Originally Posted by rosieNJ

My questions are this:
*Do the muscles need carbs to heal?

Originally Posted by Matador

If your primariy goal is to build muscle, I found that 100-150g of carbs daily, divided on three meals (Breakfast, Pre workout and Post workout) works best for ME (again, it's an individual number)

The thing about carbs is it depends so very much on your body. carbs themselves ain't fattening, it's when you're glycogen deposits are full they spill over as fat. If you eat them in the morning, you've been fasting for 8+ hours, so the chance of them spilling over is minimal.

By the time you hit the gym, you're glycogen deposits will be fairly low on carbs again, so you eat a small amount to fuel your workout, your bodies prefered fuel source for weight lifting is carbs, so after the weight lifting session your stores will be low again and you can once again consume carbs with a minimal chance of spillover.

Building muscle without carbs is possible, yes, but they aid tremendiously in recovery and keeping you in an anabolic state which is required for muscle gain. Yes, you will add a bit of fat you can shred later by removing the carbs, but you're overall body composition will be SO much better and you will look leaner over all.

Adding carbs might not be vital if you're a beginner, since beginners tend to add lean muscle mass in a caloric deficit with zero carbs, but if you're progress starts to stall in the gym it's surely a thing to consider.

And then again... this is from a male standpoint, and if you're primary goal simply is to get a toned rather than ripped, then carbs might not be neccesary whatsoever (beside your daily veggies, and maybe 20-30g post workout)

Originally Posted by PilotGal

Surprisingly, when there are no carbs in the body and you do a big work out, you're not sore the next day..
I'm not the expert on this, Charles Washington and his members are the experts on this ZC and Exercise .. many of the ZCer's over there work out and say that they never feel sore the next day.. EVER..
I find that so amazing because when I used to work out regularly, it would take days for me to be able to use my arms to open a jar because I was always hurting so badly..

Originally Posted by rosieNJ

Thank you so much for this information. It makes sense. Right now I would like to loose between 15 and 20lbs of scale weight however, loosing BF is more important to me. Right now I'm at about 26% I'd like to see how 20% looks and then adjust from there.

Its all so confusing... Eat carbs, dont eat carbs... Eat high fat, eat low fat... LOL... Im sure you know all about it. I have to see what works best for me as today marks only one full week of being low carb.

Originally Posted by kbfunTH

I know you were probably looking for more veterans to speak up here, but..... BTW, what did you mean by that comment anyway?

If you're paying attention to your body, you will find out that calories matter and that 'very low carbs' makes it easier to keep off the unwanted bodyfat.

Originally Posted by rosieNJ

Veterans - meaning those who have successfully navigated through a low carb diet while building muscle and loosing fat and are active members here.

Originally Posted by kbfunTH

I know you were probably looking for more veterans to speak up here, but..... BTW, what did you mean by that comment anyway?

If you're paying attention to your body, you will find out that calories matter and that 'very low carbs' makes it easier to keep off the unwanted bodyfat.

Originally Posted by Dr Velcro

Having done this for a few years...I will tell you this.

After you go on full induction & follow it to the letter....
And you are losing weight like nothing you've ever done before (except in rare cases of metabolic resistance), you will laugh at the idea that you danced around going full low carb to begin with.

You will be full, you WILL lose weight and you WILL feel amazing.

No gimmicks to buy, no magic pills. All whole, real foods.

Cardio will help to burn calories, but light weight training will help you with toning. Rotate out your sessions and remember to mix it up....enjoy yourself.

Food?

Try a 3 egg omlett with cheddar cheese, onions, mushrooms, green peppers...

Bacon, sausage...

Steaks, fried chicken (in olive oil) with grated parmesan as your breading.

Salads with eggs, bacon and cheese.
Real butter, real cream...

Low carb is not boring. Your body will use the fat you consume.
I don't have problems with energy levels while I'm working out, this includes weight training. I DO avoid the scale when I'm weight training for a few days though.

What works for one, may not work for all.
However, please give some thought to full-on induction.

If you've never done induction before, the info may be one here, or you may check out the Atkins site for the rules.

Two weeks, change your life.

Originally Posted by rosieNJ

I hope I didnt offend anyone.

Originally Posted by rosieNJ

Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by jcass

competetive level workouts WILL negatively impact your health, though they may make you look pretty good for a while.