Carb loading

What is Carb Loading?

Carb loading is a nutritional strategy to increase the glycogen stored in your body. Glycogens are the carbohydrate stores within the body and are mostly found in the liver and the muscles.

The number of Carbohydrate the body can absorb ranges between 5-12g per KG of body weight, so at 70kg you would be looking to consume around 350-840g of carbohydrate a day.

Carb loading is basically eating more carbs and reducing activity levels, to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that the body is using therefore increasing the store levels ahead of an event. People often carb load before certain types of events or competitions because of the importance that carbohydrate has a fuel for the body.

However, carb loading only works for certain types and durations of exercise. It becomes most important in endurance events, those longer durations of exercise that are going to deplete the bodies glycogen stores, such as longer distance cycling and running events. For the process to begin to work, it needs to be an event over 90 minutes in duration to get the full benefits.

In these activities, letting your glycogen stores get low can lead to fatigue and drop in performance. Effects such as heavy feeling in the legs, low energy levels and lack of motivation. Research shows that carb loading can increase performance by 2-3% for activities over 90 minutes.

Types of carb loading

There are a couple of types of carb loading that athletes, keen amateurs and professionals use for the days leading up to an event or competition.

Classic 6 day:

During the first 3 days of this program, you exercise whilst consuming a low carb diet, with 15% of the total calories a day being carbohydrate, this reduces your bodies glycogen stores, meaning that in days 4-6 it absorbs and helps to produce more glycogen when your body is carb heavy.

Days 4-6, you consume and high carbohydrate diet, with 70% of its total calories being carbohydrate. On day 4, do low intensity exercise and do not exercise on day 5 and 6.

6 Day:

Just like the classic you consume a high carbohydrate diet on days 4-6 whilst reducing exercise. However, on this program, days 1-3 you consume a moderate diet with 50% of total calories being from carbohydrate.

Then on days 4-6 reduce exercise to 10-20 Minutes a day.

3 Day:

Like the 6-day programs you consume a diet of 70% carbohydrate, however you do no exercise at all during these days. There is a benefit from doing high intensity exercise on day 1 before eating to the point of being exhausted.

1 Day:

The simplest of all the programs, on this one day prior to the event or competition, you do not exercise and consume 10g of carbohydrate per KG of body weight. So, if at 70kg you need to consume 700g of carbohydrate in that day.

All the above plans work in similar ways, in terms of reducing the exercise over the duration, whilst increasing the amount of carbohydrate in the diet. The major difference is being the duration of each program.

Common mistakes when carb loading

Whilst carb loading is a great way to prepare for a event or competition, it also comes with a few common mistakes that people make. Varying from carb loading when not needing to through to eating too much fat in the diet. Other common mistakes are:

• Carb loading when not needing to

• Eating too much fat

• Eating too much fibre

• Eating the wrong amount of carbs (Calorie counting will help with avoiding this)

• Eating new and unusual foods that the body isn’t used too

• Exercising too much / Poor tapering

How to carb load properly

So, you may have a endurance ride, competition or event coming up. And you want to get the best performance from the body that you can for that event, so you are turning to carb loading. But how do you carb load properly?

Firstly, do you actually need to carb load? Is the event longer than 90 minutes in duration, are you going to be using those carbohydrate as fuel on the event or is it a low intensity fat burning paced event.

Then, you need to work out how much carbohydrate you actually need to be consuming, but also you need to know how much carbohydrate you currently consume. Calorie counting on apps such as MyFitnessPal is a good way to measure and keep track of what you consume and to work out how much to up your intake.

For example, if you weigh 70kg and you consume 300g of carbs a day, that is 4.2g per kg of body weight per day. However, that need to be increased to 5-12g per kg for carb loading. This being said, if you are new to carb loading and consume below average amount of carbs in the normal day to day, for example 200g per day. It is recommended that when you start carb loading that you go 8-10g per kg per day, this way the range is much smaller but also the maximum you should consume is less, this way your body can adjust and differentiate between low carb diet and high carb diet easier.

You also then need to decide what program you are going to use and the duration that you are going to use. This will be a decision made alongside your training, and if you use a coach then they will be able to guide you in the right direction. However, if you are training a lot, 4-5 days a week, then it would be best beneficial to do the 6-day carb load program, as that will work alongside your training throughout your taper week. Whereas, if your training 2-3 days week then the 3-day program would be more suitable.

Whilst you’re on your carb loading program, you need to make sure that you are only increasing your carbohydrate intake. You don’t want to be increasing fat or fibre, it is common to increase your carbs but actually decrease your fat intake during your program, as you don’t want to go over your calorie intake amount for the day, as this will lead to weight gain ahead of your event. Try to avoid high carbohydrate foods that will also contain high fat, for example pasta with a creamy sauce, pastries, deserts, and similar foods.

One of the most important things to bear in mind is to ensure that you’re not filling your body with new foods or foods that you’ve not consumed a lot of. This could lead to issue with the gut, causing all your hard work to be a waste of time.

Go to carb loading foods can consist of:

• Pasta

• Bread

• Fruit

• Fruit juices

• Smoothies

• Cereals

• Most plant-based products.

• Noodles

• Crackers

• Baked snacks and corns (Low fat crisps, popcorn etc)

• Bananas

• Mangos

• Lentils and pulses (in small quantities, to not go to high fibre diet)

• Sweet potatoes

• Aubergines

• Plantain

• Low-fat Energy bars

• Sports Drinks

• Wholemeal foods

And many other good foods. There are too many to list, but ensuring you are high carb and low fat is the key to a carb loading diet. Also avoiding processed foods, sugary foods, fried foods, and refined grain products.

Whilst trying to keep the fat content down it is also important to not cut out protein completely as the protein is what helps with recovery and supporting the muscles. But you want to try to consume lean protein foods such as fish, lean meat cuts or poultry and low-fat dairy products.

Any diet change can be hard to stick to if you jump straight into it and make lots of changes at once, so you are best to find a compromise of foods you like and already consume and foods that fit the requirements of the diet.

In Summary

In summary, carb loading a nutritional strategy to boost performance for an endurance event or competition lasting longer than 90 Minutes. The duration of the program will vary and depend on the type of event and the type of training you do.

It’s important to monitor and keep track of your calorie intake and the amount of carbohydrates that is consumed. With ensuring you have calculated and are consuming the right amount during tapering your exercise. Ensuring you are eating the correct foods, and not ruining your performance by eating the wrong carbs or too much fat and fibre is key to getting the most out of your carb loading program.

References:

Carb Loading: How to Do It + Common Mistakes (healthline.com)