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How to get enough calories on low/no carb day?

AtomicFox

AtomicFox

Active member
Hey guys!

I need some advice on how to get enough calories on my low/no carb day. Do you have some simple, yet good recipes or advice for that purpose?

On my current food list for low carb ingredients i have:

- Chicken
- Almonds
- Eggs
- ON protein
- Some fish, it is quite expensive though

As you see my list is kinda limited but these are the easiest things for me to cook with, so any great recipes with these foods that can add some calories for me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks =)
 
Healthy fats brotha. There really isn't a secret to it. Just eating more of those things you listed. I eat a TON of peanut butter on my low carb days. Try some chicken salads with dressing on them. I say if you aren't worried about sodium go with ranch or something similar, or if you are go with some olive oil, or any healthy oil really makes a good dressing.
 
AtomicFox said:
Hey guys!

I need some advice on how to get enough calories on my low/no carb day. Do you have some simple, yet good recipes or advice for that purpose?

On my current food list for low carb ingredients i have:

- Chicken
- Almonds
- Eggs
- ON protein
- Some fish, it is quite expensive though

As you see my list is kinda limited but these are the easiest things for me to cook with, so any great recipes with these foods that can add some calories for me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks =)
Click to expand...

You still want SOME carbohydrates - even on a "low" day. As mentioned, have more fat - peanut butter, nuts and seeds (calorie dense food).

You can make simple meals with what you have - add flavour with herbs and spices.

Or you can add in a few Invalid Link Removed at the end of every meal. So many options.

~Rosie~
 
Not to high jack your thread or anything bro. Have a somewhat similar question hoping rosie might pop back in and give an opinion.

I TRY to keep my carbs about 50-60g lower on the 2 days of the week that I don't do weight training. Basically substiting what would be a high carb post workout meal with just a pro fat meal since I didn't weight train. I still do my morning cardio and have a high carb PWO meal after that. But it seems everytime I try and do this I get low blood sugar at some point throughout the day. Sound normal? I guess I just figured if I was cutting out a weight training session from my day there was no need really for another high carb meal and I might as well up my fat intake to compensate and keep the carbs low if I don't need them considering my recomp right now is leaning just slightly towards more of a cut.
 
Rosie Chee Scott said:
You still want SOME carbohydrates - even on a "low" day. As mentioned, have more fat - peanut butter, nuts and seeds (calorie dense food).

You can make simple meals with what you have - add flavour with herbs and spices.

Or you can add in a few Invalid Link Removed at the end of every meal. So many options.

~Rosie~
Click to expand...

Rosie, I always see you saying never to go too low on carbs. What bad thing will happen if a person goes a day or two without any carbs?
 
good question bro, I'd be interested to hear an elaboration on that myself. I've done some no carb days back in the day myself. I certainly felt like crap, but it DID work, haha.
 
MakaveliThaDon said:
Not to high jack your thread or anything bro. Have a somewhat similar question hoping rosie might pop back in and give an opinion.

I TRY to keep my carbs about 50-60g lower on the 2 days of the week that I don't do weight training. Basically substiting what would be a high carb post workout meal with just a pro fat meal since I didn't weight train. I still do my morning cardio and have a high carb PWO meal after that. But it seems everytime I try and do this I get low blood sugar at some point throughout the day. Sound normal? I guess I just figured if I was cutting out a weight training session from my day there was no need really for another high carb meal and I might as well up my fat intake to compensate and keep the carbs low if I don't need them considering my recomp right now is leaning just slightly towards more of a cut.
Click to expand...

why lower the carbs? Its true theres "no need" for another high carb meal, but there isn't a significant difference between getting the calories from fats or carbs either particularly with low GI carbs. If you are less active 2 days of the week, lower calories those days is fine, but the makeup of the calories so long as you have a certain level of protein and EFAs is pretty unimportant.
 
EasyEJL said:
why lower the carbs? Its true theres "no need" for another high carb meal, but there isn't a significant difference between getting the calories from fats or carbs either particularly with low GI carbs. If you are less active 2 days of the week, lower calories those days is fine, but the makeup of the calories so long as you have a certain level of protein and EFAs is pretty unimportant.
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thanks bro. Everyday I seem to make a slight tweak somewhere to try and get things perfect. That's basically what I tried to do, but in reverse. I keep the calories in that meal the same, but just replace the carbs with an equal caloric value amount of fat. But obviously it's no fun when low blood sugar sets in and you feel like total crap. On those days, I'm just going to substiute what would normally be a PWO meal with high GI carbs, keep the cals basically the same and just use low Gi instead, something like oats. Should keep my blood sugar from crashing...in theory. We shall see.
 
MakaveliThaDon said:
Not to high jack your thread or anything bro. Have a somewhat similar question hoping rosie might pop back in and give an opinion.

I TRY to keep my carbs about 50-60g lower on the 2 days of the week that I don't do weight training. Basically substiting what would be a high carb post workout meal with just a pro fat meal since I didn't weight train. I still do my morning cardio and have a high carb PWO meal after that. But it seems everytime I try and do this I get low blood sugar at some point throughout the day. Sound normal? I guess I just figured if I was cutting out a weight training session from my day there was no need really for another high carb meal and I might as well up my fat intake to compensate and keep the carbs low if I don't need them considering my recomp right now is leaning just slightly towards more of a cut.
Click to expand...

If you're being silly with your cabohydrate intake, then yes, you are likely to experience hypoglycemic effects.

Cutting or not, there is NO need to restrict carbohydrates to low or none a day, IMO. As it is, you should not have less than 50-100 grams of carbohydrates daily, since your body needs a minimum of 50 grams of carbohydrates to burn fat effectively.

Personally, I would have your HIGHER calories/carbohydrate days on your NON-training days to help with recovery. Your body will thank you for it, trust me.


kingdong said:
Rosie, I always see you saying never to go too low on carbs. What bad thing will happen if a person goes a day or two without any carbs?
Click to expand...

There is no need for it, and I get so sick of people going to such ridiculous extremes as cutting them out because they blame carbohydrates for "making me fat", when it was overeating and/or lack of exercise that did it. Ever heard the saying "fat burns in a carbohydrate flame" - see comments above. carbohydrates are NOT the enemy!

There will be those who disagree with me, and that's fine. In the end, all you can do is find what works for you and go with that. I'm personally one of those people who can have ~400 grams or more of carbohydrates and stay lean or lose fat. It's not impossible.

I recommend that you both start doing some personal research on nutrition.

~Rosie~
 
Rosie Chee Scott said:
You still want SOME carbohydrates - even on a "low" day. As mentioned, have more fat - peanut butter, nuts and seeds (calorie dense food).

You can make simple meals with what you have - add flavour with herbs and spices.

Or you can add in a few Invalid Link Removed at the end of every meal. So many options.

~Rosie~
Click to expand...

Agreed.

I don't care what the diet calls for, you should never have a "no carb" day, ever. I'm not trying to be obtuse or anything, but whoever invented no carb diets should... Not be inventing diets. As Rosie said, even on a low carb day you should still be including some carbs. I'm not a fan of diets such as the keto diet, where you purposefully enter a state of ketosis, even though some have reported success (though when you think about it, some people may have good results dieting or exercising in ways that MOST people would not benefit from).

The brain functions almost exclusively off of carbohydrates. That alone should be enough reason to include some carbs in your daily diet.

Plenty of people have achieved amazing results by not going low carbs, so the idea that you HAVE to go low carbs for any reason is ridiculous.

Like I said, I'm not trying to be offensive or come off like an ******* to anyone (especially the original poster), I'm just stating that I really, really don't like the idea of low/no carb diets.

Anyway, peace my friends!!
 
Type O Hero said:
Agreed.

I don't care what the diet calls for, you should never have a "no carb" day, ever. I'm not trying to be obtuse or anything, but whoever invented no carb diets should... Not be inventing diets. As Rosie said, even on a low carb day you should still be including some carbs. I'm not a fan of diets such as the keto diet, where you purposefully enter a state of ketosis, even though some have reported success (though when you think about it, some people may have good results dieting or exercising in ways that MOST people would not benefit from).

The brain functions almost exclusively off of carbohydrates. That alone should be enough reason to include some carbs in your daily diet.

Plenty of people have achieved amazing results by not going low carbs, so the idea that you HAVE to go low carbs for any reason is ridiculous.

Like I said, I'm not trying to be offensive or come off like an ******* to anyone (especially the original poster), I'm just stating that I really, really don't like the idea of low/no carb diets.

Anyway, peace my friends!!
Click to expand...


good post bro. I think a lot of it has to do with the type of lifestyle that you have. For instance if someone wasn't the type who was going to spend a whole lot of time in the gym, has a somewhat non active desk type job, and is just looking to eat a bit cleaner and slim down a bit. I think lowER, not NO, but lowER carb diets can be very effective. Also speaking from personal experience, if you have a fairly high bf percentage to begin with, say 17 or above, they are also pretty effective.

It's when you are as active with training/job that most of us here are, and already have a better than average body composition that low carb diets are an epic failure IMO.

And just for the record, I never was trying to take my carbs THAT low, even on the days I wanted to try a bit lower, I still had a high 60g carb meal, and by the time you factor in carbs from all the nuts/pb I eat it was still hovering around 100g a day. Obviously still too low for my lifestyle. But hey, you live, you try, you learn :)
 
I really appreciate the feedback you guys have provided. I will stick to 50-100 grams carbs on my low carb days and remove my "no-carb" day. Being able to use 100 carbs on the low carb days makes it a lot easier for me to get the calories i need.

Thank you everybody :)
 
AtomicFox said:
I really appreciate the feedback you guys have provided. I will stick to 50-100 grams carbs on my low carb days and remove my "no-carb" day. Being able to use 100 carbs on the low carb days makes it a lot easier for me to get the calories i need.

Thank you everybody :)
Click to expand...

No worries :) Sounds good. Now go get those results! :buttkick:
 
Try frying chicken using eggs and rolling in crushed pork rinds. Its actually very very good. It was my favorite meal while low carbing it. I also ate alot of taco salads.
 
Rosie Chee Scott said:
If you're being silly with your cabohydrate intake, then yes, you are likely to experience hypoglycemic effects.

Cutting or not, there is NO need to restrict carbohydrates to low or none a day, IMO. As it is, you should not have less than 50-100 grams of carbohydrates daily, since your body needs a minimum of 50 grams of carbohydrates to burn fat effectively.

Personally, I would have your HIGHER calories/carbohydrate days on your NON-training days to help with recovery. Your body will thank you for it, trust me.




There is no need for it, and I get so sick of people going to such ridiculous extremes as cutting them out because they blame carbohydrates for "making me fat", when it was overeating and/or lack of exercise that did it. Ever heard the saying "fat burns in a carbohydrate flame" - see comments above. carbohydrates are NOT the enemy!

There will be those who disagree with me, and that's fine. In the end, all you can do is find what works for you and go with that. I'm personally one of those people who can have ~400 grams or more of carbohydrates and stay lean or lose fat. It's not impossible.

I recommend that you both start doing some personal research on nutrition.

~Rosie~
Click to expand...

that bolded statement isnt correct.

Invalid Link Removed

excerpt

"It has been claimed that carbohydrates serve as a primer for fat catabolism ("fats burn in a carbohydrate flame"). However, as pointed out by Robergs and Roberts [22], this is an incorrect contention. In skeletal muscle, fat certainly does not burn in a carbohydrate flame, as skeletal muscle does not have sufficient quantities of the enzymes to convert glycolytic intermediates into molecules that can be transported into the mitochondria to supplement citric acid cycle intermediates. Further, the production of acetoacyl CoA, a substrate of ketone body formation, can occur only in the liver and thus does not apply to skeletal muscle metabolism. Human skeletal muscle can oxidize at least seven amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, valine, glutamate, asparagine, aspartate and alanine. Of these amino acids, however, oxidation of only the branched chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine) appears to be increased during catabolic states such as exercise.

When muscle glycogen and blood glucose concentrations are low, the incorporation of the carbon skeletons from amino acids into the citric acid cycle is important for maintaining the concentrations of the intermediates, and therefore a high rate of mitochondrial respiration. Thus, both muscle fat and carbohydrate burn in an amino acid flame. As discussed by Robergs and Roberts [22], amino acid catabolism during exercise is important for three reasons: 1) for free energy during exercise to fuel muscle contraction; 2) to increase concentrations of citric acid cycle intermediates and therefore support carbohydrate and lipid catabolism; and 3) to serve as gluconeogenic precursors. It has also been claimed that carbohydrate provides the only macronutrient substrate whose stored energy generates ATP non-aerobically. This is not the case, however, since several studies have shown that amino acid catabolism also provides a source of anaerobic energy production [23], Aspartate, for example, can be fermented to succinate or propionate [24]. Interestingly, Ivy et al. [25] and Saunders et al. [26], reported that the addition of protein to a carbohydrate supplement enhanced endurance performance above that which occurred with carbohydrate alone."
 
Ever since I went on Invalid Link Removed I can't really go back to a carb heavy diet. The metabolic diet isn't based on ketosis though and isn't strictly a low carb diet. I find though that for me, the lower amount of carbs I eat the better I feel. More energy, my symptoms of IBS disappear, and I'm relaxed yet energized. I find its harder for me on carb up days. Once I get over say 60 grams of carbs on carb up days I get tired and run down. I'm the opposite of most people, my body seems to work better on lower carbs. Carbs don't give me energy, they make me want to sleep. Plus they destroy my stomach and make my IBS worse. I still follow The Metabolic Diet correctly though and have my carb up days. I have tried other diets with more carbs and they just make me feel like crap. Especially my stomach.
 
Up the fats! The best places to take advantage of this are in salad foods

-Avocados
-Healthy Salad Dressings (my favorite is Garlic Creamy Ceaser Salad Dressing, instant 180+ calories from healthy fats)
-Nut Butters
-Mixed Nuts (I buy these in bulk from Sam's Club, unsalted, they're amazing to snack on)
-Olive Oil and Margarine made from Olive Oil works great on lots of foods; I use both on my salmon
-Sunflower Seeds (use sparingly) on Salads

I probably just added 2000 calories over what you normally eat with the above.
 
MakaveliThaDon said:
PB is where it's at dude. And anyone who can choke down an avocado, I salute you, cuz......damn, lol.
Click to expand...

I hated them until I tried guacamole with my Chipotle burritos. Started eating guaca with that, then with chips, and finally progressed to eating straight avocados. They are now a favorite of mine.
 
im taking A LOT in from this thread... good job guys... lost 23 lbs in the past month, trying to keep it going and lose ~15 more.... so 50-100 grams is the target... a friend of mine got into terrific shape on a low carb diet and he said he never eats carbs at night...does it make that much of a difference?
 
MakaveliThaDon said:
PB is where it's at dude. And anyone who can choke down an avocado, I salute you, cuz......damn, lol.
Click to expand...
Huh? ...what are you talking about? I actually really like avocados, just need to
Eat them with garlic and a little bit of salt, yum! Give that a try brother.
Btw, I also like cottage cheese :), weird, I know...
 
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