Bodybuilding Forums

Hello to you all, I would like to start with how great this forum is and how much you all have helped me so far! I have been lurking around for about 6 weeks now and i've found out lots great advice.

I'll give you a little back ground, I am a 26 year old male, i've been low carbing on and off for years. I lost a lot of weight and then gained it all back, a typical yo yo dieter. I have been using Marks MANS diet and been working out for about 5 weeks now. I am trying to add some muscle as but also lose some unwanted body fat at the same time. I am not totally aware of my bf% I have been using body fat scales but I am aware that these give inacurate readings but thats all I have so i've been using it as a guide for now. I am 5'10 and currently 148lbs i am about 10.4% body fat (scale reading) but i estimate i am in the region of 14-16%. According to the scale I have been losing weight slowly (1 1/2lbs a week) and losing fat with this.

Now to my problem as I want to had muscle i've been carbing up on saturday for 24hrs. During the week I have been mixing TSPA with MANS i've been 159g Protein, 100 -120g Fat, 30g Carbs.

Working out
Monday: Biceps, forearms and Abs and then 1 hour of Circuit training in the evening.
Tuesday: Legs and Back
Wednesday: Shoulders and Traps
Thursday: Chest and Triceps and then 1 hour of Circuit training in the evening

Now my question finally, should I drop the carb ups to cut lose fat or can I carry on with the 24 hour carb ups and shed body fat.

Thanks (sorry for banging on)

Sean

You can keep shedding fat while keeping carb-ups if you limit their length and make them principally "clean" foods, like avoiding wheat, dairy, and sugars including high-fructose corn syrup. That's what I'm doing now, and I've dropped around a pound a week on my current twelve-week challenge. I've found it's helpful to keep closely tracking what I eat in the interest of keeping my carb-ups very low-fat, high-carb, with identical protein levels to low-carb days (that last part is HARD without lots of whey).

I've got way more fat to lose than just 12 pounds, though. More like 30 pounds. But if I live by my mantra of "measure, experiment, measure, adjust, repeat", I'll get there eventually.

--Matt B.

Thanks for your advice Matt,

I will keep on with the 24 hour carb ups, If you don't mind sharing what does a typical carb up day consist of for you?

redgiki wrote:You can keep shedding fat while keeping carb-ups if you limit their length and make them principally "clean" foods, like avoiding wheat, dairy, and sugars including high-fructose corn syrup. That's what I'm doing now, and I've dropped around a pound a week on my current twelve-week challenge. I've found it's helpful to keep closely tracking what I eat in the interest of keeping my carb-ups very low-fat, high-carb, with identical protein levels to low-carb days (that last part is HARD without lots of whey).

I've got way more fat to lose than just 12 pounds, though. More like 30 pounds. But if I live by my mantra of "measure, experiment, measure, adjust, repeat", I'll get there eventually.

--Matt B.

I am going to have to disagree. I wouldn't at all make any reductions in the carb load. If any make the reductions during the week. The carb loads are vital and not to be avoided.

Antonio, firstly congratulations you look awesome! Your a real motivation for me i've always kind of been soft around the middle and tried to lose weight etc but this time I really believe I can transform my body.

I am looking for advice on what I can eat on my carb up day without gaining to much weight back, for the last few weeks i have maybe been dropping a few lbs then putting it back on during my carb up then losing then back on. So i've had a little progress but not as much as I would have hoped.

Any advice would be greatly received!

Sean

AntonioWright wrote:I am going to have to disagree. I wouldn't at all make any reductions in the carb load. If any make the reductions during the week. The carb loads are vital and not to be avoided.

Unless your experiment's results indicate otherwise, which Matt's have (modify, not avoid, actually!). I agree the OP will have to try it for himself and see if/how he may need to modify.

30 grams during the week is already pretty got-dang low-- I really don't know that you could get adequate vitamin/mineral intake on less in the long term.

marochka_raduga wrote:

AntonioWright wrote:I am going to have to disagree. I wouldn't at all make any reductions in the carb load. If any make the reductions during the week. The carb loads are vital and not to be avoided.

Unless your experiment's results indicate otherwise, which Matt's have (modify, not avoid, actually!). I agree the OP will have to try it for himself and see if/how he may need to modify.

30 grams during the week is already pretty got-dang low-- I really don't know that you could get adequate vitamin/mineral intake on less in the long term.

It's 30 grams per day and it's really not that hard. If you want to get technical, read the Anabolic Solution. Better yet, I am going in for a physical tomorrow and I will show you a clean bill of health.

Only a fool would live on 30g's a day for a extended period of time, this is why the carb ups are essential. Then again, I could just be talking out of my butt OR I could be talking from the experience of losing 80+ pounds. You decide.

laff_82 wrote:Antonio, firstly congratulations you look awesome! Your a real motivation for me i've always kind of been soft around the middle and tried to lose weight etc but this time I really believe I can transform my body.

I am looking for advice on what I can eat on my carb up day without gaining to much weight back, for the last few weeks i have maybe been dropping a few lbs then putting it back on during my carb up then losing then back on. So i've had a little progress but not as much as I would have hoped.

Any advice would be greatly received!

Sean

Hello Sean,

I would stick to low GI carbs for the most part. Keep your fats low and protein to an average level. Have one cheat meal for each day of your load. What you can do is buy one of those large bags of M&M's and use that as your cheat meal and spread between both days. Then again take what I say as a grain of salt. I don't have a nice chart, or numbers to back me up.

AntonioWright wrote:Have one cheat meal for each day of your load. What you can do is buy one of those large bags of M&M's and use that as your cheat meal and spread between both days.

M&Ms?! Damn, I had been thinking of pizza or enchiladas... obviously I need to think bigger. I like your way much better! But does that mean you have to cut your fat back that much more in the other, cleaner carb meals to compensate?

Do you guys think avoiding rice is as necessary as wheat, corn, and dairy when you're carbing up? Oatmeal w/raisins and refried beans/green chili rice sound like heaven to me right now... Oh, how about quinoa with cranberries? It'd be another source of low-fat protein with your carbs, and cranberries aren't the sugar-fest that other fruits are. Should be low-GI, even.

If I were to start off the day ( carb up day) with a large serving of chili - would all that fiber lower the insulin response of other foods eater during the day after wards? say, something like noodles later on in the day? I did this on my first official carb up day a few months ago and it worked out great. I ate a ton of carbs without experiancing the usual highs and lows I usually get, not until I started going higher on the GI level did I get into trouble..