Query protein V carbs - great results!

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling to loose 30 pounds and back in July changed my eating habits completely..

I used to eat mainly carb's - salad, fruit, veg, pasta, rice and very little meat / protein (80/20).  I exercised every day 30-50 min's but my wieght just wasn't shifting.

I now eat mainly protein - chicken, turkey, fish, no red meat and small amounts of veg. (70/30)

I started the 'new' routine in July and have only 13 pounds left to loose!!  YEP the pounds have just fallen off. My exercise is exactly the same, my calories are near enough the same, but I am consistently loosing 2 pounds per week..

No idea why... If anyone has an answer that woud be great... I think I might just be intollerant to high carb intake...don't know...

Anyway I wante dto share and to ask..I may get an answer and this may help someone else...

Hope to hear from you..

Carbohydrate is our main source of short-term energy and we store that in the body as glycogen.  Each ounce of glycogen is attached to 3oz of fluid.  So running down the glycogen stores by eating very few carbohydrates accounts for some of the loss.   Eating excessive amounts of carbohydrates (and 80% was excessive) means your body was producing excessive amounts of insulin rather than beting 'intolerant' especially.  Since insulin acts as a 'gatekeeper' on the fat stores this could have been hampering your ability to burn the fat efficiently.   Protein and fat are very filling and take a long time to digest.  This means they act as appetite suppressants and this makes living on reduced calories a little easier.

I would suggest that if your carbohydrate intake had come down to 50% you may have seen similar results.   Make sure you're getting enough fibre in your diet by increasing your intake of vegetables and reintroducing small amounts of wholegrains.   'Thin' is one thing but 'healthy' has other variables.

Good luck

Um... 0% fat?

Gi-Jane makes some excellent suggestions in regards to carbohydrates.  You may want to also look into the thermic effect of food and how protein is digested.  The thermic effect is the incremental energy requirement above your resting metabolic rate used due to the cost of digestion, absorption, and disposal of ingested food.

In a nutshell, it's the amount of calories it takes your body to break down your food.  Fats take only about 3% of it's calories to break down, while protein takes nearly 30% to break down.  

Here are a couple good links to take a look at.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20060905/prote in-triggers-weight-loss-hormone

http://www.burnthefat.com/negative_calorie_fo od.html

http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/2008/02/thermi c-effect-food-protein/

I get fewer carbs than the standard diet as it is, and almost all of them are 'healthy' carbs - fiber, whole grain, fruits, veggies.  I have strongly considered reducing their content even further in my diet and eating more protein, especially as it is a big struggle for me to get enough protein in my diet.

However, I'm not a big fan of meat.  :/  I eat it, but I don't really enjoy eating meat, for the most part.  If you have any suggestions for me please let me know!

Do be careful.  A diet with no red meat and very little vegetables is very low in iron.  (Also some shellfish are good sources of iron.  Calorie Counter is good at keeping track of iron.)

Also, be aware that a diet that is *too* high in protein can cause you some liver issues.  When your body breaks down protein for energy (it can't get all your daily energy from your fat stores, more's the pity), it ends up with nitrogen-containing compounds that your liver has to process and send to the kidneys for excretion.  Your liver does this just fine most of the time but it can be overwhelmed.