Why do I look leaner in the A.M.?

[The Shadow]

my bottle as well as other mixes list dandelion root....I have had good sucess with it personally

 

[MS]

It really depends on what you eat and drink at night, and what your body is used to. If you eat a salty/starchy/fatty meal before bed AND drink lots of water through the night (usually because you're thristy from the salt and carbs), then you may well wake up feeling and looking bloated (note: I'm talking about the typical western diet here). If you are prementrual or you are insulin resistant for other reasons, you may also wake up retaining water. Waking up dry(ish) is OK as long as you aren't peeing all night (like I do when I drop my carbs/sodium or take too much ALA). All in all I would speculate that you are "drying out" over night due to reduced insulin levels (a good thing). However I am at a loss to explain your increasing girth if you are taking ALA and have reduced insulin.

I have also had good results with dandelion for reducing fluid retention. It doesn't really matter if you take the leaf, root or stem, it's all good. However SteelWeaver's advice on testing for fluid retention is pretty good, and it sounds like you have mild retention, and maybe something else going on (gas, pregnancy etc...!). Otherwise fine.

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

The results are in: YES I was totally bloated! I think it was a mixture of mild water retention and gas. Jeeez MS trying to scare the shit out of me with that pregnancy comment!!!!!!!!! That definitely isn't a possibility thank goodness. The extra good news is that now that all the bloat is gone I think I may be leaner than before, which is most likely thanks to the r-ala.

I'm glad I asked about this, though, because I'll keep dandelion in mind for future occasions.

 

[rez]

The results are in: YES I was totally bloated! I think it was a mixture of mild water retention and gas. Jeeez MS trying to scare the shit out of me with that pregnancy comment!!!!!!!!! That definitely isn't a possibility thank goodness. The extra good news is that now that all the bloat is gone I think I may be leaner than before, which is most likely thanks to the r-ala.

I'm glad I asked about this, though, because I'll keep dandelion in mind for future occasions.

so what exactly did you do to find this out? just take the dandelion ?

 

[CardioGirl]

I'm glad I asked about this, though, because I'll keep dandelion in mind for future occasions.

Did you use root/leaf/stem? And how much?

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

I didn't have a chance to get dandelion, so I just low-carbed it as Steel suggested. I ate about 70g of carbs whereas I usually eat atleast 200g.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Good work, VLC. This is a great step in the direction of getting to know how your body reacts to different intakes of various macros, etc. This is one of my goals for the coming year - just play and experiment with things and keep an eye on responses.

So far I've discovered that I put on fat fast if I eat chocolates every day ... bwa haa ha haa! (just kidding - I sub in peanut butter on alternate days, lol)

 

[rez]

i think i should be doing more of that, but i think my body is so used to having low carbs that if i start having 'high' carb days it will auto matically store it as fat...unless i use r-ala...which may be an option.
i usually wouldnt have more than 60carbs a day and most come from my post workout meal..the rest are just vegies. I kinda dont know where I could start..does anyone have suggestions?

i was also wondering if one would lose bf% if having high carb meal with r-ala instead of ckd..as a way of a short term cutting diet?

 

[SteelWeaver]

I don't know about that, rez. I mean, our bodies have been primed since we crawled out of the sludge aeons ago to use glucose for fuel first. I suppose individual adaptation occurs, as seen in folks who do Atkins then start eating carbs again. But if you take it slowly and carefully you shouldn't have too much of a problem.

And obviously, if you have a high carb day, you should drop the fat accordingly, since probably the fat will go to fat if there are a bunch of carbs in there WITH it.

You might try increasing starchy carbs by 20g or so per day, rather than suddenly bumping them up by, like, 100.

I've found that eating starchy-like carbs such as pumpkin and corn and carrots allows me to still eat a lot, and still get the starchy carbs, but not have them super high, like they would be with just a small piece or two of sweet potato or something. This helped a great deal after my comp when I was a seriously hungry girl. Filled me up, and they're tasty. I eat oatmeal in the morning, pumpkin etc for a few more meals, some broccoli, other fibrous vegs, then starchy carbs pre and post workout. Granted, I'm "bulking", not cutting, but this helps me not go nuts on the calories. I haven't gained fat nearly as fast as I did last time. I think r-ala may have contributed to that too, when I was eating junk post-comp.

Anyway, I think it's a good idea to mix things up and vary them occasionally. Bodybuilding should put us in control of how our bodies look, not make us slaves and prisoners to food, working out, etc.

I don't know about your final question, but ultimately it comes down to calories in vs calories out. Maybe a few fewer calories in when carbs are higher.