Hey T-guys, Im not no hardcore bodybuilder or anything like that, but i
do like to keep my self in shape. I currently am studying brazillian ju
jitsu, and mixing in a lil mauy thai kickboxing with it. My problem is
LOVE handels, and they go all the way to my mid back. They arent real
bad right now but i can tell they will get much worse. I tried the T-dawg
diet and i thought i was going to die, i need my carbs. I can understand
cutting them back , but only taking in 70 a day ! no way! I cut the cokes
and sweet tea out when using the diet and plan on staying away from
them for good. Im so weak from that diet im having trouble typing even!
please help guys, im single and i know the women dont like love
handels!
A couple of things. Typically the lousy, light-headed feeling goes away after 3-5 days on the diet. Weight training will build muscle and in turn burn more fat. Love handles are the toughest SOB’s. I have found, that for me, very low carbs and a lot of cardio along with my weight training, works. Most on the board do not prescribe to the cardio idea, but some need more than others.
Logan…hang in there. From what I have read and experienced firsthand is that you will feel absolutely lousy for a short while when implementing a low carb diet. You must do weight training if you want your body to be a ‘fat burning machine’. Also, it seems that you may be over doing the cardio (juijitsu and kickboxing take a lot of you! I know because I used to practice Taekwondo). If you’re doing that much cardio you may want to up your carbs a little. Try a more balanced approach while being very diligent about your caloric intake. Make sure the carbs you get are not simple carbs (sugars) and get them instead mostly from vegetables. I guess what I’m trying to say is that you will feel like total shit if you train like you do and try to do a very low carb diet. Most bodybuilders that do very low carb diets don’t train as hard, and usually ditch the cardio. Now, since I’m assuming you want to get rid of the love handles forever, you will need to try a more balanced approach to carbs, fat, and protein and WATCH YOUR CALORIES.
I agree with the last post–for your particular physical requirements, the super-low-carb diet is probably not optimal. I’d recommend instead following something closer to a 40-30-30 diet. Barry Sears’ book “The Zone” is still the best explanation of that strategy. If you follow his advice and eat high-bulk foods in that C/P/F ratio, there is an almost eerie appetite suppressant effect (doubtless from low insulin levels, stable blood sugar, and high fiber).
You'll find this much easier to follow than the T-Dawg diet. A nice benefit is that you can "sin" on the diet, such as eating ice cream, as long as you balance out your macronutrients. I.e., a can of water-packed tuna or a protein shake might balance out a bowl of ice cream.
Don’t despair! It’s not necessary to go ultra low carb to lose fat. During my return to lifting in 2000, I shed a lot of fat and built muscle simultaneously simply by eliminating the excess carbs coming in: sugared drinks, ice cream, cookies, and by just cutting down on glycemic carbs. I still enjoyed prime rib every week, only I skipped the white bread rolls, only ate half the baked potato, and loaded up on the green beans for fiber.
Also, I go to Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet every Friday with coworkers. I switched from Mountain Dew to Diet Pepsi, always eat a salad first (the fiber slows down the glycemic index of any food following it), and piled toppings from multiple pizza slices on to one slice, therefore eliminating the intake of white-flour based (high glycemic) bread by a factor of 2 or three.
Another example is fast food. If I cruise the drive-through, I order a double meat sandwich with a diet drink only, without cheese or mayo (where the real excess fat is). I still get the enjoyment, and it was a big improvement over prior eating habits.
These are smaller dietary changes you can live with as permanent eating habits, which keeps the weight off more sucessfully. You don’t have to be drastic with changes. The results are slower, but steady, and you will feel better.
Once you see the love handles go, you can have treat meals now and then. Or, once your metabolism has adjusted to lower carbs, you can shoot for lower bodyfat levels by cutting carbs more drastically.
Good luck - Nylo
Hey dude, the T-Dawg isn’t for everyone. Keeping that in mind, the first 2 or 3 times I gave it a run, I COULD NOT EVEN GET OUT OF BED I felt so weak. Over time though, (and this is my 5th or 6th keto diet run), it gets a lot easier and your body adjusts more rapidly. Give it 2 weeks - that’s what it took for me to get in a groove initially. An ECA stack and loading creatine during the carb-up were probably make or break essential elements for me back then. Good luck.
First off, mad props for the Brazilian Jujitsu-that is one tough sport in terms of the conditioning aspect. I used to work w. a guy that was into that and I would train w. them for “fun.” Absolutely brutal workouts. Okay, I would agree that in your sport a low-carb approach might not be the way to go. The only way I would do a ketogenic diet in your case is if you had to drop weight for an event. That being said, how long did you do T-Dawg and what was your avg. carb level prior to starting in terms of %? The first week of any keto diet is very-well I’ll use the term brutal again, and this is compounded if you went right from a high carb plan to a low carb plan. It takes a minimum of 2-3 weeks for your body to make the proper adaptations to a low carb approach. I remember the first time I did a keto diet (and my carb level is well under 70 on these diets) I thought I was going to absolutely die. Now I’ve done them about six different times and each time gets better. You have to tailor this type of diet to your needs in terms of carb up lengths (if any), fat to protein ratios (something rarely discussed on here but essential if you want true ketosis), supplementation (gotta have extra sodium, magnesium, potassium, and calcium depending on dairy intake), etc. What I find works well for me when it’s diet time is to gradually pyramid down in carb intakes. First few weeks I do a zone or isocaloric approach, then go to a percentage breakdown similar to what you find in most MRPs but I take extra EFA’s, then I work down to something like the T-Dawg but I don’t do the pre-workout carbs and I only do post-workout when bodyfat gets low, like under 8%. Hope this helps. Gracies rule!
From what you tell us, you are very addicted to carbs, and your pathway that uses fat as energy is so rusted that you can’t survive without sugar. I was like that too, and my first keto-diet was a terrible experience. I really felt like shit. Here is what I did. I used a typical keto diet for about 2 months. I felt ok after a week, even if I had serious carbs craves. After, I used moderate carbs, i.e. I replaced whey protein in water for MRPs in skim milk. Now, I try not to eat like an idiot, and I could be without carbs for days without feeling bad or having any cravings, but I make sure my fat intake is high enough. My insulin level is sensitive again, I feel it when I ingest high GI carbs. So you gotta detoxify from carbs for about one month, using super keto, then use moderate carbs diet (little rice here, MRP there) with the occasional carb-fest, just for the fun of it. Life is so much better when your body knows how to use fat for energy!