Answers to Everyday Questions : Does a low carb diet really work? How fast can you lose weight?

Does a low carb diet really work? How fast can you lose weight?

4 Responses to “Does a low carb diet really work? How fast can you lose weight?”

1. Casey said :
   November 24th, 2010 at 8:50 pm

   When you are losing weight, you should exercise and diet together.
   If you exercise without dieting, you will get bigger appetite, which
   will lead to increase of weight, or muscle grow
   underneath the fat layer, and make you bulkier. If you diet without
   exercising, you will become flabby and will have excess skin. For
   diet, go wheat free. No pasta, pizza, bread and so on. And no food
   after 7 p.m. People achieve marvellous results with it. Depending on
   your initial weight, you can drop upwards from 20 pounds a month. If
   you don’t eat wheat then you don’t eat all those sticky, fatty goey
   cakes, you don’t eat junk food, and you don’t eat biscuits. But your
   diet is still balanced. It costs nothing, and you do not have to
   calculate points or to buy special meals or plans. For exercising,
   start with walking, and then switch to running/jogging. Running is the
   most efficient and calorie-burn exercise ever. If you are overweight a
   lot, walk first or you may have health complications (heart attack,
   disjointed bones and so on). Weight lifting is a good means to target
   your problem areas for men and women. It’s not necessarily to become a
   bodybuilder or even join a gym – a couple of dumbbells will help you
   to target your problem areas (stomach, butt, legs, arms, chest).

   Never try any weight loss pills of acai berry stuff. it never works and you are wasting your money
2. Skull Boy said :
   November 24th, 2010 at 9:29 pm

   They do work and have been the most popular diets for over 15 years. However, some of them that are extreme, such as Atkins, are tougher to follow and usually backfire with all the weight coming back on and then some.

   You need carbs, so any diet that says to eliminate them is a sham. However, you will want to cut down on the carbs so each meal proportion is roughly 50% Protein, 30% Carbs and 20% Fat. Also important is the type of carbs you eat. Instead of eating starchy complex carbs such as: breads, beans, pasta, potatoes and rice, eat fibrous bulky simple carbs like broccoli, spinach, green beans, cauliflower, greens, brussels sprouts and asparagus instead. You are safe if you stay with any green vegetable. The reason is because starchy carbs get turned to sugar within 20 minutes after eating them. This sudden sugar rush spikes your insulin level which prevents fat from burning. In addition, that excess sugar gets turned to fat rather quickly. Complex carbs take a lot longer to convert to sugar, so your insulin level doesn’t spike and you have time to burn them off. Also, make sure the fats eat are mostly the mono-unsaturated type such as: olive and canola olives, avocado, peanuts and olives. Cut down on all animal fats. Your best source of proteins are skinless, boneless chicken and turkey breast, whitefish such as Cod, Halibut, Tilapia, Sea Bass, Red Snapper, Mahi Mahi, Ono, etc, avoid red meat as much as possible, but an occasional steak or some ground beef won’t kill you as long as it’s lean. If you can find it, try ostrich meat. It is red meat and tastes as good as beef, but is really super low in fat. Buffalo meat is a really lean red meat too.

   If you stick to about 1500 calories a day (three 500 calorie meals) with the aforementioned formula, you should lose between 12-15lbs per month safely and stand a better chance of keeping the weight off. Add 45 minutes a day of brisk walking and figure 15-20lbs per month. Add 45 minutes of cycling or jogging and figure 25-30lbs per month.

   A good example of a typical meal would be 6 oz chicken breast and 4 ounces of green beans and a glass of water. Pour a little olive oil over the chicken and beans, and season with salt/pepper and some basil.

   Other tips to remember:

   Drink mostly water and stay away from hi calories drinks
   Don’t eat past 7pm
   Get plenty of sleep
   If you need a snack, an apple is your best bet
   Vitamin supplements are a good thing.
   Avoid processing your foods in blenders, juicers and food processors (protein smoothies are not your friend unless they are 90% proten)
   Take a break from the diet every 10 days or so and have a piece of pizza or burger. Make sure you run or walk it off shortly after.
   A similar diet plan to this is called The Zone, it’s a good book to read.

   FYI, I lost 60lbs in 3 months on this diet.
3. cyn_texas said :
   November 24th, 2010 at 9:56 pm

   If your body has a low metabolic resistance you will lose more weight in 14 days than if your body has a high metabolic resistance. You can determine your metabolic resistance either being high, average, or low after 14 days of following the Induction Phase. Here is a list of the Degrees of Metabolic Resistance:

   Pounds you have to lose: – High Average Low Resistance
   Less than 20lbs: ————– 2lbs – 4lbs – 6lbs
   20 – 50lbs: ———————– 3lbs – 6lbs – 9lbs
   Over 50lbs: ———————- 4lbs – 8lbs -12lbs

   You can lose more body fat eating protein & fat (don’t eat protein alone) than not eating AT ALL. To lose weight fast, eat all you want, but nothing but meat, eggs, healthy oils, mayo, butter & half an avocado a day (for added potassium). Keep the calories high & the fat percentage high, at least 65% of calories. Green vegetables & some cheese will continue weight loss but at a slower pace.

   The first 2 weeks eat several cups a day of (mostly) lettuce & celery, cucumbers, radishes, mushrooms, peppers & more variety of vegetables thereafter – add 5 grams per day additional every week (20 grams day first 2 weeks, 25grams 3rd week, 30grams 4th week etc) til you gain weight, then subtract 10grams. That will be your personal carb level (everyone is different & depends on how active you are.)

   Start with meat, fats & salads for 2 weeks and then slowly add in more green veg, wk4 fresh cheeses, wk5 nuts & seeds, wk6 berries, wk7 legumes, wk8 other fruits, wk9 starchy veg, wk10 whole grains. You will learn how your body reacts to different foods.

   The body won’t release fat stores if you lower calories below what it needs. It will slow metabolism to compensate & store every spare ounce as fat. If you continue lowering calories, it will continue lowering the set point, til it can survive off nothing & store fat on anything. The body will only release it’s fat stores if it knows there is plenty of nutritious food.

   Eating carbs while trying to lose body fat is terribly inefficient. When in glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) you have to lower your calories (which slows your metabolism) & exercise heavily to deplete your glycogen stores before burning body fat.

   The core of Atkins program is converting the body from glycolysis (burning glucose as fuel) to ketosis (burning fat as fuel). Dietary fat levels need to be at >65% of total calories, if not, the body will still remain in glycolysis by converting 58% of excess protein into glucose (via gluconeogenesis).

   It takes minimum of 3 days to convert a body to ketosis, (but only one bite to convert back to glycolysis). People feel sluggish the first week but most feel better than ever thereafter.

   Simple carbohydrates (sugar, flour, bread, cereal, pasta, potatoes, rice) trigger insulin which can store the calories eaten into fat. The more protein the more the fat burning hormone glucagon is released. The more carbohydrate the more the fat storage hormone insulin is released.

   Simple carbs are addictive & can be disastrous to health. The best way to break the addiction is NO carbs for 3 days. Make a huge batch of deviled eggs, eat one every time you want “something” – have huge omelets with bacon, sausage, peppers, mushrooms & cheese. Pork chops smothered with peppers, mushrooms & cheese – pork rinds & dip or tuna/chicken/turkey/egg salad – steaks – a huge sugar free cheese cake. Eat so much you won’t feel deprived of anything. By the 4th day, the addiction will be gone & you can start making healthy choices.

   High insulin levels promote inflammation, weight gain, hunger & unbalance other hormones. Controlling insulin levels will balance out other hormones & allow human growth hormone (HGH) to be produced naturally so lean muscle will be gained even without exercise.

   Ground flax seed (2 Tbsp) 1/4 cup water, artificial sweetener, mix in a raw egg – let sit 10 min. to absorb liquid, put some cream cheese in the middle & nuke 2 minutes. Suggested for daily fiber needs.

   As long as you have <9grams carbs per hour, you will maintain insulin control & shouldn't gain weight, no matter the calories. Many people gain weight on high carb, do low carb to lose weight & then are shocked when they return to high carb & gain weight. Many people can return to moderate carb levels but very few can really eat all they want of sugar & maintain weight or health.
4. John said :
   November 24th, 2010 at 10:16 pm

   I have lost 50 lbs. in 3 months and I know this will work. Eat small healthy meals every 2-3 hours, eat your last meal 2-3 hours before you go to sleep. Do not starve yourself or your body will go into survival mode where anything you eat will be turned into FAT. This will help you a lot but if you want more results you can exercise 3-4 days a week,For exercise try this (it worked for me ) http://www.weightlossdisc.com include weight training and especially cardio (walking especially running). If you set your mind to lose the weight you will lose it and when you start seeing how good you look you’ll want to keep going.