Athletic Performance on a low carb diet
 

I recently went on a low carb (50 gm carbs/day) eating plan, and have seen a nice drop in weight after being stuck at 175 (5' 11", 64 y/o) for quite a while. I also have seen a concurrent drop in b/p, and hope that I'll be seeing a concurrent drop in cholesterol despite the "high" fat diet.

I want to get off the statins and the b/p meds. Despite riding 150 - 180 mi a week (120 at high levels) I'm still on these damn drugs. The b/p drugs cause cramping at about 60 mi of hard riding in hot weather (I just can't seem to drink enough) and the statins make me feel tired all the time.

Has anyone had experience with a low carb, low protein, high (good) fat diet and athletic performance?

Has anyone read "The art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance?"

Not yet, but I will by the end of this summer. My body hasn't adapted to running on fats yet, because I haven't been eating low carb consistently enough. After a week or so I feel drained, and end up carbing up and starting all over. I know it gets better, I just haven't gotten past it because I enjoy my daily rides and I hate feeling like I'm dragging. I'm sure if I kept it up for 2 or 3 weeks, I'd get past it though.

I have read this article by Peter Attia and it leaves me hope, despite what others have said.

If you think that fatigue gets bad, try a statin drug!

I am hoping someone can help me with my question. I am a diabetic just getting back into biking since being diagnosed 4yrs ago. I have just taken control of my life and diet within the past few months and am now completely grain free. This has been a life changing thing but I am concerned about how it will affect my riding. My question is this: What grain alternatives should I eat as carbs for a better ride? Better yet, what should my carb, protein, fat ratio be? I eat quite a bit of "good" fats because I use a lot of nut flours, quinoa, flax and chia seeds and flours as alternatives to grains. I feel fantastic but worry about getting that ratio for ideal energy and endurance. I would appreciate any help and advice anyone could give me! Thanks

Never

To a very small degree compaired to a low carb diet. You need to be at about 50 gms of carbs per day or less for 6 - 8 weeks before you become completely ketogenic and burn fat all the time instead of carbs. Say goodbye to glucose.

Read "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Perfromance"

Those grains/nuts look good based on what I've read. Just keep your carbs below 50 a day. Forever.

BTW, today I skipped the 65 mi hammerfest and instead chose a local club ride. It was a good thing. I bonked real bad at about 35 mi. My metabolism has not yet converted to full time fat burning. It will be another several weeks...

I would be cautious getting your hope too high based on that one article. His data is a little suspect (the pre-diet glycogen utilization is not normal). I expect you'll experience a loss in performance while trying to train on a low carb diet.

Well, my "training" isn't what most would consider training. I enjoy riding long distances, but I never really heavily exert myself while doing it. I don't ride fast.. slow and steady. Which as I understand it, a low carb eating plan *should* work for that.

That depends on how slow "slow" is. The slow that you can maintain with no carbs may be slower than your current slow.

Just curious, but what are the benefits you get from restricting carbs?

For myself, better blood sugar control. It's also easier to eliminate wheat from my diet.

You might have a look at Team Type 1's site. They sponsor racing teams of type I and II diabetics.

There is one trainer in our group who is on this diet. She is an animal when it comes to long hard rides. She is also very feminine, with a great bod She doesn't look like she has a guys physique. At all. If I can still be able to hang on her wheel, I'll be happy.

Thank you for this information. I will definitely be checking this out.

I ride with a couple of 50-ish Type 1s, very strong riders. They eat normal bike food: carbs. I'm sure Team Type 1 also eats normal bike food. However, Types 1 and 2 are not the same.

I have issues with blood sugar levels, so I try to stay low carb as well. However, I'm skeptical about the body's ability to convert fat into energy quickly enough when you're on a long ride. I became more convinced of this after reading The Paleo Diet for Athletes. I still use electrolyte tablets that contain no carbs, but on a long ride (2 hours or more) I'll consume a fruit and nut bar. At the end of the ride, I'll make myself a protein shake with frozen fruit. With those exceptions, I pretty much adhere to a low carb regimen.

The problem is, that on a long ride, your body is consuming carbs very quickly, and once the glycogen is out of your muscles, you either have to provide a quick replenishment, or you'll bonk. Frankly, if you're cycling 60 to 100 miles and have 50 extra grams of carbs during and immediately after that ride, I don't think it will hurt you.

As for statins, I took them for 15 years. When I got more involved with cycling, i.e. riding more than 100 miles per week, the cramping was unbelievable. I would cramp up at night, and in the worst places, e.g., the instep of my foot, my ankles, etc. I did some research and became convinced that if I watched my diet and kept exercising, I would be better off without the statins. I dropped them totally, and 80% of the cramping disappeared within 2 weeks.

Statins are a multi-billion dollar business, and the manufacturers spend a LOT of money convincing everyone that you can't live without them. Of course, not much is said about the possibility of permanent liver damage and, some studies show, serious muscle damage. I encourage you to read more about statins before you accept that you have to take them forever. This article is a good start. Of course, I'm not a doctor, but that doesn't mean we all don't have a right to learn more about the drugs we're taking, particularly ones that we take daily.

Good way to put it, and that's what I've been thinking lately about low-carb eating and endurance exercising. Frankly, what we do on a bike is historically unnatural (who suspects that cavemen ran around at a high HR for five hours?), and I didn't think that a paleo-natural diet would fuel the activity well enough.

At lower heart rates and exertion levels, it's fine, but it'll have its limits.

The human body is designed to use glucose first before fat. So there is no problem with what Chaco and BarracksSi are proposing. If you are burning 750 - 1000 cals per hour, taking on some carbs is obviously not going to present a problem.

However, if you are in keytosis, and you have been there for you several weeks, your metabolism has changed to efficiently burn fat. You start with very little glucose in your muscles, but you won't bonk. Fat is a better fuel for long sustained efforts. What it is not good for would be a final all out sprint effort.

What you don't want to do is to shift your metabolism back to primarily a glucose based metabolism by ingesting too much for too long, that is, carbo loading for several days before a big ride, eating a log of goo on the ride, and indulging for several days after the effort.

From a paleo standpoint, you are telling your body "Spring is here! Sugar and starch will be plentiful. Shift back to a glucose based metabolism, and store fat for the winter." If you do that, then you have to go through the "induction" process to get your metabolism back to being fat based. That takes time.

IF you are a serious professional racer, these diets are probably not for you. If you are a regular Joe (or Fred) even at high level, it may be something to consider.

Somewhat low carb... (your carb intake is Atkins... not typical low carb)...
I do notice eating carb while riding is beneficial in my case... (just enough to churn the engine so to speak). Typically though, unless it is right after big ride, etc... my carb intake mostly comes from fruits and veggies. Don't really count on fat vs. protein...
Energy wise, I don't feel like I lost any performance since moving from calorie counting "balanced" diet to low carb. Only thing I lost was some weight.

From my reading, the jury is still out on that, though I freely admit I'm not a scientist. Friel, one of the authors of The Paleo Diet for Athletes, found that a pure low-carb diet wasn't working for the athletes he trained who did long distance events, i.e. over 2 hours. Even though his athletes had been on a low carb diet for a long time, they still couldn't convert their fat quickly enough to sustain performance. So the authors modified the traditional low carb diet to add some carbs, but only during the event or immediately after. They did not recommend carb loading meals before the event or hours after. I'm grossly oversimplifying their reasoning, but that's the gist of it.

If you do any type of competitive rides at any level these diets are not for you. They may allow you to ride at submaximal efforts but will involve a significant performance hit for the type of intensity you would see in a race or even a competitive group ride.

Joe Friel, one of the authors of the Paleo Diet for Athletes, is an endurance athlete trainer. He trains people who are professional and high end amateur competitors. He obviously thinks that a low carb diet, with some modifications, is just fine for competitive riders.

Sure, but the modifications eliminate the 'low carb' part. Eating carbs before during and after a long ride stretches the definition of low carb and is completely different than a diet which puts you into ketosis as described by bobthib.