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

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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.

They have a list of 'free foods' 'speed foods' 'healthy A and B foods' 'syns' basically a lot of it is eating low fat and the way things are cooked and with what. So the free foods consist of plenty of the carb groups and protein foods, fruit and veg. And you can eat as much as you like of those. Things like bread cereals etc cheese milk come under the healthy A and B list. Because they are more restricted because higher in calories. Syns are things like chocolate cake etc which will all have a syn value, and you are only given a certain amount of syns to use per day.
I have known someone with PCOS like myself which of course is heavily linked with insulin resistance, who lost 5 stone on SW.

Why is low carb dull? It’s not just fruit & veggies, but plenty of tasty high protein foods like meat, eggs, cottage cheese, nuts and so on. I’ve lost 4 + stone doing this and haven’t felt it’s a dull way to eat!

I believe this theory has been disproven by science over and over again. To prove his point, a nutrition professor went on a junk food Twinkie diet He ate every three hours sugar loaded snacks but limited his daily calorie. Quite interesting to read.He lost 27 pounds.
Closer to home, DP is Italian. His sisters are very slim despite eating pastries and cappuccino for breakfast at the cafe below their flat and pasta at least once a day, every single day. Go on an Italian beach, you will question the insulin theory. What you will also see is that nobody eats at the beach, nobody comes with food at the beach. At lunch , they leave and go to small restaurants or home for a complete meal.

@PBSam So if you restrict food for example by not snacking on crisps etc especially in the evening you will probably have a 12 hour fast between your dinner and your breakfast. If you do this then during this time your body will likely reduce insulin levels because you're not eating and that will mean you burn fat.

Reducing any snacks during the day will also help because it gives more time for insulin levels to come back down after eating.

Insulin and it’s role in metabolism isn’t that simple.

yes type 1 diabetics lose weight, but they also become very seriously unwell. They will die without insulin.

your blood sugar is always stable. So your cells always have access to glucose, even if you don’t actually eat carbs.

if you are in a calorie deficit insulin can not cause fat storage- it directs cells to use glucose as fuel. If there isn’t enough glucose then fat and muscle stores make up the deficit.

a study of the Atkins diet years ago showed that it was simple calorie deficit. Same with fast 800 and the like. If you’re only eating 800 calories you will lose weight.

metabolism is an extremely complex area and there is no one size fits all.

personally, I found why most diets don’t work for me is because I am eating more than I think I am. Get strict about calories, lose weight.

You're spot on OP. It wasn't until I understood this that I could lose weight.

A constant onslaught of insulin spikes with processed foods, sugars and refined carbs is what causes weight gain. It's not even so much the amount you eat but what you're eating and how often. Fasting has been a revelation for me. I didn't give up sugar but I only eat 'treats' if I've eaten protein first, this softens the huge spike (and sugar dip afterwards)

I have friends who can't understand why they're not losing weight yet reach for cereal for breakfast and snack on processed foods throughout their waking hours. I eat more calories than them but lose/maintain weight. It's not as simple as calories in, calories out.

The genetic component shouldn't be forgotten, that plays a (huge) role too. Plus the psychological component, peoples relationships with food all differ for a multitude of reasons. Forget fad diets though, if you can figure out how your insulin works, you can lose weight.

Exactly, I was put on Metformin changed my eating very little, walked for a good length of time most days, lost 3 stone!

This is just wrong. It's how much you eat not what you eat. Its incredibly simple. Calorie defecit is all you need.

I agree op

I also agree with pp that marketers have grabbed ‘healthy’ and attached it to high carb items because when you look at a low carb diet there’s not much to sell

Vegetables, protein, rarely processed

Ppl eating low carb end up creating a calorie deficit. You could just eat doughnuts and as long as you’re consuming fewer calories than you’re using, weight will be lost.

Losing weight is really simple. Low carb, high carb, one meal a day, fasting, eating windows, whatever. All end up creating calorie deficits if weight is lost.

Yes low calorie is low calorie and that is what happens however the diet is sold

I understand however that for people who have damaged their insulin mechanisms - heading towards type 2 diabetes - they may find low carb very useful as it limits sugar spikes , cravings , further high sugar damage and further stress on the insulin system

Amen

@Reallyreallyborednow your blood sugar is controlled between limits it does vary between those limits. It is kept between limits by insulin and glucagon. But if you don't produce insulin your cells can't take up sugar. They then signal that they are starving.

This is my world - I have type 2 diabetes and am on medication but my sugar levels are not under control.

it has taken me about 3.5 years to lose 3 stone and it is totally demoralising that people (NHS nutritionists) keep wanting to dissect my food intake telling telling me what to eat and the options they suggest are things like eat fruit, eat low fat yoghurts, jacket potato and baked beans is a good meal for you!!!!!

I know these things are not good for me so I just nod and go to these meetings so my diabetic nurses believe I am being totally compliant and so might consider me for the next good drug that comes along. If I don’t go to these nutrition sessions I am seen as not following the plan.

I know for me that the low carb diets / keto diets )which are also more expensive) is the best way ahead. I am just hoping that once we beat the insulin surges with medication I will lose the weight quickly as I’m doing everything I should.

I will be very very clear here that we do not want marketers to start marketing veg as healthy hevaily because 1-common knowledge, 2- healthy sticker brings up prices.
Look what happened with quinoa out and in its native lands. Nope.
No "healthy" stickers on commonly known healthy food please!

I'm insulin resistant due to PCOS. For me it's really hard to lose weight. Went to a weight loss Dr and even there I didn't get your explanation.

After keto along with medicines I could finally lose weight but have to remain low carb to avoid gaining it back.

That's it. plain and simple.

I believe this theory has been disproven by science over and over again. To prove his point, a nutrition professor went on a junk food Twinkie diet He ate every three hours sugar loaded snacks but limited his daily calorie. Quite interesting to read.He lost 27 pounds.

It's also been done with donuts.

I can eat 2500 cals and not get fat if I'm training hard. Pro strongmen eat between 10,000 - 20,000 calories a day for comparison, although admittedly are mostly on the juice.

I wish i understood the science.
I eat lowish carb, lost weight and maintained it so far. I did this as i was pre diabetic and the pre diabetes went
It may well be a simple calorie deficit mechanism, but what i found is a low carb calorie deficit is the only one where i dont feel starving, get cravings, and get slumps and crashes or highs. So for me there is something else going on too. Like 1 calorie of protien or fat feels more filling and slower burning than 1 calorie of carb?

Kind of YANBU. It isn't the only way to lose weight, but it's probably the most sustainable and healthiest (if you don't reduce the carbs by eating processed low-carb stuff).

The thing is though, most people fail to lose weight not because they aren't knowledgeable about insulin or because they've chosen the 'wrong' method. They fail because all diet changes require a level of willpower that's unachievable for most people long-term.

I lost loads of weight eating very low fat (and considerably higher sugar than normal, as I felt so deprived of other nice food) for 8 months through no choice of my own while awaiting gallbladder surgery. Slightly more weight than I lost during a similar length period of low carbing in fact, and felt no less healthy. It probably wouldn't have been good for me long-term though.

People need to remember that medical conditions make things different.

Normally healthy person shouldn't need to worry about carb or insulin (which I would like to know how many people who don't have diabetes are actually testing their glocose levels...). Someone pre or diabetic may need to.

This is imho basically the glutenfree thing all over. It helps someone with specific medical conditions, someone jumps on it and sells it and et voila. Diet and expensive products.

So if reducing your insulin is the only way to lose weight, why did I lose more weight on low-fat than I did on low-carb?

@AntlerRose so if you are overweight and choosing to eat low carb your body will be burning fat because your insulin levels are lower. Presumably there is plenty of fat to burn because you're overweight so your cells don't need to send out signals to eat more because they have a plentiful supply of energy. That's why you don't feel hungry as much or get cravings.

😁

When you say 'low carb' which carbs are you restricting?