This is great would like to know more
In our last post on gaining muscle and losing fat we discussed that while these goals do indeed require different training and nutrition strategies, these strategies are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Meaning: You CAN lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously provided you use a strategic, timed approach.
Also in that post, I loosely gave mention to several different methods to achieve both goals simultaneously, and in these next few posts I want to take a deeper, more specific look at each.
Today’s method: MEGA Carbohydrate Loading
With this type of carb loading, you will consume 50% of your total daily caloric intake and 95% of your daily carbohydrate intake within 3 hours of beginning your muscle building workout.
By doing this, you provide your body with a massive surge of carbs and calories at the exact time that it is most responsive to suck up all those nutrients and use them for muscle repair and recovery.
NOTE: In order for this to work, you’ve got to be doing INTENSE, high volume workouts.
Go with a macronutrient breakdown of 30% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 30% fat.
Assuming a 45-minute workout, the Mega Carbohydrate Load starts with your pre/during workout beverage, followed by your post workout beverage, followed by a carbohydrate containing protein shake 1/2 hour later, followed by two whole food meals.
The first whole food meal should be consumed 45 minutes after the carb containing protein shake, and then the second whole food meal another 45 minutes later.
The rest of the meals of the day should be protein + fat + veggies (with minimal carbs).
Also, by doing this the bulk of your calorie and carb intake comes at the most anabolic time of the day, and the rest of the time you are actually in a caloric deficit while limiting insulin and carbohydrate.
Here’s an example:
8:00 am: Low-carb protein shake with added fiber; 2 tablespoons of olive oil
10:30 am: 3 eggs plus 4 whites scrambled with 2 slices of cheese; 4 strips of bacon; 1/2 package of spinach
1:00 pm: Low-carb protein bar; 2 oz of dry roasted nuts
3:00 pm: 8 oz Cheeseburger (no bun, wrapped in lettuce); large salad with very low-calorie dressing
5:00 pm (immediately pre-workout): Quickly digested protein/carb beverage
5:45 pm (immediately post-workout): quickly digested protein/carb beverage
6:15 pm: Protein/Carb shake with Skim Milk
7:00 pm: 2 oz of pasta (dry weight); 4 oz of chicken breast; 2 slices of 12-grain bread; package of broccoli
7:45 pm: 2 oz of pasta (dry weight); 4 oz of chicken breast; 2 slices of 12-grain bread; package of asparagus
10:00 pm: Low-carb protein shake with added fiber; 1 tablespoon of olive oil; 2 cups of green beans; 20 grams of fish oil
NOTE: Do not directly copy my diet as it likely calls for far too many calories for your size and build. Instead, copy the structure and the overlying principles based on your own calorie needs. Also, it is fundamentally important to consume just as many green veggies throughout the day in non-workout meals, as is apparent in my example above.
How’s THAT for free content?
Want Method #2? At least 250 comments and I’ll post the “Anabolic Burst Cycling method” tomorrow!
Talk to you in the comments section!
Joel
P.S. Want to know ANOTHER brand new technique for simultaneous fat loss and muscle gain right now?
Check out the below video from my buddy Kyle explaining one of the NEWEST methods we’re using:
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271 comments - add yours
sounds like id need shares in a Protein manufacturer in order to afford that daily ritual.
ABCM!
Nice, let’s keep this going
This plan is really ridiculous!!!
With such a program one has to only monitor what he eats.
I’m curious, I was under the impression that the Carbs gave our body energy, and Protein helped build and repair the muscles. I would of thought that the carbs would be more vital before the workout then after (so you dont fade while training).
Not that I have any problem with eating carbs after the workout – and I would think this is a good time eat them if you are wanting the energy/calories to be burned off quicker, compared to eating them when you are not exercising. But I would of thought a diet for someone wanting to build muscle would be focusing on a large portion of protein after exercise.
The part of Joel’s post I would love some great clarification with is, he says that you should start your Carb process 3 hrs BEFORE your exercise (which makes sense to me), and that you should be eating 95% of your Carbs in this phase, but then goes on to list the ‘eating guide’ which pre-exercise really only has one protein/carb shake as the first Carb intake and then the bulk of the carbs are ingested AFTER the exercise. Am I reading this wrong?
Carlie,
Joel wrote that the carbs should be eaten 3 hours within the beginning of your workout, which means 3 hours after you start.
Thanks for the info!
Gr8 stuff Joel, as the you would be making the most of the window period after the workout and before
Joel,
Didn’t think it could be done but I’d like to try it out and see the results. It seems like a nice strategy but this can only be proven when actually trying it out and getting results.
Thanks for the post and the good ideas!
Walter
This diet is unbalanced and unnecessary, it contains far too much protein (although the quantities are not documented) it is also not very praticle for most to follow, the amount of carbs in the evening are way too high even after working out!
The whole days eating appears to be a mish mash of the high fat diets (CKD) like the anabolic or atkins diets but then it goes all carb based at exactly the wrong time (evening), the amount of carbs taken so late will prevent the body from releasing maximum amounts of Growth Hormone during sleep , this is not ideal .
This study has even gone as far as proving that high carbs post workout ar not needed for muscle growth.
Carbs
(1) Study shows inclusion of carbohydrate in post-workout shake does not increase protein synthesis.
The following study took place in the Netherlands, the subjects being healthy young men. What was great about this study was that it was truly scientific in that it split the men into 3 groups, each ingesting different combinations of protein & carbohydrates. Therefore the only variable was the level of carbohydrate.
Each group performed resistance training for 60 minutes and was given either protein or a combination of protein and carbohydrate each hour for 6 hours after training. The amount of protein for all the groups was 0.3g per kg of bodyweight. The protein and carbs varied as follows:
Group 1 – Just Protein, no carbs
Group 2 – Protein with 0.15 g per kg of body weight of carbohydrate
Group 3 – Protein with 0.6 g per kg of body weight of carbohydrate
Protein synthesis rates were then measured for 6 hours after training. The results?
The intake of protein after training increases protein synthesis
The addition of carbohydrate (whether in small or large amounts) to this protein did not further increase protein synthesis at all.
study: Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Sep;293:E833-E842
There is no need to eat this way it is not a life style and will not be an option for most to follow due to excessiveness .
If you keep things simple like 5 or 6 well balanced meals per day around 40%carbs (mostly low GI) 30% protein ( lean meats dairy etc ) and 30% fats (all, appart from trans) this will provide a simple well balanced approach that anyone can stick to permanently it is also low GI and will not provoke insulin spikes at any time keeping energy levels balanced and body fat in check
The same ratios can then be adjusted up and down in calories at pre planned times (zig zagging or calorie cycling ) to give both fat loss and muscle growth ,
It’s easy to implement, allows for almost all foods with no excessive elimination of any group at any time.
This is the method I have used for around 4.5 years now with no body fat problems or muscle growth problems (now 6ft 1inch 221lbs v lean).
Any nutrition programme has to be praticle to live with other wise it is just as you say a DIET, meaning temporary and not a permanent choice so not giving permanent results.
Man, that is alot of food, but i know that it takes alot at the right time for muscle gain. I will tryo to work something like this in, because right now I either eat too many calories or not enough. And I trend it out too much too. I am excited about this. Anabolic Burst Cycling is something I have heard of. I hope you have a fresh take on it.
Is there any method where you dont need such a strict diet ???
Hi Joel
Appreciate the diet. I must day thats a lot of food there. Another thought, considering the fact thats you might have subscribers like me, who are not from the US, like me, it would get rather difficult to get those foods. Would you recommend some alternatives to some of the foods stated there. Also, currently I am following your diet and I am in the 4th week, so am I suppose to just switch from the earlier diet to what you’re saying now? Also, am assuming, this diet is for the workout days and not the non-workout days.
Anyway, thanks so much for the insight.
Interesting, indeed. But the sample menu is loaded with supplements and rather ‘lean’ on whole foods. There’s got to be a way to replace all those shakes and protein bars with nutritious whole foods. Joel, you mentioned earlier that meal replacements are for convenience only, so please could you give us some ideas how to replace them with whole food alternatives, for those of us who don’t mind spending the extra time in the kitchen? I would imagine that cottage cheese and/or yougurt with fresh fruit would give the correct carbs to protein balance required after workout, therefore eliminating the need for a shake?
Also, I am surprised to see that there is practically no lunch in the plan, only some snacking and the heavy meals late in the day. I realize that it is due to the fact that the workout is late in the afternoon and the concept necessitated the food intake around that. But I thought that regardless what time of the day one exercises, it is generally better to eat more in the morning and taper it off towards the evening. Goes back to your earlier post on mirroring one’s metabolism. How would one implement this strategy if working out upon waking up in the morning? Thanks, Joel!
wow! amazing!
That’s all well and good but what if you workout at 7 or 8 in the morning? This seems like a lot of thinking about food and doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of the whole CYWT lifestyle?
He did say don’t follow “that” particular plan. That’s what Joel does and I’m sure he can consume all those calories, actually he probably has to. Think Michael Phelps and his 1400+ calories when he’s swimming non stop. He said adapt it to your needs. Jeesh.@Misschiff –
sounds interesting! please tell me more
Just make your usual dinner, eat half, put the other half away for later. Not a big deal there.@Liese –
man this is intresting…but wouldn’t eating two (whole food meals) with in 45 minutes cause some kind of problem to the digestion process? as u would stuff food over undigested in your stomach!
i meant food over undigested food
haha, If i eat all that I prob wouldn’t loose any fat for like 2 weeks haha!
great content though!? Looking forward to the next post :)
Like everyone else has said, “That’s a lot of food!”
Please continue with some good information on this topic. This is really interesting stuff for my husband. He is probably a what you can call “skinny fat hard-gainer”: skinny all over with lean muscles that are not bulky enough and no visible six-pack abs with a slightly too pointing stomach. He exercises regularly and has been following some tips from fitness/abs pros. There are results: the stomach has gotten flatter, but meanwhile he has also got even skinnier all over (perhaps lost both bodyfat and muscle), which was not desired. He surely could use some good strategies to gain muscle and lose belly fat (at least not to put the belly fat he just lost back on) at the same time.
How do we incorporate this in the cheat to lose diet plan?
Thanks Joel. Being scientifically minded I always thought this method could be a good way to build and loose fat. Never actually tried it though. But will be using it with your diet as always do a protein shake and eat dinner about 45mins – 1 hour after working out. It just makes sense.
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...