Fitness Myth: Is Cutting Carbs the Best Way to Lose Weight?

Short answer: No. If you cut out carbs, you'll lose weight because you're cutting calories, but carbs are your body's preferred energy source. Cut them too much and you'll be miserable, hit a plateau, and end up worse off than where you started. Your body adapts by storing more fat. Carbs aren't evil. They're fuel.

Today we're going to talk about a really common question that our clients ask us, which circles around a pretty popular myth: that cutting carbs is the best way to lose weight, or the fastest way to lose weight.

We want to explain that carbs are not evil. Carbs are not the enemy.

Why cutting carbs "works" at first

If you cut anything out of your diet, you're cutting calories. So of course if you're cutting out all the carbs, you're cutting out a lot of calories, creating a deficit, and you're going to lose weight.

But the thing you need to realize: carbs are a huge energy source for your body. If you're cutting out one of the biggest energy sources:

1. You're gonna be miserable all day
2. Your body isn't gonna be working as efficiently as it could be
3. You're gonna find some results in the short term, but you're gonna eventually hit a plateau, and you're gonna hit it pretty hard

Then you're gonna find yourself dipping back down to not only where you began, but potentially even worse off than where you started.

Why your body turns on you

It's really hard to get your body to understand that carbs are a friend again after you've cut them out.

The reason this happens: it's like anything else. I often talk to my clients about how under-eating in general can make your body take big steps backward, because your metabolism will start to slow down.

Carbs have the same effect. It's a little bit more powerful because that's such an important energy source.

The science behind it

Everyone knows protein is important, but protein is not an energy source unless you're actually dying. Carbs and fat are the important energy sources.

Fat carries a little bit more energy, but your body prefers to use carbs just because it's faster and it can get to it a little bit easier.

What's gonna happen, and the reason people tend to plateau if they cut out carbs too much, is because our bodies are pretty adaptive.

If you are at a low enough level of carbs and your body doesn't have that, it's gonna start to depend on fat. Which you would think would be great, but that also means it's going to adaptively store fat.

What Happens When You Cut CarbsShort TermLong TermWeight lossYes (calorie deficit)PlateausEnergy levelsDropsStays lowFat storageDecreases initiallyBody adapts, stores moreSustainabilityFeels manageableVery difficult

So if you're cutting out carbs, eventually once your body starts to adapt, every gram of fat that you put in is going to be stored more aggressively.

The bottom line

You'll see results in the short term by cutting carbs. But you'll plateau, you'll be miserable, and when you inevitably add carbs back in, your body will hold onto everything it can.

A more sustainable approach is to moderate your carbs, not eliminate them, and focus on the quality of the carbs you're eating.

Further reading:

• Harvard Health: Carbohydrates