If you were told to ever stay off carbs and that's what all diets tell you to do, because of the way carbs turn into sugar. How does some people end up losing weight with such high carbs then? This would drive most people, who enjoy eating carbs very nuts.

One diet is high in carbs, and the next diet is low in carbs, or the next has not even a slice of bread. Here is the correct answer to battling the question about whether carbs should be used and how much carbs should be used in your nutrition plan.

There has been a big debate over carbs, especially since Atkins made low carb, the mainstream. Even before Atkins, there were low carb diets and ketogenic diets. The low carb diet was very popular in the competitive bodybuilding area, before Atkins.

As a competitive bodybuilder, I've learned how to manipulate carbohydrates to perfectly give me fat loss results while maintaining my energy levels for my daily energy expenditure which includes my weight training workouts and cardio machine workouts.

I've learned that if someone that does not exercise has been on low carbs for a couple of weeks or more and they introduce the carbs back in their system, they will gain weight. It won't be all fat, but a small portion will be and the rest will be glycogen (energy) and water. Initially, they will retain water and glycogen for the first couple of days, and then the fat will start coming back. The amount of hydration and glycogen storage (energy) stays high since you're not releasing this energy and sweat through exercise. This can cause bloat and puffy skin as well as weight gain even with the slightest bit of increase in the amount of carb intake.

Low carbs also reduce your caloric intake, which in the long run also reduce the amount of leptin produced by your body. Effects of lowered leptin levels are increase of appetite and gradual decrease in metabolism. That's why the typical person gets hungrier after starting a diet. The drastic effects of low calorie and low carbs can lead to leptin insensitivity, which I hope you don't encounter. This occurs mostly in hardcore low carb dieters or very obese people. Most people that encounter this don't even know it. There is recovery plan to fix your metabolism, and yes it includes eating carbs.

If someone is exercising, on a low carb diet and introduces more carbs into their system, this extra glycogen will simply be used to fuel the body and help the person perform better. Much more carbs are needed to produce a weight gain and puffy result. So, it takes the right amount and the right types of carbs to get the best results for rapid fat loss and muscle maintenance. Carbs are far from being the enemy of any real fat loss diet.

Now, there are different types of carbs. Carbs can be complicated. The 3 types are fibrous, simple and complex. There are foods, that combine all three or two or just one. Each type can also have different effects on your insulin. There are low, medium and high "glycemic" carbs within 2 of these different types of carbs (simple and complex). In general complex carbs are lower in the glycemic values, but not always. Simple are be medium to high and fibrous are always low.

For the most part of the day, you should be introducing low glycemic complex and fibrous carbs, except, after a cardio session or before / after a weight training workout. Carbs are the first source of energy for your body. Without carbs, you can still lose body fat, but you will lose much more muscle, therefore really you are decreases fat and muscle which means your just getting smaller but not leaner and defined.. So it all depends on your goals.

Once you have the right types of carbs for your body, you then need to make sure you're getting the right amount of carbs, to fuel your body every day. You can only generalize the amount of carbs needed and then tweak your carb intake after you calculate your basal metabolic rate, your caloric expenditure, your protein requirements and fat requirements. Your activity and goals will dictate how much carbs, including the rest of the macronutrients you need day to day.