I had a conversation with a client this morning who contacted me after years and years of yo-yo dieting where she always felt she had to cut out carbs to get lean.
Until our initial consultation, she was still adamant that carbs had to be reduced to lose weight. I had some time convincing her that this is factually incorrect.
Here’s the thing. From my experience as a coach, I find that clients who cut out carbs altogether 1) end of bingeing on carbs when they reintroduce as the first taste of sugar again and it’s whey hey…. let’s go!!! And 2) The performance in their workouts is reduced and intensity impaired. This client reported both. Her original goal was to drop body fat and look leaner and toned; however, she didn’t have the ‘poke’ in her training to train intensely enough to achieve that look. Her fuel tank was empty. Carbs are the body’s preferred fuel source, and when you don’t replenish your glycogen stores effectively, performance and recovery will suffer. These are currently 2 of my 1-1 online coaching clients, their goal is to get leaner and more toned. Both clients are eating carbs with every meal to fuel their strength programs. Progress is coming along nicely.
Here are the facts:
Cutting out carbs isn’t the magic ingredient to fat loss; it’s because you’ve cut an entire food group out of your diet, which also happens to be the easiest consumed and overeaten, think chocolate, cakes, bread, biscuits etc. This in turn, reduces your overall calorie intake, which actually encourages your body to drop fat – not the other way around.
So, how do we use carbs strategically?
Mostly sedentary females
The best place to start for most people is to serve carbs in the last meal of the day and again post workout. 6 weeks Better Bodies Program, I have designed it so that you don’t have to count calories but just position carbs when your body needs them most. In actual fact, I observe that women eat enough carbs to fuel Ultra marathons that they never run, so whilst it’s okay to have them in your diet, it’s also important to bear in mind that if you are mostly sedentary, this is a good starting point.
Physically active and on your feet all-day
If you have a lot of muscle and you’re already lean, train hard, and train often, then your body has the capacity to handle and utilize more carbs. Therefore it’s okay to have them in every meal.
It’s a perfectly simple starting point if you’re unsure, and it works really well and successfully for lots of clients on the 6 weeks Better Bodies Program because you don’t have to track food endlessly. Just monitor carb intake.
If you need me to coach you privately 1-1 online then send me an email to [email protected] or drop me a DM on any of my social media channels to have a chat, and watch your body transform over the next 12 weeks.
