Weight Training Blog

Carbohydrates or fat? That is the question.

So now that it’s January and the holidays are over and the pounds have been put on, which is more important to avoid? Carbohydrates or fats?

Recent research has shown that eating a calorie from fat and a calorie from a carbohydrate will lead to nearly the same weight gain in either case. However, will eating different types of either substance effect the amount of weight gained?

The answer is yes. Research conducted using monkeys (Since you can control their portion size very closely) has shown that a high-trans-fat diet led to an increase of about 7% of their body weight over a five year period, whereas a low-trans-fat diet yielded a gain of 1.5% of their body weight across the sample.

And as for simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates: Simple carbohydrates (Generally found in soda and other processed foods) put you at a greater risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease and generally yield greater weight increases than consuming the same amounts of complex carbohydrates.

So which is worse? Carbohydrates or fat?

Avoid foods laden with trans-fats as well as foods and beverages loaded with simple carbohydrates and you will take a step in the right direction towards a healthier you and a little closer to your weight loss goal.

The short answer: Yes, it is important.

When you hear people say that they are “counting their calories” you probably assume that they are on a diet in order to lose weight. However, those who watch their calories aren’t just those who are trying to lose weight. Professional bodybuilders also count their calories and take it very seriously in an effort to obtain a certain figure.

A calorie is a unit of energy. One calories is the amount of energy needed to raise one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.

Before you begin counting calories it’s important to identify what you’re trying to do. Are you trying to lose weight, gain weight, or just maintain, and then from there you can determine how many calories you will need to consume in order to obtain those goals.

You can use a calculator such as this one to figure out your basal metabolic rate in order to determine just how many calories your body needs in its current state to maintain its current mass. It’s important to note that these calculators aren’t entirely accurate as they only ask very few questions and normally don’t take into account the amount of muscle that is on one’s frame. This is important to know because added muscle means you will need to consume more calories to keep that muscle around.

Once you figure out what your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is, then you will know that eating less than that will mean you will lose weight, eating that amount of calories will keep you at your current weight, and eating more than that will mean you will gain weight.

Again, this calculation only takes into account how many calories your body needs to simply carry out its essential functions such as breathing, digesting food, thinking, etc. So if you’re more active, it’s obvious that your caloric needs will be much higher.

It’s obvious that counting calories is something that you should do in order to stay healthy, and it will certainly make your goals in the gym a lot easier to obtain because you will not be chasing something that’s physically unattainable.

Lifter or not, milk is something that most people over-look in their diets. I’ll admit that I was one of them too. For a while I was mainly drinking lots of water to stay hydrated which is alright, but what I forgot about was the vital vitamins and minerals that are found in milk that will help develop a stronger body.

Not only will it help supply vital nutrients to your body after a hard workout, but for those of you who are “hard gainers” will be able to put on some extra mass and pounds from the addition of milk to your diet.