[Oregon W.oman]

As I said in my post above, I lost 100 pounds eating low carb. The problem with this study (and others like it) is that they make up the rules for the 'diet'. In this study they determined that a carbohydrate level of 15% was 'low carb'. Compared to an average American's diet it may be, but it is still far too high for most people to see much benefit. On this diet of 1000 calories per day, that would be 150 carbs.

Most of us who eat this way eat between 30 and 60 carbs per day on the weight loss phase of the diet. When I personally went over 35 carbs per day, I would not lose...even WITH exercise. Atkins, Protein Power, and all other successful plans limit carbs to far less than 150 grams per day in the initial diet stages. You MUST limit more so your body will begin to burn fat for fuel.

In essence, both diets tested were the SAME diet, so it is not surprising that they got the similar results. Ultimately, both these groups would fail to lose weight and keep it off because the body begins to adjust to severe calorie restriction and you have to cut down more and more to lose any weight. You just mess up your metabolism and gain weight with a vengence as soon as you let yourself eat even a little more food. Been there and done that...It's a vicious cycle. Eating this way stopped that for me. I'm eating far more that I did when I was 100 pounds heavier and keeping it off.

[Dana113]

Compared to an average American's diet it may be, but it is still far too high for most people to see much benefit. On this diet of 1000 calories per day, that would be 150 carbs.

Good detective work, OreganWoman, 150 carbs would not be considered a "low carb" diet by any stretch of the imagination. That is pretty high carb and much higher than any phase of most low carb diets. The studies that I posted were truly low carb diets with a much lower % of calories from carbs.