Macro partitioning
Ad libitum low-carbohydrate diets promote weight loss without significant fat mass reduction, whereas ad libitum low-fat diets promote significant fat mass loss, indicating that early weight loss on low-carb diets does not necessarily reflect negative energy balance or fat loss.
If your goal is fat loss, a low-fat diet may be more effective than a low-carb diet when eating ad libitum, as low-carb diets may result in weight loss driven by water and glycogen depletion rather than fat loss. Focus on body composition changes (like DEXA scans or progress photos) rather than just scale weight when starting a low-carb diet.
Subjects lost weight on both diets, with the LC diet resulting in 1.34 ± 0.31 kg of weight loss... and the LF diet resulting in 1.09 ± 0.31 kg of weight loss... However, participants lost 0.6 ± 0.17 kg of body fat on the LF diet... but the LC diet did not result in significant body fat loss (0.04 ± 0.17 kg)... Early weight loss with a LC diet does not necessarily reflect a similar state of negative energy balance as compared with a LF diet.
Why this rating
Randomized crossover design in a metabolic ward with ad libitum feeding controls for adherence and provides high internal validity.
Source
Effects of Ad Libitum Low Carbohydrate Versus Low Fat Diets on Body Weight and Fat Mass
Alex Schick et al. · Current Developments in Nutrition · 2020
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