DreamWeaver
Legend
Tip about carb intake
Carbohydrates are the body's main source of glucose. Glucose is a simple carb that is stored in your muscles and liver as glycogen. Glycogen is the principal form of energy that is stored in muscles. When your muscles are filled with glycogen, they both look and feel full.
Glucose also provides energy for your brain and making blood in your body. Glucose can be made from protein, but that requires the breakdown of body protein from muscle. If you're not eating enough carbohydrates, your body will start breaking down muscle tissue for glucose.
Carbohydrates should be the bulk of your daily caloric intake when you are starting a body building program. Focus on unprocessed complex carbs like sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole grain breads, oatmeal, and brown rice.
These natural complex carbs are made of long "chains" of sugar and are digested very slowly. Slow burning carbs promote consistent blood sugar levels which help to offset fatigue while promoting the release of insulin which is the body's principal anabolic hormone.
For men, the amount of carbs that should be taken in by multiplying their body weight by three. That number will be the amount of grams that should be consumed daily. Women multiply their body weight by two to get their carb gram intake. For example, a 200 pound man should consume 600 grams of carbs per day and a 125 pound woman would eat 250 carb grams daily.
Along with carbs, you must consume enough fiber in your diet. Eating fiber makes muscle tissue more responsive to anabolism by improving sugar and amino acid uptake, and aiding in muscle glycogen formation and growth. Beans and oatmeal are two excellent sources of fiber.
Divide your carb meals into six servings throughout the day. This divide and conquer approach stimulates a steady release of insulin to create an anabolic, or muscle building, state. If you eat too many carbs in one sitting, the net effect is that fat-storing enzymes kick into high hear and you lose than lean and hard look.
Eat some simple carbs after your workout and eat more of them. Honey, sugar and refined foods such as white bread and white rice - typical simple carbs - are digested quickly and easily. The resulting insulin spike is a double edged sword, however. After training, it can prevent muscle catabolism while promoting anabolism. If you have not been working out, the intake of simple carbs can stimulate fat storage.
A high carb intake at your post training meal will have less chance of being stored as fat, as carbs must replenish depleted glycogen levels before they gain the ability to stimulate fat storage. Eat about 25% of your daily carbs at this meal.
Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day, and besides your post-workout meal, it is also the best time to load up on carbs. Blood sugar and muscle glycogen levels are low from your overnight fast. Your body must replenish these levels before stimulating the fat storing machinery in the body.
As your day wears on, your carb intake should decrease. Your energy requirements will also decrease at this time, so your body won't need as much. If you eat carbs late in the day, your body will store them as fat and increase weight gain instead of muscle mass.
If you are needing to lose some fat along with building your muscles, you will want to rotate your carb intake. Bodybuilders who rotate their carb intake tend to lose more fat than bodybuilders who maintain a steady flow of carbs while dieting.
For example, instead of eating 600g of carbs every day (the typical daily total for a 200 pound bodybuilder), try varying the volume of intake. Eat 50% fewer carbs (300g) for two days, then the standard 600g for the next two days, then 50% more (900g) for the next two days.
The total carb intake is the same, but this schedule works because it lowers muscle glycogen in the first stage (promoting fat loss), and then increases insulin levels (ensuring no loss of muscle) on the final two days. Carb rotation gives you the best of both worlds: decreased fat with no loss of muscle.
Yah I am not down with this at all.. fats can very well be your body's default energy source while carbs can be rendered almost completely unecessary. Now personally I will eat around 25% carbs as that seems to be about what my body prefers, I have tried extremely low carb regimes and was a bit uncomfortable with them. Many people have done very well with things like CKD though. Everybody's a bit different and I cringe when I read things like multiply your body weight. Oh and don't get me started with breakfast is the most important meal of the day crap lol. It was thinking like that, that kept me obese most of my life. I know my dieting style does not match a different body type as well as it does mine but that goes both ways. Develop an eating plan that works well for you, there are a lot of options out there. If you see something that matches more on how you prefer to eat then that is going to work better for you in the long run. If you choose styles that are contrary to what you feel comfortable with chances are you're going to have a problem sticking to it.