If you are doing a low/no carb diet

[iron addict]

If you are doing a low or no carb diet while trying to get lean you need to understand that you will be flat looking as the carbs keep water in the muscle cells and when the water goes, the fullness goes. If you can't deal with that, do a diet that has a decent amount of carbs for about 1/2 the day and add more low intensity cardio.

I CONSTANTLY have training clients that are on low carb diets decide to quit them because they "look skinny" when on them. My first response is to tell the client to spend a solid 3-4 days carbing up and then seeing what they look like. This usually solves the problem as they soon realize it is a short term look that will take them to their desired levels of leanness.

Another thing that happens with people on low carbs is they get extremely anal about not eating any carbs. Most trainees are instructed to do 1-2 high carb days a week. This keeps thyroid happy, gives you a break mentally, and will allow you to fill out a bit--or perhaps a lot depending on the amount of carbs consumed. Having these high carb/calorie days are extremely important if you are to have the diet work in the long term. If you only have a bit of bodyfat to lose, this is not that important. But if you have more than 15 lbs to lose, it is a big part of having the plan work well.

IA