Has anyone experimented with more carbs pre/post workouts?

Yeah, I’ve done tons of experiments lol. Heavy lifting always gives me a raise whether I carb load or not. Sometimes I do eat some carbs pre workout, sometimes not depending on my mood/energy.

Post workout, I can eat a birthday cake, rice, chocolate milk, potatoes or whatever. I’m back in the 4s within an hour of my workout. I’ll run in the 3s-4s until the next workout.

I’ve tested this many times with a CGM. My goal was to find the best amount of carbs to restore glycogen and aid in recovery.

leg day, I eat 25grams pre, 30-50 grams post.
Upper body, nothing pre, 30-50 grams post.
All other meals are no/trace carbs.

this works pretty good, I can recover well. My last A1c was 5.1%. Plug in a sensor and you can make adjustments for you

Just to add, if you’re looking to burn off dawn phenomenon or fatty liver, don’t carb load pre workout. Your liver will have enough storage to get you through your workout. You’ll know when your liver leans out, because you’ll run out of gas lol.

it’s miraculous what 90 minutes of crushing iron will do to T2s

I go to the gym early, always have a cup of tea when I get up, then take strong black coffee with heaped teaspoon of coconut oil and a bottle of water, depends on the workout but usually a raise of only 1 or 2 points, have a big breakfast when I get home

fendertele said:

Hi sorry just so I can get a better understanding are you suggesting that carb loading post workout would be a good thing but to avoid pre workout ? The reason I ask is my lifts/strength have suffered hugely since going LCHF and this is not due to the lack of calories as my number of calories have remained the same but purely due to the macro split and very low carb consumption... So my whole reason for hoping this was possible was to be able to have them both before for strength and after for recovery.

Tonight after being a on a LCHF diet for over 6 months with a strict low/no sugar approach I decided to experiment as I was hungry and there was nothing else in my fridge.

I found an old Almond Magnum ice cream bar that was in my freezer and tested pre and 1/2 hours after.

pre - 5.4

1 hours 6.2

2 hours 5.7

This makes me think if this is my reaction to a small amount of carbs/sugar and being sedentary... I could possibly carb load prior to a workout and remain within a reasonable level ?

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Basically, I’m suggesting you do what ever it takes to both, kill it at the gym, and maintain awesome BG levels. I’m also saying, don’t be too alarmed at your BG levels during your workout. IMHO, you should order one or two libre sensors so you can optimize your pre/post workout meals regarding carbs.

For me, I was having high morning BG levels so I moved my workouts to the morning to kill two birds with one stone. My current plan is:
6am- breakfast, two eggs and a slab of baked or smoked salmon.
8am- pre workout is 40grams of oats mixed with chocolate whey protein.
9am - walk into the gym, I have an intra workout drink 20grams of pure dextrose, 5 grams of salt lite , 20 grams of BCAAs. I sip on this for my two hours at the gym.
11am- I’m done working out, I down a quick protein shake, whey.
11:30 am I eat lunch, something fast absorbing to get recovery going. Usually several plates of sushi, or chicken breast and rice.
By the time I get home, around noon, my BG is in the mid 4s. no more carbs for the rest of the day.
Around 4pm I usually grill up a steak and veggies.
That’s usually it, I’ll have an avocado or some cheese, or nuts as a snack.

I know this works for me, but it may not work for you. That’s why I highly recommend getting a libre sensor or two to work out a plan that’s optimal for you.

BTY , I post all my meals, workouts , BG levels on instagram. Don’t need to follow because it’s just boring, because I’m really boring and have no life lol.

I’m really interested in what other T2s are doing as far as weight training goes.

laodan_fit

Cortisol is the hormone which can raise your bgs in exercise which is strenuous to you. We all hv different levels which trigger this stress hormone.
This raises bgs for survival. These raised bgs should give you energy to gym however some can trigger lactic acid which attacks the muscles. Is that how you feel doing weights?

The research I have done indicates that it is only at the elite level there might be differences. There are perceived mental differences during a transition; I had this with going off a cliff at 3 miles of fast walking in my first year. Pushing through and sticking with it, just like in the Faster Study gets you back and further.

Robert Sykes (Keto Savage), Luis Villasenor (Keto Gains), Nsima Inyang (Natty Professor) all lift amazingly with riculous body composition and have to know what they are doing for commercial reasons....but I also know Rob Wolfe now does a few carbs for heavy sessions and Danny Vega has played quite a bit.

As I am now doing 2 meals a day you could call my breakfast a pre-meal. The limiting factor for me is what my sleep was like, zero carbs make no difference to my output.

I have found exercise can help “burn off” some of the blood sugar rise that occurs from higher carbs. However I have also found that they then do increase afterwards, so whilst there is an improvement it is transitory

I’ve had some polite disagreements with my personal trainer who wants me to eat more carbs but I have explained that whilst it gives some extra energy, and in my experience it isn’t hugely significant, the impact on my bloods isn’t acceptable

I’m not a power lifter, potentially there is a difference there but I’d be wary of relying on the 2 hour window for large carb and exercise. CGM has changed how we can view what it does, but for many of us we can’t afford that level of checks

I believe very much that this is all a very personal impact. Some people may well find carb loading and exercise works, others it only delays things, others it doesn’t work at all…

fendertele said:

No it's purely that I can't lift as heavy as I could when I had a better macro split. If I eat 3000 calories on the LCHF I'm weaker in the gym than If I ate 3000 calories that has a higher carb %.

The carbs are the deciding factor on how heavy I can lift when I hit the gym.

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I eat carnivore, under 25g carbs per day on average, and am consistently getting stronger. My training is unaffected by limiting carbs.

Are you on any medication?

HigherStrength said:

I eat carnivore, under 25g carbs per day on average, and am consistently getting stronger. My training is unaffected by limiting carbs.

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Same experience here. ATP is what is produced ultimately, then all we have to do is recruit the muscle fibres for the job. Of course if the mitochondrial mechanisms have not been built fully to take advantage of fat derived energy, there will be a feeling of flatness.

fendertele said:

Yeah must be different for individuals, Since switching to LCHF I'm no longer able to hit my max weight that I used too and I've even tried going into a surplus the last 2 months in an attempt to get back to my old ATH and had no joy. Right now my Max lifts are on par with my max lifts when I was cutting but eating carbs... and a fair bit off my max lifts when I was on maintenance calories that included carbs.

I'm going to try what Andy does with just adding Oats in a pre and post workout shake to see if I can get over this hurdle as I lift to make progress strength wise more than anything.

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May be a silly question, but must ask....Have you calculated your Keto/LCHF caloric surplus macros?