Carbs are not the enemy!

I've come across a lot of this kind of thinking recently; that to lose any weight, the only approach that will work is low carb. This post will hopefully show you some of why that is a common knee-jerk reaction, and why it's often misguided.

Carbs are necessary to function. They provide the most accessible source of energy for your body - in other words, it doesn't have to make much effort to generate usable energy from most carb sources. Proteins and fats require a little more of your body. Side effects of 'going low carb' (typically meaning having less than 50g of carbs per day) include headaches, bad breath and dizziness. If that doesn't show you how much your body needs carbs for adequate function, then what does?!

There is a process known as 'ketosis', which many low carb diets aim for and extol as being the holy grail of fat loss. Done properly, by a knowledgeable person who is already in control of their eating habits and is insanely disciplined, it can work. Chances are, though, that YOU aren't that person.

So why is low-carb such a popular approach?

Mainly because in the Western world we've got our food balance all out of whack. We've gone way too far in favour of carbs, in most cases, and some people's diets consist of 80% carbs. Put simply, they're too prevalent and too more-ish, and are the key constituent of too many foods that are truly awful for you - most cereals, cakes, chocolates, crisps etc.

You can probably see that not all carbs are created equal. Maybe the distinction should be made between foods that are decent nutritionally (potatoes, vegetables, fruit) and foods that aren't (crisps, cakes, cereals).

Carbs tend to form a huge part of our diets - bread as an accompaniment to meals, pasta and potatoes taking up half a plate with no green veg to be seen. This is the real problem, and why the low(er) carb approach can work - it removes some nutritionally defunct calories from a diet.

Aim to get your carbs from good sources - sweet and normal potatoes, vegetables, some (not an excess of) fruit, pasta and wholegrain bagels. Unless you're heavily into your training, and need the excess energy, try to keep the servings of potatoes and pastas down to fist-size, and not the whole plate!

Don't treat carbs as some kind of pariah. Simply cutting carbs out of your diet alone will not make you lose fat. Ultimately, it's a calorie deficit that will do that. Removing the nutritionally-barren carbs (chocolate, crisps, cereals, white breads) from your diet, and replacing them with good fats and proteins, however, will always lead to positive mental and physical results.

Me, Myself and I - Rebecca Conlin, PT @ RWF

When I took my first steps towards health and fitness I expected all kinds of encouragement from family, friends and relationships. After all, most of my family are overweight (as was I) and we were all constantly on and off fad diets. 

To begin with I had all sorts of support, but then I started to actually lose weight, tone up and enjoy my new lifestyle and it became obvious that I was changing my lifestyle permanently. The family dynamics were upset as I started to eat completely different meals to them. I trained instead of watching the T.V on DVD and take away nights. As for my 'friends', well, they became judgemental and made hurtful comments claiming that I looked ill, pasty and that I looked better with more weight on me. My then boyfriend became so insecure of my weight loss and new found confidence, that we eventually split. Collegues were the worst and instead of being happy for me, I was confronted with a hostile enviroment and negative snide comments shunning my hard work and disipline. I'm sure that any women reading this that have lost a significant amount of weight can relate similar comments.

Three house moves, one job, a new boyfriend and many friends later I have surrounded myself with people who have the same ethos as myself. Health and fitness being priority to us all. Instead of nights out in town drinking myself into what can only be described as a coma after bingeing on cheesy chips and kebabs, I do something better. I have often caught myself on Friday and Saturday nights emailing my collegue with articles, ideas and plans for PT clients, bootcamp classes and many other ideas we plan to launch in the future. That may sound dull to some, but I love it. I look forward to training both myself and others. My BIG nights out now often include participating or running a bootcamp. To relax I read and write articles about nutrition, exercise and general health. If I want to de-stress, me and my collegue sprint up hills to let off steam... ;-) (It really works)!

In retrospect, the hostility I recieved in my first years of making health and fitness my priority was a combination of resentment and jealousy. Some people don't like to see you do well in life because it highlights insecurities in their own. When people tell me that I look ill, I've lost too much weight and that they preferred me bigger what their really saying is, I wish I had your disipline, I wish I could lose some weight and I wish I was fitter. You're always going to get people in your life that try and turn positives into negatives and I am convinced that it is fear that you're going to suceed and leave them behind.

To conclude: if you are experiencing the same negative experience as I did, read between the lines. What people say and what they mean are two different things. All you need is security within yourself, you have to be happy with how you look and feel. Try not to take hurtful off-hand comments to heart because its just negative people making themselves feel better about their own insecurities. Definitely dont let others ruin your new lifestyle and experiences. Surround yourself with positive people :-)

Additional note from Derran:

I can identify with a lot of what Rebecca says. Whilst I've never been overweight, I used to be very skinny and unfit in my late teens/early twenties. When I first started training, I always got comments about 'living in the gym' or 'being obsessed with food'. Trouble is, these comments often came from people who would spend 10+ hours a week watching TV, and often would pass judgement on my food whilst digging into a Gregg's pasty. I doubt I've ever spent more than 5 hours in a week training, so the next time someone tells you you're gym obsessed, ask them to add up how many hours of soaps and reality TV they watch each week. It tends to shut people up!

It's a great point that these negative comments tend to come from people who aren't happy with themselves. I have never had stupid comments from other people that train, that understand what it is to work hard in the gym and to follow a reasonably decent diet, and to do that consistently for years. 

The most ridiculous comments - including the steroid ones - tend to come from people who would prefer to dismiss my hard work and put it down to chemical assistance, or my superior genetics, or the fact that I'm a PT and 'it's easy for me'. Let's dismiss those straight away - I haven't and would never touch steroids. It's not a moral objection, it's just that I have no interest in using things I know very little about. My genetics - well, I was about ten stone wet through at University, so I was never a big guy in the making. The fact I'm a PT? OK, I have more knowledge than most, but books don't lift the weights for you. In fact, I probably have LESS time to train than most 9-5 people - I often work 12-14hr days, and weekends don't really exist.

So, to echo Rebecca, try and ignore the daft comments and see them for what they are. Excuse making by people that can't or won't make the effort themselves, and want to transfer that angst onto you. Ignore - work harder - get stronger!