When someone is plant based a lot of their protein intake arrives with a heavy carb load which makes it difficult to stay low carb (beans and lentils)
It seems like the only way to maintain a very lean and athletic figure is to eat more protein than carbs but can it be done despite a heavy carb load?
Leaneness is based on body fat percentage, which is based on total energy consumption. Fitness is based on what you do with your body, eg exercise.
If you eat in a caloric deficit to get to a desired bod fat percentage while working out enough to build/maintain muscle, it doesn’t matter if you guy high carb, high protein, or high fat.
Where those foods come from doesn’t actually affect the energy itself. It’s just that high processed carb foods tend to be easier to overeat than high protein foods. But if you plan a diet well, you can absolutely be super lean and fit anyway.
>It seems like the only way to maintain a very lean and athletic figureis to eat more protein than carbs but can it be done despite a heavycarb load?
Bro have you seen Kenyan and Ethiopian distance runners? They’re lean as shit and get 60-70% of their calories from carbohydrate. Kenyans eat lots of sugar too, like 20% of total calories (table 3).
Contrary to what Gary Taubes thinks, carbs simpliciter don’t make you fat.
In fact a high carbohydrate intake is what’s recommended for most athletes anyway because of the energy demand of training.
From personal experience, yes. I’m not an expert but I believe it has something to do with carbs being a more readily available energy source than other macros. If you are consuming the right amount of calories but not much of that comes from fat or protein, your body will have a difficult time storing fat.
When you eat carbs, it’s stored in your muscles as glycogen for a short time. I can’t remember how long but it’s like half a day. Muscles preferentially use stored glycogen for energy.
All this to say, if you are already lean, eating the right amount of calories for your activity level and exercising daily, few of those calories will be stored as fat. Additional theories are that eating a plant based diet can provide you with enough protein as long as you are eating enough calories. This is based on the fact that all plant foods contain at least 14% protein. (Obviously doesn’t apply to straight sugar and juice)
Some of this could be total bro science but as a runner who lived on mostly potatoes, spinach dates and juice for years, I was very lean- too lean, which is why I don’t eat that way anymore. I did eat like that specifically because I wanted to run all the time and I think it made a significant difference in my endurance. I got into this way by following advice of vegan ultra runners like Scott jurek and Rich Roll. Honorable mention to David Goggins who is not vegan but plant focused.
So you can actually eat A LOT of food this way because plant foods are high mass but low calorie. Which is nice after a big long run
This is an immensely complicated subject. There is an ideal amount of macro nutrients the body needs to be healthy. Yet when we starve the body to lose weight, the metabolism will consume muscle mass which it converts into energy. So we will lose some muscle along with fat. The liver can convert protein into glucose, if the brain needs glucose, in a process called gluconeogenesis. The body has learned through evolution to guard stored fat jealously. It gives it up reluctantly. Pitting ones will power against this makes it really hard to lose weight. Age/metabolism is also a factor, it’s much easier to lose weight in one’s early twenties than it is in the sixties etc. then there’s the gut micro biome which can be biased toward obesity, and genetics or epigenetics making fat storage more efficient. Race is a factor, like Asians tend to be lean as a population. Culture is a factor, Macdonalds vs fish and rice . Etc.
That’s not true, unless you are an extreme body builder you don’t need many proteins. Many fit peoples do a carb based diet becouse taking too many proteins can have some downsides to your health.Our body is programmed to convert sugars into energy, that’s the main macronutrients that we need to be healthy. Good carbs can make you achieve the best results, the proteins will slow down the process, make you feel weaker and more prone to bone and tissue damage.Your body builds most of the proteins from fats and sugars too, so basically you should try to do a low proteins diet instead, and look for the results.Indeed good quality carbs are way superior to synthesized and industrial carbs. Fruits and homemade juice should be your daily snack in between exercises.Plants and veggies do have lot of proteins, that are enough to cover your needs.You just need to eat healthy and have a good variety.It’s easier with more carbs.
Gut microbes also affect body size. Studies have been done showing that gut microbes from an obese rodent, inserted into a lean rodent, will cause the lean rodent to become obese, all other things being equal. Some people are genetically or epigenetically able to put on fat more easily too. Generally speaking, Asians tend to be lean as a population. In fact there is a type of body described as Thin on the Outside Fat on the Inside (TOFI) meaning this person can have diabetes without being obese.
What you stated is far from the truth. You do not have to consume more protein than carbs to remain lean and fit. I used to eat 3000 calories a day at 300 grams of carbs and 160 grams of protein and was less than 10% body fat.
It’s all about how fast your metabolism is, how many calories do you burn a day, what is your resting metabolic rate etc. Has nothing to do with eating more protein than carbs. So to answer your question yes you can remain lean and fit while eating more carbs than protein.