Car-bo-hy-drate.

I don't limit them, but I do try to choose them wisely. 'white carbs' (processed sugars and flour) get stored as fat- so they say. so I try to choose better carbs, in case 'they' are correct.

I limit carbs because foods with carbs generally have a lot of calories too, and they don't really fill me up. But I'm not a super low carb person or anything. 40% of my intake is carbs.

This actually isn't the case. Veggies are carbs...good ones. It depends on where your carbs are coming from. Refined sugars and simple carbs = bad, whole grains, veggies, brown rice = good carbs.

Edit to add that what I meant by this actually isnt the case is that foods with carbs are not generally higher in calories if you are eating the right kind of carbs!

I eat a LOT of carbs. I do endurance runs so I need my carbs. Without them I'd probably collapse after two miles. I don't eat very much fat however. It just so happens that I'm not into red meat or sweets and dairy bothers my stomach and those are the biggest culprit for fat. I know people say that those who do low carb can't do low fat, and people who do low fat can't do low carb. IDK if that's true but I eat plenty of carbs and have still lost weight! And the days I haven't eaten some form of carbs for breakfast or lunch I get really tired quickly when I go to run so they really are needed to fuel your body for running especially.

That and protein. Protein is key in any diet.

I eat a LOT of carbs. I do endurance runs so I need my carbs. Without them I'd probably collapse after two miles. I don't eat very much fat however. It just so happens that I'm not into red meat or sweets and dairy bothers my stomach and those are the biggest culprit for fat. I know people say that those who do low carb can't do low fat, and people who do low fat can't do low carb. IDK if that's true but I eat plenty of carbs and have still lost weight! And the days I haven't eaten some form of carbs for breakfast or lunch I get really tired quickly when I go to run so they really are needed to fuel your body for running especially.

That and protein. Protein is key in any diet.

Actually, endurance exercise is not hurt in the slightest by being low carb as long as you have sufficient fat reserves/intake to fuel your body through the exercise. I've actually run across some interesting results showing that being in a state of nutritional ketosis is actually better for endurance exercise than in a carb fed state because your body is already out of glycogen when you start exercising so it has no choice but to run on fat stores. Most endurance athletes deplete their muscle glycogen stores within about 2 hours of work (hitting the wall), but if you start without those reserves you can go much longer before you run out of fuel since your body stores much much more energy in fat than it does in glycogen. Ketosis does hurt your maximum power output, so it's not ideal for sprinters or powerlifters for example, but it seems to be either neutral or a small net positive for endurance sports.

Here's an interview with Peter Attia (his blog is migrating to a new server so it's inaccessible right now, but I'll link to it anyway for future reference): http://asweetlife.org/a-sweet-life-staff/featured/the-ketogenic-diet-and-peter-attias-war-on-insulin/24184/

Dr. Attia's Blog post on the interplay of ketosis and exercise:
http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-interplay-of-exercise-and-ketosis-part-i

With all due respect, your info on burning fat instead of carbs for glycogen replacement is just plain wrong. Fat is not a substitute for glycogen for endurance or other higher intensity activities.

well if youre mainly eating veggies and protein youll lose faster, not to mention its wayyy healthier. that being said when i was in college i got to my lowest weight and i ate a big piece of cake every single day. along with pizza, cereal and other carb filled college foods lol. i was just so busy that i didnt eat but one slice of pizza where now i can have 3 or 4..huge diff. you can still enjoy food you just have to think what got you unhappy with your weight in the first place..probably not carbs but simply eating too many. i def love carbs tho! goodluck be gentle with yourself too, do whats good for you.

You won't lose faster just because there are fewer carbs in your diet. You lose because you are eating fewer calories. Your explanation of your weight in college pretty much sums it up - you didn't eat as much, so you lost weight.

Some people like low carb. Some people are successful on it. But carbs are not the magic key to weight loss (unless you have a medical condition that would make carb intake a problem).

Carbs are fuel. You want to train to run a 10k? Carbs can help you do that. A lot of runners eat carbs before long runs so they have energy. There are whole articles devoted to it in running magazines.

I personally eat carbs - pizza, rice, bread, bagels, fruit, veggies, etc. I'm still losing weight - simply because I have a calorie deficit.

With all due respect, your info on burning fat instead of carbs for glycogen replacement is just plain wrong. Fat is not a substitute for glycogen for endurance or other higher intensity activities.

so when glycogen stores are depleted does the marathon runner just sit down? or does he have enough stored glycogen to run the entire 26 miles?

With all due respect, your info on burning fat instead of carbs for glycogen replacement is just plain wrong. Fat is not a substitute for glycogen for endurance or other higher intensity activities. Anyone who thinks it is should try it and see how you feel after the first mile or so.