Best cravings suppressant

Just wanted to find out what is the best supplement to aid in cravings? Been struggling a bit with cravings straight after gym.

emile6 wrote: Just wanted to find out what is the best supplement to aid in cravings? Been struggling a bit with cravings straight after gym.

How do you feel after taking in a protein shake with some BCAAs and carbs (banana or dextrose)?

Are you taking stimulants just before training?

question is what are you craving straight after gym?

Don't drink protein shake or BCAAs. No preworkout or any stimulants before training either.

Mostly I crave more food. Often sweet things like chocolate or sweets. After gym I usually eat 100g cooked chicken breast, two eggs and a slice of whole wheat toast. Even after eating I'm still hungry. Trying to keep my calories low becomes difficult.

emile6 wrote: Mostly I crave more food. Often sweet things like chocolate or sweets. After gym I usually eat 100g cooked chicken breast, two eggs and a slice of whole wheat toast. Even after eating I'm still hungry. Trying to keep my calories low becomes difficult.

Hard to say if you are going hypo for sure but:
Try take a shake 20-30mins after training with 50g of dextrose.

Do you feel any mental fog? Slower speech, almost exhausted?

What do your meals look like before training?

Can't drink protein shakes unfortunately I'm allergic. Don't really feel any of those except for the exhaustion. Before training is 200g white rice and 100g cooked chicken breast.

emile6 wrote: Can't drink protein shakes unfortunately I'm allergic. Don't really feel any of those except for the exhaustion. Before training is 200g white rice and 100g cooked chicken breast.

I would try skip the white rice pre workout, and add some fat to the chicken, avocado or coconut oil etc.

Could take a few days but I suspect that would help.

I would up the carbs post work out. Keep 50% of your carbs pre, intra post workout. Nothing wrong with having rice pre workout, bit I would drop fats post workout for more carbs.. 100g of chicken 2 or 3 slices of toast with jam will be fine. Inyala instant maize meal post workout is my food of choice.

What is your current calorie level, and what is your meal splits during the day etc.

Carbohydrate load before training has some downsides.

You would want an acute cortisol response to help "meeting the greater metabolic demand of
resistance training" (Viru et al., 1994)^[1].

"Based on previous reports, acute C response is highest when the overall stress of the training period is very high" (Kraemer et al., 1993)^[1].

Rise in cortisol is a massive key, big mistake to inundate the system with an insulin response before or during the exercise. Hypertophy can be seen with or without an acute T response.

C response is not just due to the stress of lifting, it will rise as a result of low energy availability, allowing energy from internal stores - therefore insulin spike is not a great idea before training.

This is why the T/C ratio is not very interesting or provides any guideline at a population level.
Too many factors unaccounted for.

[1] pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20560706/
extra: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5988244/

it is dependent on the volume, and type of carbs, trust me from someone who trained fasted for the better part of 10 years, and then changed that to have a carb, protein, and fluid meal prior to training, the difference is vast.

if the OP is having issues with food cravings, it generally means that the food is too low around the training window. if he ups his food and notices a decrease in performance, then you know that he is probably eating too close to the training session, or the volume is too much with slow-digesting carbs. I would rather see the OP have fewer carbs earlier or later in the day, and bump them up around the training window to aid performance and recovery.

MPhilosopher wrote:
C response is not just due to the stress of lifting, it will rise as a result of low energy availability, allowing energy from internal stores - therefore insulin spike is not a great idea before training.

[1] pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20560706/
extra: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5988244/

It's interesting to see this comment that taking exogenous insulin pre-workout is insane for driving workout performance, neurological stimulation, and the effects it has on lowering blood pressure post-training,, etc.

I have noticed during this prep I'm doing, that when I drop the insulin pre-workout, even 2-3iu, my strength and performance actually suffer. so it's an acute effect, and I don't see why when the goal is hyper storage of glucose and amino acids in a muscle, it wouldn't be beneficial to have an insulin spike pre-workout.

i personally snack on biltong or some low calorie chips

Empire wrote:

MPhilosopher wrote:
C response is not just due to the stress of lifting, it will rise as a result of low energy availability, allowing energy from internal stores - therefore insulin spike is not a great idea before training.

[1] pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20560706/
extra: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5988244/

It's interesting to see this comment that taking exogenous insulin pre-workout is insane for driving workout performance, neurological stimulation, and the effects it has on lowering blood pressure post-training,, etc.

I have noticed during this prep I'm doing, that when I drop the insulin pre-workout, even 2-3iu, my strength and performance actually suffer. so it's an acute effect, and I don't see why when the goal is hyper storage of glucose and amino acids in a muscle, it wouldn't be beneficial to have an insulin spike pre-workout.

This is a good question and I will reply later (at least my understanding).
I still maintain insulin is best after a workout - unless you are absolutely shredded and are pushing boundary for adding muscle, like 270lbs Mr O tier stats.

Insulin at different times is for different application. Pre workout for more neurological stimulation, post workout for more recovery cascades. I prefer pre to drive the workout and get back to a parasympathetic state. Done both, but pre is way way way better.