Low carb diet with athletics training?

Dotcomdolly

Just watched Transform's very informative clip over on the Fitness forum. What I have been wondering is if this method of weight/fat loss is compatible with athletics training?
My understanding is that runners need carbs, but this runner wants to lose a little weight & most people (certainly on this forum) think that low carb/high protein is the best approach...

Look fwd to your replies...

Transform wrote: »

Fat loss nutrition video - though this thread would need this to round it out a bit more.

Yes its long but explains what you need to do and what foods you need around you -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6G_7V8syrw

Hope that helps those wondering what the hell they are supposed to eat

brianthebard

You can run a deficit without having to go low carb. Or you can do carb cycling or back loading, or even intermittent fasting. There are several ways to do it if you think low carb is unsuitable. Or you can just try low carb and see if you adjust after a week or two. I suppose it also depends on what level you're playing at and whether you're in season or out of season, a temporary hit in performance might be acceptable if you aren't training for a specific comp within the next few months.

Wonkagirl

i would say low carb, as opposed to no carb, and carb free dinner... when do you do your training?

i do most of mine after work, and then follow it with a carb free dinner, largely protein.. now, i'll have some carbs in the form of veg, but in my head i dont count these as carbs, when i say carbs i'm talking rice/pasta/potatoes/bread etc.. even though i know that's not strictly correct.. protein is perfect for muscle recovery anyway. I do have carbs earlier in the day tho.. i'm having things for dinner that contain a lot of protein such as eggs, tofu in stir fries, chickpeas (again in stir fries), ground hemp, hummous..

i'd say try a carb freeze after lunch, but include some good carbs in breakfast and lunch, see how that goes..

also- are you doing weight training? i've lost loads of weight that way, a stone over about 6 mths, slow i know but i didnt really make any dietary chagnes, all of a sudden the lean muscle i'd built turned my metabolism into a fat fighting machine, looked at the scales one day and saw a number i hadnt seen since my late teens!

brianthebard

If you're training after lunch why would you stop eating carbs before you train? They'll be put to better use after training rather then being used as fuel for your training, since you'll have plenty of glucose stored already from eating the day before or whatever. If you like how your diet is fair enough, just saying it might be more beneficial to schedule your carbs the other way around.

Dotcomdolly

At the moment (well once I get over this friggin' injury) I'm training for my first half-marathon.
With the kids off I'm running in the evenings, about an hour after dinner, twice a week, 4-5 miles. And then a longer run on Sunday mornings (got up to 7 so far)
I've already lost 2 stone and have been happy at that since Spring but now I'd like to lose another half a stone.
Before the Summer hols, when I was running less miles and had 5 free morning a week, I was doing weight training aswell, really enjoyed it. I just found I couldn't keep it up over the Summer.
The only other exercise I'm doing now other than running is a 1hr pilates class once a week.

I don't know what carb cycling, back loading etc are, but I'm sure mr google can help that!

Khannie

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

My understanding is that runners need carbs, but this runner wants to lose a little weight & most people (certainly on this forum) think that low carb/high protein is the best approach...

It's a fine approach if you're not exercising a lot.

My experience is this:
If you are training a fair bit ( lets say > 500 calories worth per day) and you cut carbs you may find your energy levels lacking in training / at the gym / exercising in general. Of course this is not ideal because you're trying to build fitness. I have found trying to run close to or above the anaerobic threshold (i.e. relatively fast) to be fairly uncomfortable when you don't have lots of carbs in.
If you cut fats you may find you go doolally / it affects things that you don't want it to (for me this means testosterone levels).

So...I now do what any sane person would do....I cut some fats and some carbs. I nearly always leave protein levels where they are. Protein would be the very last thing I reduce when on a calorie deficit.

Personally there is NO WAY that I would go on a 7 mile run without some carbs and protein in unless you were fully commited to low-carbing it (i.e. in full on ketosis).

Dotcomdolly

Thanks everyone, I think if I am honest with myself I don't *really* need a particular approach , just eat a bit less, and make it healthy stuff. Sometimes it's easy to get hung on on way to do "eat less, exercise more".
Physio tomorrow & hoping, praying, back to running on the weekend.