The FINAL Back-Loading Interview w Kiefer
written by sean hyson
At last, we’ve reached the final chapter in my long interview with Kiefer, creator of Carb Back-loading. If you haven’t heard the audio yet, go to muscleandfitness.com and click on “Nutrition”. It’s broken up into several 2–3 minute segments you can listen to. Note that the entire interview is not up on the site yet, but several episodes are. The transcript you see in this and my last several posts covers the whole thing.
I do encourage you to listen to the audio even though you can read and re-read Kiefer’s advice here. He does take more time to explain things verbally than I was willing to transcribe. You can refer back and forth to get the full sense of our talk. Check out more on back-loading at Kiefer’s site.
Sean: You’re a champion of leucine, but what about the other BCAAs? Are they any good, or is leucine the standout and we can save our money on the other ones?
Kiefer: Leucine is the standout. Save your money otherwise. All you’re looking for is a spike in free amino acid levels post-training, and you can do that with hydrolysates and leucine far more effectively than you can with free amino acid solutions. And leucine, because of its extra muscle-stimulating properties, really makes it stand out.
Sean: And that’s in addition to hydrolysates. You should have leucine as well, in a perfect world.
Kiefer: Exactly.
Sean: A lot of these fasting proponents are saying you should take BCAAs in the morning in lieu of food, but you’re saying that’s going to raise insulin and wreck your fat burning.
Kiefer: Yes. That’s a very strange recommendation to me. I know the logic behind it, but the science totally refutes it. If you’re eating amino acids, you’re triggering a response that’s going to upregulate protein-destroying enzymes, and then you’ve got no other food in your system. There’s going to be some relapse for that. Your body is happy to burn nothing but fat in the morning as long as you don’t screw that up.
Sean: I have one more for you. You talk about how training is essentially useless for losing weight, but then how do you explain how people start working out and drop fat, often with minimal diet changes? It just seems like they would have to be burning more calories.
Kiefer: There has to be something else going on. In controlled studies where they control the calories, they ensure that the lifestyle doesn’t change apart from the addition of exercise. Then it turns out that training without dieting causes zero weight loss. Training doesn’t have an effect until a diet comes into play—at nine months. At that point, your body does start to lose fat. If you’re not willing to make a dietary change, it’s going to be nine months before you see results from exercise.
Sean: So people who do see weight loss before that are likely losing water and muscle then.
Kiefer: Yeah, that’s possible. But it would still most likely be because of their diet. There’s no shortage of studies on this.
Sean: I guess people often diet without even realizing it. They start working out and they’re suddenly a little more health conscious and they eat less. On the other hand, some people may gain weight when they start training because exercise can stimulate hunger and then you’re apt to eat more.
Kiefer: I saw a study where people gained fat for that reason. Because they were exercising they thought they should be able to eat more, and they did.
Pick up the Carb Back-loading e-book HERE.
Comments
07 May, 2012
patrick
Sean,
I workout first thing in the morning. I want to get lean. Should I go on an empty stomach or take protein shake before? Please advise. Thanks.
07 May, 2012
Richard Bender
Sean--------- I have nothing but coffee with 1-2 Tbs. organic heavy whipping cream until round 1:00 when I have chicken & a salad. Is the heavy whipping cream ok, or should I have black coffee only? Thanks.
08 May, 2012
Sean Hyson
Patrick,
Empty stomach or just coffee/Vivarin.
Richard,
That's fine. You would do just black coffee if you were training right away. If you're waiting a few hours, it's ok to eat.
08 May, 2012
Emilio
Sean where can I buy the leucine and Hydrolysate what brand and Web sites you recommend thank you
09 May, 2012
bruno
say i wake up at 8 fast till 11-12 am and then on to some cheese nuts and meat training comes later in the day what would be the perfect post workout meal and dinner for carb back loading? i was thinking of my home made meat rolls.... some tortillas with meat and some sugar on top sprinkled tons of protein and carbs are mostly sugar (fast acting). I'm trying to get some lean muscle mass and drop really little body fat in the way.
09 May, 2012
Julia
bruno, your post workout dinner (backload) could be anything really. sweet potatoes, potatoes, rice, etc are all good choices with meat. many people often have good results with "junk" food too like pizza.
10 May, 2012
Sean Hyson
Emilio,
I like truenutrition.com. Proteinfactory.com also sells these.
Bruno,
Your plan sounds fine.
12 May, 2012
john
Sean do i have to drink the hypertrophic pontenitator evry time im going to eat carbs? even if i already took it after my work out and if i do how long should i wait before drinking it and eating carbs ps i start working out at 9pm
13 May, 2012
Sean Hyson
John,
No, you don't have to drink it.
19 May, 2012
joe
Hey Sean,lot of good stuff!
I'm a little confused though about the coffee in the morning. Some say no spike of insulin or cortisol, while others say yes. I've never really been a coffee drinker, sometimes an espresso after dinner.
Please advise.
Thanks Joe
21 May, 2012
Sean Hyson
Joe,
you won't get an insulin spike if it's black coffee or you add heavy whipping cream.
21 May, 2012
Joe
Thanks Sean!
26 May, 2012
Richard McRae
Sean,
Okay, a question, or perhaps a request. Could you sometime ask Kiefer the question you almost asked -- is it acceptable at some point to resume eating some level, however small,of "healthy" foods (oatmeal, brown rice, apples, pears) for sake of enjoyment.
28 May, 2012
Sean Hyson
Richard,
Sure. Those foods have great health value and I, personally, have never done away with them. Have oatmeal during a back-load, but make sure to have other high-glycemic carbs too. Have brown rice and fruit that night as well. If you're trying to gain weight, eat those foods on non-training days. There are different approaches to back-loading.
Kiefer's point is that those foods aren't ideal for releasing insulin and turning over glycogen. But they CAN be a part of your diet.
02 Sep, 2012
Cainoooo
Hi sean, heres one i havnt seen posted yet,
Alcohol? Can we have a night on the vodka sodas or will that wreck the keto phase, also, while where on the back load, coz really im 23 and got a lot more partying ahead of me!
01 Nov, 2012
Kacper
Hey Sean, I like to eat lite cottage cheese mixed with tuna and maybe sometimes some cucumber and tomatoes on my nontraining days...this way I get some fast digesting (tuna) protein and some slow digesting protein (cottage cheese). Are there any downsides to this meal? Also I'm very curious about the alcohol question because I have a big party trip coming up in a couple of months
01 Nov, 2012
Sean Hyson
Cainooo,
I don't think alcohol has any place in the depletion phase. You can have the occasional drink (one or two) on carb ups, but it's going to have some kind of negative effect.
Kacper,
Protein and fat are fine on off days. As for the booze, see above.
02 Nov, 2012
Kacper
Thanks Sean, this is my new favorite site.
Also just to be clear because I've never counted carbs before this diet, only protein. Tonight is my first backloading night and I weight about 200 pounds..does that mean I can eat in between 200 and 400 grams of carbs tonight?
05 Jan, 2013
Renee
Hi Sean, I have a few questions, the first is about timing. I'm a PT who works 6am-11am/3pm-8pm and will train at not set time somewhere inbetween depending on how busy my day is. Since my workout is during the day (sometimes just after lunch), should I backload as soon as I'm finished and continue to do so right up until I go to bed or should I just backload afterwards and not eat dinner...?
The other question is...I'm training to compete in my first sports model competition. Since CBL was designed with men in mind and my category is to be defined and fit but not quite figure defined...what foods would be best for me to eat when back loading and which are best on my non training days? Is CBL practical for me if i want to compete?There is little info out there for women and CBL (especially non figure/bodybuilding women) so thank you so much in advance
06 Feb, 2013
Zulfiqar
Hi Sean i read your interview with Kiefer and have following questions:
- Training in the morning: Should you take carbs in your post shake (e.g. banana) and then backload in the evening?
- Training in the morning: What if you took healthy fats post workout with shake instead of carbs, what effect does that have?
- What are the five fat choices kiefer recommend to eat? (i got that carbs shd be white rice, potetos, yams etc.)
I train in the morning and hve a busy office schedule. I backload with chocklate etc in the evenings every night. I understand i shouldnt backload if iam not working out next morning. Then its just eating fat/protein all day on non training days exept when u have to train next day then backloading is allowed at nights.
Therefore its important to know what kind of fats are good choices on the plate.
Thanks hope you can help with this.
Zulfiqar
Want to show your face? Get a gravatar!