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Author: GymMachine
Date: 04-02-03 20:11
Carbs are an energy source....they arent readily stored as fat as most believe...carbs make us move basically and give us energy to walk, talk and for other bodily functions including the brain!...
CARBS AND MUSCLE BUILDING:
Most people believe that protein is all u need to grow, after all muscle is protein and protein is muscle...well your nearly correct...carbs are the missing part of the puzzle...carbs are stored as glycogen ( a type of sugar ) in the liver and muscle....constant moving, breathing, talking, walking uses carbs as fuel to do so...so what happens when we dont get enough carbs? well your glycogen 'tank' levels start to deplete (this is the atkins theory from here on basically)...fairly soon both liver and mucle tanks of glycogen are empty so your body uses another energy source to get by - fat and muscle....unfortuntely u will lose both, how much of each varies greatly (when it comes to weight loss each human is a different species to another)...
A diet of moderate carbs is ideal...this is why: a constant flux of fuel to top up your energy tanks makes sure mr muscles isnt sacrificed as an energy source...remember when losing weight u need to preserve lean mass because muscle is your metabolism = the more u have of it the more calories u burn even at rest....so dont be afraid of carbs people, especially if your cardio workouts are quite demanding...you will find you will double your results if your getting enough carbs with your protein rather than skimp on the carbs out of fear they will turn to fat instantly...if that were true there would be hardly any skinny people on the planet : our diets are predomintely carbs naturally!
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Author: BFL Michelle
Date: 04-03-03 07:02
Ok, I have increased my protein intake with Whey. I am not cutting carbs out at all I am wathcing them though, I am guessing I get roughtly 55 to 75 grams a day.
The thing is, for the last three days at 3:00 and yesterday at 2:00, I feel like I just bottom out. I get so sleepy I can barely hold my eyes open and feel very tired. The first day, I seem to have gotten my "second wind" when I got home, but the last two day, I actually had to take a nap. My question is, do you think this is from not enough carbs? I was also thinking it could be lack of iron?
I'm doing 20 minutes of cardio 5 days a week and alternating up and lower. I don't intend to keep this up, but am only doing it to see if I can excelerate my weight loss until I get to 120 (I'm at 130 now) and then I plan to hit the BFL program they way it should be.
Any ideas? Thanks, BFL Michelle
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Author: GymMachine
Date: 04-03-03 15:17
yes your very low on carbs and it is very possible thats why your bottoming out as u put it....definately add some carbs, they arent evil, all u got to worry about is total cals per day.
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Author: BFL Michelle
Date: 04-03-03 16:59
Thanks, that's kinda what I thought. My lunch had more carbs than usual today and guess what...I didn't bottom out! I have been working out alot harder than usual and I guess my carb intake all of a sudden can't keep up. I don't avoid carbs, just high calories...:)
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