Carbs/Weightloss??

Cutting out and/or lowering carb intake makes weight loss more efficient. Cal in, cal out is a general rule, but by taking in the right macros your body becomes more efficient at burning FAT. Yes, a lot of initial weight is water, but it also makes burning fat quicker.

What makes you believe this is true?

Experience and research... I'm not saying my statement is absolute, but I believe macro proportions can play a large part. Especially with carbs, sugars, and insulin levels. Though an extreme, someone that took in 1500 cals of carbs and sugar a day for a month would most likely lose a lot more lbm than someone eating high protein, low carb; Even if they ended up the same weight.

Just my perspective.

You can't use that example though- being protein deficient is a very different situation than 15-20% protein SAD vs 40% protein "low carb" diet.

for me. low carb all the way (under 20 grams, in ketosis)
calorie restriction doesn't work for me. i'm miserable, and i lose weight so slowly!

ketosis is just a godsend.

I'm really not trying to be snarky, but do you plan to continue that forever?To me, it just seems SO restrictive! If you mess up one day and eat just enough carbs to get out of ketosis, how long does it take to get back on track?

Still disproves losing fat is simply cals in/ cals out. That was my point.

What about portion size? A small serving of pasta served with vegetables and a home made pasta sauce then a huge bowl covered in cheese. Not to sure what you're having.

Feel free to add me everyone.

If calories in vs calories out isn't everything, do people on low carb diets still consider how many calories they've eaten?

I've been eating relatively low carb (70-80g per day) and on a calorie deficit for a few weeks, and I'm losing nicely and feel good on the low carb diet, but my hubby tells me I'm too obsessed with the calories, and that the calories don't matter ... I should just count the carbs.

Any thoughts?

Your body uses energy. It measures this energy in units called calories.

Macronutrients provide these calories, and each have a specific grams/calories conversion.

One gram carbohydrate - 4 calories
One gram protein - 4 calories
One gram fat - 9 calories

It doesn't matter what you read, what you think, what your stupid hippy friend told you; your body obeys the laws of physics. It doesn't matter if you are eating low carb, high protein, high fat; or that weird fad diet said hippy friend told you about. Your body has energy demands, and it will go about meeting those demands one way or another.

Yes, what you eat can affect your health and well being, but caloric demands are caloric demands. If you get nine calories of fat per gram from bacon, several times throughout the day, versus nine calories of fat per gram of salmon; will your cardiovascular health differ in the long run? Quite likely. If you get four calories per gram of protein from white rice versus four calories per gram of protein from quinoa is your lean body mass going to be affected in the long run? Probably.

However, in either case if the caloric inputs are the same. The energy consumed versus expended is the same. Your metabolism remains fairly constant, the only factors that really affect it are age, sex, height, weight etc. Everything else, "thermogenic" foods, extreme calorie deficits etc don't really make it budge as much as people like to think. Why do extremely fat people lose weight very fast? Because it takes much more energy to sustain that giant frame, puts more stress on the system...and obese people have been storing a very rich source of fuel on their bodies in the form of fat.

It's like if you tow a load with your car, or hell, drive the average vehicle faster than 70 mph; you start to consume more fuel.

So to circle all the way back to your question; yes of course you f*cking count calories still. This isn't witchcraft. If you eat less carbs, yes you will retain less water, your "fat" loss will progress more smoothly in a visible sense on the scale and in general fluctuations in weight a person goes through just in a day, but it all breaks down to calories in versus calories out.

So basically what people are saying is that if you restrict your carbs AND your calories, when you hit your goal weight, you can eat as many carbs as you want as long as you're not over maintenance and not gain a single lb back. Interesting.