No carbs for 10 days

tjsims88 · May 2016

I'm thinking of starting this no carb challenge. Is that even possible? No carbs? Will i lose a good amount of weight, at least 5lbs?

singingflutelady · May 2016

You are going to only eat meat? Why?!? All you need is a calorie deficit.

tjsims88 · May 2016

Idk.. My friends are doing it

is it true that if I'm not eating carbs, my body will be forced to burn fat?!?!

Colorscheme · May 2016

It's more like a huge drop in water weight if you're going to be only doing it for ten days, and the weight will come back as soon as you eat carbs again. It's really not necessary, you can just count calories and lose weight.

cerise_noir · May 2016

Unfortunately, no. I eat lots of carbs and still lose fat since I eat less calories than my body needs to maintain.

No carbs is essentially meat and fat... No veggies, no fruits, no cheese, no milk....just unprocessed meat (some processed meats can contain carbs) and fats. What will happen during this is that your body will shed water weight, so when you go back to carbs, your body will happily take back that water weight. Look for something that you can do for the rest of your life. For me, I eat the foods that I like (nutritious plus treats- portion control), weigh the food on a food scale and log them. I eat between 250-500 calories below my maintenance level and I lose weight. The only way to lose fat is to eat less calories than your body needs to maintain...then your body will 'burn' fat and a little muscle.

If you wish to do low carb or even keto, that's cool, too....but it's something that most do for the long haul, not just for a few days.

atjays · May 2016

It's not going to burn anything if you're still over eating. Wildly changing your diet is usually not conducive to results unless it's something sustainable and practical. Low carb diets are crash diets that may work for a week or so. Honestly from personal experience I would NEVER recommend low carb to anyone. After a day or two your body will begin to revolt. You'll have crippling headaches, zero energy and just feel like garbage all the time. All so you can quickly lose 2-3 pounds?? Totally not worth it. Find some healthy meal plans, learn how to calorie count and weigh your food. Hit the gym hard. That's really the ONLY way to properly lose weight in a healthy manner. Good results require hard work

emdeesea · May 2016

That sounds completely miserable. You could go LOW carb (like under 100 g a day), but no carb sounds like torture. And like everyone else already said, you'll only lose water weight which will immediately come right back. The only way to lose fat is to eat in a deficit.

Etsar73 · May 2016

I have lost 16kg eating carbs everyday of my weightloss journey. I even eat crappy processed carbs. I just make sure l stay at or below my calorie goal for the day. I did Atkins several years ago and lost some weight but it wasn't sustainable for me. I have lost so much more weight counting calories alone. It fits much better with where l see myself after l finish losing the weight.

Oh and l lost most of it without any exercise. I only started that recently.

tlflag1620 · May 2016

In all fairness, what he is contemplating isn't a "low carb" diet. It's not even a keto diet. LC and keto include at least some vegetation and often some dairy. I've done low carb for three years now. But it's a well constructed lc diet that includes a variety of veggies, low sugar or savory fruit, dairy, seeds and nuts, and even small amounts of grains or starchy veg, plus meat and eggs. Not a fad, and certainly not the kind of "challenge" the OP is contemplating. If you go low carb you do shed a bit of water initially (basically you burn through your stored glycogen, which is bound in water) and along with it electrolytes, so it is important to make sure to get enough sodium, magnesium, and potassium if you don't want to feel the way you described in the first couple weeks.

I lost nearly 50 lbs using LC, without weighing and measuring, without calorie counting, and without an increase in activity level, and have kept it off (outside of a pregnancy, but I got back to prepregnancy weight within 7/8 months). OP if you want to try LC, why not put together a reasonable plan and try it out for a few weeks? What you are proposing is very likely to leave you feeling terrible, and when you go back to "normal" eating after ten days you will very likely regain any weight you did lose. Not worth it!

diannethegeek · May 2016

Do your friends mean zero carbs at all, which would also mean no fruits, veggies, dairy, etc? Or are they using "carbs" more colloquially to mean just breads, starches, and pasta? Because it sounds to me like maybe your friends don't know what they're talking about.

specialkally · May 2016

Low carb, low fat has worked for me but I don't think doing it for 10 days will help. You lose a lot of water in the first week alone before burning fat. Calorie counting doesn't work me so bare in mind everyone is different.

sijomial · May 2016

I don't know isn't a great reason for doing something is it?
Think for yourself rather than follow the herd!

If you are in a calorie deficit you will burn fat, nothing magical about carb restriction apart from losing some extra water weight quickly which will come back later anyway. Yes you may lose 5lbs but that won't be all fat, mainly a temporary loss of water.

These type of "challenges" are utterly daft IMHO, do you actually want to be miserable for no benefit at all?
If you feel the need for a short term challenge why not make it something positive or enjoyable?

paperpudding · May 2016

Op if I remember rightly you had another thread about a gimmicky thing?

I think you need to focus on basics - eat less, move more ( calorie count to make sure you are doing so) and stop looking for ' magic answers'

misskarne · May 2016

And if your friends jumped off a bridge because they said it would burn fat, would you?

You can lose weight eating carbs.

nvmomketo · May 2016

I tried to do this for a month as a challenge. I was already eating a very low carb high fat ketogenic diet (<30g of carbs per day) so it wasn't a big switch for me. I did not complete the month. I did some travelling and was staying with relatives, plus we had some vegetarian house guests staying with us for a week so I went with what was easiest.

I did enjoy the simplicity of cooking with only meat, cheese and eggs. I felt fine and kept my sodium levels up because I am aware that water and electrolytes are lost when carbs are lowered (carbs cause water retention). Often supplementing sodium with 3000-5000mg per day is needed to maintain your electrolyte levels. If you do that you will avoid the headaches, brain fog, fatigue and other symptoms of low electrolytes.

I do know a few people who eat zero carb most of the time. They feel better eating that way. I know just as many who tried it and found it wasn't something they wanted to do long term, or needed to do. Try it if you are interested but make sure you supplement with salter you will feel miserable and unfairly judge the diet as uncomfortable and not worth it.

Btw, every person who has tried it, that I know of, has lost some weight on it. It could just be the thermogenic properties of protein and fat, or it could be reduced appetite, but we all lost so e weight. And yes, most people lose a couple of pounds of water weight when they severely cut carbs, but a couple of pounds is all it usually is.

Good luck

moto450 · May 2016

Then what are you going to do after the ten days? If it's not sustainable in the long run you will just end right back up where you started. Just eat right, don't limit anything, but be smart about it, track your calories, and exercise. No fancy diets about it.

cwolfman13 · May 2016

Cutting carbs is just one of many ways of managing an energy deficiency...i.e. calorie deficit. Energy deficiency is how you lose weight...when you consume less energy than your body requires to maintain the status quo, you burn stored energy (body fat) to make up the difference.

Generally low carb will result in quicker initial weight loss, but most of it is water and glycogen, not fat. When you start consuming carbs again you will replenish glycogen stores and hold onto more water so you will see a jump on the scale.

Also, no carb would be pretty tough sledding...basically you would have to eat high fat and moderate protein. Things like veggies, fruit, etc are all carbs...so no carb would mean you're not eating any veggies or fruit which seems a bit ridiculous to me, particularly from a nutrition/health standpoint.

WinoGelato · May 2016

OP going low carb takes planning and preparation. Going extremely low carb (keto) even more so. No carb (essentially just meat and fat) is going to be even harder, and nearly impossible to get appropriate nutrition on.

It really doesn't sound like you've thought through this at all and the fact that you said "because my friends are trying it" reinforces that.

Any temporary change is likely going to yield temporary results. Is that what you're looking for? An extremely restrictive (and likely unsatisfying) approach that may result in a few pounds of water weight being shed that will likely pop right back on when you return to your old way of eating.

booksandchocolate12 · May 2016

Sounds like you need some better-educated friends.

kshama2001 · May 2016

I've heard doing both low carb and low fat at the same time is a bad idea but cannot find the reference. Perhaps @nvmomketo can help me out.

cerise_noir · May 2016

And low fat isn't healthy, either (you need fat for brain function, for fat soluable vitamins, hormone regulation, digestion, etc), low fat never helped anyone....CICO is science and works. It will work if done correctly (weighing food, logging with correct entries, not choosing a massive deficit, keeping realistic expectations). Yes, CICO works for everyone, sorry...its just easy to underestimate food intake and overestimate calorie burns, so I can see why some would assume CICO doesn't work.

No carbs for 10 days

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