Day Seven: Looking Ahead – Low, Moderate Carb & High Days

DAY 7 ACTION ITEM: 

Try logging your meals/foods the day prior or early in the day. This can be excellent strategy for staying on point with your nutrition goals.

 

LOW CARBOHYDRATE DAYS

Next week we will continue building onto the concepts you’ve learned during week one of your Ready To Win foundational program. If you aren’t already familiar with MyFitnessPal, then we challenge you to start utilizing the app and master it by next week.

Another staple for the Ready To Win program is utilizing a carbohydrate cycle. We will introduce our carb cycling protocol by introducing “low carb” days on rest days, “moderate carb” for HITT/LISS days, and “high carb” when we resistance train. 

 

WHY LOW CARB AND CAN I DO IT ALL THE TIME?

Eating low carbohydrate for too long can encourage your body to start to become resistant to insulin, in turn lowering your insulin sensitivity. Going lower carb after multiple moderate and/or high carb days is a great strategy to increase you insulin sensitivity and lower your resistance. Going lower carb is also great for non-training or low activity days; since you don’t need as much energy on these days you could even lower your energy intake slightly. It has been well documented that going low carb all the time, so you can exclusively burn body fat lowering your body fat percentage is a myth. As stated earlier your fuel source will shift to fat, increasing a process called fat oxidation, but no studies have linked this with the lowering of total body fat percentage or body weight.

 

LOW CARB DAY

You will only have one low carb day throughout the Ready To Win programs. Once you advance into the final three weeks you will have the option to add more low carb days, but only if you are utilizing the advanced workouts. All we ask for you to do on your low carb days is to shoot for 5-10% less carbs than what your macro pie chart goal is, or to come in below your nutrient summary carbohydrate gram goal. Remember when you lower your carbohydrate intake you are going to raise the intake of your healthy fats. Carbs and Fats are typically inversely related, so the lower you come in with your carbohydrates the higher you will need to come in with your healthy fats. Don’t forget that fat carries more calories per gram than carbs, so when you do this keep your energy intake in mind.

 

FIBER

*(More info on Prep Week’s Whole Food Nutrition)

Fiber is part of the carb family, but it doesn’t breakdown into glucose so it doesn’t digest or absorb like the other carbohydrates do. Unlike other programs we will not be subtracting the fiber from your total carb count. We want to get as close to our fiber goal as consistently as possible, because fiber helps us stay routine with our bowel movements. Fiber is also important for regulating the body’s use of glucose, which helps satiation and blood sugar levels. Fiber still carries calories so if you’re taking a fiber supplement be sure to track it on your MyFitnessPal.

 

WHAT CAN I EAT?

There is large variety of food choices to utilize on “low carb” days. Your goal on “low carb” day is to utilize fibrous vegetables to fill your carb total. The goal is to limit our complex carbohydrate (list below in moderate carb section) intake to 1 meal or less for the day. Here are some examples of foods you may use to fill your “low carb” day:

• Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, collard greens, artichoke
• Cabbage and asparagus
• Any leafy green vegetables or lettuces
• Green beans
• Zucchini
• Yellow squash
• Bell peppers
• Cucumber
• Mushrooms, onion, garlic
• Eggplant
• Berries like raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries
• Citrus fruits like orange, grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, lime
• Avocado, olives

Please read more about low carb eating in the FAQ section in the Ready To Win Portal. If you have any questions or concerns that aren’t answered in the FAQ section then please consult your Coach. First consult with your doctor/medical professional, if you have a health circumstance that might prevent you from slightly decreasing carbohydrates.

(create a FAQ PAGE and include this)

 

MODERATE CARBOHYDRATE DAYS

You will have four moderate carb days throughout the Ready To Win programs. Once you progress into the final three weeks you will have the option to replace one or two of your moderate carb days to low carb, but only if you are utilizing the advanced workouts. The goal on “moderate carb” days is to hit as close to your chosen macro splits as possible: a high protein split- 35% (p), 15% (f) and 50%(c), low carb/high fat split- fat, 30% (p), 25% (f) and 45%(c), or our Ready To Win split 30% (p), 20% (f) and 50%(c).

Remember when you lower your carbohydrate intake you are going to raise the intake of your healthy fats. Carbs and Fats are typically inversely related, so the lower you come in with your carbohydrates the higher you will come in with your healthy fats and vice versa.

 

 

WHAT CAN I EAT?

There is large variety of carbohydrate choices to utilize on “moderate carb” and “high carb” days. Here are some examples below:

• Potatoes and sweet potatoes
• Whole wheat breads, gluten free bread, sprouted bread
• Berries like raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries
• Sweet fruits like mango, pineapple, watermelon, kiwi, apple, banana, and etc.
• Green Plantain (complex), yellow plantain (simple)
• Yam, Sweet Potato, White Potato
• Winter squash, butternut squash, acorn squash
• Butternut squash, Acorn squash, Pumpkin
• Beans, Lentils, Garbanzo beans/Chickpeas
• Buckwheat, Amaranth, Millet
• Steel cut oats, Old fashioned oats, Quick Oats, Grits
• Quinoa, Pasta, Rice

 

HIGH CARBOHYDRATE DAYS

You will have two high carb days in your Ready To Win foundational program. All we ask for you to do on your high carb days is to shoot for 5-10% more than what your macro pie chart goal is, or to come in above your nutrient summary gram goal. Carbs and Fats are typically inversely related, so the higher you come in with your carbohydrates the lower you will need to come in with your healthy fats. Remember carbs aren’t the enemy, but you want to always keep your energy intake in mind.

 

WHAT CAN I EAT?

You will eat the same foods as listed above in the moderate carb day. The only difference between the two is that on higher carb days your portions of complex carbohydrates can be larger or you can add them into more meals throughout the day. For a complete listing of carbohydrate sources refer back to the Ready To Win Macro Sheet. A flexible approach would have you eating a complex carb with every meal of the day.

Please read more about moderate and high carb eating in the FAQ section in the Ready To Win Portal. If you have any questions or concerns that aren’t answered in the FAQ section then please consult your Coach. First consult with your doctor/medical professional, if you have a health circumstance that might prevent you from slightly increasing carbohydrates.