Can You Lose Weight With Low Carb Diets: Myths vs. The Truth

As more and more people are concerned with losing weight, the prevalence of the low-carb diet is increasing.

There is a lot of misinformation about low-carb diets.

Some claim that it’s the optimal human diet, while others consider it an unsustainable and potentially harmful fad.

However, new research points out that both too much carbohydrate and too little in our diet may be a cause for concern.

Also, accordling to the new research, if you must choose between two between two types of low-carb diet, you should choose the one that replaces carbs with plant-derived proteins and fats.

Such diets may help prolong life — unlike the diets that replace carbs with animal proteins and fat.

Here are 5 common myths about low-carb diets.

1. It's Hard to stick to

Low carb diets are said to lead to feelings of deprivation, causing people to abandon the diet and regain weight. Keep in mind that all diets restrict something - some certain food groups or macronutrients, other calories.

Science does not support the idea that low-carb diets are hard to stick to. In fact, they allow you to eat until satisfied while still losing weight, which is more sustainable than calorie-restricted diets.

2. They effect physical performance

Reducing carbs indeed leads to reduced performance at first. However, this is usually only temporary. It can take your body a while to adapt to burning fat instead of carbs.

Most athletes (including myself) eat a high-carb diet, and many people believe that carbs are essential for physical performance but I don't belive that any more from experience and in fact research tells us so.

Many studies show that low-carb diets are good for physical performance, especially endurance exercise, as long as you give yourself a few weeks to adapt to the diet.

Other studies indicate that low-carb diets benefit muscle mass and strength. Who would have known? Isn't that mind blowing?

3. The brain needs carbs

It’s claimed that carbs are the preferred fuel for your brain and that it needs about 130 grams of carbs per day.

This is partly true. Some cells in your brain cannot use any fuel besides carbs in the form of glucose.Yet, other parts of your brain are perfectly capable of using ketones.

What are ketones? Ketones are chemicals your liver makes. You produce them when you don't have enough insulin in your body to turn sugar (or glucose) into energy. You need another source, so your body uses fat instead. Your liver turns this fat into ketones, a type of acid, and sends them into your bloodstream. Your muscles and other tissues can then use them for fuel.

If carbs are reduced sufficiently to induce ketosis, then a large part of your brain stops using glucose and starts using ketones instead.

After the initial adaptation phase, many people report having even better brain function on a low-carb diet.

4. Most of the weight loss comes from water weight

People who eat a low-carb diet shed a lot of excess water but also body fat, especially from the liver and abdominal area. Here's why:

Your body stores a lot of carbs in your muscles and liver. It uses a storage form of glucose known as glycogen, which supplies your body with glucose between meals.

Stored glycogen in your liver and muscles tends to bind some water.

When you cut carbs, your glycogen stores go down, and you lose a lot of water weight.

Additionally, low-carb diets lead to drastically reduced insulin levels, causing your kidneys to shed excess sodium and water.

For these reasons, low-carb diets lead to a substantial and almost immediate reduction in water weight.

However, studies show that low-carb diets also reduce body fat — especially from your liver and abdominal area where harmful belly fat is located.

For example, one 6-week study on low-carb diets showed that participants lost 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg) of fat but gained 2.4 pounds (1.1 kg) of muscle.

5. People eat fewer calories

Many people claim that the only reason people lose weight on low-carb diets is due to reduced calorie intake. This is true but doesn’t tell the whole story.

The main weight loss advantage of low-carb diets is that weight loss occurs automatically. Why? Because low-carb diets tend to be high in protein. This will boost metabolism, and cause a slight increase in the number of calories you burn.

Low-carb diets have people feel so full that they end up eating less food without counting calories or controlling portions.

At end of the day, low-cardb diets can have powerful benefits when done correctly.