These are 2 things you can whip up really quickly that taste great, and are not expensive to make.
Mocha Coffee
All you will need is:
Favorite coffee [flavored works, too]
heavy cream
sea salt
sweetener [stevia]
dark chocolate [over 85%]
Grab a glass pyrex cup or microwave safe mug. Mix in 1 cube dark chocolate with 2-4T of heavy cream and sweetener. Microwave for 30-60 seconds until chocolate has melted. Stir the bottom to infuse any remaining chocolate and slowly add coffee. Add more sweetener if you need it, the chocolate should be strong.
Open-face "New Orleans" Omelette
After thinking this up I looked around online to see if I could find a name that fit for it, but I couldn't find anything. This seemed the best in my mind.
Here's what you will need:
I prepped for a few omelletes, so this isn't all for 1 omellete.
Recipe is for 1 small omellete, double or triple if you like.
2 eggs
1oz water
1/4tsp baking soda (just use salt if yours is really old)
~1/3c sausage, any kind works. I prefer the spicy pork, but pick what you like. Andouille is ideal.
~1/3c crab meat, or the fake stuff like I have.
mozzarella
2-3oz cream cheese
roasted garlic
paprika
old bay
olive oil and/or Pam
pepper
chipotle (optional, but recommended)
stevia (optional)
Mix up the water, eggs and baking soda. This is going to make a very fluffy omellete. If you want to add the roasted garlic whisk or blend it in at this stage.
Prep the fillings. You will have about 1 cup (combined) worth of crab meat, sausage and cream cheese that you can pile onto this thing, so get that all sorted out and set aside.
Those with a toaster oven: Turn the heat to medium high on the stove and set the toaster oven to broil or the highest setting.
Without a toaster oven: Turn heat to medium low on the stove
Add any oil you like to the pan, 2-3T and spray the pan with Pam to make sure you can get it off clean.
When the pan gets hot place the egg mixture in and stir it around, scrambling it. When it's about 1/4 cooked you should be able to mold it back into an omellete shape without any effort.
Place is toaster oven to finish top, or cover with a lid and steam finished.
Add crab meat, sausage and cream cheese. Coat with a liberal amount of paprika, chipotle, a few shakes of Old Bay, black pepper and cover with mozzarella.
Place in the toaster oven until the cheese has melted. Or, replace lid after adding a small amount of water along the edge of the pan next to the omellete to aid in steaming..
I'm pretty sure everyone in America is told that breakfast is the most important meal, not lunch, nor dinner. Why? So far the list seems to be: It's healthy in a holistic sense (not health related to lower bodyfat levels); it breaks-the-fast and jump-starts your metabolism; it gives you energy for the day and makes kids smarter; for those that want to gain muscle it's the best time to eat because you are most insulin sensitive; if you eat in the morning you have all day to burn the energy because you aren't doing that at night (hence why you shouldn't eat after 7pm)
The Case for Eating Breakfast, to Break-the-fast
For direct health and longevity aside from that related to bodyfat levels, I've never heard of a benefit for eating breakfast, ever, so we can skip that. For fat-loss, you are supposed to break-the-fast or supposedly you will have all day to burn off the food (more specifically carbs, I'll detail this later). For those that train, it will help you gain the most muscle, right? Probably not, I'll discuss this later, too.
Regarding the idea that eating early gives you the whole day to burn off calories, because you don't in your sleep is moronic. Have you ever heard of REM sleep? Have you ever woke in the middle of the night sweating your ass off, for no apparent reason? That's REM sleep. You were restoring your body, and that take a TON of energy. Not once during the day do you use up so much energy that you get hot and start sweating profusely with no additional movement needed (exercise). This is a very carb and energy expensive process, especially considering that you are incapable of movement during REM sleep.
Ok, so you still burn calories when you sleep. Got it. So in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter when you eat the food because you continually burn energy about evenly all day, every day, right? Well, unfortunately calorie burning is not the only factor for fat loss regarding the general population, especially for those that weight lift. So we are going to have to dig deeper.
Should I Have Cereal or Oats for Breakfast, or Not?
There is a known fact that everyone is more insulin sensitive in the morning, and less in the evening. That's why we are told to have cereal or oatmeal for breakfast and no carbs past 7pm. This is all related to muscle cells. They want food in the morning, bad, they have been "starving" for hours and need food. And at night, they won't and can't pick up as much, so why feed them at all if they are incapable? Right? That's what nutritionists and the media tell us, so we listen.
What about the fat cells? Well, unless you do something to take them out of the equation (which works REALLY well, discussed in a second) they grow the same amount as the muscle tissue. They are just as sensitive to insulin in the morning and insensitive at night. The current trend of timing foods will make the fat and muscle cells grow and shrink the same amount, together. Well shit. So I have to get fat to get muscles? Yup. If you eat like everyone tell you to.
Well what if you tried the opposite? What if you didn't eat carbs in the morning and only ate them at night? You wouldn't grow as much in the morning because the cells are not getting any insulin, and you wouldn't grow as much at night if they aren't sensitive. So I won't gain a lot of fat, but I also wont gain a lot of muscle.
So, it seems that breakfast does have its pros, but also cons.
Let's get slightly more confusing and throw working out into the equation. When doing so, the biggest advantage is that you will receive is preferentially locating glucose to muscle cells, over fat cells. This is a VERY big thing and has a very large effect. Basically, the muscle cells are very sensitive and begin taking up as much sugar as possible, so much so that the fat cells don't have a chance to grab any. This is great, but it only lasts about an hour or so to such a great extent, though this effect lingers and dwindles down about 24 hours after working out.
This means you can eat any carbs you like post training and the muscles will gobble it up, way more than normal. This doesn't mean your body's natural hormone levels and sensitivities change, though. In the morning, fat and muscle tissue are still very sensitive to sugar. Your muscle tissue will be super sensitive to picking it up, but the fat cells will still be grabbing it, too. This isn't all bad, but if you are like most people, you have a job or school and need to perform. You better throw that out the window after you eat because you are going to have the biggest sugar crash of your life from the high carbs and high sensitivity to them.
Let's say, you train in the evening, around 4pm or so and you finish around 6pm when your body's sensitivity to insulin and sugar will be the least. You have that added training window to increase muscle reuptake of glucose post workout and your fat cells will be the least sensitive to insulin, like usual. So muscle takes up all the growth potential while fat cells are hindered? That sounds awesome to me. Also, if you continue eating outside of the 1 hour window in the evening the fat cells are still going to have a hard time growing but the muscle cells still have the added growth potential from the workout (that continues to taper down for 24 hours).
To wrap this all up: Eating breakfast is not a great idea for the best body composition. If you are just trying to lose weight, I wouldn't eat it at all. If you are to eat those carbs, do so in the evening. Your muscle cells are still going to have a residual effect from working out which gives them priority over fat cells, even if you train in the morning (am workouts are not optimal for reduced fat gain, but better than nothing if that's your only option) There is one exception to breakfast, and that is bulking, which I'll include in it's own post.
Kids NEED Breakfast!!!!!!!
You may be wondering if that insulin crash from eating carbs for breakfast applies to kids. Well, it does. Worst of all, these kids hate school because of how our school system runs in the US. Combine significantly lower levels of energy, no motivation because school is lame, a federal obligation to keep kids in school and you are going to get awful results.
The best advice I can give is to drop the carbs in the morning, don't ever give your kids sugar or pancakes for breakfast before school. If you want to give your kids shit then do them a favor and do so on the weekend when they don't have to make the foundation for the rest of their life. Give them a good breakfast with eggs, meat, bacon, some berries if they need something sweet and let them prosper. The fats will hold them over for a long time and even if you don't pack their lunch they will do better than a lazy bowl of cereal.
If pancakes looked like this we all would be better off...
Oh ya, just for the public knowledge regarding fortified cereal. You know they've been finding iron shavings in the cereal. I'm not talking about the iron that is naturally found in meat and veggies, I'm talking about pulverized metal chunks, the stuff we ban from China in our kid toys, and you are putting it in the kids mouth. This isn't just in cereal, this is in many different fortified foods like flour.
You can watch the whole video, but watch the first 2 minutes at least. Don't feed your kids this crap.
So What's for Breakfast Then?
I don't expect you to forgo intaking any calories for 2-5 hours after waking. This is not because you won't run optimally, because you will, even better than with eating breakfast. You have tons of stored energy from dinner yesterday to get you through the day and workout.
The best thing to have for breakfast is just coffee, tea or water, listed from best to mediocre. Coffee and tea both have catecholamines, which are fairly strong appetite suppressants. It should be noted that regular coffee has the most, followed by decaf, then tea and decaf tea (at this point they are insignificant, don't expect much change in appetite from 1 or even 10 cups of decaf tea). The caffeine in coffee stimulates fatty acids to leave the cell, which isn't a big deal normally since fatty acids can just float in the blood stream and go right back to the fat cells. But, since you are not eating you are in a ketogenic state, a state to produce energy that is very inefficient. This means that you have to use even more fat cells to give your body energy. Couple this with the fact that coffee is a thermogenic and raises basal metabolic rate you have a win-win.
I should mention that there are a few things that can hinder and stop all this beauty from happening. Any carbs, at all, will stop this immediately. Also, even a normal serving of whey proteins can stop this. You can have a little, but I wouldn't reach above 15g of whey or 10g whey hydro.
There are some things that you can add, though. Fats, both medium and long chain fats work well. Heavy whipping cream and coconut milk are the best, and tastiest options. Feel free to add any sugar free substitute that you like, with the exception of acesulfame potassium (Ace K). Also, sugar free syrups can work, just be careful with sugar alcohols (ending in -tol) as they can make you gassy and some carbs are digested. I'm not a fan of splenda, or other artificial sweeteners, but for the purposes of fat loss and preventing fat gain they will not hinder anything. I prefer pure stevia extract [Kal is the best tasting one I've tried, and is the cheapest option because of the potency, if you buy it, get the big one], but any form will work, though the major ones at stores aren't as pure and have a stronger aftertaste.
If you have kept up with
‘Fitness’, you have seen, heard of, or experienced some interesting things such
as: Weight Watchers, the cabbage soup diet, the Beyonce diet involving maple
syrup, the Shake Weight, and the list goes on, and on, and on. Of course, a demotivational poster kinda sums them up, all too well.
"You're making me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry"
The current one that seems
to be going strong is that if a girl picks up a weight a few times, she will be
featured in a True Life episode with female bodybuilders.
Don’t flatter yourself. You
are not structured, nor do you have the biological resources to create a
physique like the Hulk. Unless you are a genetic anomaly, and have a condition
such as XXY or similar true genetic issues it’s physically impossible for you
to get SWOLE. (Hint, these ladies are using steroids)
With that said, all women
should be weightlifting, in some way or another. All while you cease and desist this running/jogging/elliptical non-sense.
Here’s a few reasons why you should go
pick up something heavy and why you can't actually gain muscle easily.
440lb deadlift, she only weighs 125lbs.
Anatomy of deadlifting...
Violetta Varga, she lifts weights. Probably more than you do, fellas.
Biology. Women have 1/30th
the level of testosterone as men. This is a big deal regarding weight training
and muscle growth potential. Not only will you not gain [muscle] as fast as a
guy, you will also recover slower from a metabolic and cellular level, which
means you cannot train optimally with the same frequency as a guy.
Now, there are some things
that you can focus on in your training that will make it seem like you are getting big (even though you are only gaining a small amount of muscle). The first part is the pump, blood
flow that is temporarily trapped in the muscle tissue. This can be measured up to 48 hours, but there is a noticeable and temporary difference during and right after training.
The second
problem is programming. If you want to work on the hour glass figure, I would
suggest toning down the shoulder, bicep and oblique workouts like so many girls
do. This is based on personal observation as well as what I've seen the “pros”
recommend on popular sites. Tons of girls come into the gym and do shoulder raises, bicep curls and Russian twists, for tons of volume. Volume equals growth, meaning wider abs, bigger arms and broader shoulders. Keep reading and I'll give you something more well rounded, in a good way.
Here’s a fun fact for girls,
especially those that perform anterior chain exercise a lot, like running,
cycling, elliptical parties and improper squatting. You are 18 times more
likely to tear your ACL than men. That’s a huge number, and these are just the
figures that are reported, not to mention the partial tears that happen.
Without going into an anatomy lesson, your hips are throwing you under the bus,
sorry ladies. Wide hips=high potential for knee problems. The WORST thing you can do for your knees is go for an hour run. And I'm sorry, you may be working hard, but unless you are a professional level runner, cyclist or triathlete, you should not have any joint pain at all. Now, if you have a well rounded weight training program you can do anything else you like, without pain, for all those people who actually like to run. Here's someone in the trenches that agrees:
Now, I think I've delved into enough of the cons of current trends, time to tell you what I think you should do, and why.
You should be going to the gym and lifting up something heavy, with good form. (will explain what heavy means later)
You can do lots of quad (front of thigh) work if you want that look, but make sure you do twice as much hamstring work. Hamstrings stabilize the knee like the ACL, and will take the load that the ACL normally would.
Work your ass, a lot. Work that butt hard and heavy. You should be squatting, deadlifting (refer to previous image for an example), weighted hip thrusts, Glute-Ham Raises, pull-throughs, dumbbell or kettlebell swings and back extensions. The glutes protect the back, knees and ankles. Plus, it looks nice. It's a win-win.
Work your inner thighs a good amount. Look into doing some sumo squats and sumo deadlifts, step-ups on different size boxes, lunges and other unilateral work.
These basics will help to stabilize the knee joint properly. BUT if you already have some knee pain I would highly suggest you stop all quad exercises like lunges, and anything that hurts. Just focus on hamstrings, inner thighs and any glute exercises I mentioned that don't hurt you. While you're at it, check out these stretches, they are brutal, but incredibly effective. This goes for people who don't have any pain, and guys as well.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure...
Part 2 and 3 will be coming soon. I will include some how-to videos that I approve of regarding form from real professionals in the business for the exercises listed above. Also, why traditional steady state cardio sucks and what to do instead to lose weight, and why you should throw away your scale. These will be directed at the guys, as well.
I made some assumptions about knowledge in my last post about Carb Back-Loading for my readers and wanted to state what those were. My main assumption is that you could pick certain foods, like what is low/high carb, low/high fat and in general what is healthy.
For everyone who has taken a nutrition class at Virginia Tech, I'm sorry. The info is beyond outdated, and flat out wrong. Have any of you actually checked the citations to research for some of those claims they made? I have, it's pathetic, and pisses me off that they require us to learn this junk. /end rant
Let me clear the air-
Saturated fat is one of the healthiest things you can put in your body, especially medium chains that come from coconut and palm oil. Saturated fat from animals, that ate like animals (grass fed, free to roam, etc) is also a great source. This encompasses meat, eggs and dairy.
Cholesterol does NOT move from your stomach/diet to your blood, not even close. Dietary cholesterol has ZERO correlation with blood cholesterol.
Speaking of -sterols, cholesterol is a precursor to testosterone. Guys, eat it! Girls, you too! Ladies are unable to build excess testosterone, but a little bit extra will help increase energy levels, help you recover faster from exercise, increase your metabolism, increase libido, skin/hair quality, bone density and slightly reduce fat storage. Go eat a yolk now...
Meat is good for you, so are vegetables and fruit, duh. Eat your veggies! If you really have a hard time getting them down, I recommend buying something like Greens, which you can find online at many places. It's a concentrated powder of vegetables. Some have fruit, but all these are pretty good. You can add it in anyway for added assurance.
You should limit any and all: vegetable/corn/canola/soybean/peanut oils. These have very high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Fun fact- did you know that 50% of arterial plaque is polyunsaturated fat? This also goes for all omega-6 fats. Some here and there is ok, but you need to make sure you take in lots of fatty fish or Omega-3 capsules that are filtered for mercury. The recommended amount is about 5 grams combined EPA and DHA (17 caps from my link).
Whole wheat is a scam. If you eat bread or grains, get the refined version. White bread has far fewer anti-nutrients than whole wheat. If you weren't aware, plants don't like to be eaten, just like us. They have developed means to prevent that, and a good amount of those anti-nutrients are in the germ of the whole wheat. If you ever searched for a good whole wheat loaf did you read the ingredients? Dough conditioners and dyes, or it might be fake and colored white wheat. Just avoid all of it and save yourself some money, and your health. This means no corn, flours, pastas, etc. The only exception seems to be rice, so go for it if you like it.
Soy is another awful thing to put in your body, especially for you girls. It is far from a "superfood"
Now that all of you have been schooled on nutrition, let's get to some recipes, foods and general ideas that have helped others and myself with Back-Loading.
Laundry list of stuff for the kitchen-
[Another assumption is that you can cook/are not in a dorm. Bare with me, I'll try and help you too]
Spices are your friend, buy them ALL, the more the better
Basic foods you should/might already have:
Meats of preference
Eggs
Cheese
Veggies
Fruit
Herbs & spices
Things you might need to add that will make life easier:
Shredded coconut or coconut flour
Almonds/nuts
Ground Flax seeds (organic for $10 or non- for $2, your pick)
Cheeses, specifically cream cheese and parmesan
Baking soda and baking powder
Hand held mixer ($5 at Walmart!!)
Food processor and/or coffee grinder (coffee grinder is better for making almond/coconut flour)
Non-stick cook and bakeware, plus parchment paper
Coconut milk & organic/virgin coconut oil
Heavy whipping cream
Coffee or decaf, tea for those who don't like it
Stevia or Splenda, I recommend the natural route with Stevia, though.
Sugar free maple syrup (Cary's is the best brand so far)
Sugar-free drink mixes like Crystal light, kool-aid, Mio (pretty good), diet sodas, Zevia (tastes awesome) or my trick of concentrated protein powder flavoring in water or almond/coconut milk, the varieties are endless and can be stevia sweetened.
Flavored whey protein isolate
Condiments like mustard, vinegar, mayo, soy sauce, hot sauce, tomato paste (for making ketchup and bbq sauce without added sugar)
These are the things that have helped me in the past when doing a cyclic ketogenic diet, and with Carb Back-Loading (CBL).
Sample Keto Diet
The general rule of thumb for those that can cook is, if the food item is Atkins (phase 1+2) friendly, you can eat it. So instead of listing everything from the Atkins page that covers the carb counts, please check out Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Atkins diet. **This is no where near an Atkins diet, but the 10 day prep phase is the same design. Keep the carbs below 25 grams, ladies, try lower just to be safe.
Yes, that's bacon salt in the background, we will get to that later
Or you could be lame like me
and eat cottage cheese :)
Snacks & Drinks
Remember the essentials like string cheese, peanut butter (cookies), bacon, veggies & ranch, stuffed mushrooms or anything else low carb you want to snack on.
As far as drinks go, I listed many of them before. Buy some protein powder to mix with water, coconut milk or almond milk. Calorie Countdown by HOOD (at Kroger) is a good choice too. You could also buy some flavored teas to sweeten or put a squirt of Mio in that. If you really like any that I mentioned or have some ideas post a comment and share the info for us!
Ketogenic Dinner and Dessert
As far as food goes, I would classify dinner and lunch as the same meals. Lunch is not supposed to be a sandwich, soda and chips, so just up the food or add more veggies or whatever makes the meal feel more dinner-y to you.
If you have been checking these links you will notice a lot are to a blog. This girl knows what she's doing and I highly suggest that you browse through the blog, even if you don't want to do the diets I have listed. Make sure to look at the recipe index and visit desserts, as well as veggies and sides (mashed cauliflower is a favorite+lots of butter). There is one more recipe website that seems to be pretty reliable, look around there. The selection is larger and just like the first blog, it isn't 100% ketogenic, but there is a good amount of them (like low carb pot pies).
Some advice for dessert: There are going to be a lot of options at the store, you just have to look around. This is the easiest option. The second easiest option is to construct something from the store (look up recipes or something), like sugar free vanilla yogurt mixed with diet soda (cream sickle floats or root beer floats are some that come to mind), this is all very individual, so if you are craving something look for alternatives. Another simple option is more breakfast food, like the pancakes from earlier. Lastly, you could make some protein or cottage cheese icecream, which are pretty good, but very time consuming. Once again, comment if you really liked something or have any ideas for all of us to read.
I've been asked by several people lately about how to lose weight, from clients, coworkers, to my friends and family. I'm going to list 2 simple diets that have been used for decades for fat loss that are brutally effective. These diets work best for people that weight train, women included. Don't worry ladies, you can't get bulky, but you will get leaner and stronger. I'll state it again, this works for those who resistance train hard at least 3 times per week. For those that do not, of course I encourage you to do so, but if that is not an option at the moment please read up on the Anabolic Diet or purchase the book Carb Nite by Kiefer.
Here's some info on the first diet:
Fits a busy schedule much better than those "healthy" diets that require eating every 2-3 hours
Perfect for busy parents or people that need to run out the door in the morning
Works for people that have a harder time controlling cravings, but also those that want to eat cleaner
Provides more consistent energy levels for your workouts as well as during the day
...and the second diet [Stay tuned for Part 2]
More effective than the first, but requires some planning
Allows you to have more variety than the first, depending on the day
Works better for people that can't have trigger foods and would like to eat cleaner
Let's get started with the first diet, known as Carb Back-Loading.
This is what you might consider as the ultimate junk food diet, because you can eat just about anything and lose fat. It's kind of beautiful how it works actually. To get the best results with this diet there is a prep phase that will last 10 days long. I'm going to layout the diet first, then go into some detail about why it works.
Days 1-10
Don't eat any carbs, none at all. Only eat fats and protein, but make sure to get your veggies in, too (check the label if you are unsure about carbs). Carbs are limited to 30 grams for the day. Right around day 5,6 and 7 you will start to enter ketosis. This is going to make you a little sluggish for a day or 2, but that is all.
Every day from now on will have the same structure, and will be based off of working out around 4pm (this is optimal).
Time for Carbs!
Each morning you will skip breakfast, at least for 2 hours, but it would be best to go all the way to noon.
Until you get to eat you may have coffee or tea, with no calorie sweeteners such as Truvia or splenda, with Truvia being the healthiest. You can also add: highest quality coconut oil you can find, MCT oil, unsweetened coconut milk or heavy whipping cream, about 100-200 calories is the target for those fats added. If you happen to have pure whey isolate laying around, add 1/2 scoop of that (optimizes muscle retention).
Have a few cups up until you get to eat. This will suppress your appetite a good amount, especially with the coffee, and even decaf, but less so.
Time to eat! Don't worry, you will get used to the hunger pangs within a week or so if you have a consistent schedule in the morning.
When it comes time to eat, try to keep the meals smaller if possible, you are still trying to back-load calories, not just carbs. Have some bacon, steak, eggs, sausage, some veggies and a little butter, olive oil or coconut oil. Or you can skip the breakfast foods and eat lunch. Remember, no carbs still!!! The only exception to the carbs are small amounts from things like nuts, cheeses, avocados, etc. The rule is to limit the carbs to below 30 grams, but less is more.
There is no real limit to how many meals you can have without carbs before training, but the goal is still to eat more food post-training, so use common sense.
Post-Training
Within 30 to 60 minutes after training you get to have some fun. Eat a good protein source like meat, cottage cheese or a protein shake and then have something super starchy, that's fast absorbing. Try to keep the fat and gluten as low as possible. Also, don't find the worst quality foods for this, try to find something fresh, local and/or organic. Eat some pie, cake, real pastries (from a bakery, they use low gluten flour, not the stuff in a box), rice pudding, etc. Remember, keep the fat as low as possible. More -real- food options are: lower fat pizzas, pasta (not ideal because of gluten, no white sauce of course), white rice (sushi is a great option), potatoes (preferably red or sweet potatoes) and throw in some fruits while you're at it.
Before bed
Unless you are a bigger guy with a good amount of muscle (think 2.7lbs x height in inches, roughly), you will just be eating more proteins before bed, that's it. Ladies, unfortunately this applies to you as well. You get 1 carb meal post training, and that's it.
Go eat some more meat, have a protein shake, some cottage cheese, some nuts, bacon or whatever comes to mind, then get some sleep.
For those of you who do train hard and heavy, and fall around the guideline for weight, space the meals out some and keep the idea the same. Get in at least 2 carb meals, possibly more.
Notice there is no calorie counting? All you need to do is evaluate yourself in the morning.
Do you look bloated and fat? Cut back on the carbs compared to the night before.
Look better and tight? Don't change anything.
Look deflated? Add in another carb meal
That's it. It's pretty simple, and you can have just about anything in this diet if you follow the rules.
A few closing notes, in order-
Breakfast isn't essential, nor is it the most important meal of the day. If you are trying to lose the fat, follow this to the 't'. Your growth hormone needs a chance to spike and will do so within about 2 hours after waking, if you don't eat.
No carbs until working out: this is helping to empty your sugar stores in your body. You also have better hormonal and physiological responses while training if you don't carb-up right before training.
You cannot use "healthy" carbs in this diet. Whole wheat and fibrous foods post-training will slow your sugar digestion and cause you to stay out of the fat burning zone even longer. This goes for non-training days as well. Just keep the carb up smaller on non-training days or cardio days
This diet goes against the grain, a lot, but I believe in it, and there's research to back it up. If you have any questions, let me know below in the comments!!
P.S. Part 2 will contain some variations for those that cannot train at the requested time, how and what to do with cardio, as well as the second diet referred to as carb cycling.
