Let me define a few terms before going into the article
(keep in mind that I'm not a doctor, and others may define these terms
differently).
Low-Carb: any diet that restricts carbohydrates to under 50 grams a day.
Ketosis: the state in which the body is primarily utilizing fat
(dietary fat or bodyfat) for fuel.
Ketogenic Diet: a diet specifically designed to put the body into
ketosis (the Adkins diet and others would fall into this category).
I discovered low carb (ketogenic) dieting the hard way. It
started about
ten years ago, when I decided to get in the best shape of my life (in
terms of body composition).
I joined that body for life competition. I trained
hard and ate a low-fat diet--I never cheated. I thought
this would turn me into a super-lean machine.
Well, I did lose bodyfat, but there were problems:
I did not get as lean as I thought I would--especially
considering the displine I had with my diet/exercise.
I lost a lot of muscle mass--not what I was hoping for.
I was constantly fighting hunger.
Years before I had heard about a "high fat" diet, but I
never paid
much attention to it (sounded crazy to me). I was ready to
give
it a second look. I did some research and ran across some
good
articles. I read about the body opus diet,
the anabolic
diet,
and a few others. These diets/books were more for
bodybuilders (I
roughly fit into this category, though I don't compete). I
also
read a few websites written by those using the Adkins diet. I
remember one guy who used to weigh 300 lb until he tried low carb
approaches.
Now I'm a low-carb fan. I drop carbs whenever I want to get
lean. Here are some of the benefits I've seen:
I retain almost all of my mucle and strength, even on a
calorie restricted diet.
Hunger is not nearly as much of a problem (this is in part
because I use the ECA
stack, but the diet itself seems to keep me from
feeling overly hungry).
I'm not as tempted to cheat. This sounds crazy,
but knowing
that I can't eat any carbs keeps me from eating junk--I know that
eating too many carbs will break ketosis.
I get leaner, faster than with any other approach.
If you haven't had results with other approaches, consider
giving
this one a try (assuming you are healthy or have checked with your
doctor). I'll try to write a few more articles as I have
time, but there's no shortage of information out there. You
can find it online for free or buy some of the before-mentioned books
at
half.com.