do you count carbs also?
 

I'm asking this because my mom seems to think that I should be taking this into account. :dizzy:
She asked me what my calories were and what I ate yesterday, which was:
Breakfast: oatmeal packet
2 slices of wheat toast with light butter
coffee
Lunch: home made soup (consisting of pasta noodles, beans, onions, garlic, marinara, and chicken broth) 203 calories a serving.
Dinner: subway club sandwich

she told me to cut out all breads, pastas, and eat only 1 1/2 packet of oatmeal for breakfast. yogurt with grapenuts for lunch, and 2 eggs for dinner with a small salad.

She kept telling me that this is why I'm not losing, "Because you're not using your calories wisely."

This was just yesterday's meal. Normally I do eat veggies for both lunch and dinner.
Other days:
Breakfast: same as above
Lunch: tuna sandwich with 2 cups of broccoli
dinner: fish or chicken with 2 cups of broccoli and rice or lentils.

Your mom wants you to eat 1 1/2 packets of oatmeal for breakfast, yogurt and grapenuts for lunch, and 2 eggs with a small salad for dinner? So that's, what, 150 calories for breakfast, 200 or so for lunch, and maybe 400-600 for dinner depending on what's in the salad? And roughly 1 serving of veggies, no actual fruit, and less than 1000 calories?

Seems to me you're losing on what you've been doing, your ticker says you're down 20 lbs.

I wouldn't ever (for me) cut out all bread, pasta, etc. Granted, I eat whole grain wheat bread, brown rice, and whole wheat/brown rice pasta, but I enjoy food and diversity in my meals. I couldn't eat the same things every day every meal, and I certainly wouldn't want to live a life where lettuce was my only veggie.

Ha, I realized I didn't answer your original question! I track carbs, fat, sodium, all of it. I try and keep a ratio of no more than 40% carbs, and the majority of my carbs come from fruit and veggies, but if I want pasta/rice/bread, I have it.

I don't track carbs in the sense of counting them, but I do avoid bread, pasta, etc (even whole wheat), starchy veggies (corn, potatos), and all refined carbs. But I eat lots of fruit and veggies and limited amounts of whole grain (brown rice, oats etc).

You will probably have an easier time losing if you substitute some less starchy foods and more unprocessed foods (esp veggies) will probably increase the nutrition (i.e. spend your calories wisely).

I try to eat a good balance of carbs, protein and some fat. Cutting out all carbs is unreasonable and not something you can really do long term. Besides the best part of calorie counting is that as long as you stay under your calories for the day, avoid too much sodium because it can cause bloat, drink plenty of water , get your nutrition in, you can eat whatever you want now and then.

Your menu could probably use some fruit or cut up veggies as snacks which I find to be helpful. Snacks keep you from overeating, giving into really bad stuff and keep your metabolism churning.

I usually do about 50% carbs, 30% protein and 20% fat but it really varries and I lost 46 pounds in 7 months, give or take, that way. *shrug*

FYI my mom used to tell me really crazy stuff about dieting which I ignored because she was anorexic. I didn't realize it at the time but she was kind of emotionally abusive about my weight. I'm not saying your mom is like that but, moms aren't always right about such things.

My opinion is that people need to make sure they get enough protein, rather than make sure they don't eat too many carbs.

I use the Zone percentages, which are 30:40:30 protein:carb:fat. I also try to aim for 70 to 100 grams protein.

Your mom's plan doesn't have enough nutrition or calories, IMO.

Jay

I track carbs. I think ultimately if you are in caloric deficit you will lose weight. However, for me, eating more protein relative to carbs curbs my appetite and helps me to stay within my calorie range.

Your eating is no one's business but yours ;)
That said, I've found cutting out some carbs has been good for me. I still eat potatoes but only have bread (mm, pb sandwhiches) once in a while. I agree that eating more protein and fewer carbs helps appease the appetite better. I saw it the hard way this week.

IMO and my plan why bother counting anything besides calories. Weight loss is a simple formula, not sure why people don't get this, its calories in - calories burned.

True, but some of us have other issues such as PCOS or Diabetes and too many carbs can cause cravings.

I've never heard that whole foods cause cravings thing. To me food is food. I can't be bothered to worry about the other things, I have enough trouble sleeping at night just worrying about calories. Yes, I do constantly worry about calories and it does keep me up at night.

Whole foods actually HELP PCOS. Ruth I think was just saying that carbs can cause cravings.

When I eat the *right* carbs, I don't have any problem. Gimme a sack of french fries and they will be GONE though--as well as any other junk within my reach.

benchmarkman, I don't know that I would agree about weightloss being a simple formula..in theory yes, it is....

HOWEVER, how my body reacts to certain foods varies. I have an easier go of it using whole foods, things low on the GI chart, drinking my water and eating tons of fiber.

If I chose to eat 1500 calories of grilled cheese sandwiches each day my experience would be MUCH different than eating 1500 calories of a balanced diet.

As far as "not bothering to count anything but calories"....well, I care to understand the benefits of the foods themselves and what they can do for my body--weightloss will happen if you are eating the correct way--but obtaining a certain weight isn't a guarantee of health---if you ONLY care about weight, than YES, absolutely calorie counting is sufficient.

Do you use FitDay? It has a food log that counts calories, grams of fat, grams of protein, and grams of carbs. There's also graphs and charts that show you a report of your daily intake and nutritional balance. I've found it very helpful for keeping track of what I'm eating.

Eh, maybe, but *what* I eat makes the difference between being satisfied and full and happy vs miserably struggling to restrict and deny myself. Not that I *count* anything, actually, but I do make my choices on *much* more than just calories. It might be that people who don't get why this matters really don't experience any difference based on what they eat, and only get value from counting total calories. But that doesn't mean it doesn't make a big difference for some of us. There's a whole spectrum. A lot of people are a heck of a lot more careful with carbs than I am.

Oh, as far as the rice, bread, pasta...well, I do have those things on occasion..HOWEVER--not the same products I used to use..

I eat Shiratake noodles--low on GI chart and 40 calories for the entire bag--it does take some experimenting in the kitchen--but I find them acceptable..

Bread--I use Ezekiel bread--a sprouted Grain food also with low GI number--it's considered a "live" food

Rice--I only use brown nowadays..usually I use Quinoa rather than rice, I prefer it and it has healthy fats in it...it is also lower in calories than rice

I use an application on my iPhone similar to fitday, it does track carbs, sodium, chol. I just have to select them.
I do use wheat bread and brown rice. I did eat hard boiled eggs for protein but I always ruined them. LOL
I'm cutting red meal out of my diet. What other protein options are there? I love the info from the Zone diet, I'll try using that.
By the way, my mom was anorexic at one point in her life. :-)

My husband says this all the time, and it is true...to a point.

And frankly, it is more accurate for men. It's a fact that men have an easier time of losing weight than women, especially the older we get.

I can lose weight counting just calories, without limiting my carbohydrate intake. I know this from past experience. But I also know that if I limit my carbs, weight loss is accelerated and cravings are minimized. I happen to be insulin resistant and that exacerbates the problem, but I believe the great majority of overweight women benefit greatly from restricting their carbohydrate intake. If nothing else, they are going to experience less cravings which often lead to binging.

Over the last several years, as I slowly began putting on my menopausal weight, my diet consisted of too many carbs, too many refined sugars, too many processed foods. Except for about the first 8 months of 2005, - when I started exercising again and did Jenny Craig, and lost 25 lbs - this is how I ate. And the more of this stuff I ate, the more I wanted. August of 2005 (Katrina) took me completely off track and the stress not only stopped my exercise in its tracks but also drove me right back to the junky ways of eating. And no offense to anyone doing JC, because it is a good program, but I had not learned how to eat on my own, so I was a sitting duck for a relapse when faced with extreme stress.

Within 3 years I'd gained that 25 back plus 5 more. That's 7.5 lbs a year. And then reality hit me in the face - I'm a middle-aged female, and if I want to live a long and healthy life I simply cannot continue to eat this way.

I'm assuming you are a male, and if you are a YOUNG male it's even more true that weight loss is just that simple - more calories out than in. Period.

But for women, particularly post-menopausal women, it's a bit more complicated than that.

Take it from one who knows this from experience. :yes:

I have to totally agree with you, comparing mens weight loss to womens is a waste of time, we're totally different... I always wondered why women worried about carbs. I eat pretty much anything I want, just stay within my calorie range. Sometimes us guys forget this (and some just dont have any idea)

Well ... I'm a woman and I also don't track carbs. In fact I don't bother tracking anything really other than calories. However, I rarely eat junk (including white bread...) and so I simply trust my body - I mostly eat what I feel like as long as it's within my calory budget and not junk.

I've never counted carbs, and I eat ALOT of them. I have bread at pretty much every meal. Insofar, I've had no issues, but I'm highly active. I'm sure it's something I'll have to cut back on as I get older. Now, I stick to whole-grains, and have always kept an eye on fats - the calories in things like butter, cheese, and alfredo sauce add up alot faster than the bread or pasta itself.

I don't count em either but according to sparkpeople, I averaged 189 grams (?) of carbs for the past 7 days.

I might have typed that up wrong. What I meant is on average 189 grams a day for the past 7 days.

I think -- for some people anyway -- limiting carbs is a great idea. It's absolutely true for me.

There have been multiple studies showing that a lower-carb diet is better for weight loss, reducing cholesterol, and stabilizing insulin levels. Following is a link to a study, then you can scroll down and see a whole list of other studies (all a bit different, but comparing low carb to other types of eating) by legitimate, prestigious institutions: here is the link.

When only counting calories and not watching carbs or protein, I had tremendous mood swings and needed tremendous willpower to not overeat or to not eat empty calories. I could not stay on a "diet" for long.

Now I count calories. I eat unlimited non-starchy veggies and 2-3 fruits a day. I only have one portion (l/2 cup) of other whole carbs at breakfast and lunch. I make sure to have a good portion of protein and fat at every meal and snack. This keeps my blood sugar stable, I'm never starving, and I don't have food cravings.

My success and comfort eating this way is like night and day.

I've been heavy all of my life. I first realized several years ago that I was satiated far longer if I had an egg or two for breakfast rather than a meal of complex carbohydrates but of the same calorie level. Even whole wheat toast or oatmeal left me hungry an hour or two later. A few years ago I got very serious about getting all my excess weight off. I went low carb, with my only carbs coming from non-starchy vegetables and a few fruits like strawberries. I lost 80 pounds in 8 months and another 30 over the next two years. It's really the only way that works for me to lose weight. I can maintain eating a diet which contains whole grains but I can never eat few enough calories to lose, at least not for an extended period of time..and when you have a lot of weight to lose you need to be on a plan that keeps your calories in losing range for an extended time period. We're all different. This is what works for me.

I eat 1200 calories a day and I'm staying under 120 carbs including fruits and veggies. I usually have 1-2 servings of whole wheat starch a day. I've been losing so far! I'll let you know how it goes!