Q&A: Everything about High Carb Days, Shoulder Pain and Eating After 6p.m.

Thank you once again for all the wonderful messages that you sent me the past week. You should know that taking the time to write me a message, sometimes means the world to me and even if you think that it is not a big deal…trust me it is!

This week I decided to answer the questions about if I have high carb days, what to do when you have shoulder pain and why do I have dinner after 6p.m.

Hello, Ines!

From what I’ve read, I understood that you do not eat a lot of carbs and I wanted to ask you if you have high carb days? For example days with fruits.

People often ask me this question, so I decided to answer it here on my blog. High carb days have their application in other nutrition plans, but not when it comes to mine! Why?

When you limit your carb intake and when you increase your fat intake, and you stick to this way of eating for long enough, you are probably already adapted to high-fat, low- carb eating. What does this mean? That your body is now using fats as its main fuel source. And I am sure that you already notice, how you do not feel the need to eat carbs, but actually you crave pork steaks, bacon and butter.

Well, I am definitely already adapted to using fat as my main fuel source, and that is why I do not need carbs. So my answer is- no, I do not have a high carb day or a fruit day!

Besides that if you stick to high fat, low carb eating during the week, and then you have a high carb day, you will find it difficult to adapt, because you will be constantly switching between burning fats, to burning carbs as a main fuel source.

When I started eating the way I do now, I used to eat more carbs once a week. And looking back on the past, I think that this really interfered with my adaptation to burning fats and with feeling the positives of the nutrition plan, when it comes to having more energy. Why did I have a higher carb day? Because as it is with everybody who has gone on a high fat, low carb diet, initially you will feel weaker ( you will have less strength), until you fully adapt to burning fat as fuel. And because working out and running out of energy, did not appeal to me, I turned to eating more carbs, which immediately gave me more energy.

Well, there came a moment when I decided that 5 days feeling weak and 2 days feeling strong did not appeal to me and that’s why it was better to allow myself to fully adapt to burning fats as a main fuel source. Thus, when I felt out of energy, I just ate bigger quantities of fats and I accepted the fact that for the first couple weeks I won’t hit PRs in the gym, but then when I am adapted I will kick ass again!

This is exactly how I feel right now! STRONG!

I am a follower of your Facebook page(HERE) and I notice that you have dinner late at night. Isn’t that bad and doesn’t it lead to weight gain?

If there is one thing that I want to plug out of people’s mind and especially out of women’s mind it is the myth “Do not eat after 6 p.m.!”

In my opinion one’s nutrition should be conformable to his/hers lifestyle. For example, I usually have workouts with my clients from 5p.m. until 21:30p.m. I go back home around 10p.m. I do not have the opportunity to eat in the interval between 5-10p.m. Does that mean that I should eat at 4p.m. and then keeping in mind that I missed the holy hour- 6p.m., I should starve until next morning? I wouldn’t agree!

And what should I say about people that train with me at night! When we keep in mind that they train at night, would this mean that they should get back home, drink a cold cup of water, so it can fill up their grueling stomach and then just go to bed? Absolutely not!

Here everything comes up to the lame saying “Eat when you are hungry, not according to a schedule!” The myth with eating after 6p.m., or to be more accurate with not eating after 6p.m., comes from the fact that most people are busy during the day, and they use this as an excuse to skip meals or eat whatever is in hand. Then, they go back home at night and start feasting, trying  to make up for the food they did not eat during the day. And you know that when you starve, it is a lot easier to overeat, because initially it feels like nothing could make you feel satiety. People who eat like this, usually have bad eating habits and eat a lot of junk food, which is the reason for them to be overweight!

So, not the late night dinner makes you gain weight! It is what you are eating on a  daily basis that makes you fat- the quantities of food, as well as the quality of the food you eat!

So, if you are hungry after 6p.m. PLEASE…EAT!

Sometimes when I perform pushing or pulling movements, I feel pain in the front side of my shoulder. I have not injured it, but I can not figure out what is the reason behind it! Could you help me with an advice?

As you know I have a lot of shoulder injuries, and I could definitely write a book about the different kind of pain you could feel in your shoulders, the reasons about it, as well as some ways to get rid of the pain.

But still, I am can not foresee  the future and I could not understand what is the reason for your pain, from one sentence. But my observations have led me to this. Most people have a bad posture. Most lean forward, keep their shoulders down and forward. This leads to lengthening of the muscles, responsible for the retraction ( taking back) of the shoulder and the “shortening”/ stiffness of the muscles that perform the opposite function- take the shoulder forward. HERE I wrote more about this.

This stiffness of your muscles could cause a lot of pain, which is not a consequence of an injury. What is the solution? First, a tennis ball or a lacrosse ball! Tell you the truth, I think that I would get an offer for a contract from Wilson if they understand how many times a day, I encourage people to buy tennis balls, so they can massage their muscles. So, the first thing to do is to use a tennis ball for soft tissue massage. ( use it on your pecs and deltoids).

The other thing you could do is to include more pulling movements in your workout. Most people do way more pushing movements, yet neglect the pulling once! Do not make this mistake!

So, first try with a tennis ball massage and include more pulling movements and if this doesn’t help, then search for the reason somewhere else!

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