Is low carb the way to go?

[Anonymous]

When it comes to losing weight, is eating low carb the best? I'd always thought watch your calorie intake, but my mother is convinced that the best way to lose weight is to cut carbs. But a lot of foods have carbs in them...even healthy ones. I.e fruits and vegetables. So she eats basically eggs and meat all day. Which is all good, but aren't they high in fat and calories? I'm so confused!

[aMuse]

That's the idea. You convince your body to run on fats. Think about what you are trying to lose, stored fat right? So by getting your body to run on fat and being very active, and depriving your body of simple highly available carbs you are forcing it to use fat. If you want to lose fat you need to use it. If you want to build muscle, then you need carbs for glycogen, and proteins for amino acids to build the protein that makes up muscle. If you want to loose fat, then I would say go low carb. You still eat plenty of vegies for vitamins and fiber. You just cut out sugary fruits and end up eating more salad along side all those eggs and meat...

[Asker]

Thing is though, she's cutting out all carbs...even the good ones. So not only is she missing out on carbs, but other vitamins, and nutrients, etc...that can't be healthy.

[aMuse]

You have have a huge bowl of spinach for a salad and it is only a few grams of carbs. If you have like 2 big salads a day you can still be low carb like atkins induction phase and get all the vitamins you need. I've looked at all of it in detail and have used it to trim fat before. My mother who was a high risk of getting diabetes listen to me and got on that type of diet. She lost 50 pounds in one year, her ac1 level and blood glucose have dropped dramatically and she is now at normal levels

[aMuse]

I convinced her to do it, and challenged her to do a half marathon and said I would do it with her. She ate on Atkins induction, and walked religiously and was able to get healthy again and complete the race on time. It works. You just have to stick with it. =) Most people give up because they do not have the will power.

[Anonymous]

I've researched it a lot and have concluded it's not low certain carbs. Fruits, vegetables = OK. Any processed foods, corn syrup, sugar, and white flour = bad. It's the TYPE of carbs.

[WeaponZero]

It depends on your activity level. If you are sedentary and want to lose written then yes. But if you want to do things in a way that incorporates an extensive exercise regimen, which is by far the better way to go, you will need a high Carb intake to maintain your activity level. In short, yes, low Carb is the way to go if you are too lazy to exercise.

[aMuse]

You can still do cardio quite well on low carb. You just can't really do weight training.

[WeaponZero]

Yes but only light to moderate intensity cardio. Nothing I would call athletic training or even close to it.

[WeaponZero]

Only light to moderate intensity though. None of the fun or really athletic stuff :p

[Love2Ball]

Complex carbs - vegetables and some fruits.

Simple carbs - sugar which is the majority of fruits and obiously candy..

The best way is to eat mainly protein 70-60 percent of the meal (gram wise) and 30-40 in carbs. Complex carbs only! Try to stick to vegetables and not fruit because they are very different.

Cut out all saturated fats and keep fat in general as low as possible so that means very lean meat.

Drink plenty of water.

Trust me I know what I'm talking about.

[kheserthorpe]

For me it has been. But it doesn't work for everyone. And I needed targeted carbs around intense exercise.

Not everyone's bodies respond the same.