Actually, that's not completely true on the insulin, obscene protein amounts. After being low carb a while, if I eat a good deal of chicken (sometimes at night, after a long day, a rotisserie chicken, dipped in melted butter is consumed). That can put me over 150 grams of protein easily. My range is like 70-140, and my IR has re-sensitized so much that the higher end of my range creates that reaction for me individually. But due to injuries and outlying conditions, I cannot exercise as I'd like to at this time, so that pretty much mostly dumps to excess and creates postprandial somnolence for me. This isn't my only example, but the simplest one...

Now if I dropped most of the questionable carbs and went carnivore only (only animal products, carbs through organ meats and such only), I might not have that reaction, but that's not currently on my to do list. LOL

If you are looking for keto levels of low carb (or approaching that), this is a really helpful calculator to help you figure out your macros. I re-check it every few months to help me set my macro goals. http://keto-calculator.ankerl.com/

I've been eating low carb for about two weeks, and I lost 8 pounds in that two weeks. I had white carbs for the first time last night (church dinner - some pasta in lasagna), and it has wreaked havoc with my intestines (had 3 bouts of diarrhea today). Does anyone find that if you do eat carbs, it messes with your GI system?

All protein increases insulin secretion, because insulin is used for sending protein where it needs to be. Some types of protein increase it more than others. Whey, for example, produces an insulin response on par with white bread.

What takes "an obscene amount of protein" is having the protein turn to sugar via gluconeogenesis. While the body does do this in small amounts when your carbohydrates are very low, it's not really going to do this as a source of fuel unless you're greatly restricting carbs and fat (thus, forcing your body to rely on protein for fuel), but even this is only in certain conditions and your body will take measures to prevent you from continuing to do so (this is why a lot of low carb, low fat, high protein diet followers deal with cravings and GI issues).

Tons and tons of protein won't do much to fill you up either, like you always hope it will. You pee out what your body doesn't use, so if you're not building muscle with it, it's a waste.

tatdhousewife wrote: »

Tons and tons of protein won't do much to fill you up either, like you always hope it will. You pee out what your body doesn't use, so if you're not building muscle with it, it's a waste.

Uh...no. If you have protein in your urine, it's a sign of something else being wrong. Excess protein gets converted to sugar, then stored either in glycogen as sugar, or as body fat. The process is inefficient, though, which is why it's very hard to get fat eating almost nothing but protein.

Yikes. I'm pretty sure my protein powder has whey protein in it, too. Oops. I'll see if DH wants it ...

I've been low carb off and on for years. (Even when "off" my carbs didn't go much over 150.) I've been on a keto diet since November and it's worked well for me. I lost about 8 lbs in the first 2 weeks but then plateaued for about a month, then started losing again. I lost about 15 lbs total in the first 2 months, 4 lbs the third month, and about a pound the fourth month (by that point I was just under my original goal weight though). I've now shifted to maintenance mode to recomp.