Do You Need Carbohydrates to Burn Fat?

The optimal way to train an athlete to prepare for their specific sport is to train explosively using multi-joint movements. Sports such as football, basketball, wrestling, volleyball, and baseball utilize the body's ability to produce force, when needed, over repeated bouts during the length of a game, match or contest. Power movements dramatically increase an athlete's metabolic activity, which leads to depletion of muscle energy stores such as muscle glycogen from carbohydrates.

In today's media-driven society the general population tends to gravitate towards the latest fad-diet or can't miss diet plan. As an athlete or someone trying to increase lean body mass and decrease fat mass can get confused over what nutritional strategies are the best for them to train and perform at an optimal level. While restriction in carbohydrates may be beneficial in moderation for certain individuals it means almost a certain decrease in energy stores, an increase in muscle break-down, and a decrease in over-all athletic performance. A prime example is a body builder preparing for a show.

Regardless of what you heard or read, carbohydrates are critical to fat loss:

1. Carbohydrates are needed in the cellular reactions involved in burning fat.

2. They spare protein from being used as a fuel source. The body prefers to burn carbohydrates for energy over protein. Protein is then spared so that it can be used to do it's main job of repairing tissue and building lean muscle

3. Carbohydrates restock the body with glycogen, which helps fuel the muscles during exercise. The more glycogen in the muscles, the harder you can train and the less fatigued you will be. Hard training in turn burns body fat and builds metabolically active muscle.

4. When your body is digesting carbohydrates, your metabolic rate goes up higher than it does when it is metabolizing fat. This is due to the thermic effect from food.

Finally, complex carbohydrates are loaded with fiber, which has its own set of fat-burning benefits. More energy or calories are spent digesting and absorbing high-fiber foods than most foods. Fiber keeps your appetite in check by stimulating the release of appetite-suppressing hormones. Additionally, fiber accelerates the time it takes for food to move through your body (rapid transit time), meaning fewer calories are left to be stored as fat.

In summary, an athlete must definitely be aware of and understand the importance of carbohydrates in the diet. For example, power development through Olympic lifts such as the snatch and clean and jerk will use carbohydrates for energy at a very high rate. Muscle glycogen stores will be depleted faster in a power athlete because they utilize more fast twitch fibers than in an endurance athlete who uses more slow twitch fibers. Performance of a single bout of high intensity exercise will usually be superior after a high carbohydrate diet compared to a low carbohydrate diet. I would recommend having a dietitian or exercise nutrition specialist create a custom nutrition plan for you based on your fat loss goals, body fat and energy needs. However, a great resource is a book "Power Eating" by Susan Kliener.

Lauren Chadwick-Sonnen, MA CSCS is the author of this article. She is a wife, mother and owns her own personal training business. She has a passion for helping others on their journey of fitness, by offering free online circuits and diet information.