I wasn’t sure to post this question in the bodybuilding section or nutrition, anyways just wondering while cutting when do you eat carbohydrates. For some reason I seem to put weight on fast while eating carbs (very annoying). So while cutting I decided to limit carbs to as soon as I wake up only. I am now having second thoughts and wondering if I should have carbs (usually oats) PWO.
My question consist of whether I should have carbs in the morning or PWO, I really don’t know if I can have oatmeal twice or day (or some sort of similar complex carb). I have actually gotten stronger surprisingly while losing about 2-3 lbs a week (obviously trying to conserve as much muscle mass).
I also wanted to see if anyone had any complex carbs that are cheap to buy and easy to make such as oatmeal. I wanted to see if anyone had any sort of other complex carbs while cutting besides oatmeal, that they found easy to make and wasn’t all that expensive. I’m unfortunately not a big fan of brown rice, mainly due to the fact that I can never make it correctly lol.
Cutting carbs (especially when dieting), is one of the surest ways to lose MUSCLE mass. I have yet to find someone who was so carbohydrate intolerant that they couldn’t eat any carbs. The trick to this macro, is in what type of carbohyrate you are talking about, and specifically WHEN you are eating it.
When I was younger, the first few times I tried getting ‘ripped’, I lost all of my muscle because I just dropped all myc arbs and thought it was just a matter of time before all the fat vanished. Unfortunately, it’s a bit mroe complicated than that. For my last contest, I was eating about 225g of carbs on most days, with 1 out of every 6 days 300g, and 2 out of 6 at about 100g (so even on my LOW days, I was eating more than you are!)
S
so could elaborate on how you spaced out your carbs through the day on your 225 gram carb days? were they ALL strictly placed during breakfast and peri(or Pre?)workout?
I have been gauging my progress and I have been losing only 2-3 lbs a week which I thought it exactly what I want to aim for. I weigh now 177 lbs from 190 lbs and I am only 5’6 1/2 (on a good day), I easily have 220g+ protein every day and have one cheat day where I restart my metabolism usually on Saturday.
I only eat Whole Grain Oats (oatmeal) with 2 scoops of whey in the morning with some honey and cinnamon. I want to keep average 2-3 lbs a week of weight lose until hopefully I get to 9%-10% body fat. I feel like a lot of people on this site like to carb cycle and it may be something I may want to take a look at but to be honest I don’t know what other healthy carbs there are and I am starting to hate oatmeal lol. I am hoping for some more advice and take every piece of advice very seriously.
-Oatmeal(1/2 cup) with 2 scoops of whey and 1 tbs honey (450 calories) 52g
-2 cans of tuna (280 calories) 52g
-2 tilapia fillets (200 calories) 40g
-6 egg whites (120 calories) + 2 servings of chicken sasuage (180 calories) = (300 calories) 40g
-2 scoops whey shake + honey (300 calories) 48g
-1 scoop of casein (120 calories) 24g
-1 tilapia fillet (100 calories) 20g
1750 calories
266g Protein
A Sample of what a normal day of dieting is for me. The reason I think the diet is mainly working is the slow steady pace of weight lose as well as my strength actually increasing. I think both my bench and deadlift as well as many of my accessory exercises have increased. As well as almost a clean feeling while working out and I am usually at the gym for an hour and half and my energy has never felt higher.
Your calories are insanely low. More than likely you’ve crushed down your metabolism pretty badly, and with the apparent lack of fat in your daily intake, your body is most iikely oxidizing proteins for energy. I’m all for having some days of a really low caloric intake, but if your ‘everyday’ diet is that low, your body will adjust itself to those levels.
It is good that you realize the key times to ingest some carbs, but I think you’d be better off overall if your diet focused more on muscle preservation instead of just seeing the numbers on the scale drop. Losing ‘weight’ is easy, losing ‘fat’ while keeping muscle can’t be rushed or else you will lose lean tissue (and you rmetabolism will slow even more).
S
So increase calories by how much, I do agree that my calories are pretty low. I am trying to fall in between the 1700-2000 calories. Where do you think I can add in another meal, and should I add more carbs and if so, where? This is my first true cut, and my lipo-6 is helping me considerably with my hunger cravings as I am hungry almost all the time.
I think I should also add I am 19 years old and go to school. I feel like I am getting a sufficient amount of fat considering all the healthy fats in all the fish I eat, I usually average 2-5 Tilapia fillets as well as take 4 pills of Flameout daily.
Hello Drive,
My recommendation would be the following:
For your breakfast shake, increase the amount of oats to 2/3 cup, and substitute one of the scoops of whey protein for a scoop of casein (which you seem to have) or simply use 2 scoops of Metabolic Drive
For your low carb meals in between breakfast and your WO: Add some veggies for fiber, and even though you seem to be getting enough omega 3s, try getting in some monosaturated and saturated fats by cooking these with olive oil(monos) and adding small amounts of cheese(saturated, casein)
For your workout shake, ditch the honey (1/2 of it is fructose which is not readily transformed to glycogen and has a low glycemic index) and get some straight dextrose or maltodextrin and make sure to consume at least 50g of carbs and at least 25g of protein and sip through it before, during and after your w/o. If you can afford it, buy Surge Recovery.
Finally, switch the order of your last 2 meals. Eat the Tilapia after your workout, and include 8oz of baked potatoe or ~50g of another starch here (during no- WO days replace the potatoe with vegetables sauteed with olive oil and cheese and obviously no WO shake)
Finally have your scoop of casein (or two) with a tablespoon of peanut butter, or even coconut oil (I personally use this for the MCTs and sat fat to support T levels)
I’ve heard about dextrose just didn’t know where to buy it. I have xtend made by sciviation which I sip through my workout. I usually drink my protein shake about an hour into my workout. I don’t really count my vegetables cause I usually just go to Walmart and buy an insane amount of celery and broccoli.
I would Metabolic Drive and Surge Recovery but there just to damn expensive, I have always bought Optimum Nutrition Golden Whey and Casein.
I was also wondering what are the pros and cons of dextrose and maltodextrin I know it’s 100% sugar of sorts and really good for PWO due to the depletion of glycogen.
I definintly will keep my eye open for coconut oil, I have natural peanut butter but I ain’t really to big of a fan. Thanks again for all the input, I am planning to cut till the end of the summer and then start bulking again,this time the correct way. I found out the hard way that slow and steady and sustained progress is the definitely the way to go.
THere are ‘fatty’ fish, and what I refer to as ‘white’ fish. The later variety has very little in the way of omega 3’s. Guess which group Tilapia falls into? (that’s why it’s so low in calories while salmon is so high in calories!)
S
So do you think I need more fat in my diet? Considering I do eat a decent amount of eggs which have omega 3’s and I am taking 4 pills of Flameout daily?
[quote]Drive2034 wrote:
I’ve heard about dextrose just didn’t know where to buy it. I have xtend made by sciviation which I sip through my workout. I usually drink my protein shake about an hour into my workout. I don’t really count my vegetables cause I usually just go to Walmart and buy an insane amount of celery and broccoli.
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Dextrose - it is pretty easy to get. Google shopping itself has a hundred places that list dextrose, and some even sell pharmaceutical grade dextrose. Same for maltodextrin… But I had a gold card from GNC, so ended up buying some cytocarb - which is maltodextrin plus a few more complex carbs.