Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Cooking 101
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
SUBSCRIBE
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Eating Smart
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • News

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Email Preferences

Manage Your Subscription

  • All Access Subscribers
  • Magazine Subscribers
  • Cooking Light Diet Subscribers
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Health News
  3. Can I Eat Carbs and Still Lose Weight?

Can I Eat Carbs and Still Lose Weight?

By Carolyn Williams, Ph.D., R.D. December 09, 2015
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Photo: Jennifer Causey
Banishing carbs altogether in an effort to lose weight isn't realistic or even desirable. Maintain a balanced diet with our advice.
Start Slideshow

1 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

My meal plan seems to have lots of carbs. How will I lose weight eating this?

Credit: Photo: Jennifer Causey

I’ve gotten this question from several Cooking Light Diet subscribers, and they’re right to question a diet that’s full of carbohydrates since media have trained us to associate carbs with weight gain. Forget what you may have heard, and let me try to clarify how carbohydrates and weight loss are intertwined, how you can lose weight eating them, and how it’s even essential that you eat carbs to burn fat.

Join the Cooking Light Diet

1 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

1. Carbs are essential—especially for weight loss.

Credit: Photo: Brian Woodcock

Carbs are designed to be your body’s primary source of energy, and you need an ample amount of carbohydrates each day for your brain and body to function effectively. Only when your body is adequately fueled with carbs can your body also break down fat stores. If you aren’t consuming enough, you’ll feel the effects—low energy, sluggishness, brain fog, trouble paying attention, and your body will actually go into starvation mode. You’ll start breaking down lean body mass, and your metabolism will slow. If you’re trying to lose weight, this is not what you want!

2 of 7

3 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

2. Focus on calories first, then carbohydrates.

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor

Weight loss happens when calories burned daily exceed the calories consumed, so ultimately weight loss boils down to total calories, not necessarily the specific foods you eat. Research even shows that the most effective weight loss occurs when people consume approximately 60% of their calories from carbohydrates. This may seem high, but this percentage is right in line with what the Dietary Guidelines recommend for optimal health (45-65% of calories from carbs). If your meal plan is for 1,400 calories, you should eat around 60% or 210 grams of carbohydrates per day. If this number makes you nervous, then use the lower end of the Dietary Guideline range (45-65% of 1,400 calories is 158 to 228 grams of carbohydrates). 

3 of 7

Advertisement

4 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Special Offer

Credit: cooking light diet
Try the Cooking Light Diet: Sign Up Now

Get a customized diet plan and daily reminders to keep you on track. Support for vegetarian, gluten free, ingredient exclusions, and more. Now with Progress Tracker: track your weight loss, earn badges and rewards!

4 of 7

5 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

3. Think beyond bread.

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor

Say the word carb and most automatically think bread, potatoes, rice and pasta, but grains are just one of the food groups that supply carbohydrates. We also get carbohydrates from vegetables like broccoli, green beans, and lettuce, starchy vegetables like corn and potatoes, fruits and juice, some dairy products, and foods that have had sugar added to them during the manufacturing process. 

5 of 7

6 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

4. Quality counts.

Credit: Photo: Randy Mayor

If we truly followed the USDA and Dietary Guideline’s eating recommendations, then our carbohydrate intake would only come from high-quality sources such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, and low-fat dairy. We’d still need to monitor portion sizes, but we probably wouldn’t associate carbs with weight gain if we stuck to only the good ones. So when someone gains weight from “eating carbohydrates,” it’s rarely because they’re eating too many of the high-quality ones. It’s because they’re eating too many refined carbohydrates with added sugar or fat (sodas, candy, coffee drinks, chips, snack foods, French fries, and fast food) in addition to a few healthy ones. The extra sugar and fat adds calories on top of the carbohydrate in the food to start with, and the added sugar can cause blood sugar spikes and dips so we feel hungry quicker and eat more. 

6 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 7

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Try Again

Credit: Photo: Jennifer Causey

If you’ve been avoiding carbs or if you’re doubtful that these choices will help you lose weight, I challenge you to just try one week of following the diet exactly as written. I think you’ll find your clothes a little looser, your appetite satisfied, and your energy levels increased. 

Make this cheesy chicken dish part of your Cooking Light DIET meal plan. Sign up today.

7 of 7

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Carolyn Williams, Ph.D., R.D.

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 7 My meal plan seems to have lots of carbs. How will I lose weight eating this?
    2 of 7 1. Carbs are essential—especially for weight loss.
    3 of 7 2. Focus on calories first, then carbohydrates.
    4 of 7 Special Offer
    5 of 7 3. Think beyond bread.
    6 of 7 4. Quality counts.
    7 of 7 Try Again

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Cooking Light

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise
    • Content Licensing
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    MeredithCooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Cooking Light. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

    View image

    Can I Eat Carbs and Still Lose Weight?
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.