Carbs Don’t Make You Fat, Calories Do

Q: Carbs seem to simply make me fat. Even low Glycemic Index carbs. Does this mean I need to stay off them forever to lose weight and keep it off?

A: It’s not just the carbs that are making you gain weight. It’s consuming more calories than your body needs. The carb-heavy foods that we know (and sometimes love) are often loaded with calories.

Instead of giving up carbs all together (something I personally could never do), I always recommend eating a balanced diet so that you satisfy your nutritional needs as well as your cravings.

The most important thing is to understand how many calories you are consuming and burning. Do a little homework. Keep a food diary for two weeks and calculate the amount of calories you consume at the end of each day. There are approximately 3,500 calories per pound of body fat, so if you eat even 100 calories more than your body burns per day every day (surprisingly easy to do), you can add a pound every month. Twelve pounds a year!

Here’s a bonus tip: Increase the amount of fiber in your diet. This will not only help you feel full and eat less but according to recent studies those on a high-fiber diet lost more fat from around the abdomen than those on other types of diet plans.

Learn more:
Glycemic Index and Weight Control
Master Your Metabolism
Weight Loss Action Plan

Dr. Brent Ridge is the health expert for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. You can call and ask him a question live every Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern on Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 112 (1.866.675.6675). You can also follow along as he learns to grow his own food and raise goats on his farm in upstate New York by visiting www.beekman1802.com.

Got a health question for Dr. Brent? E-mail him at drbrent@care2.com.

Read more: Health, calories, carbs, diet, nutrition, weight loss

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Heidi A.

11:00PM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

Calories absolutely matter more than any type of diet. There were no fatties in the concentration camps- Japanese, Vietnamese or German, though I am sure some of them had low thyroid, insulin resistant or whatever the current excuses are for overeating.

send a green star

Nimue P.

10:07PM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

No kidding.

ii q.

2:59PM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

everything in moderation...

2:58PM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

Samantha S.

2:55PM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

thanks for the post

Brenda T.

10:34AM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

Thankyou.

P B.

8:00AM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

I respectfully disagree. The kind of diet that is healthy for a person who's never been obese and has a healthy functioning metabolism does not work for those who have developed even slight insulin resistance. Dana Carpender and Gary Taubes have written excellent, well-sourced books on the subject, it would benefit anyone who's had long struggles with weight to read their work.

7:58AM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

Dee D.

12:58PM PDT on Apr 22, 2012

thanks for the article

Michele W.

3:32AM PST on Jan 24, 2012

Thank you