Low-Carb vs. Low-Fat: Which Diet Is Better for Weight Loss?

Why do we get fat?

We mustn’t be hesitant to accept that junk food has become an inseparable part of most people’s lives. We just cannot imagine life without those mouth-watering burgers, pizzas, wraps, chips and sodas. Despite knowing the amount of fat that sticks to our flesh from them, we cannot keep away from these divine beings for long. Well, now that damage has been done, we need to reduce that fat to the extent of it totally disappearing making the body restore to its natural shape. When it comes to dieting, we hear numerous suggestions from people that leave us perplexed on which one to follow and get the result that suits us the most.

The world is overloaded with diet plans

I was once a fatso too. It took me a hell load of research and number of diet plans to lose about 22 pounds in 2 months. To be honest, I never expected it to happen, though I kept trying diet-plans like Atkins, GM Diet, eat this diet, eat that diet, don’t eat diet etc. The main idea behind each plan was either to cut carbohydrates or fats from my meals. I also visited quite a few nutritionists too that would give me customized diet plans mainly focusing on cutting down on my calorie intake. The low-calorie diet plans were something like 500 calorie diet, 600 calorie diet etc. These plans helped but didn’t leave much of a long term impact.

Two basic diets

In my weight loss journey, I kept a track of my weight and body changes on regular basis. Two of the most helpful diet plans that worked on me the most were low carb and low-fat diets.

Low carb diet

The low carb diet plan is the one in which you eliminate high carb foods from your diet like bread, rice, pasta etc., be it brown or white.  During this plan, I was depending on eggs, fruits and vegetable salads, white and red meat. It was initially so good but gradually I started craving rice and bread. It’s natural for the body to yearn for something that it is becoming deficit in.  But the best part was that with each passing day I was losing weight. While I was skimming through websites, I came across something very astonishing, Through all the years of my life, I had known that only fats are fats but the novel thing for me to know was that carbs if taken excessively are also stored in your body as fats. That’s the reason that eating excessive carbs makes you fatter than excessive fat intake does. I ate nearly everything along with drinking about 10 glasses of water daily and still I was losing weight.

Low fat diet

If the low carb diet suited me it doesn’t mean it would suit you too. Now let’s talk about the low fat diet and the type of people it suits the best. Yes, the low fat diet also does wonders for number of people. It helps aged people to prevent diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and cardio vascular diseases due to low to no cholesterol intake in life.

The low fat diet plan includes foods high in fiber and carbs, but low in fats. You don’t get to eat the egg yolks, fatty meat, dairy products etc.

In both the low fat and low carb diet plans, junk food is avoided. So, they work the best on about everyone. However, experts recommend a balanced diet. For a person like me it’s hard to prepare balanced diet foods and keep a check on the nutrition value in my daily meals, so I prefer remembering what to eat and what to avoid. And of course, for any diet plan to work pronto, a mild work out is also a must.

Read also: What Diet Plans Really Are and How Do They Work

Key Facts about Low Carb and Low Fat Diet

• We should not take food with extra added sugar because it is unhealthy.
• Omega-3 fatty acids are important for our body. So we shouldn’t avoid these fats.
• As per WHO (World Health Organization), a balanced diet can protect us from all kinds of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and stroke.
• According to WHO, low or no physical activity and unhealthy diet are the top global health risks.
• Trans fats used artificially in foot items are unhealthy.
• Having more green vegetables can improve our health.
• We should avoid refined carbohydrate which is unhealthy.