How Low Carb Diets Work
Many people think of a low carb diet as a fad that was popular a decade ago. This is really not the proper way to describe this diet plan since a fad infers that is not a good diet plan. In reality the low carb diet is one the fastest and easiest diets to use to successfully lose weight.
Yes, low card diets work and they can greatly eliminate excess fat. Best of all, low carb diets do not require calorie counting or severely restricting what you eat. So, for those who may be wondering how this diet works, here is a brief overview of the most important points.
For the body to function it needs to burn energy. The body uses carbs, fats and some protein to create the energy it needs. The body will always choose to burn carbs first if the are available. You must avoid eating carbs if you are inactive, since any unused carbs will be transformed into fat. If you drastically cut the number of carbs you eat, the body will be forced to use stored fat for energy. Basically, this means that if you cut back on the carbs you will be guaranteed to lose weight.
Carbs include bread, rice, fruit, vegetables, sugars, and starches. During the early stages of a low carb diet, it is necessary to completely wipe out all carb intake. Instead, replace them with meats, chicken, fish, eggs, cheeses, and other low/no carb foods. This way, the carbs in your body are burned up. Once they are gone and not replaced, you will drop a great deal of retained water (Carbs are a major culprit of water retention) and then you will start to metabolize your stored fat.
You should keep in mind that if you increase the amount of exercise you get you can lose weight more quickly. Exercise requires a great deal of energy and you will burn extra fat during your workouts since there are no carbs available.
Instead, the body will burn fat and a small amount of protein. This strategy is the same one body builders do when they want to get lean and ripped for a competition. You do not have to work that hard as even a little bit of minor working out can be a blast. 20 minutes of light cardio, for example, could easily help reduce one's weight with minimal effort.
In reality you really don't have to work out very much at all. There are plenty of people who never exercise yet have great success with low carb diets. Again, the body has to burn energy in order to function properly. If carbs are absent it will perform its metabolic function with the use of fats.
It really is unfair to refer to the concept of low carb dieting as a fad. It is a very successful diet plan that has been used for decades and will continue to be used for many decades more for one simple reason. The low carb diet works.