Carbing-up for sport?

johnn

I'm 23 weighing in a little under 75kgs and my main goal in the gym at the moment is fat-loss so ive been operating on a calorie defecit recently while getting my weights workouts and a couple of spin classes in also.

I have been trying to leave out starchy carbs trying to cut fat, but I play football matches at a decent standard on sat at 1pm most weekends. Would the lack of carbs effect me in this as its a fairly draining physical 90 mins.

Should I be stocking up on carbs on fri night/ sat morning? what is your pre-game meal?

Any advice appreciated

Will Heffernan

johnn wrote: »

I'm 23 weighing in a little under 75kgs and my main goal in the gym at the moment is fat-loss so ive been operating on a calorie defecit recently while getting my weights workouts and a couple of spin classes in also.

1. How fat are you?
2. How big a deficit?
3. How many weights sessions and of what type?
4. Spinning? Really?

I have been trying to leave out starchy carbs trying to cut fat,

Cut them out of what?

but I play football matches at a decent standard on sat at 1pm most weekends. Would the lack of carbs effect me in this as its a fairly draining physical 90 mins.

Have you not noticed yourself?

Should I be stocking up on carbs on fri night/ sat morning?

Yes.

what is your pre-game meal?

Some whey and a sports drink.

Any advice appreciated

It's nice to be appreciated.

Khannie

Will Heffernan wrote: »

Cut them out of what?

I think he means he's been leaving out starchy carbs in an effort to lose body fat.

silverharp

not an expert but have been reading up on this recently. As you have the morning , I'd say you could stick to your diet the night before. On the day have something like porridge for breakfast, add fruit and nuts. You could then have a home made milkshake as a second breakfast later in the morning. Bring a banana or 2 for a half time snack.
The night before carb loading would be more necessary for longer endurance activities. A 90 min game would burn about ~750 calories so its not a huge demand for the body to meet.

johnn

Yeah thats what I've been wondering really, i was wondering could i have bread or pasta or other carbs I was avoiding the night before sport if it would be burned away during the game, don't wanna end up putting on unnecessary fat through this.

To Will, I have been been playing Sat/Mon two games in three days the last few weeks and there hasn't been much consistency in the level of fitness I have felt in each game, sometimes I feel great 60 mins in or sometime I am dying. So I hadn't been monitoring what I had been taking in pre-game or the night before, but was wondering if things like this or amount of sleep* play a part.

I haven't been measured for fat but if I had to guess( through looking at pictures on fitness blogs) I'd say I am about 15% body fat. I ususally do 3 days weights work-outs in the gym, try to include all the compound lifts & pull-ups, although my dead-lift hasn't been great since I started back with it a few weeks ago, I have very poor Grip Strength at the moment, so anything over 60kgs would trouble me after a few reps.

Is Spinning really no use at all for fat-loss?


*The monday games are late in the evening so I mostly get more sleep before these games than the early sat kick-offs.

Will Heffernan

johnn wrote: »

Yeah thats what I've been wondering really, i was wondering could i have bread or pasta or other carbs I was avoiding the night before sport if it would be burned away during the game, don't wanna end up putting on unnecessary fat through this.

1. You'd be fine having 'some' carbs the night before. The morning should get you where you need to be as well.
2. It is actually quite difficult to get fat...I know lots of people make it look easy...but that's only because they are committed to the process.

You sound pretty active and disciplined...taking on some carbs in the evening before and the morning of games or heavy training sessions would be fine...you play and train harder and more that likely burn more calories in the process.

To Will, I have been been playing Sat/Mon two games in three days the last few weeks and there hasn't been much consistency in the level of fitness I have felt in each game, sometimes I feel great 60 mins in or sometime I am dying. So I hadn't been monitoring what I had been taking in pre-game or the night before, but was wondering if things like this or amount of sleep* play a part.

You need fuel mate...it doesn't sound like you've eating to meet your needs.

I haven't been measured for fat but if I had to guess( through looking at pictures on fitness blogs) I'd say I am about 15% body fat. I ususally do 3 days weights work-outs in the gym, try to include all the compound lifts & pull-ups, although my dead-lift hasn't been great since I started back with it a few weeks ago, I have very poor Grip Strength at the moment, so anything over 60kgs would trouble me after a few reps.

If you're not assessing you're guessing.

Hard to know how you are progressing if you have no way of measuring it?

Is Spinning really no use at all for fat-loss?

Spinning is fine....if you are enjoying it and you are making progress it sounds perfect to me.

*The monday games are late in the evening so I mostly get more sleep before these games than the early sat kick-offs.

Sounds like it might be more nutrition related.

**Timbuk2**

Spinning is good for weight loss if you are putting in the effort. I lost over 30kg doing spinning classes. Just be careful to do other sorts of cardio as well - your body can adjust to the one type. It sounds like you are doing this though.

paky

johnn wrote: »

Yeah thats what I've been wondering really, i was wondering could i have bread or pasta or other carbs I was avoiding the night before sport if it would be burned away during the game, don't wanna end up putting on unnecessary fat through this.

To Will, I have been been playing Sat/Mon two games in three days the last few weeks and there hasn't been much consistency in the level of fitness I have felt in each game, sometimes I feel great 60 mins in or sometime I am dying. So I hadn't been monitoring what I had been taking in pre-game or the night before, but was wondering if things like this or amount of sleep* play a part.

I haven't been measured for fat but if I had to guess( through looking at pictures on fitness blogs) I'd say I am about 15% body fat. I ususally do 3 days weights work-outs in the gym, try to include all the compound lifts & pull-ups, although my dead-lift hasn't been great since I started back with it a few weeks ago, I have very poor Grip Strength at the moment, so anything over 60kgs would trouble me after a few reps.

Is Spinning really no use at all for fat-loss?


*The monday games are late in the evening so I mostly get more sleep before these games than the early sat kick-offs.

dude you need your carbs. i run about 32 miles a week and i eat whateve i want. avoiding carbs is senseless if your an athlete.
the whole low carb thing is ridiculous and dangerous for health. the reason people are so fat in this generation is because they dont exercise enough. when you exercise enough you can eat what you want.

silverharp

paky wrote: »

dude you need your carbs. i run about 32 miles a week and i eat whateve i want. avoiding carbs is senseless if your an athlete.
the whole low carb thing is ridiculous and dangerous for health. the reason people are so fat in this generation is because they dont exercise enough. when you exercise enough you can eat what you want.

That depends? I used to cycle to work 30km per day and did a 10K run at the weekend and went with the "I can eat what I want" but I was still technically over weight as per a work assesment I had.
I'm doing "lowish" carb at the moment and its working for me, not snacking as I used to. Now for instance I did a near 100KM cycle yesterday and I fuelled up , porridge breakfast , homemade smoothie 2nd breakfast and brough 1000 Calroies with me on the bike, And home made pizza for dinner.
Now I still have weight to lose but agree that if you are at your target weight then by all means eat as much carbs as you need