Buy Walking VideosWeight Loss with a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Is Proven Greater
The July 17th New England Journal of Medicine has published a report that followed three groups of dieters for two years. They compared low fat, The Mediterranean Diet and Atkins (low carbohydrate). You can see the full results here:
The overall weight changes among the 322 participants at 24 months were:
- –2.9 kg for the low-fat group
- –4.4 kg for the Mediterranean-diet group
- –4.7 kg for the low-carbohydrate group
A graph of the weight loss for each group is here:
One note about the study is that while the low-fat and Mediterranean diet followers had a restricted caloric intake of 1500 to 1800 calories a day, the low-carbohydrate group were not restricted in their calories.
I find it difficult to maintain a low-carb diet, but I know I feel better when I follow one. Here is a little incentive for me to monitor my sugar and carbohydrate intake.
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July 30th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I just hope people don’t follow the traditions of Atkins, which eliminates many of good carbs (like vegetables). You need those and people need to be aware that there are “good” carbs (vegetables)and “bad” carbs (breads, pasta, sugar/junk,etc). In the pass the Atkins went by the rule of just looking at what converts to some form of sugar, but not all sugars are the same.
Just want people to examine more the type of eating habits they follow and consider whether they are really healthy or not (not just gives the ultimate weight loss).
July 31st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
I think the previous comment shows the writer doesn’t actually know anything about the Atkins program. It doesn’t eliminate vegetables? If you get your info from the popular media, you are making very wrong assumptions. After the first two weeks, vegetables and fruits are added back into your diet. Read the actual Atkins publications before you preach.
Vegetables and fruits are good carbs, and for some people, grains that are eaten whole, not ground into meal or flour work well too.
Even back in our great grandparents day, if you wanted to lose weight, you stopped eating starch, sugary foods like bread, potatoes and desserts.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Half the weight people lose on low-carb diets is water. When you reduce your carbohydrate intake, your body has zero energy, so to keep you moving and save your energy, it has to reduce your body weight. And the quickest way to do that is to let out all the fluids in your body. That’s why you are able to lose the weight faster. However, the bad part is that a low-carb diet is not sustainable for a long-period of time because it eliminates a major part of the food pyramid and can be horrifying for your health in the long run, so eventually you’ll have to cycle back to your original eating habits. As soon as you allow carbohydrates back into your bloodstream, your body realizes that you’re no longer in danger and aims to bring you back to your original weight. Only the weight doesn’t come back as water, but as fat.
So yes, you can actually get fatter when you go on the low-carb diet.
March 1st, 2009 at 6:36 am
The most popular type of low diet during recent years has undoubtedly been the low carb diet which has garnered support from a large amount of celebrities, movie stars and pop singers, and has been heavily featured in the media. Of these low carb diets, the Atkins diet is probably the most famous but there are others such as the South Beach Diet and Fat Loss 4 Idiots which are gaining popularity and are primarily low carbohydrate type diets.
April 4th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
I am so sick of people commenting on science they have no idea about. I know this is a forum for ideas and opinions, but please if you don’t know about what is actually going on physiologically when someone is on one type of diet or another, don’t chime in.
Low carb diets are a perfectly healthy lifestyle for some people, others have habituated to grains and refined sugars, and that’s OK too. As long as you feel enjoy your diet and are happy, eat what you want.