Low-Carb Diets vs Low-Fat Diets. FIGHT!

[blackdogdeek]

Looks like low-carb wins!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/02/health/low-carb-vs-low-fat-diet.html?_r=0

highlights:

People who avoid carbohydrates and eat more fat, even saturated fat, lose more body fat and have fewer cardiovascular risks than people who follow the low-fat diet that health authorities have favored for decades, a major new study shows.

But more recent clinical studies in which individuals and their diets were assessed over time have produced a more complex picture. Some have provided strong evidence that people can sharply reduce their heart disease risk by eating fewer carbohydrates and more dietary fat, with the exception of trans fats. The new findings suggest that this strategy more effectively reduces body fat and also lowers overall weight.

By the end of the yearlong trial, people in the low-carbohydrate group had lost about eight pounds more on average than those in the low-fat group. They had significantly greater reductions in body fat than the low-fat group, and improvements in lean muscle mass — even though neither group changed their levels of physical activity.

While the low-fat group did lose weight, they appeared to lose more muscle than fat.

 

[z1ggy]

I'll still be eating plenty of carbs on my lift days. I am weak and have less energy when I am carb depleted.

On my rest days, I do have very low carb amounts, and higher amounts of dietary fat, but no way will I ever switch to a low carb diet on the whole.

 

[Howard]

Low-carb is probably better for weight loss and weight control but man oh man is it hard. Well, low-fat is hard too.

I mean, food is just awesome. Good thing I'm blessed with the ability to not gain weight.

 

[blackdogdeek]

I'll still be eating plenty of carbs on my lift days. I am weak and have less energy when I am carb depleted.

On my rest days, I do have very low carb amounts, and higher amounts of dietary fat, but no way will I ever switch to a low carb diet on the whole.

I suspect your overall carb amounts are lower than the typical low-fat dieters' carb amounts per given week.

 

[HumblePie]

I'll still be eating plenty of carbs on my lift days. I am weak and have less energy when I am carb depleted.

On my rest days, I do have very low carb amounts, and higher amounts of dietary fat, but no way will I ever switch to a low carb diet on the whole.

For some, dieting only for a time is a better way to lose weight initially and get healthy. When you weigh too much that you can't actually exercise without having a huge potential to hurt your body, then diet alone is required to bring down the body weight to a level that exercise can start to be introduced.

Even when exercise can be introduce, nothing more than light cardio is the best to start with and that basically means just walking at first.

Best way to diet initially to get healthy is with a low carb diet. It does several things that the study above found out and many others like it. Once you get past that initial carb craving phase, your craving for food on a whole goes down dramatically.

If you aren't looking to lose weight, then a good regimen of exercise is usually enough to keep excess body fat off.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Low carb tends to work better because so many of our calories come from carbs. Then there's the added benefit of forcing the body to sort of retool itself to burn fat primarily as energy. It's really all about calories in the end though. It's far easier to take in fewer calories in the form of protein and fat than it is carbohydrates. The higher protein intake typical of low carb diets is beneficial for maintenance and growth of lean muscle mass as well.

I'm not sure where the logic behind the low fat craze even came from in the beginning. I guess people thought that fat that was consumed went straight through the body unprocessed and got deposited directly with the rest of the fat on their body while carbohydrates had to be turned into fat...or something. I guess that makes sense if you don't do any research into the matter at all. It's kind of insane that some foods that claim to be "low fat" will actually have more calories than their full fat counterparts though.

 

[blackdogdeek]

I'm not sure where the logic behind the low fat craze even came from in the beginning. I guess people thought that fat that was consumed went straight through the body unprocessed and got deposited directly with the rest of the fat on their body while carbohydrates had to be turned into fat...or something. I guess that makes sense if you don't do any research into the matter at all.

From the article:

The notion that dietary fat is harmful, particularly saturated fat, arose decades ago from comparisons of disease rates among large national populations.

 

[z1ggy]

I suspect your overall carb amounts are lower than the typical low-fat dieters' carb amounts per given week.

Maybe?

Quick addition shows I consume around 1200g of carb a week.

For some, dieting only for a time is a better way to lose weight initially and get healthy. When you weigh too much that you can't actually exercise without having a huge potential to hurt your body, then diet alone is required to bring down the body weight to a level that exercise can start to be introduced.

Even when exercise can be introduce, nothing more than light cardio is the best to start with and that basically means just walking at first.

Best way to diet initially to get healthy is with a low carb diet. It does several things that the study above found out and many others like it. Once you get past that initial carb craving phase, your craving for food on a whole goes down dramatically.

If you aren't looking to lose weight, then a good regimen of exercise is usually enough to keep excess body fat off.

I don't know. Maybe I can't relate to many of ATOT threads regarding diet and exercise, because I don't consider myself in the norm. I am looking to be in the ~10% body fat range, lifting twice my body weight on dead lifts, and bench around 1.5x my own body weight.

In order to do this, there's almost no way anybody could get there using a low carb diet. IMO, you can still get in great physical shape, while still eating a fairly high amount of carbs. And to be clear, I would assume "low carb" to be something like <.5g/lb body weight for somebody. I'm not sure what this article is saying low carb should be.

It's only when doing a "cut" do you need to limit them to be fairly low. But these phases only last maybe 12-16 weeks at a time. The rest of the time, one would be gaining mass, or just maintaining.

Then again, most folks don't even do all this anyway. They simply just don't want guts.

 

[ElFenix]

Maybe I can't relate to many of ATOT threads regarding diet and exercise, because I don't consider myself in the norm. I am looking to be in the ~10% body fat range, lifting twice my body weight on dead lifts, and bench around 1.5x my own body weight.

if they're doing a representative study, z1ggy, you might be one out of 100 participants. most others are going to be overweight with body fat %s much higher than yours from the get go. low fat or low carb may not work well for someone who is already in shape and does a lot of exercise. you need carbs if you're burning a lot of calories because that's nearly the only way of doing it.

edit: and you're not exactly high on the carb intake list either. ~850 calories from carbs a day, i'm guessing you're at least 3000/day calories total. you might already be on the 'low carb' side of things.

 

[z1ggy]

if they're doing a representative study, z1ggy, you might be one out of 100 participants. most others are going to be overweight with body fat %s much higher than yours from the get go. low fat or low carb may not work well for someone who is already in shape and does a lot of exercise. you need carbs if you're burning a lot of calories because that's nearly the only way of doing it.

I understand.

I know the data is backing up this study right now, but there's lots of men and women who got in good shape and remain that way, with out being on low carb. Then again, it was to achieve what is likely an 'extreme' physique.. so.. I digress.

It makes sense anyway, carbs are not a needed molecule for humans to survive. Seems like our bodies would do better with a lower amount of them.

 

[manimal]

I have a new diet fad where I only eat while on a treadmill. It confuses the fat cells. I ate two pizzas and a tub of ice cream on the treadmill last night. Its nice and big and I can put at least 10 different sets of plates over the running area when its unplugged.

 

[ElFenix]

for the vast majority of the american population (your average sedentary type), we should be eating the pre-diabetic diet. cut out the cokes and the fries and our population would probably gain several QALYs.

 

[manimal]

for the vast majority of the american population (your average sedentary type), we should be eating the pre-diabetic diet. cut out the cokes and the fries and our population would probably gain several QALYs.

Talk about low hanging fruit

 

[KillerBee]

I've been maintaining same weight sticking with mostly low carb for a good 20 years. You can even be a total couch potatoe and maybe even loose some weight / body fat % - ofc it will come off much faster if try some exercising too.

But main benefits are from the health side since diabetes runs in the family and going low carb helps prevent having to use insulin medicine to control it.

It also helps to get a scale that also shows your body fat %
- just google for "body fat scales"
Not sure how exact they are initially but you can monitor how much body fat you loose over time.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I tried low carb for about 2 months. In conjunction with working out people told me I looked great. Only problem is that I would crave bread. Like really really crave bread. I would devour any cheese/bread combo that would come at me. Mmmm baguette and brie.

 

[KillerBee]

lol - yep the bread thing is about the hardest part to quit. Now I'm sure there are a lot of low carb alternatives to it than there used to be.

 

[Imported]

I tried low carb for about 2 months. In conjunction with working out people told me I looked great. Only problem is that I would crave bread. Like really really crave bread. I would devour any cheese/bread combo that would come at me. Mmmm baguette and brie.

Fresh bread and rice are my weaknesses. I cheat a few days a month and have a serving of each, otherwise I limit myself to low-carb.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Fresh bread and rice are my weaknesses. I cheat a few days a month and have a serving of each, otherwise I limit myself to low-carb.

I don't have too much of a craving for rice but I will do brown rice now.

I don't know how I did this, but when I lived in Italy and ate pasta almost 3 times a day for 6 months, I actually loss weight and looked great. Freshness of the food maybe? I don't know. However, this is also in conjunction with working out. Other people in my group (mainly the girls) gained a ton of weight lol.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Carbs are the enemy.

 

[Fritzo]

I'll attest to low carb as well. It makes sense if you think about it: all of the high calorie/low nutrition foods are sugar and starch based. Since it's not a calorie restrictive diet, it's also compatible with building muscle mass. I've been eating under 80 carbs a day since I lost 25 lbs and have been able to maintain by weight for 2 years now.

 

[futurefields]

Definitely low carb if you desire fitness. In America theyve been taking all the healthy fats out of once healthy foods like yogurt and replaced with poisonous sugars and starches. Thats a big reason why theres so many pear-shaped diabetics.

 

[SlitheryDee]

From the article:

At some point that seemed to get translated into "this is the best diet to get in shape" though. Everyone I know who did it back in the 90s was trying to lose weight more than stave off fat related diseases at least.

 

[Ban Bot]

I have been on a low carb menu (20-30g/day) and have lost 27lbs since February. I really didn't want to go the low carb route--I love fruit--but my ability to exercise is complicated by MS. I was at 195-200 for 5 years; I was a little over weight but ate a very healthy diet (lots of fruit, veggies, fish) and wasn't losing/gaining weight but as walking got more difficult I got up to 2008. So how do you lose weight without ample exercise (weight loss=calories in-calories burned) and without feeling like you are starving?

Low carb. I have a couple eggs for breakfast and for lunch salmon salad. Dinner is whatever my wife serves. For the most part I don't feel too hungry and the weight has slowly came off. I miss things like rice and bread but I constantly crave fruit. I do eat some berries and melon. I still find total calories count very much (unlike some low carb preachers say) and it has more to do with total calories consumed than being in ketosis.

When I hit my goal weight I will go back to my old diet, cut out a little bit of the treats I was eating and up the fruits (berries and greek yogurt make a good dessert) in its place while continuing the emphasis on a lot of veggies and good proteins.

 

[stlc8tr]

The article said that the diets weren't calorie-controlled or exercised-controlled?

Maybe the low carb dieters just ate less and went to the gym more often?

 

[SP33Demon]

Wrong Forum.