Carbs Or Protein?

Carbs or protein? What's better for fat loss? Quick point before we go into this one, if we're talking fat loss then it's important to remember one key thing... The number of calories you eat and burn on a daily basis will determine the direction that your weight moves in. To see your bodyweight drop, you will need to consume less calories vs the number you burn. So, keeping the above in mind, if you eat 1,000 calories a day and burn 1,200 calories in that day, you will lose WEIGHT but not necessarily fat. The make up of those 1,000 calories will determine where that weight loss comes from. IF... Those 1,000 calories you ate came entirely from fast food and you burned 1,200, yeah sure you'll lose weight but it's likely that weight won't be from fat, more likely is that it'll be muscle tissue which is less than ideal! If, you want to give yourself the best possible chance at making this drop in weight come from fat loss then you need to pay attention the quality of the calories you eat. This is where we look at carbs, protein and fat, your macronutrients. There is no golden rule for how much of each you should eat but a good place to start is: CARBS = 40% PROTEIN = 40% FAT = 20% So, let's stick with the 1,000 calorie example... 400 of your daily calories will come from carbohydrates. 400 of your daily calories will come from proteins. 200 of your daily calories will come from fats. Follow that example above and you'll stand a pretty good chance of burning some fat, providing you know how many calories you're consuming of course! You could also take the above breakdown further and make it more personalised to you, just like I do for clients. Look at the role each macro plays within your body... Carbs, they fuel your body, just like petrol/diesel or electric does for your car. If you notice that during a training session or just in life in general that your energy levels are consistently low then you might benefit from upping that ratio above to give yourself more carbs (50/30/20 for example). Proteins, they repair muscle tissue so if it's taking you a long time to recover after a training session then you might benefit from a higher proportion of protein in your diet (30/50/20 for example).