Does low-carb really work?
hi_imshaun
Posts: 80 Member
First off, dieting is hard!! lol Just a little over a week ago I started low-carb. I don't think it's really been working out that good for me. My family has been telling me the weight should just fall right off, and my aunt actually lost 70lbs on low-carb. I'm 389lbs and in the past week, I've only lost like 2 lbs, I guess that's better than nothing, but I've been weighing in at 389 for the past 3 days. Last time I counted calories and the weight was falling off much faster. But counting calories, it still allowed me to have the things that I shouldn't have so my cravings were still there, so I failed after a 30lb weight loss. Just after a little over a week on low-carb my cravings are becoming less and less. Examples of foods I've been eating on low-carb:Fish, Chicken, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Sweet Peppers, Egg Whites, Turkey Bacon, Green Beans, Light & Fit Greek Yogurt, and Oatmeal, when I'm thirsty I've been drinking water, or Chrystal Light. For snacks I've been doing Tortilla Chips and Humus, or cut up veggies and dipping them in this Greek Yogurt veggie dip that I picked up.My cousin said last night that it can start off slow and to stick with it. But I'm just unsure if it's really going to work. Anyone have any pointers, or advice?
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Low carb works but you aren't really there yet. You need to read about how to do it correctly. Yogurt, tortilla chips, oatmeal are not a good place to start. There are many books available, the most common are those by Dr Atkins or South Beach. They are most likely in your public library if you don't want to buy them. If you are going to do it, do it right.0
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You just need to be in a caloric deficit to lose weight, so I would start there. At 389 pounds it should be fairly easy for you to drop pounds by doing just this and there is no need to low carb.0
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I don't have any low carb pointers.....but unless you have medical issues with carbs you don't need to do low carb for weight loss. Low carb isn't magic. Any diet that gives you a deficit is going to result in weight loss. It's calories in vs. calories out.
In the past I've done low carb, but failed at maintenance. I failed because I went back to eating "normally." This time I'm only changing what I plan on changing forever.0 -
I think someone at your weight (389) should consult a doctor first.
Just my .2 cents0 -
Well I've gone from 308 to my current weight 213 just by managing what I eat best advice I ever got was dont do something you cant do for life and its completely true just eating normally but eating less is the road to being in a caloric deficit and staying there no need to cut out an entire group of macro nutrients0
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My sister and I have the same body type. She has been doing low carb for 2 months (not to lose weight, just medical reasons) and hasn't lost weight. I've been calorie counting for over 3 months and have lost plenty. So...that tells me that even though low carb sounds like a good idea, its not going to always work for everyone. Like already said, its all about calorie deficit! The reason why it will sometimes work is because cutting out carbs will make you less hungry. Things like white bread, tortillas, etc. will leave you feeling hungry and you will automatically eat more. But if you don't like it, and its not producing results you want, there is no reason to stick with it. Plus its a fad diet! Don't do something that isn't sustainable, otherwise, you will just give up and gain it all back.
I just ate fried chicken yesterday and was still in within my calorie count for the day. I think its a better system.0 -
Your aunt lost the weight due to a calorie deficit - not low carb. Low carb is just a non-fun and unnecessary strategy to achieve a calorie deficit.0
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Been to a doctor and he's the one who told me to do low carb.....0
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Oh, but calorie counting and eating like 1600 calories worth of carbs in a day isn't going to work either. You have to eat foods that are dense in nutrients and leave you filling full.0
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Been to a doctor and he's the one who told me to do low carb.....
That was all he said? Time for a new doctor.0 -
Been to a doctor and he's the one who told me to do low carb.....
If he told you that and gave you a list of medical reasons why then by all means do that if you have pressing medical issues. But if that was his solution to weight loss then just being in a caloric deficit should be just as fine I myself and other members of mfp are proof that it works unless you 110% confidant that you can do low carb your WHOLE LIFE (because I assume thats how long you want to look good and skinny) then dont do it. Do something you can stick with you dont have to list and entire macro nutrient as taboo just eat less.0 -
Been to a doctor and he's the one who told me to do low carb.....
That was all he said? Time for a new doctor.
QFT
He should have recommended you to a weight loss specialist or a nutritionist....
Friggin doctors.0 -
I have lost 5 pounds in the last three weeks. I am a carb lover, bread is my biggest weakness. I didn't cut them out completely, but I cut back on a lot of them, because carbs do turn to sugar. Maybe just decreasing the amount will help. Good luck !!0
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Weight loss comes from taking in less calories than you're burning throughout the day. Certainly reducing your carb intake will help with this, but you don't want to get rid of them completely. Carbs are your body's fuel source. If you want your body to function efficiently, you need to fuel it. Eating really low carbs will get you to lose weight, but eating super low carbs is not sustainable and sets you up for failure. I always tell people it's best to lose weight while eating as much as you can. This is helps by keeping your metabolism up, protecting your muscle from breakdown, and helps you from feeling deprived.
Allan0 -
Plus its a fad diet!
lol :huh:
A fad that has been around for hundreds of years... and, in fact, is the way your ancestors ate for last 2 odd million years. But yeah, it's just a fad.0 -
I did a Dr. supervised low-carb diet before and it worked. Start with unlimited meat, fowl and fish but no processed meat like hotdogs. No super fatty cuts of meat like ribs. Any type of leafy green you want in ANY quantity (lettuces, chard, kale etc), no dairy, no corn, squash, potato of any kind for the first 2 weeks. NO added sugar and no fruits. Skip the beans for the first 2 weeks and no grains, including "gluten-free" kinds. Add a couple cups of non-leafy green veges (beans, cauliflower, broccoli etc). 1 Egg yolk a day is fine and unlimited egg white. Small amounts of added fat like olive oil to sautee your veges in is fine. 1splenda + 1 TBSP light cream for morning coffee is fine. Then slowly up the vege count until you find yourself comfortably losing 1-2 lbs a week. Eventually, you can add fruits and low-fat dairy but right now they are no-nos. Use condiments to make your food palatable as long as its not sugary/saucy gravies and dips. You will not starve but you'll need to be creative in your recipes, snacks and desserts (if needed). Follow those rules and I'll bet you lose 7-20 lbs in the first 2 weeks!! Good luck!0
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Plus, drink lots of fluids. If you want to figure out if you are really low carb. Log every food and take your total carbs - fiber= NET CARBS. If you are under 60 NET carb grams a day, you're pretty low carb.
Plus I would take a vitamin daily if you are struggling with veges at first but no low carb diet (or any healthy diet) really works for your health if you aren't getting adequate nutrients and fiber from vegetables.0 -
If you're really doing low-carb, then tortilla chips and pretty much ANY kind of yogurt is off the list.
What the previous poster said about "net carbs" is accurate, too.
Good luck,
R0 -
You know what works? A calorie deficit.
If you go on low-carb and lose weight, it's because you're eating less calories than your body is burning throughout the day. Period. It's not because you're eating 20-50 grams of carbs per day.
I eat 200+ grams of carbs daily and I'm losing just fine.
Unless you have diabetes or something like that, there's no reason to cut carbs.0 -
2lb loss each week is fantastic! This is about as quickly as you'll ever want to lose to stay healthy and to be able to maintain the loss in the end.
Eat low carb (It works!) but maintain something you can do as a lifestyle.
You'll burn out otherwise. Many people (like myself) find a good balance of low (er) carb + calorie control works best and can be maintained for life without going crazy or feeling deprived.
I've posted my personal experience and lots of scientific studies in several threads but alot of anti low carb people bashed me for hours afterwards. If you search the forums I'm sure you can find lots of information though including what I posted.
Here's one link though to get you started. 23 different studies that show the benefits of lower carb diets. (none of these were extremely low carb though... more in the 50 carb a day range)
http://authoritynutrition.com/23-studies-on-low-carb-and-low-fat-diets/
There's also a "low carb daily" group if you want additional support, meal ideas etc.
Overall the key to losing weight is sticking to a diet... no matter which kind you choose. Find one that works for you as a lifestyle and stick with it for good. Wishing you lots of success!0 -
Great, you are eating low carb. It is one way to do it. What you didn't say is how many calories you eat in a day. Are you running a caloric deficit? Or just the same amount of calories but low carb?
I would see if you could get a body fat analysis done. You may not enough protein and fat in your diet to go with the low carb side of things.
And yes...2 lbs per week? That is what you should be doing. And don't weigh yourself everyday, weigh yourself once a week.0 -
In my personal experience and opinion -- yes.
I was trying to lose weight for a year without much luck at all (a couple pounds). I was eating at a deficit. I switched to low carb (around 60-110 carbs a day) and lost nearly 20 lbs so far. I am ALSO eating at a calorie deficit -- I eat a net calorie intake of between 1280 and 1400 a day. This calorie amount and carb amount is not right for every one so each person needs to determine what levels are best for their body.
Disclaimer: I will also say I cut out gluten (I have an autoimmune disease and gluten avoidance is recommended), and cut out MOST grain consumption. However, I have recently been eating more carbs than usual and my weight loss has been stuck. So I do think the low carb diet is extremely helpful.
I do plan on maintaining this way of eating for the long term, adding in a bit more carbs once I reach my goal weight but not as much as I was prior to this diet.0 -
Its works if followed. I am following Atkins (DANDR 2002) WOE in addition to logging on MFP and cronometer. Started @ 432lbs and the ticker shows my progress in 13 months. Welcome and best wishes on your WOE.0
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Does low carb work - yes if you are following it as it's designed. Is it necessary, maybe/maybe not. Do you have any medical conditions? Do you tend to binge on certain foods? Are you insulin resistant or have diabetes?
In any case, you need to adhere to a calorie deficit to lose weight, but low carb is a technique to do that. Personally, i struggle when I eliminate foods I enjoy from my diet and it causes me to binge. For some, if they don't follow low carb, they struggle with adhering to their calories. So there are a few factors you want to take into consideration.
What I wouldn't suggest is doing low carb if you see it as an approach to lose weight because thate generally means once you are doing losing, you will end up reverting back to your old ways. But if you see that as something you can/will sustain long term, there are no adverse effects from going low carb.0 -
for me calorie and carb control. I think cutting out processed foods,white flour and bread are my keys. I am losing 2 lb a week. slow and steady is boring but effective.I also eat tons of veg to feel full. Bean sprouts and Kale are edible!!!LOL0
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Yes! Low carb does work! I've lost 40 pounds since January (to be fair I only did low carb since the beginning of February)
On these boards a lot of people say 'oh it's not necessary, you just have to be in a calorie deficit'. Well, for me to stay in a calorie deficit, the low carb was necessary. It's been the only way that I've been able to lose weight and keep it off. For 15 years, I've tried to lose weight. I always started a diet in January of almost every year (just eating at a deficit whatever I wanted type diet), and then I would be done with it by April. This is the first time I've lost the weight and kept to it. Always before...sugar and bread and pasta...it seems like if I keep eating those things, I want more and more until I give in...and then give in a little bit more...until I get to the point of giving up. It was easier for me to knock out the sugar and the pasta and the bread than to eat them in moderation. And now I don't even want a lot of that stuff. A lot of it is too sweet for me now.
And yes, I plan on eating this way from now on. With a little bit of work, I found substitutes for most things, and the other things I just don't miss all that much. Does that mean I'm never going to have a piece of pizza again? No, sometimes I indulge, but the next day I go right back to the low carb lifestyle.
My advice: Read and research. I read a lot about low carb before I started actually doing it. Research what you can and can't eat. I wouldn't actually cheat on this diet until the cravings are gone. Eventually I stopped thinking 'omg, I want a pizza and a coke.' But eventually the cravings do go away, and it becomes a lot easier to stay in a deficit.
Good luck!0 -
If you are really going to try low carb, you need to do it correctly. Chips, yogurt, etc. are not low carb foods. You cannot do low carb and low fat at the same time without causing issues. Very low carb diets are actually Low Car, High Fat, Moderate Protein or Ketogenic diets. You probably will still need to count calories after induction which produces ketosis. You cannot cheat on these diets without resetting your ketosis clock. But, once you are fully keto adapted (using fat for energy), you will lose fat at a good clip.
If you are going to do lower carb, then you will still lose weight if you are in a calorie deficit, but increase your fats and proteins to compensate.0 -
Low carb works but you aren't really there yet. You need to read about how to do it correctly. Yogurt, tortilla chips, oatmeal are not a good place to start. There are many books available, the most common are those by Dr Atkins or South Beach. They are most likely in your public library if you don't want to buy them. If you are going to do it, do it right.
Atkins has their phase "allowed foods" lists online.
http://www.atkins.com/Program/Overview.aspx
You can get to the phase lists from that page. Atkins is a bit restrictive for me. But it works well for those who need the guidance and structure.
South Beach has some stuff on their site as well.
And yes, read up! Used book stores always have lots of different copies of different diet books, too. Reading up on it makes everything easier to understand and to follow.0 -
My opinion... Simple carbs, like breads and pastas, tend to have a lot of calories but not a lot of potential to fill you up, so they're really easy to overeat. Especially for me. By cutting them out, people tend to replace them with veggies, meat, and fruit, which is harder to overeat (fruit maybe not so much).
That's where I think the magic lies. Carbs (from the bread, etc) tend to make me crave more carbs, so by avoiding them, it's a lot easier to control my intake and still feel satisfied.
BTW, I've been thin on a high carb diet and I've been thin on a lower carb diet. The main difference is I'm much less hungry and get to eat a ton more food on the lower carb diet. Which is why I have no plan to start eating bread or pasta any time soon. Cut them out nearly a year and a half ago and now only eat them on occasion...0 -
Been to a doctor and he's the one who told me to do low carb.....
Don't listen to the naysayers. It is the standard knee-jerk response for many people to just say "Don't do low-carb" to answer your question. UNHELPFUL. Especially in your case where a doc has prescribed. Did he say what level he wanted your carbs to be?
That's the most important piece of info we need to give you tailored advice. My mom is diabetic and they have her at 120g/daily. At that level, you really need to limit the grains, starches, fruits, and yogurt. They have the highest counts. Pick meats, fats, low-carb dairy, and veggies 80-85% of the time. Then if you have carbs left in your budget you can add starches, grains, and fruits that are low on the glycemic index. It's very hard to keep to your limits when you overdo it on grains and starches, though. And saying that makes people mad, but for a medical low-carb diet, it is essential to know your limits and keep those grains, starches, and fruit to a minimum.
I'd like to add that while pregnant with my youngest, I too was on a reduced carb diet. At first you will probably crave all the things you need to keep away from but the cravings do go away. Currently I am doing a lower-carb diet that puts me in ketosis. Not all low-carb diets use ketosis. So unless your doc, tells you otherwise, I wouldn't worry over that too much.
What were doc's instructions?0
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