Thread by @strong_sistas

Why I kept carbs high during my fat loss phase 🧵

Many people say that carbs increase insulin which leads to fat storage. Low carb diets keep insulin low, so you should get effortlessly get lean by avoiding carbs, right? No, an increase in insulin after your meals does not inhibit fat loss. This is a normal physiological response and does not necessarily mean fat loss is inhibited. 

You can still lose weight eating carbohydrates if in a calorie deficit. In fact, there are a number of benefits for including carbs during a fat loss phase…

1. Carbs help maintain precious muscle tissue. Keeping your glycogen stores replenished boosts your gym performance and helps your recovery. Full glycogen stores provide an anabolic (building-up) hormonal environment. Muscle glycogen depletion creates a catabolic (breaking-down) hormonal environment, which means more protein breakdown and less protein synthesis.

Carbs also help boost your gym performance so that you can push yourself and maintain adequate stimulus on your muscles for maintenance during your cut.

Muscle is precious tissue that you do NOT want to lose!

2. Carbohydrates support thyroid and metabolic health. The liver requires glucose to convert T4 to active thyroid hormone, T3, which plays a significant role in regulating metabolism. When T3 levels are low, the body's metabolic processes tend to slow down, which means that fewer calories are burned at rest, which can make fat loss more challenging.

When comparing isocaloric, low-calorie diets, those low in carbs reduce T3 levels, while diets that include carbs maintain T3 levels. (PMID 1249190)

3. Carbs are protein sparing. Meaning they supply the body the glucose it needs for vital functions. 

When you don’t consume carbs, your body will use some of your dietary protein and/or your muscle tissue to perform higher amounts of gluconeogenesis (turn protein into carbs) for your body to meet its baseline glucose needs. 

This also supports liver health since you are reducing one more thing the liver has to do (amongst its list of 500 tasks) – gluconeogenesis.

4. Including carbs means you will lose fat, not a bunch of water at the beginning of your cut. Each gram of glycogen (stored carbohydrate) is stored with about 3 grams of water.

As the body burns through your stored glycogen when you cut carbs, the body releases the associated water, leading to a quick drop in scale weight. However, this is primarily water loss, not fat loss.

By eating carbs, you ensure that your weight loss comes primarily from fat stores rather than this initial water weight. If low carb and eat in a calorie deficit for long enough, you will of course lose fat, but then the water weight will come back when you add carbs back in.

5. The inclusion of carbs often improves diet adherence and satisfaction. Carbs contribute to greater food variety, making meals more enjoyable and satisfying. This increased satisfaction improves long-term diet adherence, crucial for sustainable weight loss. Including carbs helps many avoid the restrict-binge cycle, as feeling less restricted in food choices makes it easier to stick to a diet plan over time.

The removal of carbs may help you initially lose weight (since you remove an entire food group, and thus a lot of calories). But, then what? How do you come out of that state? Can you maintain that day in and day out?

It is important to point out, however, that even if carbs are included during a diet, CHRONICALLY eating low calorie will lead to a Low Energy Availability (LEA) state, which is why it is important to plan out your (short term) fat loss phases, instead of chronically under eating.