Carb Back Loading.pdf

Carb backloading (or CBL) is an eating protocol that revolves around the idea of strategic carbohydrate intake in the parts of the day when insulin sensitivity within our muscle and fat tissue is high. Supposedly, taking advantage of that would allow the body to more effectively utilize carbs for recovery, glycogen replenishment, and immediate energy, instead of storing them for later (as fat).

Carb Back Loading.pdf

And, thus, some creative folks have come up with the idea that training in the second half of the day and having most of our carbs post-workout is a smart way to trick the body and force it to use carbs for immediate energy and replenishment more effectively.

In other words, you would potentially prevent carbs from getting stored in your fat tissue (because of the decreased insulin sensitivity) and take advantage of the increased insulin sensitivity in your muscle tissue.

Below is Ben Pakulski. He is a pro bodybuilder and a fan of carb backloading. You can see him speaking about it in a video a little further down this article. Ben is also the host of a really cool podcast called Muscle Intelligence.

The first one came from Sofer et al. and was published back in 2011 (5). The trial lasted for six months, and the subjects were 78 police officers. In it, researchers compared the effects of consuming carbs mostly at dinner versus carbs eaten throughout the day. The diet consisted of 1300-1500 calories per day distributed as follows:

Both groups were eating in a caloric deficit, and all subjects saw weight loss. But, the group that consumed most of their carbs at dinner saw more significant weight loss, fat loss, and waist circumference reduction when compared to the control group.

This study was quite good because the caloric intake was controlled tightly and because the subjects were put on a decent exercise routine, consisting of cardio and resistance training. So, their results seem more applicable to the average gym-goer who is interested in trying carb backloading.

Carb backloading can be an extremely beneficial approach because it helps us break away from the complex. It teaches us that hitting our calorie and macronutrient goals is much more important than following some complicated system or restricting our favorite foods.

When it comes to weight loss and general body recomposition, carb backloading teaches us that simplicity is often enough to help us achieve great results because the approach is nothing more than having your carbs in the latter part of the day.

Plus, as we saw from some of the research above, eating the majority of carbs in the evening can positively impact body composition, so the idea that carbs after 6 pm will fatten us is slowly losing its ground (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17).

Likewise, Woodward said, carb backloading might be dangerous for some people, including people with diabetes or hypoglycemia, people who are pregnant, people with a history of eating disorders, underweight people, and other higher-risk individuals.

Robert Herbst, a personal trainer, weight loss and wellness coach, and a powerlifter, said that while he knows the research to support carb backloading is nonexistent, the diet has been helpful for him.

Simply put, your body will react initially to any low-carb diet by first melting away water weight, but the fast weight loss will begin to slow down. This is where most dieters lose their motivation and break the diet.

Your body has adjusted to the low amount of carbohydrates in a survival mode to sustain your weight assuming that this is now the normal amount of carbohydrates that you will be consuming. Even reprogramming your body like this can be even more efficient than a simple weight loss meal plan.

The most popular method of carb back loading involves starving your body from carb intake for approximately ten days and adding in a beginner workout routine. You have to be dedicated and completely regimented during the first ten days in order to achieve maximum success.

Beginning next day, restart your fat burning engine by going back on the 30-gram carb diet again. But, from this point on, you only eat low carb for six and a half days. On the seventh day each week, continue to enjoy a four to six-hour long hiatus from dieting by indulging in the foods that you love that are especially high in carbohydrates.

To all my hardgainer brothers and sisters of iron interested in increasing muscle mass and minimizing fat gain, this article is for you. The concept of carbohydrate backloading is quite simple - you wake up and intake caffeine, high protein, high fat, and eat no/low carbohydrates until after your afternoon/evening workout. Following this workout you can begin consuming meals until bed time with high protein, high carbohydrate, and low/no fat foods.

For many hardgainers looking to increase muscle mass, consuming their caloric requirements in the traditional intermittent fasting window of 8 hours can be extremely difficult. The principle of carb-backloading for hardgainers (laid out below) doesn't follow a strict intermittent fasting protocol, but rather incorporates periods of under and over-eating, macronutrient cycling, and supplementation to:

I believe that food quality also influences the results of any nutritional protocol, so the diet plans below aren't an excuse to eat complete garbage. This practice is quite common on backloading diets. Carb backloading should not be used as an excuse to overeat preservatives, empty sugars, artificial colors and flavors.

So, I did some research myself on the cbl diet and it looks promising. So, I'm giving it a try. This is the last day of the prep phase and Im starting the backload today. Here is the thing, consuming all the carbs in this small window is a lot, so I was thinking of throwing in a mass gainer right before I go th bed. I would eat the one backload meal around 9 or 10pm and then take a shame around 11 or 12am. Based on the cbl theory, a good mass gainer should give extreme result. I'm specifically talking about muscle juice 2600 (if you get a chance look into the ingredients of this product) because I used it before and it works...for me atleast. Oh, and I'm 5 '10 158lbs after prep phase...I lost 8 pounds. Let me know your thoughts...thanks

A push pull leg splits would work well as would just about any lifting approach. I prefer upper/lower because it's a nice balance between frequency and volume and fits with my schedule. However if you go with a body part split consider adjusting carb intake depending on the day - e.g. smaller backload on arms day and bigger backload on legs day.

This is a complete RIP-OFF of John Kiefer's amazing work. And a very poorly rip off at that. Having the complex carbs for your backload will actually screw up your results as it keeps insulin levels raised slightly for hours through out the night preventing the natural release of GH that occurs when you sleep but also not giving you a big enough insulin spike to really benefit from backloading.Hate seeing people piggy back on others success and then providing false info is even worse!

Very interested in trying this and have done a lot of research, Im a competative powerlifter and strongman, I do all my training at 730pm onward and usually finish 930-10pm, as I have a day job I need to go to bed at midnight to get back up by 7am.

glad to hear it's working well for you Lee! While it's no "magic bullet" I've found that timing my carbohydrates around my workout and in the evenings only improved my recovery, sleep, and intensity in the weight room.

1.) If you workout in the morning, consume the pre/intra workout protocol based on when you intend to workout.2.) Consume your liquid/solid low carb/high fat/high protein meals in the morning/midday. If you would rather alternate liquid and solid meals, that is fine too. I included the liquid meals first because most people drink caffeinated coffee, which can interfere falling asleep and staying asleep if it's consumed too late in the day.3.) Consume your high carb/low fat/high protein meals in the evenings.

Those are the typical guidelines for a carbohydrate backloading diet. Typically I eat low carb/high protein/high fat on non-workout days, but if you prefer to workout in the morning and are concerned about a performance decrease due to a low carbohydrate intake on a rest day before the workout, you could experiment with having a small to moderate serving of carbohydrates the nigh prior to a morning workout.

Carb backloading is built around consuming the concept of nutrition partitioning based on your body's daily hormonal cycles, so even if you workout in the morning, you'd consume a majority of your carbohydrates in the evening. However, with any nutrition protocol, I encourage you to use this as a guide and adjust based on your workout performance, goals, and body's response.

When will his new book be out to address women? Can this protocol work by eating fat/protein breakfast and then working out? Is counting vegetables like leafy greens, cabbage and Brussels sprouts in his carb count or just starches? Just wondering what to add to my protein/fat/veggie dinners.

As I mentioned a couple of times before, anyone proposing a diet, esp. one a where carbs are an important part and claiming health and/or performance benefits thereof, please discuss how it relates to the numerous studies done by e.g. Phinney, Volek, Westman, et al and explain what the benefits are.

I am interested in the long term effects of strong insulin responses (backloading). Even though these responses occur infrequently, are short lived, and are during times that the body is most insulin insensitive, is this still a risk factor for IR?

Also, although I have been on a low-ish carb version of the Paleo diet, I find that aiming for 041b061a72