Counting calories, exercising for hours every day and ignoring hunger are counterproductive. Your weight is also hormonally regulated - if you reduce your hunger and fat-storing hormones, you'll likely have an easier time losing weight.
It's still possible to lose weight on any diet - just eat fewer calories than you burn, right? The problem with this simplistic advice is that it ignores the elephant in the room: hunger. Most people don't like to "just eat less," as it may result in having to go hungry forever. Overweight people tend to eat fewer calories on low-carb, but you don't need to count them. People who lose weight burn an average of almost 500 extra calories per day on a low-carb maintenance diet compared to a high-carb or moderate-carb diet.
A low-carb diet can reduce your hunger, making it easier to eat less. Eating higher satiety foods may also help you accomplish your health and weight loss goals. Higher satiety eating can help you lose excess weight with minimal hunger. It is compatible with keto and low-carb eating patterns.
When on a low-carb or keto diet, you can trust your feelings of hunger and satiety again. Feel free to eat as many — or as few — as many times per day as you feel is right for you. If you're not feeling hungry, you probably don't need to eat yet. Some people eat three times a day and snack in between. There's some evidence that frequent snacking may not be wise when trying to lose weight. Low-carb diets and higher protein diets — at least 20% of daily calories — tend to make you feel more satiated.
Adding protein to your diet markedly reduces hunger and food intake, as well as the number of times you eat it (and how much you eat). An effective low-carb diet should be based primarily on whole food, e.g. meat, fish, vegetables, eggs, butter, olives, nuts etc. Avoid special "low-carb" products that are full of carbs. Creative marketers are doing all they can to fool you (and get your money).
Low-carb chocolate is usually full of a kind of sugar alcohol. If it is absorbed, it is likely to raise blood sugar and insulin levels. The remaining carbs end up in the colon, potentially causing gas and diarrhea. Some companies still try to sell it to you as a low-carb option. Don't buy "low-carb" versions of high carb stuff unless you are sure of the ingredients. Focus on eating good quality, minimally processed real food. Ideally, the food you buy shouldn't even have a list of ingredients (or it should be very short).
Snacking can be a problem on a keto or low-carb diet. Some things are easy to eat just because they're tasty and readily available. There are three common traps to watch out for that you might miss if you're not cutting out unnecessary snacking. Dairy products such as cream and cheese can cause overeating if you're not hungry. Another common culprit is loads of heavy cream in the coffee, many times per day. Salted nuts are harder to stop eating than unsalted nuts, so opt for a small bowl instead.
Don't eat if you're not hungry. This will save you both time and money, while speeding up your weight loss. Snacking may be necessary in order to control the hunger and craving that may arise during a diet high in sugar and starchy carbs. But it's usually unnecessary on a low-carb diet. You may want to lose fat, but the scale measures muscles, bone and internal organs as well. This is especially true if you're just coming off a long period of semi-starvation. It's best to quantify body composition as you lose weight, with a DEXA scan or hydrostatic weights.
Beer contains rapidly digested carbs that shut down fat burning. Large amounts of alcohol might slow weight loss, so moderation is still a good idea. Many people replace sugar with non-caloric sweeteners in the belief that this will reduce their calorie intake and cause weight loss. Studies have failed to show an obvious positive effect on weight loss by eating less sugar. Non-calorie sweeteners may increase appetite and maintain cravings for sweet food.
Chronic stress and inadequate sleep may increase levels of stress hormones such as cortisol in your body. This can cause increased hunger, resulting in overeating and weight gain. Sleep deprivation also has an adverse effect on self-discipline and makes it painfully easy to give in to temptation.
A low-carbohydrate diet generally makes it easier to eat just enough. High fat dairy products contain varying amounts of lactose (milk sugar) and lots of calories from fat — both of which could slow down weight loss when over-consumed. Remember that, gram for gram, fat has twice the calories of carbs or protein.
You must be logged in to post a comment.