaith Posts: 8 Member
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    You may want to do what I'm doing, I think it's truly the easiest way to get rid of the extra weight. I've purchased 3 books via amazon.com. All three focus on 300 and 400 calorie meals. Just type in 300 or 400 calorie meals cookbook. Read the reviews and buy a couple. This way you're choosing a good variety of meals you will enjoy and learn how to make eating healthy a lifestyle. I have 80 lbs. to rid my body, so I understand how important this is to you. Also on the page where you log in your food intake, at the bottom is a place to type in your 'food notes'. I use this to write an encouraging message from "My Future Self". Today I wrote: You need to eat more food to get to your 1200 calories. You're doing really good. Remember this is a process. Focus on your food intake and getting your pics, text and videos ready for your website. Love you, YFS
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    If you're looking for information regarding choosing more nutrient dense, high fiber, slower burning carbs, books like the South Beach Diet can help you learn about them.
  • ncfitbit
    ncfitbit Posts: 1,058 Member
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    TeaBea wrote: »
    thorsmom01 wrote: »
    Double post

    There's no reason to fear carbs unless you have a medical condition that warrants you to restrict carbs. Otherwise, eat at a deficit and you'll lose weight . cico .

    This^

    Unless you have medical issues....it's not about "good" carbs or "bad" carbs. I don't limit carbs because that's not a lifestyle change for me. Taking the weight off is step 1.........keeping it off will require changes for life.

    You will find that some foods are more filling than others. You will find that less processed foods often contain more nutrients (naturally).....example: whole wheat bread has more fiber and protein than most white breads. That doesn't make white bread a "bad" carb. But when you are eating fewer calories, it helps if you "get the most bang for your calorie buck."

    It's really just calories in vs. calories out. Eat less & move more.

    To move more...google seated or chair exercise. There are lots of workouts on YouTube.

    Totally agree about the difference being that some carbs fill you up more than others. I can easily eat half a days calories in regular, white pasta or bread. As a result, I try to limit these, as other carbs are way more satiating, but I refuse to say I will never eat them again.

    Log everything you eat and look at the patterns. Which foods make you feel good and full and try to eat more of those and less of the other stuff. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. I love eating a vegetable korma that is mostly carbs, but it is SO filling that every single calorie (about 275) is well worth it.
  • melodicraven
    melodicraven Posts: 83 Member
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    Questions to ask your doc:
    1. How much exercise can I do each day?
    2. How often can I exercise each week?
    3. What type of exercise should I do?
    4. What type of activities should I avoid?
    5. Should I take my medication(s) (if you're on any) at a certain time around my exercise schedule?

    After you talk to your doc, do some research. Think about asking your doctor to refer you to a physical therapist or someone who specializes in clients with disabilities. There are lots of exercises that can be modified in some way or adjusted to accommodate people with disabilities or limited mobility. There are gentle stretches, and exercises you can do while sitting down, and if your doctor gives you the go ahead - swimming is absolutely one of the best things you can do. The most important thing is to slowly but surely incorporate just more movement overall into your day to day routine to the best of of your ability. Over time, little tiny changes add up and create real differences.

    As far as food goes, what kind of plan does the doctor want you on? Did they give you any advice about getting started?

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I hope your doctor has given you some help like a referral to a registered dietician.

    One thing a good dietician would do with you is figure out how you have been eating and what tends to have led to you overeating -- are you not feeling full, snacking at certain times, eating lots of hidden calories (in that you didn't realize how much you were getting from certain things). Then you'd come up with strategies to improve your eating habits, often somewhat gradually, by making specific changes that you can monitor and see if they work for you.

    I did something like this for myself when I started and highly recommend it -- I went through my eating habits and diet as honestly as I could and figured out where the excess calories were coming from (since I was someone who would have said I ate pretty well and not all that much, yet I clearly was eating way too much).

    Once I did this, there were some pretty simple and not difficult changes I could make that cut out LOTS of calories, most of which were not missed.

    I also was able to come up with strategies to control my eating -- for example, I realized that I'm someone who tends to feel hungry when I'm used to eating and who will eat too much if I snack all day, so I simply decided I would eat only at meals. (Well, most of the time.)

    At this stage, simply eating less will make a huge difference, but many do find it easier to do that or more motivating if you focus on nutrition (and I think nutrition is important), so I think it's great you want to learn about that. A couple of easy to follow links that I think are great are:
    (1) http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/science-compared-every-diet-and-the-winner-is-real-food/284595/ (I don't like the "real food" thing here, but I generally agree with the advice.)

    and (2) http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/ (the whole site is good).
  • rsclause
    rsclause Posts: 3,103 Member
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    I don't really count carbs but I have reduced my intake of breads, pasta and potatoes. I have increased my intake of grilled or baked veggies and fruits. So if you think about it I traded one for the other but it makes for a much more nutritional diet. After that its really CICO math. Remember, no cheating because the scale will tell on you. Good luck and I hope your weight reduction has many benefits
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I suggest worrying less about cutting certain foods and more learning to stay within a calorie target daily. MFP can help with this when you get used to logging all your food.

    For exercise when disabled and significantly overweight, water exercises are good. That way your joints aren't stressed so much from gravity.

    Some great carbs:

    http://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whole-grains-a-to-z

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_culinary_fruits

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vegetables

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_root_vegetables

    Some fool listed carrots as a "bad carb" above. On the contrary, carrots are full of fiber and carotene, a source of vitamin A.
  • CurlyCockney
    CurlyCockney Posts: 1,394 Member
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    Hi @TS054, I'm in a powerchair too. I don't know if you are having physiotherapy, but if you are your therapist should be able to suggest some exercises. I use Bodylastics resistance bands, but I'm using them more for range of movement than for strength exercises (although they are fab for that too!). I also use a passive pedal exerciser. I don't use either of these often though, and I'm still losing weight.

    It seems daunting, thinking about losing weight with mobility problems. If I may, I'd suggest just focusing on getting the calories right first, before worrying about exercises. Put your stats into MFP, and eat to the calories it gives you. Weigh (with a scale) and track everything. You might find, as I did, that the calories MFP gives you aren't quite right - the sedentary setting here assumes up to 5000 steps a day. If you monitor your calorie intake over 6-8 weeks, along with your weight over that period, you'll be able to calculate how many calories you really need (it's a bit hit or miss, but don't worry too much about it).

    As to good carbs or bad carbs, I can't help you with that because I haven't cut any food groups out of my diet. Unless there is a medical need you don't have to worry about this, but of course you can do so if you prefer. If there is a medical need, ask your doctor for a referral to a dietician who can work with you to get a plan that's sustainable for you.

    If you want some inspiration, there are a couple of great threads from wheelchair users in the Success category here.

    Best of luck!
  • bmele0
    bmele0 Posts: 282 Member
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    The only reason I can think that your Dr. talked to you about good/bad carbs is if you are diabetic or dangerously pre-diabetic, there are good aka slow carbs or bad aka fast carbs.

    List of slow-burning carbs- http://www.livestrong.com/article/331564-list-of-slow-burning-carbs/
    Includes whole-wheat bread, brown rice
    Kidney beans
    All kinds of vegetables
    Yogurt (greek yogurt for protein will help you digest)
    Grapes, strawberries, cherries, apples

    Pair your carbs with proteins!

    List of Foods with Fast carbs http://www.livestrong.com/article/31545-list-foods-fast-carbs/
    Refined white bread, white rice
    Cake, cookies

    Typically, if you have GD, diabetes, or possibly borderline, the doctor will want you to stay within a certain range for carbs per meal/snacks. I know when I had GD, the nutritionist advised against milk or juice in the morning as that could spike your blood sugar. I could have milk later though as long as it was within the carb range for the meal/ snack.

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