Is this the Somogyi effect?

[CBeresford]

Protein and weight bearing exercise is the key to retaining muscle, not carbs. Most low carbers increase proteins and or fats rather than carbs once they reach target weight. BMI has some serious flaws as a sole judge. If you still have belly fat/high body fat how confident are you that you are the right weight now? How does height to waist stack up?

There is no such thing as carbs too low. Whilst almost all of us choose to incorporate some carbs of some type in varying amounts we can survive just fine without them. Any standard nhs eatwell based course, as yours is, will advocate nearly 40% starchy carbs and then there’s any more that come from fruit veg beans and pulses so in all likelihood it’s well over 50% in total. Conversely the nhs in some areas also funds the low carb program which advocates considerably less than eatwell as do various other nhs organisations and practice. Which boils down to; eat what works for you to maintain you blood glucose and weight and sanity rather than an arbitrary number that your body doesn’t recognise

I am definitely getting conflicting advice from the nutritionist supporting me on this program, quarter of the plate must be starchy carbs, according to the program I am on. Weight wise I am 8 st 7 lbs and a size 8 to 10, 4 ‘ 11” shrunk from 5’ over the years. No bum, loose abdominal skin and rather emaciated legs, I can see the loss of muscle myself so wasn’t surprised with the results of the body analysis, my waist is still slightly too big at 30” but my abdominal muscles separated during pregnancy and c section, so a bit like Scarlet in Gone with the Wind after childbirth, I am never going to have a tiny waist again (not that it ever was). But yes we could all lose more weight if not actually underweight which would be 6 st 5 lbs for me. I would like to lose a bit more fat but no more muscle. A meta analysis of research has shown that for longevity the elderly need a higher BMI than the young.