Transition from higher fat to higher carb

[Christopher Miles]

Coach Robert,

After listening to your barbell logic & art of manliness podcasts over the last few days, I am interested in trying the higher carb diet discussed. What advice would you give an overweight intermediate trainee, currently eating at (or slightly below) maintenance, on transitioning from a high fat lower carb diet to a higher carb approach?

Would going from P260 C100 F135 to P260 C200 F95 over the course of a few weeks be of any value, or would the target carbs need to be higher before any recovery / performance benefits would be realised?

Should the additional carbs be focused on the meals around training on training days?

If I am already eating the ~40g fiber mentioned in the podcasts, would you recommend the additional added carbs also be high fiber or is 40g “enough”?

I wrote out a more detailed background paragraph about my current situation to ask these questions, but reading through it seemed like a lot of unnecessary detail. I worry that what I have written above is still too much for a forum post, apologies if that is the case.

[Robert Santana]

Thanks for posting.

If you are wanting weight loss then the macro change is on the right track but I'd probably go lower in fat and even higher in carbohydrates. Remember, your body can feed on your fat stores right now so you don't need a very high amount. Fiber over 40 g is fine so long as you don't have negative symptoms (that will vary from person to person). What are your lifts?

[Christopher Miles]

Thanks for the reply!

heavy sets from last week:
Squat 352x5
Deadlift 385x4 (missed 1)
Bench 220x3
press 148.5x3

Current bw is 223 at 5'11, coming down slowly. In the past I've been more compliant with nutrition targets on high fat / lower carbs - it's closer to what i would naturally chose to eat. Lifting progress has gotten really difficult though, so hoping more carbs will help in the gym while allowing me to continue to slowly lose weight.

[Robert Santana]

Lower fat just takes getting used to. High fat, salt, or sugar desensitizes your palate to regular food and you will require those extreme flavors to feel satisfied. A few months of eating high fiber fruits, vegetables, whole grains and leaner meats brings that sensitivity back then when you eat the higher fat stuff on occasion it tastes way better.

Are you on novice or intermediate programming? Why is your deadlift so close to your squat?

[Christopher Miles]

Lower fat just takes getting used to. High fat, salt, or sugar desensitizes your palate to regular food and you will require those extreme flavors to feel satisfied. A few months of eating high fiber fruits, vegetables, whole grains and leaner meats brings that sensitivity back then when you eat the higher fat stuff on occasion it tastes way better.

I guess I’ll aim for higher carb and less fat than my original post and hope to experience this.

Are you on novice or intermediate programming? Why is your deadlift so close to your squat?

Intermediate. Don't have a good answer for why they are so close. I resumed training in Nov last year, training 1 lift per day for 5x5 across, and managed a few larger jumps in squat that I wasn't able to match in DL. This shrunk the gap by 22lbs.

Even with the narrower gap, I first started missing reps on DL in 5x5 across, so transitioned to a heavy set of 5 first set then 4x5 at lower weight (continued weekly progress). The Squat followed shortly afterwards. Now that both lifts are in this pattern, once again the first miss is with the DL.

Hoping to get some coaching again shortly, to ensure it’s not a form issue. Once again, thanks for the help!

[Robert Santana]

Perfect!

So your deadlift should be well ahead of your squat. I see a couple of things (and form could be a factor too). First, I suspect that you are starting your deadlift too light to start your training cycle. You should start with the deadlift way heavier (~50-75 lb) ahead of the deadlift and ramp up from there because once the squat approaches the deadlift the back gets too tired to break the bar off the floor even though you would be able to just fine otherwise. Unless you have unusual anthropometry or tiny hands, you should be deadlifting 50-100 lb over your squat. The second thing is that you are pulling too much. 5 total sets of 5 when you are pulling close to your 5 RM and squatting limit sets of of 5 across won't end well. Are you thinking of online or live coaching?

[Christopher Miles]

Interesting! If I did start too light, is there anything to be done at this point?

Do you think it would make sense to keep the heavy set for deadlift and replace the rest with power cleans or something else a little less stressful? I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. The reason I persisted with the volume pulls is because I figured less pulling would mean my squat would get even closer … doh!

In 2016 I got down to London for in-person coaching with Carl Raghavan. It was a great experience, so I think (depending on his availability) I may see about doing that again soon.

[Robert Santana]

Carl is a good man, get over there again!

I'd do a top heavy set, 1-2 back offs, and make the rest of your pulling work lighter on your other pulling day. You may want to deload your squat just a little to give the back a break and work back up proportionately on both. How old are you?

[Christopher Miles]

I’m 32. Thanks for the advice! Time for some programming adjustments and a small deload then.

[Robert Santana]

You will be just fine then. I'm 34 and still hanging in there.