Keto carbs for weightlifting & other exercise

asyroyez

I know I should be targeting around 20g of carbs per day to get into/stay in ketosis. I have to questions that I'd appreciate some help with:

1) When I do any kind of exercise and MFP bumps up my day's grams/calories because of it, do I follow along and give myself the leeway to consume however many carbs it recommends or always just keep it at 20ish grams/day no matter what I do?

2) Related to the 1st question, MFP doesn't particularly track (heavy) weightlifting well in terms of energy output, what if any changes would you suggest on the lifting days (3 days per week) as apposed to any other day? Anyone know if wolfing down a sweet potato right after working out will go to refueling muscle or just undermine ketosis?

Any and all info is appreciated, thanks for the help

Sunny_Bunny_

More experienced people will chime in soon I'm sure, but typically, the carb amount is a hard limit and any extra calories would be from protein and fat. However, many of us have a range that works for us. So I'm not at a hard limit of 20g but anything under 30g is my more relaxed goal, though 20 is what I aim for.
As far as using carbs for exercise, I believe you would want to have them prior to exercise to benefit from any burst of energy you may get from it and so that you burn it right off with the exercise you're doing. I don't think you would really benefit from the carbs after working out.
If you haven't been in ketosis for a at least a couple of weeks, you may want to hold off on using any extra carbs for workouts though. Wait until your adapted and you should be able to use them before workouts without any issues with ketosis, assuming you're not going overboard with the amount. You don't have to use carbs for exercise though. It's just a matter of what you think works best for you.

asyroyez

Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »

More experienced people will chime in soon I'm sure, but typically, the carb amount is a hard limit and any extra calories would be from protein and fat. However, many of us have a range that works for us. So I'm not at a hard limit of 20g but anything under 30g is my more relaxed goal, though 20 is what I aim for.
As far as using carbs for exercise, I believe you would want to have them prior to exercise to benefit from any burst of energy you may get from it and so that you burn it right off with the exercise you're doing. I don't think you would really benefit from the carbs after working out.
If you haven't been in ketosis for a at least a couple of weeks, you may want to hold off on using any extra carbs for workouts though. Wait until your adapted and you should be able to use them before workouts without any issues with ketosis, assuming you're not going overboard with the amount. You don't have to use carbs for exercise though. It's just a matter of what you think works best for you.

Yeah I am in the same boat - 20g is the goal but I usually get 25-30 (net) carbs so far, but I just started actively pursuing keto so I'm working up (down?) to hitting that 20g.

For what I understand (and it may be wrong) but working out in a fasted state is better for weight loss because you burn fat instead of glycogen - and afterwards the muscles are primed to take any glycogen (carbs) around for repair, hence smashing a heavy carb food right after working out. I'm actually pretty okay either way, I workout right in the middle of my fasting window right now, so I have 10hrs before and like 8hrs after the workout where I don't eat at all. I do take my BCAA's and Glutamine to support muscle repair while fasting though.

Sunny_Bunny_

I'm not sure but I dont think the muscle needs any carb to repair and you would just be burning off the carbs instead of fat until they are gone again. I would think protein after the workout would be much more beneficial.

Dragonwolf

You don't need carbs for weight lifting. The reason a lot of people think you do is because carbs feed glycogen stores and when you go low carb, you lose most of that. The glycogen stores help you get a little extra weight and an extra rep or two out of a workout, that's about it (ie - it's for ego). People freak out if they're already lifting and switch to keto, because they notice that slight drop in "performance" and think they're losing muscle. They're not.

That said, there are some people who practice targeted or cyclical ketogenic diets. The ones that benefit from this the most are more the guys who are pumping out 2x BW bench presses. Odds are very, very good you don't need to worry about that, though.

As for MFP, it adds carbs because it calculates on a straight percentage of calories. Working out = more calories = higher gram amounts of everything (unless you pay for premium). I'm of the opinion that carbs are a hard cap (or small range with a soft and hard cap), and the calories should be made up in protein and fat. There is a weight lifting entry under cardio which will give you the calorie adjustment, though there's some debate on its accuracy (conventional understanding says weight lifting doesn't burn many calories, but it also doesn't seem to account for the afterburn effect). Personally? Eat an extra couple hundred or so calories if you're hungry.

For more info, check out http://ketogains.com/faqs/ or look up DarthLuiggi.

asyroyez

@Dragonwolf Yeah I'm aware of the possible performance loss, and am in no way concerned with that since I'm not an athlete. However I am concerned with making sure I do what I can to (naturally) help repair/grow my muscles post-workout. I'll check out that link and see what I can find. Capping my carbs low for now sounds good.

minties82

I do oly lifting 3-4 times per week and never need any carbs to refuel or to be able to lift. I'm not attempting to grow muscle though as I am in a deficit and losing weight.

radiii

Dragonwolf wrote: »

For more info, check out http://ketogains.com/faqs/ or look up DarthLuiggi.

This 100 times over

My favorite thing from the ketogains FAQ:

radiii

However I am concerned with making sure I do what I can to (naturally) help repair/grow my muscles post-workout.

Specifically on this, that FAQ will address the notion that you *need* carbs post workout. When carbs are discussed for those that do high intensity exercise, its 100% in terms of adding carbs (and specifically, dextrose) BEFORE working out so that you are able to hit and stay at your very high intensity during your workout. Post workout carbs, 100% not needed.

If you do decide to experiment w/ pre-workout carbs, do make sure you're keto adapted first, if you're brand new to keto, give it a couple months.