Hi there, It's Lazar.
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Ok. Now I hope you found the last tip valuable. Just want to stress out that those supplements have helped me and thousands of my clients. But let me be honest with you...supplements won't help you a lot if you don't diet properly.
It's that simple. So before you begin taking them...fix your diet. In the next lines I would share with my approach to carbs and their place in your diet.
I decided to write on this topic, since to me carbohydrates are one of the three main macronutrients, which strongly concern most people who work out. The reason for this is because the carbs amount, which we all consume in different type of diets, varies way more than the amounts of fat or protein in those diets.
What I'm trying to say is that during a bulking or cutting period the amounts of fat and even protein are pretty much standard for most diets. However, the carbs amount could be anywhere from a very high intake to zero carbs intake (if one is on a keto diet for example).
So this is why I think carbs amount is the hardest puzzle to solve out of the 3 main macronutrients. There are so many theories about what kind of carbs we should have. Some claim that simple carbs intake is good, since it leads to insulin release from the pancreas and insulin is one of the most powerful anabolic hormones.
Others oppose that theory by saying that the high simple carbs intake leads to disposing a lot of under skin fat. So I will give you my opinion on this, which is somewhere in the middle of the two theories.
First of all, I want to make clear that the way I will propose for you to manage carbs will be mostly for maintaining shape all year and not so much for cutting or bulking. If you are a beginner, it would be good to start with understanding what simple and complex carbs are.
The main factor, which determines whether carbs are simple or complex, is the glycemic index. The higher it is, the faster carbs turn into glucose and are assimilated by the organism. The maximum glycemic index for natural foods is 100.
Now that we made that clear, let's begin with the first meal of the day.
At breakfast it's good that you have a combination of simple (fast) carbs with complex ones and some fibers.
The reason for having fast carbs here is because protein (which we'll be having in the morning) should be digested quickly.
Those fast carbs will help you do that and will get the organism out of the catabolic state.
All following meals before working out should contain only complex carbs. This type of carbs are assimilated slowly, but continuously provide energy to the muscles.
Many people would take simple carbs before working out, since they are looking for a quick energy boost.
Remember... that isn't the way to go because if you have too much simple carbs then during insulin release your body will become loose and you will start feeling sleepy.
You DO need simple carbs right after working out though.
The reason for this is the depletion of muscle and liver glycogen during physical exercise. In order to recharge it after working out it is a good idea to have simple carbs.
If you are a beginner I'd like to explain that glycogen is something like stored carbs, which organism keeps in the muscles and mostly in the liver and uses those as a main energy source during aerobic or anaerobic exercise.
Most works of research say that for two sets of 8-10 reps a regular person would burn about 5 grams of glycogen, so the amount we should take to recharge after working out could be calculated pretty accurately for each person.
Still, keep in mind that some people would use more glycogen than others and some people could store more glycogen than others.
The second meal after working out could also contain carbs with higher glycemic index, but still it should be lower than the previous meal.
The reason for this is that we could afford to increase insulin here a little bit, due to the fact that metabolism is sped up for about 4 hours after working out and there is a smaller chance of carbs turning into fat during that period.
If you are having complex carbs such as brown rice, whole grain spaghetti or sweet potatoes in all of your other meals, then here you could have white rice, spaghetti and regular potatoes.
In all following meals we should have complex carbs again, with the only exception being the last meal.
Right before bedtime there should be no carbs at all.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. If we have consumed carbs before going to bed, then most of them will dispose as fat while the organism is in a sort of standby state and the energy consumption is low.
2. Because the carbs intake before bed obstructs the release of growth hormone, which has a big impact on muscle growth and recovery and also on burning fat.
To wrap it up:
Your first meal has to contain complex carbs in combination with a small amount of fast carbs.
All other pre-workout meals should contain complex carbs.
The post workout mean should contain simple carbs and the next one should also have simple carbs but with a lower glycemic index.
All following meals should have complex carbs, except the last meal for the day which shouldn't contain any carbs at all.
Train hard & Never give up!
Talk soon!
Lazar
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