Can you build muscle in a low carb diet?

DawnOfTheDead_Lift

As someone who did a low carb diet for several years the following pros and cons from my personal experience (Note: I no longer follow a low carb diet but I was a zealot for a long time).

Pros:
* Lost weight easily when strictly followed with minimal tracking.
* Decreased Hungers / Cravings
* Less overall decision making (more black and white choices).

Cons:
* Long term adherence proved difficult
* Borderline disordered binge eating pattern established
* Impaired anaaerboic capacity
* Slightly impaired aerobic capacity (it is possible this was attributable to a very low calorie level rather than low carb specifically but I'm not sure).

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ent3rsandman

filbo132 wrote: »

Just eat your carbs, they are freaking good. I never understood why they get such a bad rap.

Damn right they are! It's a shame that they've become the nutritional boogeyman as of late.

LiftHeavyThings27105

I think that this is going to depend for each person.

I tend to gain more 'water weight' when I have a higher carb intake. Now, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Not likely either. Or, yes! It all depends on the goal. And your perspective!

I tend to do better on higher fats | lower carbs. No, not talking ketogenic diet (have not tried that so have no idea how I would fare on that......not sure that I will try it but not dead set against it....I do play with the idea every now and again).

I also have not been training for the last six weeks (medical condition that is just not healing the right way) so I have been playing with nutrition. Not sure how I am going to fare on higher fats | lower carbs when it comes time for dead lifts and squats days......

I will be honest....I played with lower | higher carbs both the day before and the day of Dead Lifts and Squats days.....for me, made a difference. Stronger with higher carbs. Maybe a bit of a mental thing, maybe not. No matter. STRONGER with higher carbs.

I will play with the higher fats once I get back to training in the darn gym. Gonna give it some time....not gonna do it for three workouts and then scrap it.

I do not think that carbs get a bad wrap, per-se. I think that people respond to carbs differently. It is like me and milk.....love it, just cant drink it. Well, I can.....nuff said!

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jamesakrobinson

My personal experience is that I can continue to make progress (gains) in full ketosis for about 2 months but then my workouts really start to suffer.
I have always found the best results for my own body has been very high intensity and lower reps. My workouts are usually about an hour long plus or minus 15 minutes. After a couple of of months in ketosis I hit the wall really hard about half an hour in... feeling almost faint and hypoglycemic. I tried BCAAs during my workout but it knocked me out of keytosis... (although it did let me finish my workout)

The solution that seems to work best for me personally is to go hard core keto at the beginning of the spring, and stay in ketosis until I start to have trouble finishing my workouts (usually a little over 2 months) then add in BCAAs intraworkout fat a few more weeks, then I start to add carbs back in.

I go into IIFYM for the rest of the year and usually get a bit lax through the Christmas holidays, then repeat starting in the spring.

As with everything YMMV but I definitely get consistent results and stay fairly lean... and the pump you get when you carb back up the first couple times makes you feel huge!

GerlaineGerry

Protein, carbs, creatine and bcaa!!!

ninerbuff

filbo132 wrote: »

Just eat your carbs, they are freaking good. I never understood why they get such a bad rap.

Because people like Lustig and Taubes condemned them and got a bunch of people to start following them. Especially Taubes since he's a journalist.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ninerbuff

filbo132 wrote: »

ent3rsandman wrote: »

filbo132 wrote: »

Just eat your carbs, they are freaking good. I never understood why they get such a bad rap.

Damn right they are! It's a shame that they've become the nutritional boogeyman as of late.

Once you understand that it's all about calories in vs calories out, there is no need to cut carbs out unless:
A) You have health issues with carbs
B ) You lack discipline whenever you eat carbs and you don't want to work on your discipline
C) You actually enjoy eating only fatty foods

Quoted for truth.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition