Reeking after ammonia is a true sign of protein being used to convert into a carb intermediate. I'd rather see it use glucose as a fuel. Since I'd already finished the bottle of sports drink and still started to smell, I thought it was better to not go on. Drinking the carbs during a workout is good for preventing a blood sugar crash and also suppresses cortisol, but it works better to already have fueled up on carbs the night before, since these carbs get stored into the muscle.
One of the major reasons I'm not just calorie/carb cycling but also protein/fat cycling is that I want to not give my body the impression it can use protein for fuel by overfeeding it with protein on every single day.
Instead, I just give it TONS of protein before and after workouts, hoping this will be anabolic, or at least anti-catabolic.
The Stamina I took post-workout, doesn't actually stop gluconeogenesis (conversion of protein to a carb-product) but it stops the use of muscle protein for that breakdown.
This product (containing citrulline malate) as well as BCAAs and MCT oil/coconut oil are all tools that can help in reducing the amount of carbs to use during a cutting phase. But then you've got to use them!
For me, after having been on a very low carb diet for a long time, going too low in carbs no longer works well. I'm blaming excess cortisol here. Cortisol drives up carb requirements and is involved in the conversion of protein into carbs. When stress goes up, carb requirements go through the roof. When not properly fueled with carbs (or protein), the body will break down muscle.
Seems my cortisol production goes in overdrive too often = severe muscle breakdown. You won't believe how happy I was in March when I managed to increase LBM while losing fat.
Somehow, now I've changed routines, I may have tipped the balance, as right now my LBM loss is much larger than fat loss. Even for the 30d average, never mind 14d avg. I'm blaming my change of routine with too many new exercises and needing tons of time to even find the proper weights in my new gym. I've nearly finished the book "Why zebras don't get ulcers" which deals w cortisol. I'm one of the typical persons who get an ulcer even from trivial stuff. Cortisol is your worst enemy if you want to gain LBM or lose fat.
Hence why I'm extremely aware of 'reeking after ammonia'.
Another example: driving stresses me a LOT. After I got my car 2 years ago, I'd literally get blurry eye vision when driving coz' of the stress and subsequent too low blood glucose levels in the brain (eyes are extremely glucose-dependent and can't use ketones). I still keep candy in my car to help out when this happens. Fortunately I now only need 1 pc of candy every hour rather than every 15 minutes to keep my brain happy.
Much longer than you wanted to read , but it's something I'm extremely interested about. Especially since it explains why some even very lean people thrive on a very low carb diet, and some others, even not so lean people, can't. When you have time, read that book "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers' from Sapolski. Explains a lot.
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