Question About Carbs page

[FortKnox37]

I understand that we are supposed to consume between 50-100 carbs/day in order to burn fat and lose weight and that those carbs should only come from vegetables and fruits. However, 1 apple has 20-30 carbs and then when you add other vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cukes, celery, spinach, kale, chard, carrots, peppers etc) it is very easy to get up to 100 carbs....This is without any of the so called "bad" carbs...Does this mean I need to cut back on the veggies that I am eating??

Thanks

[gojirama]

How do you feel and perform? Are you meeting your fitness goals? That should be your guide, not some numbers.

[FortKnox37]

I do feel good and am performing well in my workouts...However, I am coming in at 100-110 carbs/day through veggies and some fruit....If I cut the carbs down to 50 or so I think I would be lacking energy.

[primal pete]

there is no one size fits all carb curve. How many carbs you actually should have a day really depends on your size, gender, and activity level -- if you are on the bigger size and exercise vigorously, chances are you could eat far more than 100g of carb a day for optimal muscle recovery.

Also...how many g of carbs a day has nothing to do with how much weight you will lose. If you aren't creating a calorie defecit it won't matter if your eating 50g of carb a day or 300g, you won't lose weight.

The reason low carb is effective (initially) for weight loss is because protein and fat are both far more satiating than carbs, and thus people are able to eat less calories and feel just as satisfied on the PB resulting in weight loss.

Figure out what your rough average daily calorie expenditure is (easy to do), and just decide on a macro nutrient profile that you feel best doing. Don't restrict yourself to 50g of carb a day just because it's some arbitrary number. If after a month or two you're not getting the results you want, assess your diet/exercize habits and tweak accordingly.

[Fury]

Fruit can be easy to overdo it with, the sugar just packs in the carbs. a 30g carb large apple as a snack versus 40g carbs from a full pound of broccoli with dinner. Veggies are harder to overdo, although those of us who like to cook might need to consider how much diced onion/celery/garlic gets into soups n stuff.
I could see fitting 1 serving of most/all the veggies you listed into a daily diet without it being excessive for many people, if using veggies as most of your carbs.

[gojirama]

I do feel good and am performing well in my workouts...However, I am coming in at 100-110 carbs/day through veggies and some fruit....If I cut the carbs down to 50 or so I think I would be lacking energy.

Then don't cut them down!

[Chochobo]

Im pretty active ive recently started to add starches, I don't eat fruit. So its a lil hard for me to get over 100g without the starch. I feel a lot better hitting 120-125g everyday. Plus my IF's have been improved drastically adding in the starches. That's just me tho.

[Adrianag]

Are you trying to lose weight? If so, cut down to 50 gr. If not, don't worry, you can go to 150 as long as it's not causing you to gain weight.

[spincycle]

What types of vegetables are you eating? It's hard to eat more than 50g of carbs on many vegetables, for example, brocolli, cauliflower and spinach all have 5 g or carbs or less for 1 raw cup, brussels sprouts has 7-8 g/raw cup. I'd cut the fruit out if you're trying to keep your carbs around 50g for weight loss, and I don't even bother measuring my vegetable intake because I don't think I ever hit over 50 g on a daily basis.

[FairyRae]

there is no one size fits all carb curve. How many carbs you actually should have a day really depends on your size, gender, and activity level -- if you are on the bigger size and exercise vigorously, chances are you could eat far more than 100g of carb a day for optimal muscle recovery.
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Don't restrict yourself to 50g of carb a day just because it's some arbitrary number. If after a month or two you're not getting the results you want, assess your diet/exercize habits and tweak accordingly.

Then don't cut them down!

Agree w/ both! Sounds like its working for you right now!

Are you trying to lose weight? If so, cut down to 50 gr. If not, don't worry, you can go to 150 as long as it's not causing you to gain weight.

FWIW, I personally lost a significant amount of weight eating in the primal maintenance range (100-150g primal carbs a day.) As with anything, YMMV. If its working for you staying in the 100-110 g carb level atm, I say don't change it! You can always tweak in the future as needed...