Cutting Carbs Two Days Each Week May Lead To Weight Loss

If you, like many people with diabetes, are trying to lose weight, you might be more successful if you cut back on carbohydrates for just two days a week instead of undertaking an unrelenting low-calorie diet. A recent report found that women who banished carbohydrates for two days a week and ate normally the rest of the time lost about nine pounds in four months, compared to the five pounds lost by women who cut back to roughly 1,500 calories every day.

Researchers from the Cancer Therapy and Research Center at UT Health Science Center San Antonio, the American Association for Cancer Research, and Baylor College of Medicine followed 88 women, all at high risk for breast cancer based on family histories. One third of the women ate a Mediterranean-type diet that restricted calories to about 1,500 per day. The second group was told to eat normally most of the time, but two days a week to cut carbs and also reduce calories to about 650. The third group also cut carbs two days a week, but had no calorie restrictions.