Low Carb And Low Calorie Weight Loss

Diets that are low in carbohydrates and low in calories are particularly popular for weight loss. These diets usually are high in protein, low in carbohydrates and contain low to moderate amounts of dietary fat. Often, but not always, these diets are synonymous with "high protein" weight-loss diets. Before you consider a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss, you should understand how it works and speak to your doctor to see if it is appropriate for you.

Weight Loss

Dr. Jonny Bowden, Ph.D and Clinical Nutrition Specialist, in his book "Living Low Carb," endorses a low-carbohydrate and low-calorie diet for weight loss purposes. Dr. Bowden cautions that your overall caloric intake is responsible for any weight loss that you experience, whether on a low-carbohydrate diet or on a more standard "balanced" one that includes higher amounts of carbohydrates and restricts fat. Simply eating fewer carbohydrates will not lead to weight loss if your caloric intake exceeds your caloric expenditure -- how many calories you burn. Weight loss is generally considered to be a product of burning more calories than you consume, regardless of which dieting protocol you follow.

Low-Carbohydrate Theory

Dr. Bowden explains that low-carbohydrate weight loss diets revolve around controlling your blood sugar and your insulin levels. In general, carbohydrates, especially simple carbohydrates, raise your blood sugar levels. In order to stabilize your blood sugar -- as not doing so could result in irregular heartbeat, coma or death -- your body releases insulin. Insulin lowers your blood sugar levels, but in the process stores unused calories as fat. Low-carbohydrate diets seek to control insulin levels and prevent unwanted fat storage. Sheri Barke, registered dietitian at the College of the Canyons, explains that insulin encourages fat storage and prevents your body from burning fat. By limiting your carbohydrate intake, in theory, you will keep your body out of "fat storage" mode.

Comparsion

Although it is impossible to account for every low-carbohydrate and low-caloric diet protocol, low-carbohydrate diets seem to compare favorably to more traditional low-fat diets in terms of weight loss. A study in the 2003 "New England Journal of Medicine," by a team of researchers led by Dr. Frederick F. Samaha found that severely obese patients lost more weight over a six-month period from following a carbohydrate-restricted diet than a fat-restricted diet. A later study published in the 2004 "Annals of Internal Medicine" similarly found that a low-carbohydrate produced a quicker amount of weight loss over the first 6 months, but the weight loss was similar after 12 months.

Health Considerations

Harvard Medical School believes that low-carbohydrate diets compare fairly similar with a more traditional fat-restricted diets in terms of overall weight loss and weight maintenance. The amount of weight loss you achieve will still depend on your calorie intake, regardless of whether you restrict dietary fat or carbohydrates. A low-carbohydrate weight-loss diet, however, appears to be more beneficial for your cardiovascular health. Patients following the low-carbohydrate diet in both studies experienced a greater decrease in LDL "bad" cholesterol and blood triglycerides. Harvard suggests although different diet plans will work for different people, either type will work as long as you stick to it and you are burning more calories than you consume.