protein diet question

Question
Melissa,
where do calories come into this equation?
because the Atkins book says you don't have to count them. Almost as if you could eat as much as you desire.
If someone is consuming this high fat protein diet, can you just ignore calories because the body is running completely on the fat?
It would seem that a body would gain weight at some point if it did nothing but consume high fat proteins.
Thanks

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Melissa, no the answer did not come thru. Here was my question again; Melissa, if I understand you correctly, these types of diets need to be high protein obviously but also tilting toward high fat since that is your new fuel?
It sounds like if you go low fat proteins, the body burns the proteins and then muscle?
do I have this right?
Thanks
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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Melissa, if I understand you correctly, these types of diets need to be high protein obviously but also tilting toward high fat since that is your new fuel?
It sounds like if you go low fat proteins, the body burns the proteins and then muscle?
do I have this right?
Thanks
Rich
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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Melissa, I have asked you questions about atkins type diets before but I had another one. I recently read that the majority of weight loss comes from loss of water and muscle tissue, not fat which is what you need to lose to keep the weight off. Is this really true?
I am considering going back to a high protein diet because I have to lose weight but I would rather not lose any muscle mass I have. Is there something I can do to prevent this? vitamins, ect?

Also, logic would say that on these high protein diets, you would be better off eating the lower fat proteins but in the Atkins book, I almost get the impression your better off with eating more fat. What exactly is the science involved here?

Thanks
-----Answer-----
Rich,
Muscle loss has a few different causes. The first is losing weight too quickly. Losing fat takes some time, and if you try to lose too quickly, your body just can't release fat fast enough and will turn to muscle. The second cause is not eating enough protein (not an issue on high protein diets). And the third is reduced exercise level. If you diet, but don't add to your exercise routine, then you've actually reduced your daily activity level-because you are not carrying around as much weight as you used to. Even losing ten pounds is enough to reduce how hard your body has to work to get out of a chair, walk around, and go through your daily activity.

And finally, for pure fat loss, you're better off eating a fairly high level of fat. You want your body to burn fat, right? Your body can seamlessly switch between burning fat you've eaten and burning body fat. It takes DAYS for your body to fully switch from burning carbohydrate to burning body fat (that's why Atkins, South Beach, etc, have a two week "break in" period-they're trying to get your body to make this difficult switch). Protein is in the middle... but remember, protein used for energy will be broken down into fat-like and carb-like components, so eating a really excessive amount of protein is like eating sugar. A good Atkins protein goal is 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you are a vegetarian or eating low-quality protein (any protein that's not whole dairy, meat, eggs, or soy is low quality-whey and casein protein powders are low quality) then you might need a little more.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the physiology of weight loss is very different from normal body physiology. The set of "rules" that apply normally (for example, eating saturated fat is bad for your heart) just doesn't apply during active weight loss (when the fat you eat is not being retained in your body).

And of course, everyone's metabolism is different, so when your body doesn't respond the way it should, learn from yourself. Especially when it comes to dieting, some people do well on lower fat, and some people do much better on high fat-it depends on your individual metabolism.

Happy dieting!
Melissa
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Rich,

Did you get an answer to this question? I answered it a while ago but it still shows as "Pending".

Melissa
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Rich,
To avoid losing muscle, yes, the diet needs to be high-protein. But "high protein" is a word that gets misused. For a person who doesn't exercise strenously and is not trying to lose weight, the dietary protein should be 1/4 gram of protein for every pound of ideal body weight. So a 5'10" man who weighs 166 pounds is at his ideal weight and needs to eat 166 divided by 4, or abou 42 grams of protein daily. If this same guy then gained 100 pounds of fat and weighed 266 lb, then he would still only need 42 grams of protein.
But when a person is exercising or trying to lose weight, the protein reccomendation doubles, so the hypothetical 5'10" 266 pound male on a diet needs about 84 grams of protein to avoid losing muscle mass. If this man follows a 2,000 calorie diet, then his high protein diet works out to 17% daily calories from protein. So, "high protein" means eating a higher level of protein than you would ordinarily need, but it does NOT mean that you're getting a significant proportion of calories from protein.
If you eat more protein than necessary, it will be broken down to amino acids. Each amino acid has a different chemical composition. Some amino acids resemble fat, and will be burned as fat, and others resemble glucose, and will be burned as glucose. So, if you're using protein not just to maintain muscle mass, but as part of your daily energy needs, then essentially, you're eating sugar, and you're getting all of the negative effects of eating simple carbs, including a spike in blood sugar and insulin. That's why fat makes up a much larger percentage of daily calories on a fat-burning diet. Fat can never be convered to sugar in your body-humans just don't have what it takes. Plus, once your body is in fat-burning mode (you get that way by getting your liver and pancreas to make a bunch of hormones that will tell the rest of your body what to do) your body switches seamlessly from burning dietary fat to burning stored fat. You can check if your body is ready to burn fat with diabetes urine test strips from the drugstore-diabetics use them to make sure that they are taking enough insulin.

Melissa

Answer
Rich,
Calories are critical. However, blood ketones are very powerful natural appetite suppressants, so IF the Atkins diet is done correctly and you are in ketosis (impossible to achieve without either a high fat diet or serious calorie restriction) then calorie intake is naturally reduced. In fact, scientific studies have shown that the reason overweight people lose so much weight in the first month of Atkins is that they tend to eat about 1,000 calories less than they usually would-without conciously trying to cut calories.
Melissa

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