Low carb diet

I was a little discouraged when I first started low carb as everyone seemed to see the weight drop off instantly. It took almost a month before I even saw a small loss and then it seemed like a daily steady loss.

I started in Nov 2022 shortly after my diagnosis of T2. I have lost around 20 lbs (or 1 stone 7lbs) and have now moved into the normal range for BMI.

More significant for me is the fact that I have had to buy a whole new wardrobe a few times as I have gone down several sizes. So not an impressive amount of weight loss but a startling change in body size. The tape measure does not lie even if the scales seem to be mocking your efforts.

I also took nearly a month to see the scales start dropping. I eat vegan keto / low carb.

RayCox said:

Have been on low carb for over a week no weight loss , how long does it take to start losing weight

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But what are your glucose levels like ?
The way low carbs works for us is low blood sugar = low insulin= fat burning and weight loss
The main advantage for T2's is the reduction in blood sugar, the weight loss is usually a happy bonus.

RayCox said:

Have been on low carb for over a week no weight loss , how long does it take to start losing weight

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I was back in normal blood glucose range (3-4 months) before I lost much weight. It also didn't come off steadily - there'd be a drop, than a pause, then another drop.

When you say "low carb" that means different things to different people. I go for around 20g/day. Others can handle more. What are you aiming for?

If you are not testing your blood, how do you know what effect your diet is having? You will be waiting months between tests and if you've got something wrong in the meantime you would have no idea what it was, just that you've not seen any progress. Obviously your call, but it's like setting off on a long journey and not checking you're on the right road at the start.

I've been low-carb (usually in the 50 to 100g range per day) for about a month now and during that time have lost approximately 4.5kg in weight. It is worth bearing in mind though that the reason I went low-carb was to reduce my blood sugar levels (and it's working), and the reason for the weight loss (which I'm also targeting) is that I'm also running a calorie deficit (i.e. eating significantly fewer calories than I'm burning) - and it's the latter that's responsible for the weight loss. It'd be quite easy to still eat a lot of calories on a low-carb diet (especially with cheese and the like) and therefore not lose weight.

niblue said:

I've been low-carb (usually in the 50 to 100g range per day) for about a month now and during that time have lost approximately 4.5kg in weight. It is worth bearing in mind though that the reason I went low-carb was to reduce my blood sugar levels (and it's working), and the reason for the weight loss (which I'm also targeting) is that I'm also running a calorie deficit (i.e. eating significantly fewer calories than I'm burning) - and it's the latter that's responsible for the weight loss. It'd be quite easy to still eat a lot of calories on a low-carb diet (especially with cheese and the like) and therefore not lose weight.

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I'm not sure that's how it works. What you're describing is the basic "calories in, calories out" CICO model which really over-simplifies metabolism. Calories are just units of energy. Once you pick them apart most (maybe all) low-calorie diets (eg the 800) are in effect low-carb.

In contrast the low-carb approach restricts the amount of glucose (rather than calories) available to the system, forcing the body to generate the glucose it needs from bodyfat once other sources are unavailable.

I am absolutely sure that my net "calorific" intake increased a lot over the last three years - I dropped carbs and greatly increased proteins and fats, but lost >60lbs.

I agree - I eat very low carb (keto) and if I were counting calories, my intake would be significantly more than low-calorie diets recommend. I eat enough to stop hunger and don't eat any more because whereas low calorie used to leave me starving, low carb satisfies. And I lost a lot of weight just doing that. I am now comfortably within normal parameters, and I can eat this way for life, which certainly isn't the case with low calorie.