Low carbohydrate diets embrace a strategy of cutting down or eliminating starches like bread, grains, potatoes and rice, while increasing consumption of proteins and fats. Several popular commercial weight-loss diet plans, including Atkins and The Zone, espouse a low-carb approach. Depending on your starting weight, you may lose significant pounds in the first two weeks of a low-carb diet, but other diet strategies lead to similar healthy weight loss in the long run.
Water Weight
Low-carb diets promote short-term, fast weight loss in part because they have a diuretic effect, according to the Mayo Clinic. This causes you to lose water weight, but when you abandon the low-carb diet, the weight will swiftly return. Low-carb diets help people lose weight in the short term faster than any other, reports the Harvard Medical School, but after a year, low-fat and other weight loss strategies have proven just as effective as the low-carb approach. A review of literature of short-term low-carb diet studies conducted by Joshua Yelon at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne indicates that subjects on low-carb diets under study conditions lost more weight than subjects on other types of diets. In one 28-day study, subjects on low-carb diets lost as much as 12.5 kilograms -- 27.5 pounds -- Yelon reports. However, as results from three-month studies corroborated, much of this weight is water weight, which is quickly regained.
Satiety
Not all the weight lost in the short term on a low-carb diet may be water weight, and it may help jump-start healthier eating habits by reducing your appetite. Fat and protein take longer to digest than carbohydrates do, according to MayoClinic.com, so low-carb dieters are apt to feel full quicker and stay sated longer. Low-carb dieters sprint ahead of dieters on other plans for the short term, reports the Harvard Medical School, because a low-carb diet is better at suppressing appetite, so you eat fewer calories. However, after six months, people on low-carb diets are apt to either hold their weight steady or put it back on, while people on low-fat diets will keep losing pounds, according to Harvard.
Exercise
How much you will lose in two weeks on a low-carb diet depends on many factors, including what your health and weight is when you start and how closely you stick to the diet. Another factor is exercise. Including exercise in your weight-loss program helps burn calories directly, and helps add muscle mass, which means you will burn calories more efficiently even at rest, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Genetics, culture and taste all play a role in how well any given diet works for any individual, advises the Harvard Medical School. Your metabolism plays a key role in weight loss, says the Harvard School of Public Health. Exercise to boost your metabolism will increase the pounds lost on a low-carb diet.
Risks
A low-carb diet, with its emphasis on protein and fats, can easily be high in saturated fat and cholesterol that can raise your heart disease risk, according to MayoClinic.com. Many high-fat and high-calorie dishes qualify as low carb, so it is even easy to gain weight on a low-carb diet unless you pay careful attention to calorie counts. One popular restaurant chain offers meals identified with a low-carb diet that include strip steak with blue cheese and fried buffalo wings, notes the University of Maryland Medical Center -- foods that will not further your healthy weight-loss goals. Other risks of a low-carb diet include developing ketosis, an inability to fully process fats. Check with your doctor before embarking on any weight-loss plan, particularly in regards to your cholesterol levels and heart health, advises the Harvard Medical School; depending on your health condition when you start, a low-carb diet may not be medically appropriate for you.
References
- Harvard School of Public Health; Many Paths to Successful Weight Loss
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Low Carb Diets: The Right Way to Go?
- Harvard Medical School Health Publications; Low Carb or Low Fat Diet? The Harvard Health Letter Investigates the Debate; July 2004
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne; Effectiveness of Low-Carb Diet for Weight Loss; J. Yelon
- MayoClinic.com; Low-carb Diet
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