Fitness/Diet Accountability Thread

[BPPLEE]

Go easy on the amount of weight you put on your shoulders, especially with kettlebells or clubs. Warmup with light clubs. I use yoga poses like the Child's Pose alot to loose up my shoulders and upper back.

I also take glucosamine every day, and that seems to be helping. There's more research to back it up than some of the other alternatives people are advertising. Just eating a good diet with fruits (especially berries) and vegetables in general helps with the joints, there's no particular "superfood" in terms of joint health.



Weight Watchers seems to work well for alot of people. It's basically a simplified calorie counting system.



It's probably helpful, though pricey. Sulphorophane is found in green vegetables like broccoli or kale, for instance, though cooking reduces the content. Berberine is found in barberries, a berry eaten in the Middle East and Asia. I buy them off Amazon and add a small handful to oatmeal. They are used alot in Persian and Arab cooking, and have alot of polyphenols, more than even blueberries or goji berries.

I take black cumin oil capsules and glucomannan (a soluble fiber). I also drink alot of coffee with ceylon cinnamon. I try to consume a teaspoon of cinnamon every day. Both are good for fat loss and improving cholesterol.

I also drink a small amount of water kefir every day. You can buy the regular dairy kefir, too. Kefir is great for gut health and reducing inflammation. You don't have to drink alot of it, just a quarter cup or so at a time, because it has so many live bacteria and yeasts as compared to yogurt. You can even buy kefir grains off the internet to ferment your own.

I used to take several supplements and various herbs but I think it contributed to me getting rhabdo. The only supplement that I can positively say worked without a doubt is creatine. My strength increased and I didn’t get the burn in my muscles so I could train harder, People accused me of taking steroids because of the gains I made in size and strength.
I don’t take it now because I’m trying to lose weight and I’m not sure if it would be a good idea to take it after having rhabdomyolysis..

 

[FireDragon76]

I used to take several supplements and various herbs but I think it contributed to me getting rhabdo. The only supplement that I can positively say worked without a doubt is creatine. My strength increased and I didn’t get the burn in my muscles so I could train harder, People accused me of taking steroids because of the gains I made in size and strength.
I don’t take it now because I’m trying to lose weight and I’m not sure if it would be a good idea to take it after having rhabdomyolysis..

The most likely cause of rhabdo is just overtraining- too much intensity and volume in a week. You can get plenty of muscle protein stimulus just doing 6-12 sets per week, per muscle group. Both high volume and high intensity are problematic as it's not necessary to train to complete failure, and "junk volume" can actually slow down muscle gains. Rhabdo is just an extreme manifestation of that overtraining.

If you're older, from what I have read, you should focus on moderate intensity and higher reps (16-30). That is safest for the joints. Lifting heavy at higher volume is more likely to result in joint injury.

 

[BPPLEE]

The most likely cause of rhabdo is just overtraining- too much intensity and volume in a week. You can get plenty of muscle protein stimulus just doing 6-12 sets per week, per muscle group. Both high volume and high intensity are problematic as it's not necessary to train to complete failure, and "junk volume" can actually slow down muscle gains. Rhabdo is just an extreme manifestation of that overtraining.

If you're older, from what I have read, you should focus on moderate intensity and higher reps (16-30). That is safest for the joints. Lifting heavy at higher volume is more likely to result in joint injury.

I use dumbbells and bands so I’m not going too heavy
My rhabdo was from training and not sleeping.

 

[FireDragon76]

I've been trying to walk more in the past couple of days. But I'm finding that a significant caloric deficit and cutting carbs isn't compatible with better cardiovascular performance. If I do anything more than walking (like sprinting), I get exhausted very easily. Exercise endurance has definitely gone down. So I think I'm done chasing the "optimum" activity level on my watch.

A day of light activity only gets about 2-3 activity points. 30 minutes of fast walking every day only gets you about 7 points. Over the course of a week, that comes out to only about 45-50 points or so. To get more you have to walk for about an hour every day. It seems to be trying to push me into being a triathlete.... which is just ridiculous. And in my condition ,would probably be unhealthy.

 

[FireDragon76]

I came across a Youtube channel that reviews smart watches from a technical standpoint. Most of the inexpensive watches, and even some of the midrange watches, don't track heart rate accurately enough to make assessments about physical activity or calories burned, when doing non-walking activities like moderate to high intensity activities, like jogging, HIIT, or weight lifting. There's only a correlation to actual heart rate about 55-75 percent of the time during more dynamic exercises, which is far too low to accurately record anything but walking or riding an exercise bike.

So, that could explain my experience of feeling frustrated trying to improve my PAI score- it correctly tracks low intensity activities and initially raises your PAI score as you fill out a week or two with activity. However, as cardiovascular conditioning improves and resting heart rate decreases, it becomes harder to achieve PAI points at lower intensity, but many of these watches can't accurately record higher intensity workouts to actually give you a higher weekly score: since PAI is weighted heavily towards heart rate intensity, even relatively small amounts of underreporting can significantly lower the amount of points you achieve in a day.

The less expensive watches are mostly only good for step counting or recording calories on a treadmill or eliptical doing steady-state, low intensity cardio, or recording heart rate at rest (for instance, tracking stress or heart rate variability). And most of the watches consistently undercount heart rate, activity, and caloric burn during more intense exercise. Step counting in itself is a decent metric for physical activity but it's not the only factor- swinging a light club for ten minutes burns about as many calories as a walk, and weight lifting burns even more, but the watch won't count any of it as steps.

The sleep tracking performance is even worse, which tracks with my experience of the watch. The score has very little to do with my perceived sleep quality.

The Huawei Band 8 is pretty good, being about 85 percent accurate in recording heart rate in dynamic activities, but it's a low-midrange price, not quite a casual purchase. More expensive Huawei watches are excellent for sleep and heart rate tracking, as are Apple watches. However, the price of these watches goes up significantly. Huawei watches have a problem since they are being restricted in the US from interfacing with Google apps in certain cases.

 

[RDKirk]

Polar is the only company I trust my heartrate to. I've been using Polar for over 30 years.

 

[BPPLEE]

I came across a Youtube channel that reviews smart watches from a technical standpoint. Most of the inexpensive watches, and even some of the midrange watches, don't track heart rate accurately enough to make assessments about physical activity or calories burned, when doing non-walking activities like moderate to high intensity activities, like jogging, HIIT, or weight lifting. There's only a correlation to actual heart rate about 55-75 percent of the time during more dynamic exercises, which is far too low to accurately record anything but walking or riding an exercise bike.

So, that could explain my experience of feeling frustrated trying to improve my PAI score- it correctly tracks low intensity activities and initially raises your PAI score as you fill out a week or two with activity. However, as cardiovascular conditioning improves and resting heart rate decreases, it becomes harder to achieve PAI points at lower intensity, but many of these watches can't accurately record higher intensity workouts to actually give you a higher weekly score: since PAI is weighted heavily towards heart rate intensity, even relatively small amounts of underreporting can significantly lower the amount of points you achieve in a day.

The less expensive watches are mostly only good for step counting or recording calories on a treadmill or eliptical doing steady-state, low intensity cardio, or recording heart rate at rest (for instance, tracking stress or heart rate variability). And most of the watches consistently undercount heart rate, activity, and caloric burn during more intense exercise. Step counting in itself is a decent metric for physical activity but it's not the only factor- swinging a light club for ten minutes burns about as many calories as a walk, and weight lifting burns even more, but the watch won't count any of it as steps.

The sleep tracking performance is even worse, which tracks with my experience of the watch. The score has very little to do with my perceived sleep quality.

The Huawei Band 8 is pretty good, being about 85 percent accurate in recording heart rate in dynamic activities, but it's a low-midrange price, not quite a casual purchase. More expensive Huawei watches are excellent for sleep and heart rate tracking, as are Apple watches. However, the price of these watches goes up significantly. Huawei watches have a problem since they are being restricted in the US from interfacing with Google apps in certain cases.

I bought my wife one that was interactive with the DDP Yoga site and it never worked. After returning them twice I just got a refund.

 

[FireDragon76]

I bought my wife one that was interactive with the DDP Yoga site and it never worked. After returning them twice I just got a refund.

Some can be pretty bad, though they are getting better in quality, they keep implementing features that are never quite polished as they presume, or even in some cases exposing people to unnecessary medical alarmism (afib monitors, for instance).

There's alot of biohacker gadgets out there now days with dubious medical value. I saw one the other day called Lumen, it allegedly measures your "metabolic flexibility" and has an app that gives you diet advice based on the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your breath, ignoring the fact the best way to improve your metabolic flexibility is just to lose body fat. So it becomes an expensive toy, whereas a simple diet scale and tape measure would probably do more for the average American's "metabolic flexibility".

Of course, continuous glucose monitors are really the king of biohackery right now. There's no really good evidence meticulously monitoring your glucose could help non-diabetics, and demand for CGM's has risen such that it's getting harder for actual diabetics to get hold of them.

One alternative for me might simply to focus on low itensity steady state cardio, as my watch does a good job monitoring that. I have been thinking about getting an exercise bike for my apartment, but I need to do more research on what model to get. I just need something simple, even an old used one would be OK.

 

[timewerx]

I've been trying to walk more in the past couple of days. But I'm finding that a significant caloric deficit and cutting carbs isn't compatible with better cardiovascular performance. If I do anything more than walking (like sprinting), I get exhausted very easily. Exercise endurance has definitely gone down. So I think I'm done chasing the "optimum" activity level on my watch.

A day of light activity only gets about 2-3 activity points. 30 minutes of fast walking every day only gets you about 7 points. Over the course of a week, that comes out to only about 45-50 points or so. To get more you have to walk for about an hour every day. It seems to be trying to push me into being a triathlete.... which is just ridiculous. And in my condition ,would probably be unhealthy.

Significant calorie deficit on some days of the week won't actually hurt your exercise endurance -- as long as your total weekly calorie deficit isn't huge.

Combining it with exercise is what drives the adaptations. It's what drove my VO2max to world class levels.

The condition creates a surplus of fatty acids and ketones in the blood. Prior to adaptations you'll simply reabsorb this back into body fat every time you eat. That's one reason why it's so hard to get rid of body fat.

But if you exercise, specifically doing cardio during this depleted state with fatty acids and ketones floating around in the blood, the body will try to adapt to take advantage of that energy supply. The typical adaptation is increased network of blood vessels, improvements to the red blood cells to handle more oxygen and also increasing in numbers.

The blood vessels takes the longest to adapt. Until then, you may not see any results, possibly for many months (depending on your age) and because you're exercising in depleted state, your workouts will feel harder initially.

I put my senior mom (72 years old) on my own 'easy' cardio with light strength training. Around 1 hr per day with stairs warmup and stairs finisher. The cardio being fast walking and short intervals of jogging while doing reps with light dumbbells at the same time. It's been 2 months so far and she's been sedentary prior that. But now, she's almost off her meds now.

Before she found it impossible to do. She hates it. The solution was to get her to exercise with her mind distracted.

Getting your mind genuinely distracted can boost exercise endurance by 100% and make you numb to the pain and the effort.

 

[FireDragon76]

Significant calorie deficit on some days of the week won't actually hurt your exercise endurance -- as long as your total weekly calorie deficit isn't huge.

Combining it with exercise is what drives the adaptations. It's what drove my VO2max to world class levels.

The condition creates a surplus of fatty acids and ketones in the blood. Prior to adaptations you'll simply reabsorb this back into body fat every time you eat. That's one reason why it's so hard to get rid of body fat.

But if you exercise, specifically doing cardio during this depleted state with fatty acids and ketones floating around in the blood, the body will try to adapt to take advantage of that energy supply. The typical adaptation is increased network of blood vessels, improvements to the red blood cells to handle more oxygen and also increasing in numbers.

The blood vessels takes the longest to adapt. Until then, you may not see any results, possibly for many months (depending on your age) and because you're exercising in depleted state, your workouts will feel harder initially.

I put my senior mom (72 years old) on my own 'easy' cardio with light strength training. Around 1 hr per day with stairs warmup and stairs finisher. The cardio being fast walking and short intervals of jogging while doing reps with light dumbbells at the same time. It's been 2 months so far and she's been sedentary prior that. But now, she's almost off her meds now.

Before she found it impossible to do. She hates it. The solution was to get her to exercise with her mind distracted.

Getting your mind genuinely distracted can boost exercise endurance by 100% and make you numb to the pain and the effort.

I think what you are saying is in line with what I've read. You need adaptation, which takes time. Your body has to get rid of old mitochondria, etc.

Even though today is a rest day, we went to the gym. Since it's sunday, there was no traffic crossing the road. I have been reading more about cycling and Zone 2 cardio training, so I tried to get a target heart rate of around 123.

I just used the eliptical set to about 60 watts continous power. I didn't use the arms, just the legs.

I also did a few medicine ball slams. Not as intense as usual, just enough to keep my heart rate into the low anaerobic zone. The total time in the gym was about twenty five minutes.

Shaving the hair off my arm seems to have helped my watches sensor somewhat. I don't have alot of body hair, but any amount of hair, I have read, can cause problems. I checked it a few times against some of the machine's ECG's and it was reasonably accurate. I managed to get my personal activity score to 100, which is the target. The hard bit will be keeping it up at that level. The good news is for the next few days, I only have to earn 3 points per day or so to keep up the score.

I have been looking into folding exercise bikes. Most of them seem to be relatively light weight. I'll have to look up a few reviews of them. My concern with heavier equipment is that we may not renew the lease, or we might have to move into a new unit in the complex in the next year, as the one we are in is quite old (original 1970's, it hasn't had serious remodelling since then).

 

[BPPLEE]

I think what you are saying is in line with what I've read. You need adaptation, which takes time. Your body has to get rid of old mitochondria, etc.

Even though today is a rest day, we went to the gym. Since it's sunday, there was no traffic crossing the road. I have been reading more about cycling and Zone 2 cardio training, so I tried to get a target heart rate of around 123.

I just used the eliptical set to about 60 watts continous power. I didn't use the arms, just the legs.

I also did a few medicine ball slams. Not as intense as usual, just enough to keep my heart rate into the low anaerobic zone. The total time in the gym was about twenty five minutes.

Shaving the hair off my arm seems to have helped my watches sensor somewhat. I don't have alot of body hair, but any amount of hair, I have read, can cause problems. I checked it a few times against some of the machine's ECG's and it was reasonably accurate. I managed to get my personal activity score to 100, which is the target. The hard bit will be keeping it up at that level. The good news is for the next few days, I only have to earn 3 points per day or so to keep up the score.

I have been looking into folding exercise bikes. Most of them seem to be relatively light weight. I'll have to look up a few reviews of them. My concern with heavier equipment is that we may not renew the lease, or we might have to move into a new unit in the complex in the next year, as the one we are in is quite old (original 1970's, it hasn't had serious remodelling since then).

I had to review some video at work and saw myself and though I have come a long way I see there is still work to be done.
I’m going to be sticking to my diet strictly and working out on all my off days and half day (4 workout days)

 

[FireDragon76]

Today I got up and checked my biometrics. Weight is 166.8 lbs, waist measurement is 36.125". Body fat appears to be about 20.25%. The Bello app says visceral and subcutaneous fat has been trending downward, and now has moved me from Class F to Class D, which means improvement in metabolic health.

Eating around 1300-1400 calories and extending the cardio is starting to pay off. Yesterday I burned about 650 calories in activity. I've gone from about 30-40 minutes of cardio per day, to a little over an hour total, and that seems to make a difference. It also helped that Bello seems to have correctly calculated my basal metabolic rate, whereas online calculators are off by at least 200-250 calories.

Today I'm going to try to go to the gym again and do an hour of exercise, mostly Zone 2 cardio. That seems to be best for fat burning. Sometimes I eat a small amount of candied ginger or glucose before my workouts, but I think a mostly-fasted state seems to be best for fat loss. I've been upping my protein intake slightly the rest of the day, consuming more foods like tempeh or soy burger at least once a day (I usually use TVP because it's cheap and mostly fat free, I add it to stews). On a low calorie diet, it seems to help in not losing muscle mass. Just eating beans might not cut it, since they tend to be only moderately high in protein. It also helps keep fat and carbs relatively low.

 

[timewerx]

Eating around 1300-1400 calories and extending the cardio is starting to pay off. Yesterday I burned about 650 calories in activity. I've gone from about 30-40 minutes of cardio per day, to a little over an hour total, and that seems to make a difference. It also helped that Bello seems to have correctly calculated my basal metabolic rate, whereas online calculators are off by at least 200-250 calories.

Like I've been telling you many times before. Although I didn't think I tried to achieve a calorie deficit back then. I don't count calories but I also don't eat if I'm not hungry. I only eat when I'm hungry.

Today I'm going to try to go to the gym again and do an hour of exercise, mostly Zone 2 cardio. That seems to be best for fat burning. Sometimes I eat a small amount of candied ginger or glucose before my workouts, but I think a mostly-fasted state seems to be best for fat loss. I've been upping my protein intake slightly the rest of the day, consuming more foods like tempeh or soy burger at least once a day (I usually use TVP because it's cheap and mostly fat free, I add it to stews). On a low calorie diet, it seems to help in not losing muscle mass. Just eating beans might not cut it, since they tend to be only moderately high in protein. It also helps keep fat and carbs relatively low.

On a vegan diet, sourcing protein from some veggies is not that simple. You also need to pay attention to the "essential amino acids". Real meat tend to have all the essential amino acids in sufficient amounts, earning the label "protein-complete".

There's not one vegetable that is protein-complete. You must source all the essential amino acids from different vegetables. This is important if you're anxious about losing muscle mass.

Animal milk is almost protein-complete if you're allowed to drink animal-based milk.

Also try doing those cardio workouts in a fasted state without eating before and during workout, not even in tiny quantity. Not just for fat loss but also for metabolic health.

Even at your stated 650 calorie workout isn't enough to deplete your muscle glycogen if you're just doing Zone 2 cardio. It might if you're doing resistance (anaerobic) training for over an hour.

Find a good distraction during workouts. Unbelievably, it works so very well to delay or even prevent fatigue during long workouts. How? This time I really don't know why it happens... Mind over body? We live in the Matrix?

 

[FireDragon76]

Like I've been telling you many times before. Although I didn't think I tried to achieve a calorie deficit back then. I don't count calories but I also don't eat if I'm not hungry. I only eat when I'm hungry.



On a vegan diet, sourcing protein from some veggies is not that simple. You also need to pay attention to the "essential amino acids". Real meat tend to have all the essential amino acids in sufficient amounts, earning the label "protein-complete".

There's not one vegetable that is protein-complete. You must source all the essential amino acids from different vegetables. This is important if you're anxious about losing muscle mass.

Animal milk is almost protein-complete if you're allowed to drink animal-based milk.

That's an old idea from the early 70's, but it's not really an issue if you eat a varied diet.

All plants have all the amino acids in varying amounts, however, some have a better balance than others. Potatoes are actually surprisingly good, though you'ld have to eat alot of potatoes to meet your basic RDA (it worked for my Irish ancestors, however). Soy has alot all around all but it's a little lower in methionine than meat. If you combine different protein sources over a day (like beans and rice, for instance), it's usually sufficient.

Mushrooms have more or less the same as meat in terms of their amino acid profile. Biologically, they are actually a completely separate kingdom, more like animals than plants. I try to eat mushrooms several times per week.

Absorbtion and availability being a little lower in plants can be compensated for by consuming .9g of protein per kilogram of lean mass, vs. 0.8g/kg, which is the US RDA. Add in my target lean mass of about 140 lbs, and that means somebody of my height and weight needs about 58g of protein per day. On a non-calorie restricted diet of about 1800 calories, that's easy to get without even eating any kind of processed foods, just eating beans and rice a few times a day.

Also try doing those cardio workouts in a fasted state without eating before and during workout, not even in tiny quantity. Not just for fat loss but also for metabolic health.

Even at your stated 650 calorie workout isn't enough to deplete your muscle glycogen if you're just doing Zone 2 cardio. It might if you're doing resistance (anaerobic) training for over an hour.

I don't follow the low carb orthodoxy that exhausting your glycogen means you'll burn more fat. More likely, you'll just feel worn out. I'm not treating carbs like some kind of enemy, nor do I believe there's good evidence specific macronutrients cause obesity.

Plus, I really don't want to get completely exhausted, either. I need to be able to do other activities every day. Moderate and low intensity cardio, with a modest caloric deficit, is something I can do every day and still have energy to function.

Find a good distraction during workouts. Unbelievably, it works so very well to delay or even prevent fatigue during long workouts. How? This time I really don't know why it happens... Mind over body? We live in the Matrix?

I try to listen to my body and not focus on distractions. Not listening to your body, particularly with strength training, can result in poor form and injuries.

 

[timewerx]

I don't follow the low carb orthodoxy that exhausting your glycogen means you'll burn more fat. More likely, you'll just feel worn out. I'm not treating carbs like some kind of enemy, nor do I believe there's good evidence specific macronutrients cause obesity.

Plus, I really don't want to get completely exhausted, either. I need to be able to do other activities every day. Moderate and low intensity cardio, with a modest caloric deficit, is something I can do every day and still have energy to function.

I'm on high carb diet probably my entire life because it's cheap and fitness experts recommend it on either endurance or strength workout plans.

Currently, it will take me 7 hrs of nonstop moderate cardio to get my muscular glycogen down to minimum levels, doing the workout in a fasted state, no calorie intake before or during the workout.

This is possible if you are well adapted to using body fat for fuel.

Getting these adaptations is not easy at least at the beginning. The obvious training method is exercising in a fasted state and absolutely no eating anything no matter how little before an during the workout.

I try to listen to my body and not focus on distractions. Not listening to your body, particularly with strength training, can result in poor form and injuries.

Sorry I forgot to mention, I can only do this during moderate intensity cardio sessions. Mom's only using 3 lb dumbbells so it's not going to give her any problems.

It's actually near impossible for me to get distracted during a high intensity interval due to my mode of HIIT that is done by running up our apartment stairwell. I have to stay focused or else, I could trip and fall on the stairs.

I stay focused in lifting weights as well because I could accidentally let go of the weights and that would be bad!

The crazy about distraction during moderate to medium intensity cardio, my heart rate goes down significantly as well. A zone 3 effort becomes zone 2. And ofc, my mom that usually hates to exercise is now doing for around an hour.

 

[FireDragon76]

I'm on high carb diet probably my entire life because it's cheap and fitness experts recommend it on either endurance or strength workout plans.

Most of the world eats a diet with alot of starches, and have for thousands of years so,... it's not surprising.

Keto or low carb diets can help relatively sedentary people with serious metabolic problems (ie, lots of visceral fat) lose weight in some cases but very few athletes would eat such a diet. There are obvious disadvantages generating the kind of power that most athletes require.

 

[timewerx]

Most of the world eats a diet with alot of starches, and have for thousands of years so,... it's not surprising.

Keto or low carb diets can help relatively sedentary people with serious metabolic problems (ie, lots of visceral fat) lose weight in some cases but very few athletes would eat such a diet. There are obvious disadvantages generating the kind of power that most athletes require.

I think because the muscle glycogen replenish faster through carbs than from gluconeogenesis with low carb or keto diets.

Additionally for athletes, a high carb diet helps keep a strong insulin response. An important factor for quick recharge of muscular glycogen. keto or low carb diets can weaken insulin response temporarily and can produce diabetes-like symptoms if you make a sudden switch from low carb to high carb diet.

Quite important for athletes to keep their muscle glycogen topped up each morning to sustain their high weekly training volume.

But to make myself clear to everyone else. A strong insulin response with high carb diet only works if you're an athlete. If sedentary, a high carb diet may result to diabetes. High carb doesn't work everyone and not meant for a modern sedentary lifestyle.

 

[BPPLEE]

Most of the world eats a diet with alot of starches, and have for thousands of years so,... it's not surprising.

Keto or low carb diets can help relatively sedentary people with serious metabolic problems (ie, lots of visceral fat) lose weight in some cases but very few athletes would eat such a diet. There are obvious disadvantages generating the kind of power that most athletes require.

I used low carb diets while I was training intensely and always lost weight. The problem was that eventually I gained it back. It’s not sustainable

 

[RDKirk]

I used low carb diets while I was training intensely and always lost weight. The problem was that eventually I gained it back. It’s not sustainable

It's sustainable if you keep doing what you were doing to lose it. At some point, you'll stop losing weight as your body adjust...but if you keep up the same activity level and diet, you won't gain it back.

 

[FireDragon76]

I think because the muscle glycogen replenish faster through carbs than from gluconeogenesis with low carb or keto diets.

Additionally for athletes, a high carb diet helps keep a strong insulin response. An important factor for quick recharge of muscular glycogen. keto or low carb diets can weaken insulin response temporarily and can produce diabetes-like symptoms if you make a sudden switch from low carb to high carb diet.

Quite important for athletes to keep their muscle glycogen topped up each morning to sustain their high weekly training volume.

But to make myself clear to everyone else. A strong insulin response with high carb diet only works if you're an athlete. If sedentary, a high carb diet may result to diabetes. High carb doesn't work everyone and not meant for a modern sedentary lifestyle.

Carbs are really being villified inordinately. Carbs in themselves don't cause insulin resistance, and don't directly contribute to diabetes. Carbs are also unlikely to make a person fat, as carbohydrates have a significantly higher thermic effect than fats. Typically, if a person gains weight from foods that are pure carbohydrates, it requires consuming alot of calories through fruit juices or sugar sweetened beverages. Even foods like potatoes or white rice don't have the kind of caloric density to actually cause significant increases in body fat (indeed, potato or rice diets have been actually used to treat diabetes in the past).

High saturated fat intake (not uncommon in so-called "western diets") may be the immediate cause of insulin resistance in many cases. Replacing saturated fat with monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat is known to improve insulin sensitivity.