Eating Carbs with Protein to Lose Weight: Does It Help?

Performance

Many studies over the past 4 to 5 decades have pointed to carbohydrates' role in sustaining and improving physical performance.

And with the rise of research into things like the ketogenic diet and carnivore, carbs have been thrown around as obsolete for athletes, but when it comes to certain forms of exercise, carbs are still king.

If you take part in high-intensity exercise, carbs play a significant role in your performance.

Despite the body's ability to convert dietary protein and fat to glucose for energy to fuel performance, carbohydrates are metabolized more efficiently.

They are the only macronutrient that can be broken down rapidly enough to provide immediate energy during periods of high-intensity exercise when fast-twitch muscle fibers are primarily relied upon ¹.

And protein? While views on protein have evolved over the past several decades, most people can agree that a higher than recommended protein intake (0.8 g/kg per day) is required to enhance performance, recovery, and skeletal muscle accretion for the average person ¹.

But if you're an athlete or train multiple times per day, these amounts should be further increased to 1.2-2g/kg per day.

Energy

Carbohydrates are the quickest energy source of all the macronutrients, and if you're looking for a quick pick-me-up, carbs are your friend. However, what you want to avoid is refined and processed carbs that spike glucose and insulin, only to leave you feeling like you've been run over afterward.

Simple carbohydrates that lack essential nutrients and fiber and rank higher on the glycemic scale tend to elicit rapid spikes followed by rapid drops.

But when you're choosing the right kinds of carbs, they replenish glycogen stores and leave you with a full pool to draw on for immediate energy.

Muscle Growth And Recovery

Protein is the most critical macronutrient involved in maintaining muscle mass and assisting in recovery.

If you don't want to lose weight in the form of muscle, you need to ensure you consume adequate amounts of high-quality protein daily.

But there are a couple of other links between protein and weight loss ²:

1. Satiety—Protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates, meaning it delays gastric emptying and keeps you full for longer
2. TEF—Protein has a higher thermic effect than both fat and carbohydrates, meaning your metabolism revs to digest it, and you expend more calories
3. Storage—Excess protein is difficult to store as fat, whereas carbohydrates are relatively easily converted into glucose, then glycogen, then fat
4. Lean Mass—Amino acids derived from dietary protein are critical to maintaining lean body mass because, realistically, no one wants to lose weight by compromising existing muscle

However, where carbs come into play is in two areas: replenishing glycogen stores to top up the immediate energy pool and spiking insulin to allow amino acids to enter cells and do their repair job.

If you're consuming carbs immediately post-workout, you will want to look towards simpler carbohydrates that supply immediate energy; we'll talk a bit more about this below.

Hormone Support

This is one thing that people often miss, especially if you're a woman. But for everyone, carbs are needed to support proper hormonal balance, and when you drop your carbs too low, you start to put your body into stress-mode. And when that happens, here's the result:

• Reduced thyroid hormone output ³
• Increased cortisol output (cortisol = fat storage + weight gain)
• Decreased testosterone
• Impaired mood and cognitive function
• Muscle catabolism
• Suppressed immune function ⁴

Sounds like pretty much everything you don't want to happen, right? Your thyroid is one of the glands responsible for metabolic function, and your adrenals partly control fat storage.

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And if they're not operating properly or are overactive, chances are you can kiss your weight loss goals goodbye.

Appetite Control

Because of carbs' impact on blood sugar and insulin, consuming a carb-heavy meal not only leaves you feeling a bit sluggish post-meal, but it will also leave you hungry a couple of hours later.

When you combine fast-digesting carbs with protein or just snack on protein alone, it can increase satiety and improve appetite regulation, thus helping you eat less and boost weight loss.

One study published in Nutrition Journal investigated the effects of a high-protein snack compared to a high-fat snack on appetite control, satiety, and subsequent food intake in healthy women.

Researchers found that the high protein snack (14g pro/25g CHO/0g fat) improved appetite control, satiety, and reduced food intake better than the high-fat snack ⁵.

Be Strategic With Your Timing

If you're looking to avoid weight gain from excess energy, you need to be strategic about timing your carb intake. Protein can be consumed at every meal, but to make use of the carbs you're consuming and prevent storage, eat them around your workouts.

Either pre- or post-workout, the carbs will go towards fueling your workout or replenishing depleted glycogen stores and helping muscle recovery rather than being stored as fat if they're not utilized during the day.

If you're opting to time your carbs around strength training, opt for more complex, low-glycemic carbs pre-workout—think sweet potatoes, yams, root vegetables, quinoa, etc.

This will provide you with sustained energy release throughout your training session and prevent insulin spikes that lead to fat storage. Post-workout, higher-glycemic quick-digesting carbs help bolster insulin levels and drive amino acids into muscle cells to do damage-control and growth.

As well, some people do find that complex carbs before bed helps them to sleep if they tend to deal with blood sugar issues mid-night.

When blood sugar fluctuates too much (i.e., it drops when you're sleeping), the body will shoot out cortisol in an attempt to increase blood sugar, and that cortisol output can sometimes cause people to wake up.

So, if you find yourself staring at the ceiling between 1-3 am, try incorporating a slow-digesting carb with some protein pre-sleep.

What's also interesting is that NHANES data in the U.S. shows that short sleepers (<7 h/night) consume a smaller variety of foods, as well as less protein, carbohydrate, fiber, and fat relative to normal sleepers who report 7–8 h of sleep/night ⁶.

However, note that there is a significant trend toward poor sleep quality with increasing carbohydrate intake before bed. Still, researchers suggest that carb quality is more important than quantity in mediating this association ⁷.

Other studies have shown that low carbohydrate intake (<50% total calories) was marginally associated with difficulty maintaining sleep ⁸.

Don't Go Overboard

It's pretty common knowledge that weight-loss boils down to calories in vs. calories out; if you're consuming more calories than you're burning, weight loss is going to be a challenge.

And because carbs are the easiest macronutrients to convert to fat, if you're eating an excessive amount of carbohydrates and not putting them towards fueling activity, they're going to be shuttled into fat cells.

If you struggle with knowing the amount of protein and carbs you're consuming daily, don't be afraid to track your food intake for a few weeks.

A lot of people think they're eating more protein than they are and fewer carbs than they are, so seeing the actual numbers can be a wake-up call. If you can gauge how much you're actually eating, you can take the steps needed to adjust and help you lose weight.

Choose The Appropriate Kind

With respect to any food you're eating, always choose quality over quantity.

For proteins, avoid anything processed and filled with synthetic additives, nitrates, sugar, and weird ingredients; your body doesn't recognize these, and you're likely contributing to weight gain instead of weight loss.

If you consume meat, opt for organic and grass-fed/pastured whenever possible to avoid synthetic hormones and antibiotics.

If you follow a plant-based diet, consider minimally processed proteins like beans and legumes and tempeh (fermented tofu).

And with carbs, it's all about choosing the appropriate one at the right time, but always opt for the least processed option available (i.e., whole foods).

Pre-workout look towards starchy vegetables or non-glutinous grains, whereas post-workout think simpler carbs like white rice or white potatoes. 

But at the end of the day, nutrient-density is always king. If you're trying to lose weight, you want to maximize nutrient intake while still maintaining a caloric deficit, and nutrient-dense foods are the way to do that.

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