Low-carb, high-carb diet both help keep weight off
 

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low-carb and high-carb diets work equally well for maintaining weight loss, Australian researchers report.

People had the same success in keeping off the weight they'd lost after sharply cutting their calorie intake for 3 months if they followed a low-carb (also called high-protein) diet or a high-carbohydrate regimen for the following year, Dr. Elizabeth A. Delbridge of the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital in Victoria and her colleagues found.

Some studies have suggested that high protein diets may be a more effective way to lose weight short-term than high carbohydrate diets, Delbridge and her team note in their report. But there's less evidence on which approach might be better for helping people to keep off weight they've lost, and whether the two diets have different effects on heart health.

To investigate, Delbridge and her team assigned 141 men and women who'd completed the weight-loss phase of the diet to a year on a diet in which 30 percent of their calories came from protein, or one consisting of 15 percent protein. Both groups also were instructed to keep their fat intake below 30 percent of total calories, and to focus on reducing saturated fat.

To read more about the study go to the webpage or site : http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...5AI4ZT20091119

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2009.

I thought the article was interesting because I have been reading a lot about carbs and the effect of insulin in our bodies. Also how proteins help us stay "fuller longer"

Cathy

I think the most important thing is to find a way of eating that you can do forever, no matter how it's balanced. If you're 'eating this way until I lose weight' it's going to be much harder to maintain once you're done. At least that's what I've found.

I noticed that in the last few weeks as I've gotten busier that I've completely given up on calorie counting. Not, on losing weight, just not tracking. However, I'd started last month with a set breakfast/lunch/snacks system, only varying the dinners** (and using known meals because I'm a bulk cooker/freezer). Even though I've completely given up on exercise (time issue) I'm still a couple of pounds lighter than when I last checked. The food I eat now I enjoy (ie. there's nothing I eat specifically because I'm on a diet), so for me it's easily maintainable.

I've done the low-carb, low-fat, vegetarian styles of dieting in the past. In the end they usually leave me waiting 'until it's over' to have the things that I miss. For me, that's where I fail.

** Not eating the same breakfast/lunch/snacks every day, but having say Breakfast A/B/C and then snack 1 or 2 in the morning, etc.