Women and Carb backloading

winetoweights

I read a bit about carb backloading, as promoted by Julia Ladewski, who I find super inspiring. The program is $89, but the basic premise can be found around google, so I am pretty sure I have the basic understanding.

You eat your protein and fats during the day, then after you workout, you are not limited to what you can eat. Pizza and ice cream is often mentioned as "acceptable" foods.

Have any of you ladies tried this out and seen success? I am interested in learning a bit more about it, but hesitant to pay for the detailed program. I also have the fear of most women of eating too much.

I just started StrongLifts 5x5 and try to eat around 1900 calories on non-workout days, 2300 on workout days. I currently have been doing a "paleo-ish" diet, but indulge on the weekends. I still hardly hit 2000 calories daily, but the weekend calories definitely come more from carbs than protein and fat.

LoveLiveLift

Bump

losermomof3

Bump!

sparkdoc

bump

Jessicaruby

bump. sorry i dont have any answers but i am interested

winetoweights

Thanks, ladies!

Here's a good post about it:
http://www.julialadewski.com/2012/04/carb-back-loading-explained-faq-and-is.html

Just looking for some experience from someone less-professional

tat2dmrsgrimm

hmm. I dont know. I just watch my caloric intake. I eat pizza, ice cream, candy, whatever. As long as I have eaten fruits, veggies and such. I had doughnuts for breakfast today. For lunch I had a tortilla wrap (homemade) and a sliced cucumber. For supper I had pasta and a big salad. My early evening snack was watermelon and yogurt. My prebed snack a few minutes ago was ice cream. And I am still within my calorie goal for the day.

yarwell

That blog says "Counting calories is pointless. Balancing calories burned with calories ingested just doesn't work. Cutting calories to lose weight will work to some degree to lose scale weight."

I don't find it a convincing argument as expressed above.

http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/training-with-low-muscle-glycogen.html talks of more fat burning after training in carb depleted state and I've read other similar findings.

Carb replenishment post exercise is part of the high carbohydrate exercise philosophy, discussed at the bottom of http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8079E/w8079e0n.htm.

Both of those views would favour eating carbs after daily exercise.

winetoweights

Thanks for the comments and input, but I'm trying to find people who have tried it, not look for arguments against it.

stronglikebull

check out the 4 hour body, leangains.com, and mark's daily apple for similar strategies. there are specific articles that detail this approach that i am totally blanking out on right now but i'll add them to the thread when i remember. i use the 'backloading' approach when i'm training for a specific event and i need to eat more carbs to keep myself from dying.

i definitely advocate it! sorry this hasn't been a super clear response but i'll come back with more evidence soon!

lizellabee

I'm in the process of setting my body up for backloading by doing 10 days of under 30 carbs. By doing this, I'm training my body to burn fat for energy rather than carbs. Beginning next Friday, I will start carb backloading. I will eat the current low carb breakfast/ lunch I eat now then I will spread my carb intake throughout 4 hours in the afternoon.

Dave198lbs

save your money

newmooon56

this site is all you need- or something like it.

Paying for a plan should be your first clue its bunk. If there was a plan out there that worked- wouldnt everyone be on it????

EAT RIGHT and EXERCISE. - its right there, for free- yet ppl will try to find the magic bullet- no matter what it costs.

ockara

I agree with stronglikebul, lenagains may be what you need and I've read plenty on marksdailyapple.com about carb-loading. All that info is free, I wouldn't waste the $, IMO.

cramernh

I am interested in learning a bit more about it, but hesitant to pay for the detailed program.

You basically answered your own question to be honest.

Learning more about would mean you contacting the company directly. You have received alot of viable advice from people here who are obviously mirroring your hesitency. You may not have liked some of the posted replies because it wasnt based on personal experience, but they are all giving you the same suggestion.

Save your money, your initial instinct of being hesitant should have been your final decision, IMHO.

MaraDiaz

That's funny. If I were going to add carbs back in, I'd want them before I work out, to fuel that workout better. This says eat them after?

MrsSexton2013

bump for later

ockara

I don't agree with loading with carbs before a workout, you want your body to go into its fat stores for energy rather than use your carbs you just ingested. Most people I know eat protein before a workout or workout in a fasted state and then eat a sweet potato/or good carb with protein within a few hours of finishing the workout.

Everyone has different methods though

winetoweights

Thanks for the comments-

Liz, I'd be interested to hear how it goes!

Right now, I'm pretty much sticking to less than 150 on workout days, pretty much only coming from veggies and fruit (my weakness). I allow myself all of the junk on the weekends, which helps keep me disciplined during the week. I eat clean Monday-Friday, no grains, no rice, no legumes.

However, if there are actually people out there (that are not pro power lifters) that have had experience with the method of low-carbing during the day, and loading up after a workout, I'd be interested to hear what they have to say. And primarily women, as even the authors of the program say that men can easily eat more carbs than women without issues.

Hendrix7

Carb backloading is a relatively new thing on the scene, I doubt there will be many here who have been doing it for a significant amount of time. It's also sold under the name of the biorhythm diet

http://www.reactivetrainingsystems.com/articles/nutrition/10480-the-biorhythm-diet

I wouldn't spend that kind of money on the book personally. Food quantity and quality are still king, regardless of when you eat your carbs.

sambo1234

You're really missing the point by thinking "lots of plans say to eat carbs post-workout." Do you realize that the author preps people for figure competitions? Obviously there's something to it. also, if you did any serious research, you'd have come acrss the "Carb Nite Solution," which is specifically geares toward fat loss while keeping muscle.

buy the book.

MaryEMaryE

I've been on it for about 2-3 months, via a strength coach who does a lot of diets for fitness/bbuilding competitors and who is in regular contact with Keifer (CJ Murphy/Total Performance Sports, Boston).

I love it! It's easy to follow and you get to enjoy food. I used to do carb cycling, where you get one cheat meal a week and of course I would eat myself sick. This way I get 3 "fun" meals so I don't go too crazy. The non-carb parts of the day can also be pretty enjoyable. You don't get breakfast, but you can have coffee, and I realized breakfast never really worked for me anyway, I just got more hungry in an hour or two.

As far as for women, Murph is finding across the board that we put on muscle pretty well but losing the fat is harder, you really need to make the backloading meals pretty moderate. I haven't been strict at all and my body weight has stayed the same but I've gotten leaner and more athletic looking week to week. My performance has definitely improved, but I'm also at a point where I've overcome some injuries and am starting to work up to my potential, so I'm not sure how much credit CBL gets for that.

I am also 41 and have noticed my metabolism get slower in past few years and fat is really stubborn to get rid of in general. I'm also not too worried about the fat loss because I'm focused on my first powerlifting meet 5 weeks from now.

Kiefer makes it very clear, this version of CBL is for people who train very hard with weights, aka lift heavy. He is developing a version for endurance athletes but it's not ready yet. So it really isn't meant for the average fitness pursuer, although one could probably apply some of the principles here and there and benefit (in that case I'd recommend just spending time on Kiefer's blog rather than buying the book).

If you want to do CBL, the e-book is totally worth it and a must. Murph has all of his clients buy it and reads it repeatedly himself and recommends we do the same. You start to realize Kiefer is looking past a lot of generalizations in research findings about metabolism that have lead to widespread beliefs that are either just plain false or are based vastly oversimplified or generalized perspectives (such as breakfast being good for fat loss).

The diet--timing, supplements, macros, etc--is pretty complex and you really need to "get it" to do it right and adapt to your days as they vary, esp. if you're not working with anyone on your nutrition, so you need the book.

I know e-books are usually pretty sketchy but they are used quite a bit in the by the top experts in the strength sports world, i.e, the Elite FTS, Westside, Diesel Crew, etc., type folks, as a way to reach their niche audiences quickly without dealing with the usual in publishing, and because these sports require specialized gyms and those who don't live anywhere near one don't really have any other way to get the knowledge. e-books from this crowd are never a ripoff.

Good luck!

JasonDetwiler

Hopefully this thread isn't dead and forgotten. I've been on CBL for two months and I'm very happy with it. I am, however, a dude. I've read the book, so let me see if I can answer some of your questions and specifically tailor the response such that I can relate my experience to the female training environment.

1 - Women can't pig out like men while on CBL. The CBL is designed to replenish glycogen storage, so the more muscle mass you have, the more you can pig out.

2 - CBL is primarily designed to help you add muscle with little to no fat increase. Caloric deficit is favorable to fat loss, though not completely necessary.

3 - CBL is all about insulin timing and manipulation.

4 - The comments prior that state that the time of day you eat something doesn't matter are not supported by research. Kiefer has 30-some pages of references (yes, the works cited is 30 pages long) to peer reviewed scientific research to back his claims, plus he trains high level athletes, so I lean toward his information.

5 - The lady who had donuts for breakfast did not burn fat that day. Read why in CBL.

6 - The book is now $38 and well worth the price.

7 - Depending on your starting body composition, goals, and training regimen, you might want to start on Carb Nite. Also a good book, but if you buy CBL, read it, and understand it, you can do CNS by just backloading one day.

Good luck, and I hope you make great progress toward your goals.

Hendrix7

Do you realize that the author preps people for figure competitions

4 - The comments prior that state that the time of day you eat something doesn't matter are not supported by research. Kiefer has 30-some pages of references (yes, the works cited is 30 pages long) to peer reviewed scientific research to back his claims, plus he trains high level athletes, so I lean toward his information.

ok.

But thousands of people have got lean not using this principle.

I'm sure I could find plenty of bodybuilders/sports coaches/average joes who don't carb back load and their clients are ripped. So who's right then?

He's not the only guy out there successfully prepping people for contests.

Listen, I don't doubt the pricniple itself but the argument of "well he's ripped" or "his clients are ripped" does not in itself validate that method. Lots of people are ripped and lots of them will eat carbs in the morning.

wmagoo27

A lot of people piece their information together from blogs and forums, and many of them are missing some big pieces of the puzzle. Nobody is saying that CBL is the only way to get lean. It is just a tool that can be used. It works for some, and not for others. I've been doing it myself for a little over a month and it seems to be working well for me so far.

The book is expensive, but worth every penny. I tried to piece info together from other sources to avoid paying the price of the book, and I struggled to make it work. I caved, bought the book, and realized what I was doing wrong. I think a lot of people see the advertisements saying to eat a bunch of junk food and think it's a BS diet or a scam. There is good reason for the suggestion to eat hi GI carbs, although I don't agree with eating a bunch of overprocessed junk food (and neither does Kiefer). Everything is about timing carb intake around the body's sensitivity to insulin.

ilovedeadlifts

Carbohydrate Backloading works.

but you're gonna need to read the book. It works a bit differently for women than it does men.
I've done it for 3 weeks and dropped about 6 pounds.

ilovedeadlifts

ok.

But thousands of people have got lean not using this principle.

I'm sure I could find plenty of bodybuilders/sports coaches/average joes who don't carb back load and their clients are ripped. So who's right then?

He's not the only guy out there successfully prepping people for contests.

Listen, I don't doubt the pricniple itself but the argument of "well he's ripped" or "his clients are ripped" does not in itself validate that method. Lots of people are ripped and lots of them will eat carbs in the morning.

A pretty good chunk of bodybuilders use carb cycling. so they're following some of the basic principles of the CBL protocol.
All of the "broscience" about the anabolic window and when you eat carbs turns out to be actual science, backed by studies.

Going4Lean

bumped

judychicken

bump

WendyTerry420

That's funny. If I were going to add carbs back in, I'd want them before I work out, to fuel that workout better. This says eat them after?

Yeah, I agree. It makes no sense. Carbs are energy. I want an energy boost before the workout. Also, I have found that eating a good balance of carbs, protein, and fat at all three meals is better for me.

WendyTerry420

5 - The lady who had donuts for breakfast did not burn fat that day. Read why in CBL.

It depends on what else the lady ate.