Author’s Note: The following article is intended for those looking to lose weight, not for athletes in the middle of their training season. If you are an athlete who wants to slim down, remember that providing your body with carbohydrates around workouts is important. (For more information, see Building a Healthy Low-Carb Diet for Athletes.)

A low-carb diet can help you lose body fat due to the effect of carbs on insulin levels. Carbs are macronutrients that raise insulin levels. When insulin is high, fat burning slows. This is why people trying to lose body fat cut high amounts of carbohydrates out of their diets. (See Caution: Low-Carb Diets Are Not for Athletes.)

People often ask, how low is a low-carb diet, but the answer depends on the person. The same diet does not work for everyone. For me, when I want to go low-carb, it means near zero, but for some big lifters, low-carb means around 200 grams per day. (For an alternative approach, see Carb Backloading: A Nutrition Hack for Supercharged Performance.)

Here is an example of how I would structure a low-carb diet for a 220-pound athlete.

For this plan I use calories based on bodyweight times 10. To burn fat, follow the plan for the majority of the week, with re-feeds and cheats no more than twice a week. The leaner your body, the more re-feeds or calorie cycling you need. I would do this plan for about six to eight cycles before taking a two-week break with calories set at bodyweight times 14 to 16.

Meal 1

• 8 ounces bison meat or grassfed beef
• 1 cup of spinach

Nutritional Information

• Calories: 365
• Protein: 69g
• Carbohydrates: 6g
• Fat: 14g

Meal 2

• 60 g whey protein
• 1 tbsp. almond butter

 Nutritional Information

• Calories: 158
• Protein: 3g
• Carbohydrates: 3g
• Fat: 9g

Meal 3

• 8 ounces chicken or ground turkey
• 1 tbsp. fish oil

 Nutritional Information

• Calories: 373
• Protein: 54g
• Carbohydrates: 0g
• Fat: 17g

Meal 4

• 60 g CFM or metabolic drive protein
• 1 tbsp. almond butter

Meal 5

• 60 g whey protein

Meal 6

• 8 ounces chicken or ground turkey
• Green veggie
• 1 cup sauerkraut
• 1 avocado

 Nutritional Information

• Calories: 187
• Protein: 3g
• Carbohydrates: 15g
• Fat: 14g