If your carb targets seem too high, you’ll have to figure out if they are truly too high or if your expectations aren’t aligned with what you really need.
Here are some common carb misconceptions that make some people nervous about eating too many:
1. Won’t carbs make me gain weight?
Carbs won’t make you gain weight on their own. Many diets and nutrition fads try to outlaw carbs because they think “sugar makes you fat,” or “you can’t lose weight without giving up carbs.” But that’s just not true. Carbohydrates are just like the other macros: they make you gain or lose weight depending on whether they put you in a calorie surplus or a deficit. Carbs have 4 calories per gram, just like protein. And while it’s easier to overeat carbs than it is to binge on protein, there’s nothing inherently fattening about them.
2. Don’t carbs spike insulin, which will then make me gain weight?
Again, this is a misconception. Insulin controls a lot of things in the body, including the storage of fat. But insulin can’t compete with physics: If you’re in a calorie deficit, you’re losing energy and you’ll lose weight. If you’re eating at maintenance--even with lots of carbs--there isn’t extra energy to gain weight. You’ll only gain weight if you’re eating more calories than you’re burning, and then it doesn’t matter where those calories come from (carbs, fat, or protein).
3. Isn’t this too many carbs for Ketogenic dieting?
Yes, it probably is. The Avatar system isn’t built to keep users in a ketogenic state. For that, you need to eat extremely low carbs, with high fats and moderate protein. Because the system won’t allow carbs to drop that low, the macro recommendations from Avatar won’t work for a ketogenic diet.
4. If I’m diabetic or pre-diabetic, shouldn’t I limit my carbs?
For Type 2 diabetics and pre-diabetics, it’s more important to worry about reaching a healthy body weight through a calorie deficit and exercise than it is to worry about carbs.
For Type 1 diabetics, you should speak to your doctor before beginning any nutrition plan as your needs are very individual.
5. I’ve been following a low-carb diet. Will boosting my carbs now make me gain weight?
Possibly, but it’s important to know that this isn’t a gain in fat. If you’ve been following a very low-carb diet for a while, you might see an initial increase in weight that will level off within a few days. This is just water weight stored with the increased carbs you’ll be keeping in your muscles and liver for energy.
For more info on why this happens, check out our FAQ Will Carbs Cause Me To Gain Weight?
The app factors in possible weight spikes in the first week when starting a new goal related to water weight, so you don’t need to worry about these initial increases affecting your macros.
If your carbs remain high on the Avatar system, and you’d rather see them drop, you can always adjust your carb-to-fat ratio using the Carb/Fat Preference slider in Diet Settings or with the Edit Balance slider in the tracker.