Playing with carb cycles

[Gittit Shwartz]

Originally Posted by Alicia Zhuang

hmm sounds good gittit. do you WAM then on those 6 days? does it get rid of PMS cravings as well?

Alicia - yes I WAM and usually plan the "refeed" beforehand. I also stick to a warrior diet-ish schedule on these 6 days (1-2 small meals during the day and a large one at night, and I always have whey or whey + berries PWO) so it's easy to keep the carbs under control.

I never had PMS cravings, or too many cravings at all lately since I started the warrior diet and taking every mineral supplement you can think of (iron, selenium, ZMA, iodine). One of all these worked.

[Derek Weaver]

Originally Posted by Grissim Connery

finally got around to reading some of that thread. it smells like bodybuilders over there...hah.

i realized a huge benefit to refeeds for myself already. on mondays and thursdays, i have both BJJ and workouts. the workouts are early in the day while BJJ is at night. normally on those days i am used to feeling depleted. yesterday (thursday) i tried a decent refeed (quite moderate/low compared to what some of those guys on llyle's thread were chomping down). anyways i went to roll that night, and the intensity was ferocious. i was working with a guy who's much better than me, and he smashed me horribly the whole time hah, but it was a for real battle that i normally never have the capacity to do on those days.

strictly from a performance standpoint, this seems legit. i'll check my bodyweight as i go along. i'm still trying to avoid measuring, but maybe i need to get back into to it since this is a new project...

Yeah, a lot of those guys are bodybuilders, but similar approaches to nutrition can still apply for an athlete.

Don't be afraid to take the carb intake higher as you still lose fat or maintain bodyfat.

Sounds like you're off to a good start.

[Kevin Perry]

so summarize this for me and let me know if I get the jist of this or not:

so basically you eat low carb for a set number of days and then every few days you up the carbs as high as you can without a "spill over"?

[Grissim Connery]

Originally Posted by Kevin Perry

so summarize this for me and let me know if I get the jist of this or not:

so basically you eat low carb for a set number of days and then every few days you up the carbs as high as you can without a "spill over"?

that's what it looks like. the goal is just excessive glycogen depletion really.

[Derek Weaver]

Originally Posted by Grissim Connery

that's what it looks like. the goal is just excessive glycogen depletion really.

Supercompensation I think is the term. Maybe not. This is where the old carb loading ideas have evolved. Depletion, supercompensation, repeat.

[Jane Michel]

Originally Posted by Gittit Shwartz

Alicia - yes I WAM and usually plan the "refeed" beforehand. I also stick to a warrior diet-ish schedule on these 6 days (1-2 small meals during the day and a large one at night, and I always have whey or whey + berries PWO) so it's easy to keep the carbs under control.

I never had PMS cravings, or too many cravings at all lately since I started the warrior diet and taking every mineral supplement you can think of (iron, selenium, ZMA, iodine). One of all these worked.

every mineral supplement - lol. i am currently doing magnesium, zinc, chromium and kelp. guess i should look into other minerals as well!

[Daniel Christensen]

Originally Posted by Kevin Perry

so summarize this for me and let me know if I get the jist of this or not:

so basically you eat low carb for a set number of days and then every few days you up the carbs as high as you can without a "spill over"?

Can I check if I'm getting this...
I follow a moslty low-carb, paleo-ish diet, but with loose control over quantities (and more fruit that more hardcore paleo sorts probably allow - 3-4 pieces a day). I struggle to get my cheat/ reload meals right.

The "spill over" refers to how I look the next day?
If I've got my refeed right I'll look leaner the next day? If I overdid it, I'm in spill over and I'll look fatter?

[Derek Weaver]

Originally Posted by Daniel Christensen

Can I check if I'm getting this...
I follow a moslty low-carb, paleo-ish diet, but with loose control over quantities (and more fruit that more hardcore paleo sorts probably allow - 3-4 pieces a day). I struggle to get my cheat/ reload meals right.

The "spill over" refers to how I look the next day?
If I've got my refeed right I'll look leaner the next day? If I overdid it, I'm in spill over and I'll look fatter?

Eh, yes and no. If you look fat the next day it's 99.9% of the time water under the skin.

If you actually got fatter, you likely ate so much you threw up and then started eating again... a couple of times.

Over time, sloppy refeeds will screw you up, but if it was a clean overfeeding with lots of starch, moderate fructose and low-ish fat you'll be fine. Depleted muscles will soak up most everything.

[Daniel Christensen]

Thanks Derek

I've booked a biosignature assessment in the next few days, I'll get some additional info on refeeds there if I can.

[Mike ODonnell]

Originally Posted by Derek Weaver

Over time, sloppy refeeds will screw you up, but if it was a clean overfeeding with lots of starch, moderate fructose and low-ish fat you'll be fine. Depleted muscles will soak up most everything.

sweet potato/rice, chicken and broccoli....the carb up choice for many bodybuilders. Eat that 6x a day.