Any r/zerocarb-ers here? Or very low carbers (i.e. Lower than standard keto)

[thing2]

If so, what do you eat and how much? How often do you crossfit and how's your performance?

 

[baodantri]

@thing2 I tried for a month. I ate about 1500 cals a day (my normal caloric range) keeping under 20g carbs. It was miserable. All my lifts decreased and I had no energy. I normally crossfit 5-6 days a week. I had to go down to 4 days a week, and even with the extra rest day I was suffering.

If you don't have weight to lose, low carb can be brutal.

 

[virginity]

@thing2 Eating a bowl of oatmeal as I read this forum...

 

[forgiven49]

@thing2 Zero carbs? Is that even possible?

 

[mizzy_emerald]

@thing2 To aid mobile users, I'll link small subreddits not yet linked in the comments

/r/zerocarb: A subreddit for carnivores - those that eat from the animal kingdom exclusively. Animal carbs are ok, there are some in egg, liver, shellfish, dairy and even the glycogen in muscle meat has some.

[sup]I[/sup] [sup]am[/sup] [sup]a[/sup] [sup]bot[/sup] [sup]|[/sup] [sup]Mail[/sup] [sup]BotOwner[/sup] [sup]|[/sup] [sup]To[/sup] [sup]aid[/sup] [sup]mobile[/sup] [sup]users,[/sup] [sup]I'll[/sup] [sup]link[/sup] [sup]small[/sup] [sup]subreddits[/sup] [sup]not[/sup] [sup]yet[/sup] [sup]linked[/sup] [sup]in[/sup] [sup]the[/sup] [sup]comments[/sup] [sup]|[/sup] [sup]Code[/sup] [sup]|[/sup] [sup]Ban[/sup] [sup]-[/sup] [sup]Help[/sup]

 

[marmoora]

@thing2 I do keto/TKD when I'm trying to cut weight. My performance in explosive movements definitely suffer a bit. Something I've found very important for keto athletes is to get plenty of electrolytes. Keto will flush out a lot of salt from your body. If your working out or drinking coffee/caffeine, that will increase your need for electrolytes too. /r/ketogains is a good resource for keto athletes

Edit: I realized that I didn't really answer your question -- I eat mostly Paleo foods at about 1600 calories on off days and 2000 on days that I train. I workout 5-6 times/week but I only train CrossFit 3-4 times/week

 

[thing2]

@marmoora Thanks! This is really helpful

 

[elena5050]

@thing2 Electrolyte supplementation can't be stressed enough on a keto/low carb/zero carb diet. It's the difference between being tired, grumpy and sucking at working out vs. kicking ass.

Edit - I'm keto/TKD for the most part. My energy levels seem to be more stable and if I do enough electrolyte supplementation, my CrossFit performance is the same.

 

[thing2]

@elena5050 Do you mean supplementation as in some sort of pills/intake of salt above and beyond what's in food? I heavily salt (pink-Himalayan or regular iodized...whatever's around) the food I eat, but only to taste. I haven't made an effort to eat salt above and beyond that. Would you recommend it?

 

[elena5050]

@thing2 There's more to electrolyte supplementation than just salt. You need extra magnesium and potassium as well. I personally use stuff like Mio Sport Spray or electrolyte tablets that are typically used by endurance athletes. You can also grab peda-lyte.

 

[dawn16]

@thing2 does an exercise regimen that is glycolytic, doesn't replenish muscle glycogen.

 

[thing2]

@dawn16 /@faithchangesthinking Both presumably true... it's been working for me for the better part of 18 months without any supplementation tho so

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[dawn16]

@thing2 working for you in what regard, though? personally, I feel that ketosis as a nutrition plan for performance in CrossFit is woefully misguided. with regards to body composition, it may be more viable.

 

[thing2]

@dawn16 "Working for me" in some nebulous, some numerical measures - I've been able to keep up with my workouts (5-7 crossfit WODs/wk, on 5-6 days), increase my strength on lifts, decrease times (sprints, benchmark hero wods, etc.). I've also never been injured, never taken more than 3 days off, and generally feel like I recover fine (though I don't know if that means anything).

That said, I began crossfit as a previously sedentary person. I did NOTHING physical, so I wouldn't at all be surprised if, a year and some change in, if I'm still getting newbie gains.

The whole "woefully misguided" thing is why I posted - I only have myself to compare to. I can't tell whether my explosive movements are fine for a very low carb athelete or just fine for an athelete, given my previous lack of experience. I was keto and inactive prior to crossfit and now virtually zero carb and pretty active, so it's not like I have any comparison.

I'm hoping other low/very low carb atheletes respond so I can get a feel for their experience-based (i.e. Non-theoretical) impact of those dietary choices strictly from an exercise performance perspective.

 

[dawn16]

@thing2

That said, I began crossfit as a previously sedentary person. I did NOTHING physical, so I wouldn't at all be surprised if, a year and some change in, if I'm still getting newbie gains.
The whole "woefully misguided" thing is why I posted - I only have myself to compare to. I can't tell whether my explosive movements are fine for a very low carb athelete or just fine for an athelete, given my previous lack of experience. I was keto and inactive prior to crossfit and now virtually zero carb and pretty active, so it's not like I have any comparison.

Well, I'm not really sure what kind of answers you could get that would be anything other than confirmation bias, then. You went through a period of inactivity and are now active, so you should be improving in virtually every metric & bio-marker relative to performance. Especially considering a year is a very small time frame to contextual performance improvements.

If you don't have a specific reason to be eating keto, or extremely low-carb, I would advise that you switch for a period of time. Eating carbohydrates spikes insulin productions which improves nutrient delivery & absorption. They are the primary fuel source for high-intensity exercise (CrossFit). They reduce muscle breakdown and improve resistance to muscular fatigue. You can make the argument that ketosis would be effective for low-intensity exercise for long time domains, but the frequency at which you will train that time domain and energy system in CrossFit is likely less than you will train at higher intensities. If anything, changing your diet will give you a more accurate comparison; yourself on ketosis vs. yourself on CHO. That's the best, most accurate comparison you can get. There are too many other factors that figure into athletic performance; genetics, predisposition to movements, height, weight, gender, proportions, etc that soliciting advice from others won't be beneficial to you. Give yourself empirical evidence on yourself.

 

[dawn16]

@thing2 How long have you been doing crossfit though? Keto will work for beginners for a time. But they will eventually stall in their progress. It's a glycolytic sport. Best way to fuel for that is carbs.

 

[thing2]

@dawn16 A little over a year of crossfit. I'm at 5-7 workouts per week on 5-6 days of the week, but I definitely worked up to that level. I was "keto-adapted" before I started and as I built up my workouts I ratcheted down my carbs. Now I eat like 75% fat, 25% protein by calories with trace carbs. I may or may not be in ketosis now, cuz I eat so much protein. Being in ketosis isn't as much of a motivator as eating what is simple, tasty, and what I feel good eating, which is, at this point, 100% animal-based foods.

My performance has steadily increased, but, of course, that's likely lots of newbie gains. I was sedentary when I was keto only, so no surprise that I've had unabated gains in fitness. I'm sure I'm not at peak performance being virtually carb-free, esp. with respect to explosive movements.

Maybe I'll wait till I plateau to consider switching things up...was just curious about how other very low carb crossfitters have been and are doing

 

[tita_tey]

@thing2 Lol keto. Is that still a thing for ffs?