[quote]mrw173 wrote:
The funny thing is that aside from fatiguing slightly faster during my workouts, I feel better when I low carb. During that 2 to 3 month period, I felt great. I just could not shed any weight.
[/quote]
I too generally feel better on lower carbs (more steady energy) but would rather get the results than have constant energy levels.
[quote]BlakedaMan wrote:
Last time I was adding weight my carbs were 300-500g on workout days, about 100-150g on off days. Fat was about 80-100g. Once every 5th or 6th day I had a full on cheat day, since I struggle to gain weight as it is. Weight gain was pretty slow with this for me since I have a really fast metabolism.
Since I’ve been cutting the past 7 weeks, I’ve been taking in typically around 90g fat and 100g carbs, and every 5th day I carb up with trace fats, but I started out pretty lean anyways (fully visible upper 4 abs).
I actually get both with higher fat gaining diets - slower and sloppier gains.
[/quote]
Glad to see maybe I’m not alone is that aspect lol. I’m surprised you say you have a fast metabolism and have trouble gaining weight, yet you started off chubby with high-teens level body fat?
[quote]elusive wrote:
Carbs in a diet IS the norm, especially in bodybuilding. I have yet to see a person NOT handle carbs when their diet is in order.[/quote]
It’s not so much that I thought it wasn’t the norm…especially for gaining. But that almost everything I’ve ever read at the very least said low carb would help with leaner gains. Maybe slower but still leaner. From what I can tell by looking back at my logs over the years it has not helped gains come leaner at all (as I mentioned on the AD I gained 10lb. and gained 2 inches on my waistline, another time I switched from carb cycling to a TCD/TKD and gained about an inch on my waist for a 2lb gain). And even cutting results didn’t seem any better with very low carbs and a carb up than just a traditional carb cycling plan (although I do like the keto for cutting in the sense that I feel less hungry and the carb up helps socially…and can be fun 
)
[quote]silverhydra wrote:
Surprisingly good thread (for the first 8 posts at least), and it’s nice to see everyone’s views on this topic.
I usually call carbs my ‘dietary diety’, they’re either your God, or a Demon, depending on how they are used.
As for me, (and the following is pretty much 95% anecdotal), I have found that I lose (and gain) body fat easier on a higher fat diet, and when a higher percentage of my diet is comprised of carbs, my weight tends to stay similar.
I remember reading a study on athletes that showed those with a higher percentage and total carbohydrates in the diet gained less body fat than was expected due to their caloric excess, and it was hypothesized that this is because it was being burned off. Led me to the (very) preliminary conclusion that given the two main energy substrates (Fat and Carbs), the more one eats, the more their body ‘trades’ in that substrate (Adipose and Glycogen, respectively).
From this, I usually have the fat totals, and minor deviation in protein totals, between cutting and bulking, as I want my excess calories to have less ability to be stored on my body (See ‘weight tends to stay similar’)
Cutting calories for a cut can be done for me by simply eating less carbs, as I can gain weight on a well balanced 2500kcal a day :D[/quote]
I had to one part of that to be sure lol but you’re saying you lose fat faster on a high fat diet, but that you also gain fat faster when gaining on high fats? I’d say that’s similar to what I’ve noticed as well, more so with the gaining statement.
So when you need to gain you just raise the carbs and keep fat about the same correct? If so that seems like what BlakedaMan and I mentioned as well, keeping fat about the same and manipulating carbs as necessary
[quote]phatkins187 wrote:
Some people are more satisfied with fast results and low carb diets produce those (think PSMF), but any dedicated bodybuilder knows for a long term (~12 week) fat loss, carbs can be consumed and will help immensely in sparing LBM, maintain a fuller look, and provide necessary energy for intense workouts.
I too prefer higher fat diets for bulking and eat lots of red meat. For a cut I’ll replace the steak/ground beef with more fish, turkey and chicken because of their lower fat content. Carbs might come from cleaner sources (oatmeal, fruit, veggies, sweet potatoes) when I cut, but I’ll leave them in my diet. They are DELICIOUS and NUTRITIOUS. [/quote]
Out of curiosity what do you have your carbs at when gaining?
Squiggles, I agree with what your saying too. However when cutting these diets still generally aren’t HIGH fat…usually around moderate. Lets say you have a 2500 calorie diet to cut and 50% comes from fat, thats 135-140g. With no carbs I could definitely see fat loss coming pretty well but eventually a lot of people (especially for contests) end up bringing fat to about 100g or even less which might be high relative to overall calories but it’s not like the body reads macro’s as a % of overall calories. As mentioned with my starting point, for whatever reason it just seems like a high fat diet when gaining doesn’t help me stay any leaner. I can definitely think of counter examples but it’s just what I’ve noticed (which, again, is definitely surprising given my endo qualities)
I would like to incorporate some more carbs and less fat now but to be honest there’s almost no healthy carbs at my college (fruit and occasionally oatmeal is about it)
