This is a quick post I made for someone that is finding that they are stalling out on their lifts while cutting their fat levels. They train in the AM with fairly low volume. Because of the low volume the amount of carbs is not really that high and is timed so that they do not have a full stomach before they train which many people struggle with especially with eating in the morning which many people can not do or have the time to do so.
The other thing is the post-workout is completely carbless. Post workout it's mainly protein only and then fats are introduced at least 5 hours post workout. The reason for this is that if no carbohydrates are given post-exercise the muscle will maintain a capacity to achieve an eventual full glygogen compensation or super compensation until carbohydrates are either ingested from the diet or by glycogenesis sufficient to fill the glycogen stores. The muscle will wait in a highly insulin sensitive state for at least 36 hours until it receives the glycogen necessary to fill back up and at that time insulin sensitivity will drop back to baseline. If you're in a deficit and then do some fasted cardio in this state the body will be burning mostly fat and very little muscle glycogen for energy as it will be wanting to preserve any muscle glycogen.
Carbs are given the night/lunch before as you should never train in a glycogen-depleted state if training intensity is your goal. Timing your carbs like this will result in a slightly higher amount of fat loss, improved insulin sensitivity and also improved training intensity (the main benefit - not fat loss)
Carbs: 0.75g/lb/day (1.5g/lb every other day)
Protein: 1.5g/lb/day
Fats: the rest of the calories
Monday:
Breakfast: 25g protein, 50g fast acting carbs (low fat chocolate milk, cocopops, breakfast cereal etc. Protein shake with dextrose. Keep the fats LOW and the glycemic index HIGH
Train
Post workout: Protein only meal, chicken breast, thighs, any meat, fish etc that is less than 5% fat. Might not be a lot of food if you're in a rush so a shake is OK. No carbs! Chicken breast in a tupperware taken to the gym is fine.
Lunch: same as above but probably a lot more food.
Dinner: The rest of the calories for the day. No carbs still! So mostly fats, meat, avocado, nuts etc. Vegetables is fine but obviously nothing like pumpkin or potato and I wouldn't eat like 5 onions either. Cooking with half an onion is fine but really keep the carbs low here.
Tuesday:
Large breakfast. Bacon, eggs, sausages etc is ideal here. Higher fat and again no carbs!
Lunch: More "paleo" type high protein, medium carb meal. Lean meats (5% or less) and then plenty of things like potato, yam, pumpkin and so on. I'd avoid bread / rice pasta for now. Dinner will be higher carb again so in this meal I'd also add in any fats for caloric balance as you'll want to eat low fat for dinner. If you're restricting carbs and fats and can't eat a big breakfast or get hungry at lunch then this can be an issue so just get the calories in for lunch.
Dinner: Low fat, high protein and the majority of your carbs for the day.
Wednesday/Friday - as Monday
Thursday/Sunday - as Tuesday
Saturday: I'd have this more of a mixed meal, it's not going to matter so much as you won't be training until Monday so there will be no advantage to timing the carbohydrate as you're going to be refilling your glycogen in plenty of time regardless. Some fasted cardio then some carbs would be great.
As for splitting the carbs up, you want 1.5g/lb on every other day and this will be split overnight most often. You're eating 50g of fast glycemic carbs the day of training so the rest of the carbs need to be the night before and to a lesser extent that lunchtime too. For example if you're 200lb:
Rest day:
Lunch: 100g carbs from potato/yams/pumpkin/vegetables
Dinner: 150g carbs from oats/rice/bread/pasta
Training day:
50g 1h pre-workout from sugars
The other thing is the post-workout is completely carbless. Post workout it's mainly protein only and then fats are introduced at least 5 hours post workout. The reason for this is that if no carbohydrates are given post-exercise the muscle will maintain a capacity to achieve an eventual full glygogen compensation or super compensation until carbohydrates are either ingested from the diet or by glycogenesis sufficient to fill the glycogen stores. The muscle will wait in a highly insulin sensitive state for at least 36 hours until it receives the glycogen necessary to fill back up and at that time insulin sensitivity will drop back to baseline. If you're in a deficit and then do some fasted cardio in this state the body will be burning mostly fat and very little muscle glycogen for energy as it will be wanting to preserve any muscle glycogen.
Carbs are given the night/lunch before as you should never train in a glycogen-depleted state if training intensity is your goal. Timing your carbs like this will result in a slightly higher amount of fat loss, improved insulin sensitivity and also improved training intensity (the main benefit - not fat loss)
Carbs: 0.75g/lb/day (1.5g/lb every other day)
Protein: 1.5g/lb/day
Fats: the rest of the calories
Monday:
Breakfast: 25g protein, 50g fast acting carbs (low fat chocolate milk, cocopops, breakfast cereal etc. Protein shake with dextrose. Keep the fats LOW and the glycemic index HIGH
Train
Post workout: Protein only meal, chicken breast, thighs, any meat, fish etc that is less than 5% fat. Might not be a lot of food if you're in a rush so a shake is OK. No carbs! Chicken breast in a tupperware taken to the gym is fine.
Lunch: same as above but probably a lot more food.
Dinner: The rest of the calories for the day. No carbs still! So mostly fats, meat, avocado, nuts etc. Vegetables is fine but obviously nothing like pumpkin or potato and I wouldn't eat like 5 onions either. Cooking with half an onion is fine but really keep the carbs low here.
Tuesday:
Large breakfast. Bacon, eggs, sausages etc is ideal here. Higher fat and again no carbs!
Lunch: More "paleo" type high protein, medium carb meal. Lean meats (5% or less) and then plenty of things like potato, yam, pumpkin and so on. I'd avoid bread / rice pasta for now. Dinner will be higher carb again so in this meal I'd also add in any fats for caloric balance as you'll want to eat low fat for dinner. If you're restricting carbs and fats and can't eat a big breakfast or get hungry at lunch then this can be an issue so just get the calories in for lunch.
Dinner: Low fat, high protein and the majority of your carbs for the day.
Wednesday/Friday - as Monday
Thursday/Sunday - as Tuesday
Saturday: I'd have this more of a mixed meal, it's not going to matter so much as you won't be training until Monday so there will be no advantage to timing the carbohydrate as you're going to be refilling your glycogen in plenty of time regardless. Some fasted cardio then some carbs would be great.
As for splitting the carbs up, you want 1.5g/lb on every other day and this will be split overnight most often. You're eating 50g of fast glycemic carbs the day of training so the rest of the carbs need to be the night before and to a lesser extent that lunchtime too. For example if you're 200lb:
Rest day:
Lunch: 100g carbs from potato/yams/pumpkin/vegetables
Dinner: 150g carbs from oats/rice/bread/pasta
Training day:
50g 1h pre-workout from sugars
Good post bro. Is it possible to integrate this with evening martial arts? I do weights full body 3 times per week in the am and boxing 2-3 other evenings for 1 hour. Any ideas? Thanks
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