Only leave a message if you can answer this question. Please don't start rambling on about how cutting out carbs are not good for you! Thanks in advance.
A) If you cut all carbs out of your diet for a couple of weeks (assuming you have got some weight to lose) you will lose weight. It is one of the most effective ways of losing weight.
I research obesity and there is an ongoing debate about whether all calories are the same and I (along with Kekwick & Pawan, Atkins and many others) firmly believe that cutting carbs has more impact than cutting calories. (I just had to observe my brother develop diabetes aged 15 and he lost 20lbs in 10 days simply because he no longer produced any insulin). The only foods that make your body produce insulin are carbs - hence why cutting carbs can have such a dramatic effect.
To have maximum impact you probably want to do the first stage of Atkins, in effect. This allows no more than 20g of carbs each day so this would allow you a small portion of green salad or green vegetables with each of your 2 main meals and NO other carbs. No fruit, rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, coloured vegetables etc.
How will you feel? Possibly not great! Bad breath and constipation are the 2 most commonly reported symptoms. You may well (not certain) suffer low energy in the short term, as the body finds it easier to get energy from carbs, so your body will have quite a shock and may struggle to make energy in the first few days. Some people, however, report feeling quite bright and clear headed (after all - you are also avoiding all processed foods and sugar and other stuff that you are much better off without). So it really varies per person - you could always try it?!
How much you will lose will depend on how much you have to lose. If you are just 7lbs above your natural weight (your natural weight is likely to be somewhere around 20-21 BMI most likely), you will probably lose this in 2 weeks. If you have 100lbs to lose, you could lose 10-20lbs.
The first weight lost in a diet like this is water. This is because the body will raid its store of glycogen the minute you deny it carbs and every gram of glycogen is accompanied by 3-4g of water - so you will lose a few pounds in the first couple of days.
The key challenge will be - can you stick to this? If you can, you will lose weight.
Hope this helps
All the best - Zoe Harcombe
Zoe Harcombe: The Harcombe Diet
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2 comments:
It sounds like ur trying to sell the atkins diet I'm confused because I really don't want to do the atkin diet I was looking forward to starting ur diet tomorrow almost excited thought this might be the one now am not so sure x
Hello Zoe,
Having just got to the end of Phase 1 I thought I'd drop you a quick note. I'm going to do Phase 1 again rather than move on, because I only had the extract from She magazine and not really enough information about the diet. I did cheat and ate Willie's cacao - maybe you know of it ? - when the cravings hit, and I did have milk (semi skimed) in tea. I found a cup of decaf Earl grey with milk was a comfort when the cravings were strongest after lunch and through the afternoon. I have certainly lost weight though it's not what I would call dramatic, so it's another five days for me !
I don't mind the restrictions but I did find the endless cooking, shopping and prep just too boring and now I have the book, I can find other meal options that will work better for me.
I do wonder though why you can't have semi skimmed milk in Phase 1 as it's barely a carb or a fat ? Will it really make a dramatic difference to my weight loss if I cut that out too ?
Overall I never felt hungry, but was so bored with the taste of the food and really struggled with the cravings in days 1 and 2. The worst thing of all is that I really can't sleep well - still now, on the 5th day. A lack of sleep is far more likely to send me to the biscuit tin than anything else and I wondered what advice you had for that ? I noticed on the evenings when I had a carb meal I did sleep better - when I had a fat meal I didn't feel hungry but I could not settle.
All advice much appreciated (even more so before I begin a second round of Phase 1 tomorrow) !
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