At the beginning of this year I started back into training after taking a break for a year and half for school. I had managed to keep my diet very clean over that time in hopes that I wouldn’t loose to much ground that I had gained.
The problem I have is with my post-workout drink.
Now, after I down my pw drink… I basically react like someone who is very insulin resistant. For around an hour after I drink it I feel like I just pulled an all night’er and proceeded to have a few shots of whiskey… I have resorted at this point to spiking my pw drink with 100mg’s of caffeine to at least let me stay somewhat coherent in class.
I don’t understand how I could have become so resistant without eating crappy. Over the course of my break I did bump myself up to 14% BF… but mostly just lost a crap load of muscle (my weigh in at the start was 171lbs at 6’1"). Does anyone have any suggestions?.. thoughts? Is it possible that eating very few carbs not in the form of a veggie or fruit for to long will make you nearly pass out from a good “artificial” sugar kick?
I’m not sure exactly what your diet is looking like now, but last year I was following a keto diet and had 40 grams (my only carbs basically for the day) of dextrose PWO. In about 20 mins I would feel really light headed and sleepy. I’m not sure how this helps you, but I took it as my body was devouring the glucose in my blood too efficiently and leaving me with low blood sugar.
I’m curious what your PWO drink is (you didn’t specify). High glycemic sugars are ideal post workout because they are absorbed and ‘used up’ rapidly. If you’re just taking a drink like Surge after you train and then not eating for a while, you’re nearly guaranteed that blood sugar crash.
I like to eat a Protein + Carb meal about 45 minutes to an hour after my Surge. I’m usually starting to feel a little lightheaded by the time I get the food on the table :-P. Ideally this P+C meal shouldn’t contain a high amount of fat as it tends to slow down the absorption of the nutrients your body needs post workout. Some fat won’t kill you of course.
Agree with above. It sounds like you are having an episode of rebound hypoglycemia following a high carb post workout drink. This occurs when your pancreas kicks out a bunch of insulin after your body senses hyperglycemia, which hangs around a little longer than necessary to get your blood sugar back to around 90-100, which consequently drops your blood sugar lower than where you started prior to the drink. Do what Wapptor suggests, I suspect your problems will be over if you have some whole food 30 min following the drink.
I wouldn’t call that insulin resistance at all. If anything, your insulin response is great. If your PWO has a high glycemic index, then you’re getting a good insulin response and rapidly clearing the blood sugar, hence the crash. If you had insulin resistance, the blood sugar should take a much longer time to revert to normal.
Of course, you would need a glucose tolerance test with insulin levels to know for sure. One of the experts wrote an article on how to do your own mini-GTT a while back.
I can’t currently afford the real deal so my post workout drink is made up of dextrose and whey protein… I also down a few BCAA pills for good measure. It ends up being about as close as I can get with measuring spoons at home to three/four servings of Surge.
Simple answer that makes logical sense… makes you sigh and wonder why you didn’t think of it.
I worked out this morning and tried eating a homemade smoothie(oatmeal, berries, whey/casein protein, yogurt) about a half hour to 45min after my pw drink, and it seemed to work like a charm. The only dizziness and fatigue was the residual from the joys of lower body split day.
Thanks for your help!