A friend of mine who is LCing has received a brochure in the mail from an australian low fat diet organisation knocking high protein diets like Atkins. The point they made that bothered her the most was that a high protein diet causes you to break down your muscles rather than burn fat. My friend is involved in resistance training and was wondering if someone could shed some light on this subject. My friend has read the Atkins new Diet Revolution and has read how Atkins explains that the fat becomes the primary fuel source where carbs are absent but wonders if there is any truth to the statement they are making about Atkins breaking down muscle instead fat? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hi lcaussie - welcome to another Aussie,

There is no truth whatever to their statement. As long as you are eating enough protein, you will lose fat rather than muscle. Anyone who loses weight will lose a little muscle - that is inevitable - but low carbing means you lose much less muscle than if you are on a low fat diet. Refer your friend to page 65 of the latest edition of Dr Atkins' New Diet Revolution where he discusses the studies done by Professor Kekwick and Dr Pawan.
These studies proved that the more fat you eat, the more fat you lose.

BTW, have you visited our Australia/New Zealand subforum yet? You'll find local info there that may help your low carbing journey. Here is the link: http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=43

HTH

Rosebud

Rosebud is right, lcaussie , but it's not just the protein that is crutial, it's also the calories. Eating adequate protein will ensure you maintain a positive nitrogen balance (meaning muscles is spared and not used as fuel), eating adequate calories provides the fuel to keep your body healthy and in fat burning mode. Muscle is only broken down for fuel when calories are restricted so much that water and fat are held onto due to stress - a common occurrance when you eat a low fat / low calorie diet (which is also usually protein deficient).

Cheers,
Nat

Hi Rosebud,
Thanks so much for your help.
I have been reading the forum regularly and it has helped me alot! It does make things easier to have that Aussie/NZ section. I plan to do some posting there soon. I got some of your recipes out of one of the threads I read. Thanks!
Talk to you soon!!!

Thanks Nat, I'll pass this info on.

Rosebud and Nat. I have a very sticky situation with another person on another site about this issue. Your information will be of great help in providing a person bent on crashing weight something to think about.

THANKS!