I follow a low carb high protein and healty fat diet. I’m trying to drop to 10% BF.
Stats are:
6’1
205lbs
TBT by Mr. Waterbury current gym plan.
I play soccer on sundays and my question is does anyone have any tips on what to carb up on before the game? And what should I bump up the carbs to on game day and training day?
Have found I’m running out of steam in the tank after an hour or so.
Its not a fitness issue.
Current typical marconumtrient breakup is:
Protein: 200-250g
Carbs: under 50 g (All from green veggies) go up by 30g with post workout drink
Fat: 100-130 g ( mostly healthy fats including fish oil)
I have no experience with carbing up before an atheletic event, to just let you know to take my advice with a grain of salt. However, if you haven’t tried this yet, I would carb up the day before, so you can sustain energy for the game the day after. I feel if you haven’t tried this yet, carbing up ON game day may be too risky and cause blood glucose levels to rise and fall, leaving you tired like you crashed.
You just don’t know how you will react. Having the carb up the day before will have your body ready for the next day with full glycogen.
my 2 cents.
Eat a light meal/shake; some lean protein, good fats, and some complex carbohydrates (fruits, some brown rice). You’ll have to adjust to what works better for you; some people can eat a heavy meal and perform fine.
What I highly recommend (along with your meal or shake) since Soccer is an endurance sport, is a stimulant of some form. I’m sure generally anything will work, but that will come down to your own personal preference;
[quote]Oquendog wrote:
I play soccer on sundays and my question is does anyone have any tips on what to carb up on before the game?
Eat a light meal/shake; some lean protein, good fats, and some complex carbohydrates (fruits, some brown rice). You’ll have to adjust to what works better for you; some people can eat a heavy meal and perform fine.
What I highly recommend (along with your meal or shake) since Soccer is an endurance sport, is a stimulant of some form. I’m sure generally anything will work, but that will come down to your own personal preference;
Biotest Spike
Green Tea Extract
Red Bull
etc, etc.
Good advice on the light meal/shake and fruits.
I find that rice and me dont agree, so I’d rather stick to addding oatmeal or maybe an apple with breakfast.
With soccer being an endurance sport i dont entirely agree, I find that for me its more short sharp sprints of 30-60 yards and having to recover quick. With lots of slow jogging and walking.
Anyway dude some sound advice, the only thing i suppose I’m worried about is the amount to carb up.
Perhaps if I bump up my current carb intake the day before by 50 g, and continue it game day I may go the full 90 min without feeling like I hit a wall.
[quote]elusive wrote:
I feel if you haven’t tried this yet, carbing up ON game day may be too risky and cause blood glucose levels to rise and fall, leaving you tired like you crashed. You just don’t know how you will react. Having the carb up the day before will have your body ready for the next day with full glycogen.
my 2 cents.[/quote]
Hey elusive cheers for the advice dude. That actually sounds like your on to something, cause over the last few weeks i have had a high carb meal before the game and that could well explain the crash 60 min into a match.
I think I’ll give the carb up the day before a go… my only concern is that it will slow down my fat loss goals.
I’ve herd glycogen wont be converted to fat for something like 24hrs… anyone else herd of this?
Don’t be carbphobic. You’re very active it shouldn’t be an issue at all. How long have you been training using a low carb approach/losing fat for? As long as your cals are in good range, you will not gain any fat. Your body is first going to use those carbs to convert into glycogen (muscle energy, which its probably badly lacking). Once they’re glycogen, they’re not turning into fat. Looking at your intake, you consume up to 2,200 cals a day. Drop your fat intake and increase your carb intake to make up for the calorie deficit.
Remember, I’ve NEVER CARBED up for a game but I would do the following:
200gram Protein
250gram Carb
33grams fat
*I recently just switched from an 8 week low/no carb approach for fatloss, to a moderate to high carb fat loss diet with great results. Don’t fear the carbs, just make good choices.
When I have a mountain bike race i eat spaghetti(or some kind of pasta) the night before, and several extra fruits the day before and day of the race.
EDIT:
During a long ride I also take Clif Shots. You could take one halfway into your game. They’re basically rice syrup. Drink a couple of mouthfuls of water with them too, or you’ll puke.
I agree with the whole day before carb up, depending on how low your going even starting the evening 2 days out and carrying through the day before is a good idea.
i generally carb deplete then carb up so that the day of loading is the day before the athletics comp, and having experimented with 2and 3 days out loading as well as on the day and i can safely say that if i only have 1 dat to carb up then the day before will definitely benefit not on the day, starting with fruit in the morning and moving on to potato/rice in the afternoon, evening.
having said that this advice is not based on such a low carb diet, so although effective for me after short term depletion, unless you are used to carbing up it may disagree with you.
in my opinion…
DO NOT WORRY ABOUT FAT LOSS WHEN COMPETING IN ANY SPORT. full muscle glycogen is way more important than fat loss in sports comps.
I don’t have any experience with it but I remember reading a Sports Illustrated that mentioned a pro NFL player that ate like 7-8 bowls of pasta for energy the day before a game.
24 hours is usually the minimum used (this is assuming you are fully depleted.) Some people can do 2 or even three day carb ups and not put on any fat. Although, I would start with 24 hours or less to be on the safe side.
I would agree with the carb up on the day before. Also, don’t train on this day, because that will just deplete you again.
[quote]veritas83 wrote:
elusive wrote:
I think I’ll give the carb up the day before a go… my only concern is that it will slow down my fat loss goals.
I’ve herd glycogen wont be converted to fat for something like 24hrs… anyone else herd of this?
[/quote]
[quote]elusive wrote:
Don’t be carbphobic. You’re very active it shouldn’t be an issue at all. How long have you been training using a low carb approach/losing fat for? As long as your cals are in good range, you will not gain any fat.
Your body is first going to use those carbs to convert into glycogen (muscle energy, which its probably badly lacking). Once they’re glycogen, they’re not turning into fat. Looking at your intake, you consume up to 2,200 cals a day. Drop your fat intake and increase your carb intake to make up for the calorie deficit.
Remember, I’ve NEVER CARBED up for a game but I would do the following:
200gram Protein
250gram Carb
33grams fat
*I recently just switched from an 8 week low/no carb approach for fatloss, to a moderate to high carb fat loss diet with great results. Don’t fear the carbs, just make good choices.[/quote]
Hey elusive sounds like some good advice here mate. I have been using this low carb for fat loss approach for around 7 weeks now. The first 2 weeks I had a carb up every 14 days but have since shortened it to every 10 days.
Sounds the the general consensus is to carb up on the saturday for game day sunday. I will give it a try already had, oatmeal with turkey bacon and a whey casin protein shake.
Sounds like the lack of glycogen stores would also help explain me crashing an hour in.
you can sip on a carb/protein drink throughout your game (the same you would use pwo) to keep you going. the book “nutrient timing” recommends this.
this may not, however, help your fat loss goals.
i think ultimately you need to decide which is most important (fat loss vs. peak performance) and adjust to your situation accordingly.[/quote]
Yeah i’ve herd of this before too, I have actually over the last 3 weeks slammed down a protein drink with a 30g carbs/ 30g protein after the game. Helped with recrovery I think
[quote]jlats wrote:
24 hours is usually the minimum used (this is assuming you are fully depleted.) Some people can do 2 or even three day carb ups and not put on any fat. Although, I would start with 24 hours or less to be on the safe side.
I would agree with the carb up on the day before. Also, don’t train on this day, because that will just deplete you again.
veritas83 wrote:
elusive wrote:
I think I’ll give the carb up the day before a go… my only concern is that it will slow down my fat loss goals.
I’ve herd glycogen wont be converted to fat for something like 24hrs… anyone else herd of this?
[/quote]
thanks jlats always good to know that its the case with carbs, must admit after reading elusives response i was wondering if i am a carbophobe hahaha.
I think I’m gonna introduce some more regular carbs into my diet, as I’ve hit a bit of a plateu in losing fat.
Went from 220 7 weeks ago to 202 today.
got any ideas on some good carbs to introduce?
was thinking good low gi fruits, I think apples and berries are good, oatmeal… thoughts