The WD, Carbs, Stress, and Weight Loss

[rp327]

I have been following the WD with a good deal of success for the past year. The diet seems to advocate a shift away from relying on carbs as fuel, but not a ban on them altogether.

In there interest of cutting some weight, I have tried reducing carb consumption even further, but I have found that this is not productive; indeed, counterintuitive as it may seem, I retain too much water (and, perhaps, weight) when I eat carbs less on less than a couple of days a week. After a couple of days of cutting meat/fat and eating greens, veggies, rice, beans and no meat, I slim down pretty noticeably.

I have tried to diagnose why my body reacts this way, and my hypothesis is that my body takes the excessive carb-cutting and high meat consumption as a sign of stress and thus begins retaining all the water and fuel it has. Conversely, eating the carbs sends a signal that all is well, and therefore my body can afford to burn a little fat.

Does anyone have similar experiences? Can someone help explain the science behind this to me?

Thanks.

[D-Rock]

Weird, I retain water when I stop restricting carbs and pig out on them. Not only that, I also retain a lot of junk in my bowels that I excrete for days when I go carb crazy.

[RezH]

I had to shift to eating carbs (brown rice) most days in order to stop further weight loss. I've only put on a few lbs, but I appear to be less lean (midsection). I like the diet, but as far as reaching any leanness goals, it will be difficult. I'm not big on cardio, and stick to KB/Barbell workouts 3-4 days a week. Was hoping to reveal the lower abs this way, but unfortunately HIIT would be necessary, which I think would bring me down to a bodyweight I would not be comfortable with. At my current weight of 163 lbs, most days I eat less than 2000 calories.