Does a low carb diet cause you to lose muscle? If so, what is the most effective way to lose body fat?
I’m currently doing cardio 3 times a week coupled with power strength training twice a week. I used to eat good carbs (like multi grain bread, wheat and granola cereal, etc) and have lost 15kg in the past 6 months with about 10% of body fat down. Recently one health instructor I met told me that going on low carb is even better and I’ll lose weight even faster. I have since then (for about a week now) been on a low carb and it feels weird to be on a low carb, high fat & protein diet since I’ve been on a low fat diet for some time. I’ve also been researching and it seems low carb diets are unhealthy. Is this true? Pls advise. Thanks.
November 12th, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Low carb diets become unhealthy when you are extremely restricting them from your diet because you carbs are essential for some of the functions in your body. What you used to eat was good.
As long as you’re keeping your protein up while doing a low carb diet, you shouldn’t lose muscle. You should worry about losing muscle when you decrease protein because with the low carb diet, you body will start using muscle for energy because there are no stored carbs to use anymore.
Your instructor is right that going on a low carb diet will help you lose weight fast..but from what people say, you gain the weight back when you’re off the the extremely low carb diet.
To lose body fat, you should up the cardio and keep a close eye on your diet. Lower carb intake, but don’t take them out of your diet. Eat 6 small meals a day to keep the metabolism running high. It’s good that you’re doing strength training. Muscle burns calories.
November 12th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
The weight you initially lose in a low carb diet is water. The body needs carbs to burn to make energy. It’s not going to get much from your fat cells, but rather your muscle cells. Every professional I have talked to highly discourages low carb diets.
November 12th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
carbs are needed for the normal body breakdown of glucose for energy. the best diet (in my opinion) is a balanced one, don’t completly cut out a single food group, and don’t over-do a single food group. eat smaller meals, but more often, which helps keep your metabolism high. exercise is also need, at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise most days of the week. just remember, “healthy” weight loss is losing about 1-2 pounds per week.
November 12th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
actually a low carb diet makes you gain muscle, or even maintain what you already have. that is why body builders only eat meat,carbs.
November 12th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
What you were doing before was great. carbs with high protien diet is great. cutting out carbs make you lose weight but can you see yourself not eating carbs for the rest of your life? once you infuse carbs back into your regular diet you will see weight gain. the best thing to do is research good carbs. there are a lot of vegetable that have carbs in them also. the moral of the story is if you want rapid weight lost yes low carb diet is great but if you want to gradually get a leaner fit body. Goods with a high protein low fat and sugar diet is great. eat losts of fruits and veggies
November 12th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
drinking plenty of water i mean alot it flushes alot of the calories out after you eat.But listen heres a diet drink that truly works i lost 30lb trust me its a cup of h2o and a table spoon of apple cider vinager.Its awfoul tasting but its a miracle drink ask a doctor.
November 12th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
A low carb diet is actually the most muscle-preserving diet you can go on, because you are getting adequate protein. Muscles are made of protein, not carbs.
It’s not true that low-carb is unhealthy. What’s unhealthy about not eating rice or potatoes? If you’re low-carbing you should be eating plenty of non-starchy veggies, and if you compare veggies to grains you’ll find that nutritionally veggies win hands down.
I’ve been low-carbing for a year and a half, and I’ve never been healthier. I know people who’ve been doing it for years, their cholesterol and blood pressure improved, their bg levels improved, many have been able to reduce or eliminate their medications.
Research is starting to show that low-carb is the healthiest way to go. Only the fact that the low-fat dogma is so seriously entrenched in the establishment keeps them from admitting that they were wrong. North America has been steadily reducing fat intake and increasing carbohydrate for the last 30 years, and what has happened? We’ve all gotten fatter and sicker. Obviously the low-fat experiment has not worked, it’s time to go back to what has been proven to work in the past.