Lean Bodies Consulting Newsletter
Volume 12, April 1, 2008
Welcome to another addition of the LBC newsletter. If you haven't received the previous issues of the newsletter and you'd like to, you can find the archives here.
In this short issue I'm running Part 1 of an article on Carbohydrate and Calorie Cycling. In the next update in two weeks, I'll run Part 2.
If you'd like to see a question or topic addressed in a future newsletter, feel free to drop me a line at erik@leanbodiesconsulting.com.
What’s New At Lean Bodies Consulting?
The LBC site is getting some gradual updates so keep checking back for more transformation pictures, new Q&As, new articles, etc. Noel has had two articles published recently – one on the negative effects of sleep deprivation and another on getting started with an online trainer.
The next big show coming up is the NPC Junior USAs in Charleston, North Carolina. I'll be in attendance at this show with a handful of friends and clients and will have a group of girls competing in the Figure divisions. Noel, who is doing this show, has been updating her blog with regular progress pictures and video samples of her workouts here. She's going to turn some heads this year. A month later we're in Chicago at the NPC Junior Nationals with another team of competitors.
In the mean time, I'm off on a much needed and long overdue sunny vacation in the Mayan Riviera this week. After the brutal winter we've experienced in Southern Ontario this year, the last thing I want to see is another snow flake. I almost forgot what grass looks like. A week of sun, good food, (a conveniently planned diet break after about 8-10 weeks of intensive dieting), rest and reading is just what the Doctor ordered.
Carbohydrate Cycling for Fat Loss – Part 1
Ask someone you deem qualified what the best nutritional strategy to maximum fat loss is and you will get one answer. Ask another seemingly qualified individual the same question and chances are you will get a completely different answer. There are a few general constants you can expect to hear; for example, ensuring you are eating adequate amounts of protein and omega-3 fats. There is little argument there. However, the discrepancies arise when the subject of carbohydrate intake come up. Some will say high carbs are best, others say low carbs, and still others recommend something somewhere in the middle. The truth of the matter is that there really is no one best way of approaching fat loss. There are many different approaches that can, and have been, used successfully. Any fat-loss strategy must serve two purposes – one, it must be functional. That is, it has to do what it's set out to do – promote fat loss in this case for example. Two, it has to be 'doable', meaning it has to be a strategy that you can adhere to. A diet that is functional, but one you can't follow is useless. A diet that you can follow, but isn't functional is also useless. So, the most important elements to successful fat loss are ensuring that your strategy is customized to yourself, ensuring it’s a plan you will adhere to, and adjusting your program based on your progress, or lack thereof. Nutrition is not a cookie-cutter game and what works for one doesn’t always work for another. With that said, let’s take a closer look at this carbohydrate issue.
Truth be told, there are benefits to having a fair amount of carbs in your diet and there are benefits to keeping them low. So why not use both strategies? Said in a simpler way, why not cycle your carb intake, and subsequently your caloric intake? By cycling your carb intake you get the best of both worlds. Assuming you keep your protein and fat intakes relatively constant, and only manipulate your carb intake, you are automatically cycling calories as well. The first benefit to doing so is that it may keep your body from adapting to what you are doing. Your body will always try to adapt to what you’re doing and the leaner you get, and the more you take your body away from its natural set (or settling) point, the more your body will try to adjust its regulatory processes to halt your progress. This is just in part related to the regulatory hormone, leptin, although there are a number of other relevant hormones at play as well.
While not everything is known about leptin, what is known is that leptin levels are related to things like insulin, your caloric intake and your current level of body fat. Think of it as one of the big “fat-loss decision makers”. The leaner you are relative to your normal bodyfat level, the lower your circulating levels of leptin are generally going to be. Under more normal circumstances, higher body fat, maintenance caloric intake, etc., leptin levels are higher. However, while on sub-maintenance calories, and particularly on low-carb diets where circulating insulin levels are low, leptin levels drop and they can drop quickly. Decreased leptin levels cause a cascade of other regulatory changes, namely a decrease in thyroid output and metabolic rate, as well as an increase in catabolic hormone activity and appetite. In an attempt to become more efficient, your body will try to adapt to make your newly lowered caloric intake its new maintenance intake; that is, it will make the necessary changes needed to do the same amount of work on less energy. Unfortunately, this usually means having to continuously lower calories or increase expenditure to maintain fat-loss progress, which inevitably makes it very hard to hold onto all your hard-earned muscle. Not to mention there is only so far you can cut your calories and only so much cardio and training you can do. Remember – the diet has to be both functional and maintainable. Not to mention, this type of (all too common among competitors) dieting strategy really sets you up for a nasty rebound when you return to more 'sane' methods. None of this sounds too good does it? There has to be a better way, and there is. Planned and structured days of high calories and high carbohydrates may help with this.
As previously mentioned, there are benefits to both low-carb intakes and to high-carb intakes. When carb intake is drastically reduced you create a temporarily greater caloric deficit. In addition, low-carb intakes result in decreased levels of circulating insulin, increased levels of the fat-burning catecholamines and therefore a much heightened rate of fat oxidation. Quite simply, when insulin levels are low, you create an environment in which fat is more likely to be used for energy. Low muscle glycogen, as a result of decreased carbohydrate intake, obviously results in depleted muscles, but there are benefits to this as well. Low muscle glycogen tends to promote a higher rate of free fatty acid burning. Result? More fat loss.
Stay tuned for Part 2 coming up next ...
"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I
don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world
are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want,
and, if they can't find them, make them."
If you know someone you think would enjoy or benefit from this newsletter, please forward it on and pass on the newsletter sign up link LBC Newsletter. Remember, that when they sign up to receive the LBC newsletter they also get a free copy of my report on the Top 10 Not-So-Obvious Fat-Loss Mistakes.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Erik Ledin, B.Kin, CSCS, CISSN, NSCA-CPT
http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com
http://www.leanbodiesfitness.com
http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com/blog
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