Can you eat a lot of carbs and still lose weight?

lucky2702
lucky2702 Posts: 23 Member
edited December 22 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm on day 9 of my diet. So far i've stopped all sweet food, no sodas, no juices, hardly any milk, all i've been drinking is: water, green tea, coffee. no take outs, no fatty foods.. I haven't been going over my calories or anything like that. The thing i've been struggling with most is carbs. I can't seem to give up breads, pasta, rice etc... I eat a lot of carbs and a lot of food high in carbs. I don't know how to stop. Can I still eat carbs and lose weight?
Any advice?
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Replies

  • Pipsqueak1965
    Pipsqueak1965 Posts: 397 Member
    I love starchy carbs too - bread, rice, pasta - they are all fine in moderation!
  • neyagoal
    neyagoal Posts: 65 Member
    Definitely u can, as long as u stay under ur calorie deficit.. And limiting urself in food choice will just backfire, I would advise you to not ever go that way, it s simply not sustainable on long run.. Yes, it's great that u choose healthier food and drinks for ur diet but as long as u don't make changes that u can stick to and make it part of ur lifestyle u could end up in magical circle of weight drop and gain full of frustration
  • tlpina82
    tlpina82 Posts: 229 Member
    lucky2702 wrote: »
    I'm on day 9 of my diet. So far i've stopped all sweet food, no sodas, no juices, hardly any milk, all i've been drinking is: water, green tea, coffee. no take outs, no fatty foods.. I haven't been going over my calories or anything like that. The thing i've been struggling with most is carbs. I can't seem to give up breads, pasta, rice etc... I eat a lot of carbs and a lot of food high in carbs. I don't know how to stop. Can I still eat carbs and lose weight?
    Any advice?

    No problem there, thou i am not a fan of cutting out a macro nutrient. (Fatty foods are ok too)

    When people ask me if they can lose weight while eating carbs, i always respond with an example.
    Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate nothing but twinkies for 10 straight weeks, stayed under his calorie maintenance threshold and lost 27lbs.
    (Don't do what he did BTW)

    But this is just an example of why what you eat doesn't matter for weight loss.

    It matters, however, for health.
    It also matters for curbing addiction.

    So, if you really have a problem with processed carbs (thou rice would not really be part here), I would cut it out.
    But if you can manage it and stay under your calorie count, you should be fine.

    (BTW - I eat rice, beans, lentils and other cereals and legumes everyday - Either cutting or bulking. It doesn't matter)


  • shaf238
    shaf238 Posts: 4,022 Member
    As others have said, it comes down to calories in vs calories out. As long as you're in a deficit, you will lose weight, no matter what you eat. For health reasons of course, it is recommended that you eat a variety of foods (including carbs!) and fruit & veg. You have to ask yourself if the diet plan your on is really sustainable in the long term, especially given the foods you've cut out. If you're happy to continue like that, more power to you. But as you mentioned, carbs are struggle and what I'm saying is there is no reason for you to miss out on any foods you like. Just get your portions under control and stay in a calorie deficit and you can pretty much eat what you like.
  • lalalacroix
    lalalacroix Posts: 834 Member
    I eat 3-4 servings of grains per day along with beans/legumes, veggies and fruit. Tons of carbs actually. And for me this has been the easiest and most sustainable way to lose weight.

    Losing weight is about calories and as long as you stay in a deficit you will lose weight regardless of what you consume.
  • littlegreenparrot1
    littlegreenparrot1 Posts: 702 Member
    Different types of grains, rice, bread, porridge, all the fruit and veg.

    I'm always a little bit baffled by this, I don't even know what I would eat if I wasn't eating carbs.

    The total amount is what is important, exactly how you cut that between different things is up to you.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I carb loaded Thurs/Fri/Sat (plenty of rice, pasta and potatoes plus fruit, veg and cereal) and on Sunday drank 60g of glucose/fructose mix and ate a 90 calorie malt loaf bar every hour for six hours. For dinner I had a huge plate of homemade lasagna.

    Yep - I've lost weight.

    Don't stop eating the foods you love, just stop eating an excessive amount of them.
  • StatChicBayes
    StatChicBayes Posts: 362 Member
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    Yes, you can eat carbs and lose weight. You can also eat fatty foods and lose weight. You can even eat sodas and sweets and lose weight.

    And I would strongly advise that you do, because unless you intend to eat your current limited diet for the entire rest of your life you're going to have to learn how to eat all those things in moderation or you'll put back on anything you lose the moment you stop 'dieting'.

    Make the changes you can live with, and keep your calories within limits. That's all you need to do.

    ^^^^

    Yes you can!!! I have tried low calorie diets that included an apple a day, to Atkins, where apples (at least in the early stages) were taboo. In both cases diet combined with exercise (I can't create enough of a deficit through food alone given my height) led to a calorie deficit and I lost weight. Only problem was that the weight came back because I could not stick to their maintenance plans.

    I don't like sweets, but do like pasta, pizza, tortilla chips, rice, and bread on occasion, so this time around I am incorporating all of them in moderation as long as they are in my calorie budget - mainly this has involved portion control (weighing pasta, trying to limit myself to one serving of tortilla chips, or eating less pizza but adding a big salad) - hopefully I can maintain long term. It has taken some time to overcome my Atkins carb phobia, but I really am enjoying eating more or less what I want and losing weight. Since I was pre-diabetic (will see if that has changed in a couple of weeks) I did need to eat lower carb (but around 37%) with plenty of healthy fats and protein, but even that level allowed me to enjoy my favorite foods in moderation. Finally, don't worry about hitting a certain macro percentage if you are getting plenty of healthy foods and staying within your calorie budget!
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
    Absolutely. Weight loss is all about calories in vs. calories out. You do not need to go low carb to lose weight.

    That being said, a good macro balance is important for overall health and muscle retention (protein) so if you are eating so many carbs that you are neglecting fats and proteins, that could be something that may be beneficial for you to change. But you can still have a lot of carbs. 50-60% of calories from carbs would be no problem. Much more than that and you might start crowding out other important macro nutrients.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    I appreciate a well balanced diet. Of course, that means including carbs.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited August 2019
    [Edit: oh, MikePTY said this already -- what he said!]

    Sure you can.

    I would recommend thinking about balance, though (not saying you aren't, you may well already be doing this).

    What I mean by this is eating sufficient protein, some healthy fats, and making sure you have some of your carbs from veg and fruit and other foods that provide fiber. If you do this, you may not feel like you are "struggling" with sticking to a reasonable carb or cal amount.

    That said, you seem to think that you SHOULD cut out carbs, even if you aren't having issues with your calories, and that's just trendy bad advice that's all too common. There's nothing wrong with starchy carbs so long as they don't take up such a big share of your diet that you don't get enough of the other foods you need (and the same thing goes for most foods that people call "bad").
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,024 Member
    yes you can but I keep my carbs on the lower side of things because of pre-diabetic diagnosis but still enough to keep me satisfied. I cut them very low when I first started, but now things are a bit more balanced with fat and proteins. I keep carbs around 125-150 g , net after fiber
  • TrishSeren
    TrishSeren Posts: 587 Member
    It comes down to CICO but also, you don't need to cut out all the things you've listed. You'll have more success long term if you work those things into your diet whilst maintaining a deficit.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    Not only is it fine, but some people need them for their lifestyle. I love bread, white bread in particular, I won't give it up. If I don't have some starchy carbs my energy suffers and I won't get my workouts done.
  • ThatJuJitsuWoman
    ThatJuJitsuWoman Posts: 155 Member
    I feel incredibly hungry without carbs. Using mfp is the only thing that has ever worked for me to lose weight, and I’m pretty sure it’s because I can have all the foods that I love, but in more sensible portions than I was eating before.
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    I just lost a bit of weight while on holiday in France while still eating chocolate croissants, burgers, pizza, whatever the hell I wanted. Because I was walking a lot, I had more calories to play with, so it was easier to fit those things into near maintenance calories.
  • ethantelfer39
    ethantelfer39 Posts: 34 Member
    Caloric deficit= weight loss.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    yes. Next question?
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    Yes, and French Fries are my Patronus.
  • sam33a
    sam33a Posts: 31 Member
    I have far too many carbs and nowhere near enough protein. I've tried limiting my carbs, especially bread, but I just don't last very long. I don't think I could cut them out long term, I'd just end up binge eating all the stuff I've stopped having. I stick to my calories and I know I can lose weight doing that. Too many rules just make things difficult.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    Short answer, yes.
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