Referring to the article here it appears they only cOunt the starchy carbs in the macros
Ive been counting them all. Fibrous and starchy carbs
Im curious what the consensus is.
I would stick with this personally. You don’t know how many calories you’re taking in if you don’t count them all
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I don’t count any macros or calories, BUT, I consider myself low carb and, in turn, don’t count fiber toward carbs.
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Starting points are just the point in time you adjust from as the diet goes. Point being, it probably doesn’t matter that much what you pick as long as you stay consistent with how you track.
That said, it’s easiest for me to track everything when I’m tracking. The phone apps are built this way.
EDIT: although, to be really fair, I’m never going to weigh out some broccoli. So I guess I fall somewhere in between.
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My diet is what I call The Idiot Diet. Even an idiot could follow it.
I never considered the carbohydrates in leafy green vegetables of concern. I didn’t eat carrots, but I don’t know how I would have dealt with them if I did.
I added starch carbohydrates when I wanted to gain weight, and reduced starch carbohydrates when I wanted to lose fat. I ate the same every day (not exactly the same, but pretty much so). My primary starches were rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Absolutely NO junk food.
I tried to maintain protein at 1.5grams times my bodyweight in pounds. I never ate any advertised zero fat products. I ate lean meat, but didn’t overly avoid fat. Later in my competitive years I added a tablespoon of flax seed oil or fish oil, when I learned the importance of essential fatty acids.
I have no idea how many calories I eat each day. And I don’t care.
Occasionally, maybe once a week or so, I would eat whatever I felt like eating for one meal that day.
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Appreciate all the response. I suppose the only reason it makes any difference is with respect to eating ENOUGH starChes throughout the day.
In the article referenced. The low carb days have 2 servings of starches but multiple servings of fibrous carbs.
Anyways. Just thought id clarify what others do.
On a side note. You fellas that dont count cal at all. How do you track whether or not youre in a deficit?
Ive been “dietingl long enough now to where i could not use any tracker and eat roughly the same numbers throughout the day. But that is because i eat mostly the same things and know their values
I only count calories when cutting and only protein and calories when bulking.
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Let me qualify my situation. I competed in the '70’s, '80’s, and '90’s. We didn’t have labels like “deficit” to be concerned with. It was very simple for me. I was either:
- Training to get bigger and stronger, or
- Training for a contest
If I was training to get stronger I would add more starch carbohydrates to try to gradually gain weight. Some would call that being in a “surplus”, I don’t label it. If asked, I would most likely say I was bulking up. That was a common phrase in those days.
If I was training for a contest (12 week time period), I would start systematically removing starch carbohydrates to lose fat, which show up on both the scale and the mirror (all the time trying to maintain strength.) If you are losing strength, you are very likely losing muscle. Most people find it extremely difficult to maintain strength while losing fat. Today it is called a deficit. I called it getting cut. If I could not see results in the mirror, I assumed I was eating too many starch carbohydrates. Pretty simple.
I entered many contests (about 2 or 3 contests a year for 28 years) and learned my body’s response to carbohydrate adjustment.
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I go by leanness milestone and how my clothes/belt fit. I keep a vein in my abs. When a second one shows up, I’m getting leaner. When I start seeing them in my shoulders, even leanner. Traps and lats? Too far: reverse course.
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Good insight in the responses. I believe the gurus call what you guys do “intuitive eating”.
Those gurus are insane, because if I ate based on intuition, I’d be VERY fat. I have to eat pretty much completely the opposite of my intuition.
I’m ALWAYS hungry. I’ve been full 3 times in my life. The only times I’m not hungry are when I’m seriously ill.
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If you mean “intuitive” as opposed to data driven, you misunderstand my methodology.
I don’t measure caloric intake (data), but I do measure results (feedback) of the scale (data) and the mirror (subjective data).
Eating similar calories everyday negates the necessity to measure calories. The calories I manipulate are the starch calories (data) and look to the results for feedback. The feedback (data) triggers a response to the input (data).
I wouldn’t feel it proper calling my methodology intuitive.
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I really feel this, only the opposite way. If i eat as much as i want if eat like once or twice a week one good meal, and id just snack a bit during most of the week. Id get like 1500kcal a day and maybe 100g of protein a week. Last time i was hungry and wanted to eat was like 3 years ago lol.
You have my condolences. Not eating when I want to eat it easy: I just don’t eat. I’ve been in a position where I’m not hungry and I NEED to eat (recovering from illness) and THAT is miserable. Inaction will always be easier than action.
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Yea, i have always said that losing weight is easier because you just dont spend money on food, dont buy it, dont take it home, dont cook and dont eat.
For me the biggest problem is gaining strenght and size because im never hungry and my day starts with force feeding. Not to mention i have IBS so most foods also trigger it very badly. Im always full, always feeling toxing, always miserable. I wake up and i cook my chicken and i want to throw up just by the smell of it.
Most of my life im looking for ways to get more kcals in easier. Thats also the reason why 80% of my diet is junk food because 1) it triggers my IBS less than clean food… 2) its just easier to swallow.
Like one of my friends said about me : “you dont even eat, you ingest”.
I eat all my meals like this :
To give my thoughts of fiber carbohydrates, the last two weeks before a contest I was always hungry except when I was eating, working out, or sleeping. I felt really bad all other times. Occasionally, I would go by the grocery store and buy a head of iceberg lettuce and eat it like an apple. Those carbohydrates take more calories to digest then there are calories in the lettuce.
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