Do Low-carb Diets Work?
I planning to do a low carb diet. I’m mainly going to focus on veggies and lean meats/protein. I’ll eat like grilled chicken (no skin), fish, almonds, deviled eggs, etc.
Does it really work? I’m also including 1hr of exercise a day, if that maybe more
I swim for 30-35min doing nothing but laps
and i hula dance for 30-40min (great workout)
and i drink lots of water. would this work?
It won’t work well the way you’ve got it planned. Lean meats will require lots of extra mayo and oils, grilled chicken is fine but the skin is fine (unless you just don’t like it) but that sounds more like a low fat plan. To work properly to access & burn body fat, a low carb diet needs to be high calorie to keep the metabolism in fat burning mode and high fat to be in ketosis.
Eating carbs while trying to lose body fat is terribly inefficient. When in glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) you have to lower your calories (which slows your metabolism) and exercise heavily to deplete your glycogen stores before burning body fat.
The core of the Atkins program is converting your body from glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) to ketosis (burning fat as fuel). You need to keep your fat levels at >65% of your calories, if you don’t your body will still remain in glycolysis by converting 58% of excess protein into glucose (via gluconeogenesis).
You can have several cups a day of (mostly) lettuce and celery, cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers the first 2 weeks and more variety of vegetables thereafter add 5 grams per day additional (20 grams day first 2 weeks, 25grams 3rd week, 30grams 4th week etc) Keep your carbs at less than 9grams per hour to control insulin.
It takes minimum of 3 days to convert your body to ketosis, (but only one bite to convert back to glycosis) you will probably feel sluggish the first week but most people feel better than ever thereafter.
Ground flax seed (2-3 Tbsp) 1/4 cup of water, cinnamon, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg – let sit 10 min to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle and nuke for 1.5 min. for hot cereal or 2 min. for more of a muffin type thing. Great low carb, high fiber treat.
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I recommend the new plan but you have to follow it specifically read the book or the website (www.atkins.com). This is closer to the original (1972) plan, but its very simplistic:
You will lose more body fat eating protein and fat (don’t eat protein alone) than not eating AT ALL. To lose weight fast eat all you want but nothing but meat, eggs, healthy oils, mayo, butter and half an avocado a day (you’ll need added potassium). Keep the calories high and the fat percentage high, at least 65% of calories. Adding in green vegetables & some cheese will continue weight loss but at a slower pace.
Your body won’t release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow your metabolism to compensate and store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering your calories, it will continue lowering that set point, til you can survive off nothing and store fat on anything. The body will only release it’s fat stores if it knows there is plenty of food.
Simple carbohydrates (sugar, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice) triggers insulin which can store the calories you eat into fat. The more protein you eat the more the fat burning hormone glucagon is released. The more carbohydrate you eat the more the fat storage hormone insulin is released.
Simple carbs are addictive and can be disastrous to our health. The best way to break the addiction is NO carbs for 3 days. Make a huge batch of deviled eggs and eat one every time you want “something” have huge omelets for breakfast, with bacon, a lil onion, peppers, mushrooms & cheese. Pork chops for lunch. Get pork rinds and eat them with tuna salad. Steak for dinner. Make a huge sugar free cheese cake for dessert. Eat so much you won’t feel deprived of anything. By the fourth day, your addiction will be gone and you can start making healthy choices.
High insulin levels promote inflammation, weight gain, hunger and unbalance other hormones. Controlling your insulin level will balance out other hormones & allow human growth hormone (HGH) to be produced naturally so you will gain lean muscle even without exercise. Any exercise will greatly increase your muscle mass with high HGH levels.
Once you get near your goal, you start adding 5 carbs every week til you gain weight, then you subtract 10 carbs. That would give you your personal carb level (everyone is different and it depends on how active you are.) As long as you remain <9 carbs per hour, you will maintain insulin control, and shouldn’t gain weight.
Many people gain weight on high carb, then switch to low carb to lose weight & then are shocked when they return to high carb that they gain weight. Many people can return to moderate carb levels but very few can really eat all they want of sugar and maintain weight or health.
Dr.Atkins was a cardiologist, low carb was a health plan easier sold as a “diet” Read any of his books for easily understandable science. Lutz “Life without Bread” & Taubes “Good calories, Bad calories” are excellent books that dispel all the nutrition myths.
Reducing body fat and increasing muscle mass will have you in awesome shape in no time. Good luck!
Losing weight is about ingesting fewer calories than you burn. Since carbs are a source of calories then yes, it technically works. Just remember a couple things
1) Carbs, like fats and proteins, are needed. If you don’t get enough carbs, then your body will cease to function properly. For example, carbs are needed for your immune system to work. Don’t cut too many of them out
2) Remember that diets have to be maintained. If you stop a diet and start eating like you used to, you will gain weight again. You’ll have to eat like that for the rest of your life.
Instead of gimmicky diets, just ingest fewer calories. Eat less stuff that’s high in calories.
Yes, I lost 120 on Atkins, doing it properly. My cholesterol went down and everything, just as advertised. However, most people screw it up by eating just hamburger patties all the time and then whining they get sick off of it. Veggies first, followed by lean meats as you describe and you’ll do great. Sounds like you are approaching it with common sense. Stay away from cheeses except just an ounce here or there.. they don’t have carbs but for some reason they do slow the weight loss
Here’s the big diet secret: All diets work . . . for about three months. Then when you go off the diet, you gain back all the weight you lost and more.
You need to make a lifelong change in your eating habits and activity level–changes that will keep you at a healthy weight from now until the end. Plan long-term, or else.
ABSOLUTELY. Lowering your carb intake and exercising are the two practical things you can do to drop weight fast!
good luck(:
Yes, it does work.
Oh – don’t forget that you can have some fruit too. Berries are a good LC choice. You might want to research what the lower LC fruits are.
Even when the scale isn’t moving you can be losing weight, so if you think you are stalled, don’t panic and don’t give up. You will be building muscle mass as you lose fat, and while it takes up less space, muscle is heavier than fat. So, as a rule, monitor your measurements as you go along and let the fit of your clothes be a guide as well, rather than leaning exclusively on the scales.
There might be times when you think “I should eat but I”m not hungry” but don’t skip your meals. Have something, even if it’s just a snack of cheese and some nuts. You have to keep the fire stoked!
When you have lost the weight you want to, don’t jump back to your old way of eating. The shock will have you gaining water initially, and fat within a week. You need to slowly add in carbs and monitor things to see what your acceptable level is before your body starts to turn on you. So, be careful and only add in the “healthy” things – veggies and such.
Good Luck!
****EDIT****
Someone above on the thread mentioned cheese being a problem. For some people it’s fine, and for others, it slows them right down. No idea why that is, but you will have to judge how your body reacts to it and go from there.
One other thing – not sure if anyone mentioned it though – is to make sure you have some Metamucil or other fibre supplements in your cupboard. The one drawback with LC that I found, is that there wasn’t enough fibre. I’m not the most avid veggie fan – salads mainly, but not other stuff. I had to get supplements to make sure that I kept nature in balance. Just mentioning it cuz finding out the hard way isn’t the best way!