Does low carb make you lose faster?

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hookilau

I know that when I hit a plateau I go to a two weeks of 15 -20 net carbs. But normally I prefer to be around 50-60 carbs. Under 13 months I have lost 157pounds I consider that to mean it is working. I have had cheat meals...and do not gain. Because I know how to be healthy and still have fun with my food.

That’s weird, I have lost roughly 200 pounds, when I do low carb I stall out. I guess this means low carb doesn’t work.

Side note to all the people who talk about “low carb and insulin resistances.” Low carb diets cause insulin resistance in themselves. It’s called physiological insulin resistances. What happens when you don’t eat carbs for a long time? Your body adapts to the lower carb intake. Once you eat more carbs (normal intake) your body can’t handle it, it doesn’t produce enough insulin. There you are, insulin resistances due to low carb diets.
I won’t say anything about T3, one of the most important hormones that effect metabolic rate produced in the thyroid. How low carbs also lower T3 production which slow down metabolic rate.

False. Insulin resistance is when the pancreas overproduces insulin…………..

What came first the chicken or the egg?

Your body doesn’t produce enough insulin as before to handle the carbs so the pancreases makes more insulin than before.

In that case...

I don’t get what you’re trying to say, you’re saying if what I said is true you’d be dying?? If that’s what you’re saying, no.

Low carb diets effect the insulin receptors in the muscle. As I said previously, If you don’t eat enough carbs for a while the insulin receptors in the muscle don’t need as much insulin. You now have a lower insulin tolerance. When you eat higher amounts of carbs(go back to a moderate carb diet). Your low tolerance receptors get large amounts of glucose, which it cannot handle. You’re left with a higher glucose levels. Of course this causes the body to produce more insulin trying to lower the glucose concentration level. It can get to the point where supply and demand aren't met. Hence insulin resistances.

Have no plans to ever go back to eating more than 25g of carbs per day, so...
Also, for those of us who are on low carb diets, this is not news. It is also not the primary mechanism for IR.
FUD.
I call FUD.
and shenanigans.

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love8383

yes i seem to lose alot more weight eating low carb even when consuming the same amount of calories, not sure why.

Hornsby

I know that when I hit a plateau I go to a two weeks of 15 -20 net carbs. But normally I prefer to be around 50-60 carbs. Under 13 months I have lost 157pounds I consider that to mean it is working. I have had cheat meals...and do not gain. Because I know how to be healthy and still have fun with my food.

That’s weird, I have lost roughly 200 pounds, when I do low carb I stall out. I guess this means low carb doesn’t work.

Side note to all the people who talk about “low carb and insulin resistances.” Low carb diets cause insulin resistance in themselves. It’s called physiological insulin resistances. What happens when you don’t eat carbs for a long time? Your body adapts to the lower carb intake. Once you eat more carbs (normal intake) your body can’t handle it, it doesn’t produce enough insulin. There you are, insulin resistances due to low carb diets.
I won’t say anything about T3, one of the most important hormones that effect metabolic rate produced in the thyroid. How low carbs also lower T3 production which slow down metabolic rate.

-pic removed-

What came first the chicken or the egg?

Your body doesn’t produce enough insulin as before to handle the carbs so the pancreases makes more insulin than before.

In that case...

I don’t get what you’re trying to say, you’re saying if what I said is true you’d be dying?? If that’s what you’re saying, no.

Low carb diets effect the insulin receptors in the muscle. As I said previously, If you don’t eat enough carbs for a while the insulin receptors in the muscle don’t need as much insulin. You now have a lower insulin tolerance. When you eat higher amounts of carbs(go back to a moderate carb diet). Your low tolerance receptors get large amounts of glucose, which it cannot handle. You’re left with a higher glucose levels. Of course this causes the body to produce more insulin trying to lower the glucose concentration level. It can get to the point where supply and demand aren't met. Hence insulin resistances.

Have no plans to ever go back to eating more than 25g of carbs per day, so...
Also, for those of us who are on low carb diets, this is not news. It is also not the primary mechanism for IR.
FUD.
I call FUD.
and shenanigans.

I don’t know how you can call shenanigans on this, you even admit it. Weight loss journeys have a ton of “nevers.” As I discussed I have been doing this for a very long time. Things like, “I will never eat x again” or, “This diet isn’t hard, I’ll stick to it the rest of my life. Never go back. ”, “ill never stop exercising.” Yet all those nevers never last. We cycle through life. When I lost my weight, I said “ill never go back to the old weight.”, I even though “exercise is now a habit, I will do it for the rest of my life.” Then reality hit, life happens. Diet got bad, stopped working out. Before I knew it, I was up 50lbs. I handled it eventually, got back down.

We can’t predict the future, stuff happens. 25g is low, I am sure probably within a few months you’ll go over that. You’re never going to eat a higher carb intake? Weddings, parties, etc…? That’s an extreme claim if you put it in to context, 26g of carbs is over your “lifelong plan.” Pretty unrealistic.

What I would suggest to avoid the issues I mentioned previously. Doing something like CKD(cyclical ketogenic diet). If you really like your life style. It’s pretty simple, do the low carb 5 days a week, day 6 and 7 increase carbs, pretty much carb load. This will prevent the suppression of T3 and avoid the physiological insulin resistance. The system with most flexibility is the one that has most control.

What if someone stayed Keto but used a T3 on a regular basis to supplement?

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parkscs

From what I've seen on the subject, low carb diets tend to improve insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese individuals by inducing weight loss. If you stick with a standard ketogenic diet at an otherwise healthy bodyweight, and particularly if you aren't active, there may be some tendency to develop physiological insulin resistance. But I've seen absolutely nothing to suggest that overweight individuals who stay active and use a low carb diet to drop body fat to a healthy level are likely to develop insulin resistance. Rather, studies I've seen suggest these individuals will improve their insulin sensitivity. Possibly if you're maintaining on a SKD, but it's pretty rare to see someone using it for maintenance.

DebbieLyn63

So much non-sense in this thread.
<clipped>
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.

Ironic post is ironic. :laugh: :noway:

DebbieLyn63

From what I've seen on the subject, low carb diets tend to improve insulin sensitivity in overweight and obese individuals by inducing weight loss. If you stick with a standard ketogenic diet at an otherwise healthy bodyweight, and particularly if you aren't active, there may be some tendency to develop physiological insulin resistance. But I've seen absolutely nothing to suggest that overweight individuals who stay active and use a low carb diet to drop body fat to a healthy level are likely to develop insulin resistance. Rather, studies I've seen suggest these individuals will improve their insulin sensitivity. Possibly if you're maintaining on a SKD, but it's pretty rare to see someone using it for maintenance.

+1

Unknown

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Unknown

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lindsey1979

I know that when I hit a plateau I go to a two weeks of 15 -20 net carbs. But normally I prefer to be around 50-60 carbs. Under 13 months I have lost 157pounds I consider that to mean it is working. I have had cheat meals...and do not gain. Because I know how to be healthy and still have fun with my food.

That’s weird, I have lost roughly 200 pounds, when I do low carb I stall out. I guess this means low carb doesn’t work.

Side note to all the people who talk about “low carb and insulin resistances.” Low carb diets cause insulin resistance in themselves. It’s called physiological insulin resistances. What happens when you don’t eat carbs for a long time? Your body adapts to the lower carb intake. Once you eat more carbs (normal intake) your body can’t handle it, it doesn’t produce enough insulin. There you are, insulin resistances due to low carb diets.
I won’t say anything about T3, one of the most important hormones that effect metabolic rate produced in the thyroid. How low carbs also lower T3 production which slow down metabolic rate.

False. Insulin resistance is when the pancreas overproduces insulin…………..

What came first the chicken or the egg?

Your body doesn’t produce enough insulin as before to handle the carbs so the pancreases makes more insulin than before.

I don't think you understand the mechanism of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when your cells are resistant to insulin, so your pancreas produces more insulin in response to compensate. Sure, you can get to a point where your pancreas can't produce enough insulin because of the insulin resistance -- diabetes land (type I, I think) -- but that's not the same thing.

And as parkscs has pointed out, I've only seen evidence that low carb diets tend to improve insulin sensitivity (as does certain types of fasting). Also, there is a difference between low carb and keto. Some folks will reduce carbs and be low carb or lower carb, but not enough to be truly keto.

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FatFreeFrolicking

I know that when I hit a plateau I go to a two weeks of 15 -20 net carbs. But normally I prefer to be around 50-60 carbs. Under 13 months I have lost 157pounds I consider that to mean it is working. I have had cheat meals...and do not gain. Because I know how to be healthy and still have fun with my food.

That’s weird, I have lost roughly 200 pounds, when I do low carb I stall out. I guess this means low carb doesn’t work.

Side note to all the people who talk about “low carb and insulin resistances.” Low carb diets cause insulin resistance in themselves. It’s called physiological insulin resistances. What happens when you don’t eat carbs for a long time? Your body adapts to the lower carb intake. Once you eat more carbs (normal intake) your body can’t handle it, it doesn’t produce enough insulin. There you are, insulin resistances due to low carb diets.
I won’t say anything about T3, one of the most important hormones that effect metabolic rate produced in the thyroid. How low carbs also lower T3 production which slow down metabolic rate.

False. Insulin resistance is when the pancreas overproduces insulin…………..

What came first the chicken or the egg?

Your body doesn’t produce enough insulin as before to handle the carbs so the pancreases makes more insulin than before.

I don't think you understand the mechanism of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when your cells are resistant to insulin, so your pancreas produces more insulin in response to compensate. Sure, you can get to a point where your pancreas can't produce enough insulin because of the insulin resistance -- diabetes land (type I, I think) -- but that's not the same thing.

And as parkscs has pointed out, I've only seen evidence that low carb diets tend to improve insulin sensitivity (as does certain types of fasting). Also, there is a difference between low carb and keto. Some folks will reduce carbs and be low carb or lower carb, but not enough to be truly keto.

Yes you’re right, insulin resistance is when you are resistance to insulin. If you eat low carbs for a long time your muscles adapt to this new low which means less insulin production. You go back to eating normal carbs, your glucose concentration is what is considered normal, but since your insulin cells have a lower tolereance before, what was considered normal glucose concentrations actually become high. More than normal amounts of insulin need to be produced. Hence insulin resistance.

You’re leaving thing out in what parkcs said, he said in OVERWEIGHT/OBESE individuals. That is a very important keyword you left out. I agreed with him, and I stated that we’re talking about people on this forum topic stating they plan to stay on keto the rest of their lives.

Lol, no. It's not very often that a person who has insulin resistance, goes on a low carb diet to reverse insulin resistance, then becomes insulin resistant all over again when they return to eating 130+ g carbs. That's just silly and doctors wouldn't recommend that for treatment if it were the case.

Rainboots80

I stick to under 100g carbs daily. July 31st will be 6 months since I started it and I am down almost 70 pounds. I also count calories too.

CurvyCoco1908

Amazing! I'm doing low carbs too! I just started. I'll keep up with calories too and compare. Keep up the good work!

CurvyCoco1908

Wow! I'm doing carb too!

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lindsey1979

I know that when I hit a plateau I go to a two weeks of 15 -20 net carbs. But normally I prefer to be around 50-60 carbs. Under 13 months I have lost 157pounds I consider that to mean it is working. I have had cheat meals...and do not gain. Because I know how to be healthy and still have fun with my food.

That’s weird, I have lost roughly 200 pounds, when I do low carb I stall out. I guess this means low carb doesn’t work.

Side note to all the people who talk about “low carb and insulin resistances.” Low carb diets cause insulin resistance in themselves. It’s called physiological insulin resistances. What happens when you don’t eat carbs for a long time? Your body adapts to the lower carb intake. Once you eat more carbs (normal intake) your body can’t handle it, it doesn’t produce enough insulin. There you are, insulin resistances due to low carb diets.
I won’t say anything about T3, one of the most important hormones that effect metabolic rate produced in the thyroid. How low carbs also lower T3 production which slow down metabolic rate.

False. Insulin resistance is when the pancreas overproduces insulin…………..

What came first the chicken or the egg?

Your body doesn’t produce enough insulin as before to handle the carbs so the pancreases makes more insulin than before.

I don't think you understand the mechanism of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when your cells are resistant to insulin, so your pancreas produces more insulin in response to compensate. Sure, you can get to a point where your pancreas can't produce enough insulin because of the insulin resistance -- diabetes land (type I, I think) -- but that's not the same thing.

And as parkscs has pointed out, I've only seen evidence that low carb diets tend to improve insulin sensitivity (as does certain types of fasting). Also, there is a difference between low carb and keto. Some folks will reduce carbs and be low carb or lower carb, but not enough to be truly keto.

Yes you’re right, insulin resistance is when you are resistance to insulin. If you eat low carbs for a long time your muscles adapt to this new low which means less insulin production. You go back to eating normal carbs, your glucose concentration is what is considered normal, but since your insulin cells have a lower tolereance before, what was considered normal glucose concentrations actually become high. More than normal amounts of insulin need to be produced. Hence insulin resistance.

You’re leaving thing out in what parkcs said, he said in OVERWEIGHT/OBESE individuals. That is a very important keyword you left out. I agreed with him, and I stated that we’re talking about people on this forum topic stating they plan to stay on keto the rest of their lives.

I'm not really sure where you're getting your information that if you eat low carb, your muscles get used to lower insulin levels. To me, that very much sounds like your cells are become more insulin SENSITIVE -- because they're used to the lower levels of insulin. That is EXACTLY what insulin resistant individuals want -- to be come more insulin sensitive.

You're describing something that doesn't quite make sense. You start off insulin resistant, then your become more insulin sensitive from eating fewer cards, then you eat carbs and become insulin resistant all over again. I've never seen nor heard of any study that supports that idea in humans.

parkscs

I'm no expert on the subject and admittedly haven't read a lot about it because my own goals involve TKD for cutting and reintroducing a higher level of carbs next year when bulking, and so it's honestly not that relevant to me. But, at least one study I'm aware of is:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11237931

In the absence of fat loss, it appears the ketogenic diet caused a physiological insulin resistance adaptation. Of course, that's just a single study, so take it for what it's worth. But in the event you experience such an adaptation, it should be fine provided you stay on the very low carb diet, and I suspect to the extent you gradually reintroduce carbohydrates into your diet, this adaptation could be reversed. With moderately low carb diets I think the results tend to be more mixed. And there are plenty of other studies showing ketogenic diets improving insulin sensitivity, but many of these involved fat loss as well and there I suspect it's the fat loss causing the greatest improvement to insulin sensitivity.

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curlygirl513

Newb question. If newb questions annoy you, you may want to leave now or risk being annoyed. Anyway, I can't do low carb because as soon as I go off of it I stuff my face with the carbs I've been missing for so long. But I did seem to lose faster on it for some reason. For 4 months of my weight loss journey I was strictly low carb (25g or less carbs per day). I lost about 73 pounds in 17 weeks. I didn't track any calories during those months so maybe I was just way under TDEE? Or is there something about low carb living that makes you lose weight faster?

I went vegan, whole foods, and no refined sugar. I lost 11 pounds in the first 2 weeks. It was bloat. I'm losing weight just fine eating the way I am. And I cannot wait to get another physical in 2 months and see the results. I will post them here.

ptrcmcc6

Replying so I can follow this thread (and read it later) but I also want to say it worked for me.

jjdiggy

The most I've done is cut out all bread, though I kept eating other carbs like potato and pasta (wholemeal). Ditching bread gave me zero motivation, and I often felt very very exhausted and had little energy, and surviving on carbs from the pasta and such was just not enough for me.

Ditching bread only made things worse, and I didn't loose anything. I have been eating wholemeal pastas and breads the whole time I have been dieting and the weight is still dropping off...and it's giving me MUCH more energy to work out. In all I would say carbs are fine, just learn to limit yourself.

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Fit_Chef_NE

Any kind of extreme restriction will help with weight loss, as long as you keep a calorie deficit. What is more important in the long term is that the changes that are made are sustainable for life. Otherwise as soon as you return to your old habits, the weight will return. I try to be as realistic as possible when it comes to tweaking my food routine.

That said, I did a "whole 30" to kick start my diet. I am glad that I did. That involved cutting out sugars and many sources of carbs (As well as processed foods and other things). I don't have any food sensitivities, but it did help me to become much more aware of what I was eating, how it effected my body and even my emotions. I slowly reintroduced things back into my diet but I have far less trouble now eating in moderation. It broke my emotional attachment to foods. And I was a carb-oholic. I would pass up a bowl of ice cream for a bagel and cream cheese any day. Candy? No thanks, give me a bag of pretzels!

Now I can eat the serving size on a box of crackers (wheat thins, how I love thee!) and go about my day with no problem. Before, the box would be gone in a few hours and I would be hating myself for the rest of the week.

anglergirl3

bump

pds06

yes it does!

eric_sg61

yes it does!

No
From Alan Aragon
"If you're comparing diets that match sufficient protein intake, you don't lose fat more quickly with lower carbs (yes, even at keto levels). This has been demonstrated repeatedly:

"Body-weight loss and weight-maintenance depends on the high-protein, but not on the 'low-carb' component of the diet, while it is unrelated to the concomitant fat-content of the diet." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22935440

"KLC [ketogenic low-carb] and NLC [non-ketogenic low-carb] diets were equally effective in reducing body weight and insulin resistance, but the KLC diet was associated with several adverse metabolic and emotional effects. The use of ketogenic diets for weight loss is not warranted." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16685046

Also see the results of this meta-analysis of 23 randomized controlled trials (mean carb proportion in the LC groups was 23% of total kcals):

"Reductions in body weight, waist circumference and other metabolic risk factors were not significantly different between the 2 diets." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23035144

Regarding diet comparisons in general:

"Significant weight loss was observed with any low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet. Weight loss differences between individual named diets were small. This supports the practice of recommending any diet that a patient will adhere to in order to lose weight." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25182101 "

Unknown

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