Should you separate your carbs and fats during a meal if you’re trying to lose fat?

August 29th, 2016 by

Should you separate your carbs and fats during a meal if you’re trying to lose fat? A study published in the International Journal of Obesity may shed some light on the subject. See below for more info.

In this study, researchers split 54 obese people in two groups. Both groups were put on a reduced, iso-caloric diet for 6 weeks, which means they ate the same amount of total calories. The main difference between the two diets was that one diet supplied protein, carbs and fat in each of the meals throughout the day. While the other diet had subjects consume meals where carb intake was kept separate from fat. In other words, meals either consisted of carbs and protein or fat and protein.

Both diets were fairly close in their macronutrient composition, but there was a slight difference. In the diet where carbs were separated from fats, the macronutrient breakdown for the day was 25% protein, 47% carbohydrates and 25% fat. For the other diet, which included all macros in each meal, the breakdown was 25% protein, 42% carbohydrates and 31% lipids.

Also, worth mentioning is that both groups performed 1 hour of aerobic exercise training per day and 1 hour of exercises in a swimming pool per day.

After the 6 weeks on the diet, the researchers found that both groups lost weight and body fat. However, there was no significant difference between groups.

Unfortunately, in this study they didn’t measure lean body mass. Nor did the subjects engage in a weight-training program. That being said, I would still suggest consuming carbs and protein in your post-workout meal. Not because fats are bad to eat after a training session, but it’s a little more opportunistic to consume a meal containing carbs and protein, which have been shown to stimulate protein synthesis and halt protein breakdown after a workout.

Therefore, what this study suggests is that separating carbs and fat in a meal doesn’t provide any additional benefit for weight/fat loss, but if you’re looking to spare/build muscle tissue then there’s an argument to be made that you want your post-workout meal to consist of just carbs and protein.

For more information:
Golay, A et al. Similar weight loss with low-energy food combining or balanced diets. International Journal of Obesity. 2000. 24, 492-496