Nutrition Carbs after training

[conor78]

I ve been using a nutrition programme that's pretty popular over here at the moment, essentially low carbs meals during the day and then a carb refuel meal after your workout. It's works pretty good in terms of keeping bf on track and I've plenty of energy for working out. I had previously tried IF but I was lifting pretty heavy with the barbell and my energy was crashing on the day after workouts. With this approach there's not really any requirement to track Cals etc, the low carb meals are higher in fats and proteins, a lot of cooking is done with coconut oil. The only problem is I tend to work out about 8 or 9 at night which means I'm famished by the time I am eating. Has anyone else any experiences with this type of approach??

 

[Whiskey_Fox]

conor

I'm a big believer that your nutritional intake has to match your physical output, thus if you're lifting heavy/often your diet should reflect that to help repair and keep your body fueled. As for carb reloading after a workout, I found that simple sugars make it the easiest since your body wont have to break it down even further to absorb it. (ie: wonka pixie stix, gummie bears, etc). But if you're famished by the time you get around to eating, I found that adding a little extra fat to my meals helped with hunger pangs, so I would just throw in a few extra almonds or EVOO to help the satiety hormones kick in. Or if that's not an option, lemon juice in water seems to kill my appetite anyway.
Hope this helps
-WF

 

[ali]

I throw back the starchy carbs post training. Not always. And that's the time for some ice cream treats, again not always. Prior to training, it's no starch, no sugar apart from the odd piece of fruit. Usually train late afternoon.
The carb back loading protocol by Kiefer maybe worth checking out which you maybe referring to anyway. He does recommend other carb timing ideas based on your training times so maybe there is a different way given your late in the day training. His approach is geared towards growth with supps so it is only something I've read but not adhered to. That said, the post carb training idea of maximising glut4 and other non insulin dependent signalling factors is interesting but it does depend on the training you do and the approach is to get a big old insulin hit for growth and hence a boat load of carbs is needed if following the protocol. I guess I do a very lite version of it and tap into it for some guilt free frenzies from time to time. Need to work out if that is for you and your goals! Probably for a couple of years now without much thought or planning.....more accurately I merge Kiefer's ideas with Nate Miyaki's feast template and merge them together really nicely. Tweaked it here and there to see what works for me and doesn't without ever being too dogmatic or strict, that is if the bulk of your food is good food. It is an 'earn your carb' idea, more simply. If I trained late I would still eat a light low carb tea and have clean carb and protein after but not big but that is just a personal choice, not necessarily what you would want to do bearing in mind your training and goals. I'd focus on a strategy that wouldn't interfere with your sleep pattern, training late that you do, unless you can lie in your scratcher until noon. And with that in mind a protein source high in tryptophan, a precursor to melatonin.....turkey? As always with diet and nutrition/timing ideas/methods, the best way is the way that works for you.....the idea of overdosing on carbs post training in principle is great but factor in your training time and sleep, going too heavy on carbs may not be best....for you, so you may have to tweak something here and there. And you may find you don't need or want those extra carbs anyway. Are you sleeping ok with late training? Hope that helps in some way....

 

[Steve Freides]

Everyone's different - I prefer, if I'm at all hungry, to have a meal before I lift. I'm also not doing anything cardio-like so it's OK - might bother my stomach if I ran afterwards, for example.

-S-

 

[Michael Perry]

I have in the past when trying to drop BF limited high-carb foods to only post-workout meals, and made them nutrient dense carbs. Wasn't so much that I was loading up on them even then, just that this was the only time I had them. It worked.

 

[conor78]

Thanks guys for the replies, this protocol seems to be very effective for me. As I've got older I definitely have noticed that I cannot eat the same amount without adding pounds. With a hectic family lifestyle it's pushed my training back to 9 at night or nothing at all. Most nights I'm trying to keep the carbs till after I workout but if I'm hungry I'll eat a meal beforehand. I'll see how it goes..
Thanks

 

[Elise Stevenson]

The main cause to consume carbs post-workout is to refill the muscle glycogen that we burned during your workout. As we train, our main fuel source is muscle glycogen. Glycogen is the storage form of glucose. It is collected of long strings of glucose molecules with numerous branches.
You might have also heard the carbs need to have a high glycemic index, meaning they are easy to digest and have the greatest ability to deliver protein to muscle.
So the foremost reason to ingest carbs post workout is to replenish glycogen stores.

 

[North Coast Miller]

I used to load up on carbs pre workout, mostly in the form of a banana, grapefruit, apple, in the hour or two leading up to my workout. I found a big difference in energy stores for the first half hour of training. I had one diet for workout days and another for days off that had fewer carbs, if I had to cancel my workout I'd have a hard time sleeping that night.

Post workout is a great idea to get carbs in as well as some protein, and I try to do so right after working out.

 

[Bonkin]

I'm not eating like that currently, but I can tell you from my running years, that eating carbs after workouts was critical (for me) to get back out there for run #2 or the next day's run - especially for the stuff over 2 hours. For workouts of 1 hour or less, I didn't find it to help as much. When I would do 4-6 hour long runs, I would usually take 2 pop-tarts and some cash with me along with my water bottle. The pop tarts would be gone in the first 60-90 minutes and then I would stop off at a convenience store to top things off with a gatorade or maybe a rice krispie bar for some quick sugar calories.

Now that I'm only doing S&S and walking (with a little sprinkle of running occasionally) - I'm not worried about topping off my glycogen stores.

 

[Matts]

I'll bet the glycogen stores in muscles would replenish without the extra carbs after a workout from fat stores, although post-workout carbs may speed it up and make it quicker and more efficient. You probably don't need to eat very many carbs to replenish them, as the glycogen stores are generally used up in around 40mins of work. When I used to run a lot, we didn't eat at all while running, even long runs. The prevailing belief back then was that after about 35-45 mins your glycogen stores were used up, then the fat-burning metabolism kicked in. Even the thin runners have enough fat to run couple hundred miles since it's so efficient. I'd guess eating sweets while running would just get the body used to staying in sugar mode all the time, leading to problems. Letting the natural fat and leptin & ghrelin cycles work to regulate appetite is probably much healthier and avoids the high blood sugar/fat storage/insulin resistance cycle.

 

[Steve Freides]

@conor78, try having something 30-60 minutes before you lift. That's what I've found works best for me. I usually have a protein bar and a cup of coffee about 45 minutes before I lift. For me, it helps me have more energy during my workout and also helps me not feel starving right afterwards.

-S-