low carb vs low fat
 

I am a recent low-carber :)

I would like to find out what your experiences have been on low-fat vs low-carb diets. Have any of you found that low fat diets did not work for you and are now finding great success with low-carbing?

I have done so much research recently on the benefits of a low-carb diet. Everything is making perfect sense!

Yet I just can't imagine (maybe cause it's just so miraculous) that I can actually lose weight without being hungry - that I don't have to count calories. Is this for real??? Have any of you found that you still have to monitor how much you eat overall - I mean, surely I can't have 5000cals a day and lose weight as long as there's only 20g or less carb...!

I guess I have beginner's disbelief syndrome :)
Waiting to hear from everyone!

Hi Nike

Yes, it is amazing that for many who have tried and failed on low-fat diets that low carbing can really work. There are many examples of people on this forum, including myself, who have tried many diets and I ate mainly low fat for at least the last 7 years. The one good thing about this way of life is that you feel satisfied, not hungry, and this motivates you to keep on going.

However low you keep your carb level you can not eat thousands more kcalories than you need. You certainly need to eat as many as your body needs to maintain itself and for your level of activity. One easy way to check this out is by joining Fitday.com. Once you have input all your data then when you turn to the activities section it will show you how many kcals you need each day. Eating more than you need will slow or stop your weight loss as you will be supplying enough fat as fuel to keep you going. Don't eat less than the basal amount as your body will think you are going to starve it and lower your metabolic rate.

The benefits of low carbing are great. I've kept to this lifestyle for 10 months now with little problem.

Every success.

it's for real. The weirder thing is that, some people here stall on 1600 calories and break the stall by raising it to 2400 LC calories.

The mechanistic calories in = calories out theory is over a hundred years old. What other medical field can you think of that a hundred-year-old theory is still operating?

We know that some people simply weigh 200 or 250, no matter what they do to their calories. It's "set point theory" and quite interesting to read about!

If a person has only 10-15 pounds to lose, was never overweight as a kid...then they have probably simply overeating calories and "low fat" (which only works because it's lower calorie) will take the weight off.

If you have childhood onset obesity, obesity on the heels of a pregnancy, or weight of over 50 pounds to lose, you're insulin resistant, and low-carb is the way to go...

HTH

No you can't eat 5000 calories a day and not gain. I've overeaten while consuming only 20 grams of carbs/day myself. I gained. I can provide more details if you really need to know.

As I remember, Atkins, Eades, Pescatore, Schwarzbein ... all of them say not to overeat. Pescatore especially emphasizes not overeating. Not overeating is not the same thing as severely restricting yourself. You can generous, lavish amounts of food and still lose. On this site, people use a rule of 10 - 12 times your bodyweight in pounds to yield the number of calories you should consume in a day for optimal weight loss. That's a lot.

But you can't go on wild, reckless binges without consequence and none of the books say you can.

~Mel