I get tired of all those articles about how to practice moderation in eating during the holidays. The same old stuff like portion control and have just a half of a piece of pie, and a quarter of a cookie and a 2 ounce serving of turkey, and blah blah blah. Screw that!
I love Thanksgiving.
It’s the only holiday where gluttony is not only accepted, but expected. Even celebrated! Couple that with gratuitous amounts of gratitude and it makes for a great day.
Once on Thanksgiving my brother said, “I’m not going to eat too much because I don’t want to feel lethargic.” I replied, “I’m going to eat too much… because I want to be sedated.”
But I do care about my health and physique, so I’ve discovered a way to do damage control for holiday gluttony.
Carb Back Loading
Your body stores about 2000 or more calories in the form of carbohydrates called glycogen. This glycogen is stored in your muscles and liver for later use during exercise. This is the rationale behind carbohydrate loading for an endurance event.
You can deplete these stores by exercising and cutting carbohydrate consumption. When your body is glycogen depleted, your metabolism handles extra sugar and carbohydrates very differently than when your glycogen stores are full.
When glycogen stores are full, any excess carbs you eat get converted to fat and any excess fat that you eat goes straight to storage in fat cells.
But when your glycogen stores are depleted, you muscles and liver are like little glucose sponges. They pull in any extra carbohydrates you eat (2000 calories potentially) in order to replenish the glycogen levels.
This gives you a fighting chance of burning any excess fat that you may consume. Most of the tastiest holiday foods combine both fat and carbohydrates, so you definitely don’t want your glycogen stores topped off when you have your holiday feast.
How to Carb Back Load
- Deplete your glycogen stores by cutting your carbohydrate intake to 50 grams or less for 2 days before your “event”.
- Exercise 50% more than your usual for 2 days before the feast. Note that you may feel like your performance tanks as you do more exercise with less fuel.
- Enjoy as much as you want of anything you want during your holiday feast and forget about having to “burn it off later”. You’ve already pre-emptively burned it, that’s how carbohydrate back loading works.
Note of Warining:
This works if you’re fit enough to fully deplete your glycogen stores. If your usual amount of exercise is 0, then adding 50% to that won’t do anything. And if you have not been exercising lately, your metabolism may not be able to handle cutting carbohydrates. Your inability to tap into fat for energy due to metabolic deconditioning may give you insatiable carb cravings when you reduce carbohydrates.
Author:
Nick Ortego is a health coach specializing in biohacking for runners. He integrates modern methods with the ancient wisdom of yoga to help runners get the most out of every aspect of life. He is the owner of N 2 Action, a wellness studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, offering personal training, health coaching, yoga, and fascial stretch therapy.
Also find more on the Nick Ortego Fitness YouTube Channel
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