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Low carb vs Low carb/high fat - what's the difference?

rubywanderlust
rubywanderlust Posts: 16
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I've seen people mention they are on low carb, vs LCHF.

My understanding is that if you go low carb, the calories need to be replaced by something - usually fat.
For those that see their diets as just "low carb" what are you replacing the calories with? Or are you attempting a level of calorie restriction to lose weight?

I'm just curious (not judgemental). I've only just started experimenting with LCHF, and have dropped almost all the weight I wanted to (only 10lb) in a week. I don't think I'm in ketosis, although I've been keeping my carbs less than 50gm/day.

I also don't see myself keeping this up for the long term, but I can see me staying low carb (keeping the obvious culprits out of my diet). I'm wondering if just being "low carb" is what I will be transitioning to, but not sure of what exactly that means for my diet.

And I'm wondering if I do allow a few more carbs back into my diet (such as low GL foods) will all that weight come back rapidly? I'm wondering how much of the loss is really only water.

Thoughts?

thanks!

Replies

  • FXOjafar
    FXOjafar Posts: 173 Member
    Cutting carbs back is a good thing, but the only thing you can can effectively use to replace carb calories is fat. If you replace the calories with more protein, your body will metabolise the extra protein into glucose using gluconeogenesis which defeats the purpose of low carb in the end since you will not enter ketosis.

    To be honest, there are more health benefits than simply weight loss so you should consider staying low carb and enjoy eating all those yummy fat filled foods you were told to avoid before. :)
  • Miamiuu
    Miamiuu Posts: 262 Member
    I low carb and I dont even watch my fat intake so maybe the low carbers just dont pay attention to fat.
  • Booksandbeaches
    Booksandbeaches Posts: 1,791 Member
    When I low-carbed, I still ate white rice, white sugar, starch. I didn't eat much fat and my protein content wasn't something I paid attention to.

    Now I do LCHF I avoid white rice, white sugar, starch, potatoes, but I also eat more fat and moderate protein.
    I've lost more weight on LCHF than I did on low-carb.
  • albertabeefy
    albertabeefy Posts: 1,169 Member
    There is currently no medical or scientific consensus on what constitutes "low-carb".

    I've seen studies where the "low-carb" diet group is at 45% carbohydrate intake. That's hardly "low" , LOL.

    The majority of people that are insulin-resistant (for any reason, whether it's metabolic-syndrome/diabetes, morbid obesity, PCOS, certain thyroid conditions, etc., etc,.) find they are more successful on LCHF than just simply "low carb".

    There is no set macronutrient ratio either - it varies among users. Some people enter ketosis at 80% fat, 15% protein, 5% carbohydrate ... some can do it with more protein, less fat ...

    Personally I am a heavy-exerciser and typically may have anywhere from 40 to 120g of carbohydrate a day - I'm often closer to 70% fat, 22% protein an 8% carbohydrate, give or take a percentage here or there, and i stay in ketosis continually.

    And regarding weight-loss... In the first week the majority is water, sorry to say. Yes, you'll put some weight on as you take carbohydrate back in - again, mostly water.
  • auntiesocial78
    auntiesocial78 Posts: 11 Member
    I was very successful on Atkins several years ago, but was finally able to break a long time plateau with lchf. I also have PCOS, so it makes sense that I'd respond well to it. Life happened, gained some weight back, here to get back on track, but this time I'm starting out lchf instead of redoing Atkins.

    Anywho, the difference is that on Atkins (low carb) I pretty much only paid attention to the number of carbs I was eating. With LCHF, I'm also paying attention to protein and trying to make sure that I eat enough fat.

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