Low Carb vs. Reduced Calorie Diets

I did low carbohydrate diets off and on over the years and lost significant weight in doing so.  I am now a month into a reduced calorie diet.  The early results from reduced calories have been roughly equivalent to the results I had doing low carb before.  The following are my observations from doing the both diets.  These are my current opinions, subject to change after more time doing the reduced calorie diet.

Low Carb: Can eat as much as you want as long as you avoid carbs.
Reduced Calorie:  Can eat anything you want with moderation.

Low Carb:  When ketosis kicks in, my breath stinks and my cognitive abilities suffer.
Reduced Calorie:  Breath is fine and my mind is clear.

Low Carb:  Each month I lost half of what I did the previous month.
Reduced Calorie: Long term effectiveness to be determined.

Low Carb:  To lose weight, I had to consume less than 30-45 net carbs a day.  I found effective maintenance is difficult.  For me, it was all or nothing.
Reduced Calorie:  Maintenance difficult is to be determined.  But, bumping my caloric intake up to a level where I will not lose or gain weight should be simple.  And, with my body type, my base metabolic rate is relatively high so this should not be a problem.

Low Carb:  I had to take vitamin supplements because I wasn't getting the right mix of nutrients.  For example, if I didn't take potassium, I got muscle cramps.
Reduced Calorie:  I seem to be getting a good variety of foods in my diet.  If I need to take vitamins has not yet been determined.

Low Carb: Energy level was high.
Reduced Calorie:  Energy level is also high. Note that I took a great deal of effort in setting an appropriate target for daily calorie intake.

Low Carb:  Cravings for sweets generally went away when they were removed from my diet.
Reduced Calorie:  Still crave sweets.  My personal caloric intake goals allow me to have some desserts and I am doing okay at consuming them in smaller portion sizes.

Low Carb:  Eating out is difficult.  At sit down restaurants I  usually had to ask for substitutions which is a pain in the butt.  Fast food has almost no options other than salads and I quickly tire of salads.
Reduced Calories:  Substitutions are not usually necessary.  Plus, many restaurants have calories posted.  There are options even at fast food restaurants.  McDonalds even has a pretty low calorie ice cream cone.  Wendy's chili is a great substitution for fries.

Low Carb:  Others just don't get it.  Politely eating what others have prepared is difficult.  Waitresses think something is wrong when you eat just the topings off a sandwich or pizza.
Reduced Calorie:  Everybody gets it.  There is no need to explain the details of what you can or can't eat.  When at someone's house, you can manage your diet through portion control.

Low Carb:  Food costs about doubled.
Reduced Calorie:  Food costs about the same as before, maybe a little less.

Low Carb:  The online community is tight and supportive.  The rest of the world however constantly tries to convince you that it's a dangerous diet.
Reduced Calorie:  Experience so far shows the online community to be not as passionate.  This may be due to the diet being widely accepted with the world at large.

Low Carb:  There are lots of poorly conducted studies trying to debunk it's effectiveness.  I had great personal success doing low carb.  It works, often with little baring on the amount of calories eaten.
Reduced Calorie:  Most "experts" on diet and health assume this works.  But, I don't think it's as simple as just "calories in vs. calories out".

With either diet, everyBODY is different.  Your personal experiences may differ from mine.

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Author comments on May 25, 2012:



I should add one more comparison... this one in favor of low carb:


Low Carb:  Can drink lots of clear alcohols as they have few to no carbs.  Drinking never seemed to impact my personal ability to lose weight while doing low carb.


Reduced Calorie:  When I go out after work, I can't drink with the crowd.  I might have one or possibly two drinks but I have not figured out how to get drunk without blowing my caloric intake goals.