What does your body react WORSE to--higher fat or higher carb.

I truly believe that weight loss is more than just calories in and calories out.  I did low calorie for 7 months and lost 10 lbs and in the first month and stalled out for the other 6.  I also have 80+ lbs to lose so I shouldnt be stalling out for six months WHILE eating low calorie.  My family is a perfect example that calories are not the end all be all of weight loss.

Both me and my dad react badly to carbs.  My dad used to always tell me "fruit makes me fat".  I thought he was crazy.  Its turned out to be somewhat true though for me as well.  I found out that Ihave insulin resistance (my dad probably does too, but he hates doctors so he'll never go find out).  I feel SOOOOO much better when i eat low carb and high fat and I feel FULL and I lose weight without counting calories.  My hair has also started growing in thicker, my skin is more moist, and I dont take naps in the middle of the day or have headaches anymore.  When I eat carbs I feel like crap and gain or maintain my weight even if Im eating low calorie.  I simply cant tolerate much of anything that turns into sugar in my blood.

My mom on the other hand can eat as many carbs as she wants and still lose weight.  She is not skinny by any means, but she actually can eat a normal amount of carbs and lose normal amounts of weight. She has a totally different body chemistry than me and my dad.

What are your experiences.  What do you do better on.

Carbs don't threat my diet, but I admit, I would probably lose a lot more and faster if I stuck to low carb. It's impossible for me to do though because I am ADDICTED to carbs, without them I would probably eventually binge and in the mean time be a total b**ch. Lmao! But, that's just me. Things work differently for everyone. :)

I'm in agreement - it's far more complicated than "calories in, calories out".  I feel sluggish and bloated (and my weight loss stalls) when I eat a low-carb diet, but am happy as a clam (and fully able to lose weight) on a 45-55% carb diet (the rest of my calories are split evenly between fat and protein).

There is no "perfect diet", no matter what some people say.  You've got to keep trying different things until you find the diet that works for YOU, personally.     

I also feel like carbs make me gain weight... BUT I think that'd do to the amount I eat of them!! (Plus they're pretty high in cals, all things considered. A slice of bread 100 cals? No thanks...) I crave them terribly if I let myself overindulge so I have to put the restraining order on them.

The only thing I would caution is cutting things you actually enjoy completely out of your diet. My mum has the same feelings about carbs I do. She does Atkins and loses tons of weight. But as soon as she eats a slice of bread it's all over because she never really learned to control herself. =/

i know when i went low carb befor i lost a massive amount of weight, but when i was low calorie i think in a 3 month period i lost 5lbs... my weight just didnt want to budge.

i think im still finding a medium tho form, hoping ive found it with what im doing now tho its made me pretty happy.

The only thing that works for me is low fat AND low starch.  Carbs like bread and potatoes and pasta are a different animal for my body than carbs in fruit, for instance.

I can't tolerate high fat - especially any fat that was ever part of a cow (i.e. beef or dairy).  Makes me physically ill. 

I have no problems at all with a "high carb" diet (between 50 and 60% mostly-good carbs) and lost about 25 pounds in 4 months (which I'm now maintaining; will go back to cutting calories after the holidays - ideally with a little more muscle and a little less fat as I'm still working out hard). 

I'm trying to find fats that work for me (because getting up to 20% cals from fat is an absolute chore given that I also don't like nuts outside of baked goods and can't stand nut butters) but even oils I can only consume in limited quantities.  Avocados are my salvation when they're in season.  Otherwise, I bake muffins. 

Anyway, for me, carbs good, (too much) fat bad.  But I know that's not for everyone.

I definitely lost so much weight by restricting carb intake. But I'm not sure if it's due to the effect of carbs on my body itself or on my mind. I am somewhat addicted to carbs. I like all types of food, but I particularly love anything carbohydrate and if I do not watch myself carefully, I tend to overeat things like pasta/noodles, bread, rice and any kind of pastry.... Also when I eat lots of carbs, my insulin level goes up way high, and my appetite definitely increases.

For the most part I eat very healthy every day and I naturally do not eat things  high in fat. But I find that the worst thing for my weight is the combination of high fat and high carb... Oily carbs such as super greasy pizza and oily muffin, for example, make me gain weight soooo easily.

If i could give up the sweet food then i would be the skinniest person on the planet lol. I am really good at self discipline and exercising and creating healthy snacks out of un processed food but its the sweet food that kills me.

Each day, i have to have a weight watchers biscuit or fun size chocolate bar or something chocolatey other wise, for me personally, i feel i am restricting. I guess i could get that fun size chocolate down to 1-2 squares of chocolate a day but i find i need about 50-100cal a day to satisfy my craving.

I have tried having fruit or yoghurt or natural occuring sugar products but my body just wants the chocolate lol. On the flip side, i can roughly eat 60% starchy carbs i.e wholegrain bread & crackers a day and maintain.

I struggle to get my fat intake up though and it usually sits at 7-10%, so if i did get it up, i think my carbs would seriously drop. I am not a nut lover and not really a avocado fan so for me its all about the lite cottage cheese, ricotta etc. Omg, i just had a ding moment!! If i ate full fat dairy, then my fat would increase and my carbs would drop. Would this be healthy fat? Because at the moment i see 60% carbs and sort of freak out and think i am over doing it when in reality the main carbs i have in a day are a wholegrain tortilla wrap, a few wholegrain crackers, a bit of rice and some oatmeal. So upping my fat would lower the carbs and i would be all good. 

Also, even though i have little fat in my diet, i don't crave it or feel any different to when i have tried to increase it (18-25%).

I totally agree.  I would never cut out carbs completely because it's the main source of fuel for your body, especially if you're active.  However, when I eat a lot more protein and vegetables and make the whole grains a smaller part of my diet I feel more active and the weight comes off.  I've counted and if I eat the same number of calories per day but most of which come from carbs, I either don't change weight or gain a pound or two.  Anyway, this is so true!

Mine reacts badly to an overwhelming imbalance of either.  If I really load up on carbs, I feel like I've got a huge glob of clay in my gut, then later I feel all stopped up in the bowels.  With too much fat, I just feel gross and it runs right through me and give me the runs and the stinks.  I feel a lot better when I keep them both in check and get plenty of veggies and fiber.

But that being said, I don't consider a bit of fruit to be overloading on carbs.  I have at least a banana for breakfast and an apple for a PM snack - big whoop.  To me that is absolutely nothing compared to eating like 9 Chips Ahoy or something.

Weight loss is not more than just calories in/calories out.  Proper weight loss may be, but actual weight loss isn't.  You have to think of it this way.  Your body MUST expend energy to function.  The ONLY way for your body to create that energy is by burning calories.  When it burns those calories, you lose weight.  There is no other way to lose weight (At least not permanently.)

It IS more than calories in and calories out in the sense that eating less will not automatically result in less calories being stored and exercising more will not automatically result in more calories being expended.  when you are insulin resistant it causes your body to store fat just for the hell of it, anytime you put sugar into your bloodstream--simple AND  COMPLEX carbs.  thats why i dont lose weight when i eat low calorie with even normal amounts of good carbs.  I did it for 6 months an didnt lose a pound.  I restricted my calories to a healthy number around 1500 and still ate carbs.  I didnt gain weight, but I didnt lose.  I also have about 80lbs to lose so I shouldnt be stalling for 6 months.

at the end of the day calories do matter, but eating and exercises are not the only things that effect the storage or burning of calories.  hormones do too, so when i eat sugar, that tells all the excess insulin in my blood to store more calories.  insulin is the fat storing hormone.  with normal levels of insulin you will store normal levels of fat.  with excess levels of insulin triggered by carbs (insulin resistant) you will store excess levels of fat.   get it?

Im living proof, man.

You hit the nail on the head.  Eating less will not automatically result in less calories being stored.  It IS a matter of calories in/calories out.  In your case, it's just understanding that calories out has more of a direct relationship to calories in.  Just because your body works differently in that respect does not mean that the laws of physics have changed.

Have you thought about using cinnamon?  Check out this link.  You could just put it on food or take the pills.  The general recomendation that I have found is 1/2 tsp to 2 tsp a day.  I don't know how you feel about stuff like that, but if you like the sound of it, it'd be worth talking to your doctor about.  There are no negitive side effects that I have found (online or personal experience wise).

http://thyroid.about.com/od/loseweightsuccess fully/a/cinnamon.htm

http://forum.lef.org/default.aspx?f=35&m= 17335&g=21822

 i guess were on the same page kisteel. 

you hit the nail right on the head jessica, when l found out that l had to lose weight, l couldn't lose a pound just counting calories until l switched to a diet of about 40gm or less of carbs a day. l don't have any more cravings, now most of my carbs come from vegetables, less root vegetables, less rice (the hardest one) less pasta. More beans, peas,legumes, zuchini (never tried it before now). l eat fruit sweetened muffins, cut out sugar and all the hidden corn syrup now l buy peanut butter without sugar or corn syrup, ketchup made with just tomatoes, salad dressing without sugar and corn syrup, you get my point. That and exercise, the weight is coming off, and this time no flabby skin, because l am doing weights too.

I don't really gain weight on carbs or fat per se, but I definitely notice that if I eat too much of either I feel gross and bloated, I don't want to work out, so I don't...then I don't burn the extra calories and don't lose weight...you get the picture.  If I live on white carbs I find I'm not full so I eat more, more calories, feel gross....etc.  If I live on meat and cheese, I feel worse.

When I eat good fats, complex carbs, lean protein and LOTS of veggies I do much better.  I find I function best on a balanced but high fibre diet, I feel full longer, I don't get tummy aches, I have more energy.

I think when you feel good and have lots of energy, you aren't likely to overeat because you are satiated, so whatever makes you feel good, be it high carb, low carb, high fibre...etc, is what you should stick with.  Just make sure you're getting a lot of nutrients from different foods and you should be good!

Edit:  I also have an insulin resistance, and I'm on medication to lower my blood sugar, so I find I fare best when I eat natural sugars (like fruits) rather than refined sugar, refined sugar spikes my blood sugar very quickly.  It may be good to invest in a BG monitor, if you haven't already.

I don't do well at either extreme. If my carbs are too low, I get bloated (the opposite of what is supposed to happen), I feel so tired and sluggish like I want to take a nap in the middle of the day. The same thing happens with too much fat, plus my weight stalls (well not so much my weight, but my measurements). I can eat as many as 60% of my total calories as carbs for the day, and function well, as long as they are complex and I stay low in sugar. If I eat too much sugar/refined carbs, I just feel less than optimal and my appetite increases.

Everyone is different in terms of how their body reacts to carbs. EVERYONE though, should avoid simple carbs like white bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. If you feel you need carbs to function, then it's much healthier to eat whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice and sweet potatoes. I personally do better overall when I get my carbs from veggies and nuts and the odd bean. But I know somepeople that literally can not function without at least a slice of whole grain bread a day.

I'd encourage you to do some real research on the subject and experiment a little to find out what works best for you.

Not everyone should avoid potatoes.  Potatoes are full of good stuff - like having more potassium than even bananas.  Unless you have carb intolerances, potatoes are very good for you (properly portioned).  It's all the crap they're traditionally served with that makes people think they're bad.  (Potato chips, for example, have lost pretty much all the benefits of the original potato.)