Hi Bill–

MRE

Sorry, i didn’t mean to imply post-workout nutrition would hold up for an entire book. A long post on the topic, however, should help much towards lighting a candle in the darkness for many. With so many opposing views on the role of carbs post-workout it would be great to read your, as always, highly informed view. I think that far too many people project their views on the topic not taking into consideration that carbs may play different roles post-workout for someone who is fat-adapted, as opposed to someone who eats many carbs daily. Dr. Gregorgy Ellis who is well versed in the subject area suggests that the fat-apated individual should avoid eating carbs post-workout and, for the most part, any other time of the day. He feels that it is ketones, not carbs, that are of importance when it comes to muscle growth, and furthermore, that it is fat that fuels activity, ideas which you have discussed in previous posts.

Hi Andrew–

MRE

I’m sure many people would vary much enjoy reading about what you have learned since PPLP hit the book stands, especially the idea that you and Atkins have almost adopted one another’s original low-carb philosophies. Also, alot of readers , myself included, are enthralled with the subject of intermittent fasting, and therefore, perhaps this is an area also ripe for investigation.

Hi Andrew–

MRE

Which brings up the question: are we going to see a new book? If so, what would be the potential topic?

I don’t have a clue. Got any ideas? I’m all ears.

MRE

In Atkins for Life (don’t steam too much), Dr. A said calories do count. In PP or PPLP, I seem to recall something about calories counting. Now, it’s been 7 years, so maybe there’s new info. But, and I’m not saying they’re the only thing that counts, but aren’t they a factor on the margin? Lemme explain.

So, I get myself burning fat with my glucagon metabolism firing hard core and my insulin in control. I am eating my five-six meals a day to keep my metabolic flux in the range where I want it. I’m factoring the metabolic effect of digesting food. At the margin, maybe I don’t want my protein pudding for meal six, and I just skip it. We are on the margin here, and maybe I might see an effect if I go without that 20g protein, 3g fat, 2g carb treat at the end of my eating day. I dunno, I’m asking.

Other stuff I’d like to see you talk to:
1- The “Fat Virus” that seems to be the talk.
2- Muscle Fatigue and LC. Colpo shared his thoughts over at Jimmy Moore’s site.
http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-muscle-fatigue-inevitable-when-you.html
Am curious for another take on the issue. Have started taking about 20-30g of carb post workout and haven’t had cravings or been knocked off, and have jumped my weightloss. So, am curious to have an opinion I respect.

Hi Max–

Your comment demands much more time than I’m willing to give right now in comment form. All the issues you ask about are worthy of posts themselves. And, in fact, I’ll try to post on them in due course. The short answers are as follows: Yes, calories count, sort of. But not in the way most people think. Atkins said they count in his last book, MD and I said they did in the PP and PPLP (but with some stipulations, as I recall). Atkins and I have had an interesting dance over the years. He came out with his first book advocating a pretty strict low-carb diet, we came out with ours about 15 or so years later saying that you didn’t have to be so diligent with the carbs. We invented the concept of net carbs, which we called ‘effective carbs.’ Atkins jumped all over it and called them Atkins Net Carbs or some such thing. Then he began to back off his strict carb regimen and before you knew it he had come out with basically a revised version of Protein Power that he called Atkins for Life. At the same time, we began to see better results with more carb restriction, so we drifted more towards a lower carb diet, and even in many cases a full-meat diet. We just haven’t written a new book in a while. So in one of those bizarre twists of fate, Atkins became us and we became Atkins. Weird.

The fat virus has been around for years. It’s just that now the press has jumped on it so it seems to be a new and exciting thing. I think I even posted about it last year sometime.

I agree with Anthony Colpo on the glycogen depletion issue. Back in the 1990s I read a paper by a doctor at the Naval Hospital in San Diego that intrigued me. I called the guy and we had a nice chat. He told me he had done a lot of work with naval recruits on low-carb diets and various exercise regimens. He sent me a large envelope of all these studies that hadn’t been published. In going through them I noticed that the subjects once adapted to low-diets did great on endurance-type activities whereas their performance deteriorated on high-intensity activities. When provided with a glucose solution, these subjects were able to maintain their performance during the high-intensity workouts.

I thought a lot about this in view of our Paleolithic predecessors. Why would nature endow them (and ultimately us) with a metabolism that wouldn’t rise to the occasion using the diets they had at hand, which were primarily low-carb, high-fat diets. It finally dawned on me that these folks more than likely didn’t perform high-intensity activities for very long at a time – maybe a few seconds max. They would sprint after something that they either caught or it got away. Something sprinted after them, and they either got caught or got away. Quickly. There was no need for a system to supply large amounts of glucose quickly for long periods of time, so we didn’t evolve one. That’s why we need supplemental glucose during or immediately after a high-intensity workout. I’ve read papers showing both sides of the growth hormone argument, and I haven’t made a detailed study of any of them, so although simply from a knowledge of metabolism basis, I would say that the glucose probably inhibits the release of growth hormone, I don’t really have a lot of firm evidence to base that idea on. I guess I need to really do a read on all that literature so that I can come up with a more authoritative answer on the growth hormone issue.

Cheers–

MRE

Hi Nancy–

MRE

The science behind my following thoughts are way out of my league, but I’ll give it a shot. By the way, this is not my original thinking, it comes from reading the Evolutionary Fitness website (at http://www.arthurdevany.com). Diet, exercise, and weight loss all seem to boil down to gene expression. What we do and what we eat, over time, turn on/off certain genes relating to body composition and metabolic fitness, and the ability to lose weight/fat.

To quote site owner Dr. De Vany: “I talk a lot about this topic when I mention that “genes are not destiny” (to remind you that even identical twins can differ enormously in their physiology based on what they do and eat and how that triggers gene expression; see my Twins post) and about muscle gene expression induced by activity and diet (through glycogen content of the muscle) or intermittent fasting (which triggers repair genetic programs).”

Based on his observations, I think an older person who has spent most of his/her adult life sedentary and eating a carb based diet has altered their gene expressions toward an unfavorable homeostasis. I would think that this condition would take quite awhile to reverse itself, and hence make it very a difficult and lengthy process to lose weight (at least on a traditional low calorie carb-based diet).

I guess that my point is that it appears that the issue is far more complex than simply “calories in/calories out”. In trying to be succinct, I hope I’ve captured the essence of gene expression and offered something of value for further discussion. Many thanks.

Hi Thomas–

MRE

I get the part about how eating less is not true, since I tend to eat more on low-carb than I did when I followed (I’m ashamed to say) Jane Brody’s path. I’m satiated on less food (and calories) when I fill up on animal fat and animal protein.

But I’m having trouble with the idea that exercising won’t help with weight loss.

I know you advocate the slow-burn method, which I think is good. But I still like to be more active. I like walking, so I have a treadmill and an elliptical. Right now I’m trying to do 3 to 5 sessions a week on one or the other, doing a 20-minute interval workout (2 minutes of easy work followed by intervals of 30 seconds of high intensity and 90 seconds of easy work again, ending with 2 minutes of easy work).

Maybe it’s not helping with weight loss, but I feel better when I exercise, especially when I do resistance training.

And, here’s another thing. If I exercise, I gain muscle, right? And if it takes more energy to maintain muscle, doesn’t that mean that having more muscle makes you burn energy faster, thus using those calories up, and ultimately dropping fat (weight)?

Ouch.

My head hurts from thinking about this and trying to figure it all out.

Is menopause making my brain this foggy, or is it really kind of a conundrum?

I’ll be watching for that extended blog.

PS: What the heck is “Trackbacks & Pingbacks”?

Hi Kathy–

MRE

Long time no post because I have moved twice well nearly twice and I am currently building a new house – and during that time I have been losing weight. Why? Well because I have been eating less (I always do when I am busy) and exercising more – not sure about moving (I hate that bit) but building is great exercise! So I’m not quite sure about your original objection – it works, at least in the short term – if it doesn’t work in the long term it is because people stop doing it – and there are not many things in life (including low carb of course) that work if you don’t do them!! Yes it is simplistic and if people find the advice impossible to follow perhaps another line of attack needs to be used. Low carb works at least partly because people eat less without feeling hungry (ie without consciously focusing on the need to deprive themselves of food). There are few low carb authors who don’t recommend exercise as part of their weight loss/health plan. Is there anything more to it? – well that gets us back to the whole metabolic advantage chestnut – which while some have demonstrated the theoretical possibility it seems highly elusive in properly controlled human trials, and if it exists, is likely to be (at least in my view) a fairly trivial difference. I am always amazed by individuals who claim they can eat thousands more calories on low carb without gaining an ounce – sadly I can easily gain weight around intervention level carbs (my normal diet) if I eat too much – but when I stop overeating and start doing something strenuous regularly … hmmm does that make me one of ‘them’?;)

Cheers,

Malcolm

Hey Malcolm–

MRE