? About lifting on Atkins

[rollmuncher]

My brother is on the Atkins diet and he doesn't really eat any carbs, and he wants to start lifting again. My question is, With basically no carbs, will he be burning his muscle as fuel during his work out, or will he be using his fat stores for the energy? If he needs to eat carbs in order to lift, what is the minimum ammount he should eat? And when should he do so? Thanx guys, Mike

 

[IronLion]

he needs to eat carbs before and after a workout...the amount depends on his size and diet

 

[Mike_Rojas]

He'll have very little glycogen in his muscles.. he'll be able to do very few sets before he totally runs out of gas. He should eat some carbs pre and post workout IMO. It should be real easy for him to get back into ketosis. I would think he should have at least 50 grams before and after, but I'm no expert. Atkins is geared toward sedentary people, check out the CKD diet in the diet discussion board.

 

[The Red Dragon]

Yeah, CKD would be the most viable option for him. Atkin's is definately not for bodybuilders, lifting needs glycogen.

 

[IronIntensity]

CKD is the way to go if you are a bodybuilder. I have been on it since May 8 and it kicks ASS!!! Only one more month until I am completely ready for my show!! I never thought I could get this ripped, this quick without sacraficing muscle mass. If anything, I've gotten stronger and my workouts have been more intense.





INTENSITY

 

[bigstve12]

lifting on atkins will start to burn protein AKA muscle for energy..b/c the body perceives an underfed state, from a glycogen viewpoint.

 

[Shark01]

Theres a lot of BS on this thread

I've been on an Atkins diet for 13 months now (lost 130 lbs), and have all kinds of energy. After a couple a weeks, you body gets very efficient at burning fat as fuel. I'm lifting more now than in the past 20 years so I know that you don't have to ingest carbs before OR after a workout. If you need to lose more than 50 lbs, a CKD diet is the wrong idea.

 

[SofaGeorge]

Theres a lot of BS on this thread

I've been on an Atkins diet for 13 months now (lost 130 lbs), and have all kinds of energy. After a couple a weeks, you body gets very efficient at burning fat as fuel. I'm lifting more now than in the past 20 years so I know that you don't have to ingest carbs before OR after a workout. If you need to lose more than 50 lbs, a CKD diet is the wrong idea.

I low carb it often too. I've never had an energy problem following Atkins... low carb isn't the same as NO carb.

I do find, though, that it can be very important to carb up for certain days... like leg day... or when I am trying to hit a PR... but carbing up on a low carb diet can mean grabbing maybe 30 grams of carbs instead of 10. It doesn't take a lot.

There is a lot of mystery and riddle that still exists for me in relation to carbs. I've found in bulking I can eat all the protein in the world... but unless I add carbs to the mix I won't gain muscle.

 

[IronLion]

Theres a lot of BS on this thread

I've been on an Atkins diet for 13 months now (lost 130 lbs), and have all kinds of energy. After a couple a weeks, you body gets very efficient at burning fat as fuel. I'm lifting more now than in the past 20 years so I know that you don't have to ingest carbs before OR after a workout. If you need to lose more than 50 lbs, a CKD diet is the wrong idea.

think about it you have lost 130 pounds...of course you have energy

for the average person who is not obese like you were, they will need carbs pre and post workout if they want to get anything from the workout other than burned calories...

 

[rollmuncher]

Please keep the replies comin', this could get very interesting! Thanx guys! Mike

 

[bigstve12]

shark01...ever try a normal diet again?? as soon as you do you will gain a lot of weight back. Its not safe for the body to be deprived of carbs for so long. Im not bashing the atkins diet, im just saying after 13 months you should go get a blood test and urinalysis to make sure you got no problems. Even a simple pH test would be useful. Atkins causes a state of acidosis...body doesn't respond well at a pH that its not supposed to be at. just watching out for ya bro

 

[Shark01]

I actually do cycle different diets because I found I couldn't stay on Atkins for more than 3 weeks at a time (which is why I always failed at dieting until now....I found I can't eat any one way for very long before getting bored and having cravings just destroy me). So my normal cycle is:

3 weeks low carb
1 week low fat (40g) low cal (1900)
1 week and 5 days back on LC
Weekend off.......nothing but Cinnabons and Pepsi
Start over (6 week cycle)

I know many people from my Atkins board who are on one maintenance plan or another with success. As long as they keep exercising and vigilant about not eating too many foods loaded with sugar (over 3 g per serving is bad juju) they are fine. And I will have a distinct advantage having built so much muscle back (I've lifted most of my life up to 9 years ago when I ballooned to over 400 lbs).

I had a full physical when I got my current job 4 months ago. My doctor almost stroked out because of the changes (I hadn't seen him in a couple of years), and everything is well within the normal range.

No problem big Steve, one of the wonders of the internet is you can interact with lots of people with the same issues and see what works, what doesn't, and why.

There was a time in my life when I thought I would never weigh under 300 again (last time was in 1986), and now at 283 I can't help thinking damn this was easy, when is it going to get hard?

 

[bigstve12]

thats awesome man...congrats to you! a man with an educated plan is hard to f@# with!! Keep it up

 

[Lee]

i did atkins for a while and lifted normally, and actually got a little bit stronger, and lost about 35 pounds overall. it was awesome, but it stopped working after about 2.5 months

 

[rollmuncher]

thanx again guys!!!! Mike