Carbs are always the ones to get the boot when it comes to trying to lose weight!
You don’t have to eliminate whole food groups to get results!
Ugh, carbs are not the enemy. Really, ladies, they are not the enemy. They are your friends or can be your friend. If you kicked them to the curb a while ago, you can reintroduce them with some of the tips that I will share in this blog.
So, why is that I lose weight automatically when I cut carbs?
Because you have created a calorie deficit, and you are storing less glycogen in your muscles.
So, when you have gone with little to no carbs, the body generally stores less water and glycogen in your muscle.
So, as you can see any weight loss at least initially is just water weight.
The enemy or thing that causes weight gain lies in overconsumption, not carbs specifically.
It’s easy to villainize something or scapegoat it, instead of taking responsibility or looking at our nutrition as a whole.
Here’s how most folk’s breakfasts go:
Breakfast: a coffee & pastry or a bagel – or just the coffee
Who has time for breakfast, right? You could if it was a priority to you.
Snack: Handful of nuts
Lunch: A small salad with a chicken breast and no dressing.
Snack: An apple
Dinner: Pasta with sauce
After dinner: All the chips or popcorn, a glass of wine, a bowl of ice cream
Girlfriend, you are starving. You probably lost weight at first eating this way. I’m guessing you probably fought through the hunger for the most part, until you got to dinner and night time snack.
You’re also wondering – why am I craving sweets, why am I so tired, and if you are working out, you probably don’t feel like it or can’t push yourself. Overall, you’re most likely not motivated because your energy is in the dumps.
The above menu of eating lacks a very, very important macronutrient. The only meal that had Protein in it was lunch.
Second, you aren’t eating enough, especially if you are an active person. Don’t feed the body properly; it will not let you lose anything. If anything, you will start to gain weight.
The body is gonna hold on to all the calories when you starve it because it’s wired to keep you alive during a famine. And that is exactly what it thinks; it doesn’t care if you are trying to lose weight.
So, yes you may think it’s the carbs fault, but in actuality, you are undereating, not eating enough protein, and your breakfast could be built better.
The other thing is that you may not even recognize that you are undereating because you have trained the body to survive on low calories.
Carbs are your friends; again, they are not the enemy. You can over eat other macros as well and gain weight.
If you are an active individual, you need carbs. If you are a runner or if you lift weights, workout, or have a demanding job – on your feet all day, you need carbs.
If you like carbs, eat them!
Carbs are your first fuel source; they give you energy, and they are very satisfying.
The problem lies in the amounts you eat and not eating protein with your carb sources.
Not eating protein with your carb sources is what spikes the blood sugar, and the reason that you crash and burn. Therefore, you seek more carbs and the cycle repeats.
Make Carbs your friend by:
- Reintroduce them slowly to your diet. Start slowly with 1-2 servings a day. Place them where you feel you need them most.
- Place carbs around your workouts – before and after is really necessary for nourishment and recovery.
- Adjust carbs to your activity level. Have more carbs on training days and less on non-training days.
- When possible, always do you best to have a protein source with your carbs, some veggies, or even a fat source, it will slow down the absorption of the carbs.
So that breakfast from early in the blog,
try these simple fixes – they will have you feeling so much better.
Breakfast: a coffee & pastry or a bagel – or just the coffee
Who has time for breakfast, right? You could if it was a priority to you.
New Breakfast: Coffee, Eggs – either whole and or egg whites with a whole egg to save fats for other meals. Oatmeal if you like it, or whole wheat toast, potatoes, etc
— Don’t like carbs at breakfast – try some bacon or avocado, Greek yogurt
— Some fruit
Snack: Handful of nuts
New Snack: Protein shake, if you like them, plus the nuts.
A banana with a shake, PB, and a Protein shake.
A tortilla wrap with spinach and tuna.
Lunch: A small salad with a chicken breast and no dressing.
New Lunch: Build a bigger salad with chicken and your favorite dressing. Struggle with using too much, put it on the side or literally measure out 2 tablespoons. I love dressing, so when it’s a fattier dressing, I’ll keep it in check by measuring it.
Snack: An apple
New Snack: Add a protein source, or maybe a Questbar if you like them, I love them. Try one before you buy a whole box!
Dinner: Pasta with sauce
New Dinner: Simple fix – add some protein. Steak, Chicken Breast, Ground Turkey or Chicken, Fish and add a veggie or salad with all the veggies that you love! 🥗
After dinner: All the chips or popcorn, a glass of wine, a bowl of ice cream
New after dinner: You’ll feel better and may not reach for all the snaxx, but if you do, pick smartly. Not all three things, then watch your portion sizes.
And that’s all I have to say about that! 🙂 Eat your carbs! Pick less processed ones more often than not. Don’t ban foods that you enjoy. You can still lose fat while eating carbs.
Did you know that I offer 1:1 Online Fitness & Nutrition Coaching?
It’s my STRONGER You Coaching Program to help women become healthier, get stronger, and lose fat.
This program is for women who are ready to get off the diet roller coaster!
If you are that women? Check it our here for the deets!
I promise you won’t be disappointed,
but please only apply to my Coaching Program, if you are truly ready to do it differently!
