" To carb or not to carb "

[PressThis]

I have been doing a lot of reading of preferd ways to cut. There are some who swear to a more atkins style of carbs LOW ie. 25- 40 carbs a day.

On the contrary I just read 1 review that said he lost 50 in 3 months with his low days being 180-250 carbs a day. ??????

how is that possible. that many carbs would kill me!


any opinions on this?

[sooner45]

I have been doing a lot of reading of preferd ways to cut. There are some who swear to a more atkins style of carbs LOW ie. 25- 40 carbs a day.

On the contrary I just read 1 review that said he lost 50 in 3 months with his low days being 180-250 carbs a day. ??????

how is that possible. that many carbs would kill me!


any opinions on this?

You just got to try things out and see what works best for you. You HAVE to have some type of carbs or your gonna look like a triathlete(which you probably dont want to look like). How much is up to you. Take a look at the cutting sticky at the top of the page. Good place to start! GL!!

[BWhitaker]

I like to follow the idea to take in my carbs for breakfast and post workout for cutting. If i am bulking, i am more lax but try to do breakfast, post workout and post post workout. When cutting, i aim for 100gms which work for me and a lot of others. Just have to figure out what works best for you

[PressThis]

thanx for the feedback, this forums always a good source of info!

[SwoleCat]

Questions that are key would be:

How much of that 50 lb. loss was FAT, and not lean muscle?

How much lean mass could have been preserved w/a better approach?

~SC~

[Kim2884]

If the guy was really really fat to begin with, he could conceivably lose that much weight in that amount of time.

[PressThis]

All of these are really good points.

another Q?

The primary reason of a card is immediate energy source. With a surpluse of carbs the primary source of energy is turned to the carb and away from the fat that is already stored.

Would you agree with the statement? If not what is the system it takes.

[SwoleCat]

That's pretty much how it works. Carbs (sugar) is the most easily obtainable fuel source for the body, yes.

~SC~

[Ketogenic]

isnt alcohol the prefered source for energie befor sugar or its sugar then come the alcohol

[PressThis]

I beive the card comes first, this simple carb that is. Many of the diet product out there, that are low carb, it might say 3g impact carbs, then you look at the nutr. facts and it has about 30. I assume the remaining would be " Sugar alcohol " a non efficiant carb.

I might be wrong anyone got any info?

[PressThis]

bump

[Ketogenic]

I beive the card comes first, this simple carb that is. Many of the diet product out there, that are low carb, it might say 3g impact carbs, then you look at the nutr. facts and it has about 30. I assume the remaining would be " Sugar alcohol " a non efficiant carb.

I might be wrong anyone got any info?

i think its fiber because fibers are considered carbs but they dont have an effect on your blood sugar ,sugar alcohol or sorbitol have and effect on your blood sugar

[Soldier of Misfortune]

Fiber is a complex carb. I see alot of diets pushing for more fiber in your diet. We just went over this in my personal fitness and military science classes that upping fiber has had good results in diets. Complex carbs are much better for your diet. Simples (dextrose) should be taken pwo to spike insulin to shuttle protien to muscles faster. Thats also why McDonalds makes you fat fast. The sugar in the soda spikes insulin and shuttles all those simple carbs (white bread bun) and fats (grease) everywhere. You shouldnt mix carbs and fats for that reason.

[longhornDr]

25-40 carbs is way too low for a bodybuilders goals. That's fine for the average joe who really isnt concerned too much with muscle mass, you're just gonna end up a "skinnier-you" and that's fine for most people. Since you're reading this website I assume you are more bodybuilding oriented, in which case a more conservative approach (say 150-200ish carbs/day) approach will yield much more satisfying results.

Using swolecat's diet (which allows for a moderate amount of carbs at specific times) I went from a bloated 230 to a lean 195 in about 3 months, and got stronger in the process, so I know from experience that you dont have to completely slash carbs to have results.

As for the carb metabolism issue, it really isn't as simple as saying their is a preferred source of fuel because different tissues preferentially utilize different fuels under different conditions. For this reason you cannot make a blanket statement about preferred fuels.

Alcohol is metabolized before any other fuel because it shifts carb and fat metabolism towards storage, not necessarily because the body "prefers" it over any other source of energy, the body has no choice.