Need a fast diet? Lose weight fast on low-carb diets. For a quick weight loss solution, keep insulin levels low and eat protein to boost metabolism and CCK.
Many dieters turn to fast diets like the three-day diet, the chicken soup diet, or some other fad diet to squeeze into a smaller outfit for a high school reunion or upcoming vacation. While fad diets provide short-term solutions, they are restrictive and not very useful for long-term, permanent weight loss. If looking for a safe yet fast weight-loss diet, low-carbohydrate diets offer a healthy weight-loss solution.
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Low-Carb Weight Loss Diets: Fast Diets That Keep Insulin Levels Low
Low-carb weight loss diets focus on protein and fats, and restrict carbohydrates. When carbohydrates are restricted, it lowers insulin levels. Low insulin signals fat cells that glucose is in short supply and fatty acids are needed for fuel. When the body predominantly burns fatty acids, the result is rapid fat loss.
However, a fast diet requires more than just carbohydrate restriction. Since the body only releases stored fat as needed, dietary fats and calorie intake must be reduced as well. If fat and calories meet daily energy needs, the body won’t burn excess body fat for fuel. All fat loss, even on a low-carb diet, comes from a calorie deficit.
To Lose Weight Fast on a Low Carb Diet Requires Adequate Protein
A low carb diet restricts grains, legumes, starchy vegetables and high-glycemic fruits and replaces them with dietary fats. While the Atkins Diet allows generous servings of fatty meats, butter, and olive oil, Dr. Michael Eades, author of The Protein Power Lifeplan warns dieters that excessive fats drives up calories and interferes with weight loss. To avoid stalls, Eades recommends eating lean protein sources and avoiding high-fat, high-calorie foods like fatty meats, cheese, and nuts.
Getting enough protein, however, is essential to prevent muscle loss common with standard weight-loss diets. For fast weight loss, focus should be on cutting out excess fats and calories, not protein. When muscle is maintained, metabolism stays high, creating an environment for quick weight loss.
Weight Loss Solutions for Hunger – The Importance of Satiety
To lose weight fast, a weight loss diet needs to control hunger. Hunger derails a dieter’s efforts faster than anything. Since the dieter needs to eat less food than the body requires, lowering portion sizes creates a problem. It is important that individuals feel comfortable when dieting. Otherwise, it’s hard to stick to a weight loss diet.
One solution is to get more fiber. Fiber slows down the time it takes for food to leave the stomach, so the dieter stays full for a longer period of time. All low-carb diet plans promote fibrous vegetables, and therefore satiety. Since vegetables are low in calories and carbohydrates, as well as fiber, eating lots of vegetables works to the dieter’s advantage.
Cholecystokinin (CCK) also helps with appetite and satiety. One of its responsibilities is to stimulate the digestion of fat and protein. Also a hunger suppressant, CCK inhibits stomach emptying whenever it detects protein, and sometimes fats. Low-carb diets are heavy on both protein and fats; they produce lots of CCK. Unlike typical low-fat, low-calorie diets, low-carb diets help keep the dieter feeling full.
How to Lose Weight Fast: Low Carb Diet Offers Quick Weight Loss
A low-carb diet results in quick weight loss. By keeping insulin levels low, adipose tissue releases its stored fat whenever the dieter needs energy. This results in a metabolism that predominantly burns fats rather than glucose. By keeping fat intake and calories lower than daily needs, fast weight loss results.
Getting adequate protein stimulates the metabolism as well as produces lots of CCK to keep the dieter feeling full. While fad diets can help an individual drop a few pounds quickly, a low-carb diet that focuses on lots of nutrient-dense high-fiber vegetables and lean protein sources offers a permanent weight-loss solution to the problem of overweight and obesity.
For additional fast weight loss diets, read What is the Quickest Way to Lose Weight?
Sources:
- Webmd, Zelman, Kathleen M., MPH, FD, LD, “Lose Weight Fast: How to Do it Safely” (accessed August 9, 2010)
- Mayo Clinic, “Low-carb Diet” (accessed August 9, 2010)
- Atkins official website, “Protein” (accessed August 10, 2010)
- American Journal of Physiology, Gastrointestinal Liver Physiology, Moran, Timothy H. and Kinzig, Kimberly P., “Gastrointestinal satiety signals II. Cholecystokinin,” 286:1, G183-G188, 2004; doi:10.1152/ajpgi.00434.20030193-1857/04
- Eades, Michael R., MD and Eades, Mary Dan, MD, The Protein Power Lifeplan: A New Comprehensive Blueprint for Optimal Health, Warner Books, 2000
- Atkins, Robert C., MD, Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution, M. Evans and Company, Inc., New York, 2002
