Eating for training
Carbohydrate: The One That Fuels The Session
Cut it too hard and the session is where you notice
General information about training and eating, not personal advice. It is not medical or dietary advice and it cannot account for your circumstances. If you are pregnant, have a medical condition, take medication, or have a history of disordered eating, talk to a GP or a registered dietitian before changing how you eat or train.
Carbohydrate is the fuel your body reaches for first during hard, repeated efforts — which is exactly what a set of squats is. It is stored in muscle and liver as glycogen, and a heavy session draws that store down. Refill it and the next session feels normal; do not, and the weight feels heavier than it was last week for no obvious reason.
This is the nutrient people cut first, usually because it is the one blamed loudest. In practice, lifters who cut carbohydrate hard tend to notice it in the last two sets rather than on the scales: work capacity drops, sessions get shorter, and the training that was supposed to be driving progress quietly gets worse.
Published ranges vary a lot with how much you actually train, and the commonly quoted 3–5g per kilogram of bodyweight a day is the band for LIGHT activity rather than for lifting several times a week — a tier too low for most people reading this. Moderate training tends to be quoted nearer 5–7g/kg, and high-volume or endurance work higher again. Treat those as orders of magnitude rather than targets: the honest answer is that it moves with your week.
Starchy staples — rice, oats, potatoes, bread, pasta — plus fruit will get most people there without any special products. The timing matters far less than the total.
If food is becoming something to control rather than something to eat, Beat runs free helplines and online support at beateatingdisorders.org.uk, and a GP is a reasonable first conversation.