Whats up Everyone,
Ive switched up my eating still clean, but now Im carb cycling.
This might sound like a dumb question but i still would love an anwser.
High carb, 320, moderate carb 260, and low carb under 200…
So the question is this… do i cut out my fruits because I seem to be eating way too many and i really didnt count in the carbs i get from them…
For example my breakfast…
shake
banana… 40 grams carbs
berries/straw/black etc… 50-60 grams
10 grams from low carb whey
30-50 from greens + dont know how much i get from 3 teaspoons
so as you can see its well over 100 grams just from my breakfast i have fruit with every meal and veggies aswell so thats 6-7 meals a day plus snacking
i have plenty of simple carbs and enough complex carbs
so it looks like iam consuming way too many carbs WHAT DO I DO?
Please some advice!!!
First of all what are you trying to accomplish threw carb-cycling?
Do you want to lose weight?
It looks like you play football, do you want sport performance?
How much do you weigh?
Right now I’m carb-cycling for a BB comp. High carb days are around 150g, low carb days are around 50g. I do eat some fruits but stick to mainly green apples. Though come 6 weeks to my comp I won’t eat fruit.
For you fruit is probably fine as long as you don’t sacrifice your veggies for it.
Main question is what are you trying to do?
Well, skip the banana at breakfast?
You’re not getting 30-50 grams of carbs from 3 teaspoons of greens+ … maybe 15-20g at most I think.
I’m no expert on carb cycling, but increasing/reducing carbs is pretty simple to me at least… ie. during the day I focus on avoiding simple carbs, and if looking to cut carbs I try and find the most simple ones and cut them. PWO is whole another story of course.
Congrats on your results thus far, bigpolack81. 10-11% is where it starts getting interesting for a guy. (grin)
With carb cycling what you’re doing is eating at a caloric EXCESS on some days (ideally days you do resistance training) and you eat at MAINTENANCE or a caloric DEFICIT on days you are LESS active. High or low, if you try to keep protein and fat relatively constant, that leaves raising and lowering carbs to create the excess or deficit. You’re cycling calories and carbs.
Good question re the TYPE of carbs you’re taking in. I’m definitely an advocate of eating your health-promoting carbs like fruit, veggies and beans. On days you are eating at an excess, yes, definitely make some room for fruit, veggies and beans … and some carbs that are starchier in nature earlier in the day and/or in your PWO meals. The starchier carbs will refill muscle glycogen more efficiently. Fruit tends to be higher in fructose and will refill liver glycogen. On days you’re eating at a deficit (calories and the number of grams of carbs, both), you’re probably going to have to choose from fibrous green veggies, as they have more fiber, fewer calories and do a better job of managing hunger.
I always recommend that people have an exit or transition strategy for when they reach the end of their diet. There isn’t any reason you can’t use what you’ve learned while carb and calorie cycling to continue to improve your body composition. As a concept, bulking or cutting, you don’t have to dedicate whole DAYS to a caloric excess or a caloric deficit. Within a day’s time you can eat at a deficit during that part of the you’re less active and eat at an excess during that part of the day you’re most/more active. It’s an approach that works bulking or cutting.
Questions? (grin)
[quote]Tampa-Terry wrote:
Congrats on your results thus far, bigpolack81. 10-11% is where it starts getting interesting for a guy. (grin)
With carb cycling what you’re doing is eating at a caloric EXCESS on some days (ideally days you do resistance training) and you eat at MAINTENANCE or a caloric DEFICIT on days you are LESS active. High or low, if you try to keep protein and fat relatively constant, that leaves raising and lowering carbs to create the excess or deficit. You’re cycling calories and carbs.
Good question re the TYPE of carbs you’re taking in. I’m definitely an advocate of eating your health-promoting carbs like fruit, veggies and beans. On days you are eating at an excess, yes, definitely make some room for fruit, veggies and beans … and some carbs that are starchier in nature earlier in the day and/or in your PWO meals. The starchier carbs will refill muscle glycogen more efficiently. Fruit tends to be higher in fructose and will refill liver glycogen. On days you’re eating at a deficit (calories and the number of grams of carbs, both), you’re probably going to have to choose from fibrous green veggies, as they have more fiber, fewer calories and do a better job of managing hunger.
I always recommend that people have an exit or transition strategy for when they reach the end of their diet. There isn’t any reason you can’t use what you’ve learned while carb and calorie cycling to continue to improve your body composition. As a concept, bulking or cutting, you don’t have to dedicate whole DAYS to a caloric excess or a caloric deficit. Within a day’s time you can eat at a deficit during that part of the you’re less active and eat at an excess during that part of the day you’re most/more active. It’s an approach that works bulking or cutting.
Questions? (grin)[/quote]
Terry, just wanted to thank you for the great insight the three paragraphs you wrote made things really crystal clear for me I really truly appreciate youre response thanks so much!
Currently iam doing the carb cycling to add a little bit of bulk but still maintain some kind of lean, I will however switch from carb cycling back to almost no carbs with veggies and fruits being the exception…but almost no starchy except for perhaps PWO do you think i should still get my starchy after my workout even when im gettinglean??
I want to get even leaner before I leave for Spain I will have around 3 weeks to get ready and get ripped would you recommend HOT-ROX? or anything similar to that with a clean diet?? Thanks again Terry for all yourt input and help much appreciated!!
You’re most welcome, bigpolack81. That’s what T-Nation is about – members helping members.
Three weeks isn’t a lot of time, but you should be able to improve your body composition to some degree.
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Make sure you’re getting 1g of protein per pound of body weight.
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Divide that number equally between the number of meals you are eating.
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Get 0.4g of fat per pound of body weight. Save the majority of your fat for your last 2 or 3 meals of the day.
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Have 3 servings of fruit in your first 3 meals of the day. A serving isn’t large, though; 100 calories per serving. Fruit is high in fructose and will keep blood sugar and energy levels stable.
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Have one serving of beans per day. Have it at the meal you tend to be hungriest. Beans are high in fiber. In a different way they’ll help keep energy levels stable. A serving is one cup.
*For hunger allow yourself unlimited amounts of fibrous green veggie carbs. No “extras,” though – sauces, dressings, cheese, etc.
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Do make liberal use of what I call flavor carbs – lemon juice, soy sauce, mustard, vinegar, spices fresh and dried, garlic, horseradish, etc.
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Double-dose your Surge. Start drinking it 1/2 hour before your workout, during and after.
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Have a P + starchy carb meal in a 2:1 ratio (2g of carbs per gram of protein in that meal).
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Slow & measured re any scale weight increases while bulking. Allow yourself to go up 2 pounds per week; no more. Make MINOR adjustments to pre- and post-workout nutrition if need be.
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Re cardio, you have two choices, either HIIT (20-minute session on non-resistance training days; a max of 2 or 3 sessions per week) or walking fasted state for 45 minutes to one hour … though you could have 20g of whey protein in coffee if you like.
And last? Yes, HOT-ROX would be highly complementary to your efforts. Essentially you’re creating a slight caloric deficit for most of the day, forcing your body to draw on stored body fat, and then you’re eating in excess in an around (peri) your workout.
Questions? (grin)