Is cutting carbs the right way to lose weight?

Is cutting carbohydrates the best way to lose weight?

Unfortunately for those looking to lose weight quickly, the answer isn’t as clear cut as yes or no. There are a number of ways to lose weight, and cutting carbs is a proven way of losing fat quickly, but often the lost weight is difficult to keep off when returning to normal eating habits.

Many fad diets come and go, and in recent years the super-low carb diet became incredibly popular. It promised quick results, and it wasn’t lying! The problems arose when people came off the diets and reintroduced carbohydrates in to their daily eating. Dieter’s bodies had become so starved of carbohydrates, and metabolic rates had been reduced so much, that more often than not, most of the lost weight was put back on, plus some extra! If you’ve tried very low carb diets this may ring true to you.

Carbohydrates aren’t the enemy. We need them for energy, and they’re some really great complex carbs that release their energy slowly, providing you with solid energy throughout the day. Examples of these are wholewheat pasta, brown rice, beans and lentils. If you exercise regularly, sometimes you’ll need quick release carbs to help you through your workout, or to replenish lost glycogen afterwards. A fruit or two before/after training often does the job, whilst still remaining healthy.

So, if cutting carbs does help you lose weight, but you need them for energy, what is the best way to burn fat and not put it back on? From personal experience, the answer is to limit and time your carbohydrates.

For example, when trying to lose weight (cut), I may eat something like this on an average day:

Breakfast – Porridge with skimmed milk
Snack – Banana
Lunch – Chicken with brown rice and salad
Snack – Beef Jerky and Protein Shake
TRAINING
Dinner – Tuna and boiled egg salad
Snack – Almonds and Peanut butter


You will see I have limited my carbohydrates to the first half of the day. This means I supply my body with energy for the day’s work and evening’s training, but I still limit the overall carb intake, meaning my body doesn’t store the unused, excess carbohydrates as fat. If you take one point from this hub, let it be this: Avoid late night carbs!! You may notice that I ate six times a day. This is to keep your metabolism burning across the day, encouraging your body to burn fat at an increased rate. Try not to skip breakfast (it is true what they say; it's the most important meal of the day!).

If you are struggling to come up with low carbohydrate meals, you could try preparing a healthy soup recipe for dinner. This may include chicken and veg (although go easy on the starchy/carby vegetables like potatoes). Meat with salad and veg is also a good bet. Eat as much green veg as you like. It is low carb, filling, and very healthy.

As a guide, when I was cutting this year, I aimed to eat 80-120g of carbohydrates per day (timed before 2pm). My training regime was mostly weight lifting based, and I lost a dramatic amount of fat over the space of several weeks. Although