low carb or caloric deficit

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  • kane413
    kane413 Posts: 33 Member
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    Instead of an insane calorie deficit trade some of those carb calories for protein calories. Too few calories will cause your body to stop burning fat because it thinks you are starving therefore it tries to hold on to body fat.
  • Panda_Poptarts
    Panda_Poptarts Posts: 971 Member
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    For the record on the CICO debate, I have been both CICO no restrictions, and keto (current). I lost a good deal of weight (60lb) eating at a calorie deficit without restrictions. But I felt like crud! I eventually switched over to low carb, then to keto, and I've lost a bit more. Despite the relatively similar rate of weight loss between the two ways of eating, I enjoy keto because of the health benefits. I'm off my medication. My hormones are more regular, my migraines (chronic sufferer 3x per week) are GONE, I am no longer pre-diabetic. What I am, however, is insulin resistant. I've learned that my body doesn't process starchy foods as well as it should. Low carb / grain free is likely to be a way of life for me, but you can absolutely lose weight eating junk food at a calorie deficit.
  • jason58761
    jason58761 Posts: 29 Member
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    When I was 50# overweight, simply cutting carbs or any other change made results. I lost my first 30# on simply cutting carbs. Now just into my 'normal' BMI, unrestricted protein and fat does not work like that now. I have to focus on energy in and energy out.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    It is true that CICO works and carbs have calories that, if measured and recorded accurately, work with CICO. The difference of perception arises in the digesting of protein from any source. 40% of the energy available in protein, the stuff counted in CICO, is used up simply digesting the protein. That is, you get the elimination of 40% of the calories in protein without having to do more exercising. It's just enough exercise that you swallowed it. Carbs on the other hand are efficiently converted either slowly or quickly into energy used by the brain and the muscles to do the living of life, and almost 100% of the available energy in carbs is available for the brain and body to use as energy. For carbs, you must account for the active use of all of it. For protein, you only have to account for the active use of 60% of it. If you wanted to reduce your logged weight of prime rib by 40% so that your math treats protein and carbs equally, you can. I'd rather eat the prime rib.

    That's not how it works.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    blackmantis wrote: »
    Dont let these people fool you that eating all this junk is ok and still lose weight, although it maybe true make sure you don't have any of the issues that prevent that for working for you.

    So carbs=junk? That's a weird claim.
    Caloric deficit by way of exercise allows your body to still get its nutrients without sacrificing muscle.

    Calorie deficit by way of calorie cutting does too. Exercise is certainly helpful for retaining muscle, especially if one has less to lose, but you don't need to create the entire deficit from exercise. (Also, what does this even have to do with the topic of the thread?)
    Caloric deficit by eating with exercise will cause you to lose the initial weightloss then you will stall and plateau because you would have lowered your metabolism.

    No, not true. There's an excellent study showing a moderate (25%) deficit of half exercise, half calorie cutting led to no lowered metabolism. Also, my own personal experience is to the contrary. I never stalled and plateau'ed during my weight loss, and my metabolism seems to be what it should be for someone of my size and activity level.
  • zoink66
    zoink66 Posts: 116 Member
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    I eat low-carb.

    When I was losing weight, I limited my carb intake to 50g or less. It wasn't easy, but the weight came off relatively quickly which is what I wanted. The main advantage, at least for me, was that a low carb/high fat diet killed my appetite. I was never hungry. Even if I only ate 900 calories, I still felt great. I would constantly have to check my food journal to make sure I was eating enough.

    When I followed a higher carb diet, I was hungry frequently, even after eating many more calories.

    The calorie deficit is what creates loss, but it was so much easier for me to get a calorie deficit and stick to it by eating keto.

    I've been in maintenance for several years now, and probably average between 100-150g carbs per day. I never feel deprived, I don't binge (something I did before when I ate a lot of carbs), my sweet tooth is greatly reduced, my health is better, and I find it pretty easy to stick to good food choices for the long haul. I haven't had to work hard at all to keep the weight off.

    Low-carb may not be for everyone. Sticking with a diet to create the deficit is what's most important. But I, for one, will NEVER go back to eating 300+g carbs per day. It's not worth it.
  • kirstinethornburg
    kirstinethornburg Posts: 300 Member
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    For me low carbs seams to work best for looseing weight
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    oliverneedsyou wrote: »
    For those responding, do you only eat complex carbs most of the time?

    Complex vs. simple carbs isn't really a helpful distinction and is not even used consistently. My understanding is that used correctly (it often is not), it refers to the distinction between more simple sugars (like in fruit, as well as table sugar) and more complex ones (as in starches, like potatoes -- whether whole or in chips -- sweet potatoes, rice (white or brown), bread and pasta (same), etc.)

    So no, I eat starches AND fruit.

    To get to what I suspect you were really asking, though -- I get a good percentage of my carbs from vegetables (including starchier ones like root veg and winter squash), whole starches like potatoes and sweet potatoes, and legumes, and when I have grains I mostly try to eat whole grains, since I find fiber filling. If I feel like white pasta instead of whole grain, though, I keep in mind that the truth is that the nutritional differences between the two are minor and what's more significant is what you eat with them (I tend to eat a homemade sauce of lean protein, healthy fat, and lots of vegetables with my pasta). I also DON'T cut out all less nutrient items, just try to keep them to their proper place -- in moderation, within my calories, after getting in the nutrients I need to have a healthful, balanced diet. Had a work lunch of pasta with salad followed by a cannoli a co-worker brought from an Italian bakery. So my dinner will be a little higher protein and lower carb (and lower cal) than otherwise and I won't have anything extra this evening.
  • critterbug15
    critterbug15 Posts: 55 Member
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    Oooh, speaking of low carbing and pasta... I've been using broccoli slaw in the place of pasta and topping it with sauteed onions, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms, tempeh, and buttery cheesy shameless alfredo sauce. It's pretty awesome. Packs 500-600 cals, but very rich and filling. Anyway. Nomnomnom

    Currently on about 50g net carbs or less. About 70-80g of protein and the rest from fats. After not losing for 2 years on reduced cals, I've lost 16 pounds since March 28th using keto. I looked at the symptoms of insulin resistance and it was like turning on a light. Don't have the biomarkers of it, though, so I understand why my doctor did not suggest that. I am, however, going to increase carbs via fruit and possibly beans in about 5 pounds. I'm going to see if good results continue at 75g and then possibly - possibly 100g. The last 10 - 20 pounds are going to be slower because I'm planning to work out harder and more carbs will help. I add in a higher carb day (a sweet potato) a couple of times a week now and I'm not having a bad response to that. However, if I see the start of big cravings, insatiability, and no results in terms of fat loss, I'll cut them right back out, too.
  • dalsamba
    dalsamba Posts: 1 Member
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    I've just come to fitness pal from a low carb diet that saw me glycogen depleted after 5 weeks. Yes, I lost some weight but I couldn't stand up and had no energy to function let alone exercise. I'm switching to low calorie and the awful thing is I will now gain before I lose because I now understand about the water weight. I fell for all the info on the internet about low carb but I feel like if I had just looked at calories and logged it whilst working out I would have been in much better shape today.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    dalsamba wrote: »
    I've just come to fitness pal from a low carb diet that saw me glycogen depleted after 5 weeks. Yes, I lost some weight but I couldn't stand up and had no energy to function let alone exercise. I'm switching to low calorie and the awful thing is I will now gain before I lose because I now understand about the water weight. I fell for all the info on the internet about low carb but I feel like if I had just looked at calories and logged it whilst working out I would have been in much better shape today.

    I think I put on around 4lbs when I upped my carbs. But it didn't hang around for long. Just remember it's only water weight.

  • marinabreeze
    marinabreeze Posts: 141 Member
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    For me a combination of low-carb and cico works for me. The low-carb (paleo-ish) eating is for two reasons - I have insulin resistance and PCOS (so lowering sugar intake helps with both), and it helps me to manage my food intake overall since I no longer have a taste for processed sugars. I still track calories so I don't eat too much or too little. I don't think everyone has to eat the way I do to lose weight - cico at the end of the day, but people should do what works for them to get the caloric deficit within reason.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    OP if you are having trouble sticking to a calorie deficit, eg you are always hungry, strong cravings and generally struggling to keep your calories in check, then low carbing may work for you.

    But keep in mind you still have keep an eye on your calories. You'll still gain weight if you eat over your maintenance calories, no matter which way of eating you choose.
  • sarahthes
    sarahthes Posts: 3,252 Member
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    I do low carb (~50-60g net per day) mostly to help with satiety and maintaining a deficit. It's also slowly reducing my sweet tooth and my desire for all things fries potato. Because I'm not quite keto, indulging every so often doesn't then throw me out of keto.

    I'm also extremely high risk for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. My mom and most of her siblings have type 2 (one has type 1) and I had gestational diabetes when pregnant with my youngest. Being consistently active right now isn't a thing because I'm so sleep deprived, so I'm reducing risk factors by weight loss via cutting calories, and cutting calories via cutting carbs.

    Before kids I lost 46 lbs in 8 months just cutting calories with no food type restrictions, and all of my regains were during 2 pregnancies. I am still nursing kid #2 a little, though, so, I found I was having trouble with cravings and overeating. Nursing causes a ton of hunger! Low carb helps with reducing those cravings, although cheese... Cheese is still an issue sometimes :p.

    Anyway, ~12 lbs down in the past 7 weeks since I started LCHF. Before that, 13 lbs down in the prior 6 months, and most of that was yoyoing up and down...
  • nvmomketo
    nvmomketo Posts: 12,019 Member
    edited May 2016
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    For it is CI<CO while eating a very low carb diet. Of course calories out must be greater than the calories coming in in order to lose weight, and I find eating LCHF makes that easier by reducing my appetite and cravings, the slightly higher thermogenic properties of a very LCHF diet, increasing my energy so I am more likely to move more, and possibly by reducing blood glucose and insulin levels.

    I eat around 20-30g of carbs per day on most days.

    I did get fat by eating too many carbs and too many calories. I do not eat too many calories when I do not eat too many carbs. For me, excess weight is linked to excess carb intake.
    betuel75 wrote: »
    cerise_noir wrote: »
    Everyone repeat after me:

    "STARVATION MODE IS A MYTH"

    We need this on T-shirts....

    "STARVATION MODE IS A MYTH"

    Hopefully. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oby.21538/full
  • specialkally
    specialkally Posts: 4 Member
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    From my experience low carb, low fat.

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