Low Carb Dieting

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I have recently started and finished a well known low carb dite that seems to be sweeping the world. I lost 7 kgs in 3 weeks. All very well but...

At the beginning of the 3rd week having religiously stuck to the diet I started to get pains in my joints and my lymph glands swelled. The diet had supressed my apetite and I started to get sick. I was away on a trip and had to call a doctor out. I finally started to come out of Ketosis (where the body lives off your body fat) I went to my doc on arrival back home. The doc told me she had already hospitalized 3 people and signed another off with gout.

Ironically I contacted the company 3 times and they will not reply to my questions about this diet. The diet works but can have bad side effects.

I guess the best way to loose weight is not eat to much crap and take a little exercise. I was diagnosed with muscle breakdown.... all in 3 weeks.

Food for thought so to speak !!!

[reynoldsno1]

not eat to much crap and take a little exercise
...that should read eat little crap and take much exercise... it works, though you will find your "weight" loss very slow to start with as you build muscle...
Avoid getting into a competition with the scales - what most people want to do is change their shape.

[TheStormyPetrel]

I'm not a medico, just Ms Average.

I wanted to trim a bit, and used the lo carb diet to trim off about 5kg over a couple of weeks, then eased back into my usual diet, low fat with some carbs. I tried it because my usual low fat eating style was not providing weight loss, it was just allowing me to maintain my weight.

I have not re-gained the weight, even after several months. I'm thinking of going for another short-term push again soon, just to trim off a bit more pre Summer. For me, doing it in short bursts has been effective without negative side-effects.

Re exercise, I have gone to the gym right throughout the above changes - not as a fanatic, just for maintaining fitness and tone.

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The way the doctor described this diet was that if you are not too regimented with it, it is ok. I think a couple of weeks is about right. She admitted 3 people into hospital who had similar symptoms as I did, who were on the same diet. Fairly extreme from where i am sitting. It does work with ref to weight loss but seems to be fairly detrimental to health.

Ref the excercise well I guess that is whatever works for the individual. They say drinking red wine and eating garlic is good for you. May have to live in France !! Mind you all should be ok providing I have not had an MMR jab.

Question is what is good for you nowadays and what isnt. !!

[Re-Heat]

The low carb diet is only any use for people who are currently eating too many carbs. Discuss.

Carbs are the immediate source of energy that muscles use - real long-term weight loss is generally associated with a change to a healthy lifestyle, exercise and consumption of calories required for the level of activity you follow.

Moderation with diets, not fanaticism produces the correct results!

[Northern Chique]

Re Heat hit the nail on the head with the fact the diet is aimed at folks with highcarb intake. The other factor to note is most weightloss programs seem to indicate that an average of 1 to 1 1/2kg weight loss per week is about healthy in conjunction with an appropriate diet and exercise regime.

There has been one or two fatalities in Australia noted that I know of as a result of using this Low Carb diet and the person not recognising when something was seriously wrong. I believe in one case that there was a serious underlying medical condition that the person was unaware of and this contributed to the subsequent complications leading to death.

A close friend of mine took it to an extreme and also compounded the result by dosing heavily on vitamin tablets for this that and the other. The result was a nasty seizure and a fast trip to hospital. She has since learned that balance is paramount and she works on body scultping rather than flat out weight loss. Pilates and swimming work well for her in that regard.

With her experience and a few others of note, so far Ive worked out that a nutritionist and an exercise physiologist will probably give you a better overview of your dietary needs and goals without resorting to damaging bodies...

[Airbus Girl]

I did a detox diet and it worked for me and also for my other half.
You need to start it when on days off though.
First day, only drink water, etc.
Second day liquids only, soups, loads of water.
Third day introduce other foods. You can eat fruit, veg, soup, fish, beans, pulses.
No wheat ingredients, so no bread, pasta, rice, etc.
I did it for a week and lost 1/2 a stone, my other half did it for 2 weeks and lost nearly a stone.
Both felt fine after the third day. You do need to drink loads of water throughout.