Recently I've been keeping a diary of my foods. B/c of this thread, I've been paying most attention to my calories.
I've gone down to 1300 cal/day. Sometimes I'd go over but that would be corrected w/the exercise I did that day.
For instance my AVERAGES for this month at 1300 cal were:
Fat: 54; goal 44
Sat fat: 20; goal 14
Cholest: 202; goal 140
sodium: 2407l goal 2000
Carbs: 195; goal: 200
Fiber: 18; goal 25
Sugar: 88; goal 50
Protein: 61; goal 84

The goals may not be correct. I figured them out in a weird way as there was no one to tell me what they should be at 1300 cal.
Anyway, from what I read in most of this thread, watching calories is my main goal, so watching anything else would be more for health reasons, NOT for weight loss, correct? Even if my carbs were, like 300, but my calories were good, I should be ok in terms of losing weight/inches.

So why is it when we see someone who's overweight that does eat lots of sweets, people say, 'he/she should stop eating sweets'...is it b/c they think the have too much sugar? When in actuality, it's due to the calories only, yes?

Well, Darth, I'm not going to quote references to a bunch of studies. I've read them. The evidence appears pretty conclusive.

But I'll just repeat Colpo's assertion that in metabolic ward trials – the ONLY type of trial where identical caloric intakes can be assured – low-carb diets have repeatedly failed to show any fat-derived weight loss advantage over high-carb diets.

You're probably aware of Colpo's challenge to Dr. Michael Eades and others that believe a metabolic advantage (greater fat loss) exists on a Ketogenic diet (low carb)...

Prove Me Wrong and I’ll Hand Over $20,000!

Show me published peer-reviewed metabolic ward research that compared isocaloric low- and high-carbohydrate diets and found statistically significant greater fat-derived weight losses among subjects following the low-carb diet.

Nobody's collected yet... mainly because these met ward studies have not shown an advantage of low carb over high carb in shedding fat.

.......bump

Doc, my disagreement is not what you think it is. I'm saying "Metabolic Advantage" hasn't been proven or disproven for me. I didn't mean to say I think there IS one, but that there COULD be one. I agree that for every article you show me saying there is none, I can show an article that there is one (with significance and peer review). I don't care to get into Colpo's and Eades's pissing match... my thesis paper is taking form and I am thinking it will be based on metabolic advantage. Interesting read from Fine and Feinman... let me post it here for you.

Nutrition & Metabolism | Full text | Thermodynamics of weight loss diets

Thanks for the bump, I never saw Doc's response, and I greatly respect his opinion and conversations, so I don't want anyone to think I was ignoring him.

I do want to add, that most of the stuff that I find out there (trials and whatnot) show that people on low-carb diets usually lose more weight within six months than those on a low-fat (same caloric reduction) diet. After 12 months, the difference is no longer significant (and most show that if both plans are followed, the results are fairly indentical).

But, I mean, who wants to do 12 months of Atkins?!

So it seems that there may be an advantage to eating low carb (now is that just all carbs or refined, like sugar and white bread?) for a short while at best.
However my nutritionist and pers. trainer don't believe that at all.
They say that if your metabolism is high the insulin spikes aren't really there. But if it isn't high, I'm not sure... I still think they said doing low carb wouldn't make a difference.
I try to get some fruit and whole grains in there so I always eat carbs; not nearly what's 'recommended' by the fda b/c my calorie intake is so low (1300), which is getting on my nerves btw.
So it seems doing low carb would be beneficial, to some people. But if it ultimately isn't I don't want to deprive myself for nothing.
I'm still not seeing any results. I got a workout routine from my trainer but I just don't have much confidence. I'm so sick of clothes not fitting...

I'd really appreciate some help rather than arguing amongst yourselves....

Says the OP, coming back to the thread 2 weeks later...

What did you need help with, again?

Who's arguing?

What I don't understand is why is this person paying for a PT and a nutritionalist but still coming here?

Phix, if you aren't getting results from them, you might want to cut them loose. Again, are you entering everything into Fitday? What is your BMR? If you seriously say you have a solid metabolism, and work out a good amount, than 1400 calories is TOO low. I took your stats from another thread and calculated your BMR to 1340... and if you have a desk job you would burn about 1600 cals a day. How much do you burn during exercise? You can use online calculators for that... still I've seen you ask advice in other threads and STILL don't take anyones advice, so why do I need to repeat most of what's been said before to you?

What kills me is that on 4/9 you lost 3 lbs... or reported to, then on 4/19 you post that you aren't seeing results... are you like kidding here? I feel like you are purposely having a goof on this forum or something.

By arguing I mean the debate going on about if a low carb diet makes one lose more weight than I high carb one. Look back at the posts.
I'm coming here b/c I'm so frustrated. I've done EVERYTHING people have said to do, or have already tried it. Stop being so BITCHY! I am in a vulnerable position here, asking for help. If I wanted to be abused, I'd go back to my ex., thank-you very f***ing much!

If you just want to put me down, do me a favor and don't bother posting. I have never been "helped" by more hurtful people on any other forum (certain people excluded).

The reason I'm posting here, in addition to the PT (and I posted before I got a PT btw!) is that I am not seeing results. I still cannot fit into my numerous jeans, I eat 1300 cal/day now or LESS b/c 1400, 1500, etc DIDN'T WORK. The only potentially BAD thing I do is I eat ice cream almost every night, as well as dark choc. for the antioxidents. BUT, if a cal is a cal, that should make no damn difference in terms of weight gain/loss, CORRECT?!!!!!!!...even though we are inundated with "stay away from the 'bad' carbs (refined); they will make you store fat". Hard to believe so much of the media is wrong... But then again, some people think the president actually gives a s*** about the people he serves...(sorry, digressing)

I got a heart monitor and when I exercise, I am IN or OVER my target zone.
My BMI is 22.5 according to a breathing test I took. Same test said my metab. is over normal and I should eat b/t 1200-1400 cal a day to lose weight; and eat around 1800-2100 to maintain. Well it's been a month on 1300 cals. I gained that 3 lbs back too. Guess it was a fluke (big surprise).

So, a normal, sane person can see why I'm VERY DEPRESSED NOW. The main goal I'm striving for is to lose the fat around my middle (hence the jeans not fitting), not necessarily weight. But if one means the other, then so be it.

Whoa... you are assuming WAY too much accuracy in all your numbers.

You really have to create a much bigger theoretical/calculated deficit to make sure you actually have any deficit at all in reality. Plus, as a poster above said, at 96 cals/day it would take 35 days to drop a pound.

I'll break down your little self-pitying hissy rant paragraph by paragraph since you LOVE attention.

That isn't an argument sweetie, this is a forum and you brought up the topic about different macronutrients. If you want things to stay on topic, do it in a more polite manner than accuse me of arguing. You BROUGHT up questions about CARBS and Calories... so if the topic went that way, it's your fault. Don't be an ass about it. If you've done EVERYTHING you've done about it and LOST 3 lbs, how is this a failure? Because you have a VERY healthy BMI... you can't fit in your jeans?! Maybe, just maybe... that's going to be your build as you get older...

You have been helped, I have responded KINDLY several times to your repetitive posts. If you feel like you are being HURT... why do you keep coming back? I only asked you if you were fucking with us on this forum because you keep getting the same replies and/or post that you're losing weight and you want something from us we can't give you.

So you still have a PT and still not seeing results? Fire them... but your story makes ZERO sense since you posted back at the end of April about getting a Trainer and you came back in May saying you don't have results. I think I am quite justified in saying what I said.

Yeah, whatever, it's clear you have some sort of disconnect with society and your jeans. Don't believe everything you read/hear in the media... it's obvious you are easily lead down wrong paths of information. That comment had nothing to do with our president btw, which I could care less about your political views.

If you say you are eating 1300 calories and you eat 1800-2100 to maintain (which is a HUGE gap and it's clear you don't really understand the numbers behind any of it), than you are probably in too large of a deficit which has been said about 3 times in various threads to you. You body doesn't want to give up the weight... how about this, give up the chocolate and ice cream, because I guarantee you aren't recording your food accurately. I'd be willing to put a decent amount of money that you aren't weighing food with a scale.

A normal sane person wouldn't listen to this crap You might want to change your cardio routine for something that is optimal for fat burning, like HIIT. I won't even bother to give you information on that (which you can find in SEVERAL locations around this forum, so help yourself for a change).

Should have added this earlier... BMI tests aren't done with breathing and tubes... it's your weight, height, sex, and age that determine that number (which is a flawed number at best, you shouldn't even use it as a indicator). What you should use is the range of Body Fat % you have in your body... which needs to be done by your trainer (if they know how to even use the calipers, or have some digital ineffective methods).

well i just read all this thread and all your big words are confusing to me.... this thread to me went off topic, and i have the original question, and would like to hear a simple and understandable answer..... i'm trying to stay in that 40/30/30 (protein/fat/carbs) range isn't that normal??? well it's hard to get the 1200-1300 or more cals a day without being at at least 80 carbs, i don't get it and i need help understanding how to manage 1300 cals a day and keep the rest low, even veggies and fruit seem to have a lot of carbs but no protein.... please help in an easy understandable way

WHY do you think carbs are bad?

If you read this thread, you'd realize carbohydrates are one of the most important sources of energy we have.

If you are following 40/30/30, that is 130 grams of protein, 43 grams of fat, and 97.5 grams of carbs. Granted, I don't know if that is such a great formula, sounds like Zone to me. Low carb usually results in failed diets... I am not a fan of fads.