I'm starting a new workout today. I'm rather excited about it. It feels like a new adventure! I always welcome new workouts with open arms. Otherwise, I am fearful that I'm being too repetitive and won't stimulate any change in my physique. I've also started macro rotation (aka carb cycling), although it's more than just changing carb intake, because when you increase or lower carbs, you need to also increase or lower protein and fat as well.
For example: if you are on a lower carb day, you need to increase your good fats and protein to ensure you are getting enough calories and energy to sustain you. And on higher carb days, fats really aren't necessary. Neither is a huge amount of protein.
So far this is my third low carb day and I'm tolerating it better than I have in the past. I think it's because I'm doing it right this time ;)
Why the carb cycling anyway?
I've been saying how I don't want to lose weight, so why would I be cycling carbs? Well, mainly, to ensure that I don't gain FAT. I want to gain, just not fat. And carb cycling is a better choice for someone like me, who is already fairly lean and working on the last bit of stubborn fat.
It wouldn't be the best choice for someone just starting out on a diet or has a lot of fat to lose because it isn't going to give you faster than normal fat loss results.
But it is great for trying to keep going with fat loss without going through the plateaus you hit when you keep yourself on a low caloric intake for a long period of time.
Why doesn't it work to just cut calories when we know that a deficit of 3500 calories creates a 1lb weight loss?
Well, where is that weight coming from? Not all fat probably. The reason so many restricted calorie diets fail is that they cause your metabolism to slow down. When our bodies think they are starving, metabolism slows down and we burn fewer and fewer calories so that we don't die. This is why you will always stop progressing on a low calorie diet. In the beginning it will work, but eventually it will stop. And that is called a plateau.
When you start to cycle your carbs at this point, you are tricking your metabolism into thinking you aren't dieting (with the higher carb calorie days) when you actually are. And you can maintain the same rate of weight loss you did when you first started your low calorie diet. Which is perfect for someone like me. Because although I'm thin, I do still have stubborn fat areas in my lower body that I'd like to rid myself of.
It's even possible to gain muscle while on a carb cycling diet!
It's possible to change your body composition (take away the fatty hips and add muscle where you need it to create a more appealing shape) while carb cycling. When you are raising calories every few days, you aren't always in a deficit, so the carbs you are feeding yourself on high days go straight to muscle tissue. While on your low days, you are running on fewer calories and eating foods that keep your energy levels sustained while burning through calories and not storing fat. Remember - eating too many carbohydrates and not burning them off stores them as fat. But on higher training days, you are using them to fuel your workouts and feed your muscles, that's why we try to schedule high days on days where you are training the muscles you want to grow.
So yes, it is possible to wreck your metabolism by dieting all the time. Just the same way as it's possible to wreck your metabolism by doing too much cardio.
I know I've said this time and time again. But it's called adaptive thermogenesis. You can trigger the same sort of response from your body as you would starving yourself by going overboard with the cardio.
There are people doing huge amounts of cardio for endurance training and yet they aren't losing crazy amounts of weight like you would think they would. Running is a great way to burn calories. So if you wanted to lose a lot of fat, wouldn't it make sense to just run and run and run some more? Not necessarily. Because like your body's starvation response, there is a protective mechanism that kicks in to try to conserve energy, so fat loss is slower than you would expect considering the huge amount of cardio being done. Your body perceives it as a danger, so metabolism decreases.
That's why, if you're new to fat loss, and have never really dieted or exercised before, running is a great option. In the beginning, it will burn through calories quickly. But it will come to a halt, even though you have more fat to lose. This is a plateau. And that is why it's possible for people to run all over like Gump, yet not lose any more fat. They've slowed their metabolism.
So how can I ensure that this doesn't happen to me?
Well, if you are like me and don't train for endurance sports, you can cut your calories pretty drastically as long as you eat enough protein and are fairly conservative with your training volume. 3-4 days of lifting and minimal cardio - which is what I do. Although, I'm not cutting calories, just cycling carbs. So some days definitely feel like I'm on a diet, but I'm really not.
For you cardio loving endurance athletes, you can also do a lot of cardio without consequences if you are eating enough to support the demand. Meaning, don't be on a huge calorie deficit and then run 10 miles a day. I don't even know who could or would even want to do that, but I'm sure there are some desperate people out there.
Hope this helps you understand the benefits of macro nutrient rotation!
No comments:
Post a Comment