Experienced PT's- Do your clients get these issues when put on a low carb diet?

blah88 · 21-01-2013 05:10AM #1

So I'll soon be qualified as a PT. Now I'm sure the majority of clients coming to me will be wanting to lose fat and ''tone up'' and ''get fitter''. So, I would tell them to cut out all the obvious junk food, replace their grains/starches with vegetables and increase their protein and good fats. Also, they're obviously going to want to work out, so I would probably put them through a workout involving strength work (to maintain mucle/strength) and some met-cons or intervals (for fat loss/fitness).

The problem is, I tried to do a trial run ''transformation'' myself this month and its been an all-round disaster. I purposely allowed myself to over-indulge slightly in December as I had planned to do ''before-after'' fat loss pics from 1st Jan to the 31st.

So on the 1st of January I did some hill sprints and went for a light jog (still hungover from new years celebrations) and ate very low calorie, but high protein. I completely avoided carbs as I felt I'd have enough in my system from the past few days of feasting and drinking. I tried to play a friendly astro football match on the 2nd of Jan, but performed so poorly I decided to just stay in goals after 10 mins. I began feeling generally awful and the cold/flu I had got much worse. For the next few days I felt really weak, couldn't concentrate and had trouble sleeping. So, I put it down to training too hard on too few calories and a bad hangover. I abandoned my plan and just decided to go back to my normal diet til I felt better.

So 2 weeks passed where I consumed plenty of carbs, and took as much Lemsip, cough medicine etc as I could. Eventually I was feeling good and strong again. So I tried to start my transformation project afresh. This time, I started off with a met-con style workout. A circuit consisting of 10 bodyweight squats, 10 press ups and 3 pull ups. Repeated AMTAP in 10 mins. I didn't intentionally restrict calories at all this time, only starchy/sugary carbs. I ate as much as I could, as long as it was veg/fats/fruit/protein. But still, I started getting the same symptoms(Feeling weak, tired, cranky and unable to sleep, especially for the 1st couple of days of the carb-restriction.)

Now over the past week I'v done as much reading as I can on low-carb diets and the bodies' adaptation process. I'm supplementing with extra sodium/potassium/ magnesium which is meant to help with the mental fog. I'v totally cut back on the exercise. (Just did one basic strength workout to ensure I don't lose muscle, no cardio/ met-cons). But, I'm still not feeling ''right''. It will probably take another week until I feel totally normal.

Now, I'm just wondering what could I tell a client to do to ensure that they don't experience these same issues? No client is going to want to be told they have to take a week or two off exercise and start putting salt in their water to ''adapt'' to a low carb diet. They'd probably just never come back to me once they start feeling the low-carb symptoms. Should I tell them to decrease their carbs more gradually? I'm worried then that this would only prolong the adaptation phase.

I know this is a lot of FRAT, but if anyone could offer some advice I'd be extremely grateful. (I'm surprised there's nothing in the stickies about adapting to low carb diets, as these symptoms are apparently quite common)

cmyk · 21-01-2013 10:45AM

blah88 wrote: »

Now, I'm just wondering what could I tell a client to do to ensure that they don't experience these same issues?

This might sound smart but...eat a more moderate carb diet.

Stench Blossoms · 21-01-2013 10:52AM

cmyk wrote: »

This might sound smart but...eat a more moderate carb diet.

^^This

Make it more a lifestyle change than a diet. Eating like that is not sustainable for regular people.

Zamboni · 21-01-2013 11:10AM

Too much going on in that post to assign causality to anything.
You might have been just sick...

xgtdec · 21-01-2013 11:10AM

blah88 wrote: »

So I'll soon be qualified as a PT. Now I'm sure the majority of clients coming to me will be wanting to lose fat and ''tone up'' and ''get fitter''.

Should i presume that the inverted comma's are to highlight that these are phrases used by the unfit out of shape mere mortals of this world?

Hanley · 21-01-2013 11:33AM

Ok... you're not a trainer, so presumably you're highly motivated, knowledgable and want to make this a lifestyle. And you can't stick to it.

....and you expect a client who probably doesn't have any of the above mentioned positive motivators to do better than you?

Moderate carb diet with sensible kcal intake is the answer.

Inspector Coptoor · 21-01-2013 07:54PM

I agree with all of the above.

Last January, I did the Keto diet for 31 days of Jan, dropped 9kg in that time frame, 5kg of that crept back on in the 3 months after.

You literally can't do MetCon type workouts with no fuel in the tank.

I was doing strength maintenance & LIT cardio.

That's about all your able for when on super low carb diets.

Increase carbs to reasonable levels.
Make a dirt balanced & hit a small deficit every day of your kcal maintenance.

30 day transformations are all well & good, but it's the slower 6-24 month transformation that will yield better results by changing lifestyle habits aswell.

Transform · 21-01-2013 10:56PM

Zamboni wrote: »

Too much going on in that post to assign causality to anything.
You might have been just sick...

this

Transform · 21-01-2013 11:05PM

Transform wrote: »

this

added to that there is a hierachy of fat loss for clients which goes as follows IMO - (do not move on to to point 2 unless point 1 is nailed down, do not move on to point 3 unless point 2 is nailed down etc)

1. Have they cut out all the sh1te in their diet that they dont need you to tell them about e.g. soft drinks, junk foods, daily alcohol or massive binges at weekend etc?

2. Have they improved their food quality, sleep quality, caffeine intake and stress levels?

3. Have they looked at their carb intake (g/day should depend on current goals, current body fat and activity levels)?

4. Are they eating well, carbs in check with the above but eating a shed load of nuts, coconut oil and enough protein to fuel a pro bodybuilder and still wondering why fat loss is not happening? Might be the calorie intake then.

blah88 · 23-01-2013 01:33AM

Thanks for the replies guys. My reason for not eating a more moderate carb diet was because I wanted to speed up the transition into ketosis, and then after a week or so I thought I could just start adding carbs pre/post workout, essentially a Targeted Ketogenic Diet. I'm sure it could have worked if I'd given my body a bit longer to adapt to the low carbs, but it's just not really worth it and I definitely wouldn't put a client through that just for the sake of slightly more efficient fat burning. I ended up doing a high carb refeed after my workout yesterday and continued it today and I'm feeling fine again now.

Transform, thanks a lot for that post. TBH you're the one I was hoping to hear from as you seem to have got the perfect balance between diet and exercise for fat loss. I'm going to proceed with my cut anyway but with more intelligent carb cycling. Glad I know my limits now anyway.

colman1212 · 23-01-2013 12:17PM

I really don't think its possible for someone to go from a carb heavy diet to a no carb diet. Its too much of a shock to the system.
I only eat carbs after training these days and I never have energy issues or feel sick etc.

I think the key to it is to reduce your carbs over time. Don't just completely cut everything out and just expect your body and mind to cope with it. Start by cutting your carb intake in half and see how the body reacts.

Experienced PT's- Do your clients get these issues when put on a low carb diet?

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