Low-Carb Diets: Fat Adaptation is a Ferrari Running on Bicycle Gears

INTRODUCTION
“When you go low carb, your body learns to burn fat as a fuel.”
You might have heard this before and thought “Oooh! So if I go low carb, I will burn more fat!”.
Sounds cool, but if you have read my previous articles you would probably call bullsh*t.
Let’s make it a bit easier to digest this time as to why it indeed is bullsh*t and also why if you are an athlete looking to improve performance, fat adaptation is a bad idea.

BREAKING IT DOWN
“When you go low carb, your body learns to burn fat as a fuel.”

There is a BIG problem with this statement.

Fat is a shitty fuel source for high-energy activity.

Anything harder than a slow jog is reliant on carbs for fuel. (I covered this in my previous post here)

Q: Can your body adapt to burning fats better if you don’t eat carbs for a while?

Yes.

But you are adapting to using less effective fuel.

Opting for a low-carb diet to adapt to burning fats is like trading in a high-performance sports car for a vintage bicycle. Sure, you are adapting to a different mode of transportation, but you can't ignore the fact that you've chosen a less efficient, slower option. Your body might be adapting, but it's like asking a Ferrari to run on bicycle gears – technically functional, but not the optimal choice for high-performance results.

Q: What about fat burning for fat loss?

If you reduce ANY kind of calories, your body burns the same amount of fat whether you are fat adapted to fat burning or not.

Your body burns fat primarily when you are not exercising anyway. `

The majority of your daily calories are burned when you are NOT exercising.

So, it does not matter whether you reduce carbs or fat… you will lose the same amount of fat either way as long as you are in a deficit.

CONCLUSION
Simply put, eating low-carb as a high performer (when you have access to carbs) is just a bad idea.

If you don’t care about the performance that much, do what feels best for you.