Low-Fat Theory

[reneewl123]

I have two questions:

1. If I eat a low-fat atkins (by the book, otherwise...i.e. fish and chicken), will I still lose weight or is there something magic about fat.

2. If I understand correctly, the theory of the diet, as per the book, is that the body burns carbs first and then fat, so by eliminating carbs, it goes straight to the fat stores and burns there. So, I'm thinking that, if you eat a lot of fat, it will burn that before stored fat. So carbs->dietary fat->stored fat. But, if you do low-fat, too, with little dietary fat, the stored fat goes faster.

Please don't attack...I'm trying to work this theory out according to his principles. Any counter-arguments? I've lost 7 pounds in 14 days with relatively high fat, but I may have as much as 150 pounds to lose, so I think I could have lost more.

Cheers,
Renee

[theredhead]

I went to DANDR and found this statement:

"I cannot stress strongly enough that trying to do a low-fat version of Atkins will interfere with fat burning and derail your weight loss."

And this statement: "Don't make the common mistake of eating less fat to get into ketosis; the opposite is actually true."

And this: "Fat is the only subtance that won't have an impact on your blood sugar. It also provides essential fatty acids you can't get from protein or carbohydrates. Contrary to much of what you may have heard, fat can be good for you!"

So, enjoy your dietary fat! It helps keep you feeling satiated and will help you lose the weight!

[spazzyhilo]

actually the more fat one eats, the more fat one tends to lose. When your body goings into a fat burning metabolism - it burns ALL fat new and old

[tabekat]

Who attacks? The monitors are here to keep us on the right path so that we can find success.

There is something magic about fat. it gives your body a clear signal that you aren't starving and therefore it is safe to release old fat stores. it transmits a level of satisfaction to your mouth and therefore to your brain that helps reduce cravings and prevent binging. also the body can use it in many miraculous ways - everything from providing energy to lubricating the cells and giving us moister skin.

fat isn't the enemy - it is our friend.

Fat satiates the appetite. Far stops carbohydrate craving. And fat, in the absence of carbohydrate, accelerates the burning of stored fat. The wise dieter can use fat to his advantage.

Dr Atkins

[shrinkdieter]

All right, I'm going to go on a big ramble here, and since I know this is a by-the-book DANDR forum, I warn you I may say some controversial things here, so please forgive me up front.

*****

Personally I think the real key to Atkins success is simply training oneself to eat less calories over a typical day. I don't believe in Dr. Atkins' stuff about carbohydrate addiction, or any addiction (as a disease that is... I know that's controversial, but I'm a psychologist and I've had a long time to form this opinion).

From the literature I've seen, a low-fat diet works as well as a low-carb diet works... but people have different metabolisms and different tastes so its hard to say which one is better overall. Its probably rather individual. Probably the most straightforward approach to dieting is to limit portion sizes, but who has the self-discipline for that? I personally buy the theory that Atkins works because you're essentially cutting out an entire group of foods initially, then limiting them (in some cases, severely) over the long term. Pretty simple concept really, and it doesn't require me believing in ersatz theories about switching the bodies metabolism to a magical fat-burning mode, etc.

Needless to say, I don't think I buy all the thinking Atkins packed into his book- the man was a practioner, not a researcher. I've been reading a LOT over the past couple weeks, and not just the DANDR book. However, I will say there's something to be said for this notion of stabilizing insulin swings... for example, when I was doing my chocolate-bar-in-the-evening-and-then-skip-breakfast-the-next-morning habit, I *know* I was setting myself up for big calorie (and carb) binges come the next meal, with hugely distended portion sizes. My appetite was all screwed up.

Whats nice about Atkins is the structure - I'm required to drink eight glasses of water, I *have* to eat breakfast every morning (something I used to skip all the time, I'm afraid), and the initial induction phase and slow ramp-up in carb intake in OWL is designed to minimize insulin swings and keep your portion sizes of insulin-surge-inducing carbohydrate tightly controlled... which controls your appetite, I've already found!

Anyways, just a ramble. I don't think I'm going to be sleeping with the DANDR book under my pillow, but I do think I'm on the road to much better eating habits, which is what I was looking for.

[spazzyhilo]

actually atkins and portion control somewhat go hand in hand.

The burning of fats causes us to get full quicker, so therefore we dont NEED to eat as much. Atkins wants us to eat when we are hungry - but dont go more than 6 waking hours without eating.

So essentially our body does portion control for us since we dont even want as much food as we did before atkins - or at least thats how it worked in my case.

[shrinkdieter]

You may have a point, Spazzy. I also think the thing about fat signaling your body that its not in starvation mode makes some sense as well... restricting your body of its intake of fats might just make your body scream to itself, "hey, I'm starving! Better shovel the calories I'm taking on into fat storage!" As opposed to, "Oh, good, I'm eating lots of fat, no need to be in storage mode."

I don't know if that's true, but it makes sense. Again, I think the point about portion control (and logically, caloric restriction) is why Atkins works... probably most of us beforehand were eating meat, cheese, and fatty food prior to the Atkins diet (at least I was). The problem was I was also porking out on a lot of carb-containing food as well (e.g., french fries and buns with my burgers, chips, candy, etc). Cut out the carbs, leave everything else, and you've got weight loss.

I'm still trying to figure this out. I don't think any one person has all the answers (and that includes Dr. Atkins), but I think this has been an interesting ride so far. ensive

[ttdriver]

When I did low-fat diets, I was always hungry. Then I discovered why.
Processed low-fat/fat-free foods are stripped of their fat content and sugars and starches are added. Well, duh .. sugar/starch makes you hungry (with the rise and subsequent crash of your blood sugar), resulting in increased appetite and hunger. I never lost an ounce, in fact, I was moody, cranky and bigger than ever. (hungry people are seldom content and happy...) I had high triglycerides/cholesterol when I ate lowfat.

Then entered Atkins. I was skeptical when I read that I could eat fat and lose weight .. Gave it 2 weeks. That was nearly 4 years and 38 pounds ago. I eat less because what I eat now FILLS me and satisfies my appetite. My cholesterol ratio is 1.12 after nearly 4 years following this woe. I *do* believe in what Dr. Atkins wrote because it defintely works.

Betty

[2big4mysize]

okay 2Big brain leaking alert for all those who don't want to see the technical stuff I'll dummy it down but in order to understand why fats need to be consumed as fuel you have to understand how the human body works.

First as Dr Atkins said in the q and A of chapter 11 any eating plan where uyout toal cals in are less then thetotal a,ount of cals you burn up will result in weight loss.


there are many low carb low fat plans out there f you want to do one of those SOuth Beach, Protein power, Stillman, etc so do some research and select the one you want to follow if you don't want to follow Atkins

It takes more calories to metabolize fats from mouth to energy thenit does carbohydrates on just the standard USDA plan of 200 cals and 60% carbs you would lose 15 pounds in a yr if you just changed the ratio to the Atkins ratio 65% fats 30% protein and 5% carbs eating the exact same number of cals and doing the exact same amount of exercise or no exercise.

Fats when they reach the small intestin connection with the stomach during digestion cause the release of a chemical the slows down the stomach emptying allowing us to feel fuller longer.

The breakdown of fats either dietaty or body storage uses a hormone called glycagon. This hormone is produced in a negative feedback loop with insulin and is in responce to blood sugar (that whould be glucose levels) levels. Carbohydrates and proteins both use the insulin hormone so if you low fat low carb your Atkins then you are high proteining eating and well with the insulin already circulating your live will convert that brokendown protein amino acids to sugar thus keeping your insulin levels high in response. While insulin is running loose in the blood stream fat molecules from the diet are being stored in the fat cells and can't come out to be burned up :yikes so you delay your fat burning until the diestary proteins have been used up.

Dr Atkins always in all 3 copies of his book quotes from a study done by 2 famous British obesety Doctors about a study they did on patiens give 3 different diests one all carbs one all proteins and one all fats 1000 cals each. All patients lost weight but the fat diet folk lost the most and almost 1/3 more total pounds then the protein folk did so eating high protein while it will result in weight loss will be slower then high fat eating plans. When the cals were returned to normal amount the carb eaters stopped losing but the fat eaters continued losing anf that back in the 60s was the bases for Dr Atkins creation of his plan makeingthat high fat diet out of real foods and taste good.

Next because we are metabolising more fat in the beta and alpha oxidation sites then we can finsh the process in the aerobic stage we are creating lots and lots of ketones as a by product which can be peed out, pooped out or breathed out too giving us a "free loss of fat too If you don't have excess ketones then you don't get that free expelling of fat cals.

On side effect of ketosis is appetite suppression too which you will not get when you have insulin fuel sources as they will allow blood sugar ups and downs which will trigger appetite.

Atkins is about portion control through appetite control through controlled carbohydrate eating. Dr Atkins beleived we wouldcontrol the amount of fats and proteins we ate feeding just our hunger thus controlling our total caloric intake if he controlled the amount and type of carbd we were exposed to. He allows us the choice of picking the carbohydrate foods from his low glycemic lists giving us some freedonm to taylor our Atkins WOE to fit our food tastes and our metabolism. He stresses in DANDR and in both the OWL and Premaintenance phases the total amount of carbohydrates each of us can tolerate as a part of our WOE while losing will be up to our metabolism from our genetics AND our willingness to work as in exercise to burn off the cals eatten and control the blood sugar levels. those who do the exercise program part vigorously can consume more carbs them those who don't.

SO if you want to speed up your weight loss you will do the Atkins plan as written with your fats high 60-65% your protein moderate 30% and your carbs controllled according to your metabolism limits.

Happy low carbing.

[not2late]

First off welcome to the forum.

Secondly, congrats on your 7 pound weight loss. Check the Metabolic Resistance Chart in Chapter 13 and you'll see you are of moderate to little metabolic resistance to weight loss (that's a good thing). You also lost between 5-10% of the weight you need to lose, so you are right on target there too.

You can eat the "lean" meats like chicken, fish, and some cuts of pork (yeah, today's pork are bred to be 30-40% leaner than they were 10 years ago, so some of pork cuts are considered "lean"). However, you should add fat back into your diet.

Atkins is a high fat/low carb diet. The dietary fat actually helps keep you feeling "full" longer because it takes longer to digest than carbs or protein. Coupled by the natural appetite suppressant power of ketosis/lipolysis you'll have a really powerful weight loss aid.

Actually your body will use the following energy sources up in this order:
alcohol, carbs(glucose), protein, then fat. Fat has the most energy of all the things listed (9 calories per gram), but it also takes a bit of the body's energy to break it down into a usable fuel. So that's the last thing to go.

See if your library has a copy of Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Mary Enig, PhD. Dr. Enig is one of the world's leading researchers on fat and its effect on the human body. She explains the dietary fat and weight loss thing alittle better than Dr. Atkins did.