Low Carb Low Fat?

[engie1967]

After a discussion on Twitter where I celebrated the effect of LCHF on my blood sugar, it was suggested that with a lot of weight to lose, a low carb LOW fat approach may be advisable. What do others thing? Is it wise? Might it work? Is it heresy?

 

[Crocodile]

Where are the kj coming from. Only protein group left.

 

[kokhongw]

After a discussion on Twitter where I celebrated the effect of LCHF on my blood sugar, it was suggested that with a lot of weight to lose, a low carb LOW fat approach may be advisable. What do others thing? Is it wise? Might it work? Is it heresy?

Of course it can work...as does very low calories...the question has always been which is most sustainable for you. Something that you enjoy doing rather than see it as a chore and face with dread everyday...

 

[engie1967]

Where are the kj coming from. Only protein group left.

Good point. I think the theory is to eat everything one would on LCHF but go for lower fat options. I guess that is why I'm asking the question.

 

[Guzzler]

Low carb low fat equates to a calorie restricted diet. They havn't worked for the last 40-50 years....

 

[bulkbiker]

After a discussion on Twitter where I celebrated the effect of LCHF on my blood sugar, it was suggested that with a lot of weight to lose, a low carb LOW fat approach may be advisable. What do others thing? Is it wise? Might it work? Is it heresy?

If you go low fat and low carb you'll be hungry so far more likely to fall off the wagon. It's not a sustainable way of eating. You will probably ending up slowing your metabolism which won't help with fat burning. Lower fat options are usually higher carb anyway so it's a bit self defeating.

Edit to add... I don't think its a good idea ( just in case you were wondering)

 

[Kentoldlady1]

You can do it, if you have enough incentive. Its really the basis of the blood sugar diet, which restricts cals to 800 a day for 8 weeks. It does get the weight falling off, but its not doable long term. and you have to be careful about managing vitamins, minerals etc although if you only do it short term this is not much of a problem.

Tbh lchf will get weight loss results and you will not feel as hungry. I did lchf and have lost 6 st, so it is certainly a good diet to follow. Don't forget that the hf part doesn't mean eating huge packets of lard, just don't be afraid of using fat to fill you up. A small piece of cheese will stop hunger pangs or butter on green veg will make a meal lacking in carbs very filling. Hf part of lchf is confusing. I think it really means higher fat than most people would think is healthy, given the "don't eat fat" message we have been getting from the health service for years. It doesn't mean eat 10 lbs of fat a day.
Good luck with it all.

 

[Rachox]

I think that it’s a case and of try it and see. Since diagnosis last May I have been eating low carb and I’d say moderate fat, I didn’t really measure the fat and lost 5 stone. However after the new year my weight loss plateaued, so I have tried reducing my fat intake. I still eat cream with my strawberries but am careful not to be too greedy, I have changed to low fat Greek yoghurt, the type I buy is actually slightly lower carb against the full fat one and I have changed to black coffee at breakfast where I used to have that as my one white one each day. I’m generally watching my portion sizes too. This seems to have kick started my weight loss again and I’m not feeling hungry, I fill up with plenty of low carb salad and veggies. I will gradually reintroduce the fattier products as I approach my target weight.

 

[There is no Spoon]

a lot of weight to lose, a low carb LOW fat approach may be advisable.

Hi engie,
The theory is perfectly sound. The big idea behind it is that people can not stick to a diet for any length of time so you have to go on a crash diet to get results. Or else people just fail and put weight back on.

We are in the situation were diet means life style change more than it does eating less to lose weight.

The Energy Problem is you could find with out an intake of Carbs or Fat you metabolism slows down and you become more lethargic lacking the energy and motivation to want to do anything. A big part of the LCLF diet is exercise to tap into your body fat to burn as fuel. But if you run into The Energy Problem you wont want to exercise.

I think The Energy Problem is why people like Dr Mosley and the blood sugar diet, go on about High Intensity Training so much. It makes sense if your lacking energy and motivation to exercise; then being told 6 mins a week of HIT is all you need, is a much more appealing option to daily exercise.

The only thing to realy take in to account is Low Fat mean not adding fat to meals you cook not the Low Fat options of food you buy because of the added sugar.

 

[lucylocket61]

I dont touch low fat versions of foods as they seem to be highly processed and have other things substituting for the fats. I do go for full fat foods, but less of them, and count my calories as well as carbs.

 

[TwoRivers]

I want to write a separate posting on this at more length. But yes, you do have to watch calory totals and all the reliable scientists from John Yudkin onwards say so. Yudkin was the first advocate of low carb diets and we owe him and his successors a big debt, but I haven't found any clearly reputable scientist since him saying that low carb means calories don't count at all. Yudkin in the 1970s explicitly pointed out why this is nonsense. He argued that reducing carb intake brings calory reduction in its wake, as it does. And you need some oils and fats to ward off hunger.
In particular that definitely doesn't mean going for low fat brands and products because we know that they are a snare: usually there is sugar and other trouble lurking in so-called low fat foods.
Personally, after losing about 20% of my body weight on a carefully measured low carb diet, I notice that going above 1,700 calories a day even when I walk for three miles, halts the weight loss and in fact I start to put it on. Things weren't like this for the first five or six months of my diet, but they definitely are now. I have to face up to that fact and work with it. It means for example that double cream with my coffee is out because of the gratuitous extra calories it adds. Pity. I have had to cut back on cheese for the same reason. But I am not on an old fashioned calorie reduction diet, just low carb with an eye on my overall calories. Not the same thing.

 

[Nicksu]

After a discussion on Twitter where I celebrated the effect of LCHF on my blood sugar, it was suggested that with a lot of weight to lose, a low carb LOW fat approach may be advisable. What do others thing? Is it wise? Might it work? Is it heresy?

You need your fats! Portion size is more a thing to look at. Also listening to your body when it says that it is full is a good indicator. I, like many others used to overeat (and not think anything of it). After going low carb (and portion control), I have found that I don't need so much to eat. It has taken me 20 months to lose 4 and a half stone. The first 2 came off very quickly when I went low carb and then the rest came off gradually. Remember Rome wasn't built in a day!

 

[JohnEGreen]

Friend of mine T2 for many years was very into the Rosemary Conley diet for some while which is a low fat diet was not of much help and only lost a modest amount of weight now on low carb highish fat and doing better. both with weight and blood sugar control.

 

[ickihun]

Where are the kj coming from. Only protein group left.

I have high protein diet but have to supplement. Iron lately.
I only lose weight on low carb and not high fat.
No cheese, no cream, no pork scratching and careful butter and lard.

 

[ickihun]

If you go low fat and low carb you'll be hungry so far more likely to fall off the wagon. It's not a sustainable way of eating. You will probably ending up slowing your metabolism which won't help with fat burning. Lower fat options are usually higher carb anyway so it's a bit self defeating.

Edit to add... I don't think its a good idea ( just in case you were wondering)

Because my insulin was converting alot into fat, I don't need anymore to be burned. I'm rare in how severely IR I am and I'm putting in so much insulin in my body daily to just function.

 

[There is no Spoon]

You need your fats!

Hi Nicksu, this is simply not true.

You need essential fatty acids EFA but that's not the same as fat.
You also need to take into account where you're at in a diet if it's at the end, where you have lost a lot of body fat then you need something, either more carbs, more fat or more protein, to supply you with energy.

But at the beginning of a diet like @engie1967 where you want your body to burn its own fat for fuel its not the same thing.

Fat can be a good choice as it has the duel function of not increasing bg levels and can be burned for fuel almost as efficiently as carbs.

A Low Fat diet still contains butter, cream and cheese dairy fat, just less of it. It mostly wants you to cut out animal fats.

This idea is very logical
if you don't give your body carbs or fat it needs to find the fuel to run from somewhere else and there's only one place to look the body's own stores of fuel Fat or Protein (muscle)
But LCLF is high in protein which takes longer to convert to fuel and should be sent to the muscles to promote repair and growth through exercise, which means it should tip the balance in the body to burn Fat.

But like everything it's how it works for you @bulkbiker was probably closest with LCLF can up your carb intake and some people are less carb tolerant than others if it raise you bg then it's a bad choice for you.
But it's still LC it's in the name.

 

[Geordie_P]

I like fats and regard them as my main energy source, but I also like what TwoRivers said about "low carb, with an eye on overall calories". Low carb, high fat is the sustainable lifestyle, but if you do need to lose weight for health reasons, then a sensible reduction in fats might be the way to do it.

 

[ickihun]

Hi Nicksu, this is simply not true.

You need essential fatty acids EFA but that's not the same as fat.
You also need to take into account where you're at in a diet if it's at the end, where you have lost a lot of body fat then you need something, either more carbs, more fat or more protein, to supply you with energy.

But at the beginning of a diet like @engie1967 where you want your body to burn its own fat for fuel its not the same thing.

Fat can be a good choice as it has the duel function of not increasing bg levels and can be burned for fuel almost as efficiently as carbs.

A Low Fat diet still contains butter, cream and cheese dairy fat, just less of it. It mostly wants you to cut out animal fats.

This idea is very logical
if you don't give your body carbs or fat it needs to find the fuel to run from somewhere else and there's only one place to look the body's own stores of fuel Fat or Protein (muscle)
But LCLF is high in protein which takes longer to convert to fuel and should be sent to the muscles to promote repair and growth through exercise, which mean it should tip the balance in the body to burn Fat.

But like everything it's how it works for you @bulkbiker was probably closest with LCLF can up your carb intake and some people are less carb tolerant than others if it raise you bg then it's a bad choice for you.
But it's still LC it's in the name.

I agree. It worked well for me.
I have had to increase carbs due to financial restraint but working on help for 4yr old to increase our income. So hoping only temporary.
Looking forward to needing so much less food for hunger satisfaction too.
I tried LCHF and didn't lose and then started adding weight on too much dairy fat. I stopped nuts too. The weight came off nicely. Needing even more supplements thou.
The weight I lost was muscle and fat on lchf.
Carbs make me gain weight due to protein going straight onto muscles, which weighs heavier than fat.

 

[bulkbiker]

A Low Fat diet still contains butter, cream and cheese dairy fat, just less of it. It mostly wants you to cut out animal fats.

Seriously?.. I have never seen a low fat diet advocating for eating the things you list.

 

[ickihun]

I often wonder if one diet will be enough for me to keep weight of for longer?
Low carb, high fat fed me everything but enough vit D. Vit C too maybe.
My low carbing has left me with anaemia but I'm wondering more to do with lack of vitC. On iron tablets for now. I'll see how it pans out.