low carb diet questions

[BoodaGazelle]

About 6 years ago, I lost 25 lbs. on a LC diet. At the time, I did not really think I was being very strict.

As the weight has crept back on (thanks Italian bread, peanut M&M, et al), I have recently gone back to "strict". I am tracking what I eat with the LoseIt app.
I am eating less than 1500 calories per day. I started about a week ago.

I quickly lost maybe 4 lbs., but despite being in ketosis for the last 3 days, just saw my weight go *up* slightly today.

Other info: I am 64 yo white male. I usually walk 4 miles every other day.

It seems like the stricter I get the worse I have done.

Am I (probably) just expecting too much, too soon?

Thanks!

 

[audreyh1]

Yes. You are being impatient. It’s only been a week, and that initial loss was likely all fluids.

Count carbs, not calories.

 

[donheff]

Yes. You are being impatient. It’s only been a week, and that initial loss was likely all fluids.

Count carbs, not calories.

+1. I lost about 35 pounds with a LCHF diet about the same time as you (OP). I did not go full keto, I cut carbs initially to about 50 grams per day and later moved it up to about 100g. I never counted calories as a means to limit intake, I just counted carbs and ate amounts that felt right. I logged everything so I was able to look back and assess that I was actually reducing my calories - just not intentionally. The calorie reduction was a side effect of changing the type of food I was eating.

Since then I have been able to stay +- 2 pounds of my 163 pound target weight without paying much attention to anything. But I have a sweet tooth and will occasionally get out of control with chocolate and/or cookies. When I hit the upper limit of my acceptable range I just get rid of all the offending sweets and I quickly drop back to 163.

I think the important factor on a LCHF diet is to carefully log all carbs. It is easier said than done.

 

[MRG]

It takes time especially when we add on a couple years. I'm not a keto person but I have managed to get my weight in order with Myfitnesspal(DW and I dropped a combined120 pounds with it). One if the common issues people have with that application is actually measuring/weighing their food. It's one thing to say a half cup another to weigh 56 grams. My cups seem bigger than weight suggests.

 

[Aerides]

I am eating less than 1500 calories per day. I started about a week ago.

I quickly lost maybe 4 lbs., but despite being in ketosis for the last 3 days, just saw my weight go *up* slightly today.

You are not eating enough. Unless you are a very small frame, 1500 is not enough for most guys. It's not enough for most active men regardless of size. Don't cut yourself too short on calories, it backfires.

Daily fluctuations are very normal and simple.

Losing even 2-3 lbs in one week is awesome. But you probably shed some water, and will lose some muscle if you aren't getting enough food and don't do more than walk. LC (and many diets) usually take a couple weeks to really kick in to fat burning mode.

And your vs. even just 6 years ago is going to react differently.

 

[BoodaGazelle]

Thanks all.... I will keep plugging away.

 

[twaddle]

The initial quick weight loss is water weight (most people misunderstand the mechanism, but I'll ignore that unless you want to get all sciency). I think it's great because it does motivate people to stay compliant, but yeah, the downside is that it also sets your expectations too high.

Stay the course. And getting support from other low-carbers can help too.

 

[Scubamax]

I am low-carb, but not Keto low. Generally look to about 100g maximum per day net carbs. I find that everyone is different, so it takes some trial and error and sometimes it is frustrating but try not to focus on the day to day weight changes, but rather week to week.

Personally I found that Intermittent Fasting plus a low carb approach does wonders. I started to count calories during this process, more to create portion size awareness as well as make sure I was getting enough calories, as I was finding my hunger decreased in relationship to the amount of carb reduction. Since starting last July, I am down about 29 pounds.

Some feel that calories don't matter, only carbs, and I would disagree. If you eat more calories over time it will get in the way of weight reduction. Its about finding what works for you, and adopting that lifestyle.

Good luck! You got this!

 

[marko]

FWIW, I just re-started my low-carb yesterday! Funny that this came up.

A year ago I had lost 27 pounds over six months via low carb but with Covid, started to slip with pasta, breads etc etc etc. and crept up about 6 pounds.

Now I'm on a mission to lose those 6 plus another 4 or so.

I refuse to stop eating my precious sushi (rice) but everything else is up for discussion; I'm not militant about it but find ways to avoid most carbs.

 

[twaddle]

I'm starting to think that it's called covid-19 for the same reason as the freshman-15.

My favorite pandemic factoid: deodorant sales are down, but ice cream sales are way up.

 

[sengsational]

Subjects ate more calories on low carb diet

A decent food study (rare) was published recently in Nature Medicine (high-class journal) and was conducted by the NIH (ok, well, this was before Covid, when we thought the NIH was respectable) that has a quite interesting result: Given a "real food diet", subjects ate more calories on a low carb diet. That "real food diet", I think is key to the findings, but that's just me talking.

They actually locked these subjects up for a month so they really did know what they ate, and how much. They split the group randomly. One group got 75% fat, 10% carbs, 15% protein, and the other group got 10% fat, 75% carbs, and 15% protein. They switched them half way through, so the LF became the LC and vica versa.

The difference in glycemic load between the two diets was quite stark, and I would have guessed that the theory that "glycemic roller-coaster would drive appetite" would have sent the high carb group looking for more food. But it didn't.

My guess as to "why" is because the subjects simply didn't have access to high caloric junk food; the only food in the study, both arms, was "minimally processed". So they weren't hungry, but I'd like to repeat the study with a cabinet full of candy bars at the ready (more like real-world eating).

We know that under the conditions of the study, there was no attempt to limit what people ate (see where it says "ad libitum"), but I think we've all been there... "I'm hungry, but I don't want any more of that". But they had questionnaires that indicated that wasn't experienced.

I've became a low-carb aficionado more than thirty years ago, and I credit the idea with my keeping from adding pounds. In the last many years, I've changed to one meal a day, ditching the low-carb, because it was too hard to do both.

https://clinicalstudies.info.nih.gov/ProtocolDetails.aspx?id=2019-DK-0067
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-01209-1

 

[twaddle]

That was Kevin Hall. Excellent researcher. He's out to destroy Taubes and the carbohyrdrate-insulin hypothesis after they had a falling out, and he's doing a pretty good job IMO.

This is probably not the right thread, but the science of this stuff is great fun.

 

[bobbyr]

Personally I found that Intermittent Fasting plus a low carb approach does wonders.

+1

 

[ChicagoGal]

I started a low carb diet in November (rather forced - I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes). I average about 60 carbs a day, but can go up to 100-ish on rare occasions. I also aim to stick below 1500 calories a day (because I also need to lose a lot of weight).

Dropped about 10 pounds right away and then stayed within a pound or 2 (up and down) of that weight for 27 days. Frustrated the heck out of me! But then it dropped a few, and since has been relatively steady, with the occasional plateau of a few days and a rare bump up. Down 45 so far.

Weight loss is not linear. It's very lumpy. If you're making significant changes to your diet, your body has to adapt, too. Stick with it, and if you're doing the whole "eat less, move more" routine, it will work.

 

[yakers]

That was Kevin Hall. Excellent researcher. He's out to destroy Taubes and the carbohyrdrate-insulin hypothesis after they had a falling out, and he's doing a pretty good job IMO.

This is probably not the right thread, but the science of this stuff is great fun.

I'm kind of a fan of Taubes, AFAIK he doesn't advocate a specific diet, mostly shows that carbs can be a problem but mainly I appreciate his observation that 'there is no one diet for everyone'. I feel I am on my own science experiment. I am, I think, an unusual case, not overweight, my blood sugar went up to very near diabetic after cancer treatments. The ADA dieticean had me on too many carbs and BG kept going up, Dr said I would be on insulin in 6 to 12 months. Going LC (short time on keto) reversed that.
Don't know or care about weight loss but for blood sugar control IMHO great attention to carbs and insulin is warranted.

 

[braumeister]

my blood sugar went up to very near diabetic after cancer treatments. The ADA dieticean had me on too many carbs and BG kept going up, Dr said I would be on insulin in 6 to 12 months. Going LC (short time on keto) reversed that.

That's a very important point. For the very large number of Americans who have become, or are becoming diabetic, attention to diet (not necessarily keto but low carb) can usually not just stop the progression but actually reverse it. Some choose to remain on that sort of diet, others don't. I think the ADA is beginning to come around to this, long overdue.

 

[twaddle]

I like Taubes too, but the tiff with Hall is interesting.

Basically Taubes started an org to fund research in nutrition science:
https://nusi.org/

He was so confident in his understanding that he specifically sought out the best-of-class researchers who had a history of thinking carbs didn't matter, including Hall. Well, they did some great studies, but Taubes didn't like the results.

Anyway, great to hear it's working for you. In the case of your cancer therapy, did they give you steroids? I think that sometimes will cause a glucose spike.

 

[Chuckanut]

I'm kind of a fan of Taubes, AFAIK he doesn't advocate a specific diet, mostly shows that carbs can be a problem but mainly I appreciate his observation that 'there is no one diet for everyone'.

+1

I tried Low-Fat, Vegetarian, etc. The only thing that stopped the pernicious 'gain a few pounds every year and just get fatter' path my body was on was the low-carb way of eating. Or as I do it, lower-carb.

It still works for me. Lately I have been a fan of the slow-carb way of eating that is in the book Always Hungry. (Some would call it JERF - Just Eat Real Food). I find I can eat plenty and not gain weight so it's great once Lower-carb got me where I wanted to be.

My downfall is still sugar and highly processed carbs. So occasionally I go back to low-carb so as to lose a few pounds. Like, you know, after the Christmas Holidays.

 

[Markola]

I generally eat lower carb, stay as full as I want to be and walk many miles per week. I’d like to lose 10 lbs. and I know I could if I went full keto or really restricted calories. However, I’m in Bordeaux and Barcelona for 3 weeks with DW, so will very happily be eating and drinking whatever is put in front of me [emoji632] [emoji633]

 

[DektolMan]

My father was a diabetic and I saw how he suffered and didn't want to go down that road. So when Covid started my wife & I decided to start eating healthier to help us to fight off Covid if we got it.


We don't have a scale in our house, didn't count carbs or calories. We limited all sweets, no pasta or white bread, ate bigger salads while having a smaller size of protein with our meals.


When we went for our annual physicals in February our doctor was amazed as I lost 40lbs and my wife lost 35lbs. He said we are the only 2 patients he has that lost weight. We are keeping our weight off, have a cheat day once a week and feel so much healthier. It was not so much as a diet but a lifestyle that we feel we can maintain.

 

[Teacher Terry]

15 months ago I decided things weren’t going to well for older, fat people with chronic conditions. I started eating 1600 calories a day and one day I have a cheat day. I walk 2 miles a day. I lost 50lbs in 4 months. I was able to get off one of my two blood pressure medications.