Lean Bodies Consulting Newsletter

Volume 13, April 18, 2008

Welcome to another addition of the LBC newsletter. If you haven't received the previous issues of the newsletter and you'd like to, you can find the archives here.

In this issue I'm running the second part of an article on Carbohydrate and Calorie Cycling For Fat Loss. If you missed Part 1, you can find it right here.

If you'd like to see a question or topic addressed in a future newsletter, feel free to drop me a line at erik@leanbodiesconsulting.com. 

What’s New At Lean Bodies Consulting?

At the time of the last newsletter, I was just about to leave for a week-long vacation in the Mayan Riviera. Well, we're back now and we had a great week. On the one hand, I'd love to extend my stay a few more days, but on the other hand, I was starting to look forward to getting back to my normal eating and training schedule. And fortunately, the week didn't pass too fast. For the most part it was just a week of complete relaxation. The days were spent lounging by or in the pool, soaking up the sun and the evenings were spent just hanging out, taking walks, seeing a couple shows, etc. I had planned to allocate an hour a day to work, but they didn't have wireless Internet, so I was forced to take a full week off. Poor me. In the grand scheme of things, while I came home to a ton of work, it was good to take a short break from it all.

As I'd mentioned previously, I had planned to take my vacation week off from dieting, which I've been doing for a couple months now. As I've written before, one of the most underrated strategies for continued fat loss is planned dieting breaks, or periods of time where you eat at approximately maintenance calories. This serves multiple purposes – one is a simple psychological break from the rigors of 'dieting' and two, a 'normalization' of sorts of the metabolic processes. With the former, we all know that after a while, dieting, counting, eating in a deficit, etc., gets tiring, so often times some planned time off your plan is just what you need to be able to hit it hard with renewed vigor again. With the latter, we know that with prolonged dieting, falling bodyfat levels and a move away from our natural set, or settling points, there are changes in the regulatory hormones that govern fat loss that function to slow down or perhaps even altogether halt fat-loss progress. Raising calories for a couple weeks can help to normalize these systems so that when you hit your deficit again, fat loss picks right back up.

Anyway, so that's what I did while away. Just some unplanned, pretty loose eating. I'd also planned a complete rest week from all exercise (outside of some leisurely walks) which is also something more people would be wise to do – take a week off. If you can't remember when you last had a full week off of all formal training, then take one now. Trust me, you'll be glad you did when you get back to the gym.

I however, did get in two short workouts in what turned out to be a pretty well-equipped gym. I didn't do anything fancy or heavy and just opted for some lighter weight, higher rep, depletion-style workouts. I actually rationalized them by saying to myself, 'Hmm, I'm going to kill that breakfast buffet in an hour, so it's probably a good idea to deplete some glycogen, burn some more calories and do what I can to affect the partitioning of those big breakfast calories'.

I also, and some of you that know me will no doubt laugh as you read this, participated in a yoga class on the beach. That was actually quite challenging as certain parts of my body didn't seem to want to cooperate with my instructions. I actually took the class because my low back had been irritating me for a couple days, and what do you know, I was fine for the rest of the trip. It was a good reminder of the need for more flexibility work in my own training. I also did about 6 minutes of a water aerobics class ... for fun. That's all I'm going to say about that. 

All in all a great vacation. A similar write up, along with some vacation pictures can be found here - www.leanbodiesconsulting.com/blog.

Carbohydrate Cycling for Fat Loss – Part 2

Again, if you missed Part 1 you can find it here.

On the flip side however, most people do not enjoy following a low carb strategy for very long. While there are clearly benefits to doing so, there are other things that need to be considered. Chronic very low-carb intake can actually impair insulin sensitivity and promote insulin resistance (related to ketone exposure). As already noted, low-carb intakes also result in overly flat, depleted muscles and gym performance typically suffers. Throw in a day of high carbs and your muscles fill out, you find yourself more vascular, your workouts are great, and you look and feel much better. There is also research to support the fact that these higher-carb/calorie days may stimulate leptin production (although a short term increase in calories/carbs would only have a short term effect on these hormones mind you), which as we already noted is an important player in the fat-loss game. The one issue on the leptin subject is that it is debatable as to what the significance of this short-term upregulation would be. It may be an  increase that is not significant enough or long enough, but regardless, the point is that something is definitely happening as strategies used in an attempt to stimulate these regulatory hormones result in not only continued, but greater fat loss over time . Carbohydrates are also very protein sparing – meaning they prevent protein from being oxidized as fuel – which is an important consideration when muscle retention is a primary focus.

There are psychological factors to consider as well. How you feel on a diet is arguably just as important to your progress as any other variable. There are not too many people that enjoy looking flat and depleted all the time. Add to that the fact that some people simply feel awful on consistent low carb intakes. And let's not forget one of the reasons most people can appreciate – carbohydrates simply taste good. Of course, there is the flip side as well – there are a number of people who don't feel good on high carbs either. These are typically those who suffer from a degree of insulin resistance. So in both populations, a carb cycling approach still has great utility.

So to summarize, we want some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are higher and some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are lower. The simplest way to set this is to just cycle your carbohydrates and calories according to your weekly training schedule. For example, assuming four workouts per week, you might have your high days on your two big workouts, medium days on your two easier workouts, and low days on your off days. If you were only training three days per week, you could go with just one high day, on your hardest workout or the workout with the greatest volume, and then make your other training days medium days and again the rest, low days.

PRACTICAL STEPS

First of all, let me say that carb cycling is not mandatory for great results. It's just one tool in the dieter's 'toolbox'. Many people do just fine are far simpler approaches. With that out of the way, there is no one best way to cycle carbs or calories. In fact, there are many, many different permutations that can be used successfully. Both two and three-day rotations will work great provided the basics of good nutritional strategies are in place. Here is just one example that you could use as a template. Feel free to tweak it to suit your needs if necessary. On that note, one possible tweak that I have used for a long time is to just cycle between low and high carb days. On the low days, which by design would be days you are not lifting weights, you push the caloric deficit by going very low carbs and low calories and then on the high days, which are obviously your training days, you push the calories and the carbs. The low days will take care of the weekly deficit required for fat loss and the high days will help with recovery, fullness, workout performance, etc.

Ok, so how to set up a sample plan. First off is caloric intake. Once you know the caloric total you are striving for, the simplest way is to set up all the macros (protein, carbs, fat) for your medium day and then simply adjust carb (and secondarily fat intake) intake to determine your high and low days. So, assume the medium day is a standard dieting day. As an aside, but a valuable note to keep in mind, there are many different calorie equations you can use – however be aware that they all have the potential to be off by as much as 20%. So for the sake of simplicity you could just assume maintenance to be approximately 15x (generally 14-16x) total bodyweight and subtract 20-25% to create a healthy caloric deficit. This will put you around 11-12x total bodyweight. Remember, if you are not progressing  on your current caloric intake, simply adjust it up or down until progress resumes.

Next up is protein. I am sure we are all in agreement that we need to eat sufficient amounts of protein when trying to lose fat and maintain muscle, so set it anywhere from 1.0-1.5g/lb of bodyweight and split it up evenly throughout the day. It's always a good idea to try to get the majority of your protein intake from whole food sources in my opinion as well.

You are going to have three carbohydrate intakes – one for high days, one for medium days, and one for low days. For your medium days, set your carbohydrate intake between 0.8 and 1.0g/lb of bodyweight. I think due to the low carb craze, that many will see this as a high amount of carbs, but truth be told, it really isn't. We've been brainwashed against carbs.

So now we know our calories, our protein and our carbs. All that remains is to figure out how much fat we’re to eat. In this case, fat simply serves as a caloric ballast. Simply make up the rest of your calories from fat. Your protein intake will stay constant throughout all three days. With your fat intake, you've got two options – keep it constant and just let the carbohydrate fluctuation take care of the calorie cycling, or adjust the fat intake as well in order to increase or decrease the desired deficit. For example, if you really want to push your low days hard and try for a bit more weekly fat loss, consider dropping your fat intake down as well. Again, protein stays constant.  On your high carb days, set your carb intake to around 2.0g/lb of bodyweight. This is the 'X factor' day. By that I mean it's the most variable day in the sense that some people will love the high days and some people will hate them. If you're not used to higher days, consider gradually increasing your totals over time, rather than just right off the bat.  Give your body time to adjust and adapt. Finally for your low days it is going to be minimal as you’re only eating fibrous vegetables; no starch-type carbs at all.

Remember the truth of the matter is that there is no one best method for fat loss. Carbohydrate and calorie cycling is just one logical and effective way of approaching it. Many who opt for this kind of approach find it very easy to follow as you get a few days a week where you get to eat some fun carbs, and like I said, who doesn’t like eating carbs? One note for the scale obsessed. Recognize that due to the fluctuating carbohydrate intake your bodyweight will fluctuate as well. This is normal and to be expected. Due to enhanced glycogen storage and intracellular water after high days, you'll typically be up a few pounds. Again, to be expected. Even without that, there is always going to be day-to-day fluctuations in water balance. What you're looking for is a downward trend over time. I have one client of mine who likes to refer to the scale as a 'random number generator'. In the big picture it is just one piece of information. Without context and proper assessment of the information, it is of little use.

  "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

If you know anyone you think would enjoy or benefit from this newsletter, please forward it on and pass on the newsletter sign up link LBC Newsletter. Remember, that when they sign up to receive the LBC newsletter they also get a copy of my report on the Top 10 Not-So-Obvious Fat-Loss Mistakes

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Erik Ledin, B.Kin, CSCS, CISSN, NSCA-CPT
http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com
http://www.leanbodiesfitness.com
http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com/blog