A Call for a Low-Carb Diet

SLLRunner

I'm just going to leave this here:

http://examine.com/blog/is-low-carb-really-the-best-weight-loss-diet

Thank you. This is a good article with a thorough analysis.

Actually, really bad analysis and conclusions.

Here's a better one: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/post_8304_b_5752160.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living

And finally, the low-carb diet, since it was actually low-carb, obviously was much more restrictive than the low-fat diet, which wasn't actually low-fat. That had the predictable result: those on the low-carb assignment took in many fewer calories (this information in summarized in Table 2 in the article). Over the first several months of the study, when everyone was probably on their best behavior, the low-carb group took in about 200 fewer calories per day. All the way out at the 12-month mark, when folks were falling off the wagon, the low-carb assignees were still taking in nearly 100 fewer calories per day.

And so, the results were a foregone conclusion. Over the span of a year, obese people who ate less, lost more weight. And those who lost more weight had more improvement in their cardiac risk measures -- which were mostly a mess in the first place due to obesity. Ta-da!

All the information is readily available in the study, and it comes down to one simple thing: those in the "low-carb" group ate fewer calories, so they lost more weight.

Low-carb may be an effective diet for some people because, for whatever reasons, they find it easier to follow and maintain a calorie deficit than they would eating a normal, balanced macro diet. But the reason people lose weight on a low-carb diet is the same reason everyone loses weight: they are eating at a deficit[\b].

One group ate at a slightly larger deficit than the other, and the results were predictable.

Actually the Examine article was one of the better reviews I've seen. If you stopped reading at "calorie deficit," you probably should stop reading studies as you aren't going to glean much from them. The first question you might ask is why did the low carb group end up eating a greater calorie deficit, even though they were not assigned a caloric target. The next question would be how might such information be used to help other people with their weight loss. As a practical matter, there's a bit more to body composition and weight management than just "calorie deficit!"

I agree there is more than just calories in/calories out to body composition, but when it comes to weight loss the only thing that matters is now many calories you consume in relation to how many calories your burn. Even with insulin resistance and other medical issues, it's a matter of finding that special maintenance number for you and cutting back on calories and eating the type of diet that makes you feel best.