Interesting, I’ll check those out. Thanks.
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Good time to start as I’m going for a collar bone operation so will be off the bike or a while anyway. I’m expecting to feel no power when I start again but will build slowly and be in base phase. Thanks for input.
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@toddmckee As someone who has being doing this like yourself for two years I can agree with everything you said.
Becoming fat adapted doesn’t happen over night and certainly won’t happen over a month and to be fully optimal could take a year or more. This is why LCHF can get negative, people just want instant improvements and when they don’t see the results they are looking for, and give up. The trick to ease off the carbs slowly then start upping your fat intake do this over a couple of weeks this will be less stressful on the body. People tend to go extreme and end up feeling rubbish. Try training fasted and carb back load after. Like Todd said low carb is not no carb a common mistake made by a lot of people. Train fasted in the morning while insulin levels are at it’s lowest this allows the body to tap into its fat stores. Do this every other day and get your body used to it. Again as Todd said you can eat carbs on your rides as insulin is dormant during exercise.
Your end goal is to get your body to burn fat at higher intensities as you train, again this takes time.
For example someone that is fat adapted can burn fat at higher intensities while still have having glycogen in reserve as apposed to someone who is carb loading will be burning his glycogen stores sooner and constantly fueling themselves to keep them going. Now having said even fat adapted athletes will need a hit of simple carbs to keep glucose going to the brain failing to do so could see a bonking effect.
LCHF imo is a long term healthier way to look after your body while gaining performance using a cleaner energy source. Smashing gels, energy products that you cant even pronounce the ingredients on the label along with cans of coke with the ideology that sugar is fuel and not harmful to health is worrying.
As for keto, keto is strict low carb 50g a day and is absolutely of no benefit to endurance athletes.
Ketosis is when the liver produces ketones for energy it’s more of a survival mechanism by the body. Definitely not recommended.
Here’s a link on a book to peak your interest even more.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Performance/dp/0983490716
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I’ve been low carb for about 4 years and 16:8 IF for the last 3 months. I’ve felt like it has improved almost every aspect of my life (weight, concentration, mood, GI symptoms, energy levels). It doesn’t seem to have affected my cycling performance either positively or negatively for short efforts. It has helped with longer rides though. I bonk way less now and can ride up to 2 hours fasted no problems.
I would definitely recommend trying it. Can always go back if it doesn’t work for you.
That is probably the best summary I’ve ever read. LCHF, maybe if you know what you are doing, Full Keto not for high performance.
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If you’ve not listened to it, the Science of Ultra episode on Fat Adaptation is excellent.
OR
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Going LCHF I think would require even more will-power than eliminating just junk carbs (while still retaining the ability to eat high quality carbs).
Several months ago, I cut refined sugars out of my diet and as a result, my macro nutrient mix shifted so that its more balanced. It took a few weeks for my sugar cravings to subside, and I’m now at a point where I no longer crave sugars. My performance on the bike has not deteriorated, and if anything, has improved.
I don’t think I’ll continue the shift to LCHF, as it would be difficult for me to sustain a diet like that - both from the perspective of craving carbs, and from a practical standpoint - it takes more effort to prepare/cook foods for a LCHF diet.
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I’ve been doing LCHF for about 4 months now and I can echo all of the health benefits. I don’t crave anything anymore, and I generally love the way it makes me feel.
However… for performance, it made a huge difference depending on what I was doing.
Fully ketogenic at the end of a 16hr fast, I can ride 3+hours with nothing but water and electrolytes, hop off my bike and continue my day like nothing happened.
The downside is, I (N=1) have loads of problems with sweet spot work without carbs. I can get about 10min into the first interval and simply can’t keep the power up. I could do short VO2 work, but nothing sustained.
MY SOLUTION - I still eat a LCHF diet, BUT, I target some carbohydrates in my pre-workout meal. Rice/Sweet potato/Oatmeal usually 2-3hrs before, or I will use Ucan superstarch about 30min before. Now I don’t have the issue nearly as much.
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How much of an effort does it take to cook some eggs, meat or fish with some butter and vegetables. It’s real food Dave. I’m not sure what you were on but it doesn’t sound like lchf approach.
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You should eat carbs post work out to replenish your glycogen stores depending on how hard the work out was. People have this idea I need carbs to perform a I hr HIIT session which is really maybe half hour of sweet spot or anaerobic with recovery included. People have plenty of glycogen in muscle storage for this effort. It’s in your head. Nobody is properly fat adapted after a few months it can take a year or more training fasted and eating right.
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It’s a difference between living with an empty carb tank and filling it up only to burn it off or living with a full carb tank and refilling right after you burn it off. The carbs are available for a workout either way. Some just prefer the benefits of living with that tank empty.
This isn’t entirely correct, people on a LCHF diet (like myself) are not walking around with empty tanks at all, if this was the case you wouldn’t be able to do fasted workouts effectively. The speed at which you refill the tank, and the food you use to refill it will be different to a carb diet, but the stores are still there.
If you’ve not listened to it, the Science of Ultra episode on Fat Adaptation is excellent.
That was great! I loved how in depth and simply explained it was considering they’re going over about a decade of research. The tidbit about the downregulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase as a limiter in the fat adapted diet was fascinating. Oh man, now I have hours of work to listen to. Thanks!
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Not sure why humans always have to drift to the extremes, high carb vs full keto. Always the extremes.
I try the middle ground, pretty much what Froome and others are doing: I periodize my carb intake depending on my training load and goals.
Base diet is LCHF-ish/protein rich, carbs are consumed to fuel workouts (depending on workout pre/during/post). There can be days with very high carb intake (8-12 g/kg).
I compete in events where both is needed, high/efficient fat oxidation and high level efforts fuelled by high octane carbs. I can get out of the door without breakfast and ride for 6 hours without any food intake. On the other hand my carb metabolism isn’t downregulated and I can use them to fuel high intensity efforts.
Best of both worlds.
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Hi
I’ve been pretty much low carb for 4 or 5 years now. In the beginning I was really strict - now I’m fairly relaxed i.e I’ll have a beer, a slice of pizza once a week etc. I lost weight that I had struggled to lose for 10 years prior - even with professional eating plans and lots of exercise. Once I hit my goal weight I relaxed a little.
I agree with the statements regarding power issues. Certainly in the first couple of months. Depending on your physiology this may well disappear over time. I certainly struggled initially but don’t have any issues to speak of now. (But I wouldn’t classify my self as a pro rider).
Forgetting cycling for a second, I have found the health benefits of low carb fantastic.
For athletes that struggle with power/performance on LCHF: try live and train day to day LCHF. For big races, run/ride on carbs.
Just my 2 cents.
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This is a great summary of how to find a balance for top athletic performance when you need both threshold and anaerobic power requirements for racing. I like to call this weaponising carbs.
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I completely agree with @sryke here. A lot of people think it’s all or nothing, which may be a hindrance to actually finding out what works for them. By all means, try the extremes, but don’t forget to try the inbetweens as well. Or you’ll never really know what works best. I think slight shifts in macronutrients from week to week is a better way of finding the perfect combination, and also recognizing that there’s a difference between the nutrition needed on an active day compared to a sedate day. It’s all about patience, experimentation and gaining knowledge about our own bodies.
I am not following or planning on following a Keto diet, but I came across the following item on Engadget and it might be useful for some of the people that are:
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Thanks for sharing, it sounds neat. But from what I hear and read about, the breath measurements are not nearly as accurate as the simple blood prick tests. Which as well as ketones will provide you with blood sugar levels, which is arguably more important as people figure out which foods cause their particular insulin levels to rise and which don’t.
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Those who want to go on Keto for weight loss or other reasons may find this video interesting. Its from Steve Phinney who is one of the lead researchers on Low Carb diets and performance (and a cyclist). He suggests the diet has a longer adaptation time before performance results match carb fuelled performance. Worth a watch.
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