To think too few people understand the role of insulin with regards to weight loss?

[Redterror]

So I am an advocate of low carb but I know plenty of people who have used slimming world, or weight watchers or any other diet to lose weight. I have seen though people being really negative regards low carb diets and I don't get it.

When you understand how your body deals with different nutrients it because clear that all diets need to lower insulin. How you do this is up to you but ultimately all weight loss diets do it.

When insulin is elevated then you can't burn much fat and instead rely on mostly burning sugar from your diet. If you want to burn mostly fat from your fat cells your insulin needs to be lowered.

People say eat less move more without understanding that for someone who is insulin resistant this is really hard. The body cells stop responding to insulin so stop taking up sugar from the blood. This effectively means the cells feel like they are 'starving' as they can't get enough sugar and this drives hunger signals. It also makes the person feel lethargic and lacking in energy, so exercise is harder.

You can reduce insulin levels by fasting, reducing carbs in the diet, reducing consumption of refined carbohydrates, cutting calories etc but the key is your insulin.

So how do WW and SW do it? I thought they both restricted certain foods and promoted higher consumption of others? But perhaps I’m wrong, I don’t know much about it.

@Redterror is this something you have studied ?

Because the people who shout the loudest “eat less, move more” and “I eat loads of carbs don’t cut out carbs” are the ones who are 8 stone soaking wet and have never battled a syndrome X disease.

and… because they ARE the “8 stone soaking wet” they’re adamant they’re right because they’re slim.

Both slimming world and weight watchers stop you from eating lots of cake, chocolate, pizza, crisps, bread, sweets, etc. These all elevate insulin.

Ww bread does not fill you up though.

Yes OP I agree with you, I've been reading the book "why we eat (too much)" and it's genuinely fascinating.

I've just finished the bit where the author is talking about insulin resistance and hunger hormones and it's mad.

The author makes the point that heart disease and obesity have been on the rise in the general population since the 70's, when the American Dietic Association (I think it's called), waged a war on fat (particularly saturated fat) claiming that fat makes you fat. Loads of "low fat" options popped up which contained lots of sugar, meant people were hungrier and a snacking culture was born. Constant grazing plus higher levels of sugar has led to cases of insulin resistance rising.

The author notes at one point that fat should be called I can't remember exactly but it was something like "energy" and sugar should be called fat as it's sugar that makes you fat.

It's a super interesting read and I've started to they and lower my sugar consumption, refined carbs and UPFs.

@ipreferthecat I haven't studied it as such read up on it. We know how insulin works.

One of the symptoms of type 1 diabetes is sudden unexplained weight loss. This happens because their pancreas no longer produces insulin. Without insulin sugar cannot enter cells. This means they start burning fat and protein causing weight loss. In addition they feel very tired because their cells can't access sugar.

We can debate the benefits of different diets but we know how insulin works and no one is arguing about it.

But different people respond to different carbs with different blood sugar spikes/crashes.
Low carb is not a long term strategy for most as it is a dull diet with little texture (nothing crunches and don't try and tell me celery does!). Low carb can hinder sleep also.

If it works for you, great, do it. But overall calorie is the boss. Eat less that you need. People want to complicate it or answer your prayers with this 'one simple trick' and it's lies

Your gut microbiome plays a HUGE part in the blood sugar response one has to a particular carb. As soon as people can map their gut microbes they may have an indication as to what foods (carbs) affect their blood sugar a lot and those that don't.

I put on weight in my early 40’s after a year of illness, I did slimming world and it dropped off!
I was back down to a comfortable 12 in 3 months.

Now in my 50’s I tried it again to drop a dress size………nothing!

I have now been low carb for some time and it works ,it’s also easy and very healthy, we eat loads of vegetables and the only bread we ever have is homemade sourdough.

I cannot go no carb, I think the “Atkin’s” type diets are dangerous but low carb with a Mediterranean slant is very doable.

Having done low carb myself, I agree with @ThisIsTrifficult that it can be a dull diet, especially when you don't have a lot of time to prepare and plan. However, I've personally found that my sleep is a lot better when i'm eating very few carbs and I don't get as lethargic.

Have covid at the mo and am craving carbs and meat. Should I listen to my craving. I don't normally eat processed food but right now it's all I want. Bizarre

@ThisIsTrifficult I don't get that at all. How is it dull?

I agree people do respond to different foods in different ways and yes our gut microbiome has a role too.

But my point is that you can't lose weight with elevated insulin. A diet has to reduce insulin so that you burn fat in your fat cells. In addition that if you are insulin resistant the eat less move more is much more difficult for you.

I would say listen to your body. If you're craving meat it could be that you're short on protein.

@Redterror I completely agree

You are right of course.

It’s not a marketers dream though as what on earth will they sell you? It would be the end of breakfast cereal for example 🙈

The info is out there for free on You Tube eg Jason Fung (aetiology of obesity etc)

For those who are around 9 stone and hover around up and down half a stone and don’t have a damaged metabolism it’s not that big of a deal and can probably be managed the old way but it is essential to understand the insulin sensitivity issue if you have a more serious or long standing weight situation.

The worst thing about overweight is the shame that is applied and self loathing that is suffered by those who are told to, but know that, for them eat less move more is not the answer. Including by the very overweight doctor who told me to just eat salad more often and the practice nurse who gave out overeaters anonymous leaflets but clearly couldn’t follow their own advice😂 (note couldn’t not didn’t because it really is couldn’t).

Thank god for Jason Fung et al.

I think low carb does work and I've lost weight using it when I was unable to exercise.

However when I'm exercising carbs are important to me, without them performance suffers.

It’s not a marketers dream though as what on earth will they sell you? It would be the end of breakfast cereal for example 🙈

Shitload of low carb marked foods. Anything hyped can be marketers dream. It will simply rise up prices of other stuff.

I would argue though with "But my point is that you can't lose weight with elevated insulin." as someone who is successfully losing without low carbing. It is well possible, people all over the world do it. Just some people have different needs. That is all

*needs because of medical issues

I’m not doubting low carb works for lots of people, but a high carb diet doesn’t automatically mean no weight loss. I lost 4 stone eating a high carb diet and have kept it off for over a year by continuing my high carb diet. I don’t feel lethargic at all.

May be I’m one of those who metabolise carbs differently from most, but I’ve actually been told categorically on this forum that it’s impossible to lose that much weight while eating high carb and that I must be making up my weight loss😒

So, I haven’t really seen people being negative about low carb diets, but I’ve definitely seen the opposite!

My low glycaemic diet is anything but dull! I agree low carb/keto is more restrictive.

Additionally there is a lack of deeper understanding of the role of metabolism . The number of late 50s who wonder why cardio isn’t shifting fat.

I was 18 stone, I'm now 11. I didn't cut out carbs I just put the fork down when I was full and stopped snacking through boredom.

Not quite the full sorry IME. Lots of people want to lose weight primarily by dieting. If you start to throw heavy lifting into the mix it becomes difficult to maintain energy as fat is converted to glucose much slower.

I was told by my doctor, who used to specialist in diabetes, that fat is a bigger issue than carbs when it comes to insulin resistance.

Too much fat in the system blocks the insulin from working properly. Carbs are only an issue because of the amount of fat stopping the insulin from doing it's job.

It's hard to know what to believe when there are so many people saying different things

No they don't. They assign higher points or syns to calorie sense foods. They don't give a monkeys about insulin for god sake.

My brother tells me “just go to the gym to lose weight”. Even my GP has commented on how difficult it is for me to lose weight due to insulin resistance and metabolic issues, he said I have to put in 3x the effort to lose the same amount of weight. It infuriates me and I feel like I’m judged for my weight. Keto is the only way I can lose weight but sadly isn’t sustainable long term