Lowering your carb intake can help reduce your consumption of processed foods.
The Episode: The Magical Low Carb Diet and Why It Stopped Working
Have you ever tried a low carb diet and felt like it was working until it didn’t? You aren’t alone. The immediate gratification of seeing the scale go down on a low carb diet has tricked many people. But this seemingly magical experience isn’t that special and learning why it happens will reveal the key to staying on track with your weight loss mission. I’m going to take you behind the magical façade and show you what works and doesn’t work about a low carb diet.
“A low carb diet isn’t magical because it just works. It helps people stay at a much lower calorie intake, because they cut out the processed foods.” — David Minishian
Potential Benefits of Eating Low Carb
A low carb diet may help you replace processed junk food with whole food alternatives. This will reduce your overall calorie intake and make it easier to maintain a healthy weight. When weight-loss is your primary goal, a low carb diet may also provide a psychological side-benefit of seeing “fast results” on the scale that encourages you to continue. This occurs at the beginning of the diet, because reducing your carbohydrate intake reduces the amount of water your muscles retain. This change in weight is quickly seen on the scale. However, this can a double-edged sword that later knock you off track.
The Difficulties With Eating Low Carb
A low carbohydrate intake may prove difficult to maintain day to day as a sustainable way of eating. The weight fluctuations caused by an increase or decrease in carbs can cause an obsession with the scale and this fixation on the short term outcome hinders the long term goal of living a lifestyle that supports a healthy weight.
Ready to build the body you want with a sustainable lifestyle?
Watch
David Minishian, MPH
Fitness and Nutrition Coach
David is the owner and head coach at Sculpt Fitness in Long Beach, CA. He leads the mission at Sculpt to educate, equip, and empower the local community to make the best decisions for their health. For over 10 years he has coached exercise and nutrition, helping clients create sustainable lifestyle to build the body they want. When he's not training, coaching or cooking, David is on an adventure with his wife and kids or teeing up his next shot on a golf course.