Quote:
Originally Posted by ErikaA  If you don't mind the personal question....
How disciplined were you on the low fat diet and how restrictive was it?
I'm not doubting your success with low carb in the least. I waste away quite rapidly on it...so can't afford to eat like that...even though it gives me beautiful bgls.
But I'm also a scientist. You can't get fat if you're burning more than you're eating. It's a very simple equation. And it works very well with me. It doesn't matter what I eat, if I don't eat enough I get thinner.
So I'm interested to know if you are arguing that it is a better way to lose weight from an energy point of view or from a discipline point of view (ie easier to maintain for you?). |
I guess the honest answer is that whenever I tried a low-fat and/or calorie-restrictive diet I constantly felt deprived and hungry... especially if I exercised as well BUT I did give it a fair try on more than one occasion. I hope you can tell from my passion and enthusiasm here, that when I set my mind to something I give it 100% and then some.
Ohh I'm sure there are some out there saying that I did not have sufficient will-power to see it through... or that some other failing on my part was the issue... couldn't be the diet.
In the same way I know many others that have failed to live up the promised results from the canned advice given them by their health-care teams, who promptly turn around and label them as "non-compliant" patients
Hunger - for me at least - is just like the need to breathe or drink water... it is a very low-level/primitive physiological drive. So if you say you just need will-power, I suggest you sit at the bottom of a deep swimming pool and see how long "will-power" will let you hold your breath.
Basically when I listened to the advice of the "experts" I not only failed to lose weight, but I actually gained more.
So after reading Gary Taubes and being reminded that you can't just take the word of an expert as fact; without some true science to back it up, and then finding out that not only does the low-fat (high-carb) diet not have any true scientific basis and does not help, but it could actually be harmful; I decided I had nothing to lose by trying the infamous and scary low-carb diet
Much to my surprise and relief, within 2 days
I was no longer hungry all the time! I could eat freely of very tasty and invigorating foods; like bacon and eggs for breakfast or steak for supper...and not feel hungry between meals... I even skipped a few meals and still walked past a table of cakes and other "goodies" without being tempted... I also found I had more energy and desire to go for walks and start exercising again.
On top of that I then found that my BG levels were more stable and closer to normal, on less insulin - I rarely if ever need to bolus anymore, my lipids (cholesterol) have improved dramatically, and my weight began dropping quickly... 25 lbs in the first 2 months.
How could this be? Was I finally back in control of my own body after 25 years?
So pardon me if I am an advocate of low-carb
Yes I freely accept that it may not be the best way for everyone, but if some forward-thinking nutritionist/dietitian had offered it to me as even an option when I was struggling with my weight, who knows where my health would be today.
As for the old chestnut of the 1st law of thermodynamics: I do not believe that the human body is a simple engine where you shovel in x amount of coal and get out y amount of heat. Perhaps the law applies at the cellular level but to the overall body... no. I have read that without carbs and insulin the body is unable to store fat (ingested Glucose is required to make Glycerol to bond three fatty-acid molecules together as Triglycerides - the form in which fat is stored) so I defy anyone to eat 6,000 calories a day of just fat and protein and not even put on an extra ounce of fat.
I also don't believe that calorie counting helps: it defies logic that anyone can know to within 1% how many calories they have eaten and used on any given day - other than in totally enclosed laboratory conditions. So it follows that there is another mechanism in the body that maintains our weight.. even an obese person tends to maintain the same weight over many years.
Sorry if I went off topic but I haven't repeated much of this too much lately and it does need to be said. Maybe just one person will come along like I was 5 years ago who might get a better start than I did
