Why Low Fat Doesn't Work

Imagine eating low fat, working your butt off in the gym, craving a ton of foods you know you can’t have, and STILL not seeing any result.

I don’t have to imagine. I see it a lot.

I can’t count the number of people who have come to me because they feel like they are doing everything right inside the gym and in the kitchen, and yet aren’t seeing any results on the scale. So I finally decided to throw my opinion into the ring on this. 

Low fat isn’t going to help you lose weight and/or body fat.

It’s true that carbs are one of our energy sources. Don’t get me wrong here. We do need them for energy, but when it comes to losing weight (and particular fat loss), lowering fat doesn’t work for most people. In the same breath, I want to tell you that eating extremely low carb may not satisfy your needs either, especially for women who require carbohydrates to adequately support and nourish their hormones.

When it comes to exercise, especially intense exercises like CrossFit or HiIT training, low-carbs won’t typically feel good. I know there will be a handful of people who disagree on this as they are able to sustain a very low-carb diet with high fat without adverse side effects to their workout. However, for most people, the lack of carbohydrate and therefore the lack of glucose to fuel their muscles means their muscles won’t function to their full potential, they will lack energy, and will fatigue much easier. 

But fats actually make up about half our energy source and without enough in your diet, as in a low-fat diet, you’re missing a huge chunk of energy, which is likely leading to you feeling crummy in addition to missing some of your results.

Let’s jump right in. There’s a few important things to think about when it comes to determining if you will function best at high carb, low fat or high fat, low carb. 

1. Carb vs fat metabolism - When we eat fat, it is broken down into smaller components called fatty acids which travel through the blood stream to be absorbed by hungry cells. This happens at a slower rate, which leads to being less hungry less often in our daily life. Carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, like I mentioned before, and are used for energy throughout the body, but any remaining glucose is processed by the liver and stored as fat. This is also why eating a high-carbohydrate or sugary diet leads to fat deposits in the body and gained weight. It’s a relatively quick process that happens, which is why we can experience insulin spikes and blood sugar peaks where we feel great and energized, followed by a crash. If too much carbohydrate is present in your diet, your body reacts by increasing insulin, which not only promotes the conversion of carbs to fat to be stored, but also encourages the storage of fatty acids.

2. Ideally fat will be our fuel source anytime we aren’t in the gym. Since it metabolizes slow in our body, it will create lasting energy as opposed to quick energy such as that provided by carbs. If you aren’t somebody who works out, no worries. Chances are you can actually tolerate high levels of fat and require lower levels of carbohydrates to fuel you due to a lack of need for it for muscle function. 

3. How does your body tolerate carbs? The simple truth of it is that most of us don’t tolerate carbs the way we wish we could.  You already know if you’re somebody who eats carbs and sees or feels it pretty much immediately. Even if this isn’t the case for you, you might not be tolerating carbs well if you hold extra body fat on your body in a few places - typically the mid region for men, and the abdomen, upper leg area, and buttocks for women. Are you raising your hand now?
   
   Much of this has to do with your body type and genetics, things you can’t control, but things that you can take advantage of strategically. 

When we put the big picture together, if you’re somebody who is working out and eating your fat or carbs at the wrong times, you could be speeding up or slowing down your metabolism at the wrong time, effectively counteracting the hard work you’re doing in the gym. Regardless of whether you workout or not, using your body type and carbohydrate tolerance to your advantage can be beneficial. Without enough fat in the diet, your body is unable to use those fatty acids for energy and will store them and use them for essential needs - hormone production, building cell walls, fueling your brain (mostly composed of fat). When you have enough fat in your diet, your body is effectively able to utilize and break down fats efficiently, which often leads to weight loss and body fat percentage decrease.

When we are low in fat in our diet, our body craves it more. We are genetically disposed to crave fat (along with sugar and salt) since they were not always readily available to our ancestors. However, fat is the part of those cravings that does not have adverse health effects for us.

This all being said, choosing healthy fat sources is going to be most beneficial. These include natural fat sources, such as those produced by animals, olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, nuts and seeds, and in particular MCT’s (they are able to be absorbed directly without being processed in the gut).