what to do if one is not losing weight on a low carb diet?
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Walls of text do not prove your point.
There is nothing wrong with a low carb diet if that is what you like - but it is not necessary for weight loss - less calories are.
Your facts about sweeteners, muscle gain etc are unsupported.
Most of the studies are flawed as they only assign calories amounts to one group or neither, are based on people with medical conditions, are self reported etc etc etc.0 -
Eliminate artificial sweeteners and focus on lean meats and veggies and unprocessed foods at meals. You know those foods that say they are low carb and low calorie but still have 20 ingredients you cant identify? Yea those are the ones that hold you back. When I felt myself plateau on low carb diets it was a result of eating too many processed foods with artificial sweeteners a going off the deep end with foods that were unhealthy.
Drink lots of water, eat clean and you'll bust through that plateau.
Also track your body measurements. Low carb diets build muscle to replace the fat and sometimes the loss shows on the measurements before you see a drop on the scales.
This is actually correct but worded in a way that you all don't understand it. By eating low carb your body burns the fat that you already have stored in your body for energy instead of using the immediate energy you just gave it from the carbs. Therefore, by eating a low-carb diet and doing strength training too you lose the fat, build muscle, trim down, lose inches but may not see a difference on the scale.0 -
i have inspected the above post and found that not a word of it contains any factual information. please disregard any and all advice given in that post
I disagree. I have read scientific evidence that artificial sweeteners can stimulate insulin production. The body "reads" them as sugars, even though they are not, and are calorie free.
It is a scientific fact that elevated insulin causes the body to store as fat the foods we are taking in. Any doctor, dietician medical book or even Wikipedia will confirm this.
Therefore, if you drink, say, a Diet Coke with your meal, and the sweeteners are read by the body as sugar, and the pancreas releases a gush of insulin to deal with the (perceived) sugar, then whatever you are eating is going to be stored as fat on your body.
On low carb diets this is especially bad, because you are eating fatty, high-calorie foods and so THAT is what you will store if your body produces insulin. The consequences are not as bad on low calorie diets because your meal is probably only 300 calories instead of 1,000 as it might be on Atkins.
let's look at it your way.
so let's say that i maintain on 3000 calories per day, and i'm cutting on say....2500 per day. i consume some artificial sweetners and now my body produces insulin and stores a portion of my calories into fat storage. okay, now, i *still* need 3000 cals to maintain my weight and I'm 500 short by the end of the day.
we agree that i'm still in a deficit, yes? so where does my body get those 500 calories from in order to not lose weight that's been created by my deficit?
Here's the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine with reference to artificial sweeteners and weight gain:
" Several large scale prospective cohort studies found positive correlation between artificial sweetener use and weight gain. The San Antonio Heart Study examined 3,682 adults over a seven- to eight-year period in the 1980s [18]. When matched for initial body mass index (BMI), gender, ethnicity, and diet, drinkers of artificially sweetened beverages consistently had higher BMIs at the follow-up, with dose dependence on the amount of consumption. Average BMI gain was +1.01 kg/m2 for control and 1.78 kg/m2 for people in the third quartile for artificially sweetened beverage consumption. The American Cancer Society study conducted in early 1980s included 78,694 women who were highly homogenous with regard to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and lack of preexisting conditions [19]. At one-year follow-up, 2.7 percent to 7.1 percent more regular artificial sweetener users gained weight compared to non-users matched by initial weight. The difference in the amount gained between the two groups was less than two pounds, albeit statistically significant. Saccharin use was also associated with eight-year weight gain in 31,940 women from the Nurses’ Health Study conducted in the 1970s [20]."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/
That doesn't say artificial sweetener cause the weight gain
correlation =/= causation
:noway:
I read the article and the conclusions by Yale University professors in a peer reviewed journal. They most definitely did establish that artificial sweeteners cause more weight gain than weight loss over time.
Please take the time to actually read the study.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/0 -
i have inspected the above post and found that not a word of it contains any factual information. please disregard any and all advice given in that post
I disagree. I have read scientific evidence that artificial sweeteners can stimulate insulin production. The body "reads" them as sugars, even though they are not, and are calorie free.
It is a scientific fact that elevated insulin causes the body to store as fat the foods we are taking in. Any doctor, dietician medical book or even Wikipedia will confirm this.
Therefore, if you drink, say, a Diet Coke with your meal, and the sweeteners are read by the body as sugar, and the pancreas releases a gush of insulin to deal with the (perceived) sugar, then whatever you are eating is going to be stored as fat on your body.
On low carb diets this is especially bad, because you are eating fatty, high-calorie foods and so THAT is what you will store if your body produces insulin. The consequences are not as bad on low calorie diets because your meal is probably only 300 calories instead of 1,000 as it might be on Atkins.
let's look at it your way.
so let's say that i maintain on 3000 calories per day, and i'm cutting on say....2500 per day. i consume some artificial sweetners and now my body produces insulin and stores a portion of my calories into fat storage. okay, now, i *still* need 3000 cals to maintain my weight and I'm 500 short by the end of the day.
we agree that i'm still in a deficit, yes? so where does my body get those 500 calories from in order to not lose weight that's been created by my deficit?
Here's the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine with reference to artificial sweeteners and weight gain:
" Several large scale prospective cohort studies found positive correlation between artificial sweetener use and weight gain. The San Antonio Heart Study examined 3,682 adults over a seven- to eight-year period in the 1980s [18]. When matched for initial body mass index (BMI), gender, ethnicity, and diet, drinkers of artificially sweetened beverages consistently had higher BMIs at the follow-up, with dose dependence on the amount of consumption. Average BMI gain was +1.01 kg/m2 for control and 1.78 kg/m2 for people in the third quartile for artificially sweetened beverage consumption. The American Cancer Society study conducted in early 1980s included 78,694 women who were highly homogenous with regard to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and lack of preexisting conditions [19]. At one-year follow-up, 2.7 percent to 7.1 percent more regular artificial sweetener users gained weight compared to non-users matched by initial weight. The difference in the amount gained between the two groups was less than two pounds, albeit statistically significant. Saccharin use was also associated with eight-year weight gain in 31,940 women from the Nurses’ Health Study conducted in the 1970s [20]."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892765/
Again... How many calories were consumed?0 -
Eliminate artificial sweeteners and focus on lean meats and veggies and unprocessed foods at meals. You know those foods that say they are low carb and low calorie but still have 20 ingredients you cant identify? Yea those are the ones that hold you back. When I felt myself plateau on low carb diets it was a result of eating too many processed foods with artificial sweeteners a going off the deep end with foods that were unhealthy.
Drink lots of water, eat clean and you'll bust through that plateau.
Also track your body measurements. Low carb diets build muscle to replace the fat and sometimes the loss shows on the measurements before you see a drop on the scales.
This is actually correct but worded in a way that you all don't understand it. By eating low carb your body burns the fat that you already have stored in your body for energy instead of using the immediate energy you just gave it from the carbs. Therefore, by eating a low-carb diet and doing strength training too you lose the fat, build muscle, trim down, lose inches but may not see a difference on the scale.
No, no its not correct.
It doesn't build muscle. Muscle is built in a calorie SURPLUS.0 -
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Low carb diets build muscle to replace the fat and sometimes the loss shows on the measurements before you see a drop on the scales.
Can you site your source on this?? I have never heard of low carb, or any other "diet" for that matter "build muscle". Building muscle is something down with body weight training ,resistance training, llifting weights and the like. Your body does not just build muscle based on the fuel you provide it.
WIth that said, OP I too tried a low carb diet and then I found MFP and the people I have met on here changed everything for me. You dont have to restrict your carbs, you HAVE to count your calories and eat at a deficiet in order to lose. I generally remain mindful of my carb intake for the day, but ONLY because the foods high in carbs are usually calorie dense as well. Good Luck on your journey!!!
Certainly. Tulane University School of Public Health
By the end of the yearlong trial, people in the low-carbohydrate group had lost about eight pounds more on average than those in the low-fat group. They had significantly greater reductions in body fat than the low-fat group, and improvements in lean muscle mass — even though neither group changed their levels of physical activity.
While the low-fat group did lose weight, they appeared to lose more muscle than fat.
“They actually lost lean muscle mass, which is a bad thing,” Dr. Mozaffarian said. “Your balance of lean mass versus fat mass is much more important than weight. And that’s a very important finding that shows why the low-carb, high-fat group did so metabolically well.”
The study was financed by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It included a racially diverse group of 150 men and women — a rarity in clinical nutrition studies — who were assigned to follow diets for one year that limited either the amount of carbs or fat that they could eat, but not overall calories.
“To my knowledge, this is one of the first long-term trials that’s given these diets without calorie restrictions,” said Dariush Mozaffarian, the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, who was not involved in the new study. “It shows that in a free-living setting, cutting your carbs helps you lose weight without focusing on calories. And that’s really important because someone can change what they eat more easily than trying to cut down on their calories.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/health/low-carb-vs-low-fat-diet
and the study:
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleid=1900694
Did I miss the part that says how many calories each group was eating?
AS per the now found NY times articleIt included a racially diverse group of 150 men and women — a rarity in clinical nutrition studies — who were assigned to follow diets for one year that limited either the amount of carbs or fat that they could eat, but not overall calories.
So they didn't assign a number of calories.
Stupid study is stupid
JS Volek, et al. Comparison of energy-restricted very low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets on weight loss and body composition in overweight men and women. Nutrition & Metabolism (London), 2004.
Details: A randomized, crossover trial with 28 overweight/obese individuals. Study went on for 30 days (for women) and 50 days (for men) on each diet, that is a very low-carb diet and a low-fat diet. Both diets were calorie restricted.
Weight Loss: The low-carb group lost significantly more weight, especially the men. This was despite the fact that they ended up eating more calories than the low-fat group.
also
Meckling KA, et al. Comparison of a low-fat diet to a low-carbohydrate diet on weight loss, body composition, and risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in free-living, overweight men and women. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2004.
Details: 40 overweight individuals were randomized to a low-carb and a low-fat diet for 10 weeks. The calories were matched between groups.
Weight Loss: The low-carb group lost 7.0 kg (15.4 lbs) and the low-fat group lost 6.8 kg (14.9 lbs). The difference was not statistically significant.
Conclusion: Both groups lost a similar amount of weight.
A few other notable differences in biomarkers:
Blood pressure decreased in both groups, both systolic and diastolic.
Total and LDL cholesterol decreased in the LF group only.
Triglycerides decreased in both groups.
HDL cholesterol went up in the LC group, but decreased in the LF group.
Blood sugar went down in both groups, but only the LC group had decreases in insulin levels, indicating improved insulin sensitivity.
http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jc.2003-031606
Nickols-Richardson SM, et al. Perceived hunger is lower and weight loss is greater in overweight premenopausal women consuming a low-carbohydrate/high-protein vs high-carbohydrate/low-fat diet. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2005.
Details: 28 overweight premenopausal women consumed either a low-carb or a low-fat diet for 6 weeks. The low-fat group was calorie restricted.
Weight Loss: The women in the low-carb group lost 6.4 kg (14.1 lbs) compared to the low-fat group, which lost 4.2 kg (9.3 lbs). The results were statistically significant.
Conclusion: The low-carb diet caused significantly more weight loss and reduced hunger compared to the low-fat diet.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000282230501151X
Sigh
In short studies water weight can account for the extra weight lossed by the LC groups - not to mention the middle study bolded that shows no difference in weight loss.0 -
Diet, shmiet. Youre either eating better or you are not. Too bad this thread got highjacked - is the OP still reading?
Calorie deficit = weight comes off. To ensure deficit, monitor your portion size using a food scale if you aren't already. I had a hard time adopting that at first, being the only person in a household of 7 that weighs everything- how awkward, amirite?
Sometimes, though, there is a plateau despite doing everything right. All you can do is hunker down, keep doing whatcher doing and the body will realise you are serious about this weight loss nonsense and let the weight come off again. For some it takes a day or 3, others it can take a week or more, and by more I mean month +
If you are positive you are monitoring your food as accurately as possible, positive you are burning off the calories as close to an accurate estimate as you can get, and operating at a calorie deficit that isn't extreme you will experience loss. Gradual or dramatic, loss all the same.0 -
Without more information it is hard to say. I would venture a guess that you may have gotten so focus on the carb part of the equation; that you may be overlooking the culprit.0
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Walls of text do not prove your point.
There is nothing wrong with a low carb diet if that is what you like - but it is not necessary for weight loss - less calories are.
Your facts about sweeteners, muscle gain etc are unsupported.
Most of the studies are flawed as they only assign calories amounts to one group or neither, are based on people with medical conditions, are self reported etc etc etc.
Its not a wall of text. Its scientific proof. Take the time to read it. You can't call a clinical scientific study in a peer reviewed journal "flawed" without reading it sorry.
If 23 different scientific studies conducted by major universities and health organizations around the world all come up with the same conclusions and publish their results in peer reviewed journals (and go through stringent criticism by experts during the process) ... sorry I believe them. 1 might be a fluke. But 23? I don't think so.0 -
Walls of text do not prove your point.
There is nothing wrong with a low carb diet if that is what you like - but it is not necessary for weight loss - less calories are.
Your facts about sweeteners, muscle gain etc are unsupported.
Most of the studies are flawed as they only assign calories amounts to one group or neither, are based on people with medical conditions, are self reported etc etc etc.
Its not a wall of text. Its scientific proof. Take the time to read it. You can't call a clinical scientific study in a peer reviewed journal "flawed" without reading it sorry.
If 23 different scientific studies conducted by major universities and health organizations around the world all come up with the same conclusions and publish their results in peer reviewed journals (and go through stringent criticism by experts during the process) ... sorry I believe them. 1 might be a fluke. But 23? I don't think so.
I'm going through them one by one most are self reported with no calorie goals in place.
I bet when I'm finished I'll still be calling them flawed.0 -
OP, low carb works great.
If you count your calories, weigh and measure absolutely everything you eat, account for absolutely everything you eat, and eat less than your TDEE.
No matter what, it is always 100% of the time going to come down to the law of thermodynamics. You lose weight when you eat less than you burn.
The only thing low carb will do is help you shed a little water weight a little quicker. That is it. And that's really what all those fancy studies come down to in the end. You can lose a little more weight eating low carb, but that extra weight isn't really fat. It's water.
No magic.
No voodoo.
No funny science of any sort.
Now go get a food scale and start tracking your calories.
Best advice so far.0 -
@Independant24 - I read the article from the NY times which mentioned what you quoted, but then I went to the Tulane website to read about the study from the source (it was an article written by someone from Tulane, dated 9/2/2014) and have been unable to find any mention of lean muscle gain and/or loss. On that article I followed the link for the "study" which takes me to another Tulane article dated 10/28/2008 which also makes no mention. Rather it discusses hypertension and renal function.
I also tried to view the study from the Annals of Internal Medicine, and witht eh brief summary that is open to the public also found no mention of lean muscle variations.
So I guess I'm going to stick with my intial statement that dieting doesn't build lean muscle weight bearing exercises do.0 -
I would keep an eye on your calorie intake for a little while, and see if its fit for purpose. I don't know if there's any magic to doing low carb, but from almost three month of eating low carb (and losing a nice amount of excess weight), I do know my low carb diet helps me stick to my daily caloric deficit relatively easily, and that's where the real magic is for me. There are however many low carb foods that people find easy to eat a lot of, and you may find you're in a caloric surplus. Tracking your caloric intake for a couple days/ week, should let you know pretty quickly if thats the case, so I would say do that, and re-assess then.0
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Walls of text do not prove your point.
There is nothing wrong with a low carb diet if that is what you like - but it is not necessary for weight loss - less calories are.
Your facts about sweeteners, muscle gain etc are unsupported.
Most of the studies are flawed as they only assign calories amounts to one group or neither, are based on people with medical conditions, are self reported etc etc etc.
Its not a wall of text. Its scientific proof. Take the time to read it. You can't call a clinical scientific study in a peer reviewed journal "flawed" without reading it sorry.
If 23 different scientific studies conducted by major universities and health organizations around the world all come up with the same conclusions and publish their results in peer reviewed journals (and go through stringent criticism by experts during the process) ... sorry I believe them. 1 might be a fluke. But 23? I don't think so.
Proof of what?
If they did lose weight on low carb diets it was still because a calorie deficit was present. The calorie deficit may not have been a focus in any of the studies but when someone eats fewer carbs a side effect is still going to always be fewer calories, which is the real reason weight was lost.0 -
i have inspected the above post and found that not a word of it contains any factual information. please disregard any and all advice given in that post
I disagree. I have read scientific evidence that artificial sweeteners can stimulate insulin production. The body "reads" them as sugars, even though they are not, and are calorie free.
It is a scientific fact that elevated insulin causes the body to store as fat the foods we are taking in. Any doctor, dietician medical book or even Wikipedia will confirm this.
Therefore, if you drink, say, a Diet Coke with your meal, and the sweeteners are read by the body as sugar, and the pancreas releases a gush of insulin to deal with the (perceived) sugar, then whatever you are eating is going to be stored as fat on your body.
On low carb diets this is especially bad, because you are eating fatty, high-calorie foods and so THAT is what you will store if your body produces insulin. The consequences are not as bad on low calorie diets because your meal is probably only 300 calories instead of 1,000 as it might be on Atkins.
Hmm, then how have I lost 25 pounds since I switched from regular soda to diet?
OP, just being low carb doesn't mean anything if you aren't eating in a calorie deficit.
This^^^ Low Carb doesn't make you lose weight. Being in a calorie deficit does. THAT'S what's causing me to lose weight... The low carbing is just because of how high counts of carbs make me feel. I feel better and am more satiated because I've compensated with a higher fat count and protein count.0 -
Walls of text do not prove your point.
There is nothing wrong with a low carb diet if that is what you like - but it is not necessary for weight loss - less calories are.
Your facts about sweeteners, muscle gain etc are unsupported.
Most of the studies are flawed as they only assign calories amounts to one group or neither, are based on people with medical conditions, are self reported etc etc etc.
Its not a wall of text. Its scientific proof. Take the time to read it. You can't call a clinical scientific study in a peer reviewed journal "flawed" without reading it sorry.
If 23 different scientific studies conducted by major universities and health organizations around the world all come up with the same conclusions and publish their results in peer reviewed journals (and go through stringent criticism by experts during the process) ... sorry I believe them. 1 might be a fluke. But 23? I don't think so.
I'm going through them one by one most are self reported with no calorie goals in place.
I bet when I'm finished I'll still be calling them flawed.
You can believe what you want. I have my own beliefs and science to back it up. Calling all 23 peer reviewed journal articles and clinical studies "flawed" is crazy I'm sorry.
Moreover through trial and error I also know what works best for my body.0 -
Hello friends please share your suggestions here what to do if one is not losing weight on a low carb diet ?
Waiting for the suggestions
Eat less.0 -
My guess is you're eating too many calories. Eat less.Hello friends please share your suggestions here what to do if one is not losing weight on a low carb diet ?
Waiting for the suggestions0 -
My guess is you're eating too many calories. Eat less.Hello friends please share your suggestions here what to do if one is not losing weight on a low carb diet ?
Waiting for the suggestions
crazy talk. low carb is magic. have you not seen the links to studies?0
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