Hi Chad,
Carb backloading works, but as with many things weightlifting related, less is more. Swapping carbs out of your breakfast for fats, and maybe your lunch too for a period of time will work well for most people. A lot of folks try to push the backloading too hard and too long though and crash – as long as your calories are the same, manipulating the amount of calories that come from fats or carbs and what time of the day will be helpful because your body needs to adapt to it, just like your training program. Your body will also get used to it over time, and if it’s too restrictive it will backfire on you, these are the horror stories we’ve all heard. Just like how switching your training routine works for a while, and if you push too hard it’ll backfire, the diet works the same way. Swapping out 1-2 meals out of their 4-6 meals during the day is usually plenty for people, and after a couple months when the fat loss slows down, swapping back to a mostly carb based (clean carbs) diet will work well.
I’d also recommend focusing on just fat loss or just strength gain. You can maintain your overall strength (not peak strength) while losing fat, but trying to get stronger and lose weight without a good coach watching over you is a recipe for disaster. Take a couple months to eat clean, drop some lbs and keep training hard and you’ll be good to go.
The following two tabs change content below.
Tucker Loken is a Bodybuilder turned Powerlifter turned Powerbuilder from Eugene, Oregon. He did his first bodybuilding show when he was still in high school, and has been training male and female competitors for shows since 2011. Several years ago he decided to take a step away from his normal routine and learn how to get strong. He worked with Brian for 9 months, added 200 pounds to his raw total and qualified as an Elite lifter in the 220 pound weight class. He returned back to bodybuilding much stronger and now incorporates the 10/20/Life philosophy into his training to keep himself healthy and making continual progress in the Big 3 as well as adding size and shaping his physique. Now part of Team PRS, he brings his unique expertise of nutritional knowledge and how to balance Bodybuilding with Powerlifting to help athletes achieve their best potential.
