THE MOST AMAZING DIET EVER!

Don’t you feel the term ‘A-MAZ-ING’ is just too overused? I certainly do.

It’s so commonly used that when I hear it uttered in a sentence I immediately switch off knowing full well that what I’m going to hear won’t be amazing at all. It may be mildly surprising, or even moderately amusing but almost certainly not A-MAZ-ING!

And this brings me to the actual point of my article, recently a new client told me she had begun the most AMAZING diet ever and had literally lost 4lbs overnight. Obviously, I was intrigued, so just like a determined metal detectorist I dug a little deeper. It turns out she had literally cut out all carbohydrates from her diet. And as you’ve probably guessed from the tenant of my article so far, this initial weight loss was not AMAZING at all; and let me explain why...

LOSE FAT, NOT WATER

When trying to lose weight, ideally, what you really want to do is change the composition of your body. You want to lose body fat, and the way you do this is by creating a calorie deficit. This can be done by eating less (consuming less calories) or by burning more calories (increasing your activity levels) or ideally, by a combination of the two. (As I've written about in more depth here The Strictly Come Dancing Approach To Weight Loss).

TIME FOR ME TO GET ALL RACHEL RILEY ON YOU...   

And by that I don't mean that I'm going on Strictly, leaving my spouse and shacking up with an attractive Russian dance partner, I mean it's time for some maths... 

If we accept the commonly held notion that 1lb of fat is the equivalent to 3500 calories, 4lbs of fat would equal 14000 calories (4 x 3500 = 14000).

Now in the case of my client, for her to have lost 4lbs of FAT overnight it would have meant her somehow creating a deficit of 14000 calories. Which is near impossible when you consider that 14000 calories is the equivalent of 1 weeks’ worth of calories for the average women (the NHS recommends the average women should consume 2000 calories per day).

I’m sure you’ll agree this isn’t likely to happen.

SO WHERE IS THE WEIGHT LOSS COMING FROM IF IT’S NOT FROM FAT?

The likely answer is water. When you eat carbohydrate, it is stored in your body with water (1 gram of carbohydrate can store 3-4grams of water). Once you stop eating carbohydrates and your body uses all of the carbohydrate that it has stored, the water which was stored with it simply gets excreted from the body, thus giving dramatic weight loss results!

To keep things simple, think of water's relationship with carbohydrate in the same way as a 'hangers on' relationship is with a famous person: When a person is famous there are plenty of 'hangers on' around clinging to that fame. When there is carbohydrate in the body there is plenty water hanging around clinging onto to that too. When the carbs get used up and go, so does the water. When the famous person has a fall from grace and the fame goes, so do the hangers on! 

So, although this initial weight loss looks A-MAZ-ING on the scales, it does nothing for your fat loss. You are simply LOSING WATER, NOT FAT!

HEY PRESTO THE WEIGHT RETURNS!

In my experience, most people find it difficult to stick to a no, or very low carbohydrate diet for long. So, once they eat carbs again the water comes back and hey presto so does the weight!

LOW OR NO CARBOHYDRATE DIETS ARE A CON THEN?

No, low or no carbohydrate diets can, and do work for people who can sustain them beyond the initial few days of water loss and into the phase where the body uses fat and even protein to provide energy. 

However, whether the weight loss comes about because the diet controls the body's insulin levels better, or simply because it's restrictive nature limits the types of foods which most people generally overeat is open to debate. 

What is not open to debate is that, for many people, a low or no carbohydrate diet proves very difficult to sustain; and that the dramatic, initial weight loss is due to water loss not fat loss!

IN CONCLUSION...

Low or no carb diets can work for some people (as do many other types of diet) provided they can stick with it. However, such diets do not come without their pro's and con's and I urge you to do further research as to what these are and how they could possibly effect you.

But if you do opt to go for such a diet please don't fall into the trap that many ill-informed people fall into:

In a bid to lose weight, they cut their carbs drastically. For the first few days they are really impressed with their weight loss (believing it to be fat loss, not water loss). As the days progress and the weight loss slows (as a result of the final remnants of carbohydrate and its associated water leaving the body) their compulsion to chomp on some carbs is higher than the wage demands of your average Premier League footballer. They give in, and wolf down lots of bread, pasta, potatoes, in fact they eat more or less anything beige (watch out Essex boys, you'd better hide those beige, tailored chino shorts that your so fond of or they'll have them too!). At this point, as the carbs are reintroduced to the diet, the water comes back and so does the weight.

Depressed at this, they revert to their old eating habits (pre, the low carb diet) until eventually, some point in the future, they decide to lose some weight again. Surprise, surprise they opt to go on a low or no carb diet again (which they are unable to stick to) and so the cycle continues!

Thanks for reading,

Matt

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