Carbohydrates: Gaining Weight

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I’m using MFP few days now and regularly tracking my calories.
I’m always staying on or a bit under the proposed amount of fat and protein. But I always have a lot more carbohydrates than I should according to MFP. Today I have 96 gramm over. Is this okay? Can carbohydrates affect my weight gaining in a bad way?
Maybe a stupid question to most of you, but I’m just starting with all of this and I’m confused a lot...
Thanks, DoublePisces019

Replies

  • vollkornbloedchen
    vollkornbloedchen Posts: 2,243 Member
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    Just to make sure:
    Are you trying to lose, or to gain weight?
  • DoublePisces019
    DoublePisces019 Posts: 7 Member
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    Age: 26 (F)
    W: 45 kg (around 100 lbs)
    H: 166 cm (I think 5’5)

    MFP:
    Carbs: 50% (279g)
    Protein: 20% (112g)
    Fat: 30% (74g)

    I’m focused on hitting those Protein and Fat procentage, but in Carbs I’m always way over.
  • DoublePisces019
    DoublePisces019 Posts: 7 Member
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    Just to make sure:
    Are you trying to lose, or to gain weight?

    To gain weight.
  • vollkornbloedchen
    vollkornbloedchen Posts: 2,243 Member
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    Just to make sure:
    Are you trying to lose, or to gain weight?

    To gain weight.

    Next question(s):
    Is it a "general" gain you are trying to achieve, or is there a "body-shaping" program behind it?
    How did you determine the macro percentage?
    To see what, if anything at all, goes wrong, could you set your food- and workout- diary to public (temporarily only!)?
  • neugebauer52
    neugebauer52 Posts: 1,120 Member
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    I don't think that MFP is prescribing the macros percentages to members. We need to find our own percentages, macros we are happy with and can live with long term. I am now with MFP for over a year and started with carbs/fat/protein 20% / 40% / 40% and over time changed to just about equal parts: 33% / 33% / 33%. I have also noticed macros changes according to season: Spring / summer higher carbs, mainly from fruit and vegetables, winter more fat / protein.
  • DoublePisces019
    DoublePisces019 Posts: 7 Member
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    Just to make sure:
    Are you trying to lose, or to gain weight?

    To gain weight.

    Next question(s):
    Is it a "general" gain you are trying to achieve, or is there a "body-shaping" program behind it?
    How did you determine the macro percentage?
    To see what, if anything at all, goes wrong, could you set your food- and workout- diary to public (temporarily only!)?

    I still didn’t started with working out. I’m very skinny, with fast metabolism, currently 45 kg. I can’t make a muscle from the bones, you know what I mean, so I wanna reach 50 kg and than start working out. I need some more weight to be able to work with it.
    As I said, I’m using MFP just few days now and I don’t have a lot of knowledge about the calories, carbs, fat, protein, etc. So for now I’ll just stick with it, and later maybe switch or something.

    Now to go back to my question: would Carbs do anything bad if I eat more than “I should” while trying to gain weight?
    Is it bad that I have -+ 100 gramm Carbs more?


  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    edited April 2019
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    RovP6 wrote: »
    The thing about Carbs is that they're what's called a Protein sparing macro. Lots of studies have shown that Carbs can have a positive affect on muscle protein synthesis ie help with the absorption of Protein. Have you set your Protein level at you goal weight? ie if you currently weigh 140 lbs and your goal is to get to 150 then you would set your Protein at 150g. Fats should then be around 25-30% of total calorie intake and the rest is Carbs. Or you could take a more flexible approach and simply track total calories and Protein, leaving you to vary the amount of Fats and Carbs you get on a daily basis. Just make sure you give your body a chance to respond to any changes and see how it goes. Remember, do what works for you.

    That much protein is excessive as a target, esp in a surplus.

    All you need is 0.8 grams per lb of lean body mass or of goal weight, to build and maintain muscle. so if she at 100 lbs has looking to get to 110, then she should aim for 88 as a minimum, but more is not going to have a negative impact.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    I’m using MFP few days now and regularly tracking my calories.
    I’m always staying on or a bit under the proposed amount of fat and protein. But I always have a lot more carbohydrates than I should according to MFP. Today I have 96 gramm over. Is this okay? Can carbohydrates affect my weight gaining in a bad way?
    Maybe a stupid question to most of you, but I’m just starting with all of this and I’m confused a lot...
    Thanks, DoublePisces019

    Macros don't affect if you gain weight or what sort of weight you gain. Unless you are a professional athlete of some kind already in amazing shape and looking to get very specific laser-focused results, micro-managing your macros is unnecessary IMHO.

    Calories determine weight loss/maintenance/gain.
    Your training (and to some extent the size of your surplus) will determine muscle/fat gain.
    Macros are for satiety and adherence. Plus, you need enough protein for muscle synthesis and enough carbs for energy. I will let folks more experienced in gaining go into detail on that if necessary.

    :drinker:
  • preciousleks
    preciousleks Posts: 213 Member
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    At this point you don't have to choose the food you eat. Eat everything called food. Eat more and drink fruit juices, milk and eggs and avocados. Don't focus on carbohydrates, fat or protein. Just eat
  • wheatbaby84
    wheatbaby84 Posts: 46 Member
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    Just eat! I was having that same problem! I intake an avg of 2700 calories daily. Pasta, bread, protein, eat everything lol