The Virginia Championship Hare Scramble Series

[noslzzp]

so.. over the last two weeks, i've dropped about 12lbs. (good for me).. but i still need to drop another 12-20 to get back to my "fighting" weight so to speak..

at Martinsville, i felt weak and felt a major lack of energy, is there any way to "fix" this being on a low carb-style diet?

maybe some of fitness folks can help with suggestions?
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[Smart line]

[Lancaster]

How long have you been on a low carb diet?
It can take up to a month, depending on how metabolically deranged you are, for your body to adjust to using fat over glucose for your primary energy source. During the adjustment you may feel lethargic and your normal workouts can feel brutal. This will all pass and you will come out feeling better than ever.

Are you eating enough?
Be sure to eat until you are full. A lot of people can't seem to wrap there heads around this, but, losing body fat is not calories in calories out. If you try cutting calories your metabolism will just slow down to compensate for its semi starved state. Also, exercise increases appetite, so be prepared to eat more the harder you work. If you eat until you are full and keep your carbs low, less than 100 grams, maybe more depending on how you handle carbs, you will still lose body fat. Fat accumulation is a metabolic derangement from high insulin levels (this is an oversimplification see http://www.why-low-carb-diets-work.com)

How much/hard are you training?
We are not made to work ourselves to death. If you try eating low carb and run five miles a day it is not going to work out. You have to have lots of glucose to sustain that much work. You have to train smarter not harder. Even if you are training smart, racing a bike for two plus hours is very demanding. You are not likely going to get optimal race results without a quick energy source, like cytomax, to replenish your muscle and liver glycogen during the race. But this should not derail your goals. Try tapering your workouts during the week to allow your body time to replenish glycogen stores. Also, shift the bulk of your carbs to your post workout meal to get the most out of them.

I hope this helps and I wish you the best with your fat loss.

[JustPiddling]

My opinion: Get some good food on your stomach before the big event. Oatmeal may taste like cardboard but your body takes a while to break it down so you can draw off of it longer. At the last running event I was at they handed out Hammer Gel packets mid-race. Its a pretty good way to get some simple carbs and sugars in your system fast and it seemed to make a difference. If you stop for gas it might be a good chance to get a packet down.
http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/hammer-gel.hg.html?navcat=fuels-energy-drinks

I've seen your lap times, and you've got time to get one down
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2000 YZ250; 2006 YZ450F; 2006 TTR230; 1997 RT100
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[CrazyTed]

Contact Robert Galyon. He had used that diet and lost a bunch of weight but had problems at the beginning with "boinking" during our events. I believe he had to switch off the diet as the events approached.
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[Lancaster]

You should be fine staying low carb up to the event as long as you taper your training. I follow a low carb paleo diet, not atkins, but I have done some longer running events while keeping my carbs around 50 grams without any trouble. I just taper my training to allow my glycogen time to replenish before the race. Most of my events are at or under an hour, so I have not played too much with carbs during an event. If you don't want to taper your work load you can carb load the day before, but, you don't have to go crazy. Maybe 100g to 150g should do. This really depends on how you handle carbs. I can down a bunch of fruit and, by the next morning, notice a difference in my waist line. My wife could eat nothing but bananas all day everyday and not put on a pound. Shifting the bulk of your carbs to your post workout meal is not necessary but it will help you recover faster during the week if that is a priority. I personally rarely eat after my workouts in order to get the full benefit that exercise provides for insulin sensitivity.

[ChrisClark]

I dont claim to be an expert. This is just from my own personal experience and things I have read on the internet.

You can stay low-carb during races. People are even running marathons while doing low-carb.

Here is a good forum for low-carb high intensity information -
http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/f-114.html


It takes several weeks or even 2-3 months for your body to be as good at converting stored fat into energy as it was it using carbohydrates for energy. You still need to eat plenty and drink lots of fluids. Also, be sure you are taking a multi-vitamin while on low carb. Each time you work out while on low-carb, it gets easier to continue going.

Eat, Eat, Eat -- eggs, cheese, chicken, fish, turkey, etc. Cheesy eggs and sausage is my favorite thing to eat before a race.

That bonk is the old metabolism still somewhat in effect. Your body needs more time to adjust to the new metabolism. I spent 40+ years with my body getting really good at metabolizing carbohydrates. It took a while to get it good at converting fat the same way. Do some extended time workouts before a race to find out where your current energy wall currently is. Each time, the energy wall will be farther away.
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Chris Clark
03 KX250
40+C 21P

[rg]

For racing low carb in my case did not work. I guess it depends on the energy you use racing. I was an A rider so it did not work.. Again no diet works without exercise period. This does not mean riding or racing counts as exercise. You have to have the basics and Atkins does not.
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Robert Galyon
"We're all motorcycle people and motorcycle people are the best in the world."

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SEN A
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[Lancaster]

rg,
It is well documented in many studies that exercise, while necessary for optimal health, is a poor way to try and lose weight. This is because exercise increases appetite. While the participants in these studies did lose weight in the short term, all of them gained the weight back once they satisfied there energy needs. They also did not change there body composition. I have linked a four part paper that gives a alternate hypothesis about what causes fat accumulation and how it may be fixed.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/12/body-fat-setpoint.html

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/01/body-fat-setpoint-part-ii-mechanisms-of.html

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/01/body-fat-setpoint-part-iii-dietary.html

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2010/01/body-fat-setpoint-part-iv-changing.html