I will get to the specifics later on so that I can specifically prove my point with factual numbers opposing worrywarts comment to my prior statement. For now:

Low carb is preferred, I never stated that you should shoot up your protein immensely, only that you should increase it. Your muscles do need to repair after all. Simple carbs will have the same weight gaining effect if you don't use it all up.

The majority of your exercises revolve around cardiovascular activity correct? Dancing, step, running, stair master, etc, all are exercises that requires stamina and long term muscle usage. Your body doesn't just use "calories" in general for energy regardless of what you do. Based on the type of work out, your body uses different sources of energy.

Carbohydrates is your body's majority source of energy required when you are doing intense anaerobic exercises such as heavy weight lifting (i.e. bench pressing) or playing american football (short infrequent sprints pressing against weight). You don't do this too often, you have circuit training, but I would put that along aerobic exercise as opposed to anaerobic, thus, this means you don't need a surplus of carbs.

Fat is your body's major source of energy when you are doing cardiovascular activity, this is the reason why it is always suggested to do aerobic exercises to lose weight. The process of your energy metabolism is somewhat complicated, I will explain the Kreb cycle and how it uses carbs vs fats later on if you are interested. If not, take my word that your body "chooses" to burn fat over carb when you are doing those cardio work outs. Since you have a high intake of fat, while much of it is being burned, but its quite possible that they are closer to balancing each other off then burning off the fat you already have from your body.

Additionally, with the above to paragraphs, you can come to conclude, that your body can be TRAINED to use specific energy cycles more efficiently. Increasing your cardiovascular activity will allow your body to produce the necessary ATP and begin the kreb's cycle faster then the average person doing the exercise, burning the fat earlier on and faster.

Hope this clarifies your confusion with the mixed information you've been receiving from all of us.

I will provide the more detailed numbers later.

In a NORMAL diet carbohydrates are the highest percentage ...and as for the body builders look at how HUGE they are, their bodies may need that protein because they spend HOURS in the gym probably twice a day,their muscles definitely need that protein for recovery, so yes..a greater amount of protein is needed for their bodies, but you have to figure out what YOUR body needs...make sense?

also keep in mind fruits are considered carbs as well...however they are COMPLEX carbs which are good for you..complex carbs consist of glycogen, starches and fibers..cellulose is a type of fiber found in vegetables and fruits therefore fruits and vegetables are definitely good for you to eat...also, direct quote from my college nutrition book since some seem to dissagree with me "dietary recommendations suggest that carbohydrates provide about HALF(45 to 65%) of the energy requirement. A person consuming 2000 calories a day shout therefor have 900 to 1300 carlories of carbohydrates."
From the Book: you should eat 3-5 vegetable servings, 2-4 fruit servings (like i said earlier strive for 5) 6-11 bread servings....

there ya go haha

BMR...basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories a persons body needs in order to carry out daily life functions, thats what I meant by the body using calories throughout the day...its like a car with gas..it doesn't run on empty...so if you do not provide your body with the energy it needs for a work out, you'll run out of steam...i'm not saying it takes alot...it doesn't, but the atkins diet is NOT a healthy approach in my opinion and i think cutting carbs does have a negative impact on health...you cant just sacrafice food groups like that...a BALANCED diet is what everyone needs with every food group

you are right..the body does use different metabolic pathways for energy...i'm not sure where we were going with that one....we can get all into glycolysis, krebs cycle,ETC yadda yadda if you want to try to make sense of things but i'd rather not rack my brain, anatomy and physiology II last semester was rough enough and I'd really rather not get into all that complicated stuff that no one probably cares to hear about

I dont mean to be attacking anyone else in these posts, it may seem that way and i apologize..i'm just simply trying to state the facts i've been taught...tooooo many times in the classes I pay too much money for...i just believe these crazy fad diets(atkins for example) are not healthy ways to loose weight...what are you going to do deprive yourself of carbs for the rest of your life? its all about balance..thats all i'm trying to say, her protein need could be more or less than mine..everyones body is different...maybe thats where we're all getting mixed up

Nobody said anything about Atkins diet. Perhaps you should reread what I said and see if anywhere I said Atkins diet. Telling somebody to change the source of her carbs, and that she should keep it on the low side rather then the high side, does not mean Atkins diet automatically.

You respond as though I told the client to reduce her carbohydrate levels to zero. Perhaps you should reread yet another time. I merely said she should keep her carb levels low, and the most important part, is taking out simple carbohydrates from her diet.

The reason why I explained the energy cycle based on the type of exercise she does, which in this case is mostly aerobic, is to provide an explanation why she does not need a large carbohydrate diet. As I've stated, aerobic exercises rely on mostly fat for energy. You felt it was imperative for her to have a high carb diet to have energy throughout the day, this is true generally speaking for an average person, but as I've stated, most of the energy she will be using for her work outs will be from FAT. If she consumes a large amount of simple sugars, little of which will be used for her work outs, meaning those simple sugars just sit there and have the same weight gaining effect.

No offense to you as well, but I find it slightly amusing that I sense you continue to list the classes you have taken, in an indirect attempt to prove why your knowledge is correct, and mine is not.

I took Nutrition, Physiology, Exercise Science, etc as well. As I am discovering more each day, taking one or two semesters of class doesn't encompass anywhere close to what can be learned.

Should we move this to general debate?

is the outside of the apple not fiber? and fiber is a complex carb no? cellulose...found in plants, fruits vegetables...so i believe both of us seemed to be on the right track of thinking you just simply misunderstood me

also...in response to carb levels being low...i agree with you...however, she did state she had an intake of 30%..and correct me if i'm wrong but you said lowER carb levels..by that statement I take it you meant lowering carb intake even more..why?when dietary guidelines state that 40% of a healthy diet should be carbs..

also, i did not state she needed a high carb diet and I definitely didn't say ANYTHING about simple sugars because I agree with you, they will put on weight..i said she should eat healthy carbs I even capatalized it..sorry I should have clarified bc healthy carbs to me automatically mean complex carbs but I guess I should have stated that

also, the quotes I got were specifically straight from the book...not from me and I stated the classes because I feel like you were pretty much saying I have no credibility and no idea what I'm talking about when indeed I do...if you're going to argue with me..then argue with the book..as i've said these are printed facts

I've seen a lot of mixed info on this, however fruits are not normally considered a complex carb, or at least not a very good source compared to pastas, grains, beans... etc.

Fruits are healthy, yes. But if I were to tell someone to eat more complex carbs, I would not tell them to stock up on fruits because it's a very small source. An apple has less than half as many complex carbs as only a cup of cooked pasta.

Fallsian, I'm sorry we're a little mixed right now. We all seem to have different backgrounds in terms of where we learned our nutrition facts. Could you imagine someone who swears by the Atkins diet and a vegan trying to explain together what's healthy?

Ok, kind of an extreme example, but it does show that everyone has their view!

agreed,everyone has different ways/methods of staying healthy...what i do may not work for someone else,everyone is different...and thank you for being nice about it...i feel like i was being attacked earlier personally about my apparent "misleading" information...

Nope, we just need to clarify things so that the OP gets the best information. And temperment is hard to transfer via keyboard.

haha..well good luck to the original poster of this topic i hope you gathered SOME sort of useful information to help!

lol. So true!



No worries. Very little upsets me and certainly not a well-intentioned debate of ideas.

Really I think the consensus (basically) from all three of you is to basically stick with what I'm doing and tweak my carb levels to find the best fit. That is the direction I am going to go. I picked up both some protein bars as well as some fruit/grain bars, some yogurt and some almonds at the store and am going to try to stick to that until dinnertime and see what changes I have.

You do have credibility worrywart.


The problem lies in in that you are taking it straight of the nutrition book. All the facts that you mention, is based on a general healthy diet for a generic average ideal person, the information given there is not meant specifically for people who have specified goals. A book will only get you so far. Does that section in which you got the quote from specifically states "for people who have weight loss goals"? All your advice is oriented towards a healthy lifestyle, not towards weight loss. I am not saying weight loss implies you have to live unhealthily, but you cannot give the same nutritional advice to everybody.

Furthermore, fruits are not a good source of complex carbs. Yes it does contain some complex carbohydrates, but that doesn't make it a good choice for complex carbs. You can probably imagine the ratio between simple carbs and complex carbs in a fruit respectively is pretty high, since there is far more flesh then skin. Having a lot of fruits will mean a lot of simple sugars. Whole grains, as you stated earlier, and food such as sweet potato, are high and recommended sources of complex carbohydrates. Are you aware, that cooking broth out of an old fashion iron pot, can provide you with a source of non-heme iron from the pot itself? Anyway, my point is, just because it contains the nutrient, doesn't mean you should recommend it.

It seems, even on the internet, there are varied sources of whether or not a fruit is complex, or simple, but the vast majority of them states they are considered simple. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/ar ticle/002469.htm .


This was my fault, what I originally meant, was that she should have a low carb level in general, and then after you rebuked my statement and said carbs should be higher, i said it should be lower (compared to your statement, not her current dietary amount).

Not to point the finger, but I have to defend myself. I was not the first one to state your information was misleading. I only "attacked" you because of this comment in particular.


Despite what these atkins people think? You were obviously talking about me since you continued to use that later on. So excuse me if I seemed rude, but I was definitely not the one attacking here.