Do you only have to look at carbs and get fat?
It seems that way sometimes doesn’t it?
However, there are many men and women that can literally eat anything and not gain an ounce of fat (like me), but chances are, that’s not you. It certainly isn’t Corey or Nathan.
Learning to properly manage carb intake takes a bit of trial and error depending on the individual.
Some people think they have to starve themselves of carbs if they ever want to see their abs. Even when they train hard, they still feel the need to really limit their carb intake or they’ll get fat.
If you can eat whatever you want and stay lean, then you wouldn’t likely be reading this article.
Is it just a fact of life that some people will always be lean, and others will gain fat, or struggle every day to keep it off..
Today we I am going to teach you guys how to manage carbohydrates to maximise growth and minimise fat gain.
Here are the 7 must do’s of carb management to ensure you gain muscle and NOT fat:
1). Measure
Just like in life, what gets measured gets managed.
It may sound complicated but if you don’t know what you’re taking in, how do you expect to manage it?
You don’t need it to consume your life, however learning some simple tools to determine how many carbs are in common foods will go a long way to gauging your progress. And remember, the more meticulous you are with this, the faster you will get results.
1 average apple = 25g carbs
1 cup cooked rice = 50 grams carbs
1 cup dry oatmeal = 60g carbs
1 medium sweet potato (225g) = 48g carbs.
You get the picture.
Figure out a rough list of the things you eat on a regular basis and make note of them. This will allow you to take control of your carb intake and to gauge energy levels.
Apply simple logic… if your workouts are lagging, and recovery isn’t great, try a little extra carbs post workout.
If you get fat eating what you are now, it’s time to change it up. Either start burning more, or stop eating so much.
2). Earn your carbs
The best time to eat carbs?
Right after you’ve earned them!
Do something out of the ordinary to earn your carbs smash yourself!
Sitting at your desk all day won’t do very much for depleting muscle glycogen, so cramming down a huge serving of pasta before you train will most likely not do you any good unless you’re very depleted.
Earning your carbs with simply being physically active will, “open your cells”, to being more receptive to the glycogen influx from eating carbohydrates, and will also burn off some of the glycogen currently stored in your muscles to make room for more.
Remember, glycogen stores are limited. Just like petrol in your car, once it’s full it’s full. Pouring more over the top won’t increase your ability to store it, it will just overflow into fat storage (in a nutshell).
3) Eat the majority of your carbs late in the day, and / or after a workout
Your body’s two primary energy sources are Carbs and fats.
It constantly switches back and forth between the two depending on a number of different factors throughout the day (e.g; blood sugar, adrenaline levels).
Eating more protein and fats early in the day will ensure your body is efficiently using fats as it’s primary source of fuel. As soon as you substantially spike your blood sugar with carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises and your body stops burning fat and immediately switches to using carbs for fuel.
Depending on your body’s ability to use glycogen (insulin sensitivity), eating carbs first thing in the day can not only make your body stop using any fat for fuel, but also make your body more insulin resistant, and therefore you won’t use carbs effectively either. This is a term called ‘metabolic inflexibility’.
Being metabolically flexible means your body will adapt and burn whatever you put in. Inflexible means you’re likely to store whatever you put in.
The two best ways to overcome metabolic inflexibility?
– Eating protein, fats, and veggies early in the day, and saving carbs for after your workout, or the evening.
– Frequent exercise.
4). Low GI carbs will help balance blood sugar and help you to avoid binging
Going too low carb can be a double edge sword in itself. You’ll get hungry!
By eating mostly low GI carbs, you will avoid the peaks and valleys associated with fluctuating insulin levels from consuming high sugar, high GI foods. Lower glycemic carbs are often the better choice, especially for people who tend be to insulin resistant.
Insulin resistance means that you can eat the same amount of carbohydrates as someone else, but your body has to produce more insulin to get that same amount of glycogen into the cells and eventually your cells become full and therefore you’re left with high blood sugar and high insulin levels in your blood stream. The glycogen needs somewhere to go, it gets stored as fat and your body realises that it’s insulin isn’t being used. It therefore down regulates it’s insulin and thus creating a insulin resistive state. Worst form is early on-set type 2 diabetes.
5). Mix Carbs with Proteins
Mixing protein with your carb meals can slow stomach emptying and therefore slow down insulin spikes (the difference isn’t massive so eating protein doesn’t justify donuts as an okay source of carbs people!).
6). Don’t drink your calories
If you’re a male over 12% bodyfat, or a female over 20% bodyfat, chances are you’re insulin resistant. Drinking carbs in the form of juices, powders, etc, isn’t a good idea.
Solid food will fill you up, and take longer to digest, therefore not spiking insulin as much (the flip-side of this is people looking to bulk aggressively should consume a lot of calories from liquids).
7). Add some veggies to all of your meals (except immediately post-workout)
Add veggies to all meals. The fibre in vegetables slows down stomach emptying, and therefore limits insulin spikes.
Adding fibre from vegetables can be one of the best tools for managing blood sugar, insulin resistance and fat gain. It will keep your blood sugar levels much more stable and avoid peaks and valleys.
Post-workout is the only time when you WANT a larger insulin spike (if you’re a male under 12% bodyfat / female under 20%).
Start implementing this into your nutrition and training guys and let me know how you go with it!
Matt
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