Important for weight loss , A detailed review of diets and their principles LCD vs. HCD – differences in diets with the same calories and varying macronutrients.
We continue to consider the topic, including the promised evidence. In the first part of the material you received the answer to the question, as well as a good theoretical explanation of things. Now it’s time to bring in a little more detail and back it up with practical evidence.
Table of Contents
Exclude certain foods – important for weight loss
We have reached the moment again “But they told me …”. In other words – why when we stop eating certain foods and lose weight, even though we do not know our calories? Yes, we may not know how much we take, but that doesn’t mean they are no less than the net caloric balance. Most diet books that are aimed at the general public, who do not understand nutrition and physiology, contain just this type of advice – stop eating (food X) and (food Y) and you will lose weight. In some cases, you can exclude almost or completely a certain macronutrient – carbohydrates (there can be no proteins or fats for a number of physiological reasons).
Naturally, such diets work. Weight loss will be followed by calories. We’ve all seen this effect, but it’s just a trick. When you are limited by a number of foods or a particular macronutrient, what is left to eat, no matter how hard you try, can not be who knows how many calories.
If you are told to limit your carbs to 50 grams a day, does the lack of carbs cause weight loss? No. Simply protein and fat can only be eaten for a while. How many people can get 3000+ calories every day with eggs, chicken, vegetables, fish and nuts? And carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients. That is, by excluding them, we exclude one-third of the foods we eat (figuratively speaking).
Practical results – important for weight loss
Observations in practice confirm the theoretical statements in this article. An experiment involving 43 obese individuals is an example of this . They divide people into two groups, and their protein intake is the same (calorie too), but one group consumes 15% carbohydrates and 53% fat, and the other 45% carbohydrates and 26% fat. There is no difference in weight loss, loss of fat or waist circumference. In other words, the reduced calorie intake determined the weight loss and whether the diet was HCD or NVD did not matter.
What if we want to track the calories needed to maintain weight? Do they depend on the composition of the diet? No . A study of 13 people found that the same protein intake did not matter how much fat or carbohydrates were in the diet. Carbohydrates in these isocaloric regimes were 15%, 40-45%, 75-85%. The rest was filled with fat, as protein intake was fixed at 15%. The conclusion from the experiment is that even extreme variation of fat (between 0% and 70% of total intake) does not make a difference in the calories needed to maintain weight. That is, our body needs a certain amount of energy to maintain its weight. How you provide them does not matter.
I remind you again that for a healthy life you need certain minimum amounts of each macronutrient, but here the emphasis is to show the clear winner in the battle of calories against macronutrients. Another experiment with LCD (25% carbon) and VVD (45% carbon) involved 68 individuals over a 12-week period . Naturally, there is no difference in weight loss or fat loss. In other words, neither diet has any advantages over the other when the goal is to lose weight.
Even if diabetics participate in such an experiment, there will still be no difference in weight loss, despite a variation in both the amount of protein and fat ingested . If only the protein is varied (28% in one group and 16% in the other), people with type 2 diabetes will again lose weight on the same scale . In an experiment with 100 obese women, high-protein and high-protein foods were compared, both of which were 1340 kcal. Over a period of 12 weeks, both groups lose the same amount of weight, despite the different composition of the diets.
An Australian university compared two isocaloric diets for 12 weeks with a subsequent 4 maintenance weeks, but one diet was high in protein and the other high in fat. In both groups the amount of carbohydrates is the same. In the 57 individuals who participated, there were no significant differences in weight loss or improvement in insulin resistance . Even with constant carbohydrates, caloric intake determines weight movement. At the same university, but two years later, repeated the experiment with similar parameters. The conclusions are the same . Then one more time . With 30% fat, whether carbohydrates are 55% or 40% does not matter for weight loss or improved cardiovascular health.
A different combination of foods? Will it make a difference? – important for weight loss
If the caloric intake is the same, then there will be no difference . A Swiss study involved 54 obese individuals, divided into two groups, adopting isocaloric diets with equal distribution of macronutrients. At the end of the six-week experiment, it was concluded that with the same diet for the day, combining foods in different ways did not affect the final results. Nothing new. Which should suggest something about the concept of separate eating, but this may be the subject of a future article on the subject.
Obese people with insulin resistance have a high risk of cardiovascular disease. To see which approach would improve health markers to a greater extent, US researchers compared two diets with the same amount of protein (15%) and different amounts of carbohydrates / fats in 16 weeks, respectively (60/25% and 40/45%). ). Despite differences in macronutrients, weight loss in both groups was not significantly different.
In both regimens, health markers are improved, and this is in the greatest proportion to weight loss. In general, this is always the leading factor. Here, in particular, the smaller amount of carbohydrates gave slightly better results in terms of health, but this is logical, given that the people studied are insulin resistant.
Let’s look at a recent and systematic review of low-carb diets . It covers 94 studies and a total of 3268 people. Of course, the differences in the amount of carbohydrates and calories consumed per day are large, as well as the differences in the duration of each of the studies.
However, the data analysis team concluded that among obese patients, weight loss was directly related to the duration of the diet, as well as the caloric deficit caused, but not the restriction of carbohydrate intake. That is, the longer you follow the diet and the fewer calories you eat, the more you will lose weight, whether a large or small portion of your diet consists of carbohydrates or not.
And if you are not yet convinced that calorie restriction is a determining factor, a study in Vienna compares weight loss, where in one group the calorie deficit is caused only by calorie restrictions, and in the other – a combination of food reduction plus exercise . The regimens are calculated so that the caloric deficit is the same in both cases. Well, the weight loss at the end of the experiment was also the same . The bottom line is that calories determine how much you will lose. Not the foods you eat, and not the way you limit your energy intake.
Final reminder
This article looks at weight loss and proves that calories are the determining factor. This does not in any way mean that macronutrients are not important or that LCD and HCD would have the same effect on body composition. The amounts of protein, fat and carbohydrates should be determined individually according to the body, sports, goals and preferences. In some cases, high-carbohydrate diets are more appropriate, in others – low-carbohydrate. This is not the subject of this article.
And the next time someone tells you that they can’t lose weight because they “can’t” without sweets, tell them that the reason is not because they eat sweets, but because their portions are far larger than they should be.
Sources used :
- Am J Clin Nutr. 1996 Feb;63(2):174-8.; Similar weight loss with low- or high-carbohydrate diets.; Golay A, Allaz AF, Morel Y, de Tonnac N, Tankova S, Reaven G.
- Am J Clin Nutr. 1992 Feb;55(2):350-5.; Energy intake required to maintain body weight is not affected by wide variation in diet composition.; Leibel RL, Hirsch J, Appel BE, Checani GC.
- Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1996 Dec;20(12):1067-72.; Weight-loss with low or high carbohydrate diet?; Golay A, Eigenheer C, Morel Y, Kujawski P, Lehmann T, de Tonnac N.
- Diabetes Care. 2002 Mar;25(3):425-30.; Effect of a high-protein, high-monounsaturated fat weight loss diet on glycemic control and lipid levels in type 2 diabetes.; Parker B, Noakes M, Luscombe N, Clifton P.
- Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Jun;81(6):1298-306.; Effect of an energy-restricted, high-protein, low-fat diet relative to a conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet on weight loss, body composition, nutritional status, and markers of cardiovascular health in obese women.; Noakes M, Keogh JB, Foster PR, Clifton PM.
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