Hi

I have been training for 3rd week now.i normally workout late evening probably 2 hours prior to sleeping.What is the best advice for me regarding postwork out carb sources(i normally have a protein shake)..especially since they say to avoid carbs close to sleeping time?

will slow carbs as oats be o.k?

i am trying to increase LBM with minimal fat(im fat enough aldready!!) gain over the next 5 months.


thanks

especially since they say to avoid carbs close to sleeping time?

Who are 'they'? If you have just lifted then it doesn't matter what time of day it is you should have some good PWO nutrition! A common approach is to have a protein + simple carb shake immediately after lifting (2:1 ratio of carbs/protein is common) and then follow this up with a protein and carb meal an hour or so later.

is it not true about carbs slowing growth hormone release during sleep and increasing fat utilisation?

is it not true about carbs slowing growth hormone release during sleep and increasing fat utilisation?

I think this comes from the point of view that if you are in a normal state and eat carbs before bed, then you will not burn as much fat overnight because carbs are available.

But if you work out hard, you deplete muscle glycogen. I do not mean if you walk around the block. I mean if you work out hard, OK? So when you deplete muscle glycogen, the metabolism puts a priority on replenishing the muscle glycogen. This will have the priority call on the carbs you ate, and it will also require fat to be burned in order to transport the carbohydrates from digestion to the muscles.

So if you eat less carbs than the glycogen you depleted, you will increase fat usage overnight by eating carbs after the workout.

If you eat more carbs than the glycogen you depleted, then after the glycogen is replenished, the extra carbs will reduce the fat usage overnight.

Thanks Zen .

is there a average amount of glycogen usage in a 50 min weights session or does it vary a lot between individuals?
how many grams of carbs would u say is sufficient to replace the glycogen usaged?


aslo doesnt the liver automatically repace the used glycogen as i thought it could store around 1800 kcal worth?


thanks

is there a average amount of glycogen usage in a 50 min weights session or does it vary a lot between individuals?
how many grams of carbs would u say is sufficient to replace the glycogen usaged?

aslo doesnt the liver automatically repace the used glycogen as i thought it could store around 1800 kcal worth?

There is not an average amount of glycogen usage in a 50 minutes weight session. It really depends on how much you weigh, how hard you go, and what your VO2max is. My personal range of exercise intensity is anywhere from 10 Calories per minute to 25 Calories per minute.

The liver tries to replace the glycogen but because of that, the liver glycogen gets depleted more than the muscle glycogen. So if your workout takes down the muscle glycogen a lot, the liver glycogen is already depleted.

Whether this happens depends completely on how big your workout is. If you do low energy work like a few sets of curls, there's nothing for your liver to worry about. But if you do a high volume of moderately heavy work, then you can draw down glycogen substantially.

Now the average liver does not produce 1800 Calories, that's more like a well trained pretty hefty liver. Typically the entire glycogen store in the liver and muscles is about 2000 Calories. Normally the liver can be drawn down to about 10% but the muscles don't go that low. So there aren't normally even 1800 Calories of glycogen available in total. If you train your liver through high endurance workouts, you might increase this by as much as 60%, but that's only if you really do develop high levels of endurance.

You have to eat more carbohydrate Calories than you go to glycogen because although a lot of them go there, not all of them do.

There is also a limit to how fast you can replenish glycogen. It's something like 5% of the store per hour if you eat sufficient carbohydrates. If you eat a lot more than that, then even though the priority is glycogen replenishment, the excess will be used right away or stored as fat.

Thanks that was v helpful.