Rules on carbs for exercise/training

HellonWheels

In most sports nutrition books, articles, etc its stressed that carb intake must be high for adequate training (I agree with this.)

However, does this apply only to normal weight ppl, or also overweight cyclists/exercisers? What if a person is overweight and not necessarily trying to lose weight, they just happen to be "big". Can they exercise off the fat stores, or do they also need as much carbs as someone of normal weight before workouts?

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mattv2099

If you are riding slow and easy then you can pretty much get away with getting most of your energy from body fat. When you pick up the pace the energy comes mostly from glycogen (stored carbohydrate).

HellonWheels

Someone asked me (who is overweight but physically active), and I didn't know what to tell him. I heard that same thing somewhere else, which might explain why those on lowcarb diets cannot exercise HARD, only moderately.

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ric_stern/RST

even at low exercise intensity -- if the session isn't very long, or the individual isn't very fit -- then a good proportion of the energy will still come from carbohydrate oxidation

ric

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MaxPrime

Carbs are extremely potent in energy, however more difficult to break down. When you start working hard - your body is going to convert those ASAP and they'll be your main fuel source. If you don't have them, you're robbing your body from other places (not just fat) and this is unhealthy in many ways.

Your main concern should be calories. If you take in less than you burn up, your body is going to attempt to get the difference from stored fat. You can't do this in a day, it has to be a small difference - but it will add up fast. Keep yourself healthy and in the saddle and your weight problems should slowly melt away.

chisa1234

i did the low carb thing for about a week but had to stop as i was feeling exhausted even after 15miles at a good pace (15-20mph)

the low carb thing has a lot going for it and theoritically it makes sense, but it is a diet generally for fat housewives and not people who try to exercise hard every day - especially endurance exercise like cycling.

i wanted to lose about 25lbs to improve on hills but after what happened low carbing i'm just gonna stick to exercise to improve and if weight loss comes (which really it should) then thats great.

chisa1234

apologies to fat housewives

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Roadie_scum

What on earth do you mean CHO is more difficult to break down???

tanggoman

low carb diet is their excuse for not exercising...

HellonWheels

BINGO! BTW I loved that "fat housewives" comment! Or as a friend said, "Atkins is for fat middleaged housewives who sit on their bum all day, make up all kinds of excuses as to why they "can't exercise", watch telly and get on AOL to chat with diet buddies."

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juf2m

The thing that always bugs me about low carb is everyone who is on it has lost at least 20lbs...so they would have had to be pretty overweight to begin with. I'd love to see an example of someone with only 5 or 10lbs to lose and how they did....

Anyway, I learned something I didn't know from my first appointment with a sports nutritionist. (warning...the following in purely laymen's terms!) She tells me that when you eat low carb, your body (as you already know) is in ketosis, and full of ureic (sorry not sure of spelling) acid as a result of the less efficient burning of fat. It wants to get rid of this acid, so it uses up much more water. This is part of the weightloss, all your internal water is getting flushed out. A side effect of this is that your blood gets thicker, and your heart has to work much harder. This is made worse when exercising and your heartrate skyrockets. Yet another scary thing about low carb! She says she would never have me on a low carb diet (I ride 2 or 3 times a week, plus a ballet class) but that if I were not exercising for a period of time I could go lower, but no lower than 150gm.

closesupport

my wife says its fine,but its my fault since she cooks for me, and has put on alot of weight because of it. but there is no need to go on about it. but why she can't have 3 meals a day of reasonable quantities rather than have one mound like i have at tea times when i get up like normal people, i'll never know...... maybe to lazy to cook 3 times a day hey

"as if i force her to eat the same portions as i do"

CannonChick

LOL!! You nailed that one!

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closesupport

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