Some people swear on eating cards earlier in the day, so you have all day to use them for energy and burn them off. Others insist on carb backloading, where you eat most of your carbs at night. Which is best for weight loss? Well, there’s actually no definite answer.
In terms of workouts, carbs are important to eat before and after a workout to prevent muscle depletion and fatigue. Eating carbs 1 hour prior to a workout gives you energy. It enables the body to be more efficient during exercise since it will utilize the carbohydrates for easily available fuel. This also can prevent excess carbohydrate storage, which can create weight loss.
Eating carbs after a workout is good for repleting your muscle stores. If you eat the bulk of your carbs before and after your workout, then you should eat low carbs throughout the rest of the day.
However, people who tend to eat a higher-carb breakfast and a lower-carb lunch and dinner have proven to keep blood sugar steady and lose weight. When you eat carbs first thing in the morning, your body uses these carbs to replenish what you lost during your sleep, rather than storing them as fat.
On the flip side, a lower-carb breakfast and lunch and a higher-carb dinner (like you do in carb backloading) has helped people meet their weight loss goals and maintain muscle mass and blood sugar.
It is important to experiment with carb timing in order to see what is more efficient for your weight loss goals. Your carb timing should be easy to manage, should eliminate energy dips, and fuel your workouts.
While eating carbs before a workout can be beneficial, everybody is different, and carb timing shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all approach.
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