Introducing carb refeeds

[StuntNun]

I have been on a low carb way of eating for nearly a year. I have reached my target weight and my BMI is 21 but I'm still carrying a fair bit of flab around the lower abdomen, bum and thighs. My current aim is to lose fat but gain muscle so that I don't lose much if any any weight but my body fat percentage drops a little lower. With that in mind I have started exercising and have already seen some improvements such as visible muscle in my legs and tightening up of my bingo wings. I am also toying with carb refeeds which can apparently trigger a boost in the release of leptin which signals your brain that there is plenty of food available so it doesn't need to hang on to extra fat stores. Has anyone used carb refeeds in this way to promote body recompositioning to a lower body fat percentage?

Between the carb refeeds and three days of 14:10 intermittent fasting I have dropped another pound so something is definitely working. I have another carb refeed planned tonight using white rice.

No change for me this week as yet but I dropped a bit last week. Theres time yet and I have had to take a bit more of my codeine based pain killers so that might slow things down. Done more weights too. My refeed day will be Sundays now as I intend following it with a sort of ubercamp day and Mondays will be most convenient for that.

The more I think about what I eat, and I've seen how my calories and macros are working out and they are fine, the more I think it has to be a matter of finding a way to shake my body out of storage mode. Of course having FMS doesn't help as its hard to up the exercise and theres still an undercurrent amongst researchers as to whether or not its linked in to the thyroid. Given that and a long family history of diabetics of both Type 1 and Type 2 I reckon I have a pretty good chance of a messed up metabolism! I refuse to give up the fight now!

I had another carb refeed last night, egg fried rice yummy! I haven't gained this morning so I must not be eating enough carbs to refill my glycogen stores. I'm wondering whether I should try and eat a bit more carbs or whether one carby meal is enough. I did feel a bit bloated last night though so I don't think I would have been able to eat more rice than I did.

You just get out of the habit don't you? I hate that stuffed feeling that you get with he sort of plate-filler carbs such as pasta/rice/potatoes. Its my carb day tomorrow and I simply can't think of anything I really fancy eating other than a couple of small slices of toast. Even then it will be the gluten free bread and its not wonderful.

It seems contradictory to be trying to introduce something I don't much like! I suppose it will be worth it if it kicks me off this plateau. I'm getting sick of the scenery sitting up here!

What level are you aiming for Stuntnun on your feed day?

Potatoes are good Miffy, I could happily eat a few roasties or a plate of chips. So the carbier veg such as carrots and sweet potato might be good options for me rather than rice or pasta. I'm not really bothered by bread at all, if I ever get a bread craving I will go to Subway though. I'm trying not to be too restrictive about quantities as I'm trying to eat in a more instinctive manner. I find it difficult not to eat to a schedule, e.g. it's breakfast time so I will eat so the IF is helpful for me to learn that I can be hungry now and it won't hurt me. Whereas before LC I was terrified of getting hungry as it meant getting agitated and short-tempered and obsessively hungry. Now my blood sugar is stable I can put hunger into its proper context of 'I will need to eat something soon'. The next thing to overcome is the habit of cleaning my plate as if there will be no more food so I have to eat all the food now. I left half a burger at lunchtime today and I was so pleased with myself as before I would have eaten it habitually without even sensing that I was full. I think that the LC diet has done its job, I've lost the excess weight and reprogrammed myself to a new diet. Now I need to find a way of eating for life and I haven't got that balance yet. It'll be fun finding it though!

Potatoes would be useful if it weren't for having to avoid nightshades. I've never been crazy about chips but I was partial to a few roasties.

Before LC I had high fasting sugars but during the day they could bottom out quickly and leave me reaching for the jelly babies to actually keep me from passing out! LC has stopped all that. The only positive thing I got from IF was that I know that I can get properly hungry now and that wont happen. I do still do 16:8 or 14:10 on most days without thinking about it but a full fast day was no good for me at all. I do still struggle when my FMS is flaring as my brain seems to interpret tiredness as hunger but I'm even making progress with that now.

My hubby and big son do Slimming World and its starting to irritate me the way they seem to be constantly on the prowl for 'free-food' and checking the fat content of everything. To be honest its bad enough having food intolerances that mean you have to forever check labels. I blowed if I'll spend time worrying about calories too!

I have a docs revue coming up so that should be fun. Last time I got quite a strop on as I was being quizzed about my habits by a health care asst who, frankly, was built like an overstuffed sofa! She was turning her nose up because I didn't eat low fat mayo so I told her mine was made from real oil and real eggs in a real kitchen! Given that I had lost a shed load of weight and gone from using two crutches to a single stick since my last check and yet I was still being criticised I felt entitled to get a bit ruffled!

I didn't know potatoes were nightshades. What do they do to you? Is it an inflammation issue?

Yup! Potatoes, aubergine, tomatoes, peppers, chillis are all nightshades. As well as the FMS I have an inherited form of arthritis that mostly affects my hands and feet. I made a few half hearted attempts at giving them up but the results never seemed to justify the effect until I had to cut oxalates. I had gone keto by then and so I was cutting them big style between the keto and the low ox. It was after I'd been clear of them for a few weeks that I had some peppers in a salad during a moment of rebellion one weekend and nearly crippled myself with the pain. One or two more careful experiments confirmed it.

Actually its not had the major restrictive effect that you might think. It was far harder having to come to terms with the gluten intolerance as that involves so much more aggravation!

Thought I'd enjoy my carby day today. Been waiting all week for my ration of breakfast toast and extra veg and yet I feel strangely nauseated now!

What really worked for DP was something called the Ultimate Diet 2.0 (lovely name...) - it was a body building thing, where you low carb for most of the week (I think - it was a couple of years ago now, so the details are foggy but it's an ebook), then really carb up on the same day that you do maximum effort at the gym, with the idea that this strikes the best balance between cutting weight, but still being able to put on muscle.

It did make him uber-grumpy though (the highs and lows of no carbs to loads really mucks about with your mood), so I don't think it would be fun long term, but for a little while, as a kick-start, or a midway boost it seemed to work rather well.

I can't really do that though, I find that the temptation of cheat days is too much - I have to go cold turkey or I just can't do it (not great at moderation)

I'm not sure how its going to work for me as yet as I cut right down on the day after a carb day and then do basic BC the rest of the week. I can't really do the carb loading + heavy workout thing given my mobility probs. This is the end of the second week. I dropped about half a pound the first week but I think I'm stuck again this week. As you say, it does seem to make it harder than just sticking to BC but I was getting desperate.

I can't seem to eat enough carbs on my carb refeed days. I'm usually below 50g and according to Mark's Daily Apple I should be aiming for over 300g on my carb refeeds. I'm going to have to eat bread or pasta to get to that level of carbs I think. But they don't appeal any more. DH made spaghetti carbonara last week and it was okay but I wouldn't be queuing up for it. That used to be my favourite food as well but without the carb addiction it just isn't the same. I'm travelling to a funeral at the mo then I'm on my holidays for a couple of weeks in July so I'll have to restart in earnest after that. The IF is going really well though, I didn't think I would be able to do it but if I'm hungry in the morning then I have breakfast, if not then I skip breakfast and have another cup of tea instead. Time will tell whether it works to shift the stubborn fat though.

Well, I think I clocked in at just under 100g yesterday and I felt really lousy all day! Woke early with stomach pains similar to when I eat gluten but I haven't had anything that was contaminated as far as I can tell. Maybe its just the carb. Weight up this morning but I would expect that so doing a very basic day today and see how I go. Tempted just to stick with the BC style LCHF as BG went up a bit again over last few days so I don't think the re-feeds are worth it. Not unless I have a very big whoosh tomorrow! Not sure about the levels of carb given on MDA. His site is very geared to people who can do a lot more vigorous exercise than I can deal with so likely they can burn it off.

Hope the funeral goes as well as these thing can. Regarding hols, I used to be on a forum for fasters and lots on there did well on hols with the type of fasts we do ie 16:8 & 14:10. I can't imagine you are they type of person who eats just because its there so it will be interesting to hear how you get on.

Well that was a proper carb refeed. I had rice, bread and a doughnut! There were limited food options but I made the best of it and enjoyed what I had to eat. Maybe I got a bit too afraid of eating carbs, it's not as if the weight is going to pile on in only two days. I'm having a 14:10 fast day today and going back to low carb today and looking forward to eating normally (for me anyway) again.

I think I will just stick with Bootcamp. I felt really rough after Sunday and its taken all until today to get my BG back down. It never came right back down after the last carb day. My weight actually went up and stayed up so it seems it was a backward step for me. I've pretty much decided that I need to just stick with LCHF as that keeps me feeling well and just cross my fingers that the weight will eventually go.