Morning Bawdy!
There are as many, many ways of blending diet and training,as there are people, and what works for me, may not work for you. I tried copying Built's style of eating, which is lower GI carbs before and after lifting, as she cannot handle high GI. Welp, as I said earlier, makes me sleepy. For me, high GI carbs get in and processed quickly. I tee-hee'd at the use of smarties too (and it must be smarties, pixie sticks, or some other dextrose based candy, not sucrose based), but I was getting good results with plain dextrose tablets. I love smarties anyway, so when I went back to FL last month, I took the opportunity and stocked up.
My sleep patterns, kids' schedules, etc., are such that a morning routine is what I do, and it can only fit in during the 11am-12:15pm window. So, I just rearranged my eating to accomodate it. Built (she's a good example, I think,
) works all day, like you, but she has time in the evening, so she works out then, and eats a later dinner. All the reading and research I have done has convinced me that there are no real advantages to WHEN you exercise, so long as you DO IT.
So!! What I would do, if I were you, and on your schedule, is the following...... I'd get up at 4am, and immed. guzzle a protein shake in water, and either make sure the shake had dextrose in it, or eat a roll of smarties with it. Then drive to the gym, eating another roll of smarties, giving the protein and dex a chance to hit my system, and therefore be available for use. Do the workout, and then immed, after, I'd guzzle down another scoop of protein powder (that I had pre-measured in a jar, just add water), and eat 1-2 more rolls of smarties. If I did some cardio after lifting, then I would wait and have the shake/dex immed. after that. BTW-----water water water, both immed after rising, before, during, after workout. Yes, I float,
Then, I'd hop in my car, go home, and have breakfast. I like fat and protien, maybe a little carb (up to 20g) for breakfast, but you want to wait about 45-60' after your last dextrose ingestion, before eating lotsa fat.
Note: on cardio only days, I would guzzle a scoop of low carb pp right outta bed, but no added dex. No dex at all, no more anything except water, until I got home and made breakfast.
Then life as usual. There are some who say that fasted cardio first thing in the morning will burn the most fat, and they are probably right, but most things I have read have said the amount extra is minimal......more important is the fact that I feel like crap if I try to exercise fasted, so my intensity isn't there, so my cardio workout would suffer, thereby nullifying any benefits of no food in the system,
As always, YMMV.
Probably you know this, but in case you don't---the purpose of eating a "fast" carb like dextrose, is it is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream, as is whey protein powder. These nutrients are available for your body in roughly 20-30', so if your body is exercising, it will use the nutrients rather than store them. After exercise, you spike your insulin again with the dex, as well as dump some more "fast" protein in there. Now insulin "drives" the protein and blood glucose to where it's needed......your recovering muscles, and not to the fat cells. If you eat fat soon after the dex/protein combination, not only might some of this fat get "driven" into the fat cells, but more importantly, it slows down the absorption of the glucose and protein, which is not what you want, post exercise. So, I wouldn't add cream to a post workout shake. If you were having a protein shake as a breakfast substitute, and NOT exercising soon after, then adding cream to a low carb protein powder would be just fine. Protein and fat in a meal, and a little lower GI carb=fine. Protein and carbs of any GI=fine. Higher GI carbs and fat=of course, not fine.
If you decide to experiment with this, keep in mind you may have to adjust the amount of dextrose you eat. 4 rolls is only 24g, but you might do better with 2 rolls total (12-18g), in which case I would do one before and one after. Just depends on how good your body is at clearing extra blood glucose. You
might find that you can't handle it all, that you find yourself with carb cravings, or other funky IR symptoms.
Luckily for me, I am not that sensitive; it takes quite a bit of sugar before I am a zombie.
Finally......once again, this is just what I have condensed for *me* as something that is working great for *me*. It might work great for you, too!