I have searched the forum and can’t find an answer to what I’m struggling with. I have begun tracking my macros in My Fitnesspal and whilst I find no issue with hitting or getting within 10% of my protein goal it sets (or exceeding it), I am very much struggling to hit my carb goals. I never thought I would have this issue, despite hitting my calorie targets, I am sometime 60-75% below my carb goal. What tips/foods do you recommend to up my carbs whilst keeping the calories under control? Any links to simple recipes would be much appreciated. I’m in the UK fyi.
This points to you eating way too much fat, which will make you reach your calorie target but not with the right balance.
For training days/day before training: Carbs, protein, then fat, in that order.
For recovery days, and day before recovery day: Protein, carbs, fat.
Can you post a screenshot of a day where you met the calorie target but not the carb target?
It also seems like you need to learn a bit on energy density of foods. How many calories a gram of fat has vs a gram of sugar/carb has.
It’s very very easy to get calories in from fat, vs protein or carbs for example.
I would start with cutting back as much fat as possible (eat 0% greek yoghurt instead of the normal 10% for example) and focusing on carbs and protein for a week or two, see how that goes
You don’t need to eat that much rice and pasta to get the carbs in, but if you throw in lots of fat in the diet, that will throw you into a caloric surplus.
For real. I’ll eat a full baguette in a single sitting, which is close to 200g of carbs. Add some pasta at another 150g. Or a bowl of brown rice. I don’t think I’ve ever needed help hitting my carbs.
Yeah, I’d probably look at tweaking your carb/fat ratios if you’re looking to keep calorie intake constant- western diets can be relatively high in fat/protein, which might not necessarily scale well if you’re just eating ‘more of the same’ to compensate for significantly higher exercise expenditure.
a few tips I’ve found helpful;
Condiments are a good place to start- tomato-based instead of cream-based sauces, salsa over cheese/sour cream, etc. You might also be able to scale back on added fats/oils during cooking- not because they’re “bad” necessarily, but they’re fairly calorie dense and can add up quickly.
Leaner cuts of meat- again nothing against these, but opting for something like poultry or fish will reduce the fat a bit while still keeping the protein in there. (beans/legumes can be good too, since they’ve got some carbs as well.)
if you don’t enjoy eating a ton of rice/potatoes at meals (which can be pretty filling, and kind of boring if you’re not someone who really loves carbs), you can spread things out a bit with snacks. Fruit/veg/wholegrain based foods are probably preferable from a health/daily diet standpoint, but more ‘processed’ stuff will also do the job before a harder workout or if you’re struggling to get enough calories.
Related to the above: make your carbs taste good- look for recipes that have them incorporated into, or as a primary focus of, the main meal, rather than just a side/afterthought. (Paella, sushi, noodle salads etc- if you’re more of a ‘meat and potatoes’ person it can be worth experimenting a bit)
I like AIS for recipes- fairly simple/family friendly, and has the macros available for a larger/smaller portion size which I find useful for bigger days vs. rest/easy days.
Don’t cut fat. You are short on your goals for everything. You need to eat more of everything.
Find food that you really like. Add a good sauce with your pasta, eat fresh pasta (they taste so much better than dry pasta)…
This is misguided. There’s no “right balance”. It’s highly individualized. To the OP I say, hit your total calories first, then discount the calories from your Protein target. What you do after that is up to you and it doesn’t matter.
Just don’t go crazy on Sat Fat if you are concerned about your ApoB
If you are going to come with arguments that are so blatantly false, do at least cite some sources.
You can not sit and say that fat and carb balance doesnt matter for a an athlete, thats like saying calorie intake doesnt matter at all for losing weight. It’s just false.
The balance is of course set by the goals of the person. Since this is a forum for cyclists, balance matters. And since cycling is an endurance sport it matters even more.
Just to give an example how important carbs are In the lab I was still burning around 1g/carbs per minute at just 100w (LT2 of 315w, LT1 at 250w). FatMax was at 210w. I was still burning lots of carbs.
If you go into training with lack of carbs, you will either fail the workout, fail the targets, have to turn down intensity, or fail to recover. Or all maybe even.
The baseline is that if you eat enough carbs to fuel the training, and at the same time eat enough protein, you will need to cut down on fat because you will otherwise go into a calorie surplus. Unless you want to gain weight, thats not a favourable balance.
I explicitly said that the total calorie intake is first
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You seem quite confused about the “balance”. I know successful endurance athletes across the whole spectrum of % carb consumption. Just to put myself out there. I bet I eat on average 1/2 less of carbs than most ppl in this forum yet I’m way far to the right of the curve in performance, even more if I factor my age.
It doesn’t mean I don’t heavily fuel races and long rides. But on average, the leftover calories after I eat my 160-180g of protein daily is skewed towards FAT and that is not an issue at all to keep my calorie intake stable to be 138-141lbs at 9-12% body fat. High energy levels and support 10-15h on the bike.
This regime has the added benefit of keeping my ApoB low ( via lower Triglycerides bcs lower carbs)
