Carb Free Diets are Bullsh*t!

Before diving into why Carb free diets are bullshit, you must first understand the sources from which your body draws energy:

1. The first source is carbs which are stored in the body as glycogen.

Good carb sources are not fattening. It's what you cook them
in and put on them that make them fattening.

• There are two types of glycogen stores in the body: Muscle glycogen which fuels your muscles directly, and liver glycogen commonly known as blood sugar. Liver glycogen fuels your brain and basically gives you the mental fortitude to push yourself despite being tired. Have you ever gotten to the point in the gym or in sports when you feel great then suddenly WHAM! you can't do another rep or run another ten yards? This is called "bonking" and is a result of depleted liver glycogen stores. It simply means that your brain is not getting the nourishment it needs because your carb stores have been thoroughly depleted. As a result it shut downs and commands your body to do the same.
• Muscle glycogen is a form of carbs that is stored in your muscles as a ready source of energy and it is the first source of energy that your body uses when conducting physical activity.

1. Your body's secondary energy source is fat, which is stored in the body as glycerol. You don't start burning fat as a source of energy until you deplete all of your muscle glycogen stores within a particular muscle.  
2. The third source of energy your body uses is protein. This is only used in extreme circumstances such as marathons or triathlons. When your body is using this form of energy, it is basically eating away your muscles to survive.

*Note: from here on out I am going to refer to glycgogen as carbs and glycerol as fat.*

So here is why including carbs in your diet is actually a good thing for weight loss (no one disputes the fact that it is good for weight gain so I'm not going to go into that explanation here)...

Without carbs, the intensity of your workouts will not be at an optimum level. This in turn will lead to LESS fat being burned, despite the fact that you have to go through your carb stores prior to using up your fat stores. The whole reason why people advocate a carb free diet is to forgo having to burn up your body's carb stores prior to getting into the fat stores. Here's the flip side of that...

If you eat the proper amount of carbs in your daily diet you will be adequately fueling your muscles and, more importantly, your brain. The carbs that fuel your brain will allow you to push through a workout once your muscle carb stores are gone. If you fail to eat the proper amount of carbs in your daily diet, you're putting yourself at a huge disadvantage from the get-go. Unless you use a pre-workout supplement (WHICH IS A HORRIBLY UNHEALTHY DECISION!) to overcome these depleted carb stores, you will already be at your bonking point. You won't have to mental fortitude or muscular endurance to burn through a sufficient amount of fat stores required to change your body's physical appearance. Carbs lead to results, carb-free leads to mediocrity. 

There are ways to overcome the lack of carbs, such as ingesting simple carbs in the form of a supplement just before your workout or taking a pre-workout supplement. These methods really mess with your body's chemical and hormonal balances, cost a lot of money, and are simply not as effective as carbs... aka nature's pre-workout. 

Hey as always though, this is just advice and you can do whatever the HELL you wanna do! 

If you want a good diet to maximize your gains in the gym, send me an email at strengthbymatt@gmail.com. I'll hook you up!!