Loose more or gain weight?

Question

I need some advice to choose my next targets.

I started a low carbish diet (as in a not so strict low carb diet) last January together with a 20 min work out 3 times a week consisting mostly of kettlebell swings combined with some other exercises. I started at 80Kg (I'm 25 and 176cm) and so far I have lost 6kgs. I still have a belly although its visibly smaller, and my face shrunk a bit, to a point were people are noticing and commenting. Now my final target is to completely loose the belly and be in overall better physical shape.

Now my question to you is: should I keep this up and loose more weight or should I start working out at the gym and start gaining some 'good' weight?

Thanks

Answer 1

There are a couple principles to consider with any weight loss journey:

• Size is more important than weight. In other words, worry about the cm around your belly more than the Kg on the scale. Muscle is dense, so even when the scale doesn't move you should be losing size.
• You get the most returns in your diet.
• You need protein to feed your muscles.
• More muscles burn fat quicker.
• You need a certain amount of fiber to stay regular, and fiber rich foods happen to have a decent amount of carbs
• Your calculation for net carbs should take the total carbs listed and subtract the dietary fiber. Some manufacturers list "net carbs" with some incredibly low number for candy, but they don't tell you that they also subtracted sugar alcohols. Don't do that.
• Consume fewer calories than you burn to lose weight.

So make sure you have enough protein in your diet to support working out. I was on a metered diet that was definitely low carb with a controlled amount of protein. The amount of protein was not sufficient to work out on as well. I started at 133Kg and lost 38Kg through diet alone. I'm now off the diet but want to lose another 9Kg. I'm doing that through exercise and eating a balanced meal.

So your weight loss path will likely be different than mine. Anything you can do to increase the fat burning potential for your body the better. My recommendation is this:

• Increase your exercise, it may take longer to lose than what I did, but it provides other returns as well.
• Adjust your diet as needed. Not all carbs are alike, and your body may be more aggressive with storing some carbs as fat than others. Dairy, grains, fruits are all processed a bit differently.
• Make sure you don't have too much fat. Fat is calorie dense so a little goes a long way. Also, some fats are better than others (i.e. olive oil/conola oil are better than vegetable oil)
• Try to keep your carbs limited to no more than a couple times a day while you want to lose weight. It takes 6 hours for your body to switch over to burning fat after you have your carbs. If you consume all your carbs in one meal (like breakfast or dinner), you'll have about 18 hours of fat burning.

I'm currently not doing carbs on my recovery days and eating the carbs on my exercise days. I work out after my job, so a good breakfast is all I need to keep my energy up.