A Call for a Low-Carb Diet

prettykitty1515

Interesting article in today's New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/health/low-carb-vs-low-fat-diet.html

From the article:

“To my knowledge, this is one of the first long-term trials that’s given these diets without calorie restrictions,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, who was not involved in the new study. “It shows that in a free-living setting, cutting your carbs helps you lose weight without focusing on calories. And that’s really important because someone can change what they eat more easily than trying to cut down on their calories.”

Flies in the face of everything we believe here.

Kevalicious99

#bull**** .... I only believe a bit of what I read on the internet.

It does not matter what you eat as how much you eat ... no deficit no loss. Pure and simple.

jenilla1

That's cool. I'm fine with low-carb if that works for people. Some people do better with fewer carbs. Personally, though, it's easier for ME to eat what I want and eat within a calorie goal than it is to cut out my favorite foods. (It's basically how I've maintained over the years as I've aged.) It needs to be sustainable and life-long for me, and that means plenty of pasta to keep me sane. I've never had weight problems and I've always eaten plenty of carbs. Do what works for YOU! :flowerforyou:

HestiaMoon1

What "we"? I eat a low carb diet. Not on purpose, but since I don't eat grains, beans, or packaged food it ends up low carb. I ate a 40-30-30 diet based on my BMR and TDEE for years - gained 8-10lbs a year. Now I eat less because I'm not hungry all day and the scale is going down in numbers finally.
In short, this study doesn't fly in my face at all, it supports what I've chosen as right for me.

SLLRunner

#bull**** .... I only believe a bit of what I read on the internet.

It does not matter what you eat as how much you eat ... no deficit no loss. Pure and simple.

The study is from the National Institute of Health, not some guy or gal trying to sell a fad diet book.

It's bull. In order to lose weight, you MUST eat less calories than you burn. Nobody gets to be a special snowflake in the world of weight loss.

It's an article in the New York Times which is biased toward the Atkins diet. There are no references to the "studies" or peer reviewed articles which, to me, means this content of this article is pretty meaningless.

SLLRunner

What "we"? I eat a low carb diet. Not on purpose, but since I don't eat grains, beans, or packaged food it ends up low carb. I ate a 40-30-30 diet based on my BMR and TDEE for years - gained 8-10lbs a year. Now I eat less because I'm not hungry all day and the scale is going down in numbers finally.
In short, this study doesn't fly in my face at all, it supports what I've chosen as right for me.

The article states you don't have to count calories.

And, you believe "the article"?

There is no quick fix. You don't have to literally count calories if you don't want to, but you do have to eat less calories than you burn to lose weight. Really, there is no shortcut.

mallorytravels

All I'm gonna say is what I know has worked for me. Without watching portion sizes at all or worrying at all about calories, I dropped 8 pounds by cutting out gluten and refined sugar.

hearthwood

It sure does. A calorie is a calorie regardless if it comes from carrots or cookies, protein, fat or carbs. Weight loss is simple math, calories in versus calories out.

SLLRunner

All I'm gonna say is what I know has worked for me. Without watching portion sizes at all or worrying at all about calories, I dropped 8 pounds by cutting out gluten and refined sugar.

Foods with gluten and refined sugar generally have more calories, thus my guess is you created a calorie deficit by cutting them out of your diet.

emsainz23

People are missing the point of low carb and how it works. Calories do matter, they always will matter. A lot of people can eat low carb and lose weight on it without counting calories, it naturally puts them in a deficit. Some people, including myself, that doesn’t work for(well it didn’t work in the past, might work now). I would just simply over eat.
It ultimately boils down to insulin control. Anytime you eat, you increase insulin. Reduce insulin you reduce your waist. Reducing calories reduces insulin, exercise reduces insulin, low carb reduces insulin. It boils down to excessive levels of insulin. High carb foods make it easier for people to binge and over eat, rarely hear of people binging on vegetables and lean meats. Insulin sensitive is a huge factor in all this, this is also genetics. Some people can eat high processed carbs all day and be rail thin, others can not. It’s genetics.
I have lost 225lbs, I have done it on high carb, I have done it on low carb. I have ate whatever I wanted and focused on calories and lost weight as well. For me personally, I would have “cheat days.” Sometimes, binges will just get out of hand even after I lost my weight, I always believed “carbs feed carbs” the more carbs you eat, the more you want. I knew my binging issue was a carb issue, I cut them out, and I might over eat sometimes, max 2,500 calories a day when my goal is 1,800. This is a hell lot better than last month, when I would hit over 3,000 calories a day over eating on junk food. I believe if you limit carbs, your weight regulates itself for most people. Also there are many health benefits to low carb(well to keto).
People say “calories in vs calories out” That’s just stating the obvious. You are fat because you ate more calories than you burned. That’s not the solution to the problem. That’s like saying, “It’s cold outside because it’s not hot” dumb reply. There is a reason why people OVER EAT, this goes back to the insulin issue. Which is rarely if ever addressed.

emsainz23

It sure does. A calorie is a calorie regardless if it comes from carrots or cookies, protein, fat or carbs. Weight loss is simple math, calories in versus calories out.

Weight loss is not simply math, it’s deeper than that. If someone told you, “you can only eat 3 snicker bars a day for 6 months or 250g of protein”(they are both roughly the same amount of calories). Most people would be very hungry on the 3 snicker bars a day compared to the 250g of protein. Once again, there is a reason there is an obesity problem in America. It would be extremely hard to stick to the snicker bars diet due to the inclination to eat. Which will make it least likely for someone to produce “weight loss” but it’s just simply math right? it’s not, there is more to it than that.

Camo_xxx

The study isn't saying that calories don't matter because they certainly do. No educated person is ever going to dispute that.

The study is mearly pointing out that by going "low carb". And more importantly whole foods that people eat fewer calories without actually focusing on calorie counting.

Pertinent Quote from the study.
“It shows that in a free-living setting, cutting your carbs helps you lose weight without focusing on calories. And that’s really important because someone can change what they eat more easily than trying to cut down on their calories.”

Obviously if you still manage to over eat on a low carb diet you will not lose fat.

The other point was the improvments in the test subjects health markers compared to the low fat eating test subjects.

Camo_xxx

All I'm gonna say is what I know has worked for me. Without watching portion sizes at all or worrying at all about calories, I dropped 8 pounds by cutting out gluten and refined sugar.

Foods with gluten and refined sugar generally have more calories, thus my guess is you created a calorie deficit by cutting them out of your diet.

Actually fats have more more calories. Sugars and grains just don't keep most people satisfied so they tend to eat more of them.

Carbs 4 calories per gram
Proteins 4 calories per gram
Fats 9 calories per gram

When was the last time you heard of somebody binging on chicken breast and brocolli ?
What keeps you full longer a cinimon bun or a chicken breast ?

* not trying to pick a fight with you! just having a friendly conversation.

.

Alexzivanas

All you people who don't believe in the low carb diet obviously don't have health issues. It's like the thin person who says "I've Never had to diet in my life!" Well thanks. Nice to know. In the real world people aren't all the same. I always knew I didn't eat that much and yet I've always struggled with my weight as an adult. With myfitnesspal I have for the first time ever tracked calories. And I'm under nearly every day. But I concentrated so much on the calories that I was over the 50g per day of carbs that I try to stick to. And the weight started creeping back on. Since doing low carb my borderline thyroid is healthy, my PCOS has cleared and so has my insulin resistance. So don't dismiss sth just because You don't need it.

amusedmonkey

Nothing new there, a low carb high fat diet has shown decreased appetite and in turn overall smaller calorie consumption consistently. Yeah, it works for some, but for me it's not worth the restrictions or limit myself to things I hate.

I have PCOS and insulin resistance and low carb has been recommended, tried it and it was very stressful. My blood sugar is very heavily affected by stress so it actually had the opposite effect. I would rather go the slow easy way than cut out every single thing I enjoy. Even without this "magic pill" I have been able to keep my blood sugar within normal range and clear my PCOS symptoms eating 100-250 carbs every day. The minute I go under 100 my fasting blood sugar goes back up.

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

I never counted calories to cut fat or lose weight. I just keep an eye on carbs except when I am trying to bulk up.

Leonidas_meets_Spartacus

All I'm gonna say is what I know has worked for me. Without watching portion sizes at all or worrying at all about calories, I dropped 8 pounds by cutting out gluten and refined sugar.

Foods with gluten and refined sugar generally have more calories, thus my guess is you created a calorie deficit by cutting them out of your diet.

LOL. What?

neanderthin

The study isn't saying that calories don't matter because they certainly do. No educated person is ever going to dispute that.

The study is mearly pointing out that by going "low carb". And more importantly whole foods that people eat fewer calories without actually focusing on calorie counting.

Pertinent Quote from the study.
“It shows that in a free-living setting, cutting your carbs helps you lose weight without focusing on calories. And that’s really important because someone can change what they eat more easily than trying to cut down on their calories.”

Obviously if you still manage to over eat on a low carb diet you will not lose fat.

The other point was the improvments in the test subjects health markers compared to the low fat eating test subjects.

These studies have been around for a few decades............protein is satiating and whole foods in general increase TEF.......the improvements in health markers is mostly associated with inflammation, blood glucose, lipid density etc....which again has been known for some time.