Getting a little pudgy and decided to do carbnite for the foreseeable future. Had great results with it years ago. Love that i can scarf down a danish at the end of the week.
Anyone else still loving carbnite?
Alrightmiami,
Danish at the end of the week? Sounds like a dream come true! I’ve been curious about carbnite for a while. Did you find it hard to stick to the low-carb days at first? Any tips for a carbnite newbie?
Did carb back loading for a while but would end up eating a whole box of Cocoa Pebbles
The initial week of almost zero carbs is difficult. But you settle in. Honestly, the most difficult part for me is to not completely over eat on carbnite. Yeah, you get to eat pizza, but enough to spike insulin for a while, not the whole 8-cut.
Protein shakes get me through the cravings midweek.
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I’ve been running a hybrid carbnite/backloading for about 12 years now.
I love how I feel during the day without the carbs. I do tend to binge eat sometimes, but staying ultra low carb all day has allowed me to keep weight in check.
In June this year I started and am still doing a modified Velocity diet (strict with shakes and low cal dinner during the week, and less strict on weekends, kinda bastardized the Family Man V-diet) which fits CBL or carbnite amazingly well and I’ve been leaning out.
I used to be low carb and just eat whatever I wanted as long as it was indeed ultra low carb. So I didn’t really lose any fat because I’d eat whatever I’d want. But with the change to v diet have noticed a lot of fat loss and minimal to no muscle loss.
I will stay ultra low carb 2-3 nights per week, then have carbs Ont he other dinnertime meals (sometimes clean, sometimes junk) and I base this on how my body feels. If I go more than 2 nights without carbs, and am lifting regularly (which I have been for almost that entire time) then I feel my body get depleted and I have almost no fuse / get agitated very easily, despite feeling physically well.
It’s taken me a long time to experiment and figure out what’s best for me, but I certainly do not go 5-7 days ultra low carb as I cannot sustain it and be able to function in society very well. But still loving the gains I get with more frequent backloads.
In summary CN/CBL were an absolute life changer for me and I’ll probably never be eating carbs before dinner in any routine fashion for the rest of my life, just too many benefits for me
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Awesome post! Love how you found what works for you based on your own performance/ feedback. Great stuff
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Thanks!
Took me awhile but I think I have realized I don’t need to attach my identity to any dogma and this has allowed the best progress and peace of mind
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Gonna do some CBL for a few weeks to see the outcomes. Cocoa Pebbles, Blueberry Chex, grocery store Sushi
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I’ve also demolished 1/2-whole boxes of cocoa/fruity pebbles in the name of back loading 
As stated above, the hardest part is getting through the first 2 weeks. If your body is not adapted to eating ultra low/no carb, it is likely you will feel pretty terrible at first.
When you get through that it’s much easier to adhere to.
I have heard of coaches who successfully had their clients start with back loading smaller amounts of carbs nightly to at least get the body used to daytime without carbs, and eventually start a night or two without any carbs when that gets easier.
Unfortunately I don’t know their names off the top
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I often think that it’s too extreme… I agree with one of the other posters about low carb during the day and having carbs at night.
Personally I have found that having generally healthy carbs after heavy workouts (if in the am) and at night in w/o days works really well and low carbs the rest rather than a single carb night works better. That way you get 3-5 carb meals during the week (out of probably 20+ meals) and one of them can be a “treat” (not cheat) meal…This should improve sleep as well as compliance, mood, muscle mass, strength and general atheistic (you won’t look depleted as you lean out)
I’ve almost eaten an entire box…
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Isn’t that exactly what Carb Nite is?
If I remember correctly, and I may not, what he’s describing is closer to carb backloading. Carb nite was a single giant weekly carb-up.
OP, I do think this is a case of “know thyself”. Some folks do awesome with these fast/ feast protocols; some folks are able to eat right through it and develop some disordered behaviors.
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Oh wow, I had no idea. Hearing Mark Bell describe it in Power magazine back in the day, I always assumed it was a nightly carb up.
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I think the version of Carb nite I have seen is Carbs 1x a week…
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Turns out that’s what I’ve been doing all along, haha. Well, in that regard, I’ll say I’m a fan of the approach. I’d honestly go even longer without, but I see a lot of positives with that weekly carb up.
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There are hormonal reasons for this. I don’t remember them all but essentially the low-carb eating will start slowing down the thyroid and other metabolic factors. The weekly carb-up resets them
What impresses me about you doing this is the incredible (insane) amount of work you’re able to do with only one carb meal per week.
I’ve tried this with far lower volume than you and failed miserably many times. Hats off to you sir!
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Think it was a Kiefer thing
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