so, using the calories in calories out law, if you are consuming more calories than you need, then you will definitely gain weight, and the other way around is weight loss.
if one person is consuming high amounts of carbohydrates, as in a tradicional diet, they will store those as glycogen. but, if they are planning to lose weight, and are in a caloric deficit, which calorie will they burn more? the stored sugar calorie or the stored fat calories? and this will unnecessarily slow down fat loss?
in a context of a low carb diet, it is more easy to tap into the fat reserve, and constantly be burning it, because of the low content of stored sugar and the low insulin. so maybe that explains why low carb diets burns the most fat in general, according to several studies?
can someone please explain to me if this logic makes sense or is it missing something out? (also, i am not a native English speaker, so forgive me and my trash grammar lol)
As kind of a novice who lost quite a bit of weight on Atkins quite a while ago, I think your summary is largely correct. However I will say that being on Atkins was torture and I felt hungry all the time. I know there’s other versions of the same low carb concept, but I’ve never been able to go back to it even though I was quite successful. I find now that certain carbs (like sweet potatoes and fruits) really help with my stamina and so I can do way more rigorous workouts when I eat that way. They also keep me fuller for longer so I end up eating less on the whole (I think lol). Anyways, this is all my personal experience and not a scientific analysis 🤷♀️
Calories and the way we eat makes a big difference. You also have to consider how fast our bodies burn the calories as well. All of our body types are different. Some can easily lose weight due to a faster metabolism, while others might have a harder time.
Nothing is set in stone when it comes to weight loss/gain. It’s about seeing what can work for each individual.
Once your body stores the excess, it’s stored as fat. When it comes to long term storage, you don’t have separate fat and glucose storage. You do have glycogen stores, but they’re not all that large. You can typically burn through all of your glycogen stores in 48 hours if they aren’t replenished. Glycogen is extremely efficient and can be metabolized very rapidly, making it the first-line energy source for rapid, explosive movements.
Your body utilizes dietary carbs first, as they are the easiest to convert into energy. Dietary fat requires a little more processing. Dietary protein only in certain situations as it is not very efficiently turned into energy.
Not an endorsement, but learning about the mechanisms behind the ketogenic diet are very informative on how your body relies on different substances for fuel, how they’re stored, and how they get used.
\>so, using the calories in calories out law, if you are consuming more calories than you need, then you will definitely gain weight, and the other way around is weight loss.
That’s not how things actually work.
There have been a number of studies that overfeed people with large amounts of protein and they gain little weight. This isn’t very surprising because it’s hard to get from amino acids to fat -> they need to be converted to glucose first but the process that does that is rate limited.
\>if one person is consuming high amounts of carbohydrates, as in a tradicional diet, they will store those as glycogen. but, if they are planning to lose weight, and are in a caloric deficit, which calorie will they burn more? the stored sugar calorie or the stored fat calories? and this will unnecessarily slow down fat loss?
\>in a context of a low carb diet, it is more easy to tap into the fat reserve, and constantly be burning it, because of the low content of stored sugar and the low insulin. so maybe that explains why low carb diets burns the most fat in general, according to several studies?
Their metabolic health - how insulin resistant they are - matters a lot.
For people who are insulin sensitive, it’s generally pretty easy for them to lose weight on high carb or on low carb, though they don’t tend to gain much weight.
For low carb, you are correct that the low carb diet keeps insulin lower and that helps, but the real factor is that people who are overweight are generally insulin resistant, and therefore hyperinsulinemic - their insulin is always high. If a low-carb diet is low enough in carbs for the hyperinsulinemia to go away, that makes it possible for them to effectively access the energy in their fat stores.
Fasting also does this, as do very-low-calorie diets (<800 cal/day), though most people hate those. Gastric bypass also works, as it is a forced very-low-calorie diet.