Rise in Resting Heart Rate During Refeed

[RiverboatGmblr]

I have recently been doing my first refeed and my Resting Heart Rate has risen enough that I am concered.  I am in the fourth week of a planned four week refeed, and my Resting Heart Rate has risen from 52 to 67.  Is this normal?  I am curious as to whether this is typically caused by increased calories/carbs, or if this is strange.

I have been in a 20% calorie deficit for about 10 months leading up to the refeed.  Over that time I have dropped body fat from 28% to about 17%.  My loss stalled out around two months ago, which was the reason for the refeed.

Before the refeed my calories were 1800/day with approximately 50% fat, 35% protein and 15% carbs with typically around 75 g of carbs per day.  During refeed I have increase my calories by 400 per day to 2200 per day and carb intake to 150 g per day.  I log 100% of my food so I know those numbers are accurate.

My exercise regimen has been consistent before and during the refeed.  I CrossFit 3-5 times per week.

In addition to my resting heart rate increasing significantly, I have experienced muscle cramps during exercise (which never happened before), significantly increased soreness after excercise, and worse sleep.

This is my first time doing a refeed, so I really have no idea if this is normal.  Any context would be helpful.

[WavyDavey]

IMO not enough carbs if you're doing strength training.

Rising RHR usually means an acute stressor is in play.

[SunsetRunner]

For me, my heart rate increases when I eat too many carbs, especially simple carbs. Higher blood sugar can cause increased blood pressure and increased heart rate. Your increased heart rate could be because of what you are eating. I personally don't like the feeling when I have increased heart rate so I don't eat a lot of carbs.

Now as far as the cramping situation goes, you could be dehydrated, exercising too much, or may be lacking in specific nutrients. I don’t know what your exercise program is like but you may be overdoing it. Lack of magnesium is a common culprit for muscle cramps but many other nutrients play a role in preventing muscle cramps. Make sure you are drinking enough water.

[RiverboatGmblr]

Thanks, WavyDavey.  I'm aware carbs are very low according to most opinions on diets for athletes.

In fact, I'm considering switching to a more carb heavy diet and getting 300-400 g of carbs per day.  That is one of the reasons I am doing the refeed.

My plan to get more carbs is another reason I am concerned.  If I don't adapt to more carbs over the next several weeks it would seem that more carbs do not work for me personally.  So far, I am not getting any performance boost in my workout after eating more carbs.  I am feeling more sluggish, have a 15 bpm higher heart rate, and am significantly more sore.  That seems like the opposite of what I want, so I want to figure out if it is something else or the changes in diet.

Right now my plan is to stick with the refeed for another three weeks and see what happens.

[RiverboatGmblr]

Thanks, WheresTheBeef.  Good to know that carbs make some people's heart rate go up.

I'm eating mostly complex carbs with almost zero added sugar.  I also dislike the feeling of a higher heart rate, but I'm not so much concerned about the few hours after I eat as I am my change in resting heart rate over the last four weeks.

I view a higher RHR as bad for overall health, and so far I am not seeing any performance gains from higher calories/carbs so I'm going to give the refeed another three weeks and quit it if there no improvement.

[Mukluk4]

---

wrote:

I view a higher RHR as bad for overall health, and so far I am not seeing any performance gains from higher calories/carbs so I'm going to give the refeed another three weeks and quit it if there no improvement.

---

A higher RHR and no performance gains probably has more to do with your recovery and not your diet. How long have you been going 4-5 days a week of Xfit?  That's a pretty good stresser on the body and you may just need to take a week off to let your body heal so you can hit it hard again.