I Think so. Athletes who do Marathon's Eat ALOT of CARBS for ENERGY,however if Ya are Not a RUNNER and ya CONSUME CARBS ya GONNa BLOW-UP. I am Realizing that the Best Thing is PROBABLY FRUITS and VEGTABLES and Small amts of Animal Protein and Fish. HUGE QUANTITIES and LOADS of FAST FOOD is a NO-No... Salads are WEIRD Cause ya KNOW when ya put all that BLUE CHEESE The CALORIES are ENORMOUS...BEST thing Probably a Side Salad and Low-Calorie Dressing and some Fruit. I also ADVISE STEAMING VEGGIES and JUICING...

im on the southbeach diet which allows very little carbs. No breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, no fruit.
Ive lost 6 pounds so far (first week) not eating bad carbs.....so yes, carbs do make you fatten up
[This message was edited Sun Jul 25 18:45:42 2004 by neesespieces]

I don't understand this low carb bullshit anyway. I mean, don't you need carbs in your diet too?

Fruits are full of carbs.

IMO exercise is the number one key to losing weight and second and much less important is cutting the junk food like chips etc.

Excessive amounts of calories is essentially what fattens you up.

NWF said:

this is the deal folks.....everyone needs complex carbs in their diet....

all these low-carb diets are great for short term weight loss....but the lack of carbs will start to affect your energy flow....and get this, the minute you go back to using carbs your body will start to gain weight.....why? because by not eating carbs your body goes into shock and reacts as if you are starving...thus it burns all your body fat and you loose weight...but the minute you eat carbs again (like we all need to to live) your body flips and goes into "store fat" mod and you end up gaining *MORE* weight then you loss because your body is trying to store up fats again...blame the cavemans for creating this biological clock in us all.....

the best diet is a balanced meal with lots and lots of veggies and lean proteins (ie, fish...) and complex carbs..you know, the ones everybody hates....wild brown rice (great for cajun dishes), whole wheat breads and whole wheat pastas....

its not that hard a rule to follow...the minute you go on a diet you are setting yourself up to fail....its called LIFESTYLE CHANGE.....the minute i realized this was the minute i won the fight against the diet industry...

I Can't Understand NO FRUIT! Ya Need Vitamin C. I can see the STARCH though. I for one have like Problems with Sugar so I CANNOT HAVe STARCHES.. TURNS to SUGAR..

Zelaira said:

not true...there is an excellent book that addresses how low sugar diets actually force you into relying on insulin.....insulin then aids the degrading of your kidney thus forcing you into a life of dialysis...

i read the book a few years back...ill try to find it and let you know about it..it was a huge eye opener for me..

NWF said:

You need carbs - but I thnk there are different kinds. Complex carbs are better - they tend to burn up faster and simple carbs can turn into blob if you don't burn 'em.

sosgemini said:

Extremely well-said! FINALLY, someone who sees the stupidity of fad-diets!

Carbs don't make you fat. Eating like a pig does.


Like sosgemini said, it's the fad diets (including Atkins and South Beach) that do people in. You lose weight while you're on the diet because your body's kicked into starvation mode, but once you go off of it you'll gain all the weight and more back. It's all just a cycle of unhealthy eating designed to make people dependent on the diet industry, and spend their money on useless diet foods and products. Quite brilliant marketing, I'd say.

Sad that so many people are ignoring the health risks of fad diets (including Atkins and South Beach) for the sake of being skinny.

What North America needs is a complete lifestyle overhaul. Think about 100 years ago, when low-fat, low-carb, low-sodium, low-sugar products didn't exist, very few people (even the rich) were overweight or had weight-related health problems. Now fast forward to today where there's low-everything options for most food and a new fad diet every few weeks, but over half the population is seriously overweight. It's not what we're eating, it's how we're eating and how we're living.

meow85 said:

i really hope that people who are on these diets at least consider what we are saying.....i responce from those who follow these diets would be cool..

sosgemini said:

The Schwartzgein Principle is the book..a must read for anyone who has diebetes in their family....

Zelaira said:

Many vegetables contain more vitamin C than most citrus fruits.

sosgemini said:

Me too. Sadly, being skinny is apparently more important than being healthy.

Looks like the Atkins-worshippers don't think they should reply.....

fanasticfan said:

I don't know about complex carbs "burning up faster"... however, when I was a runner (400 meters and 4 x 400 meters relay), my coach told us that simple carbs will give you a quick energy boost that ends in a crash, whereas complex carbs provide lasting energy.

lovemachine said:

and there it is

axestream said:

I disagree, at least to some extent. I'm a skinny guy. I can consume a massive number of calories, and it has very little effect on my weight. (No, I don't engage in any significant physical exercise.) OTOH, I know people who eat relatively low-calorie diets, but are overweight. There has to be more to it than calories consumed versus calories burned.

I dunno, I've done the Atkins before to loose a quick 10lbs. I think where people screw up is diving right back into high carb eating the day they finish the diet; you have to re-introduce carbs gradually.

Losing even just 10-15 lbs has so many benefits to your health. I'm not gung-ho over eating no carbs these days, but I am more concious of how many I consume. One thing I really liked about being on Atkins for a little while, was that I seldomly got light-headed or felt really hungry between meals.

Nowdays, I just do little things here and there, like Opt for spinach or broccoli instead of a baked potato. Or leave off the bun and melt cheese over it instead.

Prior to trying it out, my overall diet each day was really high in carbs and low in protien, and I always felt worn out.

Zelaira said:

Hmm, yet another succumbs to the low-carb brain-washing that has swept across America.


I'm going to write a new weight loss book that's called THE EAT LESS AND GET OFF YOUR ASS DIET!

That's all you really have to do.

matt said:

you must be lucky and enjoy a high mitabolism...

minneapolisgenius said:

I don't believe that Carbs make you fat. I've lived off carbs for the past 8 years (Vegetarian for 7 and a half, now I eat grilled chicken), and I've never had a problem.

Anything will make you fat if you're sitting on your ass all day

Smooches;)

Do carbs make you fat?

of course not!

fill up on pizza, chips, potatoes, and donuts and i guarantee the weight falls off.

now what you wanna steer clear of are pulses and so-called "white meats". straight to the hips.

lovemachine said:

Zigackly!


C'mon y'all, shake that ass and move that body and u'll be in better shape in no time.

And remember, have a lot of good and wild sex too!

Tom said:

That's interesting, because my regular diet is loaded with carbs (I live off rice, pasta, breads, etc.) and very little protein (I eat meat maybe only twice a week) and I always have TONNES of energy, and I've never had any problem with my weight.

I'm not at all athletic, but I'm always in motion. I refuse to drive. I'm 19 and have my full license, but the only time I've driven is to pass the test. I walk literally everywhere. Cars are vicious harsh on the environment, and as far as I can see, do nothing useful but encourage laziness. I also crank some music and dance around the house while I'm cooking, cleaning, or just for the hell of it. It's fun, and way more constructive when you're pissed off at the world than breaking shit.

At first glace I thought the title of this thread was "Do CRABs make ya fatten up?"

That's a whole other topic!

matt said:

There really isn't. Bodybuilders and other athletes have mastered dieting and sure protein to fat conversion is poor, while carb to fat is pretty high (GI and GL indexes and all that shit), but in the end it all boils down to intake vs use. Many ectomorphs argue they eat a lot, but still don't gain weight. Their problem is they have a faster metabolism, so they burn more than other people during the same activities. In order to gain weight they simply need to consume more calories. There is no absolute maintenance level. It's varies greatly between people (sex, size, ativities, age, metabolism etc etc), but one thing is the same; maintance + cal = gain. maintenance - cal = loss.

Ofcourse there are also people who have screwed up their metabolism through bad dieting methods and a small percentage with physiological problems, but way too many people claim to be part of the latter group.
[This message was edited Thu Jul 29 19:56:31 2004 by J0eyC0c0]

J0eyC0c0 said:

Well, yeah. I think the important part is, it's not merely dependant upon calories IN, because we all burn calories at different rates. This fat chick (Matt is over my shoulder cringing at that turn of phrase, but it's true ) simply doesn't eat that much.

I think that some ectomorph folks couldn't eat enough to gain weight wihtout making themselves puke, and some fat folks can't eat a small enough amount to lose weight without feeling constantly sick.

So why don't we measure health by parameters that actually matter? And why don't we try to see beauty through eyes other than those of Ken and Barbie?

Just sayin'.