For the next two weeks, I challenge you to eat carbohydrates based on your activity level.

The good news is that everyone can and should have carbs in their diet.

That’s because they can provide some awesome benefits: increased metabolism (better fat loss and health), full glycogen stores (more energy), increased leptin levels (controlled appetite and fewer cravings), and increased anabolism (more muscle mass/strength).

Without carbs, we are missing out on some great performance and health potential. It makes sense to include carbs in your diet. It’s also clear that the carbohydrates we do include in our diets should provide the fuel for activity. By getting this input of energy vs. output of energy right for you, significant weight reduction can occur.

This habit will show you how to keep carbohydrates in your diet, while still achieving your fat-loss goals.

The term ‘carbohydrate’ comes from the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen-based molecules that are present in foods like fruit and grains.

Unlike essential proteins and fats, there are no essential carbohydrates.

This means we can obtain everything we need nutritionally from other food sources, so carbohydrates are not necessary to maintain life.

One thing we do know, is activity levels play a large role in how much energy you burn and therefore how much you require to ‘top-up’. The more active you are, the more carbs are required to replace the energy used to perform and recover.

I always recommend high-intensity exercise such as weight training over most other exercise techniques, as it has been shown to burn much more energy during and after training.

On top of this, you build some nice muscle too. When you exercise more, you can eat more and when you eat more, your body has a greater ability to change. This is basic energy turnover; the relationship between the amount of energy put in from your nutrition and the amount of energy out via exercise.

Central to this is your body’s ability to use the food we give it. In other words, more calories go to our muscles for growth and repair, while less are put to fat cells for storage.

You are also eating more high-quality foods, meaning greater amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants are available to us, providing a much better recipe for long term success.

This 2-week habit coaching program encourages you to eat carbohydrates based on your daily activity level.

The carbs within our diet and this includes fruit and vegetables should be making up the largest portion of each meal that we have.

Carbs are broken down into two groups, complex and simple.

Complex carbs are those that are wholemeal, whole grain starchy types which have more than one sugar molecule in them and provide greater nutritional value. The complex carbs provide greater amounts of fibre too and often are lower in salt, sugar and fats and release energy in the form of glucose into the body over a longer period.

Simple carbs are single sugars, quick to break down in the digestion process and release energy quicker and will be found in natural products like fruit and milk. Simple carbs are used in processed and refined foods such as cakes, biscuits, and white bread where the process removes the whole-grain fibre content.

The key is in choosing your carbs wisely.

It can be difficult to stay consistent with a habit as you approach the weekend, but as you form new habits around nutrition being prepared allows for those weekend events and so be doing an easier version of your habit allows it still to happen.

Body type can play a factor in one’s ability to handle carbohydrates, with typical ectomorphs (slim and skinny) being able to consume more carbs than their endomorph (short and stocky) or mesomorph (defined and muscular) counterparts. Body shape and build can influence someone’s nutrition and training and so carbs are one of many factors that we can consider.

Current bodyfat to muscle ratio shows how tolerant someone is likely to be to carbs. Typically, the more muscle mass you carry and/or the less body fat a person has, the chances are they will be able to consume greater quantities of carbohydrates daily. Today, reflect on your current body type and if you are matching your carbohydrate intake to match this.

Today take the time to review the week gone and how it has been for you as you continue your journey. Today is also the time to think about the week ahead and what you wish to keep going and what changes you wish to make.

Whatever it is use the time to appreciate where you are on your journey and progress further regardless.

Try the journal process and help your health even more by reflection and seeing where you are.

If all went well last week, and you didn’t struggle or skip the habit for more than a day, I recommend that you lengthen the habit this week. If you’ve struggled, keep it the same as last week or make it even easier.

For example, if you’ve just been eating a very small amount of carbohydrates with meals, then try increasing the amount this week.
Or if you’ve struggled to reduce the amount of carbs in your daily diet, then put greater focus on reducing these.

Never make too big an adjustment so that it becomes too difficult.
This slow change process of expanding the habit a little at a time helps overcome the resistance of the mind to change and discomfort.
Each step isn’t difficult, so your mind doesn’t rebel much. Gradually the habit becomes your new normal and you can expand a bit more, pushing your comfort zone a little at a time.

High Carbohyrdate Diet – 200g+ per day

Some people do very well on a higher carbohydrate diet, and some of my clients can eat 300-400g per day while still losing body fat. Jealous yet? Most are not so lucky, and those who can, usually fall into the same category – young, lean
and metabolically efficient with an active lifestyle.

If you do not tick all those boxes then chances are you will not lose weight optimally eating this amount (while maintaining a balanced diet).

Moderate Carbohydrate Diet – 100-200g per day
This is a very common daily carb range for the majority of active and healthy people looking to cut the body fat. This still allows for some starch in the diet, yet limits the amount quite significantly.
You still get all the benefits of having carbs in the diet (so you feel good and perform well), yet lower the intake and overall amount to therefore optimise fat burning (to look good).

Low Carbohydrate Diet – <100g per day
This could be described as ketogenic diet – one in which no starchy carbs (or very few) are consumed daily. This is when the body is forced to use fat for energy.
To do this, the person will go through a fat adaption phase, when the body releases ketones for muscle and brain fuel. This can be the most difficult part of such a diet as energy levels can significantly drop until this process is complete.
This energy slump is also common for those transitioning to a moderate carbohydrate diet plan.

Most people lose weight quickly on this type of plan, but it suits those who are inactive, diabetic or seeking that last bit of fat loss. A low carbohydrate diet also works better with females, as they carry much less body weight than men,
and require less energy as a result.
Today, have a quick think about how many carbohydrates you are eating daily and compare it to my guidelines above.

One reason changing your diet is such a difficult task, is because of the discomfort it brings.
Your mind and body doesn’t like discomfort. We have to face discomfort when we decide to eat better for the first time,
or exercise more, or when we simply put ourselves out there in the world. These are scary, uncomfortable situations. But if we don’t push into discomfort, we severely limit ourselves.

We limit what we achieve, we can make ourselves unhealthy and we limit our progress.

So today, consider pushing yourself into discomfort, either with the habit or with something else.

Stay with the discomfort, find curiosity about it, see if you can be OK with the uncomfortable feeling.

It’s almost the weekend. Even if you don’t have a lot going on, it’s possible you’re not fully focused on this habit, or fully committed to it.
So let’s set you up to win this weekend and achieve your habit with ease.
Today, think about your super easy, almost effortless version of the habit for the weekend.

How are you going to achieve the habit this weekend?

We’re almost at the end of the ‘Eat carbohydrates based on activity’ habit challenge. As you prepare to move onto the next habit challenge, you’ll want to put this current habit into ‘habit maintenance mode.’ This is a way of continuing it with less of a focus.

By now, the habit should start to become more automatic if you’ve been at least a little consistent. You don’t need reminders to start the habit, and it’s feeling a bit easier, more part of your ‘normal.’

So as you begin to move your focus to the next habit challenge, all you want to do is not forget about this habit. You don’t need to keep track of it every day, as long as things are going well. But every few days, pause and reflect on this habit and check in to see that everything is still going well.

Maybe once a week, use one of our Sunday reflection sessions to assess whether you have any obstacles around this habit, need to make adjustments, learned anything new. After a while, you need to reflect on the habit less often, as it becomes ingrained in your life. Stay focused this weekend and remember to have some fun in the process.

Over the last two weeks you’ve completed the ‘Eat carbohydrates based on activity’ habit challenge – nice work!

Today, take a minute after practicing your habit to reflect again on the past week of doing the habit.

What has the habit been like and how have you done?

What have you learned?

What parts or how much of this habit will you continue to do?

Consider writing a short journal entry about these reflections, to solidify your learning. Treat habit formation as a learning process, as a way to learn about yourself, your mind, mindfulness, resistance and more.