A low-carb diet is more effective at decreasing your body fat composition than a low-fat diet, according to a 2010 article by registered dietitian Jeff Volek, Ph.D., and colleagues, published in the "Strength and Conditioning Journal." If you eat fewer carbohydrates, you will have less sugar or glucose circulating in your blood. This means your body produces a smaller amount of insulin, a fat-storing hormone. Replace your intake of high-carb foods with lower-carb and high-protein foods to increase the amount of glucagon, a fat-burning hormone, produced in your body.
Step 1
Eat half of the amount of grains or complex carbs you would normally eat per meal; for instance, instead of eating a whole baked potato eat half, or fill half of your plate with pasta instead of covering your entire plate. Replace those carbs with protein and non-starchy vegetables such as fatty fish, chicken breast, asparagus, broccoli, or bell peppers; do this for one week, gradually adjusting to a lower complex carbohydrate intake.
Step 2
Substitute fresh fruit for complex carbs in half of your daily meals by the second week; for example, if you eat five times in a day, three of those meals should include complex carbohydrates while the other two meals should have fruit as your source of carbs. Limit your complex carb intake to no more than three meals per day and limit your fruit intake to no more than two meals per day.
Step 3
Portion all of the food you eat, including grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, meat, seafood and poultry, using measuring cups, measuring spoons or a scale. Do this for a few days to develop the habit of using measuring utensils; this will ensure you are eating exact serving sizes, permitting you to accurately create, track and record the percentage of carbohydrates in your meals.
Step 4
Replace complex carbs such as white rice and spaghetti noodles with grains that have a higher proportion of protein and carbs like quinoa and sprouted grain bread. Eat primarily fruits high in fiber, including apples and berries instead of fruits low in fiber such as pineapple and watermelon.
Step 5
Create a food plan at night for the next day on a computer spreadsheet listing the names of the foods you will eat, serving sizes, calories and grams of carbohydrate, protein and fat. Divide your spreadsheet into five or six small meals per day in which no more than 42 percent of your calories per meal comes from carbohydrates.
Step 6
Calculate the percentage of your calories from carbohydrates. Multiply the total grams of carbs in each meal by four. Divide the product by the total number of calories in that meal and multiply by 100. Create meals that have 42 percent or less of their calories from carbohydrates, gradually decreasing the percentage of carbs to a level you are comfortable with.
Tips and Warnings
- Eat one of your carbohydrate-rich meals after a workout to replenish the stored glucose or glycogen you used in your muscles; this will give you energy during your next training session.
- Do not follow a low-carb diet if you are in a sport competition as it may negatively affect your performance.
Things You'll Need
- Spreadsheet
- Calculator
References
- "Strength and Conditioning Journal"; Low-Carbohydrate Diets Promote a More Favorable Body Composition than Low-Fat Diets; Jeff Volek, Ph.D., RD, et al; February 2010
- "Exercise Physiology, Energy, Nutrition & Human Performance"; William McArdle, Frank Katch and Victor Katch; 2007
- "Strength and Conditioning Journal"; Low-Carbohydrate Diets and High-Intensity Anaerobic Exercise; G. Gregory Haff, Ph.D., and Adrian Whitley; August 2002
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