Blood Sugar Level Translation

Carb Back-Loading Results After 4 Weeks

is John Kiefer’s variation on a targeted ketogenic diet in which a large load of carbs are only eaten after heavy resistance training (optimally in the afternoon).  This theoretically takes advantage of the body’s hormonal and metabolic response to stimulate muscle cell growth while at the same time increasing the breakdown of fat cells.  You can read more about the basics of this approach from my .

OBJECTIVE:

Burn fat while increasing muscle mass and strength.

METHODS:

• Adhere to Kiefer’s as much as possible
• At the same time, use and principles (eating whole foods, avoiding wheat products, legumes, vegetable oils, processed foods etc).
• When back-loading, primarily use ‘clean carbs’ such as rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes as my source of carbohydrates.

BIOMARKERS:

• Daily AM Blood Ketones
• Daily AM Fasting Blood Glucose
• Daily AM Weight
• Daily AM Breath Acetone
• Weekly Abdominal Circumference Measurements
• Blood tests after 8 – 12 weeks:

• – My source of Omega 3s on the road, by Dave Asprey, The Bulletproof Exec
•  – Because I’m the optimal range
•  – Extended release capsules
•  – Used post workout and before I sleep on graveyard shifts as a sleep aid
•  – Protein source with colostrum and 0 carbs as a meal on the go or recovery shake
•  – Good source of saturated fat
•  – Mycotoxin free coffee
•  – When I eat from uncertain sources
• – Creatine is one of the most researched supplements and Kiefer recommends it pretty much with every meal!
• – Hydrolyzed casein, which according to Kiefer makes the amino acids  more effectively absorbed. While it tastes terrible, Kiefer claims this is the best tasting brand there is.
• – A branched chain amino acid that according to Kiefer spikes insulin levels, independent of sugar and stimulates muscle growth.
• – A high glycemic carb derived from brown rice.  This is what
• – Recommended by a friend.  Tastes damn good.  I don’t add it all the time, but it’s really helpful to use with the Peptopro because Peptopro tastes horrible.  Sometimes I use this as a small dessert.

There is now a bunch of stuff from the Protein Factory which is one of the sources Kiefer actually recommends ( and ).  In Carb Back-Loading, Kiefer also recommends a few different ‘optional shakes.’  I figured why not give this experiment the best possible chance and try as much of what he recommends as possible.

Here are some of the shakes that I’ll be messing around with.

Pre-Training Shake – Whey, MCT, and Creatine

Post-Training Shake – Whey, Casein hydrolysate, Leucine, Creatine, Rilose

Carb Back Loading Shake – Casein hydrolysate and Leucine

I’m still a big fan of and and try to use their stuff when possible.  As with my Carb Nite experiment, I try to take these things regularly but sometimes I forget to take them or forget to bring them with me when traveling, and so my use isn’t as consistent as I would like.

TOOLS:

• – Measures blood ketones

• Bechpress: 205 lbs to 220 lbs
• Barbell Row: 135 lbs to 155 lbs
• Overheadpress: 95 lbs to 110 lbs
• Deadlift 185 lbs to 215 lbs

It’s pretty amazing.  I would hit personal bests with each training session with the progressions built into this program.  The main downside is that I’ve become one of those guys in the gym that grunts/yells when I lift.  I used to hate these guys… and now I’m one of them.  I’ve found that yelling allows me to both release a bit of intra-abdominal pressure and at the same time pumps me up with that little bit of energy needed to lift a weight I’ve never lifted before.

I’m curious to see how far I can push this!

ABDOMINAL CIRCUMFERENCE:

When I finished Carb Nite, my abdominal circumference was 33.75 in.  At the start of this experiment I went back up to 35.25 in.   As you can see, when I was flailing around during weeks 2 and 3 and my inner fat man was running the show, my abdominal circumference ballooned up to 35.5 in!  After 4 weeks, I was able to bring it back down to 34.5 in for a total loss of 0.75 in.

PRURIGO PIGMENTOSA KETO-RASH:

I wasn’t surprised to see that the keto-rash reintroduced itself at the exact moment my ketones jumped over 0.5 mmol/L.  It took over a week for it to finally disappear.  After my Crossfit session when my ketones went back up to 0.7 mmol/L it briefly reappeared again, but this time all it took was one CBL to get it to re-disappear.

I can tell that when this rash shows up, it means that I didn’t eat enough carbs during my most recent CBL.  Now that I have my carbs dialed in at 100-250 gm, it’s enough to keep the rash to stay away.

DISCUSSION:

In each of his podcasts, Kiefer always likes to mention how ‘easy’ this diet is and emphasizes how ‘fool-proof’ it is saying that you don’t really have to be that militant over your macronutrient ratios and caloric intake.  This wasn’t the case for me.  It required a fair bit of trial and error (lots of error) for me to figure things out.  Even now I still feel like I need to continue fine tuning with these things.

I’m very pleased with the results of the Stronglifts 5×5 program and feel much stronger now compared to week 1, and have the numbers to support this.

Hopefully now that I’ve gotten things more figured out, the following 4 weeks will yield greater changes!

If you’re interested in reading more about Carb Back-Loading, you can pick it up directly from his website .