Hi guys :)

Im currently on atkins diet of 30-40 carbs a day ( i know alot of you guys do not approve of this diet, but would appreciate some sound advice nonethe less :tu:)

I play football 1-2 times a week and its pretty intense, since atkins i can feel my muscles have no energy, i get tired alot quicker and the energy is just not there. I know this is due to Atkins...

My question is, could i load up say 60-80 carbs before i play football? would my body use those carbs or would i still be in ketosis?

Basically looking to stay on atkins and reap the fat loss benefits.... but also have the energy for football...

Would apreciate your views' guys, cheers :cool:

Hi guys :)

Im currently on atkins diet of 30-40 carbs a day ( i know alot of you guys do not approve of this diet, but would appreciate some sound advice nonethe less :tu:)

I play football 1-2 times a week and its pretty intense, since atkins i can feel my muscles have no energy, i get tired alot quicker and the energy is just not there. I know this is due to Atkins...

My question is, could i load up say 60-80 carbs before i play football? would my body use those carbs or would i still be in ketosis?

Basically looking to stay on atkins and reap the fat loss benefits.... but also have the energy for football...

Would apreciate your views' guys, cheers :cool:

I would suggest you read up on the Anabolic Diet (there is a thread in this forum about it). With it, you have weekly carb ups that will stock your muscles with glycogen. So during the week, it's probably similar to what you are eating now (60% fat, high protein, veggies, no more than 30g net of fiber in carbs), but you'd do carb ups to give you muscle fuel :)

The AD isn't a ketogenic diet per se. If you are producing ketones, you probably aren't fully adapted to it.

hey, thanks alot for introducing me to the anabolic diet, it seems the perfect solution for me!!

On atkins im currently always burning fat, which is great, but when it comes to football and sprinting, i just have such really low energy.

So with this diet i will be having the benefits of loosing fat (just not as fast as atkins) and having the energy (from the weekly carb ups) to play football and do some sprints ?? :eek: Is that right ??


Thanks in advance :)

On atkins im currently always burning fat, which is great, but when it comes to football and sprinting, i just have such really low energy.

So with this diet i will be having the benefits of loosing fat (just not as fast as atkins) and having the energy (from the weekly carb ups) to play football and do some sprints ?? :eek: Is that right ??

I doubt it's any less effective than Atkins. But it will probably help you retain more muscle than Atkins.

Hopefully you are lifting in there somewhere, too :D That's really very important for fat loss as well as to help you retain muscle along the way you might lose otherwise. If you lose too much muscle on a cut, you'll easily rebound because with muscle goes some of your metabolic rate, and once you get back to "normal" caloric levels, you've got a lower base metabolism so you'll add the fat back again quickly.

I lift 3 times a week and the gains have been fairly good, i measure myself weekly to keep track! :nod:

A friend had told me that when we do low intesity cardio stuff that we burn FAT as a primary energy source whilst high intensity cardio stuff we burn CARBS, this is true right? he wasn't just lieng to me ..... ?? :D

It would make sense why i get so burned out now playing football on Atkins then before going on the diet

Im basically looking for the benefits of fast weight lost coupled with enough energy for high intensity cardio :tu:

Mannishboy what were your experiences on AD diet when it came to high intensity cardio sessions? did you feel alrite? cheers for the replys so far :cool:

I lift 3 times a week and the gains have been fairly good, i measure myself weekly to keep track! :nod:


:tu:

A friend had told me that when we do low intesity cardio stuff that we burn FAT as a primary energy source whilst high intensity cardio stuff we burn CARBS, this is true right? he wasn't just lieng to me ..... ?? :D

It's true, but it's misleading if you look at it like that. If you do low intensity work, you might be burning less fat as a percentage because you are burning less calories, but you are burning less fat overall because you aren't working as hard and the total calories are lower.

But if you do something that hits muscle glycogen (carbs) like high intensity interval training, the body will set itself up to burn fat even after you stop working out as it tries to replenish the muscle stores (glycogen) of carbs. If you don't fully fill those stores, it just keeps you burning fat. But with AD, you top off your glycogen once a week to also prevent muscle breakdown and possibly cause them to grow as nutrients are shuttled into the cells.

It would make sense why i get so burned out now playing football on Atkins then before going on the diet

You might also be too low on calories, or your diet might be crappy :)

Mannishboy what were your experiences on AD diet when it came to high intensity cardio sessions? did you feel alrite? cheers for the replys so far :cool:

There is another post up in the fat loss section this week where I debated this point about doing HIIT on low carbs. Short answer, I never do low intensity work, always something of higher intensity. I feel great. But then I'm eating enough, too.

I would give same advice as MannishBoy. Anabolic Diet or some type of carb cycling diet if you wish to keep the carbs low. And everything MannishBoy said is right. I would like to add one more thing though to the cardio thing. Don't worry about low intensity and hiit and blah blah blah. Fat loss is straight calories in vs. calories out in the end... period... Do the cardio you enjoy the most. If low intensity bores you, then go for high intensity and burn the most amount of calories possible. If high intensity is too hard and makes you tired, then go for long and low intensity if you enjoy it. In the end, if your diet is in check, you generally don't have to worry about what type of cardio you do. Heck, some people don't even do cardio and they lose fat fine.