I uploaded a video to my YouTube channel responding to this question I hear all too often: "why do I gain weight every time I eat carbs?!"
You can watch the full video below:
If you're short on time though, I wanted to give a bullet point synopsis here. So here are my notes from the livestream...
#1 - Firstly, who’s to say you do? What makes you think you're gaining weight?
I know that may sound like a silly question because you might be think: "Ryan, the scales prove it!!"
...but there are SO many factors that interfere with monitoring your weight day-to-day. If you want to learn more about how fluctuations can influence your weight, I have a video about it here: https://youtu.be/A5yKhFrh-EI
Now, if you are indeed measuring your weight over a longer period of time than just a few days....you might well be right about your assessment that you're gaining weight.
However, even in that case.... *this leads us on to the next cliff-note nicely*
#2 - Let's assume you ARE gaining weight eating lots of carbs...
How do you separate the carbs from the other components of your diet to conclude that it's the carbs causing the weight gain?
Is it not simply a case of your overall calorie intake being too high? What makes you think the carbohydrate component is the culprit?
#3 - And...what do you even mean by "carbs" in this context?
Carbohydrate, technically is just one of the big 3 macronutrients. But people nowadays use it to describe a food group.
In the same way they call meat - PROTEIN. No, meat is a source of protein.
Sources of carbohydrate are rarely (maybe sugar is the only exception) just carbs. So what do you even mean by "carbs"?
Are we lumping everything that contains carbs into ONE SINGLE category? And then ranking them as a collective? Because that's far too broad a category.
#4 - Taking it further...my argument for why the carbohydrate macronutrient is EXCEPTIONAL for weight loss is as follows:
(1) caloric density: carbohydrate contains very low calories per gram, more than half than that of fat
(2) metabolically, the way carbs are used and/or stored is incredible.
Without science speak, excess carbs are way more likely to be stored for future use than turned into fat compared to the other macronutrients.
Do your own research on this: de novo lipogensis; the enzymatic pathway for converting dietary carbohydrate (CHO) into fat. The human body has an incredible capability to NOT do that.
Metabolically, fat is a nightmare, protein way less so, but the conversion of carbs into fat storage is so so inefficient.
If you eat a calorie surplus of carbs you will still likely gain weight, but there is strong argument to suggest it will be less so than a higher quantity of the other macronutrients at the SAME caloric surplus.
BOOM! That’s why carbs are stunning for weight loss. And you’re likely conflating other problems in your diet with your carbohydrate intake, in my opinion.
I'm hoping this gives you a little more permission to trust this incredible high-carb approach!
If you want to lose your first 20lbs in the next 12 weeks eating simple, satisfying & carbs plant-powered meals, learn more about my coaching program at RyanAdamsCoaching.com
