High carb diet
Chic_geek31
Posts: 34 Member
I’ve been eating a lot of carbs while dieting. 150-200 a day. I am eating at a 500 calorie deficit. Will eating so many carbs hinder my weight loss? I know people say a calorie is a calorie and it doesn’t matter as long as I’m not over eating but I also hear so much talk about not eating a lot of carbs because they turn into sugar and become fat. So confused!
3
Replies
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I ate carbs around that level while losing 50+ pounds in less than a year, and 250g+ most days for 5+ years of maintaining a healthy weight since. Carbs are not universal weight loss doom.
Some people have medical conditions that require limiting them (such as diabetes). Some people feel more satiated on low carb diets. Other than that sort of thing, there's no essential need to limit carbs for weight loss.
Well rounded nutrition is important for health, though, so if someone eats so many carbs that they don't get enough protein or fats (both of which are essential nutrients), that would be a suboptimal plan for health, even if weight loss went fine.15 -
It won't affect your weight loss at all. If you do any kind of sports of athletics it'll probably make you faster.7
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Based on my own experience, which is losing 60+ lbs while eating 175-250 gr of carbs daily, it did not hinder weight loss. It won't hinder most people.
Exceptions being medical issues or people who have trouble controlling their appetite and staying within their calorie goal when eating at that level of carbs.5 -
I concur. I love my carbs, never felt like skipping them.
What I will do however is when eating out is skipping the pasta, bread or fries as it is the easiest way to reduce calories at a moment when your are not in control of what is served to you. But otherwise, bring on the carbs !5 -
150-200 g carbs daily isn’t a lot. I’m a diabetic who controls my blood glucose through exercise and diet, and I try never to eat below 150 g net carbs daily, because I feel better and have more regular blood sugar at this level. My a1c has been consistently below 5 while never going below 150.
As long as the carbs you eat are leaving enough room for protein to maintain your muscles, and you are getting sufficient healthy fat to function, eat whatever makes you satisfied. If your current diet leaves you with constant cravings, try different macros, but don’t fix what isn’t broken.
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Your body needs energy to function. Calories are simply the units of energy and nothing more. If you eat at a deficit you give your body less energy than it needs, and hence the energy is taken from stores: body fat, and to some extend muscles. Energy in your body is constantly in flux. It doesn't matter when you eat or what: your body constantly needs energy and takes it from where it's available, and keeps it for later when at a surplus. Hey, every meal gets you into a temporary surplus, and ever time inbetween into the negative.
So when you eat more carbs then your body doesn't think: "hmm.. there's carbs. I need energy, but I also need to store carbs as fat. So I think I'll do with less energy now and store them as fat" That just doesn't make sense. If you exaggerate this a bit: eat 100% carbs and you would starve because they get stored as fat instead.
Basically: eat what you like and what keeps you full, happy and on track.5 -
That's simply not a lot of carbs.
And carbs very, very rarely turn to fat.
Remember that without a calorie surplus there's no excess energy to be stored as body fat.
Even with a calorie surplus your body will preferentially store dietary fat as body fat rather than the inefficient conversion of carbs to fat.
Don't get confused by bad science!10 -
It’s funny because I used to think that too and I tortured myself to endure low carb diets because I have pcos. I was always tired and I felt miserable and it triggered me to binge. Well turns out I didn’t need to do that because I function really well on 200-250g of carbs per day. In fact, I’ve decided that it’s better for me to drop some fat because I don’t find it satiating (except for avocados) especially oils and butter. Eg, Instead of using 12-15g of butter I’m going to use 5g. And don’t forget that carbs are a big source of fibre too- lentils, beans, whole grains, fruit and veg. We need these for optimal health.11
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theyre not instafat gainers no. they just get bad raps bc ppl tend to over do it on simple carbs i.e. sugar cereal white carbs and baked goods....
i focus more on total calories and less on macros. but everyone has diff goals..i knoweven when i eat whole meal bread and museli i feel a bit sluggish than if i eat raw meats or fishes. or fruit. i wouldnt worry about good carbs tho1 -
That's not a lot of carbs. I eat more than that pretty daily and still lost over 40lbs
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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50kg down here and I've never limited carbs (or anything else apart from calories). I average 300g carbs a day. I'm leaner and in the best health I've ever been in my adult life.6
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What everyone else PLUS....
Please also remember that there is a difference between refined and unrefined carbs.
Refined carbs have little fiber and little nutritional value. They are kinda like empty calories. I chose to eat a donut last week. I eat unrefined carbs, but in limited amounts.
Unrefined carbs have some protein, plus fiber, vitamins, and minerals. They have all the good stuff we want when we eat. Unrefined carbs are cooked at home but minimally processed before purchase.
This is the whole foods approach. Or as Michael Pollan says: Eat real food, mostly plants. Not too much.
(I paraphrased this quote)7 -
NO. is the simple answer. calories are calories. if you are in a deficit youll lose fat. From a health standpoint then i would recommend making sure you get a balance of all three. If you perform resistence training then i would recommend that you consume more protien than the average person e.g around 1gram per 1lbs of lean body mass.
Carbs are awesome and your friend. so is fat. I would argue that the people who lose weight and keep it off eat a balanced diet. focus on - calories, then protein and then the rest.3 -
an unrefined carb calorie has the same calorie as the refined carb calorie
yup, calories are calories.6 -
I just ate cake instead of dinner (IT FIT IN MY CALORIES). You'll be fine.13
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wunderkindking wrote: »I just ate cake instead of dinner (IT FIT IN MY CALORIES). You'll be fine.
Cake? Which one? I’ve done that with Apple pie. You know, once in awhile dessert happens.5 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »wunderkindking wrote: »I just ate cake instead of dinner (IT FIT IN MY CALORIES). You'll be fine.
Cake? Which one? I’ve done that with Apple pie. You know, once in awhile dessert happens.
Yep, it definitely does happen and it is good. It was this super good black forest cake from a local place. Well, well, worth it. No regrets at ALL.6 -
As others have said, carbs are not the enemy. But saying that, they can be problematic.
Carbs are found in carrots, pineapple, quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and bran cereal. There are also carbs in bagels, cookies, potato chips, Little Debbie Cakes, and Fruit Loops cereal. Both lists are carbs. Carbs give quick energy, but fade quickly. What can happen is a "carb crash"--you lose energy and get hungry within a short span of time. Refined carbs exaggerate this the most.
In my experience, protein-rich foods (while lowering refined carbs) was a big key to my weight loss. Protein rich foods kept me satiated longer, as well as avoiding energy crashes which tended to leave me wanting more carbs.3 -
Chic_geek31 wrote: »I’ve been eating a lot of carbs while dieting. 150-200 a day. I am eating at a 500 calorie deficit. Will eating so many carbs hinder my weight loss? I know people say a calorie is a calorie and it doesn’t matter as long as I’m not over eating but I also hear so much talk about not eating a lot of carbs because they turn into sugar and become fat. So confused!
Calories (energy) in excess of what your body requires is stored as fat (stored energy)...not anyone particular macro-nutrient.
Low carb diets work for many people for a couple of reasons; 1) when you substantially restrict one of the three macro-nutrients available to you, most likely, you're also going to substantially restrict calories; and 2) carbohydrates carry water, so when you cut out carbohydrates you also typically see a big initial drop on the scale which can be motivating...but it's mostly water weight, not fat. Another thing to consider is that when you're done dieting and start to eat carbohydrates again, your scale weight can jump substantially...again, due to water.
Low carb diets also come with some potential pitfalls. It is not particularly unusual for low carb dieters to be low in fiber, even if they're eating quite a bit of veg and some fruit because the biggest bang for your buck fiber wise are carbohydrates like whole grains, oats, legumes and lentils, root vegetables, etc...usually big no-noes on a low carb diet. Carbohydrates in general, also make up the bulk of other micro-nutrients like vitamins and minerals...if one is eating a good amount of veg and fruit, not really too much of an issue, but there are plenty of people like my late father who would go on his low carb kicks and it was eggs and bacon and steak and burgers all day, everyday.
Cutting back on carbs also typically would result in cutting back on things typically referred to as "junk food"...your cakes and cookies and whatnot most of which ironically have a higher percentage of calories coming from fat than carbohydrates...but they are calorie dense and so again, a big chunk of calories is cut.3 -
I've lost 20 pounds since Jan 2 while eating over 200 grams of carbs most days, and sometimes well over 200 g.
However, *I* would not have been able to do that if most of those carbs came from foods like baked goods, ice cream, and pizza, because while I find those foods yummy, they are not very satiating to me.
Getting my carbs from fruits, veggies, potatoes, rice, legumes, etc., helps keep me full and thus able to maintain a calorie deficit.1
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