The definition of insanity is... I posted some time back – in the old thread – how my performance on the bike only took a leap forward once I started adding carbs back into my diet. This was after about 6 months into the process. I was feeling great, burning off body fat nicely, no energy slumps during the day, etc., but too often very flat on the bike – especially on the second day of two hard days in a row. I’ve read the same thing over and over again in Paleo/LCHF threads on the web. It’s a common experience among many people who start this lifestyle: Feeling really good a few months in, but lacking power… add back carbs, power returns. I’ve posted links to articles from Mark Sisson (Primal/Paleo) and Peter Attia (strict LCHF) where they all essentially say the same thing re. carbs. And that is that each of us lie somewhere along a carb continuum. Some of us thrive on very low carbs while others thrive further up the carb continuum with a higher daily intake. For me, I found my sweet spot via trial and error, no science/measurements at all. All I did was start eating more fruit and veg until I reached a point where the carb monster started to wake up. At that point I had to back up a bit until I found my balance. I love my fruit. I actually eat quite a lot of it. All low carb GI (grapefruit, lemons, plums, apples, berries). I’ve worked out how much fruit I can eat a day before I wake up the monster. The same diet would send htone’s body into a tailspin. I thrive quite a bit higher up the carb continuum than, say, htone would. His body clearly responds most positively when he goes really, really low. My body did not thrive at those low levels. I did try. I really do need more carbs; around 80 - 100g daily is my sweet spot. I have lots of energy with exercise now. No more weak, aching quads early in a ride when I should be fresh and flying. So some of you seem to have arrived at that point where I ended up (and many others before me): i.e. where you might be too far below your carb sweet spot on the continuum. Maybe it’s time you start to add back some good quality carbs bit by bit and see how that affects you. What I’m trying to say is, don’t blindly follow the format that someone is saying works for them. It's awesome to read each other's experiences and their own n = 1 experiments on this thread. But you still have to work out for yourself what works for you. If you are feeling weak on the bike, especially after doing this for a while, stop banging your head against the wall and start making some changes. If you are strangely craving citrus fruit all the time, maybe your body is telling you something. Listen to it! To paraphrase a well known quote, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result.”
