Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: low fat low calorie diet plan

Question:
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. I am just looking into the Atkins aproach and I am a bit puzzeled. I understand the principle that if I eat very low amount of carbs, my body has to burn fat to get energy, but I cant help thinking that if I eat 2500 cals of fat per day, but only burn 1800 cals a day, then surley I am still going to put on weight. I pressume my body will just burn the fat I am eating, and then store the rest.??? Also, what happens if I stop the low calorie diet, does my body then decide to store as much energy as possible in case of another low calorie spell (which will just make me pile on the pounds again) I have never really put weight on untill I split with my Ex, then fast food became the norm and I just want to drop 30 pounds back to what I used to be?? Please help me out with low fat low calorie diet plan.

Answer:
Well ... yes... you *will* gain weight if you eat more than you need to. However, proteins and fats get burned differently (generally, less efficiently) than carbs, so the amount you'll need to at least maintain might be higher than it would if you were eating a lot of carbs. My experience was that on a very low fat, low protein high (complex) carb diet of no more than 1000 cals/day I gained weight. Not a lot, but steadily. On LC I tried one month to see how high I could go before gaining. I added pure fats (cold-pressed macadamia oil) and got my calories as high as 4000/day and *still* maintained my weight over the course of the month. I have lost at around 2500 cals/day on Atkins. What happens if you stop a low calorie diet? Does your body remain svelte or do you gain back all the weight and then some in case you go back into another 'famine' (low calorie) period again? As with any diet-plan you MUST be prepared to stick with the maintainance phase of it, not go back to the eating plan that *made* you fat in the first place. So, how did you *use* to eat, before you gained the weight? If it was a healthy eating plan for you, you might well simply be able to cut out the fast foods and go back to eating right for you and it will work out. Otherwise you might need to make a life-long commitment to an eating plan, whether low-carb, low-fat or some other plan.