What If I Don't Eat Carbs After A Work Out? page

[dimples]

If I do a pretty hard session in the gym, whether it's cardio or heavy lifting, what happens if I don't eat anything for hours after I work out?

Because I've read countless times you need to replenish your glycogen stores.... so I'm curious what happens when I don't...

[Ayla2010]

I never used to after CrossFit and I survived
But some might need food, I guess you can only try to see. Depends on lots of things I guess.

[eKatherine]

I never eat before or after a workout, since I work out in the morning during the non-eating phase of my IF. I'm still here.

[Kata]

I've been wondering this myself. The only thing I want after a workout is to stuff all the eggs and bacon I can find into my face. Sometimes fruit makes an appearance, but that's really more like dessert for my breakfast.

I'm sure you'd be fine if you didn't eat right after a workout. After all, the hunt wasn't always successful.

[seaweed]

i get quite disorientated LOL i miss the floor to get out to the carpark when i am walking down the stairs and txting at the same time after. or i forget to get things i need from the shops. i put that down to my muscles taking up all the glycogen my brain should be using. havent tried carbing up immediately after to test it tho.

[AngryKiwi47]

If I do a pretty hard session in the gym, whether it's cardio or heavy lifting, what happens if I don't eat anything for hours after I work out?

Because I've read countless times you need to replenish your glycogen stores.... so I'm curious what happens when I don't...

Not much, really.

When I lift, I eat from 1-6 hours after doing so. No noticable problems. I've heard that carbs PWo for glycogen restorable are only really that useful if you're going to be very active later, ie, sports, more lifting, running, etc. The days overall intake is much more important.

[KimchiNinja]

If I do a pretty hard session in the gym, whether it's cardio or heavy lifting, what happens if I don't eat anything for hours after I work out? Because I've read countless times you need to replenish your glycogen stores...

Countless media and fitness people keep saying "because you need to replenish your glycogen stores bla bla". Honestly I have no idea what it means, and I doubt they do either. I think it means "the carb / workout / carb endless treadmill of doom".

Anyhow, I work out hard and never touch white-carbs. My post-workout is a half-dozen eggs cooked in grass-fed butter, or a piece of medium-rare meat with the fat/skin on it. Works great. To contrast I used to do the "carb up" and "recarb" these knuckleheads suggest; all it got me was muscle AND belly fat.

Here is an interesting interview with a guy who experimented heavily with carbing and later no-carbing.
Very Low Carb Performance - YouTube

[zoebird]

Plain and simple:

First, you get the shakes, and you think it's no big deal. So you just, you know, figure it will pass.

Then, you have trouble standing and walking. You fall over a lot. But you're still ignoring it all, and so you mostly try not to hit your head. Instead, you just think to get into bed.

Then, you start seeing flashing lights, aliens, strange flying creatures that are not aliens but probably the astral projections of small children, and, you know, they talk to you and stuff.

After this happens, you get online and start asking questions about whether or not you should eat carbs after working out, and everyone tells you that it's fine not to, which of course is really only an extension of your now-extreme delusion as your nervous system has systematically shut down.

Next, you start convulsing and vomiting and speaking ancient languages as if possessed.

This is followed by explosive diarrhea.

Then, essentially, in a cess pool of feces, vomit and delusion, you have a stroke, followed by a heart attack followed by being struck by lightening, then being stung by entire swarms of both mexican killer bees AND scorpions.

AND YOU DIE.

So, just down some white sugar and you'll be fine.

[Tribal Rob]

Plain and simple:

First, you get the shakes, and you think it's no big deal. So you just, you know, figure it will pass.

Then, you have trouble standing and walking. You fall over a lot. But you're still ignoring it all, and so you mostly try not to hit your head. Instead, you just think to get into bed.

Then, you start seeing flashing lights, aliens, strange flying creatures that are not aliens but probably the astral projections of small children, and, you know, they talk to you and stuff.

After this happens, you get online and start asking questions about whether or not you should eat carbs after working out, and everyone tells you that it's fine not to, which of course is really only an extension of your now-extreme delusion as your nervous system has systematically shut down.

Next, you start convulsing and vomiting and speaking ancient languages as if possessed.

This is followed by explosive diarrhea.

Then, essentially, in a cess pool of feces, vomit and delusion, you have a stroke, followed by a heart attack followed by being struck by lightening, then being stung by entire swarms of both mexican killer bees AND scorpions.

AND YOU DIE.

So, just down some white sugar and you'll be fine.

This is all true it happened to me twice last week

[ssn679doc]

Good stuff that zoebird!

Seriously though, doesn't the body take fat convert it to sugar (glucose) which gets converted to glycogen and stored in the muscles?