Years ago I wanted to lose weight fast so I made the decision to create my own no carb diet plan. If my theory was good I would drop weight fast. I believed my thinking was sound and these no carb weight loss tips would be the key. Here’s what I figured: If I can force my body to burn all of my stored energy (fat) and I do not eat any carbs but, instead replace them with high protein foods, then I will lose fat.
Here’s what happened: I lost 40 lbs in six weeks! Not only did I lose all that weight, but I continued to lose weight. I didn’t really notice any sort of plateau. OK, before you jump all over me and say “but that’s not healthy or sustainable,” let me admit right now, I did start to feel very weak. What many people don’t realize is that it’s easier for your body to metabolize muscle into energy than it is with fat.
After a good amount of research I found our bodies need carbs to function properly. That may seem obvious to most but when after experiencing the massive weight loss I had, I was strongly tempted to continue on in my discomfort. I made the mistake many people make, just looking at the numbers on my scale. Sure, they were going down, but it wasn’t fat I was losing, but a combination of fat and muscle.
What you should note from this radical diet plan I tried is the need for some amount of carbs in order for your body to function in a healthy manner. What’s important is to dump the no carb diet menu and simply reduce the bad carbs while maintaining the good ones. Simple refined carbs should be reduced. These are the ones you find in sugar, fruit juice, honey and most white processed foods. These carbs are quickly absorbed into your blood stream. This is good because it gives you an instant boost in energy, but it’s also going to cause your body to react with a huge boost in insulin. When the carbs spike, the insulin spikes. Your body can only use so much energy at any given time. So the excess gets stored as fat. It’s like filling a glass of water by pouring five gallons of water over it ever time. Sure, you get the glass of water, but there’s a lot more than you need at one time. If, instead you slowly poured the water into the glass, it would always be full when you need it.
So, if there ever time for simple carbs? Yes, first thing in and morning and immediately following an intense workout. This is when your body has a physical need for an instant burst of carbs. It’s good to get those into your bloodstream as rabidly as possible and allow your body to have a healthy recovery. During your other meals and snacks throughout the day, stick with complex carbohydrates. These are digested slower and get introduced into your blood at a more gradual rate. As you move through the day and get into the evening hours, this is the time to enjoy some of the no carb diet foods since your body isn’t going to need nearly the same amount when you’re sleeping.
The other thing you should note from my unhealthy experiment is that your muscles actually need carbs to sustain themselves. If all the weight I lost in my diet was fat, I would have been down to 10% body fat, but instead I was at 14% because of the loss of muscles. Now, it it somewhat normal to lose minute amounts of muscle even when you’re following a healthy diet plan.