If you feel the only way to lose weight is by cutting your carbs, you might have been misled like I was for many years. I followed a variation of low carb or keto for many years, and I always fell into the same pattern. I would see an initial drop in weight, look and feel really good initially, only to slowly feel my performance in my workouts and results in my body composition stall. Then I would try reintroducing some carbs, only to find my body not handling them well as I saw more bloating and less results. Therefore I continued to associate carbs as being the enemy to my fitness goals. 

I realized something was wrong when I started to notice something wasn’t right whenI didn’t feel good with or without them - it just didn’t make sense. As I learned more about the actual functions of fats and carbs, I discovered I had been making some common mistakes that had nothing to do with carbs or fats being superior: my protein intake was too low and my calories were too high. So no matter what breakdown of fats/carbs I had, I wasn’t getting the results I wanted until I addressed those two things. When I implemented these things with other clients, I started to notice the same things.

If you’ve ever feared upping your carb intake, or felt that you needed to cut carbs to lose weight, you may have been misled like I was for many years. While the recommendations of exactly how many carbs/fat/protein and calories are needed for you is individualized, here are 4 reasons why carbs are not stalling your weight loss goals:

1: Carbs Raise Insulin, But Insulin Doesn’t Make You Fat

While carbs raise insulin, and insulin has a role in storing fat (among many other things), assuming then that carbs cause fat storage is incomplete logic. If you are in a calorie deficit (burning more calories than you’re taking in), your body will tap into your fat stores for energy regardless of insulin.

Eating too many calories, not eating too many carbs, will cause weight gain.

2: Carbs Prevent Muscle Breakdown

Insulin doesn’t just store body fat, it actually helps protect your muscles from breakdown while shuttling in the right nutrients to allow for muscle growth. This is extremely important, but especially important, when cutting calories for weight loss.

If you are regularly exercising, carbs will help with recovery and preserving lean muscle mass (especially if your goal is to lose weight)

3: Carbs Help You Train Harder (AKA Build More Muscle)

I loved being low carb for a lot of reasons, but being able to train harder was never one of them. Carbs help replenish muscle glycogen which will allow you to train harder, especially with higher intensity workouts. If your workouts are not very intense, only consist of very low repetitions, or you're doing ultra endurance type workouts, you might be able to get away just fine with less carbohydrates. If you’re looking to push it in the gym and build muscle, carbs will be your friend.

Carbs restore muscle glycogen, which will help you push it harder in the gym and therefore build more lean muscle over time.

4: When Protein+Calories Are Controlled, Fat/Carb Breakdown Is More On Preference

When protein and calories are equated, the specific macronutrient breakdown of fats and carbs do not impact weight loss. Several studies have shown that as long as protein and calories are controlled, higher fat vs higher carb doesn’t affect weight loss outcomes.

As long as you hit your protein and calorie requirements, the amount of carbs and fats you consume is more up to personal preference than anything else.

Keep in mind, all these reasons are assuming that you are doing some type of resistance training, keeping protein intake high, and eating at a calorie maintenance or deficit. If you are missing any of those points, high carb intakes can be problematic for long-term health.