Weight Loss
Are Low Carb Diets Essential To Lose Weight While Maintaining Muscle?
Here at TRAIN for HER HQ we want to help you achieve your goals – whatever they are. That’s why we enlist the help of our fitness experts every month to help answer the questions your dying to ask.
This month: do you have to go low carb to lose weight while preserving your muscle?
Katrina Freds
Every body is different. While going low carb to lose fat might be required for some, it is not the optimal way for others.
While I was cutting and obtaining my leanest physique yet, I had higher carbs and lower fats. This method worked great for me. You will find the method that works best for you through trial and error.
Lacey Dunn
No! In order to lose weight, all you need is a calorie deficit through food, cardio, or both. Preserving muscle is all about being in the smallest deficit while still seeing progress and having adequate protein intake (1.5-2.0g/kg bodyweight is suggested).
Carbs are your body’s preferred method of fuel. You don’t have to cut them – you just have to be having an amount that fits into your caloric needs.
Christie Bailey
No. I have done low carb/high fat and low fat/high carb to lose weight, and dropped pounds both times. I found my body actually responded faster on a high carb, lower fat diet. It’s one of the most common myths that you need to go low carb for weight loss and it’s just not true.
Yami Mufdi
This is very individualistic, as what may work for one person may not work for the next. But for the sake of answering this question, no, you don’t have to go low carb to lose weight. When it boils down to it, it’s calories in vs calories out.
Emily Duncan
Absolutely not. The key to weight loss is being in a calorie deficit: you burn more than you consume. Your muscles and brain need carbs to function, so while you will likely need to reduce your carb intake (along with fats) to create an energy deficit, going too low carb will leave you fog-brained and flat. Good luck getting a pump without adequate glycogen in your muscles.
Taylor Chamberlain
Not necessarily. Everyone is different and while low carb works for some individuals, a higher carb/lower fat approach may work for others.
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