Cardio+Low Carb? Help!

Stavakoli
Stavakoli Posts: 86 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been at a plateau for a few weeks now and am thinking I wanna lower my carb intake..I've been hesitant to go low carb in the past because I do intense cardio training (kickboxing/bootcamps) 5-6 times a week in the AM and wanna make sure I can keep up. Any suggestions on how many carbs I should reducing to? (I'm 5'10, 193) Should I be consuming my carbs before my workouts and sticking to higher protein for the rest of the day? Or should I try doing a little more strength training and less cardio? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Replies

  • scottb81
    scottb81 Posts: 2,538 Member
    The only way to find out is to experiment because different things work for different people due to differing fitness levels and exercise intensity.

    So, lower it some and see how that affects your workout. If you're still feeling good then lower it some more, etc.
  • Stavakoli
    Stavakoli Posts: 86 Member
    Thanks, I'll definitely give it a go
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Personally, I'd double your protein, leave everything else the same. Maybe a slight increase in fats and a slight decrease in carbs.

    But as the previous poster said, trial and error is a necessary part of the process - you have to find out what your body responds well to.
  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
    Unless you are an endurance athlete, you are always going to be better off doing more strength training over cardio. As for lowering carb intake, its a tough call. If you lower it enough to ketogenic levels (~100g/day), you will go through a very sluggish phase for about 2-4 weeks during your workouts, but I assure you it will pass. It just takes time to adapt from burning mostly glucose for exercise to burning mostly fat. In the end it shouldn't be a problem unless you are highly competitive, in which case you would probably need to stay on a high carb diet for best performance. But a moderate reduction in carbs probably won't hurt either, but you should give your body some time to adapt to that as well since there will be less glucose available than what your body is used to.
  • Stavakoli
    Stavakoli Posts: 86 Member
    Thank you for the advice!
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Whats your body fat%?
    Possibly you are set at your weight and need a break?
  • 3laine75
    3laine75 Posts: 3,069 Member
    i wdn't eat any less than you are at the moment - mabey just change your percentages so you are getting a bit more protein & fat. if you can i'd raise the calories a bit.
  • Silver_Star
    Silver_Star Posts: 1,351 Member
    Personally, I'd double your protein, leave everything else the same. Maybe a slight increase in fats and a slight decrease in carbs.

    But as the previous poster said, trial and error is a necessary part of the process - you have to find out what your body responds well to.

    This. I upped my fats and protein and lowered my carbs and im losing weight!....play around with the percentages
  • vthetigercat
    vthetigercat Posts: 35 Member
    I looked through your diary, and for your height and weight, you'll get a lot more energy by increasing your calories, and you'll definitely still lose. Try eating more slow burning carbs to give you energy through your workouts, like quick cook steel cut oats or oat bran.
  • zoom2
    zoom2 Posts: 934 Member
    I found that I could lose .5-1# if I kept my carbs ~100-150 net grams/day...this was doing moderate distances...maybe 5-6 miles of running or biking for an hour. Any longer and I suspect bonking may have happened. Years ago I decided to see what would happen if I ate <50 net grams/carbs. That was interesting. By about 4 miles into a run I felt in desperate need for a nap and had to walk the last mile home. I hit the wall, which is something generally reserved for much higher distances, but that assumes adequate carb intake before and during the run. Cut way back and that wall gets really close.

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