Lifestyle -- 11 days ago
Words: Violet
In the first of a series of brand-new, totally exclusive columns for us, Ben Watson, a personal trainer at Matt Roberts, explains the concept of carb cycling…
This concept has been around for quite a long time but often gets unjustifiably overlooked. Excess amounts of carbohydrates make it very difficult for us to burn body fat because carbohydrates are the bodies preferred energy source rather than fats. This means that we need to burn the carbs first before the body fat can be burned away. Therefore, the whole process can become very slow if we are consuming unnecessarily large amounts of carbs. However, controlling the carbs that we are eating can enable the fat to be burned away in the body.
The carbohydrates that I’m referring to are the starch-based carbs such as potatoes, rice, pasta, bread etc. These are the ones that we need to control as they are the main culprits for gaining body fat and typically are the ones that we eat excessive amounts of.
The idea is that you have high to moderate and low to no carb days. Sometimes your body simply does not need the energy – especially if you are sitting in front of a computer all day not really burning any energy.
There are different ways to implement carb cycling but one way that works really is to have a high to moderate carb day when you know that you’ll be doing a high intensity workout that day. Then have a low to no carb day when you are not training or doing a small amount of less intensive exercise like walking. If you are not yet exercising I would recommend choosing four moderate carb days and 3 low carb days and make sure that you are strict on your low to no carb days every week because these are the ones that will make a big impact on your body fat.
For more information on Matt Roberts personal training visit mattroberts.co.uk
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