The Case for Carbohydrates

“Carbs make you fat.” That’s what we’ve all heard. For years, carbohydrates have been blamed for everything from weight gain to inflammation to preventing fat loss. Somewhere along the way, they became the nutrient everyone was afraid of.

And honestly, I understand why. If someone lives a sedentary lifestyle, sits behind a desk all day, comes home, watches television all evening, and rarely challenges their body physically, then eating large amounts of carbohydrates probably isn’t doing them many favors. Whether those carbohydrates come from soda and candy or even healthy foods like rice, potatoes, and oats, if your body doesn’t need that much energy, eventually the excess calories have to go somewhere.

That’s where I think carbohydrates got their bad reputation. People started noticing that when they drastically reduced carbohydrates, they lost weight. And they did.

Part of that is because eating fewer calories often leads to weight loss. Another part is because every gram of glycogen your body stores is accompanied by water. When you drastically reduce carbohydrates, your glycogen stores decrease, and you lose some of that water along with them. The scale drops quickly, and people naturally assume carbohydrates were the problem.

But here’s what often gets left out of the conversation. The scale may go down, (especially in the beginning) but it’s mostly water and the shape of your body doesn’t change. You just look like a smaller version of yourself. I get so frustrated because so many come to me with a number that they want to attain because it’s what they used to weigh in high school. The difference is that they were just naturally maintaining more muscle mass due to age. So when I have a client come to me with that mindset, I shift the conversation. I start the conversation with… “Tell me what you want your body to look like.”

What if you want shoulders that look athletic, legs that look strong enough to crush the souls of your enemies and a chiseled stomach?

Me specifically…I want an hourglass figure and to do that, I know that I need to have strong shoulders, a narrow waist and thicker hips… so when I do my programming, I program specifically towards those goals. I was never happy with my body when I just cut carbs or when I just cut calories or when I just lost weight. I would lose all the weight and still complain because what I was really after (and didn’t know it at the time) was a different body shape.

I have never known a person that was not happier with their body after starting a weightlifting routine and seeing those muscles pop.

Building muscle requires more than simply eating enough protein. It requires giving your body a reason to build that muscle in the first place. It requires challenging your muscles with resistance training. It requires recovering well.

And yes… It requires fuel.

Stick with me for a second because I’m about to use an analogy I actually know something about. 😂

Imagine hiring a tree crew to remove a dozen huge oak trees from your property. They show up with experienced workers, ropes, climbing gear, helmets, sharp chainsaws, and every piece of equipment they need. There’s just one problem. Nobody brought any gasoline.

Could they still get the job done? Sure. They could grab hand saws and start cutting. Eventually, those trees would come down. But would it be the smartest, fastest, or most efficient way to do it? Absolutely not. The crew would wear themselves out.They’d spend far more time on every tree. They’d accomplish much less over the course of the day because they simply didn’t have the fuel needed to power the equipment designed for the job.

That’s exactly how I think about carbohydrates. Protein gives your body the building materials. Carbohydrates provide much of the fuel. Those are two completely different jobs. Protein supplies amino acids, which are the tiny building blocks your body uses to repair damaged muscle fibers after you train. Carbohydrates don’t become muscle. Instead, they give you the energy to create the stimulus that tells your body it needs more muscle. Without that stimulus, your body has very little reason to build anything.

So what actually happens when you eat carbohydrates? Your digestive system breaks carbohydrates down into glucose, which enters your bloodstream. Some of that glucose is used immediately for energy. The rest is stored primarily in your muscles and liver as something called glycogen.

Think of glycogen as your muscles’ fuel tank. Every squat. Every push-up. Every pull-up. Every Romanian deadlift. Every shoulder press. Every one of those movements pulls from those glycogen stores. The harder you train, the more fuel you use.

Now imagine walking into the gym with a full tank versus walking in almost empty. Which workout do you think is going to be better?

When your muscles have enough stored glycogen, something interesting happens. You simply perform better. The weights don’t suddenly become lighter. You’re still working hard. But you have the energy to push through those last few difficult repetitions instead of quitting early. You recover faster between sets. You maintain better performance throughout the workout.You often lift more weight. You often complete more repetitions. And every one of those things matters because muscle isn’t built by showing up. It’s built by progressively asking your muscles to do more than they’ve done before. (That’s called progressive overload.)

If you curl twenty pounds for twelve repetitions this month, maybe next month you curl twenty-five pounds. Maybe instead of twelve push-ups, you eventually do fifteen. Maybe your assisted pull-ups become easier until one day you’re doing them without assistance.

Those improvements are what tell your body, “Hey…we need to adapt. We need to get stronger.” That’s how muscle is built.

Not because you drank a protein shake. Not because you ate chicken. Not because you bought the latest supplement everyone is advertising online. Your body builds muscle because you’ve consistently given it a reason to. And carbohydrates help give you the energy to create that reason.

I’ve experienced this myself. On days when I haven’t eaten enough carbohydrates before I lift, I can always tell. The weights feel heavier than they should. I get tired sooner. I don’t have the same drive during my workout. It’s not that I can’t finish. I can. Just like the tree crew could eventually cut those trees down with hand saws. But it isn’t nearly as efficient.

Then there are the days when I’ve fueled my body well. I walk into my home gym feeling strong. I can push harder. I can get another rep. I recover better between sets. By the end of the workout, I know I gave my muscles a much stronger reason to adapt and grow.

That difference matters. Because you’re not just exercising. You’re training your body to become something stronger than it was yesterday.

Now do carbohydrates matter in the scheme of things? Do we have to take them seriously at all when it comes to weight gain or weight loss? Absolutely. Carbohydrates can contribute to weight gain, just like protein can and just like fat can. Why? Because all three contain calories.

If you’re consistently eating more calories than your body burns over time, your body stores that excess energy. That’s true whether those calories came from brownies, olive oil, chicken breast, or sweet potatoes. Carbohydrates aren’t unique in that regard. They’ve just become the nutrient everyone loves to blame.

Let’s compare two different people.

Person number one sits at a desk all day, rarely exercises, and doesn’t do much that challenges their muscles. Person number two strength trains four or five days a week, walks regularly, progressively lifts heavier weights, and is intentionally building muscle.

Should those two people eat the exact same amount of carbohydrates? Probably not. Because their bodies have completely different energy demands. The second person is constantly emptying and refilling those glycogen stores. They’ve created a reason for their body to use that fuel. The first person hasn’t. This is where I think so much confusion comes from. The advice given to someone who’s largely sedentary isn’t always the same advice you’d give someone who’s intentionally trying to build muscle. Context matters.

The truth is, nutrition is rarely as black and white as social media makes it seem. No single food is responsible for your success. No single food is responsible for your failure. It’s your overall lifestyle that determines your health. How much you move. How much muscle you build. How well you sleep. How consistently you train. How often you choose nourishing foods. How well you manage stress. Those habits matter far more than whether you ate a potato with dinner.

Food is not your enemy. Carbohydrates are not your enemy. Your body was designed to move. It was designed to adapt. It was designed to become stronger when you ask it to. So don’t be afraid to put a little gas in the chainsaw.

If you need help, figuring out how many carbohydrates you should be eating a day, I can do that for you. Just shoot me a message and we’ll talk about your lifestyle and talk about what macros are right for you.