Carb Question!

I went under my goals and changed my carbs to 40%, protein and fat to 30% each. (Zone diet guidelines) and it seems to be working for me. I do go a little over on my carbs sometimes, but I always try to get 30 grams of fiber a day and it helps offset them a little bit. I also try to stick to healthy carbs (veggies, shole grains, etc) and limit carbs from sugar or white flour. Whatever works for you. I played around with mine a bit until I got somewhere that clicked for me. Good luck!

I personally think you do need to watch your carbs, but don't cut them all out! I mainly eat yogurt, fruit and veggies for my carbs.....I didn't eat any "bready" carbs for the day, so I did eat a baked potato for dinner. I don't cut them all out, but I usually will have 3 to 4 svg of "bready" carbs a day, 1 or 2 svg of yogurt, and 3 svg of fruit and all I want veggies. I make sure I have protein at every meal, and most snacks.....

good luck!

If I dont manage my carbs I dont lose weight.
I find I get my best results when I follow a modified program 40% Carbs, 30% Fat and 30% Protein

I eat a high carb diet (70+%) and am losing weight just fine. It really depends on the individual as to what they need and how their body responds to carbs as to whether or not they should be cut. Someone who is diabetic, insulin resistant, glucose intolerant, etc. should cut carbs. Someone like me who is very active and uses those carbs to help fuel fat burning, however, may have to increase carbs to get optimal fat burning. It really just depends on you. So, I'd stick with the MFP recommendation for now and if you stop losing, then try and tweak carbs, protein, and fat intake levels according to your metabolic needs and medical conditions.

Yeah you made a good point. I didn’t state it, but athletes do need more carbs for performance. This will give them the energy to burn more calories and lose weight. If you’re over weight, I doubt you can exercise very well in the first place. It will take a TON of exercise to burn fat if you’re over weight and consuming a high carb diet. That’s why I said in my post as you get more in shape you increase your carbs. Carbs effect thin people and heavy people differently.

No a calorie is not a calorie, they have different hormonal effects. Carbs increase insulin which will store blood sugar in the muscle as glycogen, glycogen is energy for the muscles. If your muscles are full of glycogen due to lack of exercising or eating too many carbs, the excess carbs will be stored as bodyfat. If you reduce your carbs, you have to increase other macro nutrients such as proteins or fats to stay within the same caloric range. Protein liberates fat from the body. Fat has no direct effect on insulin.

The issue isn’t necessarily carbs it’s too many carbs. If you have more than 50lbs to lose, I’d look in to a low carb diet. Over time you can slowly increase your carbs and find the point where you don’t gain or lose weight once you reach your goal.

this was really interesting! Thanks. You made it easy to understand

I was struggling with losing, barely getting anywhere while working out likke 3 hours every single day. It was ridiculous and I was frustrated because I didn't understand how exercising like that and eating a clean vegetarian diet would prevent me from losing weight. Then I learned about low carb and shortly after I switched to primal eating (which was very hard at first) but I cut out bread and pasta and limited carbs to 100g then 75g then 50g and now 20-30 net carbs (carb-fiber). In the last month that I have made these changes I have lost 6 pounds and lost 4 just in the last week! It makes a huge difference!

In my experience carbs have been a downfall for me with weight loss. I was raised on Italian food so I will always have a weakness for pastas, bread, canoli's, Italian cookies... you name it if it's Italian I love it... but in terms of weight loss these are big no no's for me.

I've learned a lot about carbs over the past few years and what's helped me the most is limiting the portions and the time of day that I eat them, but not cutting them out of my diet completely.

There are different types of carbs, refined carbs such as sugar (evaporated cane juice is still sugar, don't be fooled), white flour products (bread, cakes, white pasta etc.) should be avoided as much as possible. Pay close attention to your sugars as well (read portexploits post above for why to avoid sugar he explained how your body processes it). Even natural sugars like fructose in fruits and lactose in milk can make or break a diet sometimes. Right now I can't have any of that if I want to see results. If you drink a lot of milk consider reducing it or removing if from your diet to reduce the sugar in take. Think of it this way, 10g of sugar is a little over 2 teaspoons...1 cup of 1% milk has 13g of carbohydrates, all of it is from sugar. Limit your fruits to one to two servings a day, and have them in the morning.

The good carbs can be split in two categories: Starchy Carbs, and Fibrous Carbs.

Starchy Carbs are your whole grains (wheat, rice, kamut, quinoa, oats etc.), beans (black, lima, pinto, lentils etc.), potatoes (sweet, white, yams etc.), Corn, tomatoes, squash (butternut, acorn, winter squash).

Eat your starchy carbs in the beginning half of the day, avoid them later in the day, try a starchy carb free dinner loaded with veges instead. Starchy carbs (that aren't refined carbs - the ones to avoid) digest slower and are a good source of energy and vitamins, and they can keep you fuller longer.

The carbs to eat through out the day and specifically in the later part of the day are your fibrous carbs. These are mostly leafy greans and pretty much all vegetables (not potatoes, corn and tomatoes). Here's a list: cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collard greens, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onions, pepper, rutabega, spinach, summer squash and zucchini.

Hope some of this information is helpful. As I said I've been doing a lot of self research over the years to learn more about this, and I've found if I eat starchy carbs at night, or my favorite, a big ol' plate of spaghetti, I won't see the scale budge at all. I've also been to a nutritionist to learn when, how much of them to eat so that I can get results. I'd highly suggest seeking one near you and get a sample meal plan. You will learn a lot.

In my experience carbs have been a downfall for me with weight loss. I was raised on Italian food so I will always have a weakness for pastas, bread, canoli's, Italian cookies... you name it if it's Italian I love it... but in terms of weight loss these are big no no's for me.

I've learned a lot about carbs over the past few years and what's helped me the most is limiting the portions and the time of day that I eat them, but not cutting them out of my diet completely.

There are different types of carbs, refined carbs such as sugar (evaporated cane juice is still sugar, don't be fooled), white flour products (bread, cakes, white pasta etc.) should be avoided as much as possible. Pay close attention to your sugars as well (read portexploits post above for why to avoid sugar he explained how your body processes it). Even natural sugars like fructose in fruits and lactose in milk can make or break a diet sometimes. Right now I can't have any of that if I want to see results. If you drink a lot of milk consider reducing it or removing if from your diet to reduce the sugar in take. Think of it this way, 10g of sugar is a little over 2 teaspoons...1 cup of 1% milk has 13g of carbohydrates, all of it is from sugar. Limit your fruits to one to two servings a day, and have them in the morning.

The good carbs can be split in two categories: Starchy Carbs, and Fibrous Carbs.

Starchy Carbs are your whole grains (wheat, rice, kamut, quinoa, oats etc.), beans (black, lima, pinto, lentils etc.), potatoes (sweet, white, yams etc.), Corn, tomatoes, squash (butternut, acorn, winter squash).

Eat your starchy carbs in the beginning half of the day, avoid them later in the day, try a starchy carb free dinner loaded with veges instead. Starchy carbs (that aren't refined carbs - the ones to avoid) digest slower and are a good source of energy and vitamins, and they can keep you fuller longer.

The carbs to eat through out the day and specifically in the later part of the day are your fibrous carbs. These are mostly leafy greans and pretty much all vegetables (not potatoes, corn and tomatoes). Here's a list: cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collard greens, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, lettuce, mushrooms, okra, onions, pepper, rutabega, spinach, summer squash and zucchini.

Hope some of this information is helpful. As I said I've been doing a lot of self research over the years to learn more about this, and I've found if I eat starchy carbs at night, or my favorite, a big ol' plate of spaghetti, I won't see the scale budge at all. I've also been to a nutritionist to learn when, how much of them to eat so that I can get results. I'd highly suggest seeking one near you and get a sample meal plan. You will learn a lot.

I would like to THANK YOU...this right here has been EXTREMELY helpful to me! I love my carbs, and now I know why I haven't been losing the weight I need to lose. Awesome info....THANKS SO VERY MUCH.