No matter what type of diet you follow, losing weight requires you to burn more calories than you consume. Low-carb diets are effective for weight loss because they help you eat fewer calories. Protein and fat slow digestion, helping you stay full longer and eat less. Eliminating sugar also helps stabilize glucose and insulin, keeping hunger and cravings at bay.
Glucose, Carbohydrates and Weight Loss
Your body runs on glucose, which is easily made from carbohydrates. When you eat simple carbs -- such as starches and sugar -- your bloodstream is flooded with glucose. To help move glucose into your cells, your pancreas releases the hormone insulin. The faster glucose hits your system, the more insulin your pancreas produces. Excess insulin in your bloodstream signals your brain that you need more glucose, and triggers hunger, usually with a desire for sugar. You cave into this craving and you eat again, producing more glucose and more insulin. This cycle of overeating continues and you gain weight because glucose not used right away is stored as fat for later use.
Calories, Glucose and Insulin
Eating more calories than you need leads to weight gain, no matter what type of foods you eat. The reason a low-carb diet might be particularly effective for weight loss is that regulating glucose and insulin production helps control hunger, so you eat less. A 2005 study from Temple University showed that when "carbohydrates were restricted, study subjects spontaneously reduced their caloric intake to a level appropriate for their height, did not compensate by eating more protein or fat, and lost weight."
Calorie Intake and Low-Carb Diets
Most low-carb diets don't ask you to count calories, but rather to count grams of carbohydrates. According to the Atkins Diet website, a woman typically consumes between 1,500 and 1,800 calories daily while following a low-carb diet. Men eat slightly more, between 1,800 and 2,000 calories daily. An overweight woman eating between 1,500 and 1,800 calories should lose weight. To lose 1 lb. per week, you need to cut 500 calories each day from your current diet; it takes a 3,500-calorie deficit to lose 1 lb.
Calories and Metabolism
Although you may be tempted to cut calories further to speed up weight loss, a drastic calorie reduction can slow down your metabolism. If your metabolism slows down, your body thinks that food is scarce and holds onto every calorie -- it's a biological survival mechanism and it will stop you from losing weight. Harvard Medical School says that people need between 1,200 and 1,500 calories to maintain normal metabolic function. Therefore, following a 1,500-calorie low-carb diet should cut calories enough to ensure weight loss, while keeping your metabolism high. Creating a calorie deficit isn't only about food -- you can also burn more calories by exercising regularly.
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