Manage Carbs to Control Weight
Manage Carbs for Success
A number of issues surround the factors controlling proper weight management. You need to consider hormones, glands, energy levels and how the body will process various food groups. Sustainable weight loss must consider all these factors.
You can make your body leaner by a process called carb rotation. By reducing your carbs intake on some days and taking in more carbs on other days, your body is better able to maintain muscle mass while lowering your body fat.
For athletes, you can apply this principle to help you build muscle yet only adding a minimal amount of body fat.
One method suggests that you first permit four days of moderate carbohydrate and then follow this with eight days of higher carb intake. This system permits the individual who constantly fights body fat issues to add muscle while maintaining lower body fat.
Starvation diets are doomed to failure from the start. Your metabolism slows far too much causing low energy levels and not only leads to weight loss plateaus, but it also leads to higher storage of body fat.
Protein gives the body the building blocks of muscle growth. You need to consume at least a gram of complete protein per pound of bodyweight daily. Those that will benefit you include the protein found in meat, eggs, dairy and milk or egg based protein powders. Although vegetables and grains have some protein, they are not of high benefit in muscle building.
Carbs help induce the release of insulin, which helps to convert protein and carbs into muscle. It must be remembered though, when you take in too many carbs, they will be easily converted to body fat and stored. Thus, a moderate intake four straight days will keep your insulin levels up.
Changing to a high carb intake after four days of moderate intake, increases insulin levels. This helps to put the body into an anabolic state. These eight days of high carbs will saturate muscle glycogen which is a catalyst for muscle growth.
Repeating the cycle of four days of moderate carb intake followed by eight days of high carbs will help keep your body fat from rising too much while you continue build muscle. The four modified carb days will allow you to call on glycogen stores and remain lean yet build muscle.
Consider these as suggested cycle lengths. Reports show they work very well for a large number of people. You can adjust these cycles based on your own body’s response. If you think that you are storing more fat than you should, try shortening the high carb cycle to six days. Reduce your carb consumption during your moderate intake cycle.
Tags: weight loss, carbs




