Does low carb make you lose faster?

parkscs

Low carb diets tend to be very satiating, oftentimes allowing you to more easily create an aggressive caloric deficit than a high carb diet. They can also produce better results to the extent you're more insulin resistant, as many obese people are. These factors can potentially lead to you losing faster, but it's not because of any metabolic advantage offered by low carb diets.

nosebag1212

for most people yes. keeping insulin low(not eating carbs) as long as possible will speed up fat loss. when you eat carbs you secrete insulin. insulin is responsible for shuttling in nutrients to fat cells and limits fat oxidation when its elevated in the blood. a good compromise is dont eat any carbs until after your workout in the afternoon evening. its effective and you wont go totally nuts

utter nonsense

Iwishyouwell

Yes, it did help me lose weight pretty fast. At least at first. That's because I enjoy most lower carbohydrate foods, but I almost never overeat them. So low carbing regulated my weight loss at a steady rate without the need for calorie counting.

But even that eventually slowed down and I just hit a maintenance. I'm a big fan of dietary fat and was eating a lot of it, which was keeping my calories up. Low carb made it much easier for me to cut down on the "calories in" portion of eating without feeling deprived, and it actually made me feel more energetic than high carbohydrate consumption does, but it doesn't cancel out CICO.

dieselbyte

Low carb diets tend to be very satiating, oftentimes allowing you to more easily create an aggressive caloric deficit than a high carb diet. They can also produce better results to the extent you're more insulin resistant, as many obese people are. These factors can potentially lead to you losing faster, but it's not because of any metabolic advantage offered by low carb diets.

Huh? You speak of insulin resistance as if it were a good thing?? Insulin resistance is not healthy or normal, and can lead to a host of physical and phsycological problems.

charlieibeling

there is no debate. insulin blunts fat loss

fats and protein are essential for survival. carbs are not. protein is more thermogenic in its metabolism and necessary for maintanence of muscle tissue. cutting protein will slow metabolic rate and lead to muscle loss which will also reduce metabolism. reducing carbs is the easiest way to keep metabolism high and lose weight

ninerbuff

Less carbs means less water retention, less glycogen storage and less calories for many.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

parkscs

Low carb diets tend to be very satiating, oftentimes allowing you to more easily create an aggressive caloric deficit than a high carb diet. They can also produce better results to the extent you're more insulin resistant, as many obese people are. These factors can potentially lead to you losing faster, but it's not because of any metabolic advantage offered by low carb diets.

Huh? You speak of insulin resistance as if it were a good thing?? Insulin resistance is not healthy or normal, and can lead to a host of physical and phsycological problems.

Reading comprehension? I'm not sure how you're getting "insulin resistance = good!" out of my post.

I can rephrase, although I think I was clear to begin with. If YOU are insulin resistance, you may find more success in terms of fat loss when following a low carb diet. Many obese people tend to also be insulin resistant. I'm not at all saying that's at all a good thing, but it is pretty well known that obesity is associated with an elevated risk of developing insulin resistance. In any event, to the extent someone is insulin resistant, they may well see better losses when eating a low carb diet. But outside of conditions of this nature there's no real metabolic advantage from following a low carb diet.

charlieibeling

here is a good read on insulin and what it does in the body
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/pancreas/insulin_phys.html


Here is a cut and paste of the pertinent facts
Insulin inhibits breakdown of fat in adipose tissue by inhibiting the intracellular lipase that hydrolyzes triglycerides to release fatty acids.

Insulin facilitates entry of glucose into adipocytes, and within those cells, glucose can be used to synthesize glycerol. This glycerol, along with the fatty acids delivered from the liver, are used to synthesize triglyceride within the adipocyte. By these mechanisms, insulin is involved in further accumulation of triglyceride in fat cells.

From a whole body perspective, insulin has a fat-sparing effect. Not only does it drive most cells to preferentially oxidize carbohydrates instead of fatty acids for energy, insulin indirectly stimulates accumulation of fat in adipose tissue.

RachelSteeners

I eat low carb (max 200 grams a day) and I've been losing consistently.

lindsey1979

I agree with the folks that made the following points:

(1) High fat, low carb diets tend to be more satiating, so some people have an easier time maintaining a caloric deficit. For others, it makes no difference -- this is really a personal preference on how easy, enjoyable you personally find low carb.

(2) There may be an metabolic advantage for those with insulin resistance, which is quite common, especially among the obese. However, others may actually be disadvantaged if they're more insulin sensitive. So, once again, it comes down to an individual circumstance issue rather than a bright line rule that applies to everyone.

ironanimal

I eat low carb (max 200 grams a day) and I've been loosing consistently.

lol

TutuMom41

Ya it works temporarily, mainly because refined carbs can have a lot of calories. So not much bang for your buck. So you end up eating more. (especially me I tend to eat too much of it and go overboard) It's still ultimately eating less calories than your burning.

Carbs (any kind) have 4 cals per gram just like protein

TutuMom41

Low carb diets do work but to maintain your weight loss you need to follow calories in and calories out. After a few days of eating NO carbs you start to experience the side effect of less hunger. It works but is not sustainable long term.

LolBroScience

Makes me lose my mind more rapidly.

TutuMom41

Makes me lose my mind more rapidly.

Are you sure you haven't already lost it?

RachelSteeners

I'm not sure what was so funny about my previous post... I just double checked and 150g is my daily maximum. I rarely reach that. I know 150g isn't super low carb but it's still much less than the average person. My carb intake mainly includes vegetables, fruit and whole grains. I've been able to lower my blood glucose 17% over the past three months.

dieselbyte

Low carb diets tend to be very satiating, oftentimes allowing you to more easily create an aggressive caloric deficit than a high carb diet. They can also produce better results to the extent you're more insulin resistant, as many obese people are. These factors can potentially lead to you losing faster, but it's not because of any metabolic advantage offered by low carb diets.

Huh? You speak of insulin resistance as if it were a good thing?? Insulin resistance is not healthy or normal, and can lead to a host of physical and phsycological problems.

Reading comprehension? I'm not sure how you're getting "insulin resistance = good!" out of my post.

I can rephrase, although I think I was clear to begin with. If YOU are insulin resistance, you may find more success in terms of fat loss when following a low carb diet. Many obese people tend to also be insulin resistant. I'm not at all saying that's at all a good thing, but it is pretty well known that obesity is associated with an elevated risk of developing insulin resistance. In any event, to the extent someone is insulin resistant, they may well see better losses when eating a low carb diet. But outside of conditions of this nature there's no real metabolic advantage from following a low carb diet.

Your sentence structure lacks clarity, and your grammar was off. What you initially wrote was confusing, and if you read it objectively you will agree.

TutuMom41

I'm not sure what was so funny about my previous post... I know 200g isn't super low carb but it's still much less than the average person. My carb intake mainly includes vegetables, fruit and whole grains. I've been able to lower my blood glucose 17% over the past three months.

My macros want me to aim for 196 in carbs to maintain my weight which is 784 in cals a day (I actually ignore it) but 200g is not low at all

Some_Watery_Tart

It also bears mentioning that a nutritionist has a much different idea of what "low carb" is compared to many of the fad diets out there.

I'm on a low carb diet. My daily intake is 35% calories from carbs. That's 144 grams of carbs per day--a whole lot more than Dr. Atkins would recommend. I lose weight steadily and feel better when I stick to this diet. But I'm also insulin resistant with a long history of Type 2 diabetes in my family. I consult with my doctor and nutritionist quarterly to make diet and medication adjustments.

That being said, low carb in any form is not necessary for successful fat loss for someone without any medical issues. But if you prefer low carb foods and can enjoy them while maintaining a caloric deficit, then go for it.

RachelSteeners

I guess I should have said 150g is low carb for me... I must have been eating around 500g or so a day previously (before I started my most recent my weight los journey)... Lots of bread, pasta, dairy.

lindsey1979

Low carb diets tend to be very satiating, oftentimes allowing you to more easily create an aggressive caloric deficit than a high carb diet. They can also produce better results to the extent you're more insulin resistant, as many obese people are. These factors can potentially lead to you losing faster, but it's not because of any metabolic advantage offered by low carb diets.

Huh? You speak of insulin resistance as if it were a good thing?? Insulin resistance is not healthy or normal, and can lead to a host of physical and phsycological problems.

Reading comprehension? I'm not sure how you're getting "insulin resistance = good!" out of my post.

I can rephrase, although I think I was clear to begin with. If YOU are insulin resistance, you may find more success in terms of fat loss when following a low carb diet. Many obese people tend to also be insulin resistant. I'm not at all saying that's at all a good thing, but it is pretty well known that obesity is associated with an elevated risk of developing insulin resistance. In any event, to the extent someone is insulin resistant, they may well see better losses when eating a low carb diet. But outside of conditions of this nature there's no real metabolic advantage from following a low carb diet.

Your sentence structure lacks clarity, and your grammar was off. What you initially wrote was confusing, and if you read it objectively you will agree.

For what it's worth, I didn't find your post confusing, and I don't see what is off with it grammar-wise either.

Unknown

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Hornsby

I'm not sure what was so funny about my previous post... I just double checked and 150g is my daily maximum. I rarely reach that. I know 150g isn't super low carb but it's still much less than the average person. My carb intake mainly includes vegetables, fruit and whole grains. I've been able to lower my blood glucose 17% over the past three months.

How many calories do you eat per day?

RachelSteeners

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How many calories do you eat per day?
[/quote]

1300-1500

TutuMom41

So much non-sense in this thread. Some is not non-sense it’s just vague and unclear. When you do a low carb diet your muscle glycogen gets low. This causes a loss in body weight. Protein can also act as a diuretic which causes water loss. In both cases you’re losing water weight and glycogen. This is the only quick weight loss experienced. Once you eat some carbohydrates those pounds you lost will come back.

When you eat, insulin increases. This is true for protein’s and lipids aka fats as well. Protein converts to glucose at 48/100 ratio through gluconeogenic amino acids. Fats convert to insulin through an ASP metabolic pathway. Some have said high fat diets increase satiety. It has been showing it’s protein in the high fat diets, not the fats. Fats also have a hell of a lot more calories per gram. This means less volume of food. When I did a high fat diet, I was always over my calories on very little food. Some do well on this type of diet, I do not as reasons already discussed.

Low carbers like to think that doing low carb burns more fat. Honestly it does. The fat their oxidizing is dietary fat, not body fat. In the end, it doesn’t matter. It always boils down to Calories In Versus Calories Out. No exceptions.

Some day people will catch on to this I am tired of people thinking I am to skinny and have a lucky metabolism when I spent most of my life morbidly obese. I just say if you ate what I ate you would weigh what I weigh. Some how they still think I am lucky.

Hornsby

How many calories do you eat per day?

1300-1500

So 150 carbs would be between 40-46% of your diet. I think (and someone correct me if I am wrong) but low carb is considered 25% or below of your total calories. I know you already cleared it up that you meant low carb "for you" but just wanted to give you the info.

RachelSteeners

I totally agree with: Calories In Versus Calories Out.

I have lowered by carb intake as per my dietitians suggestion due to being diagnosed as pre-diabetic just over three months ago...

RachelSteeners

It feels like carbs are in everything! What are you guys eating to only eat 25g or so a day? Lots of meat?

parkscs

They can also produce better results to the extent you're more insulin resistant, as many obese people are.

So you really thought that I was implying many obese people are on low carb diets and because of their low carb diets the obese people are insulin resistant? Low carb diets can produce better results if you're insulin resistant, as many obese people are. That's pretty well-known and hardly a radical idea. Use a bit of context and common sense when you read.

lindsey1979

How many calories do you eat per day?

1300-1500

So 150 carbs would be between 40-46% of your diet. I think (and someone correct me if I am wrong) but low carb is considered 25% or below of your total calories. I know you already cleared it up that you meant low carb "for you" but just wanted to give you the info.

I don't think there is a clear definition of "low carb". Some consider it the carbs needed to get in to and stay in ketosis -- like the initial stage of Atkins which is less than 25 carbs per day. Others consider higher numbers and some call it low carb or lower carb -- and those numbers I've seen anywhere between 50-150g per day, but usually they aren't in ketosis or trying to get into ketosis with those numbers. They just restrict their carbs for other reasons, usually insulin resistance related from diabetes, prediabetes, PCOS, etc.