Food and fitness content can be incredibly confusing, especially if you're looking to learn, but feel like all you're getting are small bits of incomplete information. Unfortunately, that's clickable for you! It piques your interest and keeps you watching.
My goal is to help my clients understand what is a fact, and what is fiction when it comes to all of the clickable content that exists on the internet. Trust me, it stresses me out to open Instagram or Tiktok to be inundated with "information"--I can only imagine how vulnerable people who are looking to improve themselves (mentally, physically, emotionally) feel when they get hit in the face with all this information. How do you even know where to begin!?
Hopefully, reading my blog will help you, over time, see what is a fact, and what is fiction.
Today, let's start with carbs!
Carbs have been a dieting topic for over a decade. I remember in the early 00s seeing low-carb dieting take over. I wasn't a fitness professional then, but, as a consequence of being an active kid, an athlete, and highly aware of my own intake, I was noticing.
I did some research to give context around when low-carb dieting really took hold, and I found this incredibly useful graphic:
As you can see, low-carb dieting has been documented as early as 776 BC, but really started getting legs in the 1950s-1970s. (Also, take note--do you see where the keto diet was introduced, and for what reason? To treat a specific condition, not to lose weight! But because carb restriction leads to loss of water weight, it was a great "diet" to market!) My memories of low-carb being the "healthy" option for dieting, make sense on this timeline. The popularity of the Atkins Diet, Zone Diet, Paleo Diet, and The South Beach Diet all send a little shiver down my spine. Ahhhhh, the bad old days :)
I think what's most interesting about this timeline is the conclusion. More and more evidence from metanalysis is coming out to support that there is no significant difference in weight loss when using a low-carb diet approach when compared to a low-fat diet approach.
So, what does this mean? It means that when calories and protein are equated, a low-carb diet does not yield better weight loss results than a low-fat diet does. All it does is create fear where it's not needed. It breaks my heart to know that so many of my clients forgo a piece of sourdough bread simply because "it's a carb", and they "can't" have carbs when they're dieting. Oh, and that sourdough, is good for your gut! More on that, later.
Oh, sweet baby angel, you can absolutely have your sourdough, and lose weight.
All that matters (in MOST cases) is that you are in a calorie deficit. You can have your sourdough, and lose weight, you just have to know what your calorie deficit is for weight loss.
That may sound intimidating as you may not be familiar with calorie deficits, but it's quite simple. Especially in the beginning.
Download the MyFitnessPal app--and honestly, if you're serious about getting reliable data to get you to your goal, buy the annual subscription. The subscription allows you to set your macros by gram, scan barcodes for foods you eat, as well as toggle between units of measurement like grams and ounces. It's worth the investment, and as a coach, it's an investment I make for myself.
Now that you have a tool, you need some tips on how to use it.
Log everything you eat AND drink in a day. Be aware of if you're capturing accurate amounts--this is VERY important. You can log your food all day, but if the amounts aren't reflective of what you're actually eating, this data is useless. Here is a link to my blog that will help you weigh and measure your food.
To start, you can guesstimate, but I highly encourage you to get nitty-gritty, at least with the foods you're already eating. You don't have to become an encyclopedia of foods and their macros, but it will help you initially if you identify the macros in the foods you currently eat. Here is a resource.
Now that you know how to log and quantify your food, do that for two weeks, and then see what your weekly average was from MyFitnessPal. I'll show you how, here. Now, take your average, and subtract 250 calories for a moderate (about 0.5lbs) rate of loss per week, or up to 500 calories for a more aggressive (about 1lb) rate of loss per week. I encourage you to increase your deficit with activity, not with less food.
Give that new calorie goal a go for 2 weeks, and as you're logging, notice what your macronutrient ratios are. A good ratio to shoot for initially is a pretty balanced one. 25% of your macros can go to protein, 55% to carbs and 20% goes to fats.
Log everything! If you don't log it, you're only "cheating" yourself by corrupting your data. You want to be reliable! Trust me, nothing is worse than thinking you've done all the things to be in a deficit, only to find that there were some sneaky calories that got left out and upended your weight loss deficit for the week. It happens! Especially with alcohol :)
Log your food for 4 total weeks, with the calorie deficit you determined initially. Weigh yourself weekly so you can see trends, but don't act on your weigh-ins until you've done 4 weeks of consistent logging and you're confident that your numbers are accurately recorded.
My post started with the goal of busting the low-carb myth, and I think you'll find as you track your food and are in a calorie deficit, you'll bust that myth for yourself!
My goal is to help my clients understand how to eat in a way that supports their overall well-being. Yes, having a goal is part of that, but it's only part of finding your way to your personal harmony where food is involved. My expertise is helping you dig deep in ways that support your well-being. I'll help you take your weaknesses, and turn them into strengths--and if not strengths, things you're aware of, and can account for, so you can achieve the goal you're after.
Gosh, for a post about carbs, this sure got deep! The good news is, the carbs stuff--it's not that deep. If you feel you could use a coach who understands that while the "food stuff" can be fun, it can also be a huge obstacle and the trickiest part of navigating your way to finding real peace with how you nourish yourself. Because yes, again--goals matter, but how you feed yourself is truly an act of nourishment, and if that is foreign to you, I'm here to help!
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