Low-Carb Diets Work Better in Short Term - Reports

Reuters, via Yahoo ^ | 5.17.2004

[KnutCase]

I enjoy a sardine, onion and sliced whole jalapena sandwich for lunch. In place of butter I spread refried beans on the whole wheat bread. I don't get as many dates as I used to, but the quality is better

[depenzz]

I started the Atkins diet in June of 2003 and lost 27 pounds over the summer. I am maintaining now and am happy. Atkins is an easy , healthy life.

I did abuse it at first, I was going through cheese like there was no tomorrow. Same with bacon and eggs. After 6 months I had blood work done and my cholesterol was 300 with a ratio of 6.98 (between LDL and HDL). My doctor gave me a months supply of Lipitor and told me to stop all red meats and eggs. I refuse to take the Lipitor and in 9 weeks time I reduced my cholesterol by 102 points to 198 and my ratio is 4.71. I intend on trying to get my ratio to around 3. My triglycerides are 59 and everything else is fine.

I have only one problem, now my doctor isn't very friendly, we use to be on a good friendly basis but he chooses to be different, evidently he doesn't like the idea of me correcting my problem on my own.

[Joshua]

"A year later, both groups had lost about the same amount of weight -- 11 to 19 pounds for the low-carb group and 7 to 19 pounds for the low-fat group. "

This report is a crock. I lost that much weight in 2 weeks on South Beach.I am now down 45 pounds in 4 months.
My cholesterol is down 70 points and my triglycerides down 139 points. The Dr. took me off the cholesterol lowering medication, something I could never achieve by watching fat intake.

It sounds like this group went from eating 200 grams of carbs a day to 180 grams and calling it "low Carb" dieting.

[RosieCotton]

Just curious...when you say adding carbs made it difficult, do you mean that you had cravings again, or that you think that's what stopped your weight loss?

I'm expecting to have some plateaus, especially as I get closer to goal (I'm not really that far off anyway...), but so far I've been lucky...averaging 1-2 pounds a week. I haven't added back all that many carbs yet...mostly oatmeal and fruit and a very occasional piece of whole grain bread...so I'm wondering how that will go.

[OldFriend]

The weight loss seems to have stopped. I added more time on the treadmill and I suspect that it's counterproductive. It lowers my blood sugar and then I'm starving. Can't seem to find the perfect balance of time on the treadmill and not being so hungry afterwards.

Only have about five more pounds to lose so I guess that's the hardest part. Every now and then I go back to the first two weeks of the diet and it seems to help but then.....