Low Carb Diets Cause More Than Water Weight Loss

Many critics in have attacked
low carb diets for only providing an
initial loss in water weight, rather than
actually affecting sustained fat loss.
Some critics have even suggested that
dieters lose don’t lose any fat at all.

This attack on low carb diets
is based on a critique of the
first phase of most low carb diets–
such as the induction phase of
Dr. Atkins’s’ diet–in which
the dieter consumes no carbs
over a one to two week
period.

Critics claim that this stage
is deceptive because it leads
low carb dieters to believe that
they are losing fat weight, when
in fact, they are shedding the
majority of their weight in
the form of water.

When dieters stop consuming
sugar, they immediately begin
burning carbohydrate reserves
for energy. Reserves are stored
in the form of glycogen, which covers
the liver and muscles. Each gram
of glycogen binds four grams of
water, which means that each
gram of glycogen converted into
energy takes with it four grams
of water.

The result is pretty straightforward.
If you convert 300 grams of stored
carbs into energy, you will lose an
additional 1200 grams of water, too.
This means four-fifths of the weight
you lose during the first phase of
a low carb diet is water weight.

However, while this critique does
apply to the “no carb” phase of
“low carb” diets, it falls in two places:

The first place is mistakenly thinking
that people don’t want to lose massive
amounts of carbohydrate stores in addition
to the fat stores they currently have.

The second is a complete failure
to critique or even examine the following
stages in low carb diets.

Many dieters have lost close to
one hundred pounds in excess of
of the initial carbohydrate reserves–
all of which was the direct result of
following a low carb diet plan.

Low carb dieters continue to lose
weight after the “no carb” phase
because they maintain a net
loss of carbohydrates, which
forces their bodies to burn
fat for energy.

So, if you plan to start a low
carb diet in the future, do not be
deterred by critics who claim
you cannot be successful after the
initial period of carbohydrate reserve
loss. This is simply untrue.

Benji Paras runs http://www.list-of-low-carb-food.com, specializing in the benefits of the low-carb lifestyle. The site contains a treasure trove of information for losing weight, and includes a list of low carb foods along with informative articles and the latest low-carb headlines.

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