Have I been making a big mistake with my diet and training in your opinion?

[Christopher_UK]

Hi there people, I've been cutting for past three and a half months (since 29th april 2011) and I've lost a lot of weight on a strict cutting diet which you guys critiqued for me but I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong because I dont have any carbs after my workout and some of the guys at the gym said "they dont care how much weight I'm losing, that this is wrong" so are they right?

I'm on a seriously strict diet and I only have carbs in the first half of the day, which just consist of two bowls of oats, 100g oats in each, which is 60g carbs each, thats all I have, then I go workout, have a whey protein shake after which is just protein, no carbs or fat, and then when I get home I have egg whites, and then for rest of the day I have sardines and egg whites, thats it.

So does it matter that I havent been having carbs after my workout? Even though my results on my cut have been good?

It's just I dont really want to add anymore carbs because I'm losing weight and dont want anything to change...but if you suggest I do take carbs after my workout then what kind of carbs? one more bowl of oats?

Thanks in advance.

[gbrice75]

I agree with the guys at your gym. They probably don't know WHY they're advising you to eat carbs, lol, but they're right IMO nonetheless.

Carbs PWO will cause your pancreas to secrete insulin, the most anabolic hormone in your body. Insulin's job is to shuttle nutrients to wherever they're needed. Assuming you've just had an intense workout, and you've depleted (not all, but some of) your muscle glycogen stores, insulin will take nutrients in your bloodstream - i.e. glucose (broken down from the carbs you just ate) and amino acids (broken down from your protein shake) and 'stuff' them back into the depleted muscle cells.

Not eating carbs PWO doesn't mean you'll have NO insulin activity; even protein causes insulin secretion, but to a much lesser extent than carbs/glucose. Therefore, PWO is a great 'opportunity' to eat carbs.

My suggestion for you would be to have carbs in your very first meal of the day, and then only during your pre and post workout meals. Instead of adding carbs as you were worried about, split the current intake of 120g total across these 3 meals. Therefore you'll have 40g in your am meal, 40g preworkout, and your last 40g PWO.

This is basically the same thing i'm doing now.

[Christopher_UK]

Ok thats cleared that up then, and I'll do as you've suggested, cheers fella.

[gbrice75]

Good luck bro, keep us posted!