Carbs and Weightloss

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bringingsexyback2007
bringingsexyback2007 Posts: 79 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I definitely know that ultimately, burning more calories than you take in creates weight loss. However, sometimes it isn't that cut and dry. I notice on weeks when I have a lot more carbs than normal, even when in a deficit, that my weight loss stalls. Does anyone else notice this and should I keep my carbs moderate? I've heard several people say that even when not following a low carb diet, they don't go over 100g of carbs per day.

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited June 2017
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    More carbs = more water/glycogen stores...has nothing to do with fat.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    More carbs= more energy.
  • bringingsexyback2007
    bringingsexyback2007 Posts: 79 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your responses. Good to know, I was getting so frustrated!
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    In the short term, such as for the week, it could just as well be glycogen as others have mentioned. I noticed in the long term that I lost much more quickly with low carb. I had unexplained long plateaus and lost very slowly using simple calorie restriction (with higher carb intake). At the same calorie level, I've been low carb for 15 months now... in that 15 months, I have lost as much as I did in the 26 months prior to that. In both cases, I weighed food and logged very meticulously.

    Not everyone has the same experience I did, but mine is that low carb causes much faster weight loss.
  • bringingsexyback2007
    bringingsexyback2007 Posts: 79 Member
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    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    In the short term, such as for the week, it could just as well be glycogen as others have mentioned. I noticed in the long term that I lost much more quickly with low carb. I had unexplained long plateaus and lost very slowly using simple calorie restriction (with higher carb intake). At the same calorie level, I've been low carb for 15 months now... in that 15 months, I have lost as much as I did in the 26 months prior to that. In both cases, I weighed food and logged very meticulously.

    Not everyone has the same experience I did, but mine is that low carb causes much faster weight loss.
    How many grams of carbs do you have a day?
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
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    I find carbs affect my losses.

    FYI, below 100-150g of carbs per day is low carb.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    bringingsexyback2007 wrote: »
    midwesterner85 wrote: »
    In the short term, such as for the week, it could just as well be glycogen as others have mentioned. I noticed in the long term that I lost much more quickly with low carb. I had unexplained long plateaus and lost very slowly using simple calorie restriction (with higher carb intake). At the same calorie level, I've been low carb for 15 months now... in that 15 months, I have lost as much as I did in the 26 months prior to that. In both cases, I weighed food and logged very meticulously.

    Not everyone has the same experience I did, but mine is that low carb causes much faster weight loss.
    How many grams of carbs do you have a day?

    I started at 150g and slowly cut from there to 20g-30g net carbs (not total carbs). After a few months there, I cut further to around 10g or less per day to get a few extra lbs. off. I'm starting back up a little bit higher for the next month (around 20g-40g per day) and will then cut back to around 5g-10g per day to try to lose the last 10 lbs.

    I'm a bit more extreme than most... 20g-50g is usually the low end and as @nvmomketo pointed out, 100g-150g is still low carb.

    I'm a runner and hiker, and I'm fat adapted. But I'm also a type 1 diabetic, so while there is a lower risk of hypoglycemia during exercise (because my muscles are adapted to primarily use fat for fuel, not glucose), there is still some risk. When that happens, carbs are medically necessary. Fortunately, it is less frequent now than when I was on a higher carb diet. Also, I'm more carb sensitive so it doesn't take as much. Often, I can treat a hypoglycemic event now with as little as 4g of net carbs when it would have taken 4-5 times as much before becoming fat adapted.
  • JohnnyPenso
    JohnnyPenso Posts: 412 Member
    edited June 2017
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    During my weightloss phase I actually upped my carb percentage so I could eat more volume, focusing on low calorie but high volumes vegetables. Worked like a charm. Hovering around 60-65% carbs most days for 4 months and I lost 20 lbs in a very steady fashion. Now that I'm trying to clean bulk, and struggling a bit to find the right caloric intake, I'm down to about 45% carbs but I focus mostly on the protein number and carbs and fat fall where they may. Some days I'm at 250g of carbs and some days I'm as high as 375g, all depends on how active I've been and how much I've eaten. Calories in vs. calories out is king.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    Eat the foods that satiate you the most, that you enjoy, and support your goals. I tend to eat pretty high carb as it fills me up the most and helps with my training. Often i get 300g+
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    1g glycogen =3-4g water to store it. If you're in a deficit you're experiencing fat loss that you won't "see" after a heavy carb day but if you're under, rest assured it is occurring without your observation on the scale.

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