Beware of the Bars!!!!

Hi everyone, just thought i'd tell you that over the past 2 weeks i've lost 9lbs on ss+! I had been having bars from around week 3 and my losses slowed right down. I didn't think that a bar a day could have such a difference! I stopped the bars and went onto 3 tetra and a meal at night. Over two weeks i've lost 9lbs whereas it was taking me weeks to lose that b4.

Bars are great for some people but they didn't seem to agree with me - even although i literally adored my bar at night!

I just wanted to let others know that bars could be making a BIG difference to your losses.

Hope you are all looking forward to a thinner Christmas and New Year!
 
Great that you found out why you wasnt losing as much :)

I must say though that they make no difference to me! and lose 3 plus pounds a week on them regardless and i have 1 every day.

Need to put both sides of the story out there lol
 
By 'losses slowed down from week 3', what do you mean? Slowed down to what?

I only ask cos this crops up quite a bit - that bars interfere with speedy weight loss.

But how?? How can consuming 30 extra calories a day make much difference? :confused:
 
I think its more to do with whats in the bars rather than the calories, i think they contain more carbs than the shakes do...
 
yep bars are higher in carbs and some people are carb sensitive, really just go with what works for you
 
Beware the carbs of doom!!! On more than one occassion I sat down and practically ate a whole loaf of white bread - just as toast and margerine.

Thanks for the tip on the bars Willgetthere!
 
It's a really personal thing - I had 2 bars a day for some weeks and it didn't slow my losses so you just need to be aware that for some it does, others it doesn't and make choices based on what works for you
 
But...

(...and sorry to bump this up again, but I just don't get it :confused:)

Why should the extra carbs in the bars stop you from losing weight? Reducing calories is what makes you lose weight, not reducing carbs. Reducing carbs is what keeps you in ketosis, which helps to keep you from feeling hungry - so that you can stick to eating a low number of calories and lose weight.

I suspect that all that's really going on is that you might retain a bit more water in the weeks you eat bars - which will disappear in the first week or two that you don't have bars - but after that, it probably doesn't make any difference at all.

I'm open to being convinced, by the way. :D If not having a bar means that I'll consistently lose 4 pounds a week instead of 3 pounds a week, then hey, I'll go for it. :D But I suspect that cutting out bars would only have a short term effect.
 
Having the bars actually made me stick to CD much longer than I would have with just having the shakes.

I couldn't have done it without the bars.

Lx
 
But...

(...and sorry to bump this up again, but I just don't get it :confused:)

Why should the extra carbs in the bars stop you from losing weight? Reducing calories is what makes you lose weight, not reducing carbs. Reducing carbs is what keeps you in ketosis, which helps to keep you from feeling hungry - so that you can stick to eating a low number of calories and lose weight.

I suspect that all that's really going on is that you might retain a bit more water in the weeks you eat bars - which will disappear in the first week or two that you don't have bars - but after that, it probably doesn't make any difference at all.

I'm open to being convinced, by the way. :D If not having a bar means that I'll consistently lose 4 pounds a week instead of 3 pounds a week, then hey, I'll go for it. :D But I suspect that cutting out bars would only have a short term effect.

I agree :)
 
If I understand the Atkins book properly, ketosis is the 'fat-burning' use of energy while glucosis is the term they use for the carb-burning release - the body will always prefer to use carbs first so the fat burning effect will be delayed until the carb levels have been used up (apparently the body switches between the two modes of using energy, it can't do both at the same time). If you keep topping up with carbs, the use of fat for energy is slower, therefore weight loss is slower, even if you are taking in the same number of calories. Of course, it's all an individual thing as everyone's critical carb levels are different, so bars have an effect on some people in terms of losses.
I'm happy to be corrected if I've misunderstood :)
 
If I understand the Atkins book properly, ketosis is the 'fat-burning' use of energy while glucosis is the term they use for the carb-burning release - the body will always prefer to use carbs first so the fat burning effect will be delayed until the carb levels have been used up (apparently the body switches between the two modes of using energy, it can't do both at the same time). If you keep topping up with carbs, the use of fat for energy is slower, therefore weight loss is slower, even if you are taking in the same number of calories. Of course, it's all an individual thing as everyone's critical carb levels are different, so bars have an effect on some people in terms of losses.
I'm happy to be corrected if I've misunderstood :)

Umm, well, it's certainly debatable as more recent research has shown there is no difference in terms of fat loss from keto or non keto diets. The original research (evidently) was flawed because they took the initial water weight that is lost on ketogenic diets into account when doing the 'total weight loss' sums.

Some die hard advanced Keto dieters will suggest that there is a little difference because of the amount of protein set, but most accept the current research.

Of course, keto diets can make the whole process of reducing calories easier (but even that is debatable with some other scientists).

Getting back to the bars though, the crunch bars have equal carbs to the shakes, so those should be okay even if the dieter didn't believe the current keto vs non keto research.

Another interesting thing is that I sometimes hear people say that the added carbs of the chewy bars have caused problems, yet they manage to do SS+ with 4 shakes

In terms of carbs, there are more carbs in 4 shakes than 2 shakes and a bar for SS, even a chewy bar, yet I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that they have much poorer results on SS+ compared to SS. So I do wonder, if there is a problem, whether it's not related to the carbs at all.
 
In terms of carbs, there are more carbs in 4 shakes than 2 shakes and a bar for SS, even a chewy bar, yet I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that they have much poorer results on SS+ compared to SS. So I do wonder, if there is a problem, whether it's not related to the carbs at all.

I think the bars have gained a reputation for slowing losses which, as KD says, may not be related to carbs at all. If you think about it, for the first 2 weeks of CD there are no bars. I don't know the statistics but I would hazard a guess that more weight is lost in those weeks than any other and after week 3, weight loss does settle a little. This therefore coincides with the introduction of the bars if you choose them - which unfairly suggests that the bars have slowed losses. As has been said earlier, without the bars I wouldn't have been able to stay the course either so carbs or no carbs, they were an essential for me
 
and after week 3, weight loss does settle a little. This therefore coincides with the introduction of the bars if you choose them - which unfairly suggests that the bars have slowed losses.

Very true. Week 3 is notoriously low whether people have bars or not, and then it settles down. It's easy to assume the bars are a problem, especially if there is much talk about it with other people drawing the same conclusions.

That's not to say that the bars are definitely not an issue for everyone. Who knows, but if they are stopping fat loss, they will make a great addition to a diet where people are starving and losing unhealthy amounts of fat. The perfect solution :)
 
Sorry that's me just getting chance to log on again. I'm not really sure with regard to the bar theories! They seem to have made a difference to me but the next few weeks should clarify if it has simply been coincidence! Good luck everyone and thanks for your points of view. I will now waste some time pondering....!
 
I don't find that the bars make much difference to my losses but i choose not to have them because i find i feel hungry when i have them.
 
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