Most days I felt great and then there were days that my energy level was depleted, on top of the fact that I worked out days a week. It was not until I started working with registered dieticians, personal trainers, and my professors here at UAB that I realized I needed carbs to help my body with losing weight.

Having a healthy balance of carbs in my diet gave me more energy to crush my workouts and burn more fat. Carbs not only fuel the body but aid in fat metabolism.

Your body requires glycogen glucose to burn fat molecules for energy. Where do we get glucose from? Once I started eating carbs again, I did gain some weight back. Carbs have many other benefits as well. Carbs fuel the brain, kidneys, heart muscles, and central nervous system.

The fiber found in carbs helps with digestion and keeps you full longer. It is all about choosing the right carbs. Choose carbs that are full of nutrients. Here are few healthy carbohydrate rich foods:. The Dietary for America recommends percent of calories come from carbohydrates for adults.

Which would be grams of carbs on a 2,calorie diet. Carbs are not the enemy; they are just the opposite! Fuel your body the right way. Welcome to My PHAT Life. My name is Brittani and I am a senior at UAB majoring in Kinesiology, minoring in Psychology.

My fitness journey started three and a half years ago while I was on vacation with my daughter at Universal Studios. She was so excited to be there, as was I. She wanted to ride everything, and I was so excited to ride with her.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. I was too big for many of the rides, so instead of us enjoying all the rides together, she rode alone or with my wife. With that decrease in muscle breakdown due to ketones and an increase in muscle buildup from higher protein intake, you have a perfect recipe for stimulating muscle growth.

In fact, a study performed at the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut found that men on a low-carb, high-protein diet gained muscle mass without even exercising. Choose animal protein sources, such as beef, poultry, fish, eggs and dairy, as well as whey and casein protein powders.

This myth persists mainly because research on low-carb diets followed by endurance athletes concluded that lower carb intake negatively impacted endurance. However, bodybuilders and other strength athletes are much different than endurance athletes because of the energy systems used during training.

Endurance athletes burn a lot of muscle glycogen, but bodybuilders typically use other fuel sources, such as stored adenosine triphosphate — the major energy source for many cellular functions in the body — and creatine phosphate the form of creatine that helps make ATP for the muscle.

Unless you train with very high reps more than 15 per set or excessive sets more than 20 per muscle group , low-carb diets will not affect your strength or energy in the gym.

Regardless of the study, if you typically eat a lot of carbs and then switch to a low-carb diet, you may feel a dip in energy at the very beginning; however, after several days, the body will adapt and energy will not be a problem.

When training while on a low-carb diet, keep reps to 15 or less per set and total sets per muscle group to 20 or less. Some diets are extreme when it comes to avoiding all carbohydrates.

There are three rules: avoid carbs at night; eat most of your carbs earlier in the day; and eat about 60g of carbs after workouts. Go with slow-digesting carbs most of the time, including fruit, oatmeal, whole-grain products, sweet potatoes and fibrous vegetables. After workouts, however, consume fast-digesting carbs, such as white bread, white potatoes, dextrose, sucrose or a sports drink like Gatorade.

Eat just under 1g of carbs per pound of bodyweight per day. Every two weeks, go extremely low carb for three days to deplete your muscle glycogen levels and further boost fat burning. During those three days, drop carbs to less than g per day and eliminate post-workout carbs.

Carbs are not what satiate you and make you feel full. It seems high-protein meals cause a greater release of peptide YY. This hormone, produced in the gut, signals the brain that you are full.

By keeping every meal high in protein, you will keep hunger pangs at bay. Eating high-protein meals every two to three hours each day will ensure that you never get hungry, regardless of how low your calories drop.

Although some of the more mainstream low-carb diets like Atkins allow people to eat tons of fatty foods, such as bacon, sausage, butter, etc. The mainstream low-carb diets include such fatty foods so that regular guys can follow the diet and not feel like they are, well, dieting.

You can certainly enjoy bacon and mayo from time to time on a low-carb diet, but your best bet is to eat fairly low-fat foods and choose more healthy fats. Fat is important and will help keep up your testosterone levels. Keep fat intake to about percent of total daily calories.

Choose from whole eggs, beef, salmon and other fatty fish, avocados, and peanut butter. Yet, for bodybuilders, it is actually necessary to consume some saturated fat.

Athletic research shows that those who consume more saturated fat have higher testosterone levels. In fact, studies indicate that the major saturated fat found in beef, chicken and pork does not raise LDL cholesterol the bad cholesterol.

Research further shows that replacing carbs with any type of fat results in decreased blood triglyceride levels and increased HDL cholesterol the good cholesterol. Compared to unsaturated fat, the saturated kind boosts HDL more. When going low carb, keep fat to about 30 to 40 percent of total daily calories and include a variety of healthy unsaturated fats and saturated fats, such as those from beef, dairy, pork, lamb and duck.

Take a macro look at how quickly certain foods are digested with this important index. Don't let these innocent things get in the way of your fitness progress this holiday season. Close Ad ×. I want content for: Both Men Women. Facebook Twitter Youtube Pinterest. Open menu button.