Using carbohydrates as only calorie source

AnthonyX150X
AnthonyX150X Posts: 293 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I was thinking about a what if scenario about a person getting calories only from carbs in a caloric deficit.

So with no fat or protein to accompany the carbs, would the person lose more muscle than fat? Also, what are the side affects with a diet like this?
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Replies

  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    I guess that depends on how long they're doing this for. A couple of days? Probably no big deal for a healthy individual.

    Extended period of time? Worst. Idea. Ever.

    Well, maybe not ever, as the worst ever just may be The Biggest Loser, but hell no.

    Considering fats and proteins are essential nutrients, a diet that didn't have any would lead one to serious health issues. And I'd wager that it wouldn't take too long to see those issues.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    edited June 2016
    You can live without Carbs you can't live without fat and protein. When I say "live" I'm not saying it would be a thriving life but technically protein and fat calories will be converted glycogen for later use as energy so possible. Not something I would want to do..
  • janjunie
    janjunie Posts: 1,200 Member
    You'd probably start off by getting massive headaches.
  • MissusMoon
    MissusMoon Posts: 1,900 Member
    Michael190lbs wrote: »
    You can live without Carbs you can't live without fat and protein. When I say "live" I'm not saying it would be a thriving life but technically protein and fat calories will be converted glycogen for later use as energy so possible. Not something I would want to do..

    The body needs sugar, too.
  • MakePeasNotWar
    MakePeasNotWar Posts: 1,329 Member
    I eat almost entirely foods that are considered "carbs", but since all foods are some combination of the three macronutrients, the only way to get exclusively carbohydrate is to eat a synthetic or at least entirely refined diet.

    If you actually did try out carbohydrate only nutrition for any length of time, you'd be in for a world of hurt. EFA deficiencies, Vit A,D,E, and K malabsorption, and kwashiorkor at least.

    When you finally exhaust the amino acid pool (actually, sooner because of limiting AAs), your body would break down your muscle tissue, including cardiac muscle, which would cause heart failure. You may die of something else sooner, though.
  • Josh_lol
    Josh_lol Posts: 317 Member
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    The body needs sugar, too.

    Sugars are the simplest forms of carbs. If you were on a 100% carb diet, not taking into account deficiencies in amino acids from protein and hormone imbalances from not getting enough fat, the body would break down the carbs into glucose for respiration like it does with most things you eat.
  • pinggolfer96
    pinggolfer96 Posts: 2,248 Member
    Considering you'd be eating the only macro that's not essential to life.....you'll die eventually
  • Purplebunnysarah
    Purplebunnysarah Posts: 3,252 Member
    MissusMoon wrote: »
    Michael190lbs wrote: »
    You can live without Carbs you can't live without fat and protein. When I say "live" I'm not saying it would be a thriving life but technically protein and fat calories will be converted glycogen for later use as energy so possible. Not something I would want to do..

    The body needs sugar, too.

    The body is awesome and can make The glucose it needs for the functions where it can't utilize fat metabolism instead--body makes sugar from protein (gluconeogenesis).
  • Unknown
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  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    The body requires protein and fat.
    It does not need carbs.
  • Dannigreen31
    Dannigreen31 Posts: 557 Member
    Yeh I'm guessing it's not going to be good for you at all. Like above poster we can live without carbs but we need the others
  • teatumbles
    teatumbles Posts: 17 Member
    It would be very hard to do that unless you were literally eating pure sugar. Even if you ate only fruit all day you'd get an okay amount of protein and fat
  • sashayoung72
    sashayoung72 Posts: 441 Member
    so i looked up a list of the highest carb foods and it looks like most peoples BEFORE lol https://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-highest-in-carbohydrates.php
  • tross0924
    tross0924 Posts: 909 Member
    It depends on duration. Short term and a level of intake under your daily calorie requirements? You'd love weight, but your body would start to cannibalize itself for the essential amino acids it needs, so some of that weight would be muscle. Long term, You'd die as previously stated.
  • sashayoung72
    sashayoung72 Posts: 441 Member
    tross0924 wrote: »
    It depends on duration. Short term and a level of intake under your daily calorie requirements? You'd love weight, but your body would start to cannibalize itself for the essential amino acids it needs, so some of that weight would be muscle. Long term, You'd die as previously stated.

    That's how zombies are made!!!! "cannibalize"
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Well you'd be living off of the one macro that isn't essential, and neglecting the two that are. So basically that would be asinine.
  • Traveler120
    Traveler120 Posts: 712 Member
    Google -Andrew Taylor Potato Diet- the Australian who's been eating potatoes only since January this year and has gone from 333 lbs to 250 lbs, down 83 lbs in 5 months! He's been getting routine blood tests and his doctor is very pleased with his results and tells him to keep going. His Youtube channel is 'spudfit' and he's been featured on several tv shows.

    Potatoes are about 93% carbs. He eats any types of potatoes and doesn't add any oil but does add spices. He's exercising, which means he would be retaining muscle. He also did a DEXA scan recently and said he would get another after a few months to show the difference in muscle vs fat loss. I think he's doing very well and busting the myths surrounding carbs.
  • carrieloveshk
    carrieloveshk Posts: 128 Member
    Carbs should make up most of your diet but not ALL of your diet.
  • PearBlossom9
    PearBlossom9 Posts: 136 Member
    carrieloveshk wrote: »
    Carbs should make up most of your diet but not ALL of your diet.

    Says who?
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    Kwashiorkor is a symptom of a diet deficient in protein.

    A diet deficient in fats can lead to a number of vitamin deficiencies due to some vitamins needing fats for absorption.

    Doing such a diet for more than a brief time would be foolhardy.
  • sashayoung72
    sashayoung72 Posts: 441 Member
    Traveler120 wrote: »
    Google -Andrew Taylor Potato Diet- the Australian who's been eating potatoes only since January this year and has gone from 333 lbs to 250 lbs, down 83 lbs in 5 months! He's been getting routine blood tests and his doctor is very pleased with his results and tells him to keep going. His Youtube channel is 'spudfit' and he's been featured on several tv shows.

    Potatoes are about 93% carbs. He eats any types of potatoes and doesn't add any oil but does add spices. He's exercising, which means he would be retaining muscle. He also did a DEXA scan recently and said he would get another after a few months to show the difference in muscle vs fat loss. I think he's doing very well and busting the myths surrounding carbs.

    Did he read the martian or something, how horrible of a bland diet.
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    The body requires protein and fat.
    It does not need carbs.

    It absolutely needs all three to live.

    However, it's capable of making all essential carbohydrates from either fat or protein, if dietary carbohydrates are not available. It can make many but not all types of fats, nor can it make all types of amino acids (and even those that it can make require a surplus of another type of amino acid, since it has to get the nitrogen from other amino acids).
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Traveler120 wrote: »
    Google -Andrew Taylor Potato Diet- the Australian who's been eating potatoes only since January this year and has gone from 333 lbs to 250 lbs, down 83 lbs in 5 months! .

    The famous Scotsman lost a bit faster eating nothing so I'm guessing this potato guy isn't eating much.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited June 2016
    sashayoung72 wrote: »
    so i looked up a list of the highest carb foods and it looks like most peoples BEFORE lol https://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-highest-in-carbohydrates.php

    What does this mean?

    Also, there's nothing wrong with eating a high carb food (by percentage or whatever). For example, the vast majority of calories from a banana are from carbs. A tsp of sugar is pure carbs, but adding it to oatmeal or a cup of coffee (although I wouldn't, for taste reasons) isn't harmful at all. The issue is having a balanced diet and not leaving out sources of protein and essential fats.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited June 2016
    And yeah, if you did it for any length of time you'd get sick and die. But it would be pretty much impossible to do without doing it on purpose (and challenging even then), and no one could possibly think doing it was healthful, so it's kind of a silly question.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    sashayoung72 wrote: »
    so i looked up a list of the highest carb foods and it looks like most peoples BEFORE lol https://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-highest-in-carbohydrates.php

    It pretty much does.

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