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Wannabebig Round Table - Issue 3
Nutrition
Q: Is it better to mix my post-workout shake with water or milk? I find that when I mix my shake with milk I feel bloated for several hours afterwards.
A: Blood & Iron:
First, let me get the obvious answer out of the way: if drinking a shake made with milk makes you feel crappy--due to lactose intolerance, or just by filling you up too much, or whatever--use water. Pretty simple. As long as you're training approach isn't too retarded, and you're eating in a manner to support your goals (i.e. a slight caloric deficit if you're dieting, or a moderate caloric excess if trying to gain) whether you mix your post-workout shake with water or milk is probably not going to make a whole lot of difference. That said, there are a couple of more interesting issues this question brings up, the first being whether you should be having a post-workout shake at all. Let me explain.
It's pretty standard dogma by now that one should always have a post-workout shake after training. In fact, this may be too late to optimally take advantage of the 'anabolic window' that occurs during and after training. Tipton et al. looked at muscle protein synthesis when a shake, which consisted of 35g of sucrose(AKA table sugar) and 6g of essential amino acids, was consumed either immediately prior to or immediately following a training session consisting of 10 sets of 8 repetitions of the leg press and 8 sets of 8 repetitions of the leg extension. (3) The researchers then looked at phenylalanine uptake (which is an indicator of muscle protein synthesis) across the leg to see which had the great anabolic effect. They found that consuming the shake prior to exercise resulted in over twice as much phenylalanine being taken up. By consuming the shake pre-workout, amino acids are available during a period of increased blood flow to the leg which results in greater delivery of those aminos to muscle tissue. I generally have both a shake prior to and following my workouts--and if you look at this study more carefully, the data supports this approach. If, however, you are only going to have one shake, I think it's clear that it is a much better idea to consume it pre-workout rather than post-workout. Unfortunately, it may cause stomach upset for some. If, however, you keep the shake small (As this study demonstrates it does not take much to significantly elevate protein synthesis--here it was only 6g of aminos and 35g of sugar.) and mix it with a minimal amount of liquid, it should not present too much of a problem.
The other issue that this question brings up is that of protein types. If you are having ONLY a pre-workout shake OR a post-workout shake, I would say adding milk is, in general, a bad idea. It will slow the absorption of amino acids in the gut during a period when you want a rapid increase in blood amino-acid levels. Milk protein is composed of two fractions, which are casein (accounting for approximately 80% of the protein in milk) and whey (which accounts for the remaining 20%) These have, respectively, been characterized as 'slow' and 'fast' proteins according to the rate at which they are digested and the speed at which amino-acids enter the bloodstream. (1) Whey results in a rapid, high spike in blood amino acid level which is highly anabolic, whereas casein results in a slow, steady increase in plasma amino-acid levels that is anti-catabolic in nature. (2) Mahe et al, who looked at the differences in digestion between casein and beta-lactoglobulin (which is the major subfraction in whey) found that casein clots in the acidic environment of the stomach, which delays gastric emptying, and results in a prolonged, steady released of amino-acids. Whey, in contrast, remains soluble in the stomach, and quickly makes its way further down the digestive track resulting in the characteristic rapid peak in blood amino levels.
Okay, back to the original question. Now, if you've followed the advice above, and switched to having a pre-workout shake, what you have as your post-workout shake will depend on how long you are going to go before your next meal. If you are not going to be able to eat for some time, it is probably better to mix your post-workout shake with milk. While some have inferred from the research that by consuming both casein and whey together you'll get both the anti-catabolic effects of casein along with the anabolism of whey, this is unlikely. As Lyle McDonald, and a number of others have pointed out, it is more likely that since casein clots in the gut, and slows gastric emptying, you'll be slowing down the whey, causing it to act much like casein. If you're not going to be eating for some time, this is exactly what you want: to curb catabolism until your next meal. If, however, you know you'll be having a protein rich meal within an hour or two after you training session, avoiding casein and using the 'anabolic window' again to cause a second rapid spike in blood aminos, may be to greater advantage.
References
1. Fruhbeck G. Protein metabolism. Slow and fast dietary proteins. Nature. 391(6670):843, 845, 1998 Feb 26.
2. Mahe S. Roos N. Benamouzig R. Davin L. Luengo C. Gagnon L. Gausserges N. Rautureau J. Tome D. Gastrojejunal kinetics and the digestion of (15N)beta-lactoglobulin and casein in humans: the influence of the nature and quantity of the protein. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 63(4):546-52, 1996 Apr.
3. Tipton KD. Rasmussen BB. Miller SL. Wolf SE. Owens-Stovall SK. Petrini BE. Wolfe RR. Timing of amino acid-carbohydrate ingestion alters anabolic response of muscle to resistance exercise. American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology & Metabolism. 281(2):E197-206, 2001 Aug.
A: Chicken Daddy:
Mixing your post-workout protein shake with milk is not a bad idea per se, but it’s sub-par. One of the functions that insulin works is by translocation of GLUT4 (‘glucose transporter 4’) receptors to the cell membrane (1). GLUT4 is basically one of the glucose receptors (there are others) that allow glucose uptake in the cell. Unfortunately, it does this not only in muscle cells, but also adipocytes (fat cells). Which explains how insulin can also be a ‘fattening’ hormone.
Translocation of GLUT4 can also occur due to muscular contractions (2). So, weight lifting alone increases muscular insulin sensitivity - called insulin independent glucose uptake. Because of this fact, this time is ideal to take advantage of the nutrient partitioning (basically means where the nutrients go) effects of training. So, ideally we’re looking at a quick digesting carbohydrate to replenish the glycogen used while training and a quicker digesting protein to provide amino acids due to the increased protein synthesis that comes after training (for up to 36 hours (3)). The quickest digesting carbohydrate, glucose - also known as dextrose or corn sugar or even grape sugar - is probably the best idea. It’s also very cheap, especially if bought in bulk. Maltodextrin is also a good available source. It is known as a ‘complex carbohydrate’, purely on the grounds that it is a glucose polymer consisting of about 3-8 molecules. It is therefore too long to be classed as ‘simple’, and since there is no mid-classification, complex it is. This doesn’t stop it from digesting very quickly and doing the same job to insulin that glucose does. Maltodextrin is also a carbohydrate exploited by supplement companies for this very reason. They can claim it is a complex carb and it’s great in their MRPs. In all truth, it is the guar gum that they put in these products that slow digestion, not the maltodextrin. Any other time of day, just like glucose, it is a poor choice.
Once you’ve got the basic idea of a simple sugar post-workout, then you can experiment using different combinations of glucose and maltodextrin. It is usually recommended to make a 50/50 mix of the two, based on the differing absorption rates of the two carbs. Glucose requires no digestion and so once in the intestinal tract can pass straight through the wall lining. Maltodextrin, however, requires a bit of digestion to split it into the glucose molecules that make it up. The difference of digestion is not really that much in the way of time, but can make a big difference. This is because glucose enters the cell via active transport (4) and only so much can get through at any one time once the receptors are all being utilised. By taking in maltodextrin, the longer digestion and absorption rate means the glucose from the malto is getting to the cell more or less once the first glucose molecules are in. So you’re basically ‘lining the glucose up’.
For protein, a quick-digesting source like hydrolysed whey or whey isolate fits the bill. Hydrolysed is a more expensive route to take and not absolutely necessary. Isolate will suffice.
You want quick absorption of this shake, so avoid fat in this ‘meal’. While something like oil may very well simply sit on top of the liquid in the stomach (5), it’s a different story when the fat is actually part of the food itself, which is the case with milk. The fat present will slow the digestion and absorption rates which is something you are actually trying to avoid in this time frame. As well, casein is the predominant protein that milk consists of (about 80% or so, with about 20% being whey). Casein actually forms clots in the stomach during digestion, forming a sort of paste that slows digestion further. Again, this is not something you’re striving for, so milk consumption during this time is not the obvious choice. There is some degree of controversy in the whey versus casein debate, but that is for another day.
So what I’ll say is that if you need the calories from the milk, drink it after your post-workout shake, about 90 minutes after is good, or as soon as you feel hungry if it is before this 90 minute bracket. Ideally, a simple sugar, quick-digesting protein is more suited for the post-workout window.
References:
(1) Need for GLUT4 activation to reach maximum effect of insulin-mediated glucose uptake in brown adipocytes isolated from GLUT4myc-expressing mice.
Diabetes. 2002 Sep;51(9):2719-26.
(2) Intracellular mechanisms underlying increases in glucose uptake in response to insulin or exercise in skeletal muscle.
Acta Physiol Scand. 2001 Mar;171(3):249-57
(3) The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise.
Can J Appl Physiol. 1995 Dec;20(4):480-6.
(4) Post-ischemic stimulation of 2-deoxyglucose uptake in rat myocardium: role of translocation of Glut-4.
J Mol Cell Cardiol. 1998 Feb;30(2):393-403.
(5) Gastic emptying and intragastric distribution of lipids in man. A new scintigraphic method of study. Dig Dis Sci (1982) 27 (8): 705-711.
(6) In vivo and in vitro gastric emptying of milk replacers containing soybean proteins. J Dairy Sci. 1994 Feb;77(2):533-40.
Q: I've been on a fat loss diet for sometime. I read somewhere that I should cut my carbs out in the evening and just eat protein and fat based meals to speed up my fat loss.
Will this help?
A:
Well, in as much as it'll make you eat fewer calories, of course it will help. Eating less will lead to greater fat loss (up to a point). Beyond that, I doubt it makes a huge amount of difference outside of the caloric effect. There is some evidence that the body becomes slightly less insulin sensitive in the nighttime and this might lead to slightly more glucose being shuttled into fat cells but that would be about it. I also doubt this is of major consequence for someone who is highly active.
A:
Well, the theory behind that is that cutting out the carbs reduces any insulin response - insulin being the primary regulator of lipolysis (fat burning) i.e. once insulin is present beyond a certain threshold, lipolysis is shut off (1). Theoretically, it’s sound. Realistically, it doesn’t quite work. Well, it depends on other variables.
Insulin is a storage hormone, basically. It’s released by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans in pancreas in response to a rise in blood sugar, which basically means carbohydrate intake (or protein intake, but to a lesser extent). Once the nutrients have been digested and pass through the intestinal wall into the blood, insulin is the hormone responsible for directing them to where they gotta go - cells. Quite a generalised description of where they go, but it’s true. Insulin directs nutrients to all kinds of cells. But as bodybuilders, all we focus on is the fact that insulin directs nutrients to muscle cells and also fat cells. So, more insulin may very well = more anabolism, but it can also = more fat gain. In fact, insulin is the most anabolic hormone within the body, and its exogenous use is one of the main reasons you see bodybuilders of today the ridiculously freaky size that they are. But I digress…
So, while keeping insulin levels lower by restricting carbs, you’d expect more fat burning, right? Not quite. Basically, the body can store fat without insulin. One of the main secondary methods the body achieves this is via Acylation Stimulating Protein (ASP). ASP mimics a lot of insulin’s traits, including aiding in glucose metabolism in fat and muscle cells (2). You don’t need carbs to stimulate it either, so while you may be reducing the insulin response by avoiding carbs, it’s not the magic ticket for ensuring fat burning.
At the end of the day, if you’re eating more calories than you burn, then you can cut carbs completely and still gain weight. So in this regard, dropping carbs from your evening meals won’t make much, if any difference in overall fat loss. What you should be doing, however, is ensuring that your overall calorie intake is in deficit, if the goal is to lose weight. I say weight, because calorie deficit does result in ‘weight loss’ (up to a certain point, before your body starts getting extremely resistant and your system really starts to mess up causing all sorts of problems). It is up to you to determine what ratio of that weight lost is muscle and which is fat. Someone using drugs has a major advantage here, because drugs change the equation - considerably in most cases, so they can ensure a higher fat to muscle lost ratio. However, as a natural trainer, it is more difficult. To ensure that you retain your muscle as much as possible, weight training is a must - and none of that high reps, low weight for cutting crap either. Stick to lifting heavy-ass weights to let your body know that it needs to maintain as much muscle as possible for any future traumatic events such as heavy-ass lifting.
Ensure your protein intake is more than adequate. Most bodybuilders increase protein intake by about .5g per lb on top of whatever they were already consuming, so the body has no/little need to breakdown muscle during the stresses of calorie deficit. While this may not be totally necessary, it is a good margin of error. Basically, “just to be sure”. And ensure sufficient essential fatty acid (EFA) intake for efficient endocrine function (or at least the best it can do in calorie deficit).
Also, a good selection of carbohydrate sources is a good idea to ensure the same lifting intensity. When I say calories in vs. calories out, it does suggest that weight can be lost eating carbs of higher glycemic value and the like, which is very true. However, it’s an uncomfortable situation satiety, hunger and cravings wise, and it will more than likely result in sub-par workouts. If you end up lifting less weight, your body won’t see the need to keep the muscle. Like I said earlier, it is up to you to ensure a higher fat-to-muscle lost ratio when losing weight. Choosing poor carb sources, more often than not, is a good way of failing in this regard.
Dropping calories too low, too fast is also a silly mistake that can be made. Take a starting weight and aim to lose between 0.5-1.5lbs a week. Anymore than 2lbs will most likely be a loss in muscle (unless it’s water/glycogen weight or you’re really fat) and goes against the idea of dieting in the first place. As your diet progresses in duration, don’t expect the losses to be a regular or as high as your initial losses in the first few weeks. The body gets more ‘used’ to the calorie deficit and basically tries to resist dropping anymore fat. Don’t see this as a sign to drop calories to a horrendously low level. Either drop calories down a bit more, but only slightly, start doing cardio to make a bit of a further calorie deficit, start using a thermogenic product or experiment with refeeds. In fact, refeeds may be something you want to employ from week one, depending on preference.
There are several types of diet in existence that advocate a set amount of carbs per day, sometimes rotating the amount each or every other day. And fitting these set amount of carbs over six or so meals just results in amounts so low it seems pointless. So they split the carbs over the first three meals and the remaining three focus on fat and protein only. This is fine and dandy, but expecting fat loss to be accelerated from practising this technique is wishful thinking. That said, the human body works is strange and mysterious ways, so the best advice I can give is just to experiment and give it a go--just don’t expect a miracle.
References
(1) Regulation of lipolysis: natriuretic peptides and the development of cachexia.
Int J Cardiol. 2002 Sep;85(1):125-32
(2) Acylation-stimulating protein (ASP) regulates glucose transport in the rat L6 muscle cell line.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 1997 Feb 18;1344(3):221-9.
A: Robert Thoburn
The ‘Short answer’
The short answer is that cutting out your carbs in the evening may accelerate fat loss. In fact, all other things constant (which they never are), cutting out calories in general, whether done in the evening or any other time of day can be expected to accelerate fat loss.
For our purposes, you can think of eating as something like stepping on the brake pedal of your car: Every time you eat the ‘brakes’ are applied to your fat-burning engines. The more carbohydrate in your meal, the more powerful tends to be this braking effect. At the same time, the ingested carbohydrate stimulates the burning of glucose. This increases the risk that any fat eaten alongside it is stored as fat on your body.
Now, let’s take a look at the ‘long answer’. I promise it’ll be worth your while.
If I were talking to you face-to-face, my first response to your question about cutting out carbs would be to ask you this: Is the ‘fat loss’ diet you are currently following working for you? That is, are you seeing the changes to your physical appearance that you want to see?
If your answer is ‘yes’, then why bother cutting back on carbohydrate, or changing anything for that matter?
Since I’m not talking to you face-to-face, I’m going to make 2 assumptions as I attempt to address your question:
(1) I’m going to assume that your goal is to build bigger muscles as you lose body fat.
(2) I’m going to assume that your current approach isn’t working as well as you’d like.
With these assumptions in mind, I suggest that you do not reduce your carbohydrate intake, unless, that is, you are consuming too many calories overall.
Why do I recommend not cutting your carbohydrate intake?
Your Glucose Economy™
Your body’s most precious fuel is glucose, a.k.a. ‘blood sugar’. Glucose is ‘high-man’ on the totem pole of fuels used by your body to provide energy.
The status of your whole-body supply of glucose --your Glucose Economy™, as I say--is ultimately what determines whether you are losing or gaining body fat at any given moment.
The status of your glucose economy also has a big impact on the outward appearance of your muscles. As you reduce your intake of carbohydrate, your muscles begin to lose glycogen (the storage form of glucose), water, and other important elements. The result is what I call ‘muscle deflation syndrome’ (albeit somewhat tongue-in-cheek): Your muscles lose size, shape and power. They appear ‘flat’.
For these reasons, I regard carbohydrate-restricted diets as the antithesis of bodybuilding. Sure, low-carbohydrate diets can be made to ‘work’, in the sense that they accelerate fat loss and reductions in body weight. But for the bodybuilder interested in staying lean and building muscle at the same time, I suggest giving your body ample amounts of its favorite fuel, good ‘ole glucose. Give it what it wants, and it will give you what you want.
As I indicated above, the more carbohydrate you eat, the more carbohydrate (i.e., glucose) it burns as fuel, in preference to fat. But this isn’t a problem, so long as you keep your fat intake relatively low (e.g., 10-20%) and, most importantly, don’t eat too many calories overall (just like any diet). Remember, too, that the bulk -some 80% or more-of the carbohydrate you eat ends up in your muscles -your key ‘glucose-buffering’ tissue (Taylor et al., 1993). All the more reason to keep pumping iron.
**NOTE: For a more detailed look at the Glucose Economy and related concepts, please check out the No Mistakes Nutritional Guide, which I wrote with Vince Andrich. This book is fully referenced, in case you wish to look up some of the scientific studies I use to support my ideas. No Mistakes can be bought online at. You can also order it from advertisements appearing in Planet Muscle, Flex, Muscular Development and other bodybuilding magazines.
I also suggest you read my article The Size Diet, published in Reform magazine and online at 1Fast400. It will provide you with a simple, step-by-step guideline to the Glucose Economy eating approach -a very powerful approach, in my opinion, for building bigger muscles while getting (or staying) ‘cut’.
Hope this helps!
Nutrition
Q: Is it better to mix my post-workout shake with water or milk? I find that when I mix my shake with milk I feel bloated for several hours afterwards.
A: Blood & Iron:
First, let me get the obvious answer out of the way: if drinking a shake made with milk makes you feel crappy--due to lactose intolerance, or just by filling you up too much, or whatever--use water. Pretty simple. As long as you're training approach isn't too retarded, and you're eating in a manner to support your goals (i.e. a slight caloric deficit if you're dieting, or a moderate caloric excess if trying to gain) whether you mix your post-workout shake with water or milk is probably not going to make a whole lot of difference. That said, there are a couple of more interesting issues this question brings up, the first being whether you should be having a post-workout shake at all. Let me explain.
It's pretty standard dogma by now that one should always have a post-workout shake after training. In fact, this may be too late to optimally take advantage of the 'anabolic window' that occurs during and after training. Tipton et al. looked at muscle protein synthesis when a shake, which consisted of 35g of sucrose(AKA table sugar) and 6g of essential amino acids, was consumed either immediately prior to or immediately following a training session consisting of 10 sets of 8 repetitions of the leg press and 8 sets of 8 repetitions of the leg extension. (3) The researchers then looked at phenylalanine uptake (which is an indicator of muscle protein synthesis) across the leg to see which had the great anabolic effect. They found that consuming the shake prior to exercise resulted in over twice as much phenylalanine being taken up. By consuming the shake pre-workout, amino acids are available during a period of increased blood flow to the leg which results in greater delivery of those aminos to muscle tissue. I generally have both a shake prior to and following my workouts--and if you look at this study more carefully, the data supports this approach. If, however, you are only going to have one shake, I think it's clear that it is a much better idea to consume it pre-workout rather than post-workout. Unfortunately, it may cause stomach upset for some. If, however, you keep the shake small (As this study demonstrates it does not take much to significantly elevate protein synthesis--here it was only 6g of aminos and 35g of sugar.) and mix it with a minimal amount of liquid, it should not present too much of a problem.
The other issue that this question brings up is that of protein types. If you are having ONLY a pre-workout shake OR a post-workout shake, I would say adding milk is, in general, a bad idea. It will slow the absorption of amino acids in the gut during a period when you want a rapid increase in blood amino-acid levels. Milk protein is composed of two fractions, which are casein (accounting for approximately 80% of the protein in milk) and whey (which accounts for the remaining 20%) These have, respectively, been characterized as 'slow' and 'fast' proteins according to the rate at which they are digested and the speed at which amino-acids enter the bloodstream. (1) Whey results in a rapid, high spike in blood amino acid level which is highly anabolic, whereas casein results in a slow, steady increase in plasma amino-acid levels that is anti-catabolic in nature. (2) Mahe et al, who looked at the differences in digestion between casein and beta-lactoglobulin (which is the major subfraction in whey) found that casein clots in the acidic environment of the stomach, which delays gastric emptying, and results in a prolonged, steady released of amino-acids. Whey, in contrast, remains soluble in the stomach, and quickly makes its way further down the digestive track resulting in the characteristic rapid peak in blood amino levels.
Okay, back to the original question. Now, if you've followed the advice above, and switched to having a pre-workout shake, what you have as your post-workout shake will depend on how long you are going to go before your next meal. If you are not going to be able to eat for some time, it is probably better to mix your post-workout shake with milk. While some have inferred from the research that by consuming both casein and whey together you'll get both the anti-catabolic effects of casein along with the anabolism of whey, this is unlikely. As Lyle McDonald, and a number of others have pointed out, it is more likely that since casein clots in the gut, and slows gastric emptying, you'll be slowing down the whey, causing it to act much like casein. If you're not going to be eating for some time, this is exactly what you want: to curb catabolism until your next meal. If, however, you know you'll be having a protein rich meal within an hour or two after you training session, avoiding casein and using the 'anabolic window' again to cause a second rapid spike in blood aminos, may be to greater advantage.
References
1. Fruhbeck G. Protein metabolism. Slow and fast dietary proteins. Nature. 391(6670):843, 845, 1998 Feb 26.
2. Mahe S. Roos N. Benamouzig R. Davin L. Luengo C. Gagnon L. Gausserges N. Rautureau J. Tome D. Gastrojejunal kinetics and the digestion of (15N)beta-lactoglobulin and casein in humans: the influence of the nature and quantity of the protein. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 63(4):546-52, 1996 Apr.
3. Tipton KD. Rasmussen BB. Miller SL. Wolf SE. Owens-Stovall SK. Petrini BE. Wolfe RR. Timing of amino acid-carbohydrate ingestion alters anabolic response of muscle to resistance exercise. American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology & Metabolism. 281(2):E197-206, 2001 Aug.
A: Chicken Daddy:
Mixing your post-workout protein shake with milk is not a bad idea per se, but it’s sub-par. One of the functions that insulin works is by translocation of GLUT4 (‘glucose transporter 4’) receptors to the cell membrane (1). GLUT4 is basically one of the glucose receptors (there are others) that allow glucose uptake in the cell. Unfortunately, it does this not only in muscle cells, but also adipocytes (fat cells). Which explains how insulin can also be a ‘fattening’ hormone.
Translocation of GLUT4 can also occur due to muscular contractions (2). So, weight lifting alone increases muscular insulin sensitivity - called insulin independent glucose uptake. Because of this fact, this time is ideal to take advantage of the nutrient partitioning (basically means where the nutrients go) effects of training. So, ideally we’re looking at a quick digesting carbohydrate to replenish the glycogen used while training and a quicker digesting protein to provide amino acids due to the increased protein synthesis that comes after training (for up to 36 hours (3)). The quickest digesting carbohydrate, glucose - also known as dextrose or corn sugar or even grape sugar - is probably the best idea. It’s also very cheap, especially if bought in bulk. Maltodextrin is also a good available source. It is known as a ‘complex carbohydrate’, purely on the grounds that it is a glucose polymer consisting of about 3-8 molecules. It is therefore too long to be classed as ‘simple’, and since there is no mid-classification, complex it is. This doesn’t stop it from digesting very quickly and doing the same job to insulin that glucose does. Maltodextrin is also a carbohydrate exploited by supplement companies for this very reason. They can claim it is a complex carb and it’s great in their MRPs. In all truth, it is the guar gum that they put in these products that slow digestion, not the maltodextrin. Any other time of day, just like glucose, it is a poor choice.
Once you’ve got the basic idea of a simple sugar post-workout, then you can experiment using different combinations of glucose and maltodextrin. It is usually recommended to make a 50/50 mix of the two, based on the differing absorption rates of the two carbs. Glucose requires no digestion and so once in the intestinal tract can pass straight through the wall lining. Maltodextrin, however, requires a bit of digestion to split it into the glucose molecules that make it up. The difference of digestion is not really that much in the way of time, but can make a big difference. This is because glucose enters the cell via active transport (4) and only so much can get through at any one time once the receptors are all being utilised. By taking in maltodextrin, the longer digestion and absorption rate means the glucose from the malto is getting to the cell more or less once the first glucose molecules are in. So you’re basically ‘lining the glucose up’.
For protein, a quick-digesting source like hydrolysed whey or whey isolate fits the bill. Hydrolysed is a more expensive route to take and not absolutely necessary. Isolate will suffice.
You want quick absorption of this shake, so avoid fat in this ‘meal’. While something like oil may very well simply sit on top of the liquid in the stomach (5), it’s a different story when the fat is actually part of the food itself, which is the case with milk. The fat present will slow the digestion and absorption rates which is something you are actually trying to avoid in this time frame. As well, casein is the predominant protein that milk consists of (about 80% or so, with about 20% being whey). Casein actually forms clots in the stomach during digestion, forming a sort of paste that slows digestion further. Again, this is not something you’re striving for, so milk consumption during this time is not the obvious choice. There is some degree of controversy in the whey versus casein debate, but that is for another day.
So what I’ll say is that if you need the calories from the milk, drink it after your post-workout shake, about 90 minutes after is good, or as soon as you feel hungry if it is before this 90 minute bracket. Ideally, a simple sugar, quick-digesting protein is more suited for the post-workout window.
References:
(1) Need for GLUT4 activation to reach maximum effect of insulin-mediated glucose uptake in brown adipocytes isolated from GLUT4myc-expressing mice.
Diabetes. 2002 Sep;51(9):2719-26.
(2) Intracellular mechanisms underlying increases in glucose uptake in response to insulin or exercise in skeletal muscle.
Acta Physiol Scand. 2001 Mar;171(3):249-57
(3) The time course for elevated muscle protein synthesis following heavy resistance exercise.
Can J Appl Physiol. 1995 Dec;20(4):480-6.
(4) Post-ischemic stimulation of 2-deoxyglucose uptake in rat myocardium: role of translocation of Glut-4.
J Mol Cell Cardiol. 1998 Feb;30(2):393-403.
(5) Gastic emptying and intragastric distribution of lipids in man. A new scintigraphic method of study. Dig Dis Sci (1982) 27 (8): 705-711.
(6) In vivo and in vitro gastric emptying of milk replacers containing soybean proteins. J Dairy Sci. 1994 Feb;77(2):533-40.
Q: I've been on a fat loss diet for sometime. I read somewhere that I should cut my carbs out in the evening and just eat protein and fat based meals to speed up my fat loss.
Will this help?
A:
Well, in as much as it'll make you eat fewer calories, of course it will help. Eating less will lead to greater fat loss (up to a point). Beyond that, I doubt it makes a huge amount of difference outside of the caloric effect. There is some evidence that the body becomes slightly less insulin sensitive in the nighttime and this might lead to slightly more glucose being shuttled into fat cells but that would be about it. I also doubt this is of major consequence for someone who is highly active.
A:
Well, the theory behind that is that cutting out the carbs reduces any insulin response - insulin being the primary regulator of lipolysis (fat burning) i.e. once insulin is present beyond a certain threshold, lipolysis is shut off (1). Theoretically, it’s sound. Realistically, it doesn’t quite work. Well, it depends on other variables.
Insulin is a storage hormone, basically. It’s released by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans in pancreas in response to a rise in blood sugar, which basically means carbohydrate intake (or protein intake, but to a lesser extent). Once the nutrients have been digested and pass through the intestinal wall into the blood, insulin is the hormone responsible for directing them to where they gotta go - cells. Quite a generalised description of where they go, but it’s true. Insulin directs nutrients to all kinds of cells. But as bodybuilders, all we focus on is the fact that insulin directs nutrients to muscle cells and also fat cells. So, more insulin may very well = more anabolism, but it can also = more fat gain. In fact, insulin is the most anabolic hormone within the body, and its exogenous use is one of the main reasons you see bodybuilders of today the ridiculously freaky size that they are. But I digress…
So, while keeping insulin levels lower by restricting carbs, you’d expect more fat burning, right? Not quite. Basically, the body can store fat without insulin. One of the main secondary methods the body achieves this is via Acylation Stimulating Protein (ASP). ASP mimics a lot of insulin’s traits, including aiding in glucose metabolism in fat and muscle cells (2). You don’t need carbs to stimulate it either, so while you may be reducing the insulin response by avoiding carbs, it’s not the magic ticket for ensuring fat burning.
At the end of the day, if you’re eating more calories than you burn, then you can cut carbs completely and still gain weight. So in this regard, dropping carbs from your evening meals won’t make much, if any difference in overall fat loss. What you should be doing, however, is ensuring that your overall calorie intake is in deficit, if the goal is to lose weight. I say weight, because calorie deficit does result in ‘weight loss’ (up to a certain point, before your body starts getting extremely resistant and your system really starts to mess up causing all sorts of problems). It is up to you to determine what ratio of that weight lost is muscle and which is fat. Someone using drugs has a major advantage here, because drugs change the equation - considerably in most cases, so they can ensure a higher fat to muscle lost ratio. However, as a natural trainer, it is more difficult. To ensure that you retain your muscle as much as possible, weight training is a must - and none of that high reps, low weight for cutting crap either. Stick to lifting heavy-ass weights to let your body know that it needs to maintain as much muscle as possible for any future traumatic events such as heavy-ass lifting.
Ensure your protein intake is more than adequate. Most bodybuilders increase protein intake by about .5g per lb on top of whatever they were already consuming, so the body has no/little need to breakdown muscle during the stresses of calorie deficit. While this may not be totally necessary, it is a good margin of error. Basically, “just to be sure”. And ensure sufficient essential fatty acid (EFA) intake for efficient endocrine function (or at least the best it can do in calorie deficit).
Also, a good selection of carbohydrate sources is a good idea to ensure the same lifting intensity. When I say calories in vs. calories out, it does suggest that weight can be lost eating carbs of higher glycemic value and the like, which is very true. However, it’s an uncomfortable situation satiety, hunger and cravings wise, and it will more than likely result in sub-par workouts. If you end up lifting less weight, your body won’t see the need to keep the muscle. Like I said earlier, it is up to you to ensure a higher fat-to-muscle lost ratio when losing weight. Choosing poor carb sources, more often than not, is a good way of failing in this regard.
Dropping calories too low, too fast is also a silly mistake that can be made. Take a starting weight and aim to lose between 0.5-1.5lbs a week. Anymore than 2lbs will most likely be a loss in muscle (unless it’s water/glycogen weight or you’re really fat) and goes against the idea of dieting in the first place. As your diet progresses in duration, don’t expect the losses to be a regular or as high as your initial losses in the first few weeks. The body gets more ‘used’ to the calorie deficit and basically tries to resist dropping anymore fat. Don’t see this as a sign to drop calories to a horrendously low level. Either drop calories down a bit more, but only slightly, start doing cardio to make a bit of a further calorie deficit, start using a thermogenic product or experiment with refeeds. In fact, refeeds may be something you want to employ from week one, depending on preference.
There are several types of diet in existence that advocate a set amount of carbs per day, sometimes rotating the amount each or every other day. And fitting these set amount of carbs over six or so meals just results in amounts so low it seems pointless. So they split the carbs over the first three meals and the remaining three focus on fat and protein only. This is fine and dandy, but expecting fat loss to be accelerated from practising this technique is wishful thinking. That said, the human body works is strange and mysterious ways, so the best advice I can give is just to experiment and give it a go--just don’t expect a miracle.
References
(1) Regulation of lipolysis: natriuretic peptides and the development of cachexia.
Int J Cardiol. 2002 Sep;85(1):125-32
(2) Acylation-stimulating protein (ASP) regulates glucose transport in the rat L6 muscle cell line.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 1997 Feb 18;1344(3):221-9.
A: Robert Thoburn
The ‘Short answer’
The short answer is that cutting out your carbs in the evening may accelerate fat loss. In fact, all other things constant (which they never are), cutting out calories in general, whether done in the evening or any other time of day can be expected to accelerate fat loss.
For our purposes, you can think of eating as something like stepping on the brake pedal of your car: Every time you eat the ‘brakes’ are applied to your fat-burning engines. The more carbohydrate in your meal, the more powerful tends to be this braking effect. At the same time, the ingested carbohydrate stimulates the burning of glucose. This increases the risk that any fat eaten alongside it is stored as fat on your body.
Now, let’s take a look at the ‘long answer’. I promise it’ll be worth your while.
If I were talking to you face-to-face, my first response to your question about cutting out carbs would be to ask you this: Is the ‘fat loss’ diet you are currently following working for you? That is, are you seeing the changes to your physical appearance that you want to see?
If your answer is ‘yes’, then why bother cutting back on carbohydrate, or changing anything for that matter?
Since I’m not talking to you face-to-face, I’m going to make 2 assumptions as I attempt to address your question:
(1) I’m going to assume that your goal is to build bigger muscles as you lose body fat.
(2) I’m going to assume that your current approach isn’t working as well as you’d like.
With these assumptions in mind, I suggest that you do not reduce your carbohydrate intake, unless, that is, you are consuming too many calories overall.
Why do I recommend not cutting your carbohydrate intake?
Your Glucose Economy™
Your body’s most precious fuel is glucose, a.k.a. ‘blood sugar’. Glucose is ‘high-man’ on the totem pole of fuels used by your body to provide energy.
The status of your whole-body supply of glucose --your Glucose Economy™, as I say--is ultimately what determines whether you are losing or gaining body fat at any given moment.
The status of your glucose economy also has a big impact on the outward appearance of your muscles. As you reduce your intake of carbohydrate, your muscles begin to lose glycogen (the storage form of glucose), water, and other important elements. The result is what I call ‘muscle deflation syndrome’ (albeit somewhat tongue-in-cheek): Your muscles lose size, shape and power. They appear ‘flat’.
For these reasons, I regard carbohydrate-restricted diets as the antithesis of bodybuilding. Sure, low-carbohydrate diets can be made to ‘work’, in the sense that they accelerate fat loss and reductions in body weight. But for the bodybuilder interested in staying lean and building muscle at the same time, I suggest giving your body ample amounts of its favorite fuel, good ‘ole glucose. Give it what it wants, and it will give you what you want.
As I indicated above, the more carbohydrate you eat, the more carbohydrate (i.e., glucose) it burns as fuel, in preference to fat. But this isn’t a problem, so long as you keep your fat intake relatively low (e.g., 10-20%) and, most importantly, don’t eat too many calories overall (just like any diet). Remember, too, that the bulk -some 80% or more-of the carbohydrate you eat ends up in your muscles -your key ‘glucose-buffering’ tissue (Taylor et al., 1993). All the more reason to keep pumping iron.
**NOTE: For a more detailed look at the Glucose Economy and related concepts, please check out the No Mistakes Nutritional Guide, which I wrote with Vince Andrich. This book is fully referenced, in case you wish to look up some of the scientific studies I use to support my ideas. No Mistakes can be bought online at. You can also order it from advertisements appearing in Planet Muscle, Flex, Muscular Development and other bodybuilding magazines.
I also suggest you read my article The Size Diet, published in Reform magazine and online at 1Fast400. It will provide you with a simple, step-by-step guideline to the Glucose Economy eating approach -a very powerful approach, in my opinion, for building bigger muscles while getting (or staying) ‘cut’.
Hope this helps!
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