Carbs after noon

[flyers88]

As I am sure alot of you know when somebody tells you something enough times and you see results from their advice....it is hard to believe they are wrong.

My girlfrend was at one time a big girl but with the help of a trainer she lost 50 pounds. She lost this weight by using what I believe to be an unhealthy eating routine that allows her NO CARBS AFTER NOON. Now, she has been experiencing headaches and tiredness at night, hunger pains in the morning, etc.

For the past two weeks she has started on a plan that allows her some carbs at supper time - she put on 4 pounds (SHE SAYS) and now out of fear wants to return to her previous diet.

What advice would you give someone in her position.....I cannot seem to get through that as long as she has a healthy/balanced diet, exercises regularly(especially in the morning), drinks at least 8 glasses of water a day.....she will be OK. Am I wrong? Is the trainer right.....should women not have carbs after noon? She is currently running at 10xbw, before she was running as low a 7xbw (working to 12). Her current split is 45/25/30 P/C/F. She is not eating carbs as her last meal, just for supper, Meal 6 of 7.

 

[slinky]

I eat plenty of carbs after "noon".

When I'm in cutting mode, I just don't eat after 7PM. But I very rarely completely cut out my carb intake.

The 4lbs could very well be water. The one way to make sure that what she gains/looses is fat or LBM is by measuring her BF%. Where is she at?

Another thing to remember is that diet/training is not gender specific, but individual specific. I eat according to my needs not due to the fact that I'm a woman. If I'm going to train late at night, I still replenish and enhance recovery by consuming some P&C (protein/carbs) afterwards. Cuz, I need to.

You're on the right track (by the healthy/diet thing). But to make doubly sure she's gaining/maintaining LBM and losing fat is to find out her composition now. Get her BF measured.

 

[flyers88]

The percentage body fat question is a good one....she hasn't checked in a while so we will do that. I believe that the very low carb (None after noon) diet is not healthy. Is this the case?

 

[bignate73]

tell her that the gain of "weight" is from water. carbs hold water. with the addition of carbs back into her diet, she is bound to gain some water back. hence the big drop people see when they start keto diets. eliminate carbs...lose water. this is not water like bloating, this is system wide.

tell her to stop being neurotic. worry about her inches and not her weight. gravity pulling on someone shouldnt be a concern, her body composition should. if her trainer is worth anything he/she should be explaining these things, taking regular measurements, explaining about muscle gain and fat loss and the effects it has on "weight".

 

[slinky]

I've never been a believer of entirely cutting out carbs. Especially that early in the day. Depending on when she's going to bed, she could have another 8-hours of which she'll be up and just "doing stuff".

What I follow is the classic, "breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper".

The headaches she's getting ain't a good sign that this diet is a good one for her. What is the trainer's reasoning behind following such a diet? Did your girlfriend want results quickly and so the trainer resorted to a quick fix?

Does her diet contain "healthy fats" like fish oil or flax seed? ( I also noticed her fat intake is higher than her carb intake). What types of foods make up her typical day? What types of carbs? Is she VERY active later in the day?

And besides diet, you should also look at your gf's training.

 

[spatts]

Yep, yep...water weight.

What "after noon" carb choices is she making? What time of day does she train?

 

[Nonerz]

what about carbs like veggies? those can't be that bad...right? isn't it the type of carb makes the difference?

 

[JJFigure]

You can only go low carb for long periods of time if you're eating plenty of fat (preferably EFAs), and you occasionally carb load. If you don't do those two things, you'll feel like mierda - as I'm sure your girlfriend can attest.

One diet approach doesn't work for everyone - now that she's leaner, she can probably start to introduce more carbs.

Bottomline tends to be kcals - expending more than you intake. However, it's also beneficial to control your insulin levels (you'll have far fewer cravings), but eating fibrous and/or low gi starchy carbs in moderation help keep your insulin levels balanced enough, especially if you can't handle the low carb approach.

Unless her trainer has a degree in sports nutrition, you might want to either enlist the services of a qualified nutritionist, or do your own research and come up with a liveable approach, like many women on this board. Since no one has mentioned it yet, I'll plug Spatt's cutting diet (you'll find it through a search pretty quickly) - it's a diet that cycles carb levels based on activity level, but doesn't come anywhere close to being a low/no carb diet.

And she didn't gain 4 lbs. of fat in two weeks - unless she was eating huge, obnoxious amounts of food, and even then, it would be pretty damn hard. It's primarily water weight gain.