How To Gain Weight On A Low-Carb Diet!

Low carb diets have a lot of benefits. People decide to begin eating a low carb diet for a variety of reasons but a majority of people seem to adopt a low carb diet as a way to lose weight.

Low carb diets can be a great way to lose weight, but they are not magical.

Any diet that results in weight loss does so via one mechanism, you eat less calories than you burn resulting in your body burning body fat to make up the difference in energy expenditure.

There are lots of people that will disagree with that statement citing a whole bunch of theories as to why low carb diets result in weight loss that have nothing to do with calories. There are also many people that will try and debunk the concept of calories in and calories out as the main driver of weight loss. I am all for exploring other ideas as to how human metabolism works, but as of this writing the science has yet to prove any of those theories.

At a high level, the reason why low carb diets result in weight loss goes like this….

Low carb diets by definition mean you must restrict the amount of carbohydrates you are eating.

(Side note, there is no one definition for what constitutes a low carb diet, low carb for one person might be high carb for another person. In other words low carb is very individualized, and the definition is quite vague).

If you begin eating a low carb diet you will therefore remove a certain amount of carbohydrates from your diet.

When going through this process most people don’t initially replace the calories from the carbohydrates they removed.

What is the result of removing these calories without replacing them?

YOU LOSE WEIGHT!

In addition, carbohydrates have a unique characteristic to them that fat and protein do not. When carbohydrates are stored in your body they are stored with water. So when you lower your carbohydrate intake you store less carbohydrate but you also store less water. This means that when you first start a low carb diet you will see a rapid weight loss because not only are you eating less, but you are also storing less water in your body.

Now let’s get into the real magic of why low carb diets are so beneficial.

Most people who are eating a standard American (or Western) diet are eating a lot of processed foods. These processed foods are high in carbohydrates, fat, and salt, and the combination of all three of these things generally result in a hyperpalatable food that is easy to overeat.

When you begin a low carb diet you inherently will no longer be able to eat processed foods because doing so will put you over your “carb limit” for the day. So these calorically dense, hyperpalatable foods get removed from your diet.

THIS IS A HUGE STEP FORWARD NOT ONLY FOR WEIGHT LOSS BUT FOR HEALTH and is one of the main reasons I like low carb diets for many people.

However the next step in your low carb journey is where things start to go wrong…

At some point after embarking on a low carb diet most people run across a social media post showing them how to make a low carb cookie, cupcake, donut, muffin, cheesecake, etc and their mind is blown!

YOU MEAN I CAN HAVE A CUPCAKE AND NOT GO OVER MY CARB LIMIT!!!!

Of course at this point it may have been months since they had a cookie, cupcake, donut, muffin, cheesecake, etc and they immediately run out and buy all the ingredients and get to work.

Here is a great example of such a food I saw while on Instragram the other day…

It is hard to be exact on this but I am going to make a caloric estimate on the low carb Reese’s Cheesecake Pinwheel this person is constructing. It looks as though he uses a “low carb tortilla”, about ¼ of a block of cream cheese, 3-4 tbsp of peanut butter, ¼ cup of low carb chocolate chips, and about 1 tbsp of melted butter to make this Reese’s Cheesecake Pinwheel.

Let’s do some rough math….

1 low-carb tortilla = 110 calories

¼ cup of cream cheese = 202 calories

3 tbsp of peanut butter = 300 calories

¼ cup low carb chocolate chips = 55 calories

1 tbsp of butter = 100 calories

So conservatively we are around 750 calories for this pinwheel.

Here is the problem with this food…

WE JUST RECREATED THE FOOD THAT YOU WERE NO LONGER EATING BECAUSE THEY WERE TOO HIGH IN CARBS!!!!

But wait…that’s a good thing though…now you can “have your cake and eat it too”!

NO!!!!

In general low carb recreations of high carb foods are generally more calorically dense because they are higher in fat and fat has 9 calories per gram while carbs have 4 calories per gram!

This food is just (if not more) calorically dense and just as hyperpalatable as its traditional counterpart!

Now that all those cookies, cupcakes, donuts, cheesecakes are back on the table means all those calories that you had eliminated by not eating them are back on the table as well!

And guess what?

THIS TRANSLATES TO A LOW CARB PROCESSED FOOD EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!

A few weeks later you are left wondering why all their weight has come back on, how is that possible?

It could be all the Resse’s Cheesecake Pinwheels you have been eating…

Losing weight AND maintaining that weight loss has little to do with the amount of fat and carbs you are eating and has everything to do with eating in a way that allows you to regulate the amount of calories you are eating.

Unfortunately most diets today have found a way for you to still follow the “rules” of the diet while incorporating processed foods in some form. This is why when it comes to weight loss I stress less about the macros and more about finding a way of eating that allows you to not overeat.

If I had to stick by any guideline when it comes to diet it is that you need to be eating 80-90% whole foods while hitting your protein goal. That will give you the best chance of regulating your appetite and not overeating. When you combine this way of eating with getting the right amount of sleep, managing your stress, exercise, and moving throughout the day you will find yourself craving less cheesecake pinwheels and seeing your weight move in the direction you want!

Now that sounds simple on the surface, but in today’s world eating whole foods, not stressing, sleeping enough, and moving your body is a challenge because our environment is designed in a way to make these things difficult. We need to find a way to overcome these challenges and take back control of our environment. That is what I aim to do with all of the content I create and give away for free. If you want to get actionable tips on how to overcome these challenges and reach your goals sign up for my newsletter using the form below. Each week I will provide you with information that can help you get to the goals you are striving for!