Will going on a low-carbohydrate diet help me lose weight?

There are three main problems with popular diet programmes or low carb regimes, all of which occur because they do not follow the basics of nutrition science.

1.    -They are concerned with reducing weight rather than the correct approach of losing body fat.

2.    -They strip off vital muscle, which is the major body component that burns fat in the first place.

3.    -They take off weight far too fast, thereby throwing the body into a defensive, fat preserving condition.

The true purpose of weight reduction is to dispose only of excess body fat while retaining your muscle and body water, yet virtually none of the current commercial diets make any attempt to differentiate between these weight components.

If you are at a healthy weight for you height, then you probably have your energy in balance already. If you are carrying excess fat, the best thing you can do to improve your health is to get to your ideal weight and stay there. Therefore one of the most valuable things you need to know is how many calories or kilojoules you should be consuming daily to lose fat.

If you need to lose ten kilos this year, then you will need to burn off around 80.000 calories or 320,000 kilojoules of body fat over the next twelve months. Your body will not access its storage tank of fat easily, you must give it a reason to use the onboard supply, and the best way to do that is to find out how many calories you should be eating and when to eat them.

A balanced diet depends on you eating the right balance of carbohydrate at the best time of day to fuel activity, or enough quality protein for the maintenance of cells. You might be consuming too many anti-nutrients such as salt, sugar and alcohol. If you are eating plenty of vegetables and fruit you should be getting enough fibre. Sounds confusing, but it shouldn’t be. Everybody has different needs and experts argue all the time about what the perfect balance should be.

The bottom line is that everybody is unique and a perfect diet depends on many factors, including activity levels, previous or past health conditions, age, weight and nutritional deficiencies. Should we use health supplements? Well I swear by them, so I would hate to see them regulated in New Zealand as they are in Australia. Don’t get me wrong, supplements do not replace a healthy diet, they are supplemental to a healthy diet and as with food, one size doesn’t fit all. The right diet should have you feeling alive and full of zest, not hungry tired and confused.

The best way to start losing weight is to have a one-to-one private consultation with one of our Nutritionists. 

We will be able to offer you a thorough evaluation of your health and diet, and guide you towards your maximum potential.