I often check out a forum for bodyweight exercises because I do a lot of bodyweight exercises as part of my dry land training.
Anyway, many people on that board are all into this low carb stuff. I tried it out for 6 months but had the feeling that I don't have enough energy if I don't eat enough complex carbs like grains(pasta, rice, bread etc).
Is it just me or do other swimmers experience the same?
Just wondering...
Former Member
I don't claim that a low carb diet will work for everyone, but please keep an open mind. Blanket recommendations that "athletes shouldn't eat low-carb" are a disservice to many individuals who could benefit their health and swimming performance by eating a lower carb diet.
Oh- and the "Dr Atkins was obese and died of a heart attack" just isn't true.
If I didn't have an open eye I wouldn't have tried out LC for 7 months(I wanted to know what all the fuss was about) even though my well balanced diet that I eat now and ate before always worked for me. When I included grains and other complex carbs in my diet I was always lean, never sick and felt great.
I didn't say that Atkins died of a heart attack. I said he had a heart attack a couple of years before he died. His weight at the time of his death was 258 lbs.
If I find myself eating too much processed junk, I'll do a week or so of South Beach Phase I (aka - no carbs) just to kill the cravings, and then I add the good carbs back in. It gets me back to healthier eating and off the sugar and junk. It also forces me to get a bit more creative with my meal planning which usually benefits the family too (get us out of a rut). That said, I do ease my workouts back a bit when I'm doing it, and could never maintain it long term.
My understanding is ...
Fat metabolism is too slow to supply all the energy required for anaerobic efforts. And "fat burns in a carbohydrate flame" is one of my favorite lines.
Bad breath on low-carb can be a sign of ketosis from burning protein to provide energy especially given a lack of carbohydrates.
I've had a few people who tell me that they adhere to a low-carb diet to lose weight and they feel great doing exercise. Call me a skeptic, but I doubt the diet makes that much difference for one or two 20-minute bouts of aerobic effort but it will for 90 minutes to two hours of effort involving several bouts of more intense effort.
I've run out of fuel where I didn't have the energy to ride DOWN a hill on my bike less than a mile from home after a high school swim workout. I wasn't sure I'd be able to balance the bike and use the handbrakes to make the stop sign at the bottom (blind corner). I sat on the curb crying for a while and had to walk my bike on that hill and to climb the next. Certainly I had plenty of stored fat available for energy but was unable to use it.
I want all the natural fat and all the calories I can find!
I don't mean McDonalds -- I want my foods whole, natural, and un-processed. I don't consume anything that is "low-fat", "low-carb", "decaf", etc. Just give me the real stuff!
I want all the natural fat and all the calories I can find!
I don't mean McDonalds -- I want my foods whole, natural, and un-processed. I don't consume anything that is "low-fat", "low-carb", "decaf", etc. Just give me the real stuff!
Hear hear! :applaud: Real food all the way!
Well, except for the decaf... after age 50 I'm more sensitive to caffeine... and don't seem to burn as many calories doing the same amounts of exercise as I used to... :cane:
On a different note: the famous Dr. Atkins(who invented low carb) had a heart attack a couple of years before he died being severely overweight.
nonsense.
nonsense.
What is nonsense? The fact that he had a heart attack several years before his death or the fact that his weight was 258 pounds at the time of his death?
Bad breath on low-carb can be a sign of ketosis from burning protein to provide energy especially given a lack of carbohydrates.
Ketosis is a result of burning fat for energy in an environment that lacks sugar. The bad breath is a result of acetone, which is produced as a by product of burning fat without sugar.
As you might imagine, getting your body in the state is probably not fun, but if your goal is to burn fat, being in ketosis is the pinnacle of fat burning.
