Carbohydrate Threshold Part Two - One Size Doesn't Fit All

Here's my latest piece at The Examiner - Carbohydrate Threshold Part Two - One Size Doesn't Fit All. Find out why you might need MORE carbohydrates than other people.

“Getting Fat” On My Carbohydrate Cycling Diet

Today’s Stats: 120 pounds, 22.6 percent body fat. Down -2 pounds and - 1.6 percent body fat from yesterday. The loss is likely mostly water loss due to the low carb diet and exercise. Less bloat, hey, I’ll take it. (Body fat monitor readings can vary due to changes in body fluid, time of day, etc. What's important is to watch for a downward trend).

Bruno and I videotaped our swimming pool workout yesterday. It's an hour long and I'm having trouble getting it uploaded onto my laptop. I'll post part of it as soon as possible.

Eating fats on a carb cycling diet vary by phase – no carb, low carb, high carb. But it’s vital to get your fats and the right kinds fats at that. Generally eating lean meats and a variety of fish including fatty fish like salmon can provide most of the saturated fats you need for healthy skin and hair, not to mention production of enough healthy hormones. Olive, flax, walnut, grapeseed, and other omega rich oils make great complimentary foods on salads, vegetables, and in shakes. The key is keeping your fat portions in line with your goals. A cup of oil a day and you’ll likely never get lean.

Supplementing with fish oil has shown promise for fat loss and I’m trying it this time around. Why? The article excerpt below explains it better than I could. Bottom line, if I can increase my leptin sensitivity I can burn more body fat.

Fat Consumption

“As for fats, this diet does not worry too much about them. Nor will we discuss them much, save for this brief discussion here. While this is not a high fat (or Ketogenic) diet, it certainly is not a low fat diet. When I first started cycling carbs, I kept fats to probably less than twenty grams a day. Here, I recommend keeping dietary fats on the low side, with the majority of fats coming from supplemented EFAs (essential fatty acids)-specifically fish oil (high in long chain omega 3 fatty acids -- EPA/DHA).

Why fish oil? There are so many good reasons that a detailed discussion can be an article unto itself. For our purposes, it is sufficient to know that it has all the benefits of other EFA sources (such as flax and hemp oil) and in addition, has been shown to increase leptin sensitivity and exert positive effects on body composition much more efficiently than other EFAs (this is one of the important nutrient partitioning "tricks" one must employ for a successful recomposition).

Now, on to the practicality of it. First, you will be getting some fats in your lean protein sources (probably between 10 and 20 grams of fat) and a few grams from the carb sources (another 10 to 20 grams on high carb day). Second, at least two meals per day will include protein of the higher-fat variety. And if not, then you should add a fat source from the list below.

Fat Sources (an amount equal to 10 to 15 grams of fat).
(Natural) Peanut Butter
Flax Oil
Heavy Whipping Cream
Mayonnaise
Hemp Seed Oil
Olive Oil

Third, you will be supplementing with fish oil at 10 to 20 grams a day -- the more the better. This assumes you are using a standard fish oil supplement which, on average, contains one gram of oil and is 30% EPA/DHA. Should you choose the superior version, you may consume a bit less. I recommend you either split it up equally across all meals, or split it in half, and consume it with two meals. If you absolutely refuse to take fish oil, despite my pleas that you should (and the evidence that will be provided in the third installment), add in one to two servings of flaxseed or hempseed oil daily. – From “What You Need To Know About Carb Cycling”

10 Reasons Fish Oils Are Essential & Eating Right For Your Type! By Charles Poliquin

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Here’s today food and exercise plan:

Meal One - Egg white omelet (six whites, one whole egg, veggies), 1 teaspoon olive oil

Meal Two - Smoked Salmon, cucumber slices,

Meal Three – Protein shake, 1 teaspoon walnut oil, 1 cup mixed fruit

Meal Four - 4 ounces Tequila Lime chicken, 1 cup salad, 1 teaspoon olive oil

Meal Five – 4 ounces pork tenderloin, ½ cup mixed berries

Meal Six - Smoked salmon & 1 cup veggies,1 teaspoon flax oil, 4 ounces vodka

Calories 1542, Fat grams 66, Carb 50 grams, Protein 122 grams, Alcohol 37 grams

Supplements - 10 grams fish oil softgels, multi-vitamin, 2000 mg calcium, 3000 mg cranberry, Max CLA 1000 mg.

Beverages 2 cups coffee, 1 gallon water with lime, 4 ounces vodka (counted in my carb allowance and drank post-workouts when muscle glycogen is depleted).

Morning Leg Day – 5 sets x 25 reps each of front lunges, side lunges, wall squats, regular squats, and three angles of calf raises, most performed on the ProForm BioVibe.

Afternoon Pool Jogging / Swimming / Tag – 1 Hour.

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My recipe for Spicy Tequila Lime Chicken - Marinating & Grilled
























Ingredients

6 – 4 ounce chicken breasts

Marinade:

¼ cup lime juice
1/8 cup water
2 tablespoons Tequila
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ginger (ground)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon cayenne powder

Place chicken breasts in a large glass cooking dish. Mix together all marinade ingredients in a bowl. Pour marinade over chicken and refrigerate at least two hours, turning chicken once. Drain and grill (or bake, broil, fry). Serves 6.

Calories 209, 4 fat grams, 0 carb grams, 24 protein grams, trace alcohol gram (alcohol burns off during cooking).

Tip: I’m a bit of a chili-head. If you’re not into spicy or like it really hot adjust the spices accordingly.

Bring In The Fats by David Knowles

The Importance of Saturated Fats In Bodybuilding

All About Carbohydrate and Calorie Cycling & A Few Abs Articles To Boot

In researching different nutrition and diet approaches I collect a lot of articles on paper and links to online articles. I thought I’d share a few on carbohydrate and calorie cycling for anyone interested in the hows and whys to this dietary approach. I also included articles on eating for abs as it is Summer time and we all want great abs, right?

Carb Cycling – What You Need To Know

What I am about to present is not a new paradigm, or revolutionary approach to diet. Nor is it the end-all, be-all to dieting; there are many viable approaches.

This diet is, on the other hand, an easy (relatively speaking) approach to diet that is physiologically and psychologically rewarding. Moreover, it is rather malleable and also forgiving, yet effective. For these reasons, I am astounded that it has not caught on to a greater extent (in some form or another), and played a bigger role in the dieting revolution.

This is the first installment of a multi-part article. Here, we will briefly discuss my background (as it relates to this diet), its genesis (in the form I present), the basic tenets of the diet, as well as the basic diet structure. We will also discuss, briefly, its psychological benefits, as well as its physiological strengths and underpinnings.

Psychology and physiology, as you will see (and as Par Deus has propounded) are inextricably intertwined, in the world of diet and food. Or, "food and mood," as Par is so fond of saying. Read more.

The Carb Cycling Codex - Gain muscle and lose fat optimally! by Christian Thibaudeau

Life is funny sometimes. Over the course of my T-Nation career I went from a fat but strong guy to a lean and muscular one, despite having the worst "fat loss genetics" in the world. In the past, I made most of my transformations via a low-carb dietary approach, and as a result I became somewhat carb-phobic and truly believed that ingesting carbs would turn me into a fat slob.

What's humorous is that, as a strength coach, I have access to the top sports nutritionists in the world. I've read everything by everyone. Drs. Berardi and Lowery's work weren't able to convince me of reintroducing carbs to my diet. Even the work of bodybuilding coach Chris Aceto (who uses relatively high carbs even during the pre-contest period) didn't help. When it came to carbs, I lost all rational thought capacity!

But as of now, carbs are back in my own diet and the diets of my athletes and bodybuilders. What happened? A 135 pound girl made me change my outlook on building muscle and losing fat. She succeeded where all the best experts failed! Read more.


Carbohydrate Cycling

Carbohydrate cycling is a 6 day program that will allow your body to burn bodyfat while still retaining muscle mass. It's a technique that is described in detail in the book SLICED by Bill Reynolds and Negrita Jayde, however I will summarize it here.
Over the last 10 years I've competed, I've used this technique each time and without fail I've been able to achieve exceptional definition while retaining the muscle mass that I gained during my bulking phase.

If you're using this program takes time to cut down for a bodybuilding competition, remember to give yourself enough time to get the results you want. Depending on your bodyfat percentage you may need 12-24 weeks to get to competition quality definition.
Read more.

ZigZag Dieting: if you can keep your body guessing and your appetite in check, you’ll continue to lose lard. This special six step carb cycling plan will do just that for you, sparing your muscle while burning your fat in just six weeks.

If you've been on a diet before, you're all too aware of the standard outcome: You cut back on your food and you lose weight ... at least initially. But then your progress slows to a crawl, before stopping altogether. At this point, no matter how strict you are with your calories, no matter how much you work out, the pudge won't budge.

What gives? Your body's natural instinct to preserve itself at all costs kicks in. Sensing a calorie deficit, your body shifts into starvation mode, shutting down all fat burning as it hoards calorie stores.

Even if you're successful at losing a few pounds, your body often reacts by adjusting your energy expenditure in order to revert to your previous weight, known as your "setpoint." A 1995 study out of the Laboratory of Human Behavior and Metabolism at Rockefeller University in New York measured both obese and non-obese people who either increased or decreased their body weight 10 percent to 20 percent. In both cases, metabolism shifted--at a lower weight, the subjects began burning less energy throughout the day, while at a higher weight they burned more, an effort by their bodies to return to that setpoint.

These metabolic shifts, meant to preserve you in times of starvation, were great in prehistoric days, when men didn't know when or from where their next mastodon steak was coming and paid no mind to crafting a six-pack. But if you covet beach-worthy muscle, these annoying physiologic mechanisms will quash your efforts every time--unless you learn to make them work for you. That's where calorie cycling comes into play. Read more.

Take burning fat to a whole new level - Part 1 Researched and Composed by Jacob Wilson

Note: this writer uses the word “lose” in place of “loose” so keep that in mind.. Otherwise his material is well presented and accurate. I’ve seen diet bloggers make the same error. The meanings are similar.

Loose – adjective
1. free or released from fastening or attachment: a loose end.
2. free from anything that binds or restrains; unfettered: loose cats prowling around in alleyways at night.

Lose - verb, lost, los·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to come to be without (something in one's possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or no prospect of recovery: I'm sure I've merely misplaced my hat, not lost it.
2. to fail inadvertently to retain (something) in such a way that it cannot be immediately recovered: I just lost a dime under this sofa.
3. to suffer the deprivation of: to lose one's job; to lose one's life.
4. to be bereaved of by death: to lose a sister.

Control, complete mastery over your own body. How do you achieve such a state? Do you listen to your body? Are you in tune with it? You must be if you ever hope to achieve this position of dominance. That is what this article is about. It is the first of several diets I will discuss that are based on literally manipulating your body, its functions and the rate at which it burns fat.

Insulin

This is an extremely vast subject. So vast in fact that I am going to cover it in greater detail in future issues of the magazine. I will only discuss a small portion of its properties in this paragraph.

Insulin is a hormone, produced in our pancreas, that regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats in our body. You need to understand that it has a very high upside and also a very low downside!

Its upside is that it literally shuttles vital nutrients such as carbs, creatine and amino acids right smack into our muscles. The more nutrients your muscles receive, the more anabolic a response you will get from resistance training. Insulin also suppresses the hormone known as cortisol, which is responsible for muscle wasting. It literally steals protein from them! It suppresses this and in turn helps to put us back into a state of anabolism. When it comes to having muscle building properties this hormone is a Giant!

In fact I would rate the anabolic effects of insulin as second only to testosterone! And there are many experts who have dubbed it number one in this category.

Unfortunately it has an extremely low downside! Insulin is also responsible for increased uptake of nutrients in our fat cells. This means we are highly likely to store fat when a huge burst of this hormone is released. To put it bluntly, burning fat is impossible in the presence of a huge burst of insulin.

How can we control insulin levels and benefit from them at the same time? Read more.

Cycling Calories - How Does It Work? By John Davenport

One of the main reasons why 95% of diets fail is that your metabolism slows down during the diet until it burns less and less fat. That is also why people lose a lot of weight when they start dieting but see their weight loss rate slow down with time. What happens is that your metabolism doesn't know your dieting, it thinks your starving. And so it slows down so your burn less calories. It's a biological process which exists in all the animals in nature and in us humans as well.

Cycling calories is a weight loss method which attempts to 'trick' our metabolism into thinking that we're not dieting. That way the metabolism doesn't slow down and we continue to lose weight at a rapid pace. Read more.

Calorie Cycling - And Why It Works By Rachel Jenkins

Thanks to the weight loss industry, many people think that weight loss is a complex, overwhelming process.

It's not their fault - companies have spent millions of dollars trying to confuse dieters, so that they helplessly spend their money, hand-over-fist, in order to find the latest and greatest "cure".

But people who are able to get "out of the box" and learn about simple and proven weight loss methods tend to have the huge advantage. This is because once they realize that food and the patterns in which they eat is more powerful than any kind of weight loss pill or surgery... they have complete mastery over their body.
Once these people have a grasp of how to eat, they never again have to worry about gaining weight back or becoming fat ever again.

Because it's very, very easy!

All people have to do in order to lose weight is to shift their calories. That's it!
With typical low-calorie or low-carbohydrate diets, people eventually end up plateauing. Their bodies adjust to the diet, and weight loss halts. Read more.


Uncovering The Truth About Abs by Anthony Lee

Excerpt: Well-defined abdominal muscles, whether achieved through pure dedication, superior genetics, or both, are as coveted as they are elusive. The following are approaches that I've tried through trial and error to reveal the elusive six-pack. Try them out!

Carbohydrates & Cutting:

There is much controversy and disagreement about the role of carbohydrates in a "cutting" diet, which is meant to decrease body fat and increase muscle definition.
Opponents of low-carbohydrate consumption cite inadequate energy, decreased mental focus, and ambiguous long-term effects as reasons to avoid reducing carbohydrates.
Proponents of low-carbohydrate diets cite numerous real-life cases to bolster their arguments. I am a firm believer in cycling carbohydrates, which involves varying intake each day in order to stimulate metabolism while supplying adequate levels of energy. Read more.


How I Got “Ripped” Abs For The Very First Time by Tom Venuto

Excerpt: Oh, I had muscle. I started gaining muscle from the moment I picked up a barbell. I got strong too. I was benching 315 at age 18. But even after four years of successful strength training, I still hadn’t figured out this getting ripped thing. Muscle isn’t very attractive if it’s covered up with a layer of fat. That’s where the phrase “bulky” really comes from – fat on top of muscle. It can look worse than just fat.

That’s when I started to figure it out. If you’re expecting me to say that running is the secret, no, that’s NOT it per se. I was thinking bigger picture. In fact, I noticed that my legs had lost some muscle size, so I knew that over-doing the runs would be counter productive, ultimately, and I don’t run that much anymore these days. But that’s how I did it the first time and I had never experienced fat loss like that before. The fat was falling off and I had barely changed my diet.

My “aha moment” was when I realized the pivotal piece in the puzzle was calories. It wasn’t the type of exercise, it wasn’t the specific foods and it wasn’t supplements. Today I realize that it’s the calorie deficit that matters the most, not whether you eat less or burn more per se, but in my case creating a large deficit by burning the calories was the absolute key for me. Read more.

End of My Carb and Calorie Loading Phase -- The Results Are In.

My Biceps Survived...












But The Size Four / Six Bikini I Just Bought Is Tight!





























I look like I'm going to whack the kid!
















Time to move on to a diet phase...

On the up side, last year’s size eight / ten is loose! (See side bar photos of me last year in the orange bikini and this year in the turquoise bikini).

After a six week break from weight training (I did some aerobic workouts and other activities) and a three week carbohydrate and calorie loading phase, my weight this glorious morning is 123 pounds, body fat percentage is 23%, body fat in pounds is 26 lbs, waist measurement 29 3/4 inches. I is fluffy. And I’m going out to eat!

To put these statistics into some perspective on December 30th 2007 (at 5 foot ½ inches tall) I weighed 112 pounds, had a body fat percentage of 20.4 %, my body fat in pounds was 23, and my waist was 29 1/2 inches. My lean mass was 89 pounds.*

Between January 22nd and May 8th, I went through an intensive weight training program mixing Power 90X with Power 90X Plus, Bosu workouts, and classic weight training with free weights and machines. At the end of this period, my weight was 120 pounds, my body fat was 20.9 percent, my body fat in pounds was still 23, and my waist was 28 3/4 inches. My lean mass had gone UP to 97 pounds (this is my main goal, to add muscle). This means a gain in lean mass of 8 pounds (usually a combination of muscle, bone, water) while my body fat stayed the same and my waist size went down ¾ of an inch.

The real advantage to the added lean mass is a higher metabolism and more calories burned every day. And frankly, lean muscle is sexy.

On my three week carbohydrate and calorie load I ate foods like pizza with a bottle of white wine, cheese burgers with the bun, bacon, hash browns, and an English muffin with butter for breakfast, potato chips with dip, Key Lime pie (I don’t want to even see another Key Lime Pie again-too sweet), a McDonald’s Southern Style chicken biscuit with orange juice, Taco Bell taco and bean burrito, Sonic Toaster Breakfast sandwich with a Blackberry Sprite, imported cheese and Carr’s crackers, homemade lasagna, homemade spaghetti, both with red wine, Mexican food with the rice and beans and beer, two “Cowboy Breakfasts” at Terrible’s Como Café of steak, eggs, hash browned potatoes, and sour dough toast, and this week a different pizza every night with wine. My last high carb meal will be something delicious at Chili’s this afternoon.

I continued to log all my foods at Fitday during this loading phase to see what was what. If the experiment doesn’t go my way I’ll know why. My calories went as high as 2500 plus, as low as 1550, and averaged out at roughly 1800-1900 most days. I ate more carbs than normal – as much as 250 grams on a few days. And I ate a little less protein - 50-100 grams a day - while my fat intake stayed around 40-80 grams a day. Although I took a break from weight lifting I stayed active, mostly doing household and ranch chores. See my post on “The Benefits of A Busy Life” for an example of my daily activities.

You may be asking “why did she eat more calories and carbohydrates for three weeks? She was not lifting weights! Aren’t you supposed to carb load before and after weight training workouts? Aren’t you supposed to eat more calories when you’re lifting heavy and trying to build mass? And almost no aerobics…what is she, crazy?”

Hopefully I’m crazy like a fox. The answer to why I did this unconventional loading during a break is three-fold. First, I wanted to change things up to rest my body and metabolism after an intense weight training workout phase (four months) while I was also on a somewhat strict diet of eating clean (25-100 grams of carbs a day) at least six days a week.

Second, I wanted to take a break for the mental, emotional and psychological benefits it offers. (Don’t try this if you’re one of those dieters who stress out over any perceived cheating). Permission to eat whatever you want whenever you crave it can be freeing and uplifting. Your body perceives it’s no longer in “diet” or “starvation” mode, depending on your dieting style. And now that I’ve had my extended “cheat” I’m mentally, emotionally, and physically ready to go at another intense weight lifting and clean eating tour of duty.

Third, I wanted to see what would happen if I ate anything I wanted, and I wanted to see how this loading would affect my next bodybuilding phase. My glycogen stores will be full and my muscles loaded for bear. I should be able to lift heavy. And because I didn’t gain much body fat during this three week relaxed eating phase my metabolism must be good.

And there is a fourth reason I did this. While I was trying ‘The Cheat To Lose Diet’ I discussed here, here, here and here my results were less than stellar as far as fat loss. I DID gain muscle and did NOT add any body fat. Because the “Cheat To Lose” diet is based in scientific research, I was curious, what would happen if I extended the ‘cheat’ day to several weeks and then extend the “low carbohydrate” “low glycemic” and “higher glycemic” phases also?”

So the great “three week cheat” is over and the great “low carbohydrate, high protein, heavy weight lifting” phase of this experiment begins Sunday. Later I’ll be cycling the macro-nutrients and calories again. The goal is to gain more lean muscle mass and hopefully lose a little body fat. I’ll be adding aerobics into the mix to aid fat burning. At the least, I want to build mass without adding much, if any, body fat.

Bruno will be joining me in this dieting experiment seeing as he’s been on a nine month long “loading” phase (not planned), and clocking in at 93 pounds at 54 ½ inches tall (4” 7 ½), waist 29 ½ inches. His body fat is 29.2 percent and he has 27 pounds of body fat! (School food is bad! No more school food! And no more high carb snacks!)

I’ll post updates as this experiment progresses and will see if that size four / six bikini will fit perfectly by the end of summer. And if I can hold Bruno’s weight steady maybe he can grow into it. Crosses fingers.

*All body fat percentages, body fat in pounds, and lean mass is measured by an Omron Bio-Impedance Meter.

A Few "Best Of" Posts

I've noticed some of my past posts get a lot of traffic. So I thought why not feature a few of my most popular ones in a post. Frankly, I do not have time or energy right now to write a blog post. Hopefully these will please my readers...


Carbohydrate Cycling Revisited & How The Body Loses Body Fat

Carbohydrate Cycling 101 – You Don’t Need A Bicycle But It Wouldn’t Hurt

Eating For Fat Loss and Muscle Gain

How Much Body Fat Can You Really Lose In A Week?

Excuses, Excuses; Stop Avoiding The Many Benefits of Exercise