There are two words that I’ve noticed aren’t talked about much in low carb high fat (LCHF) circles; one is “calories” and the other is “exercise”. I think that’s because both have been tied to the old “calories in, calories out” model.
I think it’s important to reframe both of these within a LCHF context, because both have a role to play in us being successful in improving health as well as losing weight, even though the reasons for that are very different than in the “calories in, calories out” model.
In the traditional high carb, low fat paradigm, restricting calories and increasing exercise are seen as the foundation of weight loss – based on the assumption that “calories out” is only the calories we burn in activity. As explained in this week’s blog on “Do Calories Matter When Eating Low Carb”, there are other demands on the energy we take it (calories) that are higher priority than exercise, such as regulating our body temperature and providing energy to keep our heart pumping.
(You can read about that here: https://www.lchf-rd.com/2017/06/19/do-calories-matter-when-eating-low-carb/)
In the low carb, high fat model, overall calories need to be understood within a diet that is 70% fat and <10% carbohydrate and exercise needs to be understood within the context of lowering stress levels (i.e. cortisol), as well as increasing metabolic rate so that fat stores continue to be burned long after activity ends.
Below is a very short video from my morning walk, with a few thoughts on “exercise”.
To our health!
Joy
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