If you're only interested in receiving an out-and-out, yes-or-no answer to this column's title, please stop reading. But if you're intrigued by the possibility of increasing the effectiveness of your diet without reducing the effectiveness of your workouts (except, possibly, extremely intense ones) you need to read on.

A study conducted at Ohio State University and published online in November of 2015 by Metabolism: Clinical and Experimental found what appears to be the absolute best way to burn fat: eat a minimal amount of carbohydrates and perform endurance exercise. In fact, the endurance athletes studied who did so burned more than twice as much fat during exercise as the endurance athletes eating the relatively high amount of carbs believed to be necessary to exercise optimally.This result led Jeff Volek, lead researcher and professor of human sciences at Ohio State University, to say, "Maybe we got it all backwards and we need to re-examine everything we've been telling athletes for the last 40 years about loading up on carbs. Clearly it's not as straightforward as we used to think."The diets used, however, were straightforward enough. The 10 low-carb eaters received only 10 percent of their daily calories from carbs, with 19 percent coming from protein, and 70 percent coming from fat. The high-carb group received 59 percent of their calories from carbs, 14 percent from protein, and 25 percent from fat. All 20 subjects were ultra-endurance runners, men and women who consider a 30-mile race to be a short one and were as similar as practically possible before the study in performance, maximal oxygen capacity, training history, and age.The subjects seemingly short-changed on carbs compensated by burning fat at a rate 2.3 times greater during the extensive treadmill testing than those who were all "carbed up" - yet the carbed-up subjects still burned fat at a far higher than typical. "This shows that we have far underestimated how much fat humans can burn," Volek said. "There is a larger reserve capacity that can only be tapped if carbs are restricted."Personal experience - for nearly 20 years, I've restricted my carb ingestion before and during long bicycle rides as a way to teach my body to burn more fat during exercise - leads me to say that Volek's last statement is spot-on. The effect of carb restriction and exercise performance, however, needs to be further qualified.What research has shown is that your body prefers to burn carbs for fuel during exercise, but will burn a fair amount of fat at lower intensity levels, especially if you exercise. So if you're really in shape and begin your bicycle ride with 20 minutes of easy pedaling to warm up, you burn far more fat than carbs, probably about a 70-30 ratio.But as the ride continues and the effort increases, your body increases the percentage of carbs burned. Reach 88 percent of your maximum heart rate (the number I see as the "start" of an intense interval during a ride) and the 70-30 ratio probably reverses.This phenomenon causes a bit of explanation with the Ohio State University study. The subjects in it ran for three hours on a treadmill at 64 percent of their optimal oxygen uptake, which generally correlates to about 75 percent of your maximal heart rate.Because of my many carb-restricted rides, my body functions well during long rides at about 75 percent of my maximal heart rate. But when I'm carb deprived and try to do a third or fourth 10- to-20-minute intense interval above that, the lack of carbs keeps me from riding as fast as I would have if I had consumed what most see as an adequate amount of carbs.Yet if I ride at 65 to 75 percent of my maximal heart rate after a few hard efforts, my performance doesn't really decline. I feel bad because my body is relying on an inferior fuel, but that's another matter entirely, one that may be partially explained by the fact that my daily fat ingestion rarely tops 12 percent.I ingest a high percentage of protein - up to 52 percent some days - and protein does not break down into fuel easily as fat, the macronutrient used in excess in the Ohio State University study.As a result of all this, I encourage you to experiment with lowering the amount of carbs you generally consume during exercise. While it may take a few workouts for your body to fully adjust, I'm sure that you'll be able to engage in productive workouts, and I know that your body will be burning more of the stuff you're trying to shed: body fat.Some final notes: Those lifting weights can still try this as long as your goal is to stay toned and in shape. Those who want to lift heavy weights for fewer repetitions in an attempt to develop additional muscle cannot skimp on carbs.But if you're the sort who exercises regularly, watches what you eat, yet still can't seem to lose those final few pounds, the key may be in consuming what used to be considered an insufficient amount of carbs.