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The Low Carbohydrate Endurance Exercise Myth

I believe (and the research supports this) that in order to efficiently lose weight that you need to choose low carb foods and follow some sort of carbohydrate restricted diet. The evidence supporting this statement is large and convincing. However, I still read and hear things like:

Low carb diets are the wrong approach to effective weight loss.

and

Exercise and low carb diets don’t mix.

In fact this could not be any further from the truth. Lower carbohydrate diets are essential for controlling insulin – a key factor in health and weight loss…but you probably already know that.

In regards to exercise and low carbohydrate diets – this is where many people can get confused. Exercising on a low carb diet can be tough if your body is not conditioned to use fat as its primary fuel source.

In the 2 videos above I talk about the different stages of a ketogenic diet (extreme low carbs) and how you need to give you body some time to adapt for not using carbs as a primary fuel source.

Now onto low carb diets and exercise. Two studies published in the early 80’s looked at how very low carbohdyrate diets ( as low as 3% of calories) effected the performance of endurance athletes. You would probably agree with me in saying that the ‘endurance’ community is OBSESSED with carbohydrates. So this should be interesting.

In one study (The Vermont Study) the subjects were put on a low carb diet for 6 weeks and in the second study (The MIT Study) the subjects were put on a low carb diet for 4 weeks. In both studies during the first week the subject complained of being lethargic but when the studies were over the participants did not have any decrease in peak aerobic performance. In the MIT Study is was also determined that essentially all the calories that the athletes were burning during their endurance workouts were from fat.

One of the key points here is that it takes some time for your body to adapt to functioning on low carbs. During that time you may feel lethargic but it goes away. The other point to consider is that the two studies above show that the claim “exercise and low carb diets don’t mix” is just incorrect.

In the Vermont study the subject actually experienced an increase in performance (basically the low carb diets made them better at exercising) but this may have been due to the weight loss that the subject had experienced.

The studies that I mentioned today are pretty old and provide valuable information for people – I have to wonder why their findings are not common knowledge? Any ideas?

Do you have trouble exercising on a low carb diet? Do you exercise better when your carbs are low? Post a comment and let me know what you think.

Ketogenic Diet Basics Part 2

In this video I cover how many carbohydrates you need to limit yourself to each day in order to be properly following a ketogenic diet as well a key point regarding how your body responds to low carb diets.

Ketogenic Diet Basics

In this video I cover the often overlooked 4 stages of the Atkins diet and how to properly use ketogenic diets for weight loss.

How to Break A Weight Loss Plateau

Weight loss plateaus are the bain of every dieter existence. There is nothing more frustrating than doing everything that you are ’supposed’ to do but for whatever reason the weight loss just stops.

Before we get into ho you can smash through your weight loss plateau it is important to determine if you have  actually plateaued OR perhaps you haven’t actually been following your diet and/or training program.

The first step is to do a gut check and make sure your compliance to your program is where it needs to be. If you haven’t been 90% compliant then stop reading this article and get back to focusing on doing what you actually said you were going to do.

If you have been sticking to your program but have stopped losing weight then we have a problem.

Homeostasis.

The human body is all about achieving homeostasis (check out this article in regards to homeostasis and weight loss), so what we need to do is shake things up and get our systems un-homeostatic (not sure if that is a real word). Here are 4 ways that you can disrupt homeostasis and blast through your weight loss plateau. You aren’t meant to do all of them instead just pick one at at time.

1. Increase Calories for 7-10 Days

This doesn’t mean go off your diet. Instead, increase your calories (no more than 500 calories per day), mainly from carbohydrates to give your system a ‘break’ from calorie restriction. After the 7-10 day period cut your calories back down and your weight loss will start back up. This strategy works well if you have been dieting for a long time.

2. Crank Up the Intensity

Often times we find ourselves perpetually dieting (see the Lifetime Fat Loss article for a great example) and can just never seem to get those last 10 pounds off. In these situations cranking up the intensity on all fronts (diet and training) for a set amount of time is a great way to blast through a weight loss plateau. With this method we are basically shocking your system out of homeostasis. This is a great situation for Warp Speed Fat Loss (and one of the reason’s we developed it.)

3. Change Your Training Program

Sticking to the same training program for too long used to be a very common problem. Now with all the training resources on the Internet, being on a program for too long isn’t an issue for many people (but it may be for you). You need to be switching up your program (set, reps, exercises, how many days a week you train, etc) every 4-6 weeks. If you do need a new program we have a large archive of 4 week fat loss workouts and a new one every month in the Faster Fat Loss Zone.

4. Reduce Your Carbs

-This tip is the opposite of the first one, but works just as well. Dropping your carbs down to a ketogenic level  will strongarm your system into using fat as its primary fuel source.

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.

This metabolic fuel switch works best if your carbs aren’t too low already (>100g/d). To further enhance the effect of this technique use the ketogenic diet induction protocol where you eat 20g/d of carbs or less for 2 weeks.

Weight loss plateaus are frustrating but don’t let them discourage you or stop you from reaching your goal. If you have truly reached a plateau pick one of the techniques above and put it into action. When you hit another plateau, pick another one. Continue doing this until you have reached your goal. Remember that for the most part weight loss is not a linear process. Plateaus are a normal physiological occurrence but using the strategies in this article you can beat homeostasis and achieve the body you want.

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