Calories or Carbs??--Confused

Hay there I just happened to run across this CC website and boy am I glad I did. Monday started my "New Me" week and I am determined to lose all this weight that I've been struggling with my whole life. Well about 2 years ago I lost about 50 pounds on a real strick no/low carb and walk everyday weight plan.  I succeeded in losing the weight in like 3 months. Well I began walking Monday with my husband and are doing it together has a team which is awesome. The other thing is the food and what regime I should follow.  Has anybody had real successful weight loss on strictly just watching calories? It is just embedded in my head that carbs are most important thing to watch.  A NP that I work with helped me figure that I need to stay under 1700 calories. Ive almost hit that with just breakfast and lunch.  Yet the carbs were really low. Anybody have any advice??  Thanks:)

Eat Balanced. You may lose weight faster with less carbs but I dont know if it will stay off if you start eating them again. I try to add in good carbs from fruit and whole grains, but keep my grains low. So i only have them like twice a day (grains). Maybe oatmeal for breakfast and half sandwich and salad for lunch but no bread or potatoe or anything like that with dinner. It helps to eat balanced. If you are lettting yourself have high calorie low carb stuff it isnt really healthy and good for your body. Fruti, Veggies, Yogurt are all good carbs so try adding those into your diest to replace other high calorie things you are eating.

I hope this helps!

Your body needs carbs to function properly, but the right kind of carbs - you want complex carbs like those found in whole grains, and the simple carbs found naturally in fresh fruits.  If you use the tools on this site and log what you eat, you can get an analysis with a break down of carbs/fats/proteins.  A lot of us are aiming for 50% of our calories from carbs-25 % from protein and 25% from fat.   And, yes, there are lots of people who have had wonderful and lasting success by counting calories.  I have found that nothing is off limits to eat, but I now make much healthier choices to stay within my caloric goal.

Welcome, by the way.

I am a big believer "all things in moderation" Don't try to starve yourself.  Alot of these diets try to cut off certain types of food. This isn't necessarily healthy, because as previous posters stated, you need carbs.  You just want the best carbs. Whole grains and simple carbs found in fruit.  I have lost a significant amount of weight, by counting calories.  I log EVERYTHING I eat everyday. Even if I have bad days.  A simple general rule for how many calories you need a day, is to multiply your weight by 10.  Thats how many calories your body needs a day to stay the same weight.  If you are 185, you should eat about 1850 calories a day to stay the same weight. If you want to lose weight, cut back to maybe 1650. 

Hay guys THANKS ALOT for all that advice.  Well I just started the food log. I was already bummed out that I had already hit my calorie max today.  The things that really did it was the Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bar, cheese squares as a snack, the ranch dressing for my salad ( not a whole lot), Bacon bits(just a little)...Anyways those were the things that boosted up the calorie count but were also very low in carbs.  Im just confused.  Which one of those should I really eliminate if I wanna lose weight. Or will I lose wieght If Im doing my walking every nite. THANKS AGAIN!!

I would suggest using the other tools on this site to find out how many calories you need daily to lose weight and then you can enter in activities too as well as what you eat.  What I try to do is choose food that are high in nutrition and not as high in calories.  I choose a bit of grated cheese for my salad and dip my fork in dressing then stab a bit of salad instead of drizzling or pouring the dressing.  I choose chicken or tuna instead of bacon.  Read around this site too and you'll find lots of ideas for making choices that are right for you.

Keep using the tools and addin activities to your activity log. Then when you get to the end of the day subtract your calorie intake from your expenditure. If you have a bout 500 calories in deficit you will lose about a pound a week.

Some days you can eat more than your alotted calories and some days you will need to be really careful.

Tip: When you want ranch dip your fork in a container and then take a bite instead of pouring it over the salad. Trust me you get the full flavor of real ranch with 1/4 of the calories. 

Awesome guys!! Thanks alot that ranch dip with a fork tip--Helpful!!  Will do.  Yup well the whole calorie thing. Im trying hard to stay under the 1600 mark to be able to lose my 1 lb a week.  Do u think my scale here at work is lying if it says that Ive gone down 6 lbs in 3 days.  I meen since Monday I have changed my diet from junk to healthy and my excercise to lite walking in the office to walking fast 1.5 miles every nite.  With the way I lost weight before I  feel like starving is the best way. But with everyones modivation and good advice I think Ill succeed in a more healthy way.  MUAH!!

It's not unusual to lose a few pounds quite quickly, it's mostly water weight.  By the way, make sure and drink a lot of water too, it really helps, as does lowering your sodium intake.  Making this a healthy lifestyle change is much better than a temporary diet anyway. 

Definetly! I dont know but this time around I feel really pumped the finally do this. Ive started over and over many times but this is the time and I feel it.  I think finding this site and all these awesome people that are in the same boat makes it all better for meeh. I weighed myself this morning and I saw the little weight loss and then with anticipation to see the scale in the same place I weighed myself after lunch and the scale went back up.(frown). But thats it no more weighing myself. Im gonna save it for what Im gonna call "New Week Monday".  Oh ya does Crystal Light in my bottled waters count as the plenty of water I should drink?

Thanks!!

Yes, that counts, but you may want to take it easy on the artificial sweeteners too.  Water with lemon is good, or lime or even orange. 

Weighing once a week is good, same time of day, same scale, same clothes (or lack of).  I weigh 2 to 3 times a week, right after getting out of bed and peeing.  Don't worry if your weight fluctuates up and down some, it's water weight and time of the month weight as well as other variables.  You can do this, it's a very logical and reasonable and healthy way to a healthy you.

hey mon i joined so i can get motivated along with you, i'm comfused about calories and carbs also, so learn all u can so u can tell me all about it.

YAY youre on here!! Kool well look around at all the topics you'll get some good advice!!

WE'RE GONNA DO THIS GURL!! WE'RE GONNA BE HOTT MAMMAS!!

Yes, I have dropped weight from solely watching my calories, but more so by making healthier decisions on what I eat & along with watching the calories.  You will see quicker, healthier results if you eat right AND exercise tho.  And then have a indulge day.  Good carbs are necessary to keep you going.  Especially if you're exercising.

Hey there Amanda thanks for that info.  Im tryin and tryin but its gettin real real hard and I it hasnt even offically been 1 week. Man this is gonna be a really really long road.

Hang in there!  The first week or 2 are the hardest with your body adjusting to your new habits.  You can do this.  Following the recommended calorie intake, drinking water and adding exercise will work.  I remember getting very discouraged the first 2 weeks because I was hungry all of the time.  Try to keep handy healthy snacks, like veggies.