Ep209. Are Carbs Bad for Weight Loss? The Truth, Plus What to Actually Look For in Week 3 of a Diet.

<p>🚀 Ready to stop starting again every Monday?<br>Ready to lose your first 5kg in just 6 week? <a href="https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">https://www.coachianwood.com/startwith6</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Episode Summary</strong></p><p>In this episode of The Forever Athletic Podcast, I&#39;m covering your halfway point check-in and one of the most misunderstood questions in nutrition. If you&#39;re taking your second progress photo this week, I want to talk you through what to actually look for, because photos genuinely don&#39;t move in a straight line and comparing today to week 1 can send you down a rabbit hole for no good reason.</p><p>Then I&#39;m getting into it properly. Are carbs bad for weight loss? Short answer, no, and I&#39;ll explain why carbs have ended up with such a bad reputation when the actual evidence doesn&#39;t back it up. I&#39;ll cover what carbs are genuinely for, why total calories matter far more than which macro they come from, and why the real issue is never the carbs themselves, it&#39;s what they&#39;re usually paired with.</p><p>If you&#39;ve ever cut carbs, felt great for two weeks, then ended up bingeing on bread a month later, this episode explains exactly why that happens.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>In This Episode</strong></p><ul><li>What to actually look for at your week 3 progress photo, beyond just comparing it to week 1</li><li>Why the scale and the mirror both lie a bit day to day, and what&#39;s more reliable instead</li><li>Are carbs bad for weight loss? What the evidence actually says</li><li>Why low carb diets often look like they&#39;re working when it&#39;s really just water loss</li><li>The real difference between carbs and the ultra-processed food carbs often get blamed for</li><li>Why fearing an entire food group tends to backfire later</li><li>The one line I want you to remember next time someone tells you carbs are the enemy</li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>Why This Matters</strong></p><p>Halfway through any plan, it&#39;s tempting to judge everything off one photo next to another. Lighting changes, bloating changes, posture changes, and none of it reflects whether progress is actually happening. Energy levels, how your clothes fit, your waist measurement trend and whether you&#39;re still consistent with your habits tell you far more at this stage than a side by side photo ever will.</p><p>This is also usually around the point people start second guessing