Carbohydrate Tolerance and Shedding Fat

Are you still trying to lose those last 10lbs? Or drop your body fat by a couple of percentage points? Join the club… I waged a battle against my vanity pounds a couple of weeks ago, and it’s not exactly a war of attrition.

In his article “Carbohydrate Tolerance: Frontline Fat Loss,” strength coach and scientist David Barr explains how to lose weight as efficiently as possible by exploring the concept of carbohydrate tolerance. There’s nothing magical about his advice: You lose fat through 1) Diet and 2) Exercise. But there are some enlightening tips on what you should be eating (protein), what you should be avoiding (carbs), and why.

The carbohydrate tolerance concept is best explained by treating our muscle as a sponge that's responsive to carbs. “For the optimal fat loss we want it relatively ‘dry,’ so that when the time comes, it can suck up as many carbs as possible,” Barr explains. So if the muscle is “dry,” it will be able to absorb carbs without affecting the rest of the body.

But according to Barr, once muscle reaches its saturation point once and has absorbed enough carbs, the carbs will begin to “spill over.”

Barr also advocates separating your weight training sessions from your cardio sessions, but that’s something you should already know (tsk tsk if you don’t).

According to Barr, “By splitting cardio and weights into two separate workouts, you're preserving muscle mass! This not only helps to maintain an elevated, fat burning, metabolism, but it also ensures that you'll look better when you're all done!” Who can argue with that?

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