Question about Carb Refeed

bowlerae

Hello,

I have a few questions for future reference regarding carb refeeds. I am doing keto and after having a little "break", I am finally back into ketosis this week. I have been seeing a steady decline in scale weight but since I am close to goal weight I imagine this will start to stall in the coming weeks.

I was wondering at what week is it appropriate to do a carb refeed and how often do people do them? Is this something I need to wait to do until I am keto adapted which I understand could be months? Is there any benefit in doing this even before I see a stall in weightloss?

Also, I intend to do this on training days when the time comes. Wondering if it needs to be before or after my workout or perhaps two meals, one on both sides of the workout? Lastly, is it best to follow up with IF to let the glycogen be fully depleted.

I apologize if all of these answers have been posted elsewhere.

Thanks!

Foamroller

I would try avoid a carb refeed until you're adapted. It's easier when you've established a baseline. I think that if someone has high degree of insulin resistance (IR), then refeed are best to avoid altogether. But if you know you're more insulin sensitive, there's bigger leeway. I've experimented a lot to test where the physiological symptoms start to change.

I've concluded that for MY body it's less about grams of carbs. It's much more impact from TYPE of carb.

Some common symptoms seem to be headaches, inflammation, bloating, possibly more subjective feeling of hunger, sweet cravings, skin problems, lethargic, depression and despair. Others are welcome to chime in on the list.

I recommend to monitor closely and do a detailed food diary, so you can go back and see what worked or not. Turn it into a game. Be your own lab rat!

Edit: Refeed should be at the day with the hardest training session. Last year I'd do 3 hrs at the gym. And with lots of anaerobic sprints too, it reduces glycogen faster. To minimize the impact of insulin. If you wanna know more look at Peter Attia's blog where he talks about training as a "carb sinkhole". It's kinda earn the carbs philosophy.

bowlerae

thanks, anyone else have any input of whether I need to eat before or after my training on carb refeed days? Again this is for future reference and don't think carb refeed would be wise for me to do this early into keto.

KnitOrMiss

If you're wanting to replenish glycogen in your muscles, you would refeed prior to workout, otherwise the body can use those carbs wherever it wants. Also, keep in mind that certain carbs (for some reason my brain is saying fructose) canNOT refill muscle glycogen... So what you eat matters, too.

The reddit group ketogains probably has some ideas for carb refeeds as they relate to weight lifting, though not generic refeeds.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Timing is important, but I disagree with @KnitOrMiss on the details. If you eat carbs right before a workout (i.e. within seconds or minutes of starting a workout), you will use the glucose from carbs to fuel muscle activity (including your heart muscle) during that workout. If you do not eat right before a workout, you will use glycogen. You can eat carbs right afterwards to replenish that glycogen right away. Quantity is important too, because excess carbs before a workout or after a workout will get converted to fat if not needed for glycogen replenishment. But as long as you have about the right quantity, it doesn't matter whether you eat before or after your workout:

Eat carbs before workout: Glucose is created from carbs, and glucose is used for energy, glycogen remains intact.
Eat carbs after workout: Glycogen is used for energy, then immediately replaced by glucose from carbs.

In the end, the amount you eat is more important than the timing of macros on a workout day (carbs convert to glucose within minutes and peak on average around 20-30 min.).