This is my usual approach, In the past I have dropped rice from both lunches in favour of greens
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I love it.
I tried this and struggled to keep up with it as my carb allotment is quite low, so i ended up keeping my foods the same whether training or not. But what you’re asking is basically “is carb cycling effective” and the answer is a resounding “yes”.
Use carbs for what they’re intended for (high intensity exertion/performance). You’ll notice less performance drop if timing your carbs on training days - particularly if consumed only pre-workout.
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[quote=“TrainForPain, post:745, topic:285956”]h
taking the rice away from whichever lunch is further away from training
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Sounds like the first step would be to cut carbs from the non training days, but keep the rice in the lunch before training. That is a pretty easy change to make from next week. Thanks guys.
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I found carb cycling to be highly effective for weight loss, less so for weight gain.
I’d suggest eating at or slightly below maintenance on training days and then hitting a pretty good deficit on non-training days.
I found 100g carbs to be the ‘lowest’ I can go before it’s noticeable and it’s still a reasonable amount if you’re getting it from fruits/veg and rice
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I second this. I’m currently managing 125g daily while still losing weight, but I’ve done 75g and felt like ass. ~100g seems to be about the bottom threshold of how many carbs I can live on without hating life.
I do best when it’s at least 100g pre workout and then like a banana or something after training so I’m not falling asleep at work.
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On non-training days I was able to not eat until around midday which gave me lots of wiggle room. On training days I’d just have ~250-350cals of a carb heavy food in the morning before gym, and my lunch would just be a shake with 5g of psyllium husk in. I guess you could call that a form of carb cycling? That was always enough to keep me going until 4-5pm ish. A small meal and then a bigger evening meal. Another shake with just water depending on protein intake.
I actually had to force some calories in last night coming out of an 11-12week cut. I know for most of you that sounds obscene, but it’s not all that great. Bulking is where the real challenge starts for me!
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Ok update at half way
This was the start
This is today with a 4kg (9 lbs) gain. Sorry for the crap photos
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Once again, I’m a little late to the game - but here are a few things you can try if just ditching the rice and/or only having carbs on training days doesn’t work.
Go with 4 eggs and for additional protein, add 2 ounces of cooked chicken breast, turkey or other super lean meat. You’ll get more protein than the 2 additional eggs would provide and fewer overall calories. Also, youcould switch out the full fat milk for 1% to save a few calories and some fat there too.
Here, just cut that rice in half at each meal for 250g total or take it out all together - you’ve got the beans in the chili providing some carbs. To make up the “bulk” of the rice - add veggies (you knew that was coming, right?) try cauliflower or broccoli rice, zucchini noodles, or spinach.
I love that you eat with your family and the same thing as your family - you’re creating such a healthy dynamic. And what you suggested regarding decreasing portion sizes and/or carbs is perfect.
Could you switch to a lower fat Greek yogurt? 20 grams is pretty substantial and is contributing 180 calories - just from the fat - to your day. That might be an easy place to drop some dead weight.
Your good on the beverages as long as you’re not souping up your coffee with cream or any other bullshit. If you need an electrolyte drink with sugar for training for performance reasons, then keep it. If you could do a sugar-free drink with electrolytes and get the same results, that would be an easy switch too.
Do your best to keep it on the rails on weekends - which really doesn’t seem to be an issue for you. I love that you know your weaknesses and just avoid the entire situation. Big high-five on that!
I don’t know if any of that is or will be helpful and @TrainForPain, @kleinhound and @Andrewgen_Receptors advice was good stuff too. Keep us posted on your progress and as always, I’m here for questions!
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Honestly might be a great opportunity to employ carb backloading. Use those dinner time meals to get in your carbs.
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I had a call from my doctor’s office yesterday reminding me to go in for a TSH level check, as we reduced my thyroid meds in November in response to my irregular heartbeat issue. I was supposed to have it in mid-January, but they’d said “we’ll call to remind you” so I haven’t worried about it. Mostly I’ve let it slide because my annual physical was around this time last year and I really want to see what the impact on my regular labs are from this diet - not the calorie restriction, but the no-bullshit, limited wheat, high protein, less alcohol piece - and figured I’d do it all at once. So I was feeling ready to do the bloodwork, but my doc is scheduling pretty far out. I’m scheduled for June 7th (“call about a week before and we’ll order the labs”) and initially I was deflated because what, I’m supposed to eat like this F-O-R-E-V-E-R? And then I realized that it’s a week after this challenge ends, so the timing is perfect.
Body recomp is of course a prime motivator, but understanding the degree of control I have over health metrics is probably the thing that pushed me over the line and into this challenge. So when I get my bloodwork done I’ll have eaten 95% clean for six months and really dialed in my workouts. A nice motivator to keep up the good work.
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I am disappointed that you didn’t post the pic of the chili.
That’s the first thought I had when she asked the question.
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Looking big!
Catching up to the carb-cycling conversation, I also like it with a couple additional notes:
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It has to simplify what you’re doing. If you do all this craziness of let me up the fat in this meal and drop this many carbs here and the calories all have to equal out, blah, blah, that was more trouble than it was worth for me. If it’s just, hey, I can average my week at lower calories and still have energy to lift, that’s a huge win.
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I liked Surge Workout Fuel exactly for this - you already are getting a huge head start on cycling those carbs just by adding this to your day!
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There’s a psychological component that can’t be overstated. When you get deeper into the diet, and you don’t feel awesome, and the weights or at least your ability to tolerate volume start to go down… the training sessions suck and you dread them. Carbs bring you a euphoric feeling (that’s why we love overeating them). Having some pre- and intra-carbs not only improves your performance in those training sessions, it makes them the best part of your day/ week so you look forward to them - then you work harder and get leaner and all those good things.
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I know you have seen my chilli before 
This was a pretty incredible response. Everything is immediately actionable with minor changes.
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Definitely helpful and always worth waiting for your advice.
I will plan this out over the weekend and update on what’s next. Thanks 
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I know, but it’s some nice chili.
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Man I remember reading about carb back loading through Mark Bell.
This led to me drinking lots of coffee with whipping cream and lots of donuts at night 
Not my most productive diet
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How’s this going for you?
It’s hard–not quite Fiready intense, but you never stop moving and the workout duration is a tad longer.
Each workout, there’s usually a moment I consider quitting, then the part of my brain that tells me “this sucks and you’re stupid for trying” just kinda shuts off.
This morning, I was down about five pounds from the start of the challenge, still enjoying lots of carbs and have barely cut cals. From here, I guess we’ll see what happens.
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This is freaking awesome. Love it!