Nice Graphic for Low Carb Fans

[eytonxav]

Not trying to get anyone in a uproar or debate over diets, but thought it was a simple flow chart explanation of how a low carb diet actually works to help you stay lean.

 

[W2R]

Interesting!

I am not exactly on a low carb diet, but I am eating more protein now than in my past weight loss endeavors, and less carbs. I guess I have about doubled my intake of protein food. Now, I usually grill a half pound or more of chicken breast, fish, or lean steak for dinner. That is much more protein than I consumed in previous weight loss efforts, but I keep the calories the same. Mainly I wanted to try something different. This summer I have been keeping track of calories on MFP (myfitnesspal dot com). I love the feeling of satiety that extra protein is giving me, and that is referred to in your flow chart.

I lost 8.4 pounds in July. I hope to lose another 30 pounds or so by the end of the year. My fasting blood sugar has improved this month as well.

 

[MRG]

Interesting!

I am not exactly on a low carb diet, but I am eating more protein now than in my past weight loss endeavors, and less carbs. I guess I have about doubled my intake of protein food. Now, I usually grill a half pound or more of chicken breast, fish, or lean steak for dinner. That is much more protein than I consumed in previous weight loss efforts, but I keep the calories the same. Mainly I wanted to try something different. This summer I have been keeping track of calories on MFP (myfitnesspal dot com). I love the feeling of satiety that extra protein is giving me, and that is referred to in your flow chart.

I lost 8.4 pounds in July. I hope to lose another 30 pounds or so by the end of the year. My fasting blood sugar has improved this month as well.

Congratulations!

Eight in a month is fantastic. Are you using the MFP community? If so there's a low carb group that's good for information and is less judgemental than the rest of their forum.

 

[MBAustin]

Nice chart. Whatever the mechanism, I have found that low-ish carbs (especially refined flours and sugars) is the key for me to keep my weight steady (along with walking 2 miles or more most days). I cook 90% with whole grains and rarely eat bread of any kind, and we eat lots of veggies. When I pick up a few pounds, I go back to South Beach Stage 1 (or 1.5) for a week or two and that gets me back to where I want to be.

 

[eytonxav]

Interesting!



I lost 8.4 pounds in July. I hope to lose another 30 pounds or so by the end of the year. My fasting blood sugar has improved this month as well.

Those are stellar results, congrats and keep up the good work!

 

[W2R]

Congratulations!

Eight in a month is fantastic. Are you using the MFP community? If so there's a low carb group that's good for information and is less judgemental than the rest of their forum.

No! I didn't even know about that group and had no idea that it existed. Thanks for the information; I'll check it out. And also, thanks for the kudos. After the first week my weight loss has settled into an average of 1.5 pounds/week, which I think is a nice healthy rate of weight loss for me.

Basically after years and years of Weight Watchers I needed a change for a while, and a little more protein like this seems to be helping. I could have eaten more protein on WW, but just wasn't doing it.

 

[MRG]

It's the "Low Carber Daily Forum" and is pretty laid back and helpful. The main forums are getting better but they still can be "different".

I agree with increasing protein and fat. I feel so much better! I used to think there was no such thing as carb crashes or sugar highs. Now I understand I was constantly in them, all my life. I was always hungry eating every couple of hours, more carbs.

 

[W2R]

It's the "Low Carber Daily Forum" and is pretty laid back and helpful. The main forums are getting better but they still can be "different".

I agree with increasing protein and fat. I feel so much better! I used to think there was no such thing as carb crashes or sugar highs. Now I understand I was constantly in them, all my life. I was always hungry eating every couple of hours, more carbs.

Thanks! I found it and will likely join in a few days when I can focus on it better (my DD and DSIL are visiting right now so I'm all a-flutter with that going on in my life).

I have trouble with carb cravings too. I am trying not to do anything too extreme but this amount of chicken, shrimp, fish, or lean beef for dinner (actually usually more like a pound than a half pound at dinner each night) seems to make me feel better. I just eat normal low calorie stuff for the rest of the day, not really any more protein foods than in the past at my other meals.


I would be in 7th heaven if I lost as much as you have.

 

[donheff]

Nice chart. Whatever the mechanism, I have found that low-ish carbs (especially refined flours and sugars) is the key for me to keep my weight steady (along with walking 2 miles or more most days).

+1. Five years ago I stuck to a pretty strict >50 grams of carbs a day for six months and dropped 33 pounds (from 195 to 162). Since then I added back modest amounts of rice, potatoes, grains and the occasional splurge on my beloved chocolate and have stayed within +- 2 pounds ever since. Gary Taubes' theory of why LCHF works reads pretty well but a good deal of research counsels otherwise. This chart captures what is probably happening. From my (a users) perspective the theory isn't critical - if the practice is simple and works well what's to argue with?

 

[Dawg52]

Congratulations!

Eight in a month is fantastic.

That is good. I need to lose 8-10 so maybe I can knock out most by the end of August. I actually started a low carb diet last week. I did cheat last night with a couple of beers(b'day celebration), but trying to do pretty much what W2R is doing. Fewer carbs, more protein and less sugar. Not eliminating sugar all together, just a lot less. With a good bit of exercise last week, I lost a couple of pounds. Headed to the hiking trail right now.

 

[mathjak107]

i lost 40lbs on a high carb low fat diet .

at the end of the day it is all about calories left .

how you get there is pretty irrelevant .

i did better then my atkins friends .

 

[eytonxav]

i lost 40lbs on a high carb low fat diet .

at the end of the day it is all about calories left .

how you get there is pretty irrelevant .

i did better then my atkins friends .

Congrats on the 40 lb loss, however, this thread was not to debate various diets, just how low carb approach works. YMMV, every one is different and some might get better results using other diet approaches.

 

[Ronstar]

Thanks for the chart! My diet used to be terrible. Lots of fats and carbs. I gradually lost weight for the first 2 years of retirement while still eating badly. Then I started running and lost some more. I started a low carb (mostly paleo) diet mid May. I lost 10 lbs in the first week of carb cutting - more than I had lost in the previous 4 months of running / lots of carbs. And I feel a lot better eating less carbs. l'm probably bottomed out now as far as weight is concerned, but I'm continuing the low carb diet.

 

[mathjak107]

Congrats on the 40 lb loss, however, this thread was not to debate various diets, just how low carb approach works. YMMV, every one is different and some might get better results using other diet approaches.

it isn't to debate the fact but to just show anything you do that cuts calories and has you moving more will work

 

[haha]

Can someone tell me what is the evidence that this figure is " how low carb diets really work"?

Ha


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[mathjak107]

in theory processing carbs takes quite a bit of water . so early on low carb diets have you shedding quite a bit of water weight giving the impression that low carbs provide fast weight loss .

carbs spike insulin and insulin causes you to eat more , likely more then you should . no carbs in theory throw the body in to ketosis mimicking illness .

that has the body go in to a disease fighting mode which suppresses your appetite .

i had no problems losing 40lbs on a high carb low fat diet . i did it for 2 years .

i am on a diabetic diet today as genetics finally won and i was diabetic but through diet and exercise i am now prediabetic with no meds .

i am starving all the time and i eat very little carbs . but i do run 5 miles every other day and weight lift on the days i don't run . the fact that i am running and not just doing my old cardio routines has made a huge difference in my numbers . i am off lipitor , blood pressure meds and no diabetes meds since the running started 2 years ago .

even on low carbs i never get full , my arm just gets tired lifting food .

but i found a balance where i can eat as much as i want and i burn what i eat . i am 5ft 10 and 168lbs but pretty muscular even at this age .

my arms used to be a lot bigger but i am still kind of holding up okay .

the weight lifting today is not measured in gains anymore but now it is measured in what i am not loosing .

that is me in the orange .

 

[eytonxav]

Can someone tell me what is the evidence that this figure is " how low carb diets really work"?

Ha


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

This chart appeared in a Facebook post by Will Brink. He didn't put the chart together himself, but acknowledged it was a pretty solid explanation. Brink is a science based fitness and nutrition authority.

 

[mathjak107]

everyone has their theory's with this stuff . if you go to dr mcdougall's site there is all the evidence and theory's for a high carb , low fat vegan diet .

that is what i did to get from 200lbs to 160 .

it works on the idea that for a male diet you can eat like 20 baked potato's in day . not that you would but the point is you could never be hungry .

so if you swap out the 120 potato's in volume for other healthy like foods in volume and fat content you will never be hungry .

the idea is as fat gets lower the volume can get larger that you can eat for any given calorie amount .

the volume of food i ate in a day when everything was 2 grams of fat or less was insane . i was never hungry .

the reason diets fail is anything that restricts the calories you are happy with is a pain to the body . you can't breath 1/2 a lung of air over the long term and most diets fail because you end up hungry and eventually need more too eat . .
i can eat 2 or 3 of those weight watcher dinners lol .

so their is evidence on both sides of the fence .

having done both i can tell you they both work but i was less hungry all the time on the mcdougall plan since the food volume was so large because of the low fat . the fact it had rice , beans , potato's , pasta etc did not effect the weight loss since you ate so many other things that were volume foods and made you feel full with far less calories ..

once you cut the fat out the volume of food grows as much as 2x that you can eat in comparison to more fat heavy low carb meals

 

[eytonxav]

everyone has their theory's with this stuff . if you go to dr mcdougall's site there is all the evidence and theory's for a high carb , low fat vegan diet .

that is what i did to get from 200lbs to 160 .

it works on the idea that for a male diet you can eat like 20 baked potato's in day . not that you would but the point is you could never be hungry .

so if you swap out the 120 potato's in volume for other healthy like foods in volume and fat content you will never be hungry .

the idea is as fat gets lower the volume can get larger that you can eat for any given calorie amount .

the volume of food i ate in a day when everything was 2 grams of fat or less was insane . i was never hungry .

the reason diets fail is anything that restricts the calories you are happy with is a pain to the body . you can't breath 1/2 a lung of air over the long term and most diets fail because you end up hungry and eventually need more too eat . .
i can eat 2 or 3 of those weight watcher dinners lol .

so their is evidence on both sides of the fence .

having done both i can tell you they both work but i was less hungry all the time on the mcdougall plan since the food volume was so large because of the low fat . the fact it had rice , beans , potato's , pasta etc did not effect the weight loss since you ate so many things that were volume foods .

As I said above, any diet can work; you can eat chocolate bars and if you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. Water weight is usually the first to go. However, some diets are not as healthy and as easy to maintain long term than others. It appears you had success, but abandoned the high carb diet and went low carb due to diabetes. I am in that same boat, so I cut back on carbs and began working out and have stayed in the pre-diabetic range for many years. For me, I find it easy to maintain and am not constantly hungry. Low carb does not mean no carb. Would I like to start eating pizzas and pasta more frequently, yes, but that would not be a healthy choice.

 

[mathjak107]

i find with the running i can stray one day a week and really eat what i want . for 2-1/2 years now my A1C is in the 6.0-6.10 range . i was 8.30 which is high and clearly diabetic .

i occasionally eat cake and or pizza with the kids and things are staying in range . but without the running every other day all bets are off . i would likely be on meds

 

[eytonxav]

My A1Cs range from 5.6 to 5.8. When I was first declared diabetic eight years ago, it hit 6.5. I don't bother to test anymore, although I do run high in the morning (dawn phenomena). I do eat pizza and pasta occasionally, but don't want to go back to that old habit. I also have found that consuming 64 oz of water/day and getting sleep helps.

Exercise wise, I don't run for distance, but do like sprinting and pushing a weight sled. I weight lift 3X a week and play softball 2x week

 

[mathjak107]

same here , high in the mornings .

for breakfast i usually have matzoh with peanut butter and 2 hard boiled eggs .

i find it spikes me less then bread .

or i will have 3 frozen waffles -sugar free syrup and 3 turkey sausage patty's .

i alternate every other day .

i go to the gym and come home and have plain yogurt with blueberries or straw berries .

lunch is usually a deli sandwich and a fruit .

if we are home at 2pm after i practice my drumming i have a bowl of suger free icre cream . if we are out with our photography i have a glycerna shake .

dinner is normal , i just take it easy with rice or just eat a half of a potato and salad . we eat a lot of variation at dinner unlike breakfast which is pretty well written in stone .

then i usually have some fruit or nuts after dinner or perhaps a sugar free pudding and repeat the next day

 

[haha]

Thanks DFW. Still, I would consider this to be essentially no evidence. Typical social media. Gives people things to talk about, which seems to fulfill an important need.

Ha


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[eytonxav]

Thanks DFW. Still, I would consider this to be essentially no evidence. Typical social media. Gives people things to talk about, which seems to fulfill an important need.

Ha


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

Normally, I would agree, except it was endorsed by Will Brink. As far as I am concerned, Will is a reputable authority, although most on here probably have never ever heard of or know anything about him. If you demand evidence and studies to support the graph, I can't help you with that.

 

[RAE]

Thanks for the chart! My diet used to be terrible. Lots of fats and carbs. I gradually lost weight for the first 2 years of retirement while still eating badly. Then I started running and lost some more. I started a low carb (mostly paleo) diet mid May. I lost 10 lbs in the first week of carb cutting - more than I had lost in the previous 4 months of running / lots of carbs. And I feel a lot better eating less carbs. l'm probably bottomed out now as far as weight is concerned, but I'm continuing the low carb diet.

Glad to hear that cutting back on carbs worked for you, Ronstar (as it did for me). Grain-based carbs are the worst for putting on weight, in my experience..........I still eat veggies of all kinds (including relatively carb-rich veggies like carrots and sweet potatoes), and they don't cause any problems at all, for me anyway.

With regard to fats, though, the paleo eating plan is relatively high fat (60-70% of your daily calories should come from fats), but they need to be healthy fats (coconut oil, pastured butter, olive oil, tallow) and not unhealthy fats (trans fats, highly-processed jug oil (veg. oil, sunflower oil,corn oil, etc). I eat lots of the above mentioned healthy fats daily, and have not put any weight back on in the 6 years I have been eating this way. The whole idea behind the Paleo approach is to retrain your body to burn fats for fuel, rather than carbs.