Why do I slim down (almost too much) when I cut out starch completely?

-Luke-

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I have experienced this three times in my life so far. When I was ~18 years old, I had a short low carb phase and slimmed down a lot in a few weeks. When I was in my mid-20s, I tried cutting out starch completely. But I ate a lot of fruits and honey. At that time, I abandoned the project because the sight in the mirror was almost unpleasant and I found myself too thin.

Two weeks ago I tried it again (I'm 34 now). Yesterday I looked in the mirror and had the same thought again: "Man, I'm getting almost too thin."

I have never been overweight in my life. I'm 1,85m (~6ft) and the highest weight I've ever had was around 180 lbs. But when I remove starches from my diet completely, the slimming down effect becomes visible within a week or so. When I do this, I don't reduce calories. I just replace starches (white rice, potatoes) with fruit/honey/juice. And I didn't eat huuuuge amounts of starch before. One meal a day with rice or potatoes.

Does anyone have an explanation as to what could be the reason for this?
 

gaze

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same here. I got too thin on no starch so I had to add it back in. Even eating a pint of ice cream along with unlimited OJ I couldn't maintain weight without starch. I think it has to do with low thyroid, because people who supplement thyroid tend to have no problems and can even gain weight without starch. I think when you have low thyroid, the insulin from starch can momentarily substitute by putting glucose and minerals into the cells, the job that thyroid can also do
 
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Bagels, doughnuts, croissants are heroin for my brain. Very opiate-like effect from consuming that stuff (I believe wheat screws with the brain in some way). Avoiding them greatly helps me maintain my weight down.

Starches in general aren't a problem - potatoes aren't that tasty when boiled, to be honest. I eat maybe one or two and I've had enough of them.

But all this wheat stuff. It is disgustingly good. That is a food group I have to cross out entirely from my diet or I just balloon like a pig.
 

youngsinatra

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I eat around 500g of dry weighed basmati rice a day. Needed to maintain my caloric demands. Also much more easy-2-digest than just sugar. Also basmati rice has a very decent glycemic index (50-58) in comparison to white sugar (65).

The awesome thing of rice is that you can add a lot of delicious meats, some therapeutic veggies and a lot of salt (which many lack on no-starch diets).
 

jet9

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Same here, with not starch does not matter how much meat, tallow/marrow, fruits/honey i eat i am getting too skinny :)
That being said i do only tubers for starch. No grains/rice.
 

Murtaza

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i completely cut out wheat based prodcuts 3 months ago and have lost 25 lbs with the same amount of calories. i eat rice every other day tho
 

Salome

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Omg. I wish I had this problem. I'm 5'10" and 157 pounds. I actually just started cutting out starches, maybe I will drop weight too.
 
T

TheBeard

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Cutting starch out --> gut inflammation decreases --> overall inflammation decreases --> not as much water is needed in tissues.

You're probably just an inflated balloon, not "muscular", so when you lose your water you look thin.

Keep the low starch diet going and build quality muscle.
 
OP
-Luke-

-Luke-

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Easy - lack of kcal.
I don't think so. I didn't eat a lot of starch, one meal per day, normal portion. So let's say I ate 100g of Rice. That would give me ~350 kcal. I replace the rice with 333 ml grape juice (~230 kcal) and one mango (without pit and skin: ~350g => ~ 200kcal). Otherwise I do not change anything. The fruit/juice/honey gives me at least as much kcal as the rice.
 
OP
-Luke-

-Luke-

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Cutting starch out --> gut inflammation decreases --> overall inflammation decreases --> not as much water is needed in tissues.

You're probably just an inflated balloon, not "muscular", so when you lose your water you look thin.

Keep the low starch diet going and build quality muscle.
That sounds reasonable. If I remember correctly, this effect (water retention) is also seen in low carb diets. That would explain why I had the same effects with a no-starch diet than during my brief low carb phase.

I also have less/no acne when I cut out starches completely. That might support your inflammation theory.
 

reality

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Ime, starch fills muscle glycogen rapidly but fruit does not. Less starch will lead to less muscle glycogen and thus less water weight... but as a result you look smaller with less full muscles

I get the same whenever I cut starch and replace with fruit. I drop weight quick but it’s all glycogen and water, and my workouts suffer. Starch refills my glycogen that fruit does not, and thus retains water.

I think starch is important if you’re heavily weight training regularly.
 

Sefton10

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Ime, starch fills muscle glycogen rapidly but fruit does not. Less starch will lead to less muscle glycogen and thus less water weight... but as a result you look smaller with less full muscles

I get the same whenever I cut starch and replace with fruit. I drop weight quick but it’s all glycogen and water, and my workouts suffer. Starch refills my glycogen that fruit does not, and thus retains water.

I think starch is important if you’re heavily weight training regularly.
There’s a difference in muscle quality at play too. Denser, leaner, higher quality muscle vs. Water logged, inflamed, stressed muscle. The former may not look as good under clothes, but is ‘healthier’ than the typical pumped up, gym-bro latter.
 

hei

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Never lost weight from that, or from excluding anything else. Maybe the muscle thing is right, I don't have any so a bit less glycogen storage there wouldn't make a difference.
 
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Ime, starch fills muscle glycogen rapidly but fruit does not. Less starch will lead to less muscle glycogen and thus less water weight... but as a result you look smaller with less full muscles

I get the same whenever I cut starch and replace with fruit. I drop weight quick but it’s all glycogen and water, and my workouts suffer. Starch refills my glycogen that fruit does not, and thus retains water.

I think starch is important if you’re heavily weight training regularly.

Yep, water retention. Every 1g of stored carb (glycogen), you can hold up to 3-4g of water.
 

ALS

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When I lived in Japan, I was trying to eat like them, and it didn't work. I had to cut the rice out and sub with vegetables, that was when the weight started dropping off. I was undiagnosed hypothyroid then.
 

meatbag

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Ime, starch fills muscle glycogen rapidly but fruit does not. Less starch will lead to less muscle glycogen and thus less water weight... but as a result you look smaller with less full muscles

I get the same whenever I cut starch and replace with fruit. I drop weight quick but it’s all glycogen and water, and my workouts suffer. Starch refills my glycogen that fruit does not, and thus retains water.

I think starch is important if you’re heavily weight training regularly.
Does the starch you're eating have added sodium or are you eating plain starch?
 

meatbag

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Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context
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"Starch and glucose efficiently stimulate insulin secretion, and that accelerates the disposition of glucose, activating its conversion to glycogen and fat, as well as its oxidation. Fructose inhibits the stimulation of insulin by glucose, so this means that eating ordinary sugar, sucrose (a disaccharide, consisting of glucose and fructose), in place of starch, will reduce the tendency to store fat. Eating “complex carbohydrates,” rather than sugars, is a reasonable way to promote obesity. Eating starch, by increasing insulin and lowering the blood sugar, stimulates the appetite, causing a person to eat more, so the effect on fat production becomes much larger than when equal amounts of sugar and starch are eaten. The obesity itself then becomes an additional physiological factor; the fat cells create something analogous to an inflammatory state. There isn't anything wrong with a high carbohydrate diet, and even a high starch diet isn't necessarily incompatible with good health, but when better foods are available they should be used instead of starches. For example, fruits have many advantages over grains, besides the difference between sugar and starch. Bread and pasta consumption are strongly associated with the occurrence of diabetes, fruit consumption has a strong inverse association."
-
 

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