How To Binge On Carbohydrates And Still Lose Body Fat

You've likely opened up this blog thinking it can't possibly be true. For years you've been told carbohydrates are the pinnacle of nutritional evil, and eating too much of them will result in unwanted body fat. But the truth plays out much differently than that. In fact, carbohydrates play an important role in ensuring we stay on track with our diets, have enough energy, and end up losing the fat we're here to get rid of. Thanks to the findings of science, this article explains how to strategically binge on carbohydrates and still lose body fat.

Are carbohydrates bad? How to make them help you lose weight

Tell me if this sounds familiar: you "cut out carbs" because you're worried they make fat. You don't know how many calories you should eat a day, nor how many you are eating. So you just cut out carbs and cross your fingers.

Then you get invited to somewhere like a friend's birthday and are forced into eating their luscious cake. And the taste carries you away to some unfamiliar land of pleasure that has you looking for the next slice. Then the next. Then the bingeing starts.

And. You. Can't. Stop.

That's because depriving yourself of a significant amount of calories (like cutting out carbohydrates) results in a vicious energy gap that your body will fight you to make up for (1).

Of course, you can ensure you're in a 20% calorie deficit for fat loss via a ketogenic diet (only eating fat and protein and next to no carbs) but most people don't persist with a ketogenic diet because they enjoying eating carbohydrates.

Moreover, NOT eating carbohydrates doesn't make you lose more weight if you're in a healthy 20% calorie deficit.

When scientists test various subjects on different diets with higher or lower fat or carbohydrate intake, the fat loss results are the same (2). Here's exactly what I mean:

Thomas needs to eat 1700 calories to be in a 20% calorie deficit for healthy fat loss.

Thomas's daily macronutrient breakdown INCLUDING carbohydrates

Protein: 170 grams (x 4 = total calories, which is 680 calories)

Fat: 60 grams (x 9 = total calories, which is 540 calories)

Carbs: 120 grams ( x 4 = total calories, which is 480).

TOTAL = 1700 calories.

Thomas's daily Ketogenic Diet approach: 

Protein: 170 grams (x 4 = total calories, which is 680 calories)

Fat: 105 grams (x 9 = total calories, which is 945 calories)

Carbs: 18 grams ( x 4 = total calories, which is 75). 

TOTAL = 1700 calories.

Both equal 1700 calories, but one doesn't result in more fat loss than the other (2,3).

And not only do you NOT need to cut out carbohydrates for efficient weight loss but eating them to fuel your workouts provides better energy (ATP) than having a diet high in fat (4).

So now you know you can eat carbohydrates daily, guilt-free. And sometimes, you can "binge" on them guilt-free, too. Here's how:

Carbohydrates for fat loss: How a "Refeed" day helps you lose belly fat

When you reduce calories you'll notice after some time you start lacking energy; simply walking anywhere is a chore. This is due to a drop in your leptin levels (5,6), a protein that also acts as the body's appetite-controlling hormone (7). This hormone exists to preserve our energy; it kept cavemen alive by signalling them to stop travelling to preserve body fat for fuel when there was no food available.