Is it necessary to eat fewer carbs in order to lose weight?
I'm using DailyBurn.com as my guide/tracking system for losing weight and I always seem to hit my recommended carb limit for the day really easily. I really like eating rice, pasta and bread.
To put this into perspective, I'm hitting my carb limit whilst still at half of the limit for calories, fat, etc. I don't really want to give up eating things I like that aren't at all unhealthy (like rice and pasta) in order to lose weight. Am I going to have problems losing weight if I carry on eating like this? i.e. eating low calorie, low fat food that is high in carbs.
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Keep in mind that appetite matters, especially when trying to lose weight. In my experience, carb heavy foods are very bad at appetite suppression. Case in point the "hungry an hour later" effect of Chinese food. That is one of the chief reasons that low carb diets work. I could easily eat 800 calories of bread and still be a a little hungry. 800 calories of chicken? Forget it, I want nothing to do with food for a while.
If you're looking for a diet that is easy and works, I'd suggest the Ketogenic diet. It's easy to stick with and does the job. Very healthy too.
Also, regarding rice and pasta not being unhealthy, I think you should re-think that. A study recently found that potatoes are the most fattening food: www.drweil.com/drw/u/WBL02253/Potatoes-The-Most-Fattening-Food.html (I think he links the study in that article). In terms of Glycemic Index, rice and pasta are right next to potatoes.
You should learn more about Glycemic Index and leptin levels, that will help you lose weight.
How many grams of carbs does this diet suggest you take in?
You do not have to have a low carb diet to lose weight, but you do have to have low calories.
The reason so many diets do not suggest breads and pastas is because they are very calorie dense. You're probably going to have to cut back your portions or increase your activity level.
Don't expect to be able to take in more than 30 to 50 grams of carbs per meal unless you're involved in an endurance sport.
Update:
So, if you're eating 200g carbs/day, that's about 800 calories, so over half of your calories are from carbs That's okay as long as you're continuing to lose weight. You're calories are not overly restrictive, but they are low. You might reach a plateau on such low calories, and when you do, you will have 2 choices.
First, you can continue to cut your calories lower which I would not suggest. You will probably reach a plateau because of slowed metabolism over time. Cutting your calories lower still may allow you to lose more weight immediately, but it will contribute further to a slowed metabolism.
The second option would be to change the distribution of your calories. This is what I would suggest. What you aren't going to like, is that you might have to severely restrict your carbs for a few weeks in order to trick your body into starting to drop weight again. Hopefully, you would be able to keep your calories the same and continue to lose weight this way. Then, you can switch back to the higher carb diet once the ball gets rolling again.
Short answer
It is NOT necessary to eat less carbs to lose weight.
Scientific answer
Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you take in. The body can take calories from the following food sources:
Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories
It can also break down body fat and muscle when there's no more food in your gastrointestinal tract. The rate at which this occurs is not as simple as counting grams of food, so I won't go there.
The body uses those calories for maintaining these functions:
5% - building muscle
20% - exercise
25% - brain
50% - basal metabolism
As long as the sum of all the grams of food you eat multiplied by their respective caloric value is less than the calories you expend, weight loss will occur. Take this oversimplified example of a typical day: I eat 50g of carbs and 10g of fat. And lets say I sat in some scientific chamber to measure heat generated by calorie usage and determined that I expended 300 calories.
CaloriesIn = 50 * 4 + 10 * 9 = 290
CaloriesExpended = 300
Net = 290 - 300 = -10
Where can the body get this 10 calories it needs to survive? My food has been depleted, so I'll go into my blubber to burn those 10 calories. And there you have it: body fat is lost.
Now let's say you wanted to go on a low carb diet. Since I'm not eating my pasta and bread, I'm going to satiate my stomach with extra fat. In this example, I will eat 30g of fat and 5g of carbs. I will also carry out my day as usual by expending 300 calories.
CaloriesIn = 5 * 4 + 30 * 9 = 290
CaloresExpended = 300
Net = 290 - 300 = -10
I still have a negative net value, meaning I will lose weight. You see, no matter if it's a low or high carb diet, it is still possible to lose weight.
Practical answer
Why do we hear about these low carb diets like the Atkins diet? It's just a matter of preference. People on low carb diets may not like eating bread, pasta, and rice. They much rather eat fats like cake, fatty meats, and ice-cream. All they've done is shifted the caloric intake from carbs to fats. There's no magic here.
Another reason for sticking to low carb diets is because fat is very hard to burn. If fat from your food is not burned, it will be deposited as body fat. During cardiovascular exercise, the body more readily burns carbs. It burns very little food fat. As the cardio progresses, the ratio energy consumption shifts towards fat. After an hour of steady cardio, the ratio of carb to fat usage can be as much as 50:50. Thus, people who don't have time to do hours of cardio should eat less carbs. Well, you should eat less of everything in general, but the proportion of carbs should be lower. This way, the body will be forced to burn the food fat as soon as whatever little amount of carbs you have is depleted.
As said above by many if you cut carbs and eat primal you tend to lose weight, feel happier and eat more nutrients. Why if a calorie is a calorie? Because good fat and protein are what we are designed to eat and they fill us up and do not spike blood sugar in the way carbs do. For those of us who have also been sugar addicts be careful of fruit too. Whilst it is heaps better for you than sweets and junk food you can over eat it to get the blood sugar hit adn it has a lot of carb so keep it for the occasions as our ancestors would have done when they came across it in season in a forest rather than having it many times a day.
There is so much that is good for you in fresh fish and meat and eggs than you find in rice or bread.
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