carbs

You don't really have to stay away from carbs or any foods to lose weight but if your looking to cut back then cut back on the ones in ultra processed foods.

Agree with the above, but will add the flip side: Some people find that certain (so called) carbs spike their appetite, making it hard to stick with calorie goal. Often, those "carbs" are things with some sugar that actually get most of their (high) calories from fat, such as candy bars, chocolates, baked goods, sweet coffee drinks with full-fat milk and whipped cream, etc. For some, even high-sugar things (low/no fat) have that appetite-spiking effect - things like sugar soda/pop, some sugary (but lower fat) coffee drinks, or mostly-sugar candies.

If you find that that's true for you, consider cutting those down or out as needed in order to succeed.

For many of us (including me), reducing calories was a matter of looking at logged days and thinking about which foods weren't important enough to justify their calorie "cost". Importance might be nutrition, satiety, or just general happiness. But, if higher calorie and low importance to you personal, reduce or eliminate those foods.

For me, things I think of as "filler carbs" were part of those easy, pretty-painless cuts. For me, some specific cases were breads/rolls, wheat pasta, rice. (I didn't stop eating them, just resized portions or reduced frequency.)

Just as an aside, many people find it pretty easy to cut some fats. Fats are more calorie-dense than carbs, and also the simplest (biochemically speaking) for our bodies to store as fat (though that won't happen in an overall calorie deficit). Fats have 9 calories per gram, carbs and protein have 4 calories per gram, alcohol (which isn't any of the other macros) has 7 calories per gram.

For me, the frequency of eating fried foods, and the amount of oil I used if frying, were super easy things to reduce, saving a bundle of calories. YMMV.

Fats (and protein) are an "essential nutrient" in the technical sense that our bodies can't manufacture some of their components out of anything else, so we need to eat some. But many - maybe most - typical people are eating substantially more fats than the amount essential for good nutrition.

Carbs are not an "essential nutrient" in that sense, so more flexible . . . but they're also not the demonic influence some of the nonsense in the blogosphere would have you believe. Some of the less processed foods that people above might recommend are relatively high in carbs, such as beans, corn, some dairy foods, sweet potatoes, fruit, etc. But those are quite nutrient-dense, and tend to be filling.

serpentegena wrote: »

I mean, you mentioned in another thread that you eat keto cereal I think?among other things. I am trying to understand if you're doing a keto diet or a calorie restricted one with balanced nutrition, because the two don't necessarily go together.

The keto diet, similar to the old Atkins-branded one, is a low carb diet. But what it doesn't have in carbs has to come from other macro groups. The Atkins diet is low-carb, but also high-fat, for lack of a better word. The amount of fat you eat when on a ketogenic diet is way too high from a nutritional standpoint. Also, the keto diets don't count calories to my knowledge. The science of it is vague for me as I haven't looked at it for like 15-16 years, but a CICO diet and a keto diet aren't compatible in process and food content. And just because it says "keto" on something doesn't mean it's automatically good for you or healthy in any way, it just means it aligns with a certain intention and food plan.

In conclusion, the other posts have said it, but I'll reiterate that over-processed carbs that are typically found in commercial bagged snacks, candy and desserts are the ones you'd want to avoid, not only on a diet, but in general - because they are destructive in many ways, not just for your waistline but for a risk of diabetes, tooth disease and dopamine imbalances that lead to cravings among other things.

I'll disagree with some of this but only because I used to follow Atkins and also used MFP to count calories along with carbs. It worked very, very well for me but likely because it kept me away from sugar and made me more mindful of what I was eating since I had to be deliberate about it. I got the vast majority of my carbs from vegetables and the rest of my calories from protein and fat. My cholesterol and triglycerides stayed low and I dropped 20 pounds and 10% body fat while I ran and did strength training on alternating days. It was sustainable and worked very well. I only stopped because it drove my husband crazy that I wouldn't eat the things he was eating and I was able to maintain without it.

I will agree, however, that because something is labeled "keto" doesn't necessarily mean it's good for you. In fact, I view the whole concept of "caveman eating" with a very, very skeptical eye. Most of the stuff marketed that way is just as processed as anything else.

CICO diet is cals in and out. Many think KETO doesn’t require a deficit, only that there’s an absence of carbs.

It’s the “I don’t need to worry about calories because I do KETO” mentality

Calories in and out is just an energy balance - not really a "diet." You can eat anything while losing weight, maintaining weight, gaining weight, all due to CICO.

OP, there aren't any carbs that are specifically off limits in a caloric deficit. Other folks have weighed in (pardon the pun) on more satiating carbs vs. the "highly palatable" kind (and, oh, aren't they lovely...I still eat all of them, but definitely less. I can't foresee a life without cookies, cake, ice cream, French baguettes, jumbo warm sourdough pretzels, apple or chocolate silk pie, okay I'll stop.)