Everyone who has ever adhered to a strict low-calorie diet knows that a side effect of weight loss is muscle exhaustion. That is, as a result of serious restrictions, we get a thinner, but also more loose body. Naturally, this result does not suit everyone.
Of course, you can advise those who are losing weight during the diet to actively engage in sports. But, firstly, subject to a strict diet, the body will necessarily switch to the “austerity” mode, trying to preserve the fat layer. And, secondly, when you have only green salad and chicken breast on the menu, you somehow do not really want to do spot, because a feeling of weakness with such a diet will appear.
There is an opinion that the situation can be corrected using the principles of a protein diet. However, a strict restriction of carbohydrates is unlikely to cause a surge of enthusiasm in sports training. What gym, even if laziness move?
Fortunately, today a technique is available that allows not only to get rid of excess fat, but also to preserve muscle. This technique is called carbohydrate alternation. This method of losing weight is very popular among athletes, especially those who are interested in bodybuilding. However, even those who are engaged in sports only to maintain their shape, may well take advantage of this diet.
Carbohydrate alternation is based on the fact that the amount of carbohydrates is constantly changing in the daily diet. They are either severely limited, or, conversely, administered in large quantities. The entire period of weight loss on this diet is divided into four-day cycles. In the first two days, the amount of carbohydrates is minimized, but protein in the diet should be enough. So, the norms for bodybuilder athletes prescribe on low-carb days to consume 3-4 grams of protein and 0.5-1.5 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of weight. The third day of the diet is highly carbohydrate, during this period it is recommended to consume 5-6 grams of carbohydrates and 1-1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of weight (we recall that these standards are designed for athletes who are actively training). The fourth day suggests that the amount of protein and carbohydrates in the diet is equal, that is, per kilogram of weight will have 2-3 grams of protein and the same amount of carbohydrates. At the end of the four-day cycle, everything repeats. To achieve the result, as a rule, it is recommended to repeat the carbohydrate alternation for 10-15 cycles. As a result of using this system, weight is reduced, and the muscles remain in the same state.
Carbohydrate alternation is not a “miraculous” diet; everything happens quite naturally, as in a physiology textbook. Losing carbohydrates in the first two days, the body is forced to use its own energy source - adipose tissue. By the end of the second day of carbohydrate "starvation", the process of splitting fats reaches its maximum. It would seem, why not continue in the same spirit, creating an artificial deficit of “fuel” in the body? The fact is that the human body has the ability to quickly adapt to various situations. And if carbohydrate starvation lasts longer than two days, stress mechanisms are activated. The body perceives the situation with insufficient intake of carbohydrates as a danger to survival and begins to intensively save a substance valuable for saving life - fat, allowing muscle cells less valuable in this respect to be “processed”.
For this reason, a diet called carbohydrate alternation recommends increasing the intake of carbohydrates on the third day to give the body time to “calm down” and “understand” that it has enough carbohydrates to form glycogen stores. The fourth day of the diet is necessary to consolidate the result.
Thus, the body continues to lose fat, and muscle tissue remains in the same state. This is the advantage of the diet of carbohydrate alternation. The menu of low-carb days of this diet includes the use of cottage cheese, eggs, beef, chicken, fish. As a complement to these products, salads made from non-starchy vegetables or vegetable stew are recommended. On high-carb days, it is recommended to eat porridge from oatmeal, buckwheat, rice, fruits, pasta. As a protein component, you can cook chicken breast or fish. The fourth day menu is a balanced menu, in which the amount of protein and carbohydrates is approximately equal.
But how quickly can you lose weight using carbohydrate alternation? The results, of course, will be different for everyone, but, on average, with strict adherence to the recommendations for one four-day cycle, it takes about a kilogram of pure fat.
Another plus of this diet is its good psychological tolerance. After all, the diet is quite diverse, on high-carb days, sweet tooth can please itself with something tasty (of course, in moderation). Well, the most important advantage of using this diet is that it is fat that is lost in the process of losing weight, therefore, the diet helps to improve the appearance and sports form of losing weight.