Carbohydrate waves - step by step

In the time I've been writing for T-nation I've undergone a major transformation of my physique - from fat but strong to lean and muscular. This despite the fact that I probably have the worst fat-loss genetics in the world! I had previously made many of my transformations through low-carb diets, and the result was that I became carbohydrate-phobic and really believed that if I ate carbs, I would become a fat slob.

The humorous thing is that as a coach of strength athletes, I became one of the biggest nutritionists. I read everything from everybody. The work of Drs. Berardi and Lowery didn't convince me to reincorporate carbs into my diet, even the studies of bodybuilding coach Chris Aceto, who recommends a relatively high carb intake during the stride phase, didn't help. I had lost all illusions when it came to carbohydrate intake.

But now carbs are back in my diet, and those of my charges, athletes and bodybuilders alike. What happened? A 60-pound girl changed my perspective. She won where all the most renowned experts had failed. That girl is my friend Christiane, who, by the way, has become a very successful natural bodybuilder. She has always had carbs in her diet and has always had an argument for it. Until then, I was convinced that carbs meant fat and I didn't listen to her at all. But after seeing her sculpted, strong and progressively more muscular, week after week, I couldn't let it go unnoticed.

That's when I realized she must be doing something right. Together, we came up with a few diet theses that soon became the only ones I started practicing with all the bodybuilders I trained and what I followed myself. This approach allows the athlete to either gain muscle mass without significant amounts of unnecessary fat (sometimes some fat is lost) or to get into competition sculpted shape while muscle mass is maintained (sometimes even increased). The strategy is not complicated and yet the most effective I have tried so far... and I've really tried every diet you can imagine. This pattern is called carb cycling.

The logic behind the system

There are two basic truths when it comes to building muscle and dropping fat:

1) to increase mass, you must eat more than you need

2) to lose weight, you need to eat less than you need

Of course, the type of food you eat is very important in the outcome. If you eat a lot of high-calorie, nutritious foods, you'll mainly gain fat rather than muscle. Similarly, when the quality of food in your diet is low, you are likely to lose some muscle mass.
Thus, it is true that what you eat is just as important as how much you eat. Total food intake, of course, is first in the order of importance. The other thing we take into account is the effect of nutrients on hormones and then the effect of hormones on gaining muscle mass or reducing fat. For example, insulin is one of the most important anabolic hormones in the body. It directly influences the amount of amino acids and glucose transported into muscle cells. The more you can move into your muscles, the more you grow.

The bottom line, then, is that insulin is responsible for "supplying the bricks to build the house". Insulin therefore prevents the nutrients stored in the muscle from being mobilized either as intramuscular glycogen or as muscle tissue. In this way, insulin promotes muscle mass gain and minimizes muscle loss. This is why insulin is used so much by professional bodybuilders.
To take exogenous insulin, which is off topic for any natural exerciser who doesn't want to get diabetes or worse, mess with death. So you need to help yourself by stimulating your own endogenous insulin. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in response to an increase in blood glucose (which occurs when we consume carbohydrates and certain amino acids). So, if we want to increase endogenous insulin, it is essential to consume enough carbohydrates and amino acids.

On the other hand, glucagon, which is an insulin antagonist, promotes the mobilization and utilization of stored nutrients, including glycogen and amino acids. When your diet is carbohydrate poor, your glucagon levels skyrocket and your body goes into a mode where it mobilizes nutrients instead of building and being in an anabolic state.

You also have to mention that without consuming carbs, it's harder to do intense strength training. It's true that some amino acids can turn into glucose through gluconeogenesis and thus people who are in ketosis use this as fuel for training. Actually, I've said it before, a low carbohydrate diet reduces the ability to train hard.
You risk losing muscle mass because your body has decided to break down your own muscle protein into amino acids to create new glucose.

Finally, the conversion of T4/thyroxine (a relatively inactive thyroid hormone) to T3/triiodothyronine (an active thyroid hormone) is greatly impaired when insufficient amounts of carbohydrates are consumed. Lower T3 levels lead to a slower metabolism and this makes burning fat harder. For these reasons, we can see that consuming carbohydrates is essential when we want to build a muscular body. Insulin has the bad characteristic of reacting quite "violently". It can ultimately promote fat storage while suppressing nutrient utilization/mobilization.

Chronically elevated insulin levels have a serious effect on the body's capacity to increase body fat. In the study subject, excess carbohydrates led to fat storage. Thus, whenever you eat high doses of carbohydrates, it can lead to building a physique á la the Michelin man!

So what should we do?

To stimulate maximum muscle growth, you need carbohydrates, and in relatively large quantities. Without enough calories and carbohydrates, it will be hard to gain muscle mass, even if you eat plenty of protein. So if you eat a lot and often, you'll get fat. Simple, right?

One of the first methods bodybuilders used was to split their training into a bulking phase and a striation phase. That is, consuming tons of calories and carbs during the "volume" phase and then cutting back on caloric intake, i.e. reducing carb intake to sub-maintenance levels at the beginning of the stride phase. This works... but

This habit allows the athlete to put on pounds of mass (mostly fat, less muscle) but lose a lot of it when they get into the striation phase (the newly built muscle mass suffers). Those people who have worse insulin sensitivity build fat tissue rather than muscle in the bulking phase. Damn! Gaining, say, 15 kg during the bulking phase is not exactly healthy for the body. It puts the body under a lot of stress while dieting and can cause health problems.

We can eat in such a way that we can avoid big fluctuations in weight. It's better for the body, plus we look better all year long than if we are "bulked up" for most of the year and then lose fat for a short period of time to, say, an aesthetic level.
The cyclic ketogenic diet (CKD) may seem like the best solution. This diet is based on a relatively long period of time when you cut out carbohydrate intake (normally 5 consecutive days) when a maximum of 50g of carbohydrate per day is allowed, followed by two days when carbohydrate is at normal levels.

This diet is very effective in losing fat. A long period without carbs is not exactly ideal for building some new muscle mass. In fact, on the second or third day of the diet your body is in a proper catabolism. Sure, there are two days where carbs are allowed to compensate for the "lean days". But they can't balance out the 5 lean days. I believe this diet will do a lot in terms of preventing fat loss, but it doesn't threaten gaining new muscle mass.

I'll be fair, I've tried this type of diet several times in my life and have had good results, after all, I've lost fat! Sometimes I've even gained some pounds of new muscle mass, but never as much as from a diet where carbs are more prevalent.
Another approach is represented by Dr. John Berardi and is growing in popularity. This diet is based on not consuming too many carbs and fats together, and only eating more carbs when you are more insulin sensitive, i.e. in the morning and after training. So you have 3 meals with carbs and 3 meals without carbs per day. This approach seems almost perfect for gaining mass without gaining fat. However, even this diet can be refined to get the best results.

Solution

The solution I'm going to explain is called carbohydrate waves. But it may as well be called calorie waves. You can say that the basic theory is to consume carbohydrates only in the morning and after your workout. The only difference is that the amount of calories and carbohydrates changes every day.

• - On some days you will burn fat and on other days you will build muscle
• - Prevents metabolism slowing down due to the constant change in caloric intake
• - Can have a good long-term effect because it is relatively easy to follow, especially compared to more restrictive ketogenic diets

Carbohydrate waves - basic structure

Carbohydrate waves are based on having three carbohydrate intakes during the week: high, medium and low. Ideally, these days can replicate your training schedule.

Training 4 times a week
Choose 2 "priority workouts". These two workouts are the ones in which you will work on your weaknesses. Set aside high carb days for these days.
On the other two training days, you will consume a moderate amount of carbohydrates and on the remaining three days you will follow a low carbohydrate diet.

Training 3 times a week
Choose two "priority workouts". On these days, you will have a high carbohydrate intake. The third workout will be marked by a moderate intake. The remaining four days will be one with medium intake and three with low carbohydrate intake.

Training 5 times a week
Choose two "priority workouts" where you will train the areas that need the most improvement. On these days you will eat a lot of carbohydrates (high carb days). On the two "secondary" workouts you will eat a moderate carb intake and on the fifth workout you will need to keep your intake low. The remaining days will be low carb.

Summing up, we can say a short philosophy of carbohydrate waves: 'Eat according to what you want to do'.

Calories and carbohydrate levels
When you want to establish your basic dietary structure, you need to set your food intake appropriately. The first thing you need to do is calculate your daily energy expenditure. This is necessary to suggest how many calories and carbohydrates you will take in on different types of days.

Step One: Calculate your basal metabolic rate

Basal metabolic rate level simply expresses the amount of energy your body will expend to survive without exerting any activity. In other words, when you do nothing during the day, your body burns a certain amount of calories which is equivalent to your BMR - basal metabolic rate.

Your BMR reflects several factors: your weight, age, gender... It's also influenced by your metabolic status (hypo or hyperthyroid state for example). We can calculate BMR using the following guide (it's called Harris-Benedict):

For men
BMR = 66 + (13.7 x weight in kg) + (5 x height in cm) - (6.8 x age)

So for a 30 year old bodybuilder with 100 kg of weight and 178 cm height, it looks like this:

BMR = 66 + (13, 7 x 100 kg) + (5 x 178 cm) - (6, 8 x 30)

BMR = 2122 kcal per day

For women
BMR = 655 + (9.6 x weight in kg) + (1, 7 x height in cm) - (4, 7 x age)

So for a 28 year old woman with a weight of 60 kg and a height of 165 cm, it looks like this:

BMR = 655 + (9, 6 x 60 kg) + (1, 7 x 165 cm) - (4, 7 x 28)

BMR = 1380 kcal per day

Step 2: Determine the activity level

The amount of calories, if we follow the Harris-Benedict formula, is what the body burns each day when you do nothing at all. Of course, the more active you are, the more you burn. Thus, energy expenditure will increase when your activity level is greater.

To get an adequate estimate, we need to augment your BMR with your activity level:

• - for sedentary activity, we understand that we are doing nothing (sleeping, lying down and watching TV)
• - for very light activity we understand that you are doing anything non-physical. We work in an office with papers, on a computer
• - for light activity, we mean that we have a non-physical job (working on a PC) and during the day we do light physical activity (walking). Not training
• - for medium activity we understand that we have a non-physical job and during the day we engage in physical activity, for example training in the gym. This category is prevalent for the vast majority of you.
• - For high activity we mean physical work plus training. Or non-physical work plus two-phase training.
• - For extreme activity, we mean very physical work plus training in the gym.

If our hundred-pound bodybuilder with a BMR of 2122 kcal/day is of moderate activity, we multiply his daily expenditure by 2122 x 1.6 = 3395 kcal/day. This is the amount of food he should consume per day to maintain at least his current weight.

Step Three: Set your calorie intake as your goal

In order to gain muscle mass, you need to eat more calories than you need each day. To reduce your weight, you need to eat less. A 20 percent increase or decrease is ideal for most of you. It's not a drastic increase/decrease, so it shouldn't lead to excessive muscle loss or gaining unwanted fat.

The bodybuilder who serves as our example has a daily expenditure of 3395 kcal. If he wants to gain muscle, he should increase his intake to 4074 kcal. And if he wants to reduce fat, he should reduce this figure to 2716 kcal/day.

Nothing has been said yet about body types and type of metabolism; I'll fix that right away. Ectomorphs can increase their daily caloric intake to 30% of the original maintenance level. Endomorphs can increase their maintenance intake by exactly the opposite of 10%, but they can decrease it by 20%.

So our bodybuilder, if he wants to put on more muscle, will have to increase his daily caloric intake to 3734 kcal.

Step Four: Determine the nutrient ratio

Protein intake should be stable on all three types of days. At least 2.2 g per kg of weight is required, but I recommend 3.3 g so 330 g for a 100kg bodybuilder.

On medium carbohydrate days, the proportion of carbohydrate will be equal to protein, so it will remain 330 g. So now he is consuming 2640 kcal/day (1320 from protein and the same from carbs). We said he is an endomorph, so to gain muscle mass he needs 3734 kcal/day. The remaining 1094 kcal will come from fat, good fat. And since one gram of fat has 9 kcal, he will need to eat 121 g of fat per day.

In recap, our 100-kilogram endomorphic bodybuilder wants to put on more muscle mass, to do that he needs to eat per day:

• 330 grams of protein
• 330 grams of carbohydrates
• 121 g of fat

If he wishes to reduce fat levels, carbohydrate intake on "average days" should be set at 2.75 g per kilo of body weight. He should eat 275 g of carbohydrate per day. 330 g of protein should be taken, as 2 g per kg will be retained and the rest will be fat.
In the case of an endomorphic bodybuilder, who should have a daily caloric intake of 2716 kcal and yet the intake from carbohydrates and fat gives a figure of 2420 kcal, he must eat only 33 g of fat per day.

To recap, our 100-kilogram endomorphic bodybuilder wants to plot. So he should be eating daily on "medium carbohydrate" days:

• 330 grams of protein.
• 275 g of carbohydrates
• 33 g of fat

Step five: Design the other nutrient intake for the following days

Protein and fat intake remain constant throughout the week. Only carbohydrates move up and down. On high carbohydrate days, raise carbohydrates to 125% of the intake from the middle day, and on low carbohydrate days, lower again to 75% of the middle.

When he wants to gain mass

High-carbohydrate days: 330 g protein, 412 g carbs, 121 g fat

medium-carbohydrate days: 330 g protein, 330 g carbohydrate, 121 g fat

low-carbohydrate days: 330 g protein, 247 g carbohydrate, 121 g fat

When she wants to get rid of fat

High-carbohydrate days: 330 g protein, 344 g carbs, 33 g fat

Medium-carbohydrate days: 330 g protein, 275 g carbs, 33 g fat

low-carbohydrate days: 330 g protein, 206 g carbohydrate, 33 g fat

Step Six: Designing the nutrient composition of meals

Warning: in my opinion, no one who wants to gain muscle mass should follow a low-carb diet for more than 16 weeks straight. Many people will be better off following this diet for 8 - 12 weeks at a time. By dieting for too long, you may not lose muscle mass, but you will in turn reduce your capacity to build it. If you don't get in the shape you want in 12 weeks, take a 4 week break (i.e. eat a balanced diet with a higher calorie intake) and then go on another wave.

When you are trying to reduce fat, you need to reduce the calories your body requires to the level of food intake. In other words, you slow down your metabolism. Every 3-4 weeks you need to reduce calories and carbs and choose new limits. Thus, no drastic restriction of intake is necessary, which is often the mistake of some people who follow various diets, resulting in burnt own muscle mass. In my opinion, it is best to cut 20g of carbs every 3-4 weeks. For example, if we have a model of 344 - 275 - 206, reduce it to 324 - 255 and 186. When fat loss hasn't slowed down, there is no need to change anything. It's different with mass gain. When mass gain stops after 2 - 3 weeks, increase the carbohydrate intake by 25 g. Add this amount to your post-workout meal. When your growth stops again after another 2 - 3 weeks, add another 25 g to your breakfast. But when you are not gaining, then add another 25 g to your post-workout drink.

Daily meal plan - composition by nutrients

To maximize food absorption and prioritize building muscle over gaining fat, we should eat 6 - 7 meals a day. Three of these meals should contain carbohydrates and protein (breakfast, a post-workout drink, and a meal 60 - 90 minutes after training). The remaining 3 - 4 meals should consist mainly of protein, good fats, and vegetables.

The ideal time to train is around 10am. If we stick to this, the daily meal plan looks like this:

Meal 1 (after waking up): carbohydrates + protein

Meal 2 (post-workout, around 11am): carbs + protein shake

Meal 3 (12:30) carbs + protein

meal 4 (15:30) protein, fat and vegetables

meal 5 (18:00) protein, fat and vegetables

Meal 6 (21:00): protein, fat and vegetables

Of course, not everyone can train at this hour. For those who train in the evening, for example between 5 and 6 pm, the daily meal plan looks like this:

Meal 1 (after waking up): carbohydrates + protein

Meal 2 (at 10:00): carbs + protein, vegetables

Meal 3 (12:30) protein, fat and vegetables

meal 4 (15:30) protein, fat and vegetables

Meal 5 (post-workout 18:00) protein and carbohydrate drink

Meal 6 (21:00): carbohydrate and protein meal

Finally, if someone trains first thing in the morning, around 8am. Can his daily meal plan look like this:

Meal 1 (after waking up): carbohydrates + protein drink

Meal 2 (after training, around 9:00 am): carbohydrates + protein shake

Meal 3 (12:30) carbs + protein

meal 4 (15:30) protein, fat and vegetables

meal 5 (18:00) protein, fat and vegetables

Meal 6 (21:00): protein, fat and vegetables

Note: Carbohydrate and protein drink first thing in the morning. This is because we need to absorb the nutrients as quickly as possible and digestion will not interfere with the training intensity.

Nutrients in meals

Since every meal is supposed to contain protein, simply divide it up. If you have to eat 330g of protein in a day, that's 55g of protein per meal if you eat 6 times a day.

Fat is ingested in three of the six meals. So divide your daily intake into 3 parts. If you have to eat 100 grams of fat, eat 33 grams in each of the 3 meals.

Carbohydrates are eaten in 3 of the 6 meals. About 50% of your carbohydrate intake should be contained in a post-workout drink (right after your workout). Another 25% in the morning and 25% 60-90 minutes after training. So if you are to take in 250g of carbs in a day, you would eat 75g in the morning, 125g in a post-workout drink and 75g 60 - 90 minutes after your workout in a meal.

Meal choice

So far we've only talked about food quantity, now we're going to talk about quality! A calorie is not like a calorie. Not all meals are equally prepared.

Breakfast (carbs and protein):
protein sources - egg whites, tuna, chicken breast
carbohydrate sources - fruit (1-2 pieces, to replenish liver glycogen), cereals, sweet potatoes, cereals...

Post-workout (carbs and protein)
carbohydrate-protein drink

60-90 minutes after training
Protein sources - chicken breast, fish, shrimp, red meat with fat cut out
Carbohydrate sources: sweet potatoes, brown rice, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, porridge

Protein and fat:
Various meats, turkey, chicken, tuna, eggs, egg whites, cottage cheese
Fat sources - protein foods, fish oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil

vegetables: 100 - 200 g

Conclusion

I have made this article a little more complex than I originally intended. If you follow this diet, it will lead you to the muscular yet low-fat physique you want. There is nothing scientific about it. Someone in less time, someone in more time will know what his body needs and it may not cost him any special effort. I have no choice but to wish you good luck and that your efforts are appreciated!