Carbs are everywhere!

[NYNessie]

I really would appreciate any help you all can give me. I have been watching my macro nutrients for the past two weeks, (brand spankin" new at this) and am trying to adjust my food intake and change my usual choices and habits to a more protein rich diet and lower carbs. But what I am finding is that carbs are everywhere! Can you give me some ideas of food choices that would up the protein in my diet and not the carbs. I am eating eggs and two slices of bacon i the am...or a protein shake. mid morning it is a protein bar or a Chobani yogurt, perhaps a cheese stick. Lunch is chicken strips ( I work full time and often have to pick up lunch out) and salad...or a bean burritto. Mid after noon snack it's almonds or a hard boiled egg. Dinner is lean meat or fish and veggies and a lite beer, or glass of wine. This is a sampling to show you, and overall I think I am on the right track...but my carbs still oftn outweigh my protein. any suggestions?

[mandimeoutof10]

toasted roll bread is low in carbs

[Kemo1990]

toasted roll bread is low in carbs

bruh...are we posting in a roll bread?
also carbs will not kill you...dare i say some carbs are actually good for you

[Miranda]

why do you think your protein intake should necessarily be higher than your carb intake?

read this: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=121703921 it should clear up some of your confusion.

[NYNessie]

Okay this is from the sticky..

Carbs: Important for athletes, HIGHLY ACTIVE individuals, or those trying to GAIN MASS, carbs help with workout intensity, health, & satiety (+ sanity).
For carbs there are no specific 'requirements' for your body so for 'general folk' to calculate your carbs you just calculate it from the calories left over from fats/ protein:
carb calories = Total calorie needs - ([protein grams as above x 4] + [fat grams as above x 9])
carbs in grams = above total/ 4

I guess I thought the carbs should be less from the above statement the "to calculate your carbs you calculate it from the calories left over from fats/protein:" When I did the math, I came up with these requirements.. Protein; 160 gr Fat; 64g and carbs; 125. However with the foods I eat or have available I usually come up with higher carbs in my day, rather than Proteins. For example yesterday I had a total of 179 carbs and 125 proteins. and the day before was 184 carbs and only 99 proteins.

Should I not worry so much about this..or still work on adjustments? thanks

[kimm4]

Okay this is from the sticky..

Carbs: Important for athletes, HIGHLY ACTIVE individuals, or those trying to GAIN MASS, carbs help with workout intensity, health, & satiety (+ sanity).
For carbs there are no specific 'requirements' for your body so for 'general folk' to calculate your carbs you just calculate it from the calories left over from fats/ protein:
carb calories = Total calorie needs - ([protein grams as above x 4] + [fat grams as above x 9])
carbs in grams = above total/ 4

I guess I thought the carbs should be less from the above statement the "to calculate your carbs you calculate it from the calories left over from fats/protein:" When I did the math, I came up with these requirements.. Protein; 160 gr Fat; 64g and carbs; 125. However with the foods I eat or have available I usually come up with higher carbs in my day, rather than Proteins. For example yesterday I had a total of 179 carbs and 125 proteins. and the day before was 184 carbs and only 99 proteins.

Should I not worry so much about this..or still work on adjustments? thanks

As long as you're hitting your daily calories, that's what matters most. If you're feeling good, keep going with it.

Good luck.

[catskills]

! Can you give me some ideas of food choices that would up the protein in my diet and not the carbs. ?

I know what you mean, the trick is to read the labels on everything you buy to educate yourself on the amount of carbs vs. protein in the food choices you are making. Some things realistically don't contain enough protein to be classed as proteins when compared with the other macros. For example eggs contain just as much fat as they do protein and peanut butter is mostly fat. They do sell liquid egg whites now, so you can get protein wthout adding the fat. I tend to make a lot of my meals homemade so I can control the amount of each of the macros. Sometimes by just tweaking the recipe a bit you can shift the ratio of macros in favour of protein. for example I make french toast with egg whites and a bit of sugar instead of whole eggs and maple syrop. It covers the protein, with out adding having to many carbs and fat. For takeout foods a couple of good choices are a salad with a protein, a sandwich that has a healthy amount of lunch meat on it, or a grilled chicken sandwich. I get most of my protein from cottage cheese, milk, plain greek yogurt (with tsp sugar), egg whites and meat. I include a lot of these things with every meal and find I can cover my macros.

[Miranda]

I guess I thought the carbs should be less from the above statement the "to calculate your carbs you calculate it from the calories left over from fats/protein:" When I did the math, I came up with these requirements.. Protein; 160 gr Fat; 64g and carbs; 125. However with the foods I eat or have available I usually come up with higher carbs in my day, rather than Proteins. For example yesterday I had a total of 179 carbs and 125 proteins. and the day before was 184 carbs and only 99 proteins.

i can see how it could be confusing. your protein is too high. at 5'2 163 lbs you don't need 1g protein per total bodyweight - you can eat less.

but as kimm pointed out, it doesn't really make a difference one way or other (besides taste/cost/personal preference etc.) provided your total cals are in check.

[oregonchick76]

First off you are on the right track and kudos for starting Don't be afraid of carbs, just choose the right carbs. And EAT CLEAN. Here is my inputs in regards to your eating... Look at your protein bar, how much sugar and calories are in it.. Look at the ingredients and make sure it is REAL food. Quest bars are a great option because they do not have sugar or artificial ingredients. The Chobani yogurt, if you are getting flavored ones those are extremely high in sugar content. Get the plain type and throw in some real berries. Everyone works full time and its not an excuse to not pack a lunch or make healthy options. Chicken strips and a bean burrito are not going to get you to your goal. Chicken strips are often deep fried at where ever plant they are made in, then frozen then sent out to the restaurant and deep fried again. Yuck! Bean burrito, the tortilla alone is probably about 300 calories, then add in rice and thats carb city. Your dinner is perfect! If you must drink chose wine, beer is made from wheat which is going to cause you to become bloated and gain the beer "gut", yes even the light beer.

So you work full-time and are often on the go.. One thing that works for me as I work full-time and go to school full-time is to prepare meals ahead in bulk. So on sunday get five tupperware containers and make 5 salads, then fill a smaller container or baggie with a dressing (beware of low fat dressing, it means more sugar). Tada you have lunch for a week! No excuses! The more you prepare the less you will be hungry and temped to eat the bad food.

Good carbs are fruit, veggies (minus white potatoes), whole grain options (whole wheat and whole grain are not the same, ALWAYS get whole grain.. Whole wheat is still processed and often times contains a lot of sugar), black beans.
Bad carbs, anything white and with sugar (white bread, white rice, pinto beans, candy, cakes, etc.).

If you need any advice feel free to send me a message.. I am not a doctor but I educate myself regularly as I am in school studying to be a dietitian

OMG. Is this what they teach dieticians? Eating clean is a misnomer. What matters the most is eating within your target calories and meeting your macros each day. Whether you meet those needs with pizza or grilled chicken breasts. Beer doesn't give you a beer belly unless you're drinking a huge amt of it every day. Where do you come up with this stuff? Sounds like a mail-order degree to me.

[NYNessie]

First off you are on the right track and kudos for starting Don't be afraid of carbs, just choose the right carbs. And EAT CLEAN. Here is my inputs in regards to your eating... Look at your protein bar, how much sugar and calories are in it.. Look at the ingredients and make sure it is REAL food. Quest bars are a great option because they do not have sugar or artificial ingredients. The Chobani yogurt, if you are getting flavored ones those are extremely high in sugar content. Get the plain type and throw in some real berries. Everyone works full time and its not an excuse to not pack a lunch or make healthy options. Chicken strips and a bean burrito are not going to get you to your goal. Chicken strips are often deep fried at where ever plant they are made in, then frozen then sent out to the restaurant and deep fried again. Yuck! Bean burrito, the tortilla alone is probably about 300 calories, then add in rice and thats carb city. Your dinner is perfect! If you must drink chose wine, beer is made from wheat which is going to cause you to become bloated and gain the beer "gut", yes even the light beer.

So you work full-time and are often on the go.. One thing that works for me as I work full-time and go to school full-time is to prepare meals ahead in bulk. So on sunday get five tupperware containers and make 5 salads, then fill a smaller container or baggie with a dressing (beware of low fat dressing, it means more sugar). Tada you have lunch for a week! No excuses! The more you prepare the less you will be hungry and temped to eat the bad food.

Good carbs are fruit, veggies (minus white potatoes), whole grain options (whole wheat and whole grain are not the same, ALWAYS get whole grain.. Whole wheat is still processed and often times contains a lot of sugar), black beans.
Bad carbs, anything white and with sugar (white bread, white rice, pinto beans, candy, cakes, etc.).

If you need any advice feel free to send me a message.. I am not a doctor but I educate myself regularly as I am in school studying to be a dietitian

Thank you for some very helpful tips and advice on where I can make some changes. I am still fighting the WW mentality and have to do some more "refining" of the food choices I make. Preparation and planning seem to be the key!

[geek23ka]

Likely they distinguish "healthy" from "unhealthy" choices in the field of nutrition bc nutrition is more than eating under your maintenance in order to lose weight. And then people studying nutrition will conflate their study materials on whole foods with sound advice on losing weight.

At least I think that's what's happening here.

[Echo814]

Really what is your problem? This is your second negative comment to me. You can take your rude attitude else where, if you don't like my advice then DONT READ IT. I have been nothing but nice and sure you cannot trust everything you read on the internet but really no need to start being rude to people. Yes you need to be aware of your calories you are eating and how many you are burning but for someone just getting started it can be overwhelming to give them all the calculations which is why I did not. And seriously meeting your needs with pizza? Where in the world did you learn that? If it were true that would mean if someone ate Mcdonalds and cheesecake everyday but stayed within their target calories they would lose weight.. Yeah not going to happen. Why do you think there is an obesity epidemic in America? Because of all the processed foot we eat. Now if that pizza you were talking about is made at home with whole grain crust, tomato sauced and topped with veggies and ground turkey then yes, eat the pizza.

And for your information my education is from the U.S. Army AND Oregon State University. Pretty reputable places seeing as OSU is a college accredited by the ADA...

Ok, I had to say something about this. I am going to school for my RD and eventually a masters in nutrition. No where in any of my schooling or personal research have I come to some of the conclusions that you have. How do you explain people that are underweight but eat like complete sh!t? They eat candy, pizza, burgers and all these other foods that you have labeled "Unclean" yet they are underweight. Its the amount of cals that they consume, not the type of foods they eat. Not saying these people are healthy, but they manage to stay underweight eating these types of foods because they eat less than they burn. The obesity epidemic in this country is caused by so many factors other than just processed and unclean foods. People are eating far more than they used to and don't move nearly as much, compared to even 10 years ago. There is a general lack of understanding about nutrition and yes these foods contribute to it, but personal accountability needs to be taken into account.

I know plenty of people that keep some processed or "unclean" foods in their diet, who keep a healthy weight and have no adverse effects from eating said foods. For most people, having a diet that includes these foods helps them keep on track because they don't feel deprived. I would rather have a person eat a small amount of that food and stay on track with the diet than get to strict and end up binging a month or two down the road. Studies show that people that take a more moderate approach to a life style change and include foods that they enjoy in moderate amounts have higher success rate at keeping their weight down. While it is important to keep nutrient dense foods at the top of the list, eating a piece of Dominos Pizza or gasp, a twinki every once in a while will not hurt.

[nari1208]

You can't totally avoid carbs. But, you can lessen the carb intake in your body. Some carbs are good for your body and gives you energy.
You should have a diet plan for the week..

[terracotta]

Most people get way too caught up in the numbers. When I am designing my own diet, it works like this
- Make a diet that is composed of foods I like, in the amounts I am used to
- Plug into sparkpeople.com
- Tweak it if any macronutrients are lacking. So, if my protein intake is not at least 120g, then I will increase the protein serving sizes, for example.

This is much easier than starting with the numbers, and trying to get a diet that makes them from scratch.

And personally, I love carbs. I don't think I've ever gone below 150g/day.

[nari1208]

Most people get way too caught up in the numbers. When I am designing my own diet, it works like this
- Make a diet that is composed of foods I like, in the amounts I am used to
- Plug into sparkpeople.com
- Tweak it if any macronutrients are lacking. So, if my protein intake is not at least 120g, then I will increase the protein serving sizes, for example.

This is much easier than starting with the numbers, and trying to get a diet that makes them from scratch.

And personally, I love carbs. I don't think I've ever gone below 150g/day.

woow. You're a mother of 2 and you're so fit. I like that. I hope when I have kids, I'll be fit like you. I like the way you work on with your diet. It would really help everyone too!

[cheerleader0720]

Honestly, I started out by counting my protein, fat, and carbs, and it nearly drove me insane. I've found that, if I meet my protein requirement, and stay within my calories, carbs are naturally limited (you NEED some carbs, btw.) I don't even bother counting them anymore. I don't usually count fat, either, unless I'm starting to feel very hungry or tired--then I count to make sure I get ENOUGH fat for a few days. It seems to be working for me.

[nari1208]

that's good! Just continue on working on it. You're doing great. Keep it up!

Honestly, I started out by counting my protein, fat, and carbs, and it nearly drove me insane. I've found that, if I meet my protein requirement, and stay within my calories, carbs are naturally limited (you NEED some carbs, btw.) I don't even bother counting them anymore. I don't usually count fat, either, unless I'm starting to feel very hungry or tired--then I count to make sure I get ENOUGH fat for a few days. It seems to be working for me.

[Christine2786]

So here's my take. Carbs have a function in the diet, but manipulating carb intake will get you different results. Upping carbs will help supply the body with the energy to help build muscle, however too many and you gain fat/slow weight loss. Think of a guy when he bulks. cutting carbs forces the body to burn its fat for energy. As for macros work with a coach that's knowledgeable and they can give you a breakdown of what will work for your body. Every body is different!