low carb, high fat

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dancinrascal
dancinrascal Posts: 204 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Anyone have any opinions on this way of eating/success stories? I've tried veganism, vegetarianism, high carb low fat, high protein, and low carb low fat. The one that was the best was low carb low fat, but it was too low in everything! The reason why I was wondering about low carb high fat is because I gained weight eating high carb (no grains but LOTS of fruit). Thanks all!
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  • dancinrascal
    dancinrascal Posts: 204 Member
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    anybody?
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
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    Honestly I see the best results with counting calories while eating a balance of everything. Hit your minimums in protein & fatvand let the rest fall where they may. Less stressful too.
  • fadedflower79
    fadedflower79 Posts: 80 Member
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    I just started a ketogenic style diet and trying to balance at 65%fats 25%protein and 10%carbs. I have lost 6 lbs in one week but I also take a multivitamin and a fiber supplement.
  • princessputz
    princessputz Posts: 283 Member
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    I eat low carb high fat (yes my diary is open) the last few days haven't been so great but hey no ones perfect :). I've had zero success just merely counting calories. I eat around 50-60% fat 30-40% protein and the rest are carbs. Usually I average about 30-40 net carbs (carbs less fiber). If you don't have any type of metabolic disorder you may not have to restrict them so much, try eating lots of lean protein, non starchy veg, no grains, berries (if you must), cheese, nuts etc.

    I highly recommend it, it works for me, 55 (or so days) and I've lost 34 lbs! Feel free to creep my profile for progress photos, diary or even friend me.

    Good luck!
  • Melampus
    Melampus Posts: 95 Member
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    When I first started out on MFP I just started logging and trying to make my calorie target. What I found is that I could make some quick wins to reduce the total calorie count by reducing some of the carb rich foods I was eating, for example by eating less breakfast cereal, not having big plates of pasta etc. I did not increase either the amount of fat or the amount of protein I ate in abolute terms and was able to lose weight without being hungry. Of course, reducing carbs while keeping the others the same means that fat supplies a bigger proportion of my energy than it did.

    I have since done some reading in low carb diets.
  • fadedflower79
    fadedflower79 Posts: 80 Member
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    I am like princessputz, counting calories has never worked for me. I had 1200-1600 calories every day for two months with exercise and lost only 5 lbs. It was beyond discouraging.

    If people are insulin resistant simply counting calories wont always work. I know I needed to seriously avoid sugars (even from fruit) and watch my carbs. By doing this my body will use my fat reserves for energy instead of glucose. When I eat carbs/sugars, it basically stops glucagon from working. Glucagon stimulates breakdown of glycogen stored in the liver. So the way I understand it, if we are eating sugars and carbs, we are never impacting our stored fat.

    Several people also follow a keto style diet to "starve" breast cancer and to limit or avoid seizures for people with epilepsy. Just make sure you get 20 carbs a day from veggies! My food log isn't the best to follow, I need more lean proteins and carbs from veggies and not from my coffee creamer... :/
  • Pumpitusa
    Pumpitusa Posts: 169 Member
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    I agree with magerum Ive tried almost everthing and that is the best and safest.Use these tools makes it easy.
  • dancinrascal
    dancinrascal Posts: 204 Member
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    thanks everyone!!
  • PrimalSiren
    PrimalSiren Posts: 144
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    I lost ALL of my excess weight doing this. I started out at 180 lbs in October 2011 and by May 2012 I was at 130 lbs. I didn't count calories one time during this time. It was easy and effortless, but then again I can't eat wheat or gluten. I still eat this way for the most part and I LOVE it. I've upped my carbs a bit and shifted my macros to accamodate my heavy lifting schedule. I've maintained my weight since the initial loss effortlessly and without the need to count calories. Now that I've shifted my goals from weight loss to muscle gain I've had to watch my calories and increase the amount I'm eating to keep my gains with lifting steady.
  • ktully93
    ktully93 Posts: 160 Member
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    Bump to follow.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,835 Member
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    I just started a ketogenic style diet and trying to balance at 65%fats 25%protein and 10%carbs. I have lost 6 lbs in one week but I also take a multivitamin and a fiber supplement.

    Hate to tell you this but that is not fat loss. That is water weight fluctuations.

    Lower carb is a good idea for insulin resistant people. Keto is not a requirement.

    And going into ketosis forces your body to uses fat as fuel. This does not necessarily mean it is from stored fat seeing as how your dietary fat intake is increased. As well as this, you need to take into account exercise performance. Any sort of anaerobic actitvity will primarly use glycogen for energy. Try going a week on low carbs and then do a low rep, heavy weight workout. Then do the same thing but refeed the day before with high carbs/low fat and see what the difference in performance is.
  • astrovivi
    astrovivi Posts: 183 Member
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    I just started a ketogenic style diet and trying to balance at 65%fats 25%protein and 10%carbs. I have lost 6 lbs in one week but I also take a multivitamin and a fiber supplement.

    Hate to tell you this but that is not fat loss. That is water weight fluctuations.

    Lower carb is a good idea for insulin resistant people. Keto is not a requirement.

    And going into ketosis forces your body to uses fat as fuel. This does not necessarily mean it is from stored fat seeing as how your dietary fat intake is increased. As well as this, you need to take into account exercise performance. Any sort of anaerobic actitvity will primarly use glycogen for energy. Try going a week on low carbs and then do a low rep, heavy weight workout. Then do the same thing but refeed the day before with high carbs/low fat and see what the difference in performance is.

    ^^ THIS ^^
  • witchy_wife
    witchy_wife Posts: 792 Member
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    I tend to follow a keto diet, I have PCOS and find when I eat carbs, I find it so so difficult to stick to a calorie goal. Even things like carbs from fruits and starchy veg kicks off my cravings. It's not impossible for me to lose weight with a low cal diet, just it feels very tough and like hard work for the results I get.

    Yes, when you start eating low carb you lose a lot of water. It's not unusual to see between 5-10lbs in your first week or so. If you did it for a week then started eating carbs again that weight would mostly go back on. I think to have success on this diet you have to think in the long term.

    Losing weight doesn't come from low carb, it comes from reduced calories, as with all diets. But for me, eating a keto diet really helps stop cravings for junk and fast food, the food I eat fills me up and keeps me feeling satisfied. So all this helps me to stick to around 1600-1800 calories a day (a level that I lose weight at).

    Some people have lost a heck of a lot of weight following this kind of diet. It can work very well for some people, but it certainly isn't needed to lose weight for everyone. I really wish I was one of those people who can eat porridge and fruits and throw in the odd pizza or cupcake and still manage to stay within my calories and lose weight. But I am not, it seems whenever I eat things like that I just start craving more and more, it's like someone flipped a greedy switch!! And I can try and ignore the cravings but I just end up feeling miserable. So for me, I think a keto style diet will be a long term part of my life.
  • witchy_wife
    witchy_wife Posts: 792 Member
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    Oh and with regards to exercise, I feel fine exercising on a keto diet, however I am not an athlete or training for any competitions lol.

    I do weight sessions with about 15 mins of high intensity cardio after, three times a week, and manage to add some weight most weeks. And then twice a week some more steady cardio such as walking (normally between 5-10 miles) or an hour swimming. For this, my keto diet has been sufficient. Perhaps I would have better results if I was taking in plenty of carbs, but for me that mean a constant struggle with my diet. The way I am working is fine for me, I am losing weight and not feeling like my diet is a huge struggle and feeling miserable.

    Maybe once I am closer to goal I might try doing carb re-feeds before my workouts for a better workout, I don't know. At the moment this is working well for my weight loss.
  • lhourin
    lhourin Posts: 144 Member
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    Works for me. Got my 6-pack back by eating reallllllly high-fat, and my bloodwork is much better than it was when I was also very lean but ate a more typical low-fat/high-carb diet. If you look at the science of how insulin works and what raises it and what that does to a body, it's sort of a no-brainer (though I was into the calories in-calories out dogma, thought "low-carbers" were totally crazy, and high fat would kill ya for years...it took an initial jolt of "Wtf??" and then a LOT of research to change my very ingrained thinking, but the numbers don't lie.)
  • learnerdriver
    learnerdriver Posts: 298 Member
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    When I first started out on MFP I just started logging and trying to make my calorie target. What I found is that I could make some quick wins to reduce the total calorie count by reducing some of the carb rich foods I was eating, for example by eating less breakfast cereal, not having big plates of pasta etc. I did not increase either the amount of fat or the amount of protein I ate in abolute terms and was able to lose weight without being hungry. Of course, reducing carbs while keeping the others the same means that fat supplies a bigger proportion of my energy than it did.


    I'm doing this, but also trying to up protein. keep aiming for 100
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    I did ketogenic for a bit, went well to start then my body told me I was stalling ( energy dips, no great fat loss on not many more calories than I'm on right now and doing well) so I switched back to everything in moderation.

    I'm glad I did it as I think I was intolerant of carbs and needed a reset, I could never go a few hours without needing to eat back then now I can go through the day and, in fact, just have.
  • AquaFitQueen
    AquaFitQueen Posts: 218 Member
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    I tend to follow a keto diet, I have PCOS and find when I eat carbs, I find it so so difficult to stick to a calorie goal. Even things like carbs from fruits and starchy veg kicks off my cravings. It's not impossible for me to lose weight with a low cal diet, just it feels very tough and like hard work for the results I get.

    Yes, when you start eating low carb you lose a lot of water. It's not unusual to see between 5-10lbs in your first week or so. If you did it for a week then started eating carbs again that weight would mostly go back on. I think to have success on this diet you have to think in the long term.

    Losing weight doesn't come from low carb, it comes from reduced calories, as with all diets. But for me, eating a keto diet really helps stop cravings for junk and fast food, the food I eat fills me up and keeps me feeling satisfied. So all this helps me to stick to around 1600-1800 calories a day (a level that I lose weight at).

    Some people have lost a heck of a lot of weight following this kind of diet. It can work very well for some people, but it certainly isn't needed to lose weight for everyone. I really wish I was one of those people who can eat porridge and fruits and throw in the odd pizza or cupcake and still manage to stay within my calories and lose weight. But I am not, it seems whenever I eat things like that I just start craving more and more, it's like someone flipped a greedy switch!! And I can try and ignore the cravings but I just end up feeling miserable. So for me, I think a keto style diet will be a long term part of my life.

    This x's a million!

    I have pcos, IR, and binge eating disorder. At the end of the day it IS about calories, but for me a big part in keeping calories under control is keeping cravings far far away and being full. The more carbs I eat, the harder it is to stick to calorie goals. This is not a personality defect, I have severe hormone issues with the PCOS.

    I do not recommend my way of eating for anyone other than myself, but I have had pretty amazing results. In the past 5 days I have lost 6 inches off of my waist....and smaller clothes is just as rewarding as lb loss.

    Too many people assume if something works for them then it MUST work across the board. This is false. Everyone needs to work out what their body needs to succeed.
  • mrdexter1
    mrdexter1 Posts: 356 Member
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    I just started a ketogenic style diet and trying to balance at 65%fats 25%protein and 10%carbs. I have lost 6 lbs in one week but I also take a multivitamin and a fiber supplement.

    Hate to tell you this but that is not fat loss. That is water weight fluctuations.

    Lower carb is a good idea for insulin resistant people. Keto is not a requirement.

    And going into ketosis forces your body to uses fat as fuel. This does not necessarily mean it is from stored fat seeing as how your dietary fat intake is increased. As well as this, you need to take into account exercise performance. Any sort of anaerobic actitvity will primarly use glycogen for energy. Try going a week on low carbs and then do a low rep, heavy weight workout. Then do the same thing but refeed the day before with high carbs/low fat and see what the difference in performance is.

    by my eleventh day on less than 20 carbs and well into ketosis eating 66% protein 33% fat and 1800 cals i had the energy of a bull and was able to train to the limit ... Re fed on sunday ( 3000 cals, 400 carbs ) and my workout monday was in a much lesser league , so i d have to strongly disagree based on personal experience.
    Cant wait to be back in full ketosis as i love the feeling of wellbeing, the warm muscles and the dramatic weight loss and cant for the life of me see anything but disadvantage to using a normal restrictive diet and counting calories on everything everyday and feeling hungry as its a sure fire way to "go off the rails" .

    I seem particularly suseptable to the "beta- hydroxybutyrate" ( BHP) which is probably why i so enjoy the keto diet and i d suggest anyone doing keto and in full ketosis (sub 20 carbs) that is not benefitting as should be is eating the wrong type of fats or have their macros out.
  • Lupercalia
    Lupercalia Posts: 1,857 Member
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    I just started a ketogenic style diet and trying to balance at 65%fats 25%protein and 10%carbs. I have lost 6 lbs in one week but I also take a multivitamin and a fiber supplement.

    Hate to tell you this but that is not fat loss. That is water weight fluctuations.

    Lower carb is a good idea for insulin resistant people. Keto is not a requirement.

    And going into ketosis forces your body to uses fat as fuel. This does not necessarily mean it is from stored fat seeing as how your dietary fat intake is increased. As well as this, you need to take into account exercise performance. Any sort of anaerobic actitvity will primarly use glycogen for energy. Try going a week on low carbs and then do a low rep, heavy weight workout. Then do the same thing but refeed the day before with high carbs/low fat and see what the difference in performance is.

    THIS.

    I started out eating a very low carb diet (I have PCOS and am insulin resistant), and was in ketosis for some months. My weekly weight loss was good, but it wasn't anything spectacular or beyond what is normal for anyone counting calories and exercising. I was losing around a pound and a half each week after I got past the initial big losses of the first month or so.

    When I started lifting heavy, which was about three months later, I found I could not do it on that very low carb intake. I was miserable and had to force myself to go to the gym, which was really unlike me. I adjusted my carbs up a notch and all was well. As I've lost fat and continued with the lifting, my insulin sensitivity has really improved to a great degree. I still can't eat carbs with abandon like healthy people can, but I have found that now I can tolerate about twice as many carbs as I could in the initial stages of my epic fat loss quest. Hooray for a bit of fruit and sweet potatoes!

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