If I eat two or more carbohydrates in the same meal, will I gain more weight? You are not necessarily going to gain weight or get fat by eating two or more servings of carbohydrates in the same meal, no matter if it is at breakfast, lunch, dinner or some intermediate meal (snack, collation, pre or post workout , etc.).
Or, well, first we must clarify exactly what it is to gain weight and what is to get fatr, because the second (fattening) is usually related to the fact of increasing the amount of fat (adipose and visceral) that accumulates in our body, and gaining weight usually have mixed connotations depending on each person, region, country, etc.
For example, if someone trains to hypertrophy their skeletal muscles, this means that both protein stores and glycogen stores (carbohydrates) can become larger.
For this reason eating two or more servings of carbohydrates, or also eating a single portion of some carbohydrate (especially complex), and of course proteins, can help you gain weight both in lean mass (muscle mass) and perhaps also in fat mass (body fat).
Eating two or more carbohydrates in one meal can also help you gain muscle mass
Obviously you have to train to achieve this goal. That is, it is not simply about increasing your intake of Calories by means of proteins, carbohydrates and good fats, to be able to gain muscle mass (hypertrophy skeletal muscle fibers you have) ...
It's about giving muscles many reasons to force them to grow. It is about making them fight either against their own body weight or against an external load (dumbbell, dumbbell, bar, disco, teraband, etc.).
The point is that little by little the muscle fibers increase their ability to store macro nutrients, ie both proteins and carbohydrates (in the form of glycogen) ... and perhaps intramuscular triglycerides if necessary.
Hence when a person asks me "how can I burn more fat?" I answer that it is not only a question of reducing caloric intake according to its basal and total energy expenditure or basal metabolic rate (BMR), but also that it is advisable to carry out high intensity workouts with or without weights, in order to increase the basal metabolism by increasing the muscle mass.
That is, it should be noted that the muscles in the stress state (during training) will require energy mainly from stored intramuscular glycogen, as well as stored proteins (especially when the training session also becomes extensive).
And also from the fats stored, but from fats your body will require less energy especially if the intensity of the training session increases and therefore becomes towards the anaerobic side in a large percentage, and if in addition the capacity of the person to consume and to use oxygen is not very good, or if the intensity of exercise causes your limits to use oxygen in the energy metabolism, they are very committed ...
At the same time it is necessary to remember that the muscles in state of rest will require more energy in this case mainly coming from the reserve fats.
For this reason, a good way to burn more fat both at rest and during a training session is to increase the quality and size of the muscles by means of adequate training focused on the development of strength, hypertrophy, resistance to strenght, anaerobic resistance, etc.
Is eating two medium portions of two carbohydrates the same as eating a large portion of a carbohydrate?
Probably. So what people can tell you, something like: "hey, so you do not eat only one serving of a carbohydrate in a meal ... so if you're going to eat rice do not eat spaghetti, or if you're going to eat pasta do not eat potatoes "... or something like that ... it's not quite true ...
... because suppose 100 grams of rice contribute 130 Calories, and that 100 grams of spaghetti contribute 150 Calories. And suppose you need to consume in an X 300 Calorie meal to keep your energy requirement stable without this generating greater accumulations of body fat and without allowing you to present a high degree of muscular atrophy (thinning of muscles).
Then you can split these foods considered as complex carbohydrates and also add some grams of some protein source.
For example suppose a can of tuna fish provides 100 calories. Then it is simply simple calculations or perhaps a basic rule of three:
If 100 grams of spaghetti equals 150 Calories, then approximately 66.6 grams of spaghetti would equal 100 calories. And if 100 grams of rice equals 130 Calories, then approximately 77 grams of rice would equal 100 calories.
Then you would just have to cook these foods and weigh them, so you can eat two servings of carbohydrates in one meal without this making you gain a lot of fat. Then you eat at one meal:
- 1 the can of tuna complete.
- 66.6 grams of dispaguetis
- 77 grams of rice.
Or maybe you can reduce portions of both complex carbohydrates a bit and supplement this meal with a good portion of vegetables ...
And keep in mind that Calories from protein can also make you get fat, but because of the thermal effects of these foods, and because of the difficulty of eating many proteins ... it may be difficult to accumulate fat in large quantities because of eating protein sources of animal and / or vegetable origin.
Now, you may say that it is very cumbersome to do calculations and weigh food, and indeed it is. Already the simple fact of making calculation is something annoying especially for those who are not godd in maths ... now imagine how annoying it is to weigh the foods mainly for those who live "running" all the time.
Well, if you are a very strict and disciplined person, you can try to do it and after a while your eyes and your mind will be able to get accustomed and already with this sense and your perception and / or intuition, later on you will be able to calculate these portions without the need to use a gramer.
Knowing your energy requirement to know how much of each carbohydrate you eat at each meal
Well, the above example applies not only for two servings of carbohydrates but also for more. Of course then the point would be to decrease the portions of the two previous ones (rice and spaghetti), for example, if you wanted to maybe eat a potato and / or some biscuit or something like that.
Now, what remains is to know your basal and total energy requirement (Basal and total Metabolic Rate). There are basic or simple formulas that will allow you to do so. As for example the following:
Well, there are others, but these are the most used. These serve to calculate your basal energy expenditure (GEB) or the Calories your body requires to perform vital physiological functions in a state of complete rest, in order to survive.
Now it would be necessary to calculate the total energy expenditure or total metabolic rate (TMR) which is nothing more than the sum of the BMR plus the energy requirement of the activities that you spend each day according to the time and the intensity of the activities, which is valued by means of a unit known as MET (resting metabolic unit).
In addition to calculating a constant known as a factor of the BMR, which is no more than the BMR divided by 24 (BMR / 24). Then there would be something like what I show in the following table:
Ah, and well, to this total value would have to add 10% to what would be the thermal effect of food, and ready, we will already have the value of TMR by activity as per day.
In different pages you can find these equivalences, that is, how many MET's equals each activity (running, sleeping, brushing teeth, bathing, etc.).
Now, if you want us to do it for you, you can access a personalized counseling.
Do not do strict diets, although in some cases it may be ideal
Ideally, you should be 100% vegetarian to avoid for example the excess saturated fats provided by animal sources and avoid the consumption of cadaverine (toxic substance that forms in the decomposition of corpses).
In addition it would be ideal to increase considerably the consumption of vegetables and some fruits to obtain very good sources of vitamins and minerals that allow us to carry out in an optimal way all the metabolic processes of our organism, to keep our immune system at 100%, etc. .
But if you do not have the willpower to become 100% vegetarian, at least make some simple changes, like avoiding frying foods.
Avoid eating foods rich in simple sugars and trans fats.
Try to reduce the intake of Calories to a certain extent, so that reducing it to 100% from one moment to another will not cause you to face anxiety episodes.
Consumption of vegetables and acid fruits increases considerably (sweets can also contribute many calories).
Practice exercise sessions from 30 minutes to 90 minutes at least 4 times a week. Of course the intensity and volume of each session varies according to each person.
For this reason it is always good to seek advice from a professional to avoid injuries and other problems, and at the same time to be able to achieve the objectives set in the shortest possible time and without this affecting your health.
All this of course not only in order to help you reduce your body fat levels and perhaps increase your muscle mass and bone density, but also to greatly improve your overall state of well-being and health.