CARB LOAD & SODIUM DEPLETE

[Anticatabolic]

when i start carb loading in the final week, is it absolutely necessary to deplete sodium at the same time? does depleting sodium help loading carbs? what's gonna happen if i am still sodium loading when i start loading carbs? also a lot of people cut out sodium when they start tapering water. what's the logic behind it? what if i am still water loading when i start depleting sodium?


sorry if it sounds a bit confusing...

 

[gooey]

well...

This is the hardest ? to answer for anyone. 90% of sodium sits in extracellular space, water follows sodium hence water retention in skin. Also it takes so much water to to store glucose as glycogen in muscle and in liver. You have to experience in order to understand what works for you. Load on dry carbs and reduce sodium to be safe during you carb up stage. i gotta run but I'll reply more later on my experiences.
Gooey

 

[Anticatabolic]

Re: well...

This is the hardest ? to answer for anyone. 90% of sodium sits in extracellular space, water follows sodium hence water retention in skin. Also it takes so much water to to store glucose as glycogen in muscle and in liver. You have to experience in order to understand what works for you. Load on dry carbs and reduce sodium to be safe during you carb up stage. i gotta run but I'll reply more later on my experiences.
Gooey

thanks, gooey.

anyhow, i'm gonna start loading carbs on wed morning (wed, thu & fri - a typical 3-day carb loading) but i ain't supposed to cut my sodium until thursday which is two days from the event (i've learned that somewhere saying best time to cut sodium is 2 days prior to the show because the system usually takes about 2 days to recognize the diminished sodium intake.) so wednesday is the dilemma: should i drop the sodium or keep it high and carb-load? i was wondering if carb loading with sodium for just only the first day would screw up the whole thing...

what would you do??

 

[gooey]

hmmmm...

this is also dependent on whether you are taking a diuretic otc or something that does not spare potassium and a potassium sparing diuretic (lasix, and dyazide/aldactone). I would definitly reduce sodium drastically, but if you cut it you may cramp I dont know how you react. For my last show I carbed up on high sodium carbs and drank no water. But I still think I would have looked better without so much sodium. I would be safe apply the theory if its not broken why fix it. Carb up on dry carbs and little sodium. By friday if your show is sat. You may be able to get away with what ever you want. Once again I dont know how you will react. These ?'s are relative to each person. Dont change much if you have carb days stay with the food sources you have been using. If you are taking a potass. sparing diur. do not load on a bunch of potassium loaded carbs. I f'd up in my last show my electrolytes were very messed up and lost the ability to flex my lower body. Stay smart and stay on course do not change much in those last couple of days except sodium and possibly water reduction. Play with it now and see how you react trial and error is the best learning measure.
Gooey

 

[Mr Pickels]

in all honesty, i've been reading these boards for years and i never "bothered to learn" anything about precontest dieting. i never had a reason to go below 8% or drop water blah blah. but i am getting more into it now. esp after i overdieted last year. lost too much size. after i get to 250 then i'll cut down but i do really need to learn the basics of precontest shiz. so thanks for the posts gents.

 

[weight77]

also

also I dont know if you thought about this or not but you have to look at your diet and see how much sodium is in your curent diet..

if you are not eating and taking in that much sodium then sodium depleting wont work...

 

[Anticatabolic]

Re: also

also I dont know if you thought about this or not but you have to look at your diet and see how much sodium is in your curent diet..

if you are not eating and taking in that much sodium then sodium depleting wont work...

i eat quite a lot of sodium year around. i don't see any reason to limit sodium intake except a couple days before a contest to lose the water.

 

[weight77]

yeah

I agree. But for me I always eat clean and dont take in that much sodium. If I eat junk food I fill up to easy and then wont be hungry to eat a real meal. and I don't dump tons of salt on my food. So if I sodium depleted then it would not really do anything for me.

 

[Anticatabolic]

Re: yeah

I agree. But for me I always eat clean and dont take in that much sodium. If I eat junk food I fill up to easy and then wont be hungry to eat a real meal. and I don't dump tons of salt on my food. So if I sodium depleted then it would not really do anything for me.

it's great that you can eat clean without taking much sodium. more power to you. for me, i don't eat junk food much but i can't eat clean without some TASTE! i need some sauce (which probably contains whole bunch of sodium) for my lean protein sources and complex carbs! Salsa is a good one...

 

[weight77]

weird

It is weird that you brought up how much salsa you eat...I was reading the other day about how when Tom Prince was getting ready for a show and he got to a sticking point in his diet and could not get past it...Chad and him looked at his diet and they could not figure out what was wrong....They went through every detail and could not understand why he could not loose anymore...then he asked Tom what kind of condiments he used with his food...He said nothing much just some salsa...So chad was like well how many carbs do you think you are getting from the salsa...Tom was like I don't know how ever much is in 3 cans....

3 cans of salsa a day is a shit load...that could be like 200 or 300 grams of carbs right there...

so just something to think about if you are getting ready for a comp and you have a problem

 

[Anticatabolic]

Re: weird

It is weird that you brought up how much salsa you eat...I was reading the other day about how when Tom Prince was getting ready for a show and he got to a sticking point in his diet and could not get past it...Chad and him looked at his diet and they could not figure out what was wrong....They went through every detail and could not understand why he could not loose anymore...then he asked Tom what kind of condiments he used with his food...He said nothing much just some salsa...So chad was like well how many carbs do you think you are getting from the salsa...Tom was like I don't know how ever much is in 3 cans....

3 cans of salsa a day is a shit load...that could be like 200 or 300 grams of carbs right there...

so just something to think about if you are getting ready for a comp and you have a problem

2 tablespoons (30g) of salsa contain about 3 grams of carbs and quite a lot of sodium. i use no more than 4 tbsps at a time which contain only 6 grams of carbs. anyhow, 3 cans a day is way too much and the amount of carbs and sodium carried can definitely affect your diet and physique.

by the way, have you noticed how much bbq sauce Ronnie was using on his chicken in one of his videos? damn... i wonder how much carbs and sodium there was. he was actually on a diet and said it was a no-carb meal... i guess a lot of pro's just don't count the stuff in their condiments.

 

[weight77]

No

No I heard that they do....It is just that Ronnie is a exception...one that can burn fat easy....

But I also heard that every once and a while you will find a pro out at a pizza place or at MacDonald's the day before a show.....The more I hear about about it the more it makes since....all that gh could do it.....

 

[Anticatabolic]

Re: No

No I heard that they do....It is just that Ronnie is a exception...one that can burn fat easy....

But I also heard that every once and a while you will find a pro out at a pizza place or at MacDonald's the day before a show.....The more I hear about about it the more it makes since....all that gh could do it.....

eating out at a pizza place / macdonald's the day b4 a show?
hmmm... maybe they are doing the 'shitload'... shitloading is quite hot these days.