Are Carbs the Enemy?

Carbs have suuuuch a bad reputation. They’re blamed for weight gain and the reason why we can’t burn fat. I’m sure you’ve heard so many people say, “I need to lose weight, so I’m eating low carb”. Horrible idea. I’ve had clients lose weight eating 200g+ of carbs! Why is this a thing?! These weirdo’s WILL lose weight, but what KIND of weight are they actually losing?

Let’s start with how the body works. Our bodies are able to utilize both carbs and fats for energy production. If available, it will use carbs FIRST. The only way it will turn to fats is if we’re eating little to no carbs, which is what the ketogenic diet is based around. This diet has it’s place, but it’s not for the majority. Thats another blog post for another time. But for now, we’ll stay on track. The majority of the population eats carbs, and therefore, RUNS on carbs. Without them our performance, workouts in general, fat loss, muscle growth, and metabolism will suffer.

Effective and efficient fat loss must include building muscle. That being said, carbs and fats can both be utilized to build muscle; HOWEVER, carbs are much much much better at it than fats. Keto experts will argue all day that fats can be used to build muscle, so therefore we don’t need carbs. Well, you can also dig a hole with a spoon but it’d be much easier if I gave you a fucking backhoe. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Studies continue to show that carbs are so much better than fats at building muscle.

Now, why is building muscle important to fat loss? Muscle burns way more calories at rest compared to fat. So even when you’re sitting on your ass at home, your body burns MORE calories compared to if you had less muscle. This means that it will even be easier for you to keep fat OFF once it’s lost. What’s up, increased metabolism! Therefore, if you want to efficiently lose fat, you need to be able to efficiently build muscle.

What does it take for anyone to lose weight? A deficit, right? Less calories in, more calories out. So if you’re eating low carbs + you’re in a caloric deficit, this could encourage your body to burn muscle weight instead of burning fat weight while decreasing metabolism, which is the exact opposite of what we want. Then you hop on the scale and you see you’re down 2lbs. YAY! But not really. More than likely, the majority of that weight was muscle weight lost and now your body is getting better and better at storing fat. Whoops!

Carbs ARE NOT the enemy. It is 100% possible and, in my opinion, even better to use a higher carb diet to encourage fat loss, because of the simple fact that it promotes greater muscle growth, helps preserve muscle mass, and boosts metabolism compared to eating low carb. Remember, more muscle = more calories burned at rest.  Eating low carb and higher fat has its place, but if you’re like the majority who wants to effectively lose fat, you’re going to want to do it with carbs.

So, if you’ve been working out, and you’re in a caloric deficit, eating low carb, and claim to be “losing weight”... homie, check WHAT KIND of weight you’re losing. More than likely, you’re burning through that hard earned muscle. Let’s be nicer to carbs, guys. They are clearly, the real MVP’s.