Why Does Fat Loss Result From High Protein Diets With Low Carbs? A List of Low Carb Diets

Fat loss occurs when the body needs energy above and beyond the energy that is immediately available. High protein diets with low carbs are a popular and effective method for maximizing fat loss. Below is an analysis of why fat loss results from these high protein diets with low carbs, and a list of low carb diets.

Proteins is derived from animal foods: chicken, turkey, meets, lamb, fish and all dairy products are complete sources of protein. These foods are commonly referred to as complete" because they contain all of the essential amino acids, the tiny building blocks required for health. The proteins found in non-animal sources of food are called "i complete" proteins. I complete proteins lack one or more of the essential amino acids.

Thus, proteins supply the building blocks of life called amino acids. All animal source protein foods are digested, broken down and absorbed as amino acids akin to the way carbohydrates are broken down into glucose. Amino acids are to proteins as glucose is to carbohydrates. Amino acids are the "tiny fragments" of protein while glucose is the "tiny fragments" of carbohydrates.

Amino acids are used for thousands, likely multimillions, of reactions in the body. Low-protein low calorie diets promote self catabolism. In other words, a low-calorie diet that is also too low in protein causes the body to scavenge for the amino acids necessary for everything from immune support, hormone production, to strong teeth and healthy hair.

If the body is low on protein and there are insufficient amino acids in what is termed "amino acid pools" -- temporary waiting pins for amino acids consumed from recently eaten protein foods -- the body enters a state of catabolism. Catabolism is derived from the word catabolic which is really a fancy way of saying, "cannibalism." That is, when calories are low and protein intake is low, the body, in dire need of essential amino acids to maintain life itself, will begin to tear apart its muscle tissue and organs as both are literally comprised or made up of amino acids.

Interestingly, the body will, with the help of glucagon, take those amino acids that have been torn apart from muscle tissue and convert the aminos into glucose! Called gluconeogenesis, it's sort of a survival mechanism in two ways.

1) First, when calories are way too low, the body can make sugar to keep itself alive by catabolizing/cannibalizing its own muscle tissue into glucose. Specifically, this catabolism of muscle is used to fuel the brain. The brain is the "crown jewel" of all human organs. It's what makes us human and distinctly different from animals and it is glucose that keeps the brain alive. Survival wise, the body can eat up its own tissue to make sugar. Why? So a starving human can decide what to do next, to put an end to such hunger. Crude. But true.

2) Second, when muscle tissue decreases, the body's metabolism slows down. When the metabolism drops, or the total amount of calories it burns each day decreases, the body requires less fuel so, in the long run, it will have lowered its demands for fuel by stripping off its own muscle mass. Again, it's about survival. Getting the body to burn less so it can survive and, if needed, search longer for food.

Thinking about embarking on a low calorie and low-protein diet? Think again. That combination is a dead end and will lower your metabolic rate making fat loss very difficult.

Remember that person weighing 180 pounds and requiring 1800 calories daily? Imagine having shed away 15 pounds of muscle with an extreme low calorie low-protein diet, ending up at 165 pounds. In effect, he would have lowered his daily caloric demands to 1650 a day, at complete rest. Not the best move if fat loss is the goal.

1) Muscles break down and release amino acid

2) Amino acids are sent to the liver

3) Liver changes amino acids into glucose (sugar)

4) Glucose enters blood from the liver

The result -- muscle wastage!!

While carbohydrates release insulin, the sugar storing hormone, proteins release both insulin and glucagon, with glucagon being the more dominant of the two. Thus, from a hormonal point of view, we can assume carbs have a greater potential to store or stimulate the accumulation of body fat because carbohydrates exclusively kick up insulin levels which can affect the storage of carbs as not only muscle and liver glycogen, but body fat.

On the other hand, glucagon levels tend to rise after protein is consumed. The benefit of glucagon? It can offset the fat storing potential of high insulin levels and it has the potential to stimulate the fat burning cycle within the body by liberating fatty acids from fat cells.

Protein is also quite inferior to carbs and dietary fat, with respect to calories. Simply, the body is less efficient in abstracting 100% of the calories found within protein foods than it is from abstracting energy from carbohydrates or dietary fat. When you eat 100 calories of dietary fat, say a tablespoon of butter, the body will ultimately "gain access" to 97 of those calories as it is efficient in breaking down fats and using them as fuel.

With carbohydrates, the body is a little less efficient. For every 100 calories you eat, the body will access roughly 88 to 90 of them. The other 10 to 12 calories are "burned away" in the process of breaking down the food. Since breaking down carbohydrate foods costs energy, we can say there is a small increase in metabolism that comes from eating.

With dietary protein, the body is rather efficient in obtaining 100% of the calories found within the protein. For example, when you eat a chicken breast that yields 200 calories, the reality is, the body is roughly 80% effective in accessing all 200 calories. Instead, only 80% of the total 200 calories is accessible. Therefore, your 200 calorie chicken breast ultimately yields 160 calories.

Where do the other 40 calories go? They're "wasted" or burned in breaking down the food. The bottom line here is that the foods we eat supply us with fuel in the form of calories but the body expends fuel in order to obtain the fuel within the foods.

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