To be a beast - carb in meals throughout the day

[ambivalens]

Hello Jordan, and thanks for the absolutely fantastic service you provide here.

Male, 33, 124kg BW, 190cm height. Finished Novice LP + Advanced Novice, max lifts: Squat 150kgx5, Deadlift 175kgx5, Bench: 107.5kgx5, Press: 72.5kgx5

I've come down from about 136kg during this, trying to eat reasonably, but not focusing too much on anything. I've been trying to get about 200-220 grams of protein a day, other than that I've tried to stay relatively low carb, and I haven't thought too much about fat, just stayed away from the typical culprits. LP got REAL heavy in the end, probably because my carbs were way too low (I didn't realize this at the time) - a typical day for me would probably be sub 200 grams.

Now I've read "To be a beast", and had a look at the suggested macros for Male Recomp: 315 grams of protein, 343 grams of carbohydrates, and 96 grams of fat. Both the protein and the carb are sky high compared to what I've been doing, but the fat is probably normal, maybe slightly lower than usual.

I've implemented this now, through abhorrent amounts of oats. I mix it with water, put in a table spoon of non-sugary strawberry jam (this is needed for compliance), and go at it. Protein I've managed to hit 315 by doing double protein shakes morning and evening. Compliance is not a problem outside the need for that strawberry jam to make the oats edible. The rest of my diet revolves around eggs, cottage cheese, bananas, canned tuna. Vegetables I don’t really keep track of, but try to get alot of spinach each day.


Two questions:

1) In the article, you say that the trainee should try to get the brunt of the carbohydrate load of the day around training times. I eat 100 grams of oats for lunch at 11, then when I get out of work at 15 I train straight away. Does it matter if I wolf another 150 grams of oats before or after this workout? I could maybe eat them at 14 by pissing off my boss a bit (we're carpenters and our jobs don't really go well with sitting on our asses eating) - These 150 grams of oats I've tried to place around training time is what's causing me the most problems. That and the fact that 343 grams of carbs a day seems very high.

2) Do these macros seem reasonable for someone at my stage of the game? I’m wanting to trim some more fluff off, but my main focus is getting stronger rather than prettier - the fat trimming is for health, not aestehtics.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lenghty novel about my life and times.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Thanks for writing. So I'd probably have done a more moderate increase in carbs slowly over time and titrate them to effect. I think the jump you made is likely to increase performance but not sure what it will do to your weight. I'd probably keep your protein around 220g, your carbs at 200 or so to start, and then the fat the same as what you were eating before. From a timing perspective, I would definitely do some carbs right before training- though if it's <30 min or so before training I like something a bit faster digesting that oats- like a fiber free carbohydrate source of some kind with BCAAs. Any way to do this?

[ambivalens]

Thanks for writing. So I'd probably have done a more moderate increase in carbs slowly over time and titrate them to effect. I think the jump you made is likely to increase performance but not sure what it will do to your weight. I'd probably keep your protein around 220g, your carbs at 200 or so to start, and then the fat the same as what you were eating before. From a timing perspective, I would definitely do some carbs right before training- though if it's <30 min or so before training I like something a bit faster digesting that oats- like a fiber free carbohydrate source of some kind with BCAAs. Any way to do this?

Thanks for your feedback. I've had a talk with my boss, and having a meal 80 minutes before my workout won't be a problem. Would you still recommend something faster than oats? If so, what'd be the best bet?

I've been on the macros described for one week now, and my waist has moved in 1cm and weight is down 600 grams (and today I hit another notch in the lifting belt that I could never reach before). That may mean nothing at all, but I've been feeling better lately. Not 100% sure how it's affecting my workouts yet, they've felt more or less the same (Monday great, Wednesday pretty great, Friday shit). Too little data as of yet to draw any conclusions. I think I'll actually stay with these numbers for now, and monitor my weight and progress closely. Compliance is 100%, but due to some silly mistakes (mainly counting the carbs in rice wrong) I've had some pretty big evening meals this week to "catch up". That'll be changing now that I'm more used to tracking everything. I am trying my best to concentrate my carbs in the 11 to 18 time frame, with a bit less for breakfast and not much in the evening.

If one more week of this diet produces a weight gain I'll try tuning protein and carbs slightly downwards and see what happens. Is 1 week of a newly tuned macro composition enough to make an educated judgement about it, or would it be better to go for 2 weeks between each tuning?

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

Thanks for your feedback. I've had a talk with my boss, and having a meal 80 minutes before my workout won't be a problem. Would you still recommend something faster than oats? If so, what'd be the best bet?

Oats are fine, but get out there and explore man...there are lots of carb sources out there just waiting to give you their gainzZz!

If one more week of this diet produces a weight gain I'll try tuning protein and carbs slightly downwards and see what happens. Is 1 week of a newly tuned macro composition enough to make an educated judgement about it, or would it be better to go for 2 weeks between each tuning?

1-2 weeks is good with me for making changes. Don't wanna be waiting forever to get to your goal, you know?