 |
| What is metabolism and how does it function? Here's how a low-carb diet affects your metabolism |
There is a lot of confusion within the low-carb community about metabolism.
In general, when weight loss doesn't happen fast and easy, carbohydrates always seem to be the scapegoat that people like to blame.
If you're following a low-carb diet and struggling to succeed, you might believe that all the years you spent eating carbohydrates to your heart's content must have destroyed your metabolism and made you fat.
Otherwise, you'd be able to eat like normal folks.
Am I right?
You think that carbohydrate restriction will permanently alter your metabolism, thereby making it impossible to ever return to a well-balanced diet. Since it's common to regain the weight after leaving low carb, even when moving to a more balanced weight-loss diet, you might think low-carb diets are responsible.
But what’s the truth?
Will eating too many carbohydrates, or even eating too few, ruin your metabolism?
Does the Energy Equation Make You Feel Uneasy?
Does hearing about the energy equation make you feel nervous or irritable?
Many low-carb dieters feel that way.
They don't like hearing about calories or thermodynamics and are quick to jump up and defend their low-carb way of life. Regardless of the truth, most people following a low-carb lifestyle would rather believe in low-carb magic than the science.
Afterall, Dr. Atkins told you that you no longer need to worry about calories.
You don't have to be afraid of fat.
You can eat until you are satisfied, and that's great because that's exactly what you want to do: eat as much as you want, but still drop the weight.
Most people on carbohydrate-restriction diets believe that the laws of thermodynamics do not apply to them.
"Calories don’t matter," they often say.
Dr. Eades and Dr. Phinney have both tried to set the record straight, ever since the myth began, but far too many people still don't want to go outside and drag the energy equation back in from the trash and take a closer look.
They’d rather leave it out of sight, pretend it doesn’t exist, and let the myths about starvation mode and damaged metabolisms reign in their lives.
However, we are not going to do that here.
Instead, I'm going to tackle the myths about damaged metabolisms and present you with the facts:
What is Metabolism?
The energy-out portion of the energy equation is your metabolic
rate.
Although the body handles protein, carbs, and fats differently, it doesn’t make the energy-out side of the equation false. What you eat must be broken down, processed, utilized, and burned for fuel -- or stored.
You can’t get around that.
Long-term, if energy coming in does not balance energy used, you’ll get fat.
If energy coming in is less than what you need to fuel your body processes, you’ll lean out.
Although the body handles protein, carbs, and fats differently, it doesn’t make the energy-out side of the equation false. What you eat must be broken down, processed, utilized, and burned for fuel -- or stored.
You can’t get around that.
Long-term, if energy coming in does not balance energy used, you’ll get fat.
If energy coming in is less than what you need to fuel your body processes, you’ll lean out.
 |
| Metabolism works the same on low carb. You still have to eat less food than you need to lose the weight. |
Yet, metabolism isn’t simple. It’s fairly complex and divided into three parts:
- basal metabolic rate (BMR)
- thermic effect of food (TEF)
- thermic effect of activity (TEA)
- fidgeting
- wiggling
- shaking your foot
- rocking back and forth
- getting up from a sitting position
- standing
- swaying
How Metabolism Functions
When people talk about damaged metabolisms, they are
generally referring to their Basic Metabolic Rate, their BMR or their Resting Metabolic Rate, RMR. However, the thermic effect of food and
activity play greater roles in the success of your low-carb diet than your BMR or RMR does.
Basal Metabolic Rate:
BMR is influenced by a variety of factors. Some of those conditions depend on:- the amount of lean body mass you have
- your body fat level
- whether you have dieted yourself down to your current weight
- your hormonal balance (homeostasis)
- heredity tendencies
- and other adaptive issues
It is the hormonal outcome and body composition of weight loss that affects your resulting metabolic rate after dieting, not the type of diet you followed to get there.
Thermic Effect of Food:
The thermic effect is the energy you use breaking down the macronutrients you eat (protein, fats, and carbs) and the body processes needed to use them or store them.Protein uses the highest amount of energy.
About 20 to 30 percent of the calories in meat, eggs, and dairy foods are needed to break them down into amino acids. This is one reason why a low-carb diet appears to improve metabolism, but the improvement will come with any diet where you eat the same amount of protein.
When processing carbohydrates, the body uses about 5 to 6 percent of its calories to turn them into glycogen and store them in the liver or muscles. If glycogen stores are full, it takes up to 23 percent of the calories to convert carbohydrates into triglyceride and store them in your fat cells.
That is similar to the cost of breaking down proteins.
Fats don’t need much converting, as they can be pretty much stored in their current condition, so it only takes 2 to 3 percent of the calories to process fats.
Thermic Effect of Activity:
This portion of your metabolism is extremely variable. It includes all movement that is not a basic body function.Sedentary individuals might burn 10 to 30 percent of their calories over their BMR, while more active individuals will burn more.
Fitness level really comes into play here.
But, overdoing exercise in comparison to the number of calories consumed can cause your metabolic rate to fall quicker than anything else.
In addition to exercise and daily movement, there are other things that burn calories. Weather cold enough to cause shivering, coming down with a cold or the flu, and repairing injuries are just a few.
How Does a Low Carb Diet Affect Your Metabolism?
 |
| Low carb is specifically designed to correct hormonal issues, increases insulin sensitivity, and heals a defective TEF in some individuals |
Many individuals with insulin resistance have a TEF defect that corrects itself when you lose weight and become more sensitive to insulin.
Insulin can also trigger hunger, so reducing insulin levels can correct overeating problems.
Not everyone who follows a low carb diet is insulin
resistant.
For those with only a few pounds to lose, it is more likely that you are insulin sensitive or only slightly resistant. Turning to a low-carb diet early puts you ahead of the game because your metabolism isn’t as likely to get depressed from dieting as those with more pounds to lose.
You should not have a TEF defect that needs healing.
After losing 40 pounds in 1975, I easily maintained that weight for over two decades eating anything I wanted. It was only after food sensitivities began to surface and blood glucose levels started to degrade that I put the weight back on.
For those with only a few pounds to lose, it is more likely that you are insulin sensitive or only slightly resistant. Turning to a low-carb diet early puts you ahead of the game because your metabolism isn’t as likely to get depressed from dieting as those with more pounds to lose.
You should not have a TEF defect that needs healing.
After losing 40 pounds in 1975, I easily maintained that weight for over two decades eating anything I wanted. It was only after food sensitivities began to surface and blood glucose levels started to degrade that I put the weight back on.
Whether you have a little to lose or a lot, handling
pre-maintenance and maintenance wisely is the key to keeping your metabolism
healthy.
When you restrict calories, metabolism slows down because it senses that fuel is in short supply.
The body functions with only one goal in mind: survival.
Low carb dieters often refer to this reduction in metabolic rate as starvation mode, but that is not accurate.
The definition of starvation is less than 50 percent of the calories you need for your BMR. This is why the famous Minnesota Semi-Starvation Study done on Viet Nam War objectors was called semi-starvation, even though they were fed 50 percent of the calories they needed for maintenance.
When you restrict calories, metabolism slows down because it senses that fuel is in short supply.
The body functions with only one goal in mind: survival.
Low carb dieters often refer to this reduction in metabolic rate as starvation mode, but that is not accurate.
The definition of starvation is less than 50 percent of the calories you need for your BMR. This is why the famous Minnesota Semi-Starvation Study done on Viet Nam War objectors was called semi-starvation, even though they were fed 50 percent of the calories they needed for maintenance.
Keeping Your Metabolism Healthy
Most people who claim to be following the Atkins Diet are
not doing Atkins. They are following an extremely low-carb high-fat (LCHF) plan they
designed themselves, and they are doing it for an extended length of time.
This is fine, but keeping your metabolism healthy requires certain precautions. Very low-carb diets affect many body functions. Metabolism slows down because your:
This is fine, but keeping your metabolism healthy requires certain precautions. Very low-carb diets affect many body functions. Metabolism slows down because your:
- insulin
- blood glucose
- thyroid
- catecholamines
- leptin
However, for many individuals, losing only a pound of week – even if
it comes off easily – is far too slow to maintain dietary focus.
For that reason, Dr. Atkins allowed many patients to stay at the Induction level for a little longer, and he raised their carbohydrate intake slower. In fact, in one interview I watched, he mentioned that for those with 100 pounds to lose, his typical course of action would be to keep them at 25 net carbs for the major part of the weight-loss phase to get the fat off more quickly.
To compensate, he admitted in that interview that he administered thyroid hormone to his patients to get them through the rest of the weight-loss phase, once the body had adapted to what they were doing.
For that reason, Dr. Atkins allowed many patients to stay at the Induction level for a little longer, and he raised their carbohydrate intake slower. In fact, in one interview I watched, he mentioned that for those with 100 pounds to lose, his typical course of action would be to keep them at 25 net carbs for the major part of the weight-loss phase to get the fat off more quickly.
To compensate, he admitted in that interview that he administered thyroid hormone to his patients to get them through the rest of the weight-loss phase, once the body had adapted to what they were doing.
Many of us do not have that luxury.
We have to do things a little differently if we want to experience a similar success.
This is why I always recommend Dr. Atkins original diet whenever anyone asks me which Atkins version is best. Plus, I fully advocate returning a few carbohydrates to your diet to keep your thyroid healthy.
It is also extremely important that when you reach lower body fat levels, you eat an adequate amount of protein and carbohydrates because the thinner you are, the more likely it is that you will sacrifice lean body mass, rather than body fat.
The ’72 version of the Atkins Diet allows you the freedom to fine-tune your diet to your own metabolic issues and food sensitivities, as well as discover your own personal carbohydrate and fat tolerance levels.
We have to do things a little differently if we want to experience a similar success.
This is why I always recommend Dr. Atkins original diet whenever anyone asks me which Atkins version is best. Plus, I fully advocate returning a few carbohydrates to your diet to keep your thyroid healthy.
It is also extremely important that when you reach lower body fat levels, you eat an adequate amount of protein and carbohydrates because the thinner you are, the more likely it is that you will sacrifice lean body mass, rather than body fat.
The ’72 version of the Atkins Diet allows you the freedom to fine-tune your diet to your own metabolic issues and food sensitivities, as well as discover your own personal carbohydrate and fat tolerance levels.
If you’ve been dieting for quite some time, you also run the
risk of your Leptin levels crashing.
If that happens:
Weight loss will come to a halt, and you’ll be unable to stick to your diet. Your hunger will increase dramatically, you won’t be able to get your thoughts off food, and you’ll begin displaying many of the symptoms associated with the starvation response.
This is what happened to me shortly after doing a round of HCG.
But that doesn’t mean that a low-carb diet is bad. It means that your body needs a break.
For me, I always move to maintenance after a few weeks of dieting to give my body time to adjust back to a normal metabolism.
The alternative is what most dieters fear the most: returning to your old way of eating and regaining everything you lost back, plus more.
If that happens:
Weight loss will come to a halt, and you’ll be unable to stick to your diet. Your hunger will increase dramatically, you won’t be able to get your thoughts off food, and you’ll begin displaying many of the symptoms associated with the starvation response.
This is what happened to me shortly after doing a round of HCG.
But that doesn’t mean that a low-carb diet is bad. It means that your body needs a break.
For me, I always move to maintenance after a few weeks of dieting to give my body time to adjust back to a normal metabolism.
The alternative is what most dieters fear the most: returning to your old way of eating and regaining everything you lost back, plus more.
Pre-Maintenance and Maintenance
No matter how much weight you have to lose, no diet will allow
you to return to your old way of eating. That old way is what caused you to
become overweight. Return to that, and the weight will come back.
That much is true.
What isn’t true is the type of foods you have to limit.
There are many false ideas floating around the low-carb community today. These ideas are personal choices that dieters have projected onto everyone else.
For example, Dr. Atkins early books did not outlaw white potatoes. In fact, in the 1992 version of the Atkins Diet, he showed you how to eat them and continue losing weight.
He called it: Real Life.
That much is true.
What isn’t true is the type of foods you have to limit.
There are many false ideas floating around the low-carb community today. These ideas are personal choices that dieters have projected onto everyone else.
For example, Dr. Atkins early books did not outlaw white potatoes. In fact, in the 1992 version of the Atkins Diet, he showed you how to eat them and continue losing weight.
He called it: Real Life.
Unknown to many low carbers, Dr. Atkins also did not put all of his patients on a low-carb diet. He did not believe that carbohydrate restriction was necessary for everyone.
A low-carb diet is for those with insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. It also worked well for his patients who had inflammatory bowel disease. Sometimes, Atkins used it for those who were allergic to wheat, but he did not put everyone who came to him on low carb.
I know that tidbit of information would shock a lot of low
carbers who believe everyone should be eating low carb, including kids, but in 1981, Dr. Atkins wrote a book called “Dr.
Atkins’ Nutrition Breakthrough: How to Treat Your Medical Condition Without
Drugs.”
In that book, he provided a diet he called, “The Meat and Millet Diet,” that he fine-tuned to fit the patient’s individual metabolism:
In that book, he provided a diet he called, “The Meat and Millet Diet,” that he fine-tuned to fit the patient’s individual metabolism:
“This diet is the best blood-sugar-controlling diet I have
been able to devise for the patient who cannot afford to be on a weight-losing
regime. It maintains most of the advantages of the Atkins Diet, except the
advantages of being in ketosis. But it affords the many clinical advantages of
a high ratio of complex (starch) to simple (sugar) carbohydrates. And it
provides the added benefit of a high fiber intake.”
The bottom line:
Dr. Atkins was into health, and not strictly low carb. Low carb became his legacy by default. It's the best way to lower your calories without having to endure the hunger that accompanies a low-calorie diet.
The pre-maintenance diet created by Dr. Atkins is designed to gently take you out of ketosis, but most low carbers do not want to go there.
As a result, their metabolisms stay depressed, so they have to eat a low number of calories to maintain their weight.
Their thyroid often becomes depressed, so they end up on thyroid medication for the rest of their lives. They are afraid of refilling their glycogen stores because, on the average, that represents a 5 to 10 pound water regain, so they stay in ketosis even though we don’t know how safe that is for everyone who doesn’t need to be there.
Dr. Atkins was into health, and not strictly low carb. Low carb became his legacy by default. It's the best way to lower your calories without having to endure the hunger that accompanies a low-calorie diet.
The pre-maintenance diet created by Dr. Atkins is designed to gently take you out of ketosis, but most low carbers do not want to go there.
As a result, their metabolisms stay depressed, so they have to eat a low number of calories to maintain their weight.
Their thyroid often becomes depressed, so they end up on thyroid medication for the rest of their lives. They are afraid of refilling their glycogen stores because, on the average, that represents a 5 to 10 pound water regain, so they stay in ketosis even though we don’t know how safe that is for everyone who doesn’t need to be there.
The easy alternative to the glycogen problem is to simply
diet yourself down to 10 pounds lower than you want to be, so that when your
glycogen refills, you will weigh exactly what you want to.
Glycogen and the water that attends it are not fat.
They are nothing to be afraid of.
It’s all that water and glycogen you lost during the first two weeks of your low-carb diet. The glycogen and water needs to be replaced, so your body doesn’t think it’s still starving. As long as your glycogen stays depleted, the body will continue to defend its fat stores and continue doing everything it can to bring your metabolism back into balance.
The key to a healthy metabolism is to find out the carbohydrate level you feel best at, one that will allow you to maintain your goal weight easily. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you give up potatoes, but it does mean you have to stay within your maintenance level of calories.
Glycogen and the water that attends it are not fat.
They are nothing to be afraid of.
It’s all that water and glycogen you lost during the first two weeks of your low-carb diet. The glycogen and water needs to be replaced, so your body doesn’t think it’s still starving. As long as your glycogen stays depleted, the body will continue to defend its fat stores and continue doing everything it can to bring your metabolism back into balance.
The key to a healthy metabolism is to find out the carbohydrate level you feel best at, one that will allow you to maintain your goal weight easily. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you give up potatoes, but it does mean you have to stay within your maintenance level of calories.
For others, like my Uncle, it doesn’t.
It just depends on the healthy habits you take into maintenance with you, your carbohydrate tolerance level, your degree of insulin resistance, and whether you've learned how to exert some portion control.
Go back to the amount of food you ate before, or listen to the mind when it tries to trick you into eating more carbs and sugar than your body can use, and you’ll return to who you were.
While low carb doesn’t necessarily mean drastic restriction for the rest of your life, it does mean you have to permanently change how you eat. A smaller body needs fewer calories. That’s the price for being thin.
Thank you very much for this post!!!
ReplyDeleteI am prediabetic and obese. The first month in Atkins I lost 2 pounds but I was full of energy, then I thought of reducing calories to "lose more" and I end up with extreme fatigue (I kept fainting) and ... NO weight loss for a month!
I started eating more and added more carbs (I added fruits) and I already feel much better.
From your article (and my past experience) I suppose I had the exact same fatigue with low-calories low-fat high-carb diets that I tried many years ago. It was a long time ago and I forgot that the feeling of "I am so tired, I should eat something-anything and forget about the diet" occurred back then too... But you know, I naturally blamed Atkins. Fatigue (hormone imbalance) can start from any kind of extreme diet.
Thanks for the clarifications and the reminder ;) Keep up the good work, your blog was the most important source of information during my induction, I love the way you narrate
Thanks a whole lot for your comments Anonymous. It's such an individual thing, isn't it. It's so easy to blame the diet when we've done something different.
ReplyDeleteExtremes are generally never right. In my own experience, The Middle Way has always been best.
Great blog. Low-carbohydrate diets or low carb diets are dietary programs that restrict carbohydrate consumption usually for weight control. I don’t think it ruins a metabolism. I've been on a low carb diet plan for almost a year now and successfully lost 21 pounds so far.
ReplyDeleteHello Genius!
ReplyDeleteJust needed this tonight. Thanks.
I also just read another study basically saying the same things:
1) any diet reduces metabolism
2) low carb / ketosis is really trial and error unless u have medical supervision and access to tests to test t3/t4 levels weekly (sigh)
I have plateaud despite a 500-700 a day caloric intake in very low carbs. I lost 10 pounds in 10 days after I was in ketosis. I then had nothing for 2 weeks!!! Not a single pound. Figured I couldn't eat less even though my appetite was gone and zero cravings. Great but no weightloss.
Ever since I've picked up my water intake which I also had decreased to see pounds and I peed it out anyway so why bother. But I began to focus on it more and I cheated a bit more as well. More fruits, ate more often, breakfast etc and then the few pounds I'd gained fell off. Now I'm back to the same place but not lower. I did gain when I increased but I also lost it too. Weird
Right now just want to continue. Thx for ur article, I will increase carbs until I can lose weight steadily. Very worried I crashed my thyroid hormone levels but hoping with more calories it picks up and still keep it low enough to lose weight.
Trial and error. Completely frustrating. Oh and I work out vigorously aerobic and weights daily. No fail. Didn't lose a pound until I drank more water (3l a day) and more frequent snacking. Very close to passing my plateau mark now. Pray for me! Haha
Goal weight loss: 160lb. I've lost 60 so far.
While quite a few people have been successful using HCG in connection with 500 to 700 calories per day, elevated cortisol and adrenaline seems to stall weight loss for the rest of us. It all depends on how your body perceives that low calorie and low-carb intake. Plus, whatever else is going on in your life emotionally.
ReplyDeleteCrashed thyroid will occur if your cortisol stays elevated for too long a period. That's why Lyle McDonald suggests moving to maintenance every 6 to 12 weeks or so when you attempt to diet that hard. In addition, he also uses weekly high-carb refeeds to bump up your leptin level.
However, with a 60-pound weight loss, the body is certainly going to fight you the rest of the way.
Hi Vickie,
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find that info on Dr Atkins prescribing thyroid meds? This is something I'm trying to work out in my head, the whole LC/thyroid connection. Thank you!
He revealed that in an interview he gave way back when he was still alive. Somewhere around 2002 or so. He talked about putting his long-term low-carb patients on thyroid meds to help them reach their goal weight.
ReplyDeletehi there !!
ReplyDeleteI was diagnosed with PCOS 2 years ago, after a while I decided to do something about the situation. I started weight training and eating healthy( cut out all the junk foods,sugar and dairy, and consumed fruits and veggies as snacks) but I couldn't lose weight. so I decided to try out keto. the first week I could lose about 7 lbs but then nothing, after 3rd week I felt my energy level was back again, but then I binged on carbs( bcz of some stressful situation) then I tried again next week, but then I binged after 2 weeks, then I started out again(mostly on nuts)! I was in a super stressful situation(very important exam), I would cry everyday because I couldn't handle my stressful situation, my food and subsequently my weight went up crazy( 15 lbs the whole journey!). after the exam, I started keto induction again and practiced to manage my stress, its been 3 weeks, I'm experiencing very low level of energy and absolutely no weight loss. every time I started keto, my skin would be perfectly clear, but not this time. now I found out, I was doing the keto all wrong- specially the first time- I didn't count calories because I was satisfied. I was consuming about 1100 calories a day!! (that would explain all the binging and stalling for 2 weeks!!) I tried to consume 1500 calories in exact portion of 80% fats, without nuts or cheese, and keeping my carbs under 20. it was soooo hard. I felt stuffed. now, I think in this 4 months, I ruined my metabolism. should I go back to normal diet for couple of weeks and go over maintenance and then try keto the right way again? I am really confused:(( don't know what to do:(( sorry for this long post and I appreciate your help VERY VERY MUCH.
I think you're trying to combine a bunch of different low-carb diets together, and that is making you confused. If you've been on-and-off of a low-carb diet throughout the past 4 months, then you haven't damaged your metabolism. You body is just resisting what you're doing right now.
Delete1st, you have to accept the fact that you have PCOS. PCOS creates extreme insulin resistance. Weight loss on "any" diet isn't going to be easy. It's going to be difficult and the weight is going to come off very slowly. Clean eating isn't enough if you have PCOS because of the elevated insulin levels that PCOS causes.
1st, you need to decide if you want to do Keto or a low-carb high-fat diet. They are not the same thing. You can't do both.
With Keto, you have to count calories, carbs, protein, and fats, but you count grams. You don't track percentages. Protein is 0.8 grams per pound of lean body mass you have. It's better to eat a little more protein than not enough. Carbs are set at 20-net grams, or less. Calories should be 15 to 20 percent below your current maintenance level of calories for whatever you weight right now. Fat grams are set at whatever you need to eat to meet your calorie deficit, but if you go under because you aren't hungry, that's okay.
If you want to do low-carb high-fat: You eat 20 net carbs, or less. 80% of your calories as fats. 15% of your calories as protein. Calories range from 900 to 1500 depending on how much you currently weigh right now, and how tall you are. You don't count calories. You just eat until you're satisfied. BUT -- if you eat too many calories, you won't drop the weight. You can actually gain due to the high amount of fat you're eating.
Either of these two plans are good for those with PCOS.
As for your current stall: You've restricted and binged on carbs several times over the past few weeks. When you do that, you train your body to remember that pattern. If you're eating at a calorie deficit, your body is burning body fat, even if it's not showing on the scale. What's happening -- the body is stuffing your empty fat cells full of water. It does that because it thinks you're going to cheat again and give it carbs. Going off the diet, yet again, will only strengthen that response, and you'll have an even harder time the next time you try to diet.
I know it's rough to not see the scale move, but at this point, going back to a high-carb diet is simply going to make your insulin resistance worse.
Low carbs don't ruin your metabolism. Unless you have it for longer period of time. A person who needs to lose weight should consume low carbs food items otherwise it is not necessary to live on low carbs.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Mantis Hugo
Pure Noni Juice
I know a lot of people who have been doing low carb for a very long time, but I also know people who didn't do so well after a while.
DeleteSigh. First, the word "diet" is so misleading. Whatever you eat every day is your "diet". What most people mean is a "plan", or like Dr. Atkins said, a "way of eating". Secondly, Every single diet for weight loss out there is low carb. There is no such thing as a high carb diet for weight loss. Carbs are universally higher calorie per pound than fats or protein. So- a slice of bread and 2ozs chicken have similar calories. The issue is whether you feel like a slice of bread is going to keep you full, versus a delicious chicken breast, salad, and green beans. Additionally, carb intake causes insulin release immediately. Then, a short time later, it causes the blood sugar to drop and the feeling of hunger kicks in. Personally, I love living the low carb lifestyle. Sure, I'm only losing 1-2 lbs a week, but my acne is gone, my joints don't hurt, my energy levels are up, my skin and nails and hair look amazing, and I get to eat delicious whole foods- not frankenfoods. Wheat, corn, potatoes and rice are just nutrition empty vehicles for good food. They have zero nutrition that can't easily be gotten from whole, natural, unbleached food. I recommend that everyone try it for thirty days and monitor not just your weight but your overall feeling. Get on the Atkins website and find the forums (don't eat the disgusting frankenfoods they sell- the good doctor must be simply spinning in his grave) and follow the leaders. Keep a food journal, a symptoms journal, and a weight journal. Record your weight on a digital scale every day at the same time. You will see the progress, feel the progress, and be successful. If you screw up, get right back on track. Get a forum buddy and talk about your issues and obstacle. Don't stop for anything. Run like the wind towards your goals- not away from them. Help others and be of service to them and this will keep you motivated. Good luck people! You can do this!
ReplyDeleteWow. Thanks for sharing all of those valuable tips!
DeleteI noticed you said that fat doesn't take many calories to process because it can be stored in its normal form without much intervention. However, I'm looking at going ketogenic because I heard it's the easiest way to control hunger and cravings while losing weight. In the past I've tried just eating healthy but I've always craved and ended up binging or not been able to control my calorie intake cause everything was so high calorie. I'm still figuring out the details on how to lower my carbs enough to enter and remain in ketosis, so I may not end up succeeding but the idea of failing to start a ketogenic diet scares the living crap out of me. For years I've been depressed, reclusive and suicidal because of my weight, I have 30kg/about 60lbs I think to lose before I reach my ideal weight (according to BMI). I want to lose it as quickly as possible because I'm worried of how it's affecting my life mentally and what it's doing to make the chronic pain I live with worse. Right now exercise isn't really an option, I can do very light stuff but anything that could actually build lean mass or burn decent calories is impossible for me right now. My only hope for losing weight is to choose an effective diet. I've heard countless accounts that high-carb = hunger and cravings, low-carb/high-fat = low hunger and minimal cravings and low-carb/high-protein = misery. When I heard about ketogenic diets the claims I was most interested in were: heightened cognitive function thanks to ketones, retention of more muscle mass than other diets, faster fat loss (a lot of people say they lose a kilo a week easy), lowered hunger and cravings. However, if fat takes very little to process it doesn't sound like these claims are correct. I've also heard people claim it lowers ghrelin, regulates cortisol, increases metabolism, improves digestion, all of those claims sound perfect to me but you seem to be saying that's impossible. However, in ketosis your primary source of energy is fat, to convert fat into a usable energy source you need to break it down, it takes more processing than carbohydrates or protein to turn into usable energy. This means that while storing fat is easier than storing anything else, burning fat as a primary fuel would take the most energy to do right? But you didn't explain that at all. Obviously dropping out of ketosis stops that process but within ketosis the above should be the case right? I've also heard a lot of people say they went off a ketogenic diet and it took them ages to gain even 10lbs, implying that hormonal, metabolic and bacterial health improved dramatically by the time they went off ketosis which also contradicts what you were saying. I intend to use ketosis as a method of weight loss then slowly add carbs back in maybe 10g a month until I either reach a comfortable diet or notice negative changes, in which case I'll go back down to before those negative changes. I plan on eating at a caloric deficit and then trying to determine my maintenance amount. As soon as possible I also plan to exercise. But if I crash my thyroid and my system by using ketosis for 5+months to lose 30kgs I can't imagine my maintenance will be very enjoyable. Kind of feel like it's impossible to lose weight without having a sucky life afterwards... What do you reckon? I also have inflammatory issues, nerve issues, fatigue issues, and seem to have bad reactions to sugar, I'm also a coeliac so I thought lowering carbs would cut out most sugar and help me be gluten-free so I figured it would work well for me. I do tend to have a fair amount of carbs everyday as it stands now though, so like I said at the beginning I'm not sure if ketosis is possible for me but also like I said at the start I kind of really need those effects I was talking about that I heard ketosis provides. It's kind of... Really important...
ReplyDeleteThe intent of this article was to clear up some of the myths about damaged metabolisms that were popular within the low carb community about 5 years ago. It's not about weight loss and how that occurs, which is probably why you're confused.
DeleteIt doesn't take many calories to store fat because fat is already in a condensed form. When fat is removed from your fat cells to make up for a caloric deficit, the only thing the body has to do before it can use it is knock off the glycerol molecule, which the liver turns into glucose for the brain.
The brain can use ketones for most of its energy purposes. The muscles will initially use ketones, but then go insulin resistant, to save the ketones for the brain, and start using triglyceride instead. If you're very sedentary, the body won't need as much fat as someone who is very active. Fats in the diet are used to control your calorie deficit.
Fat does not take more processing than carbs or protein to be used. 90 percent of triglyceride is usable by cells just as it is. Fat contains more calories than carbs or protein, it contains more energy due to its condensed form, but that has nothing to do with how much work it takes to get the fat into usable shape.
In my own experience, it's all about the calories and whatever adaptions the body has made due to long-term dieting. Five months is not long term. I'm talking about people who are yo-yo dieters or those who have been dieting for something like 2 to 3 years at 20 net carbs or less without having reached goal weight yet.
Many of these people are insulin sensitive, rather than insulin resistant. Insulin sensitive people react differently to low carb than those who are insulin resistant.
How fast you regain your body fat after leaving keto depends on what you eat and how much. If you overeat, you'll get fat again. The average coeliac gains 30 to 50 pounds after diagnosis because the body coaxes them to overeat to correct the starvation mode they were in at diagnosis. Low carb's ability to curb hunger and cravings can help with that. Coeliac's need extra protein to heal.
If you stay within your maintenance calories, you will only regain the water and glycogen you lost on the first week of your low-carb diet. If you're attracted to weighing a certain number on the scale, you'll want to go 5 to 8 pounds below goal, so when the body restores water balance, due to higher carbs, you'll be at the weight you want to be.
Every symptom you have shared in your comment is a symptom of coeliac disease. Every one. Have you recently been diagnosed?
If so, the inability to digest sugar will improve once the villi heal, but healing can take a very, very long time depending on how long ago the coeliac was triggered. Also, be careful with dairy. The enzymes that help you digest dairy and sugar are made by the "tips" of the villi, so eating too much dairy, sugar, or even fat can be problematic if you've recently been diagnosed.