Last night after my workout I was sitting in the sauna as I do every day. I love the sauna at my gym because its filled with girl-talk and always provides some level of entertainment - but I digress.

Last night one of the class instructors, who also is studying to be a nutritionist, was telling all the women what type of foods they should focus on eating/not eating to achieve their respective goals. She told me that because my primary goal is to shred fat that I shouldn't eat carbs after 3pm. She swore up and down that if I integrated this I would literally watch the fat melt off my body, especially combining it with workouts 5-6 days per week.

Can anyone give me some insight into why/how this helps and also provide some input on whether this has or hasn't worked for you?

Also, I did some research today on what foods have no carbs and it appears that even most vegetables and fruits have some level of carbs, even if they're minimal. So I assume that she meant no processed/complex carbs?

Hi Aliisa, Interesting that the teacher said this. My guess is that eating carbs stimulates your pancreas to send insulin into your bloodstream. Insulin dos a lot of things, but a biggie is fat storage. So maybe the teacher's suggestion is based on avoiding foods that stimulate insulin, and maybe at night there is more tendency to fat storage. So that would be the best time to cut the foods that trigger insulin. I don't know if it's true but it makes sense.

I need seem to need carbs to stay asleep, so I purposely eat a small sweet potato with before bed. My weight doesn't go up unless I've eaten too much during the day, no matter what time I eat.

It sounds like she's talking about a ketogenic diet, where the carbs are kept low (rule of thumb is 50 grams net carbs. Net carbs are total carbs minus fiber). That forces the body to burn fat and the result is ketones which are chemicals that your body can burn for energy. Ketones suppress the appetite and that lets you cut your calories way down without having hunger pangs.

I hope you'll let us know how it goes, if you decide to try the teacher's idea. Good luck with your goals!

Thank you so much Sundove! She didn't specifically say keep carbs in general low, but just not to eat them after 3pm. She said that I should take in all my carbs at breakfast and lunch and gave some good suggestions for that. She did advise that if I do try this no carbs after 3pm diet to definitely be sure and eat 6 small meals a day. So today was day one. And here's what I ate:

Breakfast: plain oatmeal and a banana
Mid-morning snack: Kind (brand) Healthy Grains Granola Bar

Lunch: Grilled Chicken and an orange. Usually have a cheese stick as well but I ran out lol
Afternoon snack: Cutie Clementine

Dinner: 3 egg omlet with onion, bell pepper, tomato and salsa. Broccoli, and six bit sized pieces of grilled beef tips (because my girlfriend made me, she's concerned I'm not getting enough protein...)
Evening snack: handful of cherry tomatoes

Total Calorie count for the day is around 1275
Total Carb Count for the day (based on what my S-Health app tells me): 122g, which is only 37% of what my S-Health app recommends I take in each day.

I am following to see how well this works. Good luck and I hope it works like magic

You're welcome, Aliisa! I am really interested in this idea. Thanks for posting your menu. Like Bslope, I'm interested to see how it works and if it feels sustainable to you. I think I will give it a try.

I would love to hear how this worked for you. Can you update?

Like Sundove, I seem to need carbs in order to get/stay asleep, and don't gain weight except through over-eating (which I've done a lot of recently ).

Always interested to see how things work out for others, though.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend a carb-free diet, but I think the key is just the quality of the carbs you choose. I recommend that people have consistent amounts of carbs during the day.The benefit of eating consistent amounts of carbs, versus just eating a ton of carbs at one meal and no carbs the rest of the day.