Subscribe to the NWA Newsletter Here
I wake up, all veggies no eggs,
I hit the gym, all chest, no legs…
– Ye (probably)
If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.
Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.
Each week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.
Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…
Without any further ado, let’s get started..
N.W.A. Tip Of The Week
There are a lot of misconceptions about low carb dieting.
Low carb dieting isn’t a new concept. It was popularized in the 70’s by Dr. Robert Atkins, who coined the term “The Atkins Diet”.
To this day, you can find Atkins “food products” in your grocery store, promising fat loss and health if you consume them.
In reality, Dr. Atkins wasn’t the first low-carb proponent.
William Banting was actually the first person to be attributed with a “low carb, high fat” approach to dieting.
His infamous “Banting Diet” became so popular in the 1800’s that dieting was often called “Banting” at the time.
Low carb diets will always be highly popular, and honestly, for good reason.
They are fairly simple to follow.
Limit and/or eliminate your carbohydrates, and you will often see rapid fat loss (assuming you can stick to it).
There’s a simple explanation as to why this happens, though.
First, let’s clear out what isn’t happening.
You are not losing weight because you’re keeping your insulin low.
This is a common misconception. It’s called “The Insulin Theory Hypothesis”.
The hypothesis works like this:
Insulin is a “storage hormone”. Whenever you eat carbohydrates, your blood sugar spikes, causing insulin to be secreted.
When insulin is secreted, you cannot lose body fat, and everything you eat will be stored as fat.
Therefore, the secret to losing fat is to keep your blood sugar – and resulting insulin – as low as possible.
This is not how the human body works…
There are plenty of bodybuilders out there who eat hundreds of grams of carbs per day and stay very lean, regardless of how many times they spike their insulin.
It has also never been proven that you cannot lose weight if you spike your insulin.
Insulin secretion is a normal part of a healthy, working metabolism.
It may be wise to limit carbohydrates if you have blood sugar issues such as pre-diabetes or Type 2 diabetes.
That being said, just because you keep your insulin low does not mean you will lose body fat.
The big reason low carb diets tend to work well, especially in the beginning, is the rapid weight loss which comes primarily from water weight.
Each gram of carbohydrates brings 3-4 grams of water weight into your body when consumed.
A “standard American diet” will have 300 or more grams of carbohydrates per day.
Let’s do a bit of math…
300 grams of carbs x 4 grams of water weight = 1200 grams of water weight, each day (1.2 kilos)
1.2 kilograms x 2.2 pounds per kilogram = 2.6 pounds of water weight per day
If you decide to eliminate all carbs, over the next 3 days, that’s 2.6 pounds of water – per day – that you are no longer bringing into your body.
This is why you will often see wild weight loss swings of 5-10 pounds in the first week of very low carb dieting.
After a few weeks of these big, water weight drops, weight loss tends to level off, which can be frustrating.
The dieter ends up wondering why they aren’t still losing weight at such a high clip.
The reason for that is simple – once the water weight is off of you, there’s only one way to keep the weight loss coming – be in a consistent, daily calorie deficit.
Sadly, not many people understand this.
They think they just need to “low-carb diet even harder”.
So they turn to increasingly extreme low carb diets like the Keto diet or even the Carnivore diet (BAD idea).
Let’s be real here – the biggest advantage to low carb dieting?
It pretty much eliminates all junk food from your diet, particularly foods with sugar in them.
Chips
Candy
Cookies
Ice cream
Pizza
Pasta
Baked goods
You can’t eat any of these processed foods when you’re low-carb dieting.
You’ll also be eating more protein, which is arguably the #1 best strategy for weight loss there is, for a multitude of reasons.
If you’re struggling with weight loss and finding something that’s sustainable, low-carb dieting can work.
But so can low-fat dieting.
Or high protein dieting.
Or any type of dieting that eliminates junk food, and excess calories.
If you don’t quite know where to start, always start with “The Big 3”.
These are the 3 rules that every single diet that has ever worked follows:
- Eat whole, unprocessed foods and make your own meals at home (no dining out)
- No snacking
- No drinking calories of any kind
You may find that advice simplistic, and perhaps it is.
But when I have given the “Big 3” out as advice in the past, it’s wild how many people message me telling me they’ve lost huge amounts of weight by following them.
The best diet is the one you can stick to for the rest of your life.
Whether that has carbs in it or not.
—-
Check out these results in just 6 weeks of our group coaching program (below).
This is what happens when you put in the work.
You can learn more and join about our most popular – and affordable coaching offer here.
More AF Content From Around the Web:
You can use organic olive oil v vegetable oil…
You can use local honey v high fructose corn syrup…
You can use ghee or beef tallow v sunflower oil…
You can drink raw milk v pasteurized…
But none of it will mean shit for your fat loss efforts unless you control your calories.
Read this thread on Twitter/X
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Anyman Fitness N.W.A. Newsletter.
I’ll be back next week.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Best, Coach J Anyman Fitness
Read the N.W.A. Newsletter Archives
Client Testimonials and Results
Certified banger. (NSFW – language)