Personal Trainer( VETS it is me again)

Today I met with my personal trainer and took a cardio weight training class.  Wow! it was intense. but a great work out. I had one of the instructors tell me to go eat some carbs to repleni****old her i was eating high protein low to no carbs per my doctors order. She said that was ok for short term weight loss but i need the carbs to feed my muscles. HELP I'm a little confused do we need the carbs if we are working out really hard or is protein enough?!?!

Interested in hearing everyone's replies. I do not count carbs, but I do focus on protein and calorie count. I have wondered about the carb issue with working out. Wondering if just eating some fruit and protein before and after a work out would be a good balance for our bodies, or if it should be higher carb than that? Waiting for those strong athletic ones to chime in.

Honestly depends on the length of your work outs, the frequency, the intensity and your goals.

Id be happy to go over my limited basic scientific explanation as to exercise and glycogen stores and all that stuff if you want to PM me.


I believe if you are going to maintain a long term intense workout regimine, you should consume more carbs than the typical 40g that people stick to here. You do need them for energy and muscle repair to some extent. Finding the balance between enough and too much is not something ive accomplished but i'm getting there.

Carbs are not the devil - a low carb diet is good for WL and getting to goal, and for some people it may be a necessary life style, but I personally need carbs.  When I do "low carb" ie approx 50g of carbs, I can get through an hour run - barely. BUT it then takes me 3-4 days to recover enough for another workout and I'm overall very fatigued and cannot push myself. I usually can't make much progress fitness wise with that approach, so for my goals, it's better for me to increase my carbs and increase my exercise.

Once you have gotten rid of most of the fat on your body (literally body fat %) and become a serious athlete, then I agree with your trainer. But until both those conditions are met, your body will be just fine without many carbs. Your fat stores will provide the energy needed to complete workouts. And normal workouts that aren't reaching "athlete" status don't need a bunch of carbs to support your body either.

My 2 cents.

 I've found for anything under an hour, I don't need any more than my 40g of carbs.  But I regularly do more than an hour and then I definitely must up my carbs for muscle repair and energy levels.  It took some screwing around with it for me and I eat between 60g and 80g depending on how much I'm doing.  A 10 mile run will probably land me with 80g for the day.  I get those extra carbs from milk, beans, quinoa etc., not from bread or "easy" sources.  

I find that most people over estimate their exertion rate though, so I always hesitate to tell people to up their carbs.  I work out 6 days a week at least 3 of those are for over an hour at a high intensity, so no the typical WLS diet did not work for me,  but I realize I am an outlyer and "normal" exercise will be just fine with a typical low-carb diet.  

It is interesting to hear all the different opinions regarding carbs and working out. Because of the high intensity workouts I do (kickboxing and bootcamps) my nutritionist wants me eating at least 60 carbs during the day before I go workout after work because I told her I felt low energy about half way through the hour long workouts but she said on the days I dont workout to back it down to less than 40

If you do pretty intense, and longer duration, a little carbs is a good idea. Have a little protein with it. Now me personally I would choose for my carbs either sweet potato, butternut squash or other squash, in that order. I make a big batch of butternut squash or sweet potato in chunks in my steamer then keep in fridge. You can also freeze. You don't need a huge amount either, like 1/2 to 3/4 cup. For protein easy things are hard boiled eggs, cubes chicken, cold burger patties. Carbs aren't bad, broccoli is a carb! It's just bad carbs are bad. Also fruit is carbs, but not what I would recommend post workout. Rock on! Any questions....just ask!

Thank you all verry much! my workouts are high intensity with the use of free weight for at least 30mins 2-3 days a week. zumba 3 days a week the eilliptical 3 days a week for 30 mins and cardio weight training  2 days a week.

My trainer always recommends that I eat some protein when I'm done or within 30 minutes of working out.  I always carry Ostrim beef/ostrich sticks in my purse so I have one of those if I'm not going straight home, otherwise I will have a protein shake.

This is exactly what I do. Protein is more important for muscle building and recovery, and the optimum time is right after a workout. When I had fat to lose, I never increased carbs and my body felt fine, actually more than fine on a low-carb intake despite hiking for hours. Now, I will have a 2-1 or 3-1 ratio (protein to carbs) if I'm going to be going for more than 3-4hrs, otherwise, protein is a-ok for me.