.. and what benefits does it have / how does it work? I'm considering having carb-free meals for dinner because I'm a carboholic and think it may be what's making my scale number stick. I'm on strict 1200 cals a day and exercise daily, and drink a lot of water. The only thing I can think of is carb overload, even though I only eat wholemeal foods and no 'white' refined carbs, it's still carb-city.

It's just one of the endless varieties of reduced-carb dieting. Not all low-carb diets are almost-zero carb diets.

My doctor told me to try low-carb, but warned me not to go too low (admitting he had no idea what was too low), so I started experimenting and logging the results.

I follow an exchange plan with 2 startches and 3 fruit (which is much lower in carb than most exchange plans, and yet is higher carb than the early phases of most low-carb diets).

I've tried all sorts of "timing" strategies for carbs - evenly throughout the day - all in the morning - all in the evening.... and there are definitely some differences. I can have a carb for a bedtime snack - if I'm tired enough to fall right to sleep, but if I eat carbs too early in the evening, it often triggers a "munchie craving" for carbs that I sometimes can't stop - it's like being on a runaway train.

For weight loss, I'm not sure it matters when you eat your carbs so long as you're counting calories (and sometimes have to be cognizant of carbs as well). However, timing strategies may help you stay on plan, especially if they help you manage portions and hunger.

Evening carbs have always been a problem for me, so setting a "no carbs after dinner" rule has helped me a lot (but sometimes I "cheat" and eat my fruit in the evening - and sometimes it does set off cravings that I then have to fight all evening).

The only way to find out if a carb-timing strategy might work for you, is to try it. As to why it works (when it does), it's a bit of a mystery. There are a lot of theories, but they've not been rigorously tested.

My doctor just put me on a version of a low carb diet. After I explained to her that I lose weight when I cut carbs (in particular, grains) she said I was a certain metabolic type (she named it but I can't remember what it is now) that is sensitive to carbs. She said there are currently two theories on why that is. One- that my body type metabolizes carbs very quickly and that due to that it causes a rebound hunger that makes me eat more food overall. Or two- that I am somewhat insulin resistant and that the shot of carbs causes my insulin levels to rise which in turn has my body not burning my fat and actually storing more fat. So I just got put on a diet that has a protein + vitamin shake in the morning, a protein + vitamin shake and salad at lunch, and a dinner that includes some meat, lots of veggies, and strictly prohibits grains and high glycemic foods and fruits. I haven't fully studied the plan but have a feeling it's probably going to be effective as it combines caloric reduction with carb reduction which works with my body/metabolic type.

I suspect the no carbs after lunch thing works primarily because for most people dinner is the largest meal of the day and also the one we generally have the most time to plan it (breakfast and lunch are often rush affairs). It would be sustainable because you're not changing every aspect of your diet, just dinner, and just one macronutrient.

It's really big in the 17 Day diet that my mom just did. I'll have to look it up, but it's something about the way your body processes carbs after 2. It (the body) gets all it's energy for the day in the morning so any carb you eat after 2 just gets stored. No idea if it's true or not. But my mom did the diet and lost 40 lbs!

I found that it helped with bloat and I can't digest carbs after lunch, so I try and have all my carbs before 2pm just so I don't swell up