Low Carb Lifestyle?? Yay? Or Nay?? Did you have success?

mynameisnutz

As a student majoring in nutrition, I say nay. Low carb diets are very unhealthy for the body. Diets such as the Atkins diet are so low in carbohydrates that your body will go into a state of ketosis.

You can read more detail about it here: http://women.webmd.com/guide/high-protein-low-carbohydrate-diets

Although low carb diets are tempting due to the quick results, they are not healthy in the long run. If your looking to be fit and health, feed your body with the nutrients it needs and consume a balanced diet. The key to loosing weight is simple, expend more calories than you consume. You will have success and feel great

Hope this helps!

PS- Carbohydrate restricted diets are beneficial for people suffering from insulin resistance issues such as diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome.

As a student majoring in nutrition, you should know that Atkins is high fat, not high protein.

Ummm, if you read the Atkin's books; you will find that you are wrong. The goal is to eat high protein foods (cheese, fish, meat), all the veggies you want - and avoid CARBS. No mention of fat is made at all, as a dietary directive. Like McDonalds Cheeseburgers? No problem, order 3-4 of them and throw away the buns. Fatty hamburger is perfectly fine - it's the protein that counts. The emphasis is on Protein - again, meat, fish, chicken, cheese and veggies (with the ommissions of sweet peas, corn, potatoes and other starch laden veggies; forget fruits entirely).

The books never mention any ratios other than to keep carbs low. I suspect the emphasis on protein was due to the untoward stigma that was placed on fats due to the overbearing (and incorrect) lipid hypothesis. However, look at any of the recipes in the book, or go to any literature regarding the Atkins diet (and the majority of low carb diets) and you will see that carbohydrates are replaced by fat, not protein, because it is much easier for the body to convert fat to glucose as opposed to protein.

A quick search of several Atkins forums puts general FPC ratios at 60/35/5 or 60/30/10.

sbrown6

It is soooooooo confusing. I could find studies to back up any damned diet out there!!!! Its almost making me afraid to eat. How in the hell do you know what in the heck to do????

ninerbuff

I'd recommend doing a bit of your own research on the topic. As a student of nutrition, I'm sure this kind of thing would be of interest to you.

There is nothing wrong with ketosis. It is a natural state for our body.

We've eaten low carbs since the dawn of time and our bodies have evolved doing that.

There is plenty and plenty of science that supports low-carb being healthier in the long-run. Have a read through Robb Wolf's stuff or Dr. Loren Cordain.

Also Gary Taubes' books are great and shows the whole history behind the low-fat vs low-carb debate. Before the 60's, it was common knowledge that carbs made you fat.

I will agree here. Most people don't know it, but protein and fats are essential.................carbs aren't. If you are getting in essential vitamins and minerals the body can live without carbs.
As a bodybuilder and having competed a few times, I know that low carbing is one of the best ways to lose body fat while on short term diet.

mynameisnutz

I've done the Atkins type of diets over and over. You discover new and unique ways to satisfy that sweet-tooth - and still drop pounds. My favorote was Half and Half, and use a handmixter to mix in Sugar-Free Chocolate Fudge pudding. It whips up to a frosting type of consistency - then chill and you have low-carb Chocolate Mousse. Freeze for chocolate ice cream.

So, yes it works. Get those Keto-strips and monitor your ketosis. You can over-do it.

But, I don't support them. Why? Did I lose weight? Yes, I lost 20-50 lbs each and every time I tried it; this is a TEMPORARY lifestyle change. .......

To get the weight off, and KEEP IT OFF - requires a diet that you can eat, literally anywhere - and some exercise. I'm using MFP to learn to budget my calories. So, light breakfast; and I get Chinese buffet (anything I want) for lunch, and a light supper before bed (probably lightly buttered microwave popcorn and Crystal Light) - and I'll be below my calorie intake for the day - and will STILL manage to lose weight. It's about learning portion control, caloric intake, and budgeting. These are key concepts that the low carb diet does NOT take into acccount.

Why do you go back to spaghetti? You lose weight and do well going low-carb, and then for some reason go back??

I don't understand this non-sustainable argument.

Why should the "diet" be faulted because people would rather be overweight and feel like crap than go without their spaghetti?

Again, using the smoker argument, that's like a smoker saying "Don't even try quitting smoking. I've done it for a while and felt great, but you just end up falling back into the habit. It's not sustainable."

You misunderstand, the Atkins allows you to eat AS MUCH AS YOU WANT, it only limits the carbs.

The concept of portion control is thrown out the window, the concept of calorie budgeting is non-existant. Eat Bacon smoothered in Mayo and wrapped in Lettuce - all you want. All the heavy cream, Ranch Dressing, 1" thick steaks and green beans you can carry. As long as you maintain Ketosis, your body is forced into burning Fat, because you have artifically restricted your sugar and carb intake.

So, you get used to eating 16 oz steaks, drowning your Lobster in butter, butter on your green beans, drowning your Salads in Ranch dressing and avacado. Make your salads with tons of Mayo. No basic concept of either portion control or calorie monitoring required.

And this works great - until you eat some carbs (intentionally, or unintentionally) and you slip out of Ketosis.

Then, the eating habits you had prior to Atkins, mixed with the eating habits sustained during Atkins sabotage the entire effort. You have a slice of bread, lather it with butter, have your usual steak - and NOW that you are out of Ketosis, those Calories count - and they count big time.

Those 3-4 McDonalds Cheeseburgers you ate without the bun, now that is a ~1200-1500 entree.

And, as no big surprise, if you start consuming 3,000 - 5,000 calories a day; without being in Ketosis, the weight will come back on.

Wow, this is so incorrect as to be almost laughable.

ANY weight loss regimen works on one principle- caloric deficit. I don't care if you're in a ketogenic state or not. If you consume 6000 calories worth of bacon even while in a ketogenic state, you are still going to gain weight.

Kristhin

You look at studies done in which people are asked

do you eat ___?
if so, how often?

and you see which group of people has the lowest weight.

mynameisnutz

You look at studies done in which people are asked

do you eat ___?
if so, how often?

and you see which group of people has the lowest weight.

You mean like this one?

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0708681

Conducted over two years, between low carb, low fat, and mediterranean diets,

which showed almost equal amounts of weight loss between all three groups?

freerange

It is soooooooo confusing. I could find studies to back up any damned diet out there!!!! Its almost making me afraid to eat. How in the hell do you know what in the heck to do????

Holy cow, that is the smartest thing I have seen in awhile, not being sarcastic either. Do this, just follow MFP guidelines, and while you are learning how to control calories read, read, read, educate yourself on nutrition, read about different diets, Atkins, South Beach, Primal/Paleo, low fat, whatever else you can find, and try the ones that make sense to you, there are no diets, except the very extreme fad (and you will know them by their protocol and claims) that are really dangerous, so it won’t hurt to try cutting carbs for a couple weeks and see how you feel, try cutting gluten grains for a couple weeks and see how you feel, just make sure you educate yourself on the diet you want to try instead of taking someone’s word for how you’re supposed to do it, give them an honest try.

tamiller93

Happy Thursday friends!! I hope your day is fabulous and filled with sunshine (its super cloudy here..so SOMEONE might as well be enjoying sunshine)

So...for the heck of it, I'm researching different eating lifestyles and wonder if anyone out there has tried or fully jumped into the LOW CARB lifestyle??

If so...what were the results? Did you stick with it? DId you lose weight? Did you physically feel good?

Thanks for the input everyone...and have a SPLENDID afternoon!

I guess everyone is different, but when I tried it several years ago, I did not feel well physically and found it harder to exercise without eating many carbs. And not to mention that this isn't the type of diet one could maintain for their lifetime. It is a short-lived thing that you can do for a while, but it is not realistic for your whole life (or it isn't for me anyway). Once you introduce carbs into your diet again, the weight comes right back. I have found that the one and only way to lose it and keep it off is watching my calorie intake and exercising regularly. But as I said, everyone is different and this diet may be working great for some people, but not for me. Good luck!

ninerbuff

It is soooooooo confusing. I could find studies to back up any damned diet out there!!!! Its almost making me afraid to eat. How in the hell do you know what in the heck to do????

Use basic science and math. If your BMR is 1500 that means you can eat 1500 calories a day and not gain or lose even if you just sat on the couch all day. If you exceed your BMR by 500 calories a day, then you'll gain a pound a week. If you consumed -500 less than your BMR, you'd lose a pound a week. It's mostly about calories in and out. There will be some things that affect it (hormonal issues, sodium, etc.) but overall it comes down to caloric intake and usage.

freerange

Happy Thursday friends!! I hope your day is fabulous and filled with sunshine (its super cloudy here..so SOMEONE might as well be enjoying sunshine)

So...for the heck of it, I'm researching different eating lifestyles and wonder if anyone out there has tried or fully jumped into the LOW CARB lifestyle??

If so...what were the results? Did you stick with it? DId you lose weight? Did you physically feel good?

Thanks for the input everyone...and have a SPLENDID afternoon!

I guess everyone is different, but when I tried it several years ago, I did not feel well physically and found it harder to exercise without eating many carbs. And not to mention that this isn't the type of diet one could maintain for their lifetime. It is a short-lived thing that you can do for a while, but it is not realistic for your whole life (or it isn't for me anyway). Once you introduce carbs into your diet again, the weight comes right back. I have found that the one and only way to lose it and keep it off is watching my calorie intake and exercising regularly. But as I said, everyone is different and this diet may be working great for some people, but not for me. Good luck!

Makes sense, but what would happen if you stopped watching your calory intake and stopped exercising?

joejccva71

I say YAY to a low carb lifestyle as long as you do these things:

1. You still watch your overall calorie intake.
2. You hit your macros everyday and you hit your micronutrients for overall health.
3. You have a re-feed day once a week where you go eat carbs, then the other days you go back to low carb again.

tamiller93

Happy Thursday friends!! I hope your day is fabulous and filled with sunshine (its super cloudy here..so SOMEONE might as well be enjoying sunshine)

So...for the heck of it, I'm researching different eating lifestyles and wonder if anyone out there has tried or fully jumped into the LOW CARB lifestyle??

If so...what were the results? Did you stick with it? DId you lose weight? Did you physically feel good?

Thanks for the input everyone...and have a SPLENDID afternoon!

I guess everyone is different, but when I tried it several years ago, I did not feel well physically and found it harder to exercise without eating many carbs. And not to mention that this isn't the type of diet one could maintain for their lifetime. It is a short-lived thing that you can do for a while, but it is not realistic for your whole life (or it isn't for me anyway). Once you introduce carbs into your diet again, the weight comes right back. I have found that the one and only way to lose it and keep it off is watching my calorie intake and exercising regularly. But as I said, everyone is different and this diet may be working great for some people, but not for me. Good luck!

Makes sense, but what would happen if you stopped watching your calory intake and stopped exercising?

I suppose the same results would occur, but eating healthy foods and exercising is far easier and more realistic for me personally. Low carb may work great for you. If so, then I would say go for it.

freerange

Happy Thursday friends!! I hope your day is fabulous and filled with sunshine (its super cloudy here..so SOMEONE might as well be enjoying sunshine)

So...for the heck of it, I'm researching different eating lifestyles and wonder if anyone out there has tried or fully jumped into the LOW CARB lifestyle??

If so...what were the results? Did you stick with it? DId you lose weight? Did you physically feel good?

Thanks for the input everyone...and have a SPLENDID afternoon!

I guess everyone is different, but when I tried it several years ago, I did not feel well physically and found it harder to exercise without eating many carbs. And not to mention that this isn't the type of diet one could maintain for their lifetime. It is a short-lived thing that you can do for a while, but it is not realistic for your whole life (or it isn't for me anyway). Once you introduce carbs into your diet again, the weight comes right back. I have found that the one and only way to lose it and keep it off is watching my calorie intake and exercising regularly. But as I said, everyone is different and this diet may be working great for some people, but not for me. Good luck!

Makes sense, but what would happen if you stopped watching your calory intake and stopped exercising?

I suppose the same results would occur, but eating healthy foods and exercising is far easier and more realistic for me personally. Low carb may work great for you. If so, then I would say go for it.

I understand, and I got that, in “your” post, wasn’t implying you were attacking or anything. I just wanted to use your post to make a point to others. That statement gets thrown around a lot, like it only happens with low carb, which of course is foolish, it happens with any lifestyle change, if you go back to your old habits. And the un-sustainability part is true for some, but IMO it would be true to less if they truly understood the concept and followed it correctly (not saying you didn’t). Low carb has got a bad rap as being a meat, cheese, and egg diet, it’s not, there are many things you can incorporate and still be “low carb” And you also don’t have to be in ketosis for the rest of your life, that is another myth, not that it would be harmful, but you don’t need to be, and in fact all the low carb diets I have read take you out of ketosis after a short period of time anyway. Ketosis is used as a tool to kick start and aid in rapid weight loss at first.

ShrinkingNinja

Wow, what an awful thread full of awful comments.

What is wrong with you people?

You are not a nutritionist. You do not know everything. Stop acting like it.

I purely stated my personal experience. So I am not acting like a nutritionist. However, my experience is real.

Going to add that I love the horse in your pic.

tamiller93

Just a question.... If one is following a low carb diet, then how is MFP helpful to you? I wouldn't think you'd need MFP at all if you are doing low carb. ???

ShrinkingNinja

Just a question.... If one is following a low carb diet, then how is MFP helpful to you? I wouldn't think you'd need MFP at all if you are doing low carb. ???

I like logging my calories in the program. I still watch my calorie intake. I still make sure I burn more than I intake. I just also try to keep my carbs low. I can literally gain weigh the next morning if I eat an apple on a day that I didn't workout. It doesn't matter if I did everything else completely right. My leptin levels are just that whack.

I do eat until I am satisfied... but that usually means about 1200 calories and rarely more than 1700 in a day. I do not eat my calories back either so if I eat 1200 and I burn 900 in exercise I am left with 300.

lodro

i tried the low carb thing a few years back, and yes, you will see quick results. But, who wants to live always craving what you can't have? My friend has been low carbing for years, (she cheats alot) haven't seen any real loss, and she is always sick.
I will stick with the calorie thing. It works for me, and i wouldn't want it any other way.

Who wants to always be craving what you can't have? Would you tell that to a smoker or alcoholic?

Just because people might be addicted to sugar and grains and would crave it if they dropped it, doesn't mean they should continue eating them regularly or that the cravings would necessarily persist.

I would much rather eat my steak and bacon, and olive oil and veggies and be satisfied until my next meal.
Who wants to always be concerned about counting calories and always being hungry for fear they might go over?

Are you saying the carbs, a natural substance that fuels the body is the same as cigarettes?! Really?!

For me, they are, they have the capability to destroy my health.

tamiller93

I eat 1400-1500 calories a day and exercise without thinking about carbohydrates and I am absolutely not hungry. And I still lose weight. I am just doing what MFP has set up here at this website and it has worked for me. My profile pic tells the story.

If you had rather not eat carbohydrates, then that is great! Whatever makes you happy.

Zeromilediet

Happy Thursday friends!! I hope your day is fabulous and filled with sunshine (its super cloudy here..so SOMEONE might as well be enjoying sunshine)

So...for the heck of it, I'm researching different eating lifestyles and wonder if anyone out there has tried or fully jumped into the LOW CARB lifestyle??

If so...what were the results? Did you stick with it? DId you lose weight? Did you physically feel good?

Thanks for the input everyone...and have a SPLENDID afternoon!

I've been eating a low-ish carb diet for four months now and find it easy to stick to. Have eliminated sugar, grains, dairy and soy so carbs come from vegetables, fruit, and nuts. You can read my profile and diary. I feel physically fantastic, lost weight, and sticking with it is doable for me--my health is important enough to me to give up processed foods for the most part. I do occasionally have a piece of chocolate or glass of wine... Those are my chosen treats :-)

sandyfeet10

YAY!!! I've been eating 100 carbs or less a day (no white refined stuff) for 11 weeks!! I'm down 23 lbs and feeling great!!!