@littlesleeper, thanks a lot man, I appreciate the feedback!
Good question! Carbs/timing sure can be confusing, and it’s taken me a loooong time to figure out how I best utilize them. My goal is right is to put on LBM, but carefully. I’ve always been carb sensitive, and while great supplements like Indigo help, and consistent weight training, I still need to be careful and can’t just eat carbs freely without repercussions. I do enjoy the carbs with breakfast, especially my pancakes!
You are totally right that when the goal is fat loss, and carbs get down to low levels, breakfast should be a P+F meal if you only have enough carbs for pre-workout. The articles you referenced as you said are both fat loss articles, so it’s a good recommendation for someone who has carbs pretty low and needs to prioritize when to have them. Here’s my opinion on the best times for carbs:
- Pre-workout (good solid meal or Plazma/Finibar)
- Breakfast OR Postworkout - This I feel kind of can be personal preference (more below).
- Meals between breakfast and after workout, all the way up until bed time if your #'s allow it. I always sleep better with a little bit of carbs before bed, like throwing my usual cottage cheese and whey on top of a piece of ezekiel toast if I have the cals left.
I’m a big fan of Clay Hyght, his training and nutrition articles are great. This article, “How Bodybuilders Should Eat”, helped me formulate my current daily nutrition. Unless you’re a lucky guy who can eat all the carbs in the world and still be skinny, carbs should be viewed as “fuel.” So we want to utilize them during times of the day when they’ll be used as energy, or stored as glycogen for later use, NOT as fat. As insulin sensitivity is high in the morning after not eating all night, breakfast is a good time to have some carbs, I prefer complex carbs so they take a little longer to digest for satiety. As long as you’re eating protein with breakfast, the GI of your carb source isn’t really a concern.
After breakfast and between training, my meals are P+F, but not too much fat as I’ve found I gain weight easily when both carbs and fats are higher during the day. So I make sure to get 45-50g fats daily total. Usually my non carb meals will be 30-40g protein, with about 10g fat from a serving of grass fed cheese, or 1TBSP of natural peanut or almond butter.
Then we have our essential pre-workout carbs to fuel the session, always the most important time to ensure we’re sparing muscle and fueling our training.
So let’s put a hypothetical situation and say you’ve limited yourself to 150g carbs for the day, and 100g carbs is coming in your pre workout meal. So we have 50g left. As I wrote earlier, just my opinion, I think breakfast OR post workout would be fine for when to consume the other 50g. Benefits to both.
Morning - Good insulin sensitivity, won’t be stored as fat. Personally I notice my mental state is a little better with carbs in the morning, and especially as I write music after breakfast, I like carbs when I can get them in the morning.
Post workout - The insulin spike here would help protein synthesis after the workout, BUT, according to this article, “Top 10 Post Workout Nutrition Myths”, adding carbs to your protein after workout does increase protein synthesis, but not significantly. Getting the protein is the most important thing. Additionally, if trying to stay leaner, you’re more likely to burn fat post workout by not consuming carbs since you burned your glycogen during your workout. If you eat carbs, you’ll be using those carbs as fuel, which is not a bad thing if your numbers allow it.
SO, if you had to choose, breakfast OR post workout, in my opinion, are good for carbs if you have room after your pre-workout nutrition, it really just comes down to personal preference.
Replenishing glycogen stores, at least for me, isn’t a priority in the morning, I just enjoy carbs with breakfast. I know I’m going to have my Plazma/Finibar each day for training, so even if my stored glycogen is low, it’ll fill up from the Plazma and/or Finibars. The most important thing to have quickly upon waking is protein to halt any possibility of being in a catabolic state. I’m not always hungry right away, I usually like my morning ritual of relaxing, having coffee with my wife and pups on the deck, and eventually coming in for breakfast. So, as soon as I get downstairs after waking up I have 24oz water in a shaker cup mixed with a scoop of BCAA and Superfood. Tastes great, and I think also helps me utilize the protein in my breakfast a little better.