C: I am on my third week of a CKD plan. My question is, how critical is
> it to start the carb up prior to the last depletion workout? Would it be a problem to start the carb up immediatly after the depletion workout?

L: It's not a huge issue. Starting the carb-up prior to the final workout is a way to try and get more anabolism (muscle growth) out of the carb-loading period, by shifting liver metabolism. If you don't care that much about muscle growth, you can probably skip the pre-depletion workout carbs.

C: I am confused on this because it would seem that how can you fully deplete if you've eaten up to 100gr of carbs (25-50 5 hours before, 25-50 2 hours before) before the depletion workout?

L: Only a part of those carbs will go to muscle glycogen in that time period. Weight training relies mostly on muscle glycogen, a little bit on blood glucose. So you'll still deplete.


C: Another question, would it be a problem if I only carbed up for say 12 hours? I have at least 20-30 pounds of fat to lose still.

L: Shorter but more intensive carb-ups do work well for some people.

C: Also, what do you say about carbing up every 10 days instead of every 5?

L: That can work too. Scheduling carb-ups (refeeds, whtaever) based on bodyfat percentage is arguably more physiologically sound. Putting them once every 5 days is more an accomodation of life and work schedules(you get to eat on the wekeends) than anything strictly that physiological.

C:And finally, I am lifting 3 times a week and doing cardio 3 times a week. My intention is to get more cardio in but I wonder if extra is really needed?

L: Depends. Some people need more than others. Women generally more so than men. Part of it is simply a function of calorie levels. Women,for a vairety of reasons, run a lower metabolic rate. To generate a sufficient deficit without reducing claoris to absurd levels means more cardio. That is, consider a female with a maintenance level of ~1800cal/day, man at 2700 cal/day (these are averages).

To get even a 1000 cal/ay deficit for the woman without going too low in calories (1200 cal/dya is usually the low level cutoff for practical andother reasons) means having to do more cardio. At most she can cut 600 cal/day from food.

The guy can cut his entire deficit from food if he really wants, and
still be at 1700 cal/day.

The differences in adipose blood flow between men and women usually
means women need more cardio as well.

Still don't go overboard, too much cardio can also be harmful
(metabolically and muscle mass). So increase to maybe 4-5x/week and see
if fat loss improves. Just don't go nuts with it.

Lyle