No – You Are Not Doomed to Be Overweight
After hearing that the NY Times published an article called “The Fat Trap” last month, I read it with relish but was disappointed to find that it contained a very negative message for people suffering from being overweight or obesity. It basically said that people in general can relatively easily lose 30 pounds or so with a diet or lifestyle change, but that keeping it off turns out to be almost impossible. It didn’t say it was impossible, but implied that there was some hormonal reason that heavy people are just destined to be heavy unless they work very hard, almost every hour of the day to keep it off. This just isn’t true with a low carb diet.
I’ll get into this in more detail below, but the primary reason the “Fat Trap” article is misleading is that the dieters mentioned in the article were on low calorie and low fat diets. Dieters who, instead, choose to lose weight and maintain lower weights with a low carb (moderate to high fat) diet will be much more successful at keeping off the weight. . Gary Taubes explains the scientific rationale behind this in the following video.
Losing weight and keeping it off with a low carb diet won’t be a “cake walk”. You will have to be disciplined and stay away from carbs, but it won’t be so difficult that you will be forced to quickly give up and gain all the weight back. The reason you can do that is twofold: 1) a low carb diet reduces insulin levels leading to weight loss and 2) a low carb diet provides needed energy (so you feel hungry) by the inclusion of dietary fat in the diet.
If you’ll take the time to understand what Gary is getting at in this video it will be clear why the low carb diet plan is so successful.
A noted personal example of this is Jimmy Moore, one of the leaders in the online low carb weight loss community, who this month celebrated 8 years on a low carb diet, during which he has achieved and maintained a weight loss of 130 pounds.
This post is featured on the Modern Paleo Blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I'm here to help, so let me know if I can help with getting off of sugar or weight loss in any way. Contact me at Joe AT CravingSugar DOT net. If you like what you see here - Share It at the top of the post!!Joe Lindley
Other Posts On This Topic:
Filed under: What is the Best Diet
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
Thank you for this great commentary on “The Fat Trap.” I thought the exact same thing when I read this article – these people will struggle to keep their weight off if they are counting calories and cutting fat! Measuring out every meal, counting every calorie – what an ordeal!
I came to the US at the age of eight and quickly became obese eating up the toxic American foods – I was the prototypical obese child. I have since lost over 40 pounds. I have kept the weight off for over 13 years – first by cutting out the junk food and eating less and eventually by eating a low carb, high fat diet. Simple as that.
Guess what, genetically I am predisposed to keeping the weight on; my mother was obese her whole life. Even she, however, lost 50 pounds on the Atkins diet, kept it off for a decade now and has seen a sharp decline in bad cholesterol!
Cheers.
Flora recently posted..Low carb Hot and Sour Miso Soup
Thanks Flora,
Agreed. While it is true that many of us are predisposed to gain weight, it doesn’t mean that we can’t with a reasonable amount of effort AND THE RIGHT LOW CARB DIET, do something about it. Great to hear about you and your mother! A point I wanted to add to this article was that, as far as I’m concerned, If I’ve lost, say 100 pounds and am trying to maintain that weight, it isn’t much different than if I’d lost 20 pounds and am trying to maintain that. It is a pound by pound game. Once you’ve gotten the right diet, it’s mostly mental from that point on, one pound at a time. As we used to say in the Army on long marches – just put one foot in front of the other and don’t pay much attention to how much longer you have to march.
…Joe…
It is important to have balanced body weight, but after all this should not turn into mania.After the birth of my 3rd child I put a lot of kilos, which unfortunately I cannot loose. But I suppose I should be more disciplined.
Anna recently posted..cosmetic dentist london
Anna,
Thanks for the comment. You’ll find it a lot easier if you’ll follow a low carb diet. Most of these folks who are having trouble are laboring under the difficulties of a low fat or low calorie diet which starve you to lose weight. With a low carb diet, you aren’t starving while you lose weight. Good luck!
…Joe…
Many people suffering either obesity or malnutrition, Just for example on my part.. Many of my friends tease me being malnutrition in my grades school but at my age of 19 i notice my body takes changes turns to regular… I think, Body mass is also hereditary..
CarmelaJones recently posted..1300 numbers