T Nation

Cutting Carbs After Breakfast

Supplements and Nutrition
#1

Hi everyone. So I’m thinking about different ways to cut some fat. Right now my routine is to workout at 5am. I usually have a fairly dense carbolicious breakfast before and have a half a cup of oatmeal and three scoops of mutant mass afterwards with a pint of whole milk. I’ve been looking through some articles on dieting including the 100 g of carbs diet. I’m thinking of one approach as far as carb timing to cut all carbs after breakfast. I know I won’t get the benefit of ketosis for rapid weight loss. If I switch from a gainer to just straight protein powder, that’ll cut a lot of carbs as well (duh).

I guess my question is has anyone actually had success cutting weight by shutting down carbs after the morning? I find it hard to eat enough protein without shakes to supplement based on my job. I’m sure there are low carb protein shakes available, but I just haven’t really looked.

Would I just be better off on a ketosis diet for a couple weeks?

#2

No expert here, but I’m a fan of limiting carbs when looking to drop some fat. Everyone is different here and handles carbs differently. I know that @robstein and @MarkKO can drop fat while keeping their carbs as high as possible. I have not had such luck…although for me, cutting carbs is easier than restricting fat.

There are definitely protein powders with trace carbs, a gainer powder will typically have high carbs for the extra calories along with the protein.

When in a deficit I do exactly as you’re describing. ALL of my carbs will be consumed peri-workout (which is usually evening for me). I’ll have some carbs before, during and/or after and then meat/eggs/veggies/nuts/protein powder for the rest of my meals. Nothing fancy or revolutionary, but I don’t think you’d be putting yourself in an awful position by doing so.

Depending on how intense your morning workouts are, you could possibly have a few carbs before bed to help make sure your glycogen stores are full upon waking, but that will likely be covered by your morning oats.

One of the best things you will do in your training career is finding what diet strategy works best for you, both when trimming fat and when trying to add mass.

I also wouldn’t recommend Keto for only a couple weeks as most of that time you’ll be in the adaptation period and you won’t get the full benefit of it for the hell you’ll be going through!

For me, these two articles is all I’ll ever need for fat loss. Well, if I ever want to take my leanness to the next level, maybe I’ll need some more help…but this can take you pretty far IMO.



And if you happen to slip a cheat day in there:

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#3

I like the 100 g one a lot because it’s just not ridiculous and it’s something that you could do longer term without breaking down and waking up in a pool of melted Haagen Daz and Little Debbies (as can happen on keto diets). I might look at combining that with the 5/2 to see what kind of result I’ll get.

Yeah… my gainer is pretty loaded with carbs, but I could still reasonably stay under total carb count by cutting my breakfast before to something like a meat snack and limiting carbs to next to nothing the rest of the day. Basically, I’ve still got pounds of it and I’m being cheap. Once I run out this time, I’ll switch to a lean protein for a couple of months and see what I can rip off bf-wise.

Thanks!

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#4

I resonate with this. I have pre-workout, BCAA’s, and green tea extract that I’m just consuming because they came with a stack I ordered online…it was cheaper to include them than exclude them for this promotion I ordered. At least the pre-workout and BCAA’s taste good…

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#5

My take on carbs based on my experience is:

  • the more muscle you carry, the more carbs you can eat and still get lean;
  • carb timing in terms of cutting them outside a certain window is probably not that important until you’re already really pretty damn lean;
  • carbs during training are a game changer however;
  • leaning out is relies on finding the smallest caloric deficit you can get away with and eating foods that work for you.
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#6

So limiting overall carbs as opposed to after or during a window would be your suggestion?

#7

This is pretty much it.

The best plan is to adjust carb intake proportionally to muscle vs fat ratio (or intensity of weight training). Of course there are genetic outliers, but the only people ingesting large amounts of carbs should be the ripped dudes. But I’m no fan of going super low, even if you do carry some extra body fat – as long as the weight workouts are intense. Eating for performance in the gym, and then performing in the gym will only bring good results long term.

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#8

I’d say limiting overall calories, with as many carbs as you can get away with. I like Paul Carter’s approach of 0.8-1 x bodyweight in pounds in protein, 20% calories from fat and the rest of calories from carbs.

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#9

…you post that like it’s a bad thing…:slight_smile:

#10

This is my day to day life. Only carbs I eat are some fruit and honey before training and milk and cereal after. After that, it’s all protein and veggies. I feel it helps me stay leanish.

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#11

There is a time unto every purpose under Heaven.

#12

Looks like Paul Carter beat me to this idea. I probably read this article months ago and it just stuck.

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#13

Don’t be afraid of carbs! Carbs are your friend. This is coming from a former carb-phobic person who now enjoys his pancakes, rice, sweet potatoes etc and stays lean.

3 Likes
#14

I agree

#15

Drop the milk and mass gainer. You’ll lose weight in days