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Copyright © 2005 Peak Performance. All Rights Reserved.
FAQ #5 Will going on a low-carb diet help me to lose weight
While there is no denying that significant, rapid changes in fat mass have been seen in overweight and obese individuals losing weight on low carb diets note that these were not athletes! More than a few days of low carb eating for an athlete will result in compromised training. Even long slow distance training requires some carbohydrate in order to use fat as a fuel. And any tempo training and above threshold workouts are not possible once muscle carbohydrate stores are depleted. There is no way an endurance athlete going “low carb” can get enough carbohydrate to refuel muscle glycogen stores on a daily basis. Which means that inconsistent performance, crankiness, poor motivation, reduced endurance and chronic fatigue like symptoms will be your future.
Chronic low carb eating also compromises immune function, cognitive function and gut function ……so not only will you be poorly fueled for your sport, but you are also putting yourself at a greater risk of infection, your mental ability will decline, your stomach is likely to get upset and your chances of becoming constipated or getting hemorrhoids have skyrocketed.
The reason why so many people get excited about large amounts of weight loss in the 1st week on a low carbohydrate diet is this: every time your muscles store 1 gram of carbohydrate they also store 3 grams of water. If you cut down on your carbohydrate intake drastically (like on any low carb diet) your body uses the stored carbohydrate in the muscles to keep you going - your brain needs a constant supply of carbohydrate to function - after a few days on the low carb diet you will have used up all the stored muscle carbohydrate, which released all the water stored along with it - so a low carb dieter will notice that they are peeing large volumes of urine at the beginning of their diet ....no wonder, they lose weight! Lots of water weight....and this is also why people complain of putting on lots of weight when they go back to eating lots of carb rich foods. This is just their body responding to the famine/feast situation - and when carbohydrate is abundant, much more will get stored along with water, in the muscles - weight gain.
Endurance athletes, such as inline skaters training for marathon and half marathon races, eating more than 50% of calories from carbohydrate have better immune function, more muscle glycogen, better consistent endurance performance and an improvement in power output. Hmmm….these are great reasons to go HIGH carb…..especially if one is notching up the training volume and intensity for this racing season.
So how much carbohydrate do you need? Endurance athletes need carbohydrate rich foods at each meal and snack. Here is a typical day of eating:
BASIC MENU(drink water throughout the day) |
BREAKFAST |
|
SNACK |
|
LUNCH |
|
SNACK |
|
SUPPER |
|
WORKOUT |
|
POST WORKOUT SNACK |
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Copyright © 2005 Peak Performance. All Rights Reserved.
