It seems it is possible to lose weight using a low carb, higher protein diet. But first my disclaimer. I'm not a medical professional any results reported are from my personal experience. But it did work.
It didn't take too much convincing to get me to the doctor's office after complaining about what I described as an unusual heart beat. In the doctor's office the nurse took my blood pressure and asked me how I was feeling. The concern in her voice clued me in, this wasn't small talk. My blood pressure was dangerously high and I was sent for an EKG. Not being up on my medical acronyms, I wasn't sure what that meant. If my blood pressure hadn't already been high this would have put me over the top. Actually the EKG is quick and painless. The results indicated more tests were needed. I was sent home with a heart monitor to wear for the next 24 hours after which blood work would be done. The results from the monitor and blood work were reviewed and it was decided that a stress test was required. After the EKG, heart monitoring, blood work and stress test results were analyzed, I met with the doctor.
The doctor determined my dangerously high blood pressure was probably the fact that I had even higher more dangerous levels of cholesterol in my system. He prescribed a blood pressure medication and recommend a diet. His thinking was, try to reduce the cholesterol through diet before deciding on additional medication. The diet was a low carb diet. Then report back in about 4 weeks for more blood work. Beef chicken, pork, fish, have always been on my list of things to eat. This sounded doable to me. And of course - exercise. Which wasn't going to be too hard, I'd been hitting the gym at least 3 nights a week up to that point. I was feeling pretty good about this.
I gave up, breads, rice, potatos, beans and some fruits. This was harder than I expected. But I kept with it. I started bicycling 10 miles a day and kept my total carb count to 30 grams or less per day. In 4 weeks I lost 16 pounds, 4 weeks after that total weight loss was 27 pounds. To get to the Body Mass Index number, I still need to drop another 8 pounds. I'm pretty confident I'll get there.
Recent blood work shows bad cholesterol levels are down, good cholesterol levels are up and blood pressure is normal. Bottom line, it worked. It may work for you but check with your doctor first.