We have only six short weeks left until Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer — and bathing suit season for most people. If your New Year’s resolution to lose weight hasn’t worked as well as you had hoped, don’t despair. There’s still time to look better at the beach. And I can tell you how to do it.

Several studies comparing different methods of weight loss give the scientific evidence that supports what I’ve been telling you all along: low-carb eating plans are the best way to lose weight.

The first study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association,¹compared the weight-loss results for 311 overweight and obese women who were assigned to follow either the Atkins (very low-carb), Ornish (very low-fat vegetarian), Zone (40% carbs) or LEARN (calorie-controlled, low-fat) diets. Those on the Atkins diet lost 10.3 lb compared to an average of 4.6 lbs in the other groups, and interestingly, far fewer people dropped out on the low-carb diet compared to the other diets.

Study two, from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association² looked at how a low-carbohydrate/high-protein diet compared with a high-carbohydrate/low-fat diet on ratings of hunger and eating restraint. Both groups ate less, but the low-carb group was significantly less hungry. Not surprisingly, they also lost more weight.

Study three is from the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.³ This study of 53 obese women compared a very low-carbohydrate diet to a calorie-restricted diet with 30% of the calories as fat.  The very low carbohydrate diet group lost almost 16 lb in 3 months, and more of the weight lost was actual body fat compared to a 9-lb weight loss in the calorie- and fat-restricted diet.

There you have it.  In all three studies, low-carb diets led to the greatest weight loss. End of story, right?

Well, not quite. There is no doubt — following a very low-carb diet will help you lose weight for the short term, and if that’s all you’re after, I’ll see you at the beach! But wouldn’t it be nice if you could sustain that weight loss?

Time after time I see study authors concluding that because compliance with low-carb diets starts to wane over time, they are ineffective.  Well, no diet works if you don’t stick with it, but in a way they are right.  What good is a diet you can’t maintain?   And what good is short-term weight loss if you will only regain it?

That is why many years ago I began to evaluate weight loss, and I identified several underlying conditions or hidden factors that make losing weight either very difficult in the first place or else lead to regaining weight.  I discussed each of the underlying factors at length in my book, Cracking the Metabolic Code.  However, over the years I have found that there are five of these underlying factors that can be addressed fairly simply.

That’s why I developed a version of my Metabolic Code Diet that gives you simple strategies you can implement immediately to address some of the most common diet saboteurs:

1. Hunger
2. Insulin resistance
3. Stress-related carb cravings
4. Inability to sleep
5. Unrecognized food sensitivities

It also addresses some of the common pitfalls of very low-carb diets like constipation.

With this e-book version, you can develop an eating plan you can stick with and you can address common underlying factors that undo the best of diets, time and again.  So you don’t just lose weight, you keep it off.

If you can’t lose the weight you want in this self-directed version of the Metabolic Code Diet, you can still be greatly encouraged because not only have you started to learn the diet you will need to follow, you have learned that you have deeper metabolic disruptions.  In order to lose more weight, you need to dig in and find out what they are.

I can’t tell you how many of my patients find that bit of information to be a tremendous relief, because it means that your weight gain truly has not been your fault.  No more guilt and needless self-effacement!

What you need is more thorough testing to evaluate underlying metabolic disruptors — for example, heavy metal toxicity that can disrupt thyroid hormones. This and other metabolic disruptors make weight loss inordinately hard.   In doing further testing, you get a realistic picture of what is going on with your metabolism, and then you can go about the work of correcting these areas.  This puts you back on the road to better health, and yes, eventually even weight loss.

So, do a very low-carb diet for quick weight loss if you want, but if your deepest desire is to never cycle on and off those very low-carb diets again, then consider trying my Metabolic Code Diet approach.

References

1. Gardener, CD, et al. JAMA. 2007;297:969-977.
2. Nickols-Richardson, S. et al. J Am Dietetic Assoc. 105(9):1433-1437.
3. Brehm, BJ, et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab.88(4):1617-1623.

[Ed. Note: James LaValle is the founding Director of the LaValle Metabolic Institute, one of the largest integrative medicine practices in the country.  Dr. LaValle is the author of The Metabolic Code Diet: Unleashing the Power of Your Metabolism for Lasting Weight Loss and Vitality and the Executive Editor of THB’s The Healing Prescription.  To learn more, click here.]

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