If low carb works, why are people still fat?

So then some of us maybe juuuust maybe are "special snowflakes" after all....maybe juuuuuust maybe some of us can't work on the energy balance equation alone, which goes against what a lot of people here tout all over the place and make people who struggle to lose feel bad and dumb and lazy. Maybe juuuuust maybe there is more to it then???

And what if the cure for obesity (i.e. energy in greater than energy out) is a low carb diet? What if a low carb diet causes a decrease in appetite and an increase in NEAT calories spontaneously? What if eliminating carbs from your diet allows your body to regulate it's weight just like it regulates everything else like breathing, body temperature and blood pressure.

Why does it have to be a lack of will power or people being lazy and stupid? Have you ever seen kids eat right before a growth spurt? They're always hungry. Do you see post after post with women asking how to deal with being HUNGRY before menstruation? Why is it so hard to even consider that something else is driving the obesity epidemic around the world?

Diet and maintain your weight however you'd like but it really takes some hubris to believe you know everything and there's nothing to be learned about obesity.

And what if the cure for obesity (i.e. energy in greater than energy out) is a low carb diet? What if a low carb diet causes a decrease in appetite and an increase in NEAT calories spontaneously? What if eliminating carbs from your diet allows your body to regulate it's weight just like it regulates everything else like breathing, body temperature and blood pressure.

Why does it have to be a lack of will power or people being lazy and stupid? Have you ever seen kids eat right before a growth spurt? They're always hungry. Do you see post after post with women asking how to deal with being HUNGRY before menstruation? Why is it so hard to even consider that something else is driving the obesity epidemic around the world?

Diet and maintain your weight however you'd like but it really takes some hubris to believe you know everything and there's nothing to be learned about obesity.

And what if the cure for obesity (i.e. energy in greater than energy out) is a low carb diet? What if a low carb diet causes a decrease in appetite and an increase in NEAT calories spontaneously? What if eliminating carbs from your diet allows your body to regulate it's weight just like it regulates everything else like breathing, body temperature and blood pressure.

Why does it have to be a lack of will power or people being lazy and stupid?

Have you ever seen kids eat right before a growth spurt? They're always hungry. Do you see post after post with women asking how to deal with being HUNGRY before menstruation? Why is it so hard to even consider that something else is driving the obesity epidemic around the world?

Diet and maintain your weight however you'd like but it really takes some hubris to believe you know everything and there's nothing to be learned about obesity.

And what if the cure for obesity (i.e. energy in greater than energy out) is a low carb diet? What if a low carb diet causes a decrease in appetite and an increase in NEAT calories spontaneously? What if eliminating carbs from your diet allows your body to regulate it's weight just like it regulates everything else like breathing, body temperature and blood pressure.

Why does it have to be a lack of will power or people being lazy and stupid? Have you ever seen kids eat right before a growth spurt? They're always hungry. Do you see post after post with women asking how to deal with being HUNGRY before menstruation? Why is it so hard to even consider that something else is driving the obesity epidemic around the world?

Diet and maintain your weight however you'd like but it really takes some hubris to believe you know everything and there's nothing to be learned about obesity.

This is a pretty ridiculous post. Why would a low carb diet take less will power than any other diet? Even IF a low carb diet were a cure for obesity, that would not remove will power from the equation. I've never been obese, but it would sure take a lot of will power for me to follow a low carb diet. I suppose I would if I had to, but luckily I don't.

Low carb diets could cure obesity if everyone followed it and created a deficit. Many diets could. But many people don't have the will power (or desire) to follow them.

Well since you've never been overweight I'm going to guess you've never felt like you need to eat all of the time but how about a smoker? For me, the experience has been remarkably similar. It's hard at first but once you just suck it up and do it it gets better. And while an occasional craving pops up you feel so much better you wouldn't think about picking up a pack of cigarettes again--no will power required.

ETA:
Obviously that's just my personal experience but as has been pointed out, I'm not a special snowflake, and there are thousands of people who have shared similar experiences from what I've seen in the diet communities on line. There's something to it and I'm just thankful I finally discovered this way of eating and I'm extremely happy people are more willing to entertain the idea that there's more to weight loss than calories in vs calories out and the clinical studies are showing this and more studies are being planned as a result.

Riiiiight. Those dumb slovenly lazy people who can't count calories and are too lazy to work out. Yes that's it. You solved the obesity crisis in one sentence!!! Voila!

Your pointless sarcasm aside, the solution to obesity does fit in one sentence, actually just four words. Eat less, exercise more.

...Except for those of us who've busted our a**es following the "eat less, move more" (which has its own diminishing returns, btw), doing everything "right", and still saw neither the scale, nor the tape measure move.

What most people don't seem to realize is that while "eat less, move more" does work for the general population (particularly one that's used to sitting on their butts, eating Cheetos all day), there is a fair-sized portion for which that doesn't actually work for, even though those people are considered "healthy" by medical tests (good A1C, thyroid, etc results).

I'm not sure why so many low-carbers have trouble taking responsibility for themselves? Taubes made a mint telling people what they want to hear: it wasn't their fault, they didn't eat too much food, exercise is pointless... it's all the ebil, ebil food's fault.

Perhaps because for a lot of people who have gone the low-carb route, "eat less, move more" didn't work. Carbs screw with your hormones by dumping glucose into your bloodstream, causing an insulin response (yes, even "healthy" carbs do this, not just sugar). Do that enough times, with enough insulin, over a long enough period of time, and you desensitize your muscles and burn out your pancreas (not unlike how alcoholics often burn out their livers). Even for those with adequate insulin sensitivity, other hormones can make people prone to gaining weight and not being able to lose it. This is a common symptom of PCOS, which elevates testosterone in women with it, making it nearly impossible for them to lose weight. There's also growing evidence that humans in general can't handle gluten very well (ie - that gluten intolerance isn't nearly as rare as once believed), and that a good portion of the population may actually have subclinical intolerance to it, which has often been linked to a host of non-descript problems (part of what makes it so difficult to diagnose), which can directly and indirectly lead to weight gain and/or difficulty losing weight.

So yes, for some of us, it is the "ebil, ebil food's" fault.

So it is the fault of the food? Not the fault of the people who overeat the food? Do I have that right??

For anyone who says that low-carb diets haven't been around long enough to be sure if they work or not, they've actually been popular for almost 150 years. William Banting published his "Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public," which was a low-carb diet, in 1863. It was so popular that "banting" is still a term used for dieting, and his pamphlet remains in print.

When you're not overeating, and are doing what you're "supposed" to be doing (exercising 3x+ per week moderate-high intensity, eating "good" foods, such as whole grains, lean proteins, etc) and still not losing weight (or worse, still gaining), then yes, it may, in fact, be what you're eating, regardless of how much (or in this case, how little) you're eating.

I started eating low carb to hopefully loose weight. It works because I have lost 24lbs already. But I can honestly say that now, if I didn't loose a sigle ounce more, I would still stay with low carb. I just feel so much better, I am no longert hungry all the time, all my joint aches and pains have gone, funny lumps on my finger joints..gone, asthma medication no longer needed, feflux and stomach pain...gone, sleeping well, alert and focused, much more productive, and just generally happier.

tl:dr

it's not a diet, its a lifestyle.

stick with it, and you don't get fat!

/shock /awe

you can't go back to eating junk food all day /eyeroll

Protein doesn't create the same level of insulin response that carbohydrates do (this is pretty well illustrated by comparing the glycemic load of a chicken breast (less than 15) to that of pretty much any high carb food (100-300)*), so the "well, protein causes an insulin response, too!" line holds about as much water as "insulin instantly makes you fat!".

Insulin is a hormone necessary for our bodies to function. It keeps us from overloading our blood with Glucose (which is deadly at too high of levels). However, that doesn't change the fact that extreme difficulty losing weight is a common symptom of insulin resistance, and insulin resistance is a giant red flag for the risk of Type 2 Diabetes. It also doesn't change the fact the chronic exposure to certain substances is linked to certain organs malfunctioning or shutting down entirely (alcoholism and the liver are a prime example of this).

* http://www.lowglycemicload.com/glycemic_table.html

And what if the cure for obesity (i.e. energy in greater than energy out) is a low carb diet? What if a low carb diet causes a decrease in appetite and an increase in NEAT calories spontaneously? What if eliminating carbs from your diet allows your body to regulate it's weight just like it regulates everything else like breathing, body temperature and blood pressure.

Why does it have to be a lack of will power or people being lazy and stupid? Have you ever seen kids eat right before a growth spurt? They're always hungry. Do you see post after post with women asking how to deal with being HUNGRY before menstruation? Why is it so hard to even consider that something else is driving the obesity epidemic around the world?

Diet and maintain your weight however you'd like but it really takes some hubris to believe you know everything and there's nothing to be learned about obesity.

This is a pretty ridiculous post. Why would a low carb diet take less will power than any other diet? Even IF a low carb diet were a cure for obesity, that would not remove will power from the equation. I've never been obese, but it would sure take a lot of will power for me to follow a low carb diet. I suppose I would if I had to, but luckily I don't.

Low carb diets could cure obesity if everyone followed it and created a deficit. Many diets could. But many people don't have the will power (or desire) to follow them.

Well since you've never been overweight I'm going to guess you've never felt like you need to eat all of the time but how about a smoker? For me, the experience has been remarkably similar. It's hard at first but once you just suck it up and do it it gets better. And while an occasional craving pops up you feel so much better you wouldn't think about picking up a pack of cigarettes again--no will power required.