Do you worry about Carbs or Calories?

[LaurieRobo]

Which are more important to you in maintenance?

For me - I worry more about carbs and not so much calories. I find that I eat anywhere between 1200 and 2000 calories a day depending on my workout level and how hungry I am. I eat when hungry and sometimes when not still - but working that issue!

I do find the my calories naturally vary but my carbs I feel best 30-50 grams of carbs (not NET) and yes there are one or two days a month where they are higher but I can get away with that in maintenance and with my workouts .

I am also NOT afraid of FAT... Everything I eat is full fat and real... Real butter, real cheese, coconut oil, olive oil, real salad dressing... (full fat yogurt -when I add it back in).

Where are others at?

[Loretta V]

I try to focus on lowcarb and lowfat. Although I like real butter and heavy cream. Otherwise I look for lower fat, not fat free because they add sugar to the fat free products. I am lazy to count calories or carbs but do keep an eye on them. Portion control is big on my list.

Some days I have a high fat intake and other days I have a high calorie intake but they seem to be on balance in the whole picture.

[JuliaL]

I'm somewhere in the middle. I try to keep my calories below 1800 per day, but if I eat higher carbs I don't worry about it, I just eat lower fat. And if I eat higher fat I eat lower carb - I go back and forth.

[LaurieRobo]

I ask because this is such an individual thing. I've tried both ways too.

I know that the lower my carbs the better I feel physically.

[hhhmom74]

I worry more about my carbs. It seems like no matter how hard I try I can't ever get my calories over 1800 anyway.

[BellaHMB]

Great question!

If I keep my carbs between 30-40 a day then my weight maintains really well. (not net)
I might even lose a little over a week or so. My calories can be around 1500 and I maintain. So I have found that keeping my carbs low is really much better and easier to watch than the calories. I imagine I could eat more cals and not gain unless it was over 2000.

Have any of you read The Secrets of Skinny Chicks? All of them watch their intake!

Bella

[steady]

Originally Posted by BellaHMB

.

Have any of you read The Secrets of Skinny Chicks? All of them watch their intake!

Bella

Bella: watch what- cals or carbs?

This is a great question. I try not to count either...that is I make low carb food choices and try to eat intuitively. Reality is-- I have no problem making low carb food choices, but admittedly still count calories. I can't seem to stop...I am a diet pro and tend to control calories to 1200-1500 range. Effortlessly, my carb range is 30-50 grams of carbs (not NET).

slightly off topic-- I've developed quite a taste (maybe an addiction) for fatty foods with LC WOE, but oddly still fear eating fat will make me fat IF my calories exceed my desired range. And calories exceeding my desired range directly correlate to overeating/bingeing on fatty foods. Therefore, I feel I MUST count calories because I am not willing to experiment with weight...now that I finally got to a point where my weight is consistent and I am not obsessed with the scale. Don't know what to do...but this is my "new" diet issue. ---End of off-topic posting. Sorry!

[LaurieRobo]

Steady - not off-topic at all! There has been so much healing, experimenting, etc. here it is a good thing.

For me I have found maintenence changes - what works for a long time sometimes stops (not really maybe not as careful) but as with my weightloss phases - I have always had to mix it up. Right now - I'm TRYING to settle in again!

The one good thing I do find is that if I do over eat on fat - it is much more forgiving than letting in other carbs.

Bella - I think that I have read that book (I read everything LOL)

[BellaHMB]

Steady, I think they mostly count calories and also workout. But I will take another look at the book....

I never ever counted calories until I did Atkins this time and then Kimkins for a few months.
I think it's the Kimkins mindset that has me wondering about calories all the time and also why I had such a difficult time adding them in when I reached goal! So it is comforting to hear that others eat around 1500 a day.

Bella

[LaurieRobo]

I never counted calorie on Atkins either... I'm trying to get that back in my head. Kimkins--- well won't go there that still is messing with my head a little - but better each day there!

I also vowed not to rely on fiday but once a month or so run my numbers to see if where I am. I'm trying to honor my body and do what it wants - well as long as it is healthy. Fuel my workouts and running that is my priority now.

[homestretch]

I have only been maintaining for a short while but for me both matter. If my carbs get high I eat too many calories and just get into trouble overall.♠

[BellaHMB]

I am still doing fitday every day but I know at some point I need to change that as I can't see myself forever entering all my numbers. I'm thinking I will do it until I reach my one year mark on Jan. 16th and then maybe once a week to check in.

Bella

[xamier]

Hi:
I use a fitness counter and track carbs and calories.
However, calories are what I watch/worry about.

Carbs seems to be between 40 and 60 most days just because I eat low carb type foods, but I don't worry if they go higher.

I don't want the calories to average more then 1700/1800 at day over the course of a week. However, the daily calorie amount can vary from a high of 2000 to a low of 1200. The weekly average is what I look at to keep from gaining.

[Texoma]

I don't count calories or carbs. I just eat the stuff I can eat and let everything work its way out. I guess it is like Steady said and more intuitive. My eating is very much by the clock but the choices I make are intuitive. I know that if I eat something really carby at one meal I will lay off the next meal. So in the evenings since I always have a large bowl of blue berries and greek yogurt I don't overeat at dinner. If I have a larabar during the day then I will only eat a coffee cup full of my yogurt treat. I figure the less I have to think the easier it is.

[2big4mysize]

mine really depends on my workouts. I can eat both high cal high low GI carbs when i can follow my normal 6 day a week workout schedule.
BUT if I can't then I either need to drastically cut back my carbs to 45 or I need to drop my cals down below 2000.

[JuliaL]

This is an interesting discussion. Dr. Eades says that the metabolic advantage created by eating low carb is about 300 calories. At least that's what the Duke study showed - that you can eat about 300 calories more on a low carb diet and lose weight than you can on a typical low fat diet. Even so, I'm afraid to go over 1700 calories a day, even on very low carb. When I look back at my Fitday from when I was losing, I was eating only 1200 or 1400 calories on some days and as much as 2100 on others. I didn't start counting calories until my weight loss stalled after about 30 pounds. Now that I think back on it, I wonder if the stall was more from increased carbs or from too many calories?

[BellaHMB]

Julia, yes I think that is correct.

So how many carbs are you eating now? Calories? That would be what you need to maintain. Drop it down and you would lose again.

Bella

[2big4mysize]

the low carb cal advantage is heavily weighted to induction level carbs cause as we add back carbs it takes less cals from mouth to energy to process those carbs then the fats and proteins we sub for them in our total eating so we don't get to keep that 300 cals forever.
Also as our bodies get smaller we don't need the same amount of energy to do the exact same things. the BMR formula used in the medical community says we lose about 9 cals a pound. for me that is almost 1300 cals from start to finish my body doesn't need just keeping me alive. So our eating from the day we started our low carbing had better either deminish accordingly or our exercise output better increase that much!