Low carb and exercise

[Juicetin]

Hi, a question please. Presumably with a low carb diet it is possible to eat more carbs, depending on the amount of exercise you do?
I'm not sure how many carbs are used, say, per hour, but I am asking as I do high intensity cardio and sit-ups/press-ups 4 or 5 times a week.
Thank you.

 

[Johnroy]

Hi, it will be interesting to read responses to your question because for me high cardio exercise pushes my bg's up. But, walking is great for me and lowers them. So will be interested if any regimes are suggested.

 

[Brunneria]

It rather depends on what your goal is, with low carbing.

If you want to get into, and stay in ketosis, then carbing up for exercise will mess all that up.
But if you are just low carbing for blood glucose control, and intend to burn off all the extra carbs in the immediate exercise session, then it doesn't matter if you are in ketosis or not.

How low carb are you at the mo? Unless you are under about 50g carbs a day then you probably won't be consistently in ketosis, so the question becomes irrelevant.

Exercise, low carb and being a dual fuel fat and glucose burner is a very interesting subject. If you want to learn about it from experts, I recommend The Art and Science of Low Carb Endurance by Voleck and Phinney. It is excellent!

 

[Juicetin]

Thanks for the reply, yes I am attempting to low carb for blood glucose control and hoping the exercise will consume an amount of carbs whenever I exercise. So, crudely, 150g a day consumed would become 100g if high-intensity exercise is conducted (numbers just used for illustration). I will look into that book, thanks.

 

[dawnmc]

Not sure its as simple as that. Chris Froome low carbs and look how much exercise he does.
In fact he cut the carbs for the Tour and lost 20lbs.

 

[Brunneria]

@dawnmc

Yes. Different types of exercise make different energy demands - endurance versus high intensity. It makes a huge difference.

 

[FUD]

I'm interested in this too for T1, how can you exercise without hypos if you're not taking on carbs (fast or slow)? I have noticed as I got fitter I need less carbs for the same amount of activity, also BS levels alter for different types of exercise with similar heart rates. So mine drops very quickly with running, slowly with cycling, and doesn't change much with circuit training all for the same heart rate/perceived effort.

 

[Snapsy]

I lowish carb (80g or so per day, 100g if I'm exercising) but if I'm exercising first thing I have a small bowl of porridge (20g CHO) beforehand, and take only half my breakfast bolus with it.

Exercising later in the day I tend to rely solely on basal rate tweaks rather than food.

Shortish runs (up to 5-6km) and 600-800m swimming both lower me during, and raise me for several hours afterwards.

Like you @Juicetin I'm eating this way for more stable glucose control rather than for weight management. That said, my weight is the most stable it's ever been now I'm low carbing and moderately exercising, and this pattern has very, very quickly become my default lifestyle choice.