To think going low carb when a healthy weight CAN make you gain

[BloomsburyNook]

I've always been around 8st at 5'4.
I eat well, usually, but two yrs ago decided to go low carb to see if it helped my IBS. Wasn't thinking about weight, but had heard it could help with bloat, trapped wind, etc. I did this for one year.
A typical days eating on low carb for me was:

Breakfast - two scrambled eggs.
Lunch - Tuna or mackerel salad.
Dinner - Roast lean chicken with mediterranean veg, homemade sauce with passato and a dash of cream. Or grilled seabass with low carb veggies. Or omelette with asparagus, mushroom, chicken and so on.
Supper - Some berries, or small amount of cheese and ham with handful of nuts.
Drinks - water, tea, coffee, semi skimmed milk. Occasional whiskey with ice or gin and tonic.

When not on low carb:

Breakfast - egg, cream cheese and avocado on ryvita or toast.
Lunch - Tuna or mackerel salad in a small flatbread.
Dinner - Roast lean chicken and mediterranean veg with wholewheat spaghetti. Or Salmon with potatoes and broccoli. Or Homemade pizza with healthy toppings. Or Tuna salad toasties with sourdough.
Supper - Cream cheese, avocado and olives on crackers. Or hot chocolate.
Drinks - water, tea, coffee, semi skimmed milk. Occasional whiskey with ice or gin and tonic (no change with drinks).

In that year of low carb my weight shot up by 9lbs. My activity levels were similar and I did not pig out on massive fry ups! After returning to my original way of eating the weight slowly fell back off. I was bemused. The IBS experiment failed (it seems mine is stress related rather than food) and my energy levels shot back up after quitting it.

I wondered if low carb works better for people who may be starting at a heavier weight? My skin and hair were shit too, i was putting it down to hormones (late forties) but those also improved when I stopped low carbing.
I think we are all so very different, and how we eat is incredibly personal, but for me it seems not to have had any particular positives.

My next door neighbour (older lady) has diabetes and has had great success with low carb - although the NHS told her to eat weetabix and low fat yogurts 🤔
With such confusing/conflicting advice and news about our diets it isn't surprising a few of us are nonplussed. Perhaps my body needs a certain amount of carbs to work well. I don't know.
Just wondered if anyone else had experienced this? When I have looked online or spoke with friends about low carbing there are mixed results. Some say it is only supposed to be short term to shed excess pounds, although some keep happily with it to control many issues, weight included. Personally, my IBS was worse, so a non brainer for me to revert back, i suppose.

Gosh that is so long, sorry

I'm obese. Ditching most carbs has an impact now, but didn't so much when I was a normal weight.

Whatever diet I do at any size though, my body rejects my efforts and makes me quite unwell, I grow dark facial hair and have awful headaches and IBS.

So nothing I say probably helps anyone.

I've tried low carb and it didn't work for me at all. It wasn't so much for weight loss for me either; just for health reasons and just found myself with no energy. I don't eat red meat so maybe it was just too much.
I'm 5'8 and size 10. I don't know my weight as I go off how clothes fit but I have felt better with carbs in my diet
I tend to ignore advice online/tv and go off what my body needs.

Thermodynamics still applies. You were consuming more calories than you were expending.

ALL diets, when followed correctly, tend to be more effective in more overweight people. It's not unique to low carb. There are multiple reasons for this and it depends on the person, but it is generally because a diet is a more drastic caloric change for someone who is overweight (i.e. the reason they are overweight in the first place) and in some cases, their BMR is higher due to their body weight.

Thermodynamics still applies. You were consuming more calories than you were expending

this is what I came to say.

It's possible!
I never ate sugary or sweet carbs often anyway, so they're irrelevant, but i didnt calorie count so will never know.
I think you are right about all diets - but i do think many people of normal or slightly overweight ranges might think going low carb will loose a few. It's probably a mixed bag.

I’m low carb and normal weight now and still losing which I don’t want so upping the calories and I track daily. So I know what I’m eating

I’m now at 2100 calories a day and hopefully won’t need anymore than that

There's an awful lot of pseudoscience bandied around when it comes to low carbing, but at the end of the day, a calorie is a calorie. To lose weight effectively, a person needs to consume fewer than they burn.

Low carbing tends to have benefits in that many people find the nutritional density of the foods satisfying, so it is easier to remain in a caloric deficit. But it still functions on the dieter consuming fewer calories than they expend.

Yes, it was a delicious way to eat! I did miss my homemade flatbreads though, and the odd bit of sourdough. I think it is easy enough nowadays to find decent, fresh bread without additives and sugar, not very cheap though.

I still have what i call 'sausage night' every saturday evening, just now with a bot of toast

I think it is easier if you like eating meat very regularly, and i would have struggled as a vegetarian. It's nice to cut it down a bit now. However, DH eats meat every day and is a natural low carber. I think we tend to go with what feels best once weight it where we want it.

To lose weight I have to eat under 1000 calories a day or I just don't.

@Anxiernie Do you stay active? Just that seems like not enough calories.

I have to do low carbing because I can’t eat gluten and I find it quite hard as I feel hungry and end up going for sugary stuff to fill me up, which results in weight gain, not loss.

I think if you’re not big on protein it’s something that’s going to be hard to stick with, probably not a problem if you quite like meat , etc

I'm the same. My BMR is very, very low due to metabolic issues which are only partially controlled with medication.

I had terrific luck with low carb the first time I wanted to lose a significant amount of weight and I found it very satisfying. Low carb diets are also incredibly useful for masking blood sugar issues, which is why they are recommended for insulin resistance and pre-diabetes. Since those things can prevent a person from losing weight if they're not being addressed with medication, it's another reason LC sees the success it does.

Do you stay active? Just that seems like not enough calories.

No. Thankfully I'm only slightly overweight now.

It's because as a teen I had anorexia and I've always gone through phases of restriction and then binging as an adult.

I've just messed my metabolism up. My recommended BMR from all the online calculators is 1400 and even that it too high for me to lose weight.

That is a lot to eat on a low carb diet. Part of how it works is that fat and protein are much more filling so you need less food. You really shouldn’t need all those meals on a low carb diet. But also, the literature is very clear that it’s not a good - or even safe - diet for everyone. At 8 stone, I think it’s probably not a good choice. Your body will need carbs.

@Anyonebut try including a bit more fat, rather than sugary things, to help you feel full. Full fat dairy is a good way to do that, or just use a bit more oil in cooking, or have a few nuts.

But we are all so different, many people cant eat one meal per day, some eat small portions, some skip breakfast, etc.. If i eat large portions and a lot of protein/fat all at once I get really bad IBS. We just have to see what works for us really.

I do much better with small meals of mixed nutrients.

And after eating the foods that contain carbs i never feel hungry or want more. I appreciate that many people do, though. It feels more satiating than when I was low carb. It is all a bit of a mystery!

I have no idea how people who have to give up dairy, meat, carbs and sugar (all together) get on. If you can pull that off, you are a champion! I think i'd faint if I couldn't have my mid morning cup of tea with milk. I am also a bit scared of osteoporosis.

I'm not sure what you eat if you give up dairy, meat, carbs and sugar! 😂

I think most people would be down the chippy by about day 4 of that diet.

You actually don’t need carbs but we do crave them because of the western diet we have now.

im diabetic type 2 and I eat low carb as in under 100g per day. I eat 4 meals a day and eat 2100 most days or I lose weight as I lift weights 3 times a week.

those saying you can’t eat more than 1000 calories a day need to go to dietician as it’s not enough even if you’ve been bulimic or anorexic in the past as I was both in my teens to late 20s

The best diet is the one that you’re most likely to stick to long term. Overly restrictive diets can be impractical and difficult to commit to and can just end up with any weight loss being regained in the long term.

Less drastic changes (eg swapping out pasta/rice/bread etc for veg/salad 4-5 days a week; swapping wine/beer for gin/slimline etc) can be easier to stick to in the long term than cutting out all carbs or all sugar or all alcohol etc.

The diet industry makes millions out of peoples insecurities. Behind every fad diet there are books/products/apps etc to be sold.

And we all want to enjoy life a bit rather than life becoming a constant joyless treadmill of calorie counting and denial. It’s all about balance rather than bans in my opinion.

I always gain when I try it. I'm righting the middle of my healthy weight range, but sometimes have a go because people are so keen to tell me it's healthier, but I'm always hungry when low carbing and snack on cheese instead of fruit and nuts 😆

I think people sometimes get blindsided with low carb, and see it as a solution to everything - IBS, acne, depression, weight gain, world peace and other health issues. It simply isn't true for everyone at all.
But it is more often than not offered as the only way to reduce weight on MN.

I lost a lot of weight with Norovirus in 2014, but I wouldn't recommend it long term

Whether our body needs carbs is also a matter of opinion, and many experts disagree on this, so I doubt there is an ultimate answer. Mine, and many other people's bodies thrive well with moderate amounts of healthy carbs. And I am certain we are not deluded. There are certainly a LOT of snake oil merchants on youtube to back up any theory we might wish to be true.

Ultimately, we are all just different, and different things work for our bodies.

I also think we need to determine what a good carb is - most people in threads that shun carbs admit that prior to weightloss they couldn't stop at one slice of toast, or had to eat a full pack of biscuits. Many also admit to not knowing how to moderate them. It is possible to maintain or loose weight eating healthy carbs in small or moderate portions and enjoy 'all the things'.....

And remember, cheese is a processed food, just like a fresh organic loaf.
I saw a review on Ocado recently where the person complained that her yogurt product was 'man made'. I wanted to tell her that sausages, bacon and cream were too, and that along with cream they didn't actually fall off a tree or sprout from the soil ready made.

My homemade flatbreads contain less sugar than a greek yogurt.
My sourdough contains no sugar and wholegrain organic flour.
Those are a far cry from jam festooned donuts, McDonald's sugary burger buns and a family pack of Walkers crisps.

Personally I believe that what makes us feel best, and keeps us healthy is the only solution to eating well. And this is different for all of us, whether low carb, high fat or vegan. I always wonder, like with religion, why so many people wish to convert others to a fixed way of eating, almost like a cult....