How do you work out the max amount of carbs on average you should eat per sitting, is there a formula where you plug your weight etc in as there is for post workout carbage?
It depends on your goals.
Don’t think there’s any “max limit” per sitting, DA.
Calculate the total amount of carbs you want to ingest in a day and divide equally between your 6 or so meals, with the exception of your post workout carbs, which will be a larger amount right after your workout (PWO drink) and the following 1-2 hours.
You’re overanalyzing.
Pick your daily totals and divide it by the meals you plan on having carbs. You might have more in the first meal of the day and post workout and bit less in the other meals.
At the end of the day, and in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter.
im with Thunder!!just Eat smart and train hard everything will pan out in the end…
I’d keep it under 200g.
Nope, DA, there are no magical formulas, unfortunately. The max number of carbs is highly individual. Some people process carbs well and some don’t. Some people’s activity level is high (construction, hockey, soccer, football) and a higher level of carb intake is MANDATORY. Other people lead more sedentary lives, requiring a lower amount.
Bottom line? It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. Your needs/requirements will be different. (grin)
In addition, as Chris said, your requirements will be based on your goals. Bulking, more carbs. Cutting, a lesser amount of carbs.
What you’re talking about is putting some structure into your diet. Keeping a food log will help. Protein and fat requirements are easy to calculate. The numbers are based on LBM. Carbs require some playing with.
Additionally, it isn’t just the AMOUNT of carbs, but the TYPE of carbs and your TIMING. We’ll assume you follow JB’s food combining; no F+C meals.
Give us a little more information, DA. What are you wanting to accomplish? What are you doing currently? How well is what you’re doing currently working for you?
Ike…where’d you come up with 200g? That’s a ridiculously random number given that he didn’t meantion anything about goals (bulking or cutting). I’m bulking and taking around 400g of carbs per day. When I cut, I’m less than 100g per day.
It’s also dependent on the person. You need to play with it to determine what’s optimal for you. Also, you need to look at your sources of carbs (high or low GI foods, etc.) and timing, as TT meantioned.
Let’s not throw out numbers just for the sake of having them there.
Agreed 200 is a randomly chosen number.
Ike’s number, if answering the original question, refers to maximum amount of carbs per meal.
ND,
There is something about the way you worded your response that pissed me off, but I’ll attempt to keep my response civil.
Here is my rationale: Go read the “Best of the Guest” article from Chad Waterbury’s guest forum appearance. Reference his thoughts on solid food consumption in the postworkout period.
And yes, the 200g figure was arbitrarily choosen. I threw it out there to shake Dark Assassin up a bit and to get him thinking, because I’m guessing that isn’t something he expected.
But thanks for lecturing me on a bunch of stuff we all already know.
Tampe terry ok here are my stats:
23 Male and 173 cm
i walk at 140-145lbs and fight between 137-140lbs
My workouts look like this:
Monday - Friday Mornings:
Cardio (HIIT, Fartleks, 3 miles in under 20 minutes or slow paced for 45 minutes) followed by conditioning (Pushups, situps etc) some days especially when im not too close to a fight i do weights, upper body and lower body on 2 different days.
Evenings are usually classes based around lots of padwork sparring and bagwork
Sundays are heavy sparring sessions
Saturday is my day of rest
As far as Eating right now i have:
Big bowl of oatmeal + low carb protein powder (not any particular brand i just get different ones each time to have a change… i have had grow it was great but expensive cos they import it into my local store)
I’d have a P+F for lunch. Usually a grilled peice of Salmon and Veggies no more than 10g carbs with a dash of hot sauce
Usually have a shake or a can of tuna with a tbsp of Flax
About an hour or 2 before trianing i have a bowl of oatmeal and some whey protein or eggwhites or chicken breast
Post workout i have a post workout shake (right now i have surge and have 3/4 of the normal serving cos of my weight being lower than most)
about an hour later i have a chicken breast with lots of veggies and a small bowl of oatmeal. If i dont feel i can stomach all that an hour before bed i have an MRP
if i follow this diet to a T then i can lose alot of bodyfat but some days especially midweek i kinda feel drained out
after my P+F lunches i feel like my arms are burning and i feel the need for carbs so i wait till my pre workout to help me with this.
Saturdays are cheat days but what i have done now is spit my cheat day to one cheat meal saturday (usually healthy carbs) and sundays when we go out to all u can eat sushi
I drink TONNES of water and have a coffee before training. I’ve started mixing creatine monohydrate (metrx brand) with my PW Shake. Other sups i take are a strong multi vit and cod liver oil caps and glucosomine
i would appreciate any and all help advice and criticism.
Thanks brothers
Ike: I appologize for the wording of my commentary. Pissing you off was definitely not my intention, but I can see how it would.
Please accept my appologies.
ND,
It’s cool man, don’t worry about it. I just wanted to know that there was some thought behind that post.
Although I sure as hell didn’t elaborate on it! 
If you’re concerned about body composition, then yes, there should be a cap to how many carbs you ingest per sitting. Carbs and protein that go unused after a large meal can be converted to triglycerides via lipogenesis, thus creating the C+F environment. I believe this is one reason SwoleCat is quite successful in shredding up as well as adding quality mass to his clients. He makes absolute sure lipogenesis as well as gluconeogenesis stays as low as possible (and I would agree with him too).
I keep total cals per meals under 700 generally.
If my diet requires more cals it usually comes in the way of more meals as opposed to bigger meals.
Answering the original question 130-ish grams is about my cut off per meal, leaving me space for protein in a P+C meal
Hey, there, DA!!! Thanks for laying that out for me. It does give me an idea of what you’re doing, but I need a bit more information. Could you lay out your schedule in a format like this:
8:00 P+C
8:30 AM Cardio
9:30 P+C
12:00 P+F
3:00 P+C
5:00 PM Sparring
6:00 PWO Surge
7:30 P+C
My thoughts are that T-Dawg will most emphatically NOT provide you with the carbs you need to maintain your current workout schedule.
Second, you need the FULL serving of Surge with the type and number of workouts you’re doing.
Third, if you’re open to suggestions, I’d like to see you eating a P+F meal before your workouts and cardio, Surge IMMEDIATELY after your workout and a whole food P+C meal after cardio and 90 minutes after taking Surge PWO.
The macronutrients you take in before you work out do not affect the energy substrates utilized while you’re working out. However, taking in carbs (P+C) after your workouts will refill muscle glycogen stores and help reverse catabolism. It’s a time when your muscles and body will soak up carbs like a dry sponge soaks up water.
DA, what’s your BF percentage? If you get me that number, I’ll help you calculate protein and fat requirements.
It’s all right to do low to moderate intensity cardio fasted state. I do. (Not everyone agrees with me on this one.) But absolutely, positively do NOT do HIIT and/or weights fasted state. That’s a very big no-no.
How long is your evening workout?
How long is your Sunday sparring session?
Excellent food choices, by the way! No problem there. Food combining is good too. I see a lot of P+F meals, but my feelings are that if you eat 6 meals a day, you need 4 or 5 P+C meals out of the 6. That’s why your energy levels are suffering.
DA, it is possible to lose weight on a higher carb diet, but everything needs to be precisely dialed in, and subtle adjustments need to be made along the way. You’re going to have to start keeping a food log so that you can anaylze how many calories you’re taking in, how many carb, fat and protein grams. What are your thoughts on keeping a food log?
Nothing wrong with two cheat meals. That’s actually a good choice. However, I’d like to see you break them up differently, say Sunday and Thursday. That one thing alone may help with your energy levels.
Good supp choices. The only thing there is that I’d like to see you switch from cod liver to fish oil that has been molecularly distilled. Health from the Sun is one cost-effective possibility. Check out iHerb. They have liquid and capsules, both.
DA, get me answer to the answers above, and we’ll help you put together something that will help you lose BF, but with slightly higher carbs.
Before I sign off, why don’t you drop Boxer Al a PM. He’s changed his handle recently, but if you do a search on the forum, you’ll find his name. The guy really had his diet optimized. He carried low BF levels and had a workout very similar to yours. You might enjoy kicking things around with him a bit.
Terry Wow thanks for taking the time to help me man! I swear no one’s every been so helpful
Yes I am always open to suggestions. I can try a P+F before training and see how it goes, maybe some ommlette or something similar?
my bodyfat % is around 8-9% right now and my training sessions including sparring sessions are about 1hour and 30 minutes long.
As far as food logs go i have no problem cos i have one 
I’ll check out the fish oils as opposed to the cod lvier oil but im not sure if we get that brand in england, maybe i can get it imported from the states?
One last question if an hour after my pw shake i have a P+C meal, and go to sleep an hour later, is that ok?
Thanks a million Hermano!
oh i forgot the timings 
this is what i do now, i know it looks horrible but i’m sure i’ll get there
ok here we go
6:30 Wake up
7:00 Am Cardio
8:30 P+C
11:00 P+F
2:00 P+F
5:00 P+C
7:30 PM Sparring
9:00 PWO Surge
10:00 P+C
No, it doesn’t look that bad. You’re actually doing pretty well for yourself, just wanting to take things to a higher level, which is what most of us here are trying to do.
The reason I recommended the molecularly distilled fish oil over the cod liver oil is that the impurities ( mercury, DDT and PCBs) have been removed. You’ll have to do some searches on the 'Net and research, but it’s worth the effort to find a source. For energy and stamina, you’re looking for measurable amounts of EPA and DHA; 6g of EPA/DHA ought to be a good number for you. In addition, it’s anti-inflammatory, a plus, considering your level of activity. iHerb does ship internationally, but if you can find a local source, it would be a lot cheaper.
Let’s figure out protein requirements.
TBW = 140 pounds
BF% = 8%
BF = 11.2 pounds
LBM = 128.8 pounds
Your protein requirements are LBM x 1.5. 128.8 pounds times 1.5g = 193g of protein per day, which works out to 32.25g per meal. That’s precise numbers. In your mind, you need to be getting in 30-35g of protein each and every meal.
An option that you might want to consider is 7 meals. Take in a protein shake (25g) at 5:30 AM. Set your clock, drink, go back to bed for another hour. Eat your other 6 meals as you normally do. As I said, if you’re committed to fasted state cardio, go ahead, but no HIIT or sprints or Farleks or weight lifting without at least a protein shake. Doing so is highly catabolic (chews up muscle). You want to work out and eat in a way that preserves your LBM, but reduces fat.
Fat requirements. LBM x .5g = 64.4g of fat. Just make it 65g of fat per day, divided between your two P+F meals. That’s 32g of fat per P+F meal. You’ll get some fat from the meat you eat. Supplement that fat with fish oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil . . . and maybe a little mayo or butter for taste here and there. You need that fat. Don’t shortchange yourself in this area any more than you would shortchange yourself on protein.
I’ll help you with the carbs, but let me clarify one thing. You’re doing 1.5 hours of cardio/weights in the morning and 1.5 hours of sparring in the evening?
Repeating what I said above, your current eating patterns look good. I’m not inclined to change that part of things, just optimize your carb intake.
Food for thought (the non-caloic kind (grin)). If Saturday is a rest day and not a cheat day, your carb REQUIREMENTS are very low to zero. Anything you don’t eat in the way of carbs for recovery can be used during the rest of the week. Kind of like a carb bank account of sorts. Anything you put into the account can be drawn out at a later time when you really need it. If Saturday ends up not being a cheat meal day, go ahead and eat P+F meals with <10g of carbs per meal for flavor and taste; spinach, mushrooms, salsa, dressing, low-carb torillas, etc.
Your turn! (grin)
Ike != long-winded
(For you computer nerds.)