is 250-300 carbs per day too much?

[photonick]

for a 156 5'11' male? I'm trying to keep my carbs in control and notice i come in around 250-300 per day.

[Pat]

I assume you are talking about calories here. The human nervous system can only burn carbohydrates and it requires something like 300-500 calories per day. It can not use fat. It can rip up protein and turn it into carbohydrates. That is what kills people on fasting diets. Their body rips up proteins to make carbohydrates and eventually tries ripping up the heart (not a good move).

If you are indulging in aerobic activities like cycling, you should really take in enough carbohydrate to replenish your depleted muscle glycogen and that could be up to 2000-3000 calories per day if you are doing big miles with some intensity.

[Carbonfiberboy]

Depends on how much you ride. TdF riders average 90-100g/hr. Most people can't process that much, so we usually say 60-70g/hr. is about right while riding. Outside of riding, where that's a fact, it comes down to ideology. After the ride, it is possible to convert protein to replace lost glycogen by the process of gluconeogenesis. This is a somewhat inefficient process, however. I guess that's the whole idea. As that may be, if you ride every day, you may not be able to convert enough protein to glucose to keep going. Not to start an argument or anything. :D

[photonick]

No....I'm talking about carbohydrates...and i did some research and found 250-300 to be the average intake for somone my size. I'm not talking about during riding im talking about per day on average.

[gkb]

5'8" same weight here...

you really shouldn't be worrying about restriction of calories at all at that size if you're doing any sort of aerobic excercise. If anything you should be eating everything in sight because losing muscle mass sucks.

300g carbs = 1200 kcal
150g protien = 600 kcal
65g fat = 585 kcal
2385 kcal total, should be an approx minimum intake. add for excercise, reduce for weight loss.
thinking about that more, thats a 50c/25p/25f split...i'd probably lean more towards a 60c/20p/20f split, while keeping g protein at desired lbm weight.

dont take anything as gospel

[ModoVincere]

250g - 300g per day is a typical carbohydrate intake. That's about 40% - 50% of the daily calorie intake one should be consuming (on average). @ 4 calories/grm its between 1000 and 1200 calories from those carbs. The biggest problem with the typical western is too much fat, not carbs.
So as long as you are not a diabetic, you are probably fine with 250-300gms/day.

[bac]

No....I'm talking about carbohydrates...and i did some research and found 250-300 to be the average intake for somone my size. I'm not talking about during riding im talking about per day on average.

Grams or calories? 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories

... Brad

[Carbonfiberboy]

No....I'm talking about carbohydrates...and i did some research and found 250-300 to be the average intake for somone my size. I'm not talking about during riding im talking about per day on average.You may not have gotten my drift. This is a bike forum, so everything on it is about riding. Every rider's day is different. It depends on how much you ride. If you ride 3 hours every day, that's going to cost you 1500 calories or more. At 4 cal/gm, that's 375 g of carbos right there. So you take in 60g/hr during the 3 hours riding, that's 180g. But you burned more than that, so you have to make up the difference before and after the ride with additional carbs.

gkb's got it right. Maybe you go about 250g before exercise, then add at least the 60-70g/hr of riding, and probably more. If you're trying to restrict carbs, you have to be careful, because if you restrict them very much, you wind up doing the gluconeogenesis thing and burning skeletal muscle to make up the difference. So eat a balanced diet with lots of veggies and watch what your weight does. If you're gaining, you may need to eat less. Or maybe you're putting on leg muscle and it's a good thing. I just pinch my gut. If I can grab more than a finger's worth, I need to cut back a bit or ride more. Riding more works better for me.

On the bike, I watch my intake like a hawk. Off the bike, I don't watch my carbs. I just make sure I recover with adequate carbs and protein so that I'm good to go again the next day.

[ericgu]

You may not have gotten my drift. This is a bike forum, so everything on it is about riding. Every rider's day is different. It depends on how much you ride. If you ride 3 hours every day, that's going to cost you 1500 calories or more. At 4 cal/gm, that's 375 g of carbos right there. So you take in 60g/hr during the 3 hours riding, that's 180g. But you burned more than that, so you have to make up the difference before and after the ride with additional carbs.

gkb's got it right. Maybe you go about 250g before exercise, then add at least the 60-70g/hr of riding, and probably more. If you're trying to restrict carbs, you have to be careful, because if you restrict them very much, you wind up doing the gluconeogenesis thing and burning skeletal muscle to make up the difference. So eat a balanced diet with lots of veggies and watch what your weight does. If you're gaining, you may need to eat less. Or maybe you're putting on leg muscle and it's a good thing. I just pinch my gut. If I can grab more than a finger's worth, I need to cut back a bit or ride more. Riding more works better for me.

On the bike, I watch my intake like a hawk. Off the bike, I don't watch my carbs. I just make sure I recover with adequate carbs and protein so that I'm good to go again the next day.

+3.575

A good diet off the bike and good on-bike and recovery nutrition will take you a long ways.

[tdbmd]

Recomended carb intake for endurance is a range of 1.2-1.5 gm/kg of lean body weight.