The LOW down on CARBS

Carbs is one of those made up terms that is so common in our language now that people actually forget it stands for carbohydrate, a very necessary food group. Everyone either loves or hates them, like carbs is a person - either the superhero of pumped up biceps and juicy glutes or the evil villain of stubborn stomach fat.

It's just another term that's been bandied about in fitness for donkeys years, always in different guises. Right now the trend is for Keto - a ketogenic diet which tends to be low carb, high fat, moderate protein.

Let me just start by saying weight loss will ALWAYS be a result of calories in vs calories out. However the rate at which you lose body fat MAY be affected by the macro percentages you consume. Nothing however is a miracle fat loss cure and the degree to which it affects people will vary person to person.

BACKGROUND ON CARBS

It was The Atkins Diet that really surged the popularity of playing around with carbohydrate intake as a means of losing weight. We all know that previously fat was considered the evil bastard of fitness and health, so we cut that shit out quicker than you can say Jane Fonda. Everyone ditched butter and swapped it for toxic, hydrodgenated and heavily processed margarine, which we now know is even more artery clogging than butter ever was. But at the time we believed what we were told... and Flora sponsored the London marathon.

So when the media told us that all of a sudden we COULD eat fat and not only that, we'd lose weight doing it, the nation went fat crazy and diet mags were full of greasy fry ups which were the new superfood. In fact whenever I think of the Atkins diet, in my head I get an image of a sloppy fry up of sausages, eggs and bacon, and Jennifer Aniston in size 6 jeans.

Thing is this wasn't strictly healthy either and so emerged stories of cholesterol levels being through the roof, a decline in fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and a legion of Atkins fans gobbling daily fry ups, wondering why they weren't losing weight and had the skin of a thirteen year old boy.

So fast forward to now. Low carb is still a thing but combined with a diet rich also in protein, fresh fruit and vegetables and good fats.

Before I go on let me just state one fact again now that remains the same for A N Y weight loss diet. It always has and it always will. CALORIES IN VS CALORIES OUT will determine whether or not you are losing weight. A calorie is a calorie regardless of whether it's carbohydrate, fat or protein and if you are consuming less calories than your body requires - you will lose weight.

BUT you can employ measures which might help you manage your diet better, and reducing your carbs is one of them. You might find your body responds well to altering your intake of certain foods so often a bit of trial and error is beneficial. There is evidence to suggest low carb can help all manor of conditions however my own knowledge is limited.

WHAT IS LOW CARB?

Carb cycling, tracking your macros, low carb diet, keto diet all refer to lowering the amount of carbohydrate in your diet. There are a few reasons why people believe this helps lose weight although any actual medical PROOF is hard to find. It comes like so many things in fitness now, from bodybuilding competitors trying to find tactics pre show to give them the edge. And now everyone's doing it.

I'll try and explain this simply or we'll be here all day.

In order to burn carbohydrate your body produces insulin, the fat storing hormone. To put your body in a ketotonic state where it burns fat instead of storing it (this is where the term KETO comes from) low carbs = low insulin = maximum fat burnage.

There's also some evidence to suggest carbs make your body store more water (I have a real issue with water retention so this could be why lowering carbs works for me)

If you want to read more about this and all the science there's an excellent article on musclefor life.com by Micheal Mathews called The Beginners Guide to Carb Cycling for Weight Loss.

So basically why I do it is because for some reason I always feel a little tighter and lighter after a few days low carb. It could be water, it could be I over eat carbs... it could be any number of things so sometimes you have to stop analysing and just go with it.

HOW I DO IT

I'll do 2-3 low carb days then 1 or 2 higher carb ones. Generally my diet is rich in protein, vegetables and fruit as standard. I don't eat carbs like I used to years ago, like I'd never sit down to a meal of just carbohydrate, I always add some protein.

On a low carb day I'd have say a low sugar fruit like berries or melon with Greek yogurt and seeds, lunch a salad with chicken and oil based dressing, then dinner would be chicken or fish with a pile of veg, salad and maybe a little sweet potato or zero noodles (konjac based low carb noodle/pasta/rice)

I snack on water melon, apples and plain nuts/seeds, drink coffees, water, a can of diet coke (my bad I know! But I don't stay completely clean ALL the time!)

A higher carb day might be Oats for breakfast, Wholegrain sandwich with chicken, fish and salad for lunch and then chicken or fish for dinner with normal jacket potato, wholewheat pasta/noodles... something like that.

It's all about trial and error and it really is about finding what works for you. I hope this has explained things a little better if you're a newbie to it all.

What you can try first of all is cutting out carbs at night in your last meal (dinner) and see if you get any results. That's the easiest way to start before you get hung up on a full on carb cycle.

There are lots of articles on it and check out my instagram post here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSUHYyzB1bt/

but please remember it really is what works for YOU and not everyone's way is gospel (although they'll try to convince you otherwise)

Good luck! Please give me a shout if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer x