The recommendation in your diet plan is for grams of carbs in DRY WEIGHT unless otherwise indicated. Please measure out your carbs before cooking so that you can get the measurements right.

EXAMPLE:

What’s considered “high protein?”

• 200-pound male- Greater than 140 grams of protein per day

• 150-pound female- Greater than 105 grams of protein per day

Muscle and Strength Benefits:

• Dietary protein stimulates the cellular processes that instigate muscle growth. Taking in adequate protein in a timely manner throughout the day maximizes the muscle building response.
• Enhanced recovery after exercise, which allows you to train harder at subsequent sessions, ultimately driving more muscle growth and performance benefits over time.

Fat Loss Benefits:

• Protein digests slowly and stimulates the release of specific hormones that signal the brain to make you less hungry, and ultimately makes it easier to follow your app.
• By saving more muscle tissue as you lose weight, a high protein diet helps prop up your metabolic rate (which typically decreases during a diet), making fat loss faster.
• By maintaining more muscle mass while dieting, you end up look shapelier and better at the end: who wants to put in all that hard work just to retain their former shape, only smaller?

Summary:

A high protein diet helps suppress appetite, maintains hard earned muscle, and increase the number of calories burned: a winning combination for fat loss.

Yes, you can. However, for optimal results, we strongly encourage you to stick to the options provided or other very similar, unprocessed, unpackaged items, like fruits or grains of your choice. When you do eat other sources not on the app list, count all of their proteins, carbs, and fats to the meal.

No. Your carb recommendations are based off of several individual factors (provided by you in the app diet design questions), and specifically tailored to your goals and exercise habits.

Rest assured that your recommendations are carefully considered by PhDs in the nutritional and sport sciences, who have extensive experience with both the general population and with elite athletes aiming for enhanced performance and body composition.

No, eating carbs at night will not make you fat. The change in your weight is directly related to the relationship between the food you consume and the energy you burn. As long as you’re taking in less than you’re burning, you will lose weight. This is regardless of when you eat.

Weight Change = Calories In vs Calories Out

Several studies looking at carb distribution throughout the day in overweight individuals trying to lose weight demonstrated that skewing carb consumption to the latter half of the day (eating almost 80% after work) actually further promoted weight loss and reduced hunger during the day (which means increased adherence to the diet) compared to a group eating carbs evenly distributed throughout the day. This is not a reason to immediately begin only eating carbs at night, just further proof that the “no carbs after 6:00pm” myth has been debunked.

What’s most important is that at least some of your carbs are timed around exercising—which is already worked into your app. This will ensure they’re efficiently used as energy for your workouts, as well as used to replenish your energy stores immediately after exercise. This significantly reduces the likelihood of them being stored as fat.

Sugar is rapidly digested, providing a readily available fuel source for muscles during exercise. Other major benefits of consuming workout carbs during training include:

• Readily Available Energy: Workout carbs will be quickly digested and sent to the blood. This will serve as a primary source of energy, deferring your body’s need to significantly tap into stored energy reserves. This readily available fuel source will enable you to maintain a high level of performance during your workouts, which will help drive substantial progress over time.
• Maintain Muscle Glycogen: The workout carbs will be quickly absorbed into the blood. This will serve as a primary energy source, deferring your body’s need to significantly tap into muscle carb (glycogen) stores. This is crucial because, as muscle glycogen is depleted, a cascade of changes happen to conserve energy, which induce fatigue and greater muscle loss risk.
• Improved Focus: Glucose (a broken-down form of carbs) is also the primary fuel source for the brain. A readily available fuel supply will prevent mental fatigue, which is crucial for focus and safety. It’s hard to squat heavy when your mind is fuzzy!
• Decreased Muscle Breakdown: Carbs directly reduce muscle breakdown. This will help to enhance recovery and allow you train hard more frequently.

Here is a short article by Sculp’s founders on the facts about sugar consumption.

The list of options provided for “workout carbs” are
quickly and easily digested. In 99% of cases, it should
not bother you during training. HOWEVER, this isn’t
the case for everyone. If applicable, please choose a
source of workout carbs that doesn’t make you feel
unwell. A couple such options are coconut water or
just thinner, more heavily diluted workout shakes.

As much as you need to make the drink easy and pleasant to drink. If you’re more interested in the advanced math for high level performance, here it is:

Calculation:

1. Total grams of workout carbs + total grams of protein = A
2. A divided by “0.08” = B (number of milliliters)
3. B multiplied by “0.034” = number of ounces.

EXAMPLE:

1. 25g carbs plus 25g protein = 50 grams.
2. 50 grams divided by 0.08 = 625 milliliters
3. 625 milliliters multiplied by 0.034 = 21 ounces of water to mix into your shake