Low carb diets?

Well, yeah, that way you would. But how many of us are actually going to burn 2300 calories in a day?

What I'm saying is that when you exercise, the majority of what you are burning is carbs. It takes 30 minutes or more usually before you even begin burning fat deposit. So, if you don't have any carbs to burn, you'll just burn fat instead. That is essentially what ketosis is

Sounds like you know a lot you should just go ahead and try it

What you are saying makes sense, so it may work in the short term, but I don't think it'll work in the long run. Eat low carb is nearly impossible, not to mention unhealthy since you won't be getting the nutrients vegetables, fruits, and whole grains have to offer, and it'll probably just make you crazy. This doesn't mean I don't believe in cutting out processed or enriched flours, but sacrificing the good carbs too? Nah, I think a balanced diet that sticks to your calorie goal is better overall.

I'm not a fan of diets - there are too many with too many crazy rationales. While I tend to agree with the Paleo approach, I don't buy the rationale: it's what cavemen ate. Hey, more power to cavemen but they lived brutish, nasty lives and died young. Not exactly something to which I aspire!

I'll try to not be pedantic, and maybe you've heard this 100 times before so forgive me but diets are basically bull****. There are 100 diets that will lose you 10 lbs in 2 weeks. None of them work long term, especially Atkins. You just can't maintain zero carbs forever. And if you look at fitness models or top athletes - like Usain Bolt - they aren't doing Atkins or Primal or Paleo or South Beach. Or Weight Watchers.

In a nutshell, the problem is that everyone focuses on weight. "I want to lose 10 lbs!" 10 lbs of WHAT? 10 lbs of muscle? Bone? Brains? Water? Let me amputate your arm, presto! You've lost 10 lbs. No, you want to lose 10 lbs of fat, and you want to keep your muscle, bones, and brain. The problem with EVERY diet is that when you lose 10 lbs, you lose fat, muscle, and water. It's the proportion you are fighting to achieve: lose the most fat with the least muscle sacrificed. You're going to lose some muscle when you restrict calories, no way around it. But if you just go on some really calorie-restrictive diet - like 1000 a day or similar - and lose 10 lbs, it will be 5 lbs of fat, 2 lbs of water, and 3 lbs of muscle. That is no recipe for success. So you really need to focus on minimizing muscle loss, maximizing fat loss, and ignoring water loss because you can rehydrate at will. As a woman, I am sure you are well aware of this every month haha.

To maintain muscle (lean mass) you need a high protein diet. You also need to strength train. Hours spent on a treadmill or elliptical are metabolic suicide. Don’t' believe me? Go on Google Images and type in "marathon runner". They are the pinnacle of long-duration cardio and they look like hell. Concentration camp survivors or something - who wants that? Your body isn't stupid, it is a finely tuned fat-CREATING machine. It excels at storing fat - because it might need it, just in case, and especially when you're restricting your calories. It thinks there's a famine or something, so it packs away the calories whenever it can in the form of fat. But if you strength train, you're telling your body "hey - when you need energy, don't consume my muscle - I need it! - go use that fat over there instead. Thanks".

So, simply: calorie restriction to lose weight and high-protein diet and strength training to conserve lean mass.

Keep it simple - lean meats, lots of egg whites, lots of fibrous veg (broccoli, spinach, etc), avoid refined carbs (white flour, sugar, etc). The thing about those foods is that none of them are calorie-dense which means that you can eat tons of food and never be hungry. You can't get fat eating broccoli - it's impossible, there are no calories in it. I ate a pound of chicken breast at lunch. Plus broccoli, and I'm still stuffed. I had 6 eggs for breakfast. With a slice of cheese. It was like 350 calories - nothing. So if you focus on the lean things, (organic is bogus btw) and try to hit your calorie targets, just by the nature of it you will be eating a low fat, low carb diet. I view it as a byproduct of retaining muscle and not just simply the goal of eating "low carb" because that is supposed to be the Holy Grail.

Explain? I'm a science major, and I don't believe that is true. What I'm interested in is how it plays a role in thermodynamincs

I'm an engineer, so I share your curiosity to expand beyond Cal in/out, and I believe that the body works in far more complex ways than that. I've only been on this site for a day and it seems that the tribal knowledge here discounts cellular response to different types of stimuli and refers to calorie counting as the only factor in losing weight. I think there should be a clear distinction in losing weight versus losing fat, as I'm not concerned about the scale but more so what the calipers say.

If you're looking to do some research, check into John Kiefer. His works cited is always worth checking out and he backs everything up with scientifically reviewed publications.

Here's my take on why "low carb diets" seem to work (in the short run).

When cutting down on carbs, in essence, what you are doing is removing those food items that people traditionally over eat. Given that in today's society, one cannot throw a rock and not hit a place that sells food. Food is very, very convenient to buy.

By cutting down on bread, sugary sweets, etc., it forces people to pay attention to what they are eating (ever open up a bag of cookies while watching tv and then next thing you know, you've finished the bag?) Removing "convenience foods" such as cookies, chips, cupcakes, pies, footlong sandwiches, etc. forces people to eat more of a "home cooked meal" (something that is served on a plate).

Granted, eating at a restaurant, one can easily eat a dinner that is 2000 calories, so by no means does eating off of a plate mean you are eating healthy. All they are doing is removing those convenience foods that people tend to over eat which in turn causes people to lose some weight.

I have been doing low carbs for over 8 months now and it works for me I have great workouts and probably more energy then a lot of people I know. What I do try to do is make what carbs I take in healthy carbs I also watch my fat intake. So far so good.

I'm limiting carbs because of a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. I think exercise and good food portion control are probably more important than limiting any specific food type.

I have eaten low carb and slow carb. I must say that I have only been successful in long term weight loss by limiting sugar and simple carbs. The quickest weight loss I ever had was on almost no carb, low fat, 500 cal diet where I lost 22 pounds in 6 weeks. More impressive was I lost 7 inches from my waist. That never happened on any other weight loss program. Of course it is not healthy for anyone to stay on that low cals for long term, but I did see a huge loss of belly fat, instead of the usual loss in the face and extremities first.

Not condoning this way of eating- just answering the OPs question on my experience with low carb.

Low carbs doesn't always mean 20 carbs a day.

AMEN! My carb intake runs anywhere from 90 to 120g a day...with an occasional splurge. But my opinion doesn't really count since I have T2. The one advantage to having diabetes is no one can admonish me for having a low carb diet. :happy:

"Ok, but what about the dietary fat you eat in place of the carbs that your body burns instead of the stored fat? Or the protein that you eat that gets converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis to make up for the lack of carbs? You're seriously over simplifying the way the body utilizes energy. And of course, that also completely ignores the hormonal effects of cutting carbs, like the reduction in growth hormone, loss of lean tissue, and possible psychological effects as well.

Also, what do you mean by "how many of us are going to burn 2300 calories?" 2000 calories is what the average person burns in a day, I'm usually around 3000-3500 per day. You do burn calories even when you aren't exercising, after all... What science are you actually studying? "


I'm not really sure how to reply specifically to your quote, but you I don't really eat foods high in fat no matter what. And yeah, it will inevitably get converted to glucose... you need glucose to stay alive. But that conversion requires energy. There have been studies done showing that it does on rats and they lose more weight. I can try to find the specific studies if you'd like. And I don't believe cutting out carbs has "psychological effects". People don't need pasta and bread and processed food to function. I eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, which provides some carbs, but not as many as a full plate of pasta. And yes, I know you burn calories not doing anything. I think the last time I calculated the amount I burn not doing anything, it was about 1200. That means I'd have to burn an additional 1100 to be at the number the other guy was mentioning. And I'm studying biology for my undergrad... what are youuuu actually studying?

So how do you expect to eat low carb and low fat? It sounds like you're looking for an impossible diet. Carbohydrates and fat are the body's main sources of energy, if you aren't eating one, you need to be eating the other.

As for psychological effects, you don't have to "believe it." Do some research, carbs help regulate serotonin levels and other mood hormones, people on low carb diets are consistently found to be more depressed than people who eat higher carb in study after study. Low carb also leads to increased cortisol, as cortisol is one of the regulators of gluconeogenesis, and high cortisol leads to less fat burning and more lean mass loss.

"Ok, but what about the dietary fat you eat in place of the carbs that your body burns instead of the stored fat? Or the protein that you eat that gets converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis to make up for the lack of carbs? You're seriously over simplifying the way the body utilizes energy. And of course, that also completely ignores the hormonal effects of cutting carbs, like the reduction in growth hormone, loss of lean tissue, and possible psychological effects as well.

Also, what do you mean by "how many of us are going to burn 2300 calories?" 2000 calories is what the average person burns in a day, I'm usually around 3000-3500 per day. You do burn calories even when you aren't exercising, after all... What science are you actually studying? "


I'm not really sure how to reply specifically to your quote, but you I don't really eat foods high in fat no matter what. And yeah, it will inevitably get converted to glucose... you need glucose to stay alive. But that conversion requires energy. There have been studies done showing that it does on rats and they lose more weight. I can try to find the specific studies if you'd like. And I don't believe cutting out carbs has "psychological effects". People don't need pasta and bread and processed food to function. I eat plenty of vegetables and fruits, which provides some carbs, but not as many as a full plate of pasta. And yes, I know you burn calories not doing anything. I think the last time I calculated the amount I burn not doing anything, it was about 1200. That means I'd have to burn an additional 1100 to be at the number the other guy was mentioning. And I'm studying biology for my undergrad... what are youuuu actually studying?

Hahaha, hell girl I like the way you are thinking...

I'm busy with my post graduate studies also a BSc major like you (Earth Science). If you want to develop a great understanding of the benefits of low carb diets I urge you to look into our species evolutionary past.
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" —Theodosius Dobzhansky. (so true in my opinion)
It has brought me a great and positive change in my life.

I'm a type 1 diabetic and have spent a lot of time studying the endocrine system especially how it can be manipulated by diet.
As I'm diabetic and have to take insulin injections I have ample opportunity to experiment and collect my own data.

I have build up quite a database of textbooks and peer reviewed journal articles on this subject matter, so give me s shout if you are interested.