Protein > Carbs
We regularly sit down with our members at Raise The Bar headquarters in Tramore to discuss goal setting.
“I want to lose body fat” or “I want to lose the bingo wings” is the type of things we often hear. How can I achieve this?
Like most things in health and fitness, it depends is the answer but that’s boring and people generally want something they can take away and work on, so here is one of the reoccurring pieces of advice we give:
Replacing unnecessary amounts of carbohydrates and increasing protein intake
From our experience, too many people consume copious amounts of carbs and not enough protein. The old saying by famous strength Charles Polliquin to “earn your carbs” is one that pops to mind here. For anyone wanting to lose body fat and build lean tissue, this might be the simplest change you can make.
Let’s look into carbohydrates. Carbs are typically used as an energy source and are particularly important for people that need vast amount of energy such as endurance competitors. So, they are not the devil by any means. The issue tends to arise with the amount and type of carbs we consume. There are three types of carbs: sugar, starch, and fibre. Unfortunately, we see a high dependency on sugars in so many diets! We need to change our approach and get our carb intake from fibres and starch sources. On top of this, aiming for the least processed version of these is beneficial (think of a potato straight from the ground vs a portion of chips from your local chippie). Carbs tend to cheaper and more convenient than protein foods, thus making it easier to eat too much. Alongside this they tend to be packaged in a more appealing manner, its hard to make an egg look attractive. They are designed for us to overindulge in, so don’t beat yourself up if you’ve fallen for this.
An influx of high sugar carbohydrates can lead to an increased insulin response due to blood sugar levels rising. The resultant drop can leave people craving food or having no will power. This cycle can be hard for people to break, but there might be a solution …
Protein can be beneficial for those looking to lean up. Firstly, it helps repair muscle tissue faster allowing us to train more, an important part of losing body fat and general mood. Protein is also more satiating, meaning that it will keep us fuller for longer. This helps as we theoretically should eat less food. Lastly, protein is essential in maintaining a healthy hormonal profile and the blood sugar spike from protein foods is not as prominent as fast acting carbohydrates.
So, more protein, less processed carbs.
By the way, there are definitely people that can thrive on a high carb diet, we just find this approach to be simpler and gives faster fat loss results.
Let’s cut to a practical example. Here is a sample meal day for an 80kg woman who wants to lose some body fat. We start with 1.5-2.0g of protein per kg of bodyweight and aim to spread this out over 4 meals. As you can see there is plenty to eat throughout the day, so no need for any extreme diets yet this lady will still achieve her fat loss targets when coupled with exercise. This simple alteration has given amazing results to our members. Why not give it a try?
