@Gallowmere1984 and @albertabeefy both vary carbs based on work outs, so they may have some advice.

Personally, I did not have any issues with needing more carbs for my workout once my body adapted to this WOE. I work out pretty hard 5 days a week from about 5am to 6:30 with a combination of treadmill time and weight/strength training. Once my body got used to using ketones over glucose, there was no energy issues at all. In fact, endurance improved while in ketosis.

cstehansen wrote: »

@Gallowmere1984 and @albertabeefy both vary carbs based on work outs, so they may have some advice.

Personally, I did not have any issues with needing more carbs for my workout once my body adapted to this WOE. I work out pretty hard 5 days a week from about 5am to 6:30 with a combination of treadmill time and weight/strength training. Once my body got used to using ketones over glucose, there was no energy issues at all. In fact, endurance improved while in ketosis.

I had the same experience with improved performance after becoming keto adapted. I had not run in nearly a year due to a foot injury and my first run after becoming keto adapted I discovered I didn't need to take walking intervals like before despite not having ran in months and months. When I ran regularly before the injury I couldn't run more than 3 or 4 minutes without walking.

anglyn1 wrote: »

cstehansen wrote: »

@Gallowmere1984 and @albertabeefy both vary carbs based on work outs, so they may have some advice.

Personally, I did not have any issues with needing more carbs for my workout once my body adapted to this WOE. I work out pretty hard 5 days a week from about 5am to 6:30 with a combination of treadmill time and weight/strength training. Once my body got used to using ketones over glucose, there was no energy issues at all. In fact, endurance improved while in ketosis.

I had the same experience with improved performance after becoming keto adapted. I had not run in nearly a year due to a foot injury and my first run after becoming keto adapted I discovered I didn't need to take walking intervals like before despite not having ran in months and months. When I ran regularly before the injury I couldn't run more than 3 or 4 minutes without walking.

The only reason I tend to have higher-carb pre-workout meals is because many of my workouts push into much-more intense levels of anaerobic than most, and my performance matters to me more than it should. (It's really, really hard to realize that it's been nearly 30 years since I was a competitive athlete).

When you're fully keto-adapated, have depleted not-just liver but also muscle glycogen stores AND you find yourself going anaerobic, the body simply cannot synthesize ATP fast enough to fuel cellular respiration adequately (from a performance standpoint) in an anaerobic state.

Now, if I'm simply going for a personal-best mile time, I may have 20g of carbohydrate in my meal/snack to help fuel the last 200m or so of my sprint. BUT ... If I'm doing some long-distance mountain cycling (I love to do 100+ km rides through the mountains here) I might have 30g or more in my pre-workout and as much as 100g more during the course of the ride.

Lets be honest - at 205-210lbs I'm very heavy for a traditional cyclist. Going over a 7,200 foot mountain pass I hit anaerobic quite often, unlike a 135lb cyclist who can dance on their pedals staying aerobic over that same pass. One of my favorite (for scenery) rides the last climb averages 14% gradient for nearly 4km in length. I'm anaerobic that entire time... Not by choice - it's the result of physics. Without some available circulating blood glucose, not only would I do it much slower, I might not finish it at all.

Heck, talk about carbs ... once I rode from Calgary out to the mountains to a great spot called 'forget-me-not ponds' <--- (click the link to see WHY anyone would ride there. Beautiful!) and ate a HUGE glazed cinnamon bun during a quick stop in the village of Bragg Creek (after just over an hour of intense riding). Yup, as a diabetic I ate a huge glazed cinnamon bun. Then got back on my bike and rode. Tested my blood sugar every 10 minutes for an hour and a half while riding. Never saw a reading above 7.4mmol/l (about 134mg/dl) the entire time, and maintained the performance I wanted to over some fairly long, steep climbs at altitude.

Not everyone needs to have more carbs for their workout. It entirely depends on a combination of the workouts' intensity and duration ... and their own personal performance desires.

Based on the research and literature, the only reason you'd need to cycle carbs into your diet is when you're anticipating that your body needs a glyocgen store to perform a particular endurance activity.