For the past week, I have been adding Maltodextrin to my PWO shake - I'm still cutting, but am not interested in losing muscle that I don't have to. I had been using flaxseed oil for the past 6 months.

I had a great workout this morning - legs and core + 15 minutes HIIT on the rowing machine. I was whipped and felt great.

I made a bigger PWO shake than usual - 2 scoops whey, 3 Tablespoons Maltodex in water. A little sweet for my taste, but certainly not bad. About 20 minutes later, I felt a little lightheaded. It lasted for about 35 minutes, and I'm fine now. This has not evre happened to me before.

Did I just OD on the MaltoDex or is this unrelated to the PWO shake? Not looking for medical opinions here, just opinions.

Sugar high....insulin spike you were depleted .. I get this sometimes from regular ATW shakes.. if I work really hard in the gym

Thanks- that's good news, and makes sense. I guess I'll cut back on the MaltDex for future shakes. Lest they give me the shakes :spaz:

I have to admit that I thought I'd enjoy a sugar rush more than that. :(

Sugar high....insulin spike you were depleted .. I get this sometimes from regular ATW shakes.. if I work really hard in the gym

Is this good or bad? I got exactly the same thing the other day. I felt like I was going to faint, started sweating and everything. Should I reduce the amount of MALTO I'm using?

Currently I use 30g PROTEIN + 30g DEX + 30g MALTO. Is that too much? I weigh 175lbs (75kg) now and going by the 0.8 carb/kg + 0.4 prot/kg rule, that's what I calculated, unless I am wrong?

NOTE: Edited units... kg instead of lbs

holy cow, DO NOT CUT BACK ON 3 TABLESPOONS OF MALTO!!


Malto is not even as fast acting as dex, and wouldn't contribute the same diziness effect. If anything, it is very likely you were suffering from a sugar LOW after lifting, and the malto kicked in after 30 minutes.

I would totally UP the malto. Post workout you don't nearly need that much protein. its being wasted by your body, and without enough malto, even more is probably being wasted.


For example, when i initially cut, i cut from 215 down to 155 @ 10%. At first i used 33G protein, 66g dex. then i eventually bumped it UP to 40g prot/40dex/40malto

Now, bulking, I am only going 50g prot/50gdex/50gmalto. We are using the same amount of protein, just now!


It is not the malto causing you to get dizzy i dont think, more likely a lack of. 3 tablespoons is probably 15g. So you are going 50g protein/15g malto. i would AT LEAST make it 1:1

holy cow, DO NOT CUT BACK ON 3 TABLESPOONS OF MALTO!!


Malto is not even as fast acting as dex, and wouldn't contribute the same diziness effect. If anything, it is very likely you were suffering from a sugar LOW after lifting, and the malto kicked in after 30 minutes.

I would totally UP the malto. Post workout you don't nearly need that much protein. its being wasted by your body, and without enough malto, even more is probably being wasted.


For example, when i initially cut, i cut from 215 down to 155 @ 10%. At first i used 33G protein, 66g dex. then i eventually bumped it UP to 40g prot/40dex/40malto

Now, bulking, I am only going 50g prot/50gdex/50gmalto. We are using the same amount of protein, just now!


It is not the malto causing you to get dizzy i dont think, more likely a lack of. 3 tablespoons is probably 15g. So you are going 50g protein/15g malto. i would AT LEAST make it 1:1

The maltodextrin I use is from NOW products. 1/2 cup is 47g, so I figure (1/3 cup) is close to 30g. 3 TBS is actually 17.6g

so when i guessed 15g malto i was pretty close you are saying?


i also use NOW malto

so when i guessed 15g malto i was pretty close you are saying?


i also use NOW malto

Yes, you were close. There are actually 5.875 g/TBS or 1.958g/tsp. So that should make it easier to measure.

I think you should know the process taking place before the ratios

when you exercise your body uses the sugar in your blood, after exercise your bloodsugar is low as default

in your PWO sake you use high glycemic index sugars to spike your insulin levels to aid in the process of delivery of protein to the cells, (insulin delivers the protein and carbs to the cells,) preferably the excess carbs you used to cause the spike are delivered to muscles as glycogen (not to adipose cells) and the protein is delivered to muscles.

however too much spikes, and the cells grow insulin resistant ( the excersise lowers this possibility though) so the pankreas releases more insulin to overcome this resistance. (this may not be your case, I mean the insulin resistance)

what happens when your pancreas releases inculin to deliver the goods in your blood to cells is, the insulin delivers the sugars to cells but if the carbs you consumed were absorbed fast (high glycemic index carbs) the spike would be powerful to oppose this, so the insulin overkills and wipes the sugar from your blood more than needed thus leaving you with much lower in blood sugar from where you were at the begining.

so if you experience hypoglycemia after an insulin spike that mostly means that you have insulin resistance, and you should consume low GI carbs after you PWO to later balance you blood sugar out. see when the insulin spike reaches to the phase of lowering your blood sugar more than needed, the low GI carbs will be just absorbed to the blood and slowly will continue to release sugar into your blood. counteracting the insulins overkill. so the bloos sugar will be balanced. you should consider this.