In recent years, low-carb diets have grown in popularity. Find out all the pros and cons of this kind of nutrition for a bodybuilder. Most athletes use a low-carb nutritional program. The main secret of this diet is to cut back on sugary foods. On closer inspection, it turns out that protein intake increases as carbohydrates decrease.
Such nutrition programs are now very popular all over the world and not only among athletes. However, people often forget about the main purpose of a low-carb diet and about the existence of different types of carbohydrates. Today we take a look at all the pros and cons of low-carb diets for the bodybuilder.
What is basal energy expenditure on a low carb diet?
The basal level of energy consumption is the level of energy consumption by the body in a state of complete rest. To calculate this indicator, simple formulas are used, and everyone can easily find out how much energy is needed to maintain the minimum vital activity of the body.
To do this, you should first measure your height and body weight. Then use the following formulas:
- Men: BUE = 66.5 + (13.8 x weight) + (5.0 x height) - (6.8 x age);
- Women: BUE = 655, 1 + (9, 6 x weight) + (1, 9 x height) - (4, 7 x age).
Let's say for a thirty-year-old man weighing 100 kilograms and having a height of 180 centimeters, the basal level will be 2,140 kilocalories.
Fat Cell Energy and Low Carb Diet
In order to get rid of excess fat, you need to find out the exact amount. There are many ways to do this, but today we are looking at the pros and cons of low-carb diets for the bodybuilder and for this reason, I will not talk about determining the percentage of excess fat.
For example, your weight is 100 kilograms, and fat is 14 kilograms, or 14%. Thus, you need to get rid of 9 or 9.5 kilograms of fat. It should be admitted that this is a rather large figure. It is known that when one gram of body fat is burned, 9 kilocalories are released. Through simple calculations, it becomes clear that in order to get rid of a kilogram of fat, you need to get rid of 9000 calories. Since scientists do not advise reducing energy consumption without the use of special preparations by more than 500-700 calories per day, it takes 13-18 days to burn only one kilogram of body fat.
It should be recognized that today there are many ways to speed up fat burning, but it is important to keep in mind the various obstacles that may arise:
- With a decrease in the caloric content of the diet, the body may not respond by burning fat;
- With a low calorie diet, metabolic processes slow down at a certain point;
- In case of disturbances in the work of the hormonal system, the use of a diet may not bring results, and in the worst case, exacerbate the situation.
The basic rule for athletes on low-carb diets is to reduce the calorie intake by no more than 700 calories. It is also necessary to do fasting days, increasing the calorie content of the nutrition program to a normal level.
The essence of a low-carb diet
Before moving on to the pros and cons of low-carb diets for the bodybuilder, you need to be clear about the purpose of this diet:
- Allows you to switch energy metabolism in the body from carbohydrate to fat;
- Reduce insulin levels in the blood.
Disadvantages of low-carb diets
If everything is clear enough with the advantages of such nutrition programs, then their disadvantages should be told in more detail. It should be said right away that all diets have common disadvantages, which are quite well known. But low-carbohydrate also has its own "personal" disadvantage - insulin resistance rises sharply. To understand how dangerous this is for the body, one should recall the role of insulin.
- This hormone promotes the rapid delivery of nutrients to tissue cells.
- Thanks to insulin, the permeability of cell membranes improves, which accelerates the delivery of amino acid compounds to them and stimulates protein synthesis.
You should also remember about the strong anti-catabolic properties of insulin. But the rate of deposition of subcutaneous fat also depends on insulin. Simply put, with a high level of insulin, fat burning processes are simply impossible. It is this problem that low-carb diets are designed to eliminate, thereby pushing the body to burn fat cells. However, there are two sides to this "medal" and the negative significantly exceeds the positive.
- You have to reduce the level of catabolism in a different way, but now there are very effective ways to solve this problem.
- With a constant low level of insulin in the body, resistance to this hormone develops.
In this regard, it should be said that insulin resistance can be reduced not only through intense training, but also by reducing body fat. Thus, it will be much easier to fight overweight with regular exercise in the gym.
Another disadvantage of low-carb diets is a decrease in muscle glycogen stores. This leads not only to a deterioration in the appearance of the muscles, but also greatly complicates the training. Even when using carbohydrate loads, glycogen will not be fully recovered. To avoid the above-described troubles, the amount of carbohydrates consumed should be reduced gradually, no more than 40 grams per day. You also need to start eating foods with a low insulin index and exclude milk from the diet. You will also have to use special medications to support your body.
Despite the visual appeal of a low-carb nutrition program, it should be treated with caution.
For more details on the benefits and drawbacks of a low-carb diet for bodybuilding, see this video:
