Carbolin 19 Trial

Nutrition
21

Okay, ladies and gentlemen… I promised to keep everyone updated:

As of today, it’s been 10 days since I started this thread. Very brief reminder: My purpose is to test Carbolin 19 at the full recommended dosage to determine if the product claims of improved body composition (i.e., reduced body fat percentage) are accurate. When I started this test (about 2 weeks ago), I was 170 pounds and 21% to 21.5% body fat.

As of this morning (drum roll please), I’m at 170.2 pounds and 21% body fat. In other words, no change at all after about 2 weeks on Carbolin 19.

Remember, too, that I’ve started taking a thyroid supplement (prescription) recently, and I’ve also modified (albeit just a few days ago) my exercise routine to include twice as much cardio as before (etc.). As for my diet, as of a few days ago I’m not taking in any calories after 7pm. Gee, you’d think that SOMETHING in this list would have registered some small effect… Or am I hoping for some kind of result too quickly?

I continue in my quest for abs, of course, and will continue my experiment for the next few months, I promise…

22

I have a similar story to yours. I too have hypothyroidism and have been taking medication for about 10 years. In the last 18 months I was able to lose approx 40 pounds by adjusting my diet and workout. Originally the workouts were cardio but I have recently switched to more strength training. I have made noticeable improvements to my body comp, but I still have a 17%BF and about 2-3 inches on my gut before I can see my abs. I have definately reached a plateau. In my frustration to get over this rut, I plan to do start the V-Diet Jan 1. For what it is worth, you may want to check it out. Chris Shugart developed it and has one of the Physique Clinic members on it.

23

[quote]adover wrote:
I have a similar story to yours… In my frustration to get over this rut, I plan to do start the V-Diet Jan 1. For what it is worth, you may want to check it out. Chris Shugart developed it and has one of the Physique Clinic members on it. [/quote]

Sounds like you and I are enjoying similar circumstances! Oh, well, at least we’re working on it… I have made a few fairly minor adjustments to my diet and exercise even since starting the Carbolin 19, but to make this a “fair” test of Carbolin 19 I don’t want to change too much about my routine.

I worked hard to get to where I’m at (from 250 pounds of pure fat to 170 pounds that includes at least some muscle), and I just want to see if the product claims for Carbolin 19 are accurate and that it will in fact improve my body composition (i.e., reduce my body fat percentage) from here…

BTW, just about at the end of my first bottle of the stuff, and still no consistent change as of this morning (I seem to be fluctuating between my original 21% and 20.5% body fat)…

24

How are you measuring body fat? While you can definitely see some improvement in 10 days, it really takes MONTHS of dieting and strenuous exercise with weights and cardio to get down to 10% or less.

The transformation in my profile took about 5 months for a comparison. I started at 20% as well and ended up at 9%

25

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
How are you measuring body fat?[/quote]

To measure body fat percentage each day, I use a Tanita weight scale that I purchased from Big 5 Sporting Goods. It’s the kind with the four little pads that you stand on with your bare feet; it calculates body fat percentage (as well as water content) by sending a mild electrical current through your body.

I realize that this is nowhere near the most accurate way to determine body fat percentage, but even if the number is completely wrong (which I suspect it may be, by a few percentage points) I can still use this to determine a CHANGE in body fat percentage. So, even if I’m actually 18% body fat (I think this is actually the case) but the scale is saying I’m 21%, I’ll still be able to tell if my body fat percentage goes down: The scale may read 19% (for example), which would then indicate that I’ve gone down to 16% in reality. Does this make sense?

Another major measurement for me: Can I see my abs at all?? I know they’re in there, because I can feel them when I press on the 2-3 inches of flab that currently hides them. In the end, I don’t care what the Tanita reads – If I can see my abs, I’ve arrived!

[quote]While you can definitely see some improvement in 10 days, it really takes MONTHS of dieting and strenuous exercise with weights and cardio to get down to 10% or less. The transformation in my profile took about 5 months for a comparison. I started at 20% as well and ended up at 9%
[/quote]

This is encouraging, so thanks for the info. If I can even get down to 12% body fat, I’ll be absolutely thrilled! And no problem at all if it takes me 5 months or even more, I just want to make sure that:

  1. It’s even possible for me. With a starting weight of 250 pounds, I hyperplasia-ed about 2 billion extra fat cells, so my abs may in fact be permanently buried…

  2. If it is possible for me to get to 12%, I take the most efficient route possible. Your comment about “MONTHS of dieting and strenuous exercise with weights and cardio to get down to 10% or less” definitely inspires me…

26

[quote]speakman wrote:
I realize that this is nowhere near the most accurate way to determine body fat percentage, but even if the number is completely wrong (which I suspect it may be, by a few percentage points) I can still use this to determine a CHANGE in body fat percentage. [/quote]

Good reasoning.

I’ve used Carbolin 19 for a couple of months and I figured that my money is better spent on Surge, BETA-7 and other things that actually work. Carbolin 19 might do something in the body but the reality is not anywhere near the hype. With all else constant, I didn’t notice any changes in body composition. But then again, I was relying on the mirror. Plus, I was taking two pills a day only.

Carbolin 19 is said to work in the long term. As I understand it, you shouldn’t be expecting results after a few weeks only. Looking forward to more update from your little experiment.

Best of luck,

27

I dont see any reason you cant attain a 6-pack bro. Did you have your fat cells tested to know the exact amount of cells you gained? To the best of my knowledge you only start gaining more fat cells when you become severely obese, not just fat.

Really, its going to take a lot of hard ass work, but if you do it right, you will get to where you want to be. There is NOTHING physiological in your way (fat cells…metabolism…) of stopping you from getting to 10% and below.

28

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
I dont see any reason you cant attain a 6-pack bro. Did you have your fat cells tested to know the exact amount of cells you gained? To the best of my knowledge you only start gaining more fat cells when you become severely obese, not just fat.[/quote]

I haven’t been tested, but I’ve had three different doctors (real ones, with PhD’s and medical practices) tell me that my level of obesity (about 100 pounds overweight) would indicate a hyperplasia of fat cells to about 2 billion extra cells. Since these can never be eliminated (except by surgery, which I’m just not willing to do), I’d be absolutely shocked to even be able to get to 15% body fat. All those extra cells are just there, apparently forever…

That said, at this point I’d be thrilled with 15% BF. As of this writing, I’m exactly one month into my trial of Carbolin 19, and so far it’s difficult at best to say whether or not the stuff is doing any good. I’ve already blown the scientific integrity of this experiment by changing a LOT about my exercise, nutrition and supplementation since I started this trial…

For example, I’ve gone from a full-body weight-lifting routine every four days to a split routine every two days; I’ve gone from 3 sets of each exercise (which for me has produced minimal results over the last couple of years) to 5 sets each (which seems to be doing something); I’ve stepped up my cardio training; I’ve gone from no thyroid supplementation to one pill per day (right about the time I started Carbolin 19) to two pills a day (about four days ago); I’ve decreased my food intake a lot (I know what a lot of you would say to that, but I’m a major hard-loser [of fat] and 170 grams of protein per day was only making me fatter [not more muscular]); and I’ve probably made one or two other minor changes in the last month as well…

So, that said, I’ve gone in the last month from a little over 170 pounds to about 168 (and seeming to hold steady for the moment); and from about 21 to 21.5% body fat to a steady 20.5%… Does Carbolin 19 have anything to do with this at all? Considering everything else, it’s really, really hard to say…

But I will continue my (now seriously flawed) experiment, as promised…

29

I think you’re doing something seriously wrong if you can’t lose significantly more fat than you have over the past month, and I don’t believe you can blame it all on excess fat cells.

I think you should drop Carbolin19 and most other supplements for now until you’re able to get your able to better figure out how to lose fat and build muscle through diet and training.

Once you get this figured out you can always add Carbolin19 back into the mix and compare your rate of progress.

30

[quote]HK24719 wrote:
I think you’re doing something seriously wrong if you can’t lose significantly more fat than you have over the past month, and I don’t believe you can blame it all on excess fat cells.

I think you should drop Carbolin19 and most other supplements for now until you’re able to get your able to better figure out how to lose fat and build muscle through diet and training.[/quote]

Okay, time for a pic…

Attached is a pic of me about four years ago… Compare this to my profile pic, which was taken last summer.

Still not great (as in, that last little bit of annoying flab around the abdomen), but obviously I’ve made some significant progress. I’ve lost a lot of fat (somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 pounds worth) and have added some muscle (20 pounds?), so I must be somewhat close to the right formula, right?

I might have given the wrong impression in my last post when I mentioned the thing about being 100 pounds overweight… I meant that I used to be that fat… Now I think I’ve got about 10 pounds of excess flab to lose. They always say that last little bit is the hardest…

As for “blaming it on extra fat cells”, one must admit that 2 billion extra of those annoying little things (those are the doctors’ numbers, not mine) present a formidable challenge to ultimately revealing one’s abs…

31

Just to be sure we all see the new me, since the old me is so horrifyingly embarrassing…

32

Are you guys bored with this thread yet? I promised to continue my trial of Carbolin 19 for at least 3 months, and I will continue to post updates here, so bear with me…

As of today, it’s been about 2 months since I started the Carbolin 19. This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see my body fat percentage at 19.5%! Remember that 2 months ago, I was at a steady 21.5%, and there was a day or two where for some reason I topped out at 22.5%. So, to finally see my scale show something under 20% (first time ever) feels pretty good!

Does this seem like slow progress? Well, that’s what the Carbolin 19 marketing promises: slow, steady progress. Does Carbolin 19 get the credit for my progress so far? I would say not all of it, but maybe at least some (remember, I’ve made other substantial changes as well)… In any event, I’m definitely sticking with the supplement for the time being…

33

Like I said before, I think you need to get your other issues figured out before trying to evaluate any supplement.

You should be able to get far leaner just by figuring out you diet and training.

I believe it’s been stated that Carbolin 19 is most beneficial to leaner individuals anyway. At least that’s what I recall reading somewhere around here. This is the case with most fat-loss supplements.

34

[quote]speakman wrote:

I haven’t been tested, but I’ve had three different doctors (real ones, with PhD’s and medical practices) tell me that my level of obesity (about 100 pounds overweight) would indicate a hyperplasia of fat cells to about 2 billion extra cells. Since these can never be eliminated (except by surgery, which I’m just not willing to do), I’d be absolutely shocked to even be able to get to 15% body fat. All those extra cells are just there, apparently forever…
[/quote]

I believe that the fat cells that remain present mean that it is slightly easier for you to gain the fat back - your body doesn’t have to create any new cells in order for it to put on fat. A lean individual who’s never been fat does have to create new cells in order to “hold” the new fat.

Extra fat cells will NOT stop you from getting to sub 10% bodyfat. What does your diet look like? The marketing for Carbolin 19 also clearly states that your diet has to be in order for it to work. Supplements are like that. Diet and training are 95% of the game, and supplements are 5%. On the competitive stage, with bodybuilders at ~3-4% bodyfat and eating perfectly, 5 extra percent in progress is a huge difference. On an average guy who’s 20% bodyfat… not so much.

35

[quote]speakman wrote:
Are you guys bored with this thread yet? I promised to continue my trial of Carbolin 19 for at least 3 months, and I will continue to post updates here, so bear with me…

As of today, it’s been about 2 months since I started the Carbolin 19. This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see my body fat percentage at 19.5%! Remember that 2 months ago, I was at a steady 21.5%, and there was a day or two where for some reason I topped out at 22.5%. So, to finally see my scale show something under 20% (first time ever) feels pretty good!

Does this seem like slow progress? Well, that’s what the Carbolin 19 marketing promises: slow, steady progress. Does Carbolin 19 get the credit for my progress so far? I would say not all of it, but maybe at least some (remember, I’ve made other substantial changes as well)… In any event, I’m definitely sticking with the supplement for the time being…[/quote]

Hmmm… It’s interesting how this will work out in the end. If you decided to look for maximum result, I would go back to my original suggestion - add HOT-ROX Extreme to the mix, just be smart about it. If there were a full serving of Carbolin 19 in HRX, you can be sure they would advertise it. So, my guesstimate is, there’s about half a dose of Carbolin 19 in a full serving of HRX.

I think, you can take 4 caps of HRX and 1 or 2 caps of Carbolin 19 to get full benefit of both. And if you’re taking Alpha Male, the least you can do is take Carbolin 19 on the off days (you’re supposed to cycle Alpha Male.)

36

[quote]Abaddon wrote:

Hmmm… It’s interesting how this will work out in the end. If you decided to look for maximum result, I would go back to my original suggestion - add HOT-ROX Extreme to the mix, just be smart about it. If there were a full serving of Carbolin 19 in HRX, you can be sure they would advertise it. So, my guesstimate is, there’s about half a dose of Carbolin 19 in a full serving of HRX.[/quote]

Okay, it’s been a little over a month since my last report, wherein I stated that I was “pleasantly surprised” to be down to 19.5% BF. Well, today I’m “unpleasantly surprised” to still be at 19.5% BF. This is especially disappointing, since over the last month I’ve dipped down to 18.5% BF (I thought I’d have a good report for the group!)…

Abaddon, I think I’m about ready to take your advice on switching to HOT-ROX Extreme. That sounds like a more tried-and-true product (tried and proven effective by others here). Carbolin 19 may very well be just the result of some research paper that Biotest happened to run into and decided to convert into a product. I wonder if it will really stand the test of time like some of their other products…

HK24719, I think you’re on to something as well: I need to work out some other issues with my nutrition and training! This seems especially true, since, again, in the course of my Carbolin 19 testing I happened to start taking a thyroid supplement. And then about a month into that my doctor advised me to double the dose. Surely this alone would have caused me to lose some more weight (ideally, all fat weight), but this doesn’t seem to be happening. Strange!

Sorry to write so much (as usual), but I’d like to try running my nutrition scheme by the group. Typical day’s intake:

8am: Protein bar and coffee w/“Half and Half” (half cream/half milk)

10am: One piece of whole grain toast w/organic peanut butter and one cup coffee w/Half and Half.

12noon to 1pm: Spinach salad with salmon. Iced tea.

3pm to 4pm: Another protein bar. Maybe a grande skinny vanilla latte from Starbuck’s (“skinny” mean no fat and no sugar).

6pm to 7pm: Fried egg sandwich (2 eggs, wheat bread, no mayo). Maybe one glass of 2% milk or a cup of tea with half a teaspoon of honey.

That’s an example of my daily diet. And this is it! No cheat days or cheat meals, etc.

I know there are two additional questions to consider: My training and my supplements, but I want to see if I can get some comments on my diet first… Then I’ll address the other two points… Thanks in advance for any feedback!!

1 Like
37

[quote]speakman wrote:
…
[/quote]

Ditch the protein bars in favor of shakes.

38

[quote]speakman wrote:
Okay, it’s been a little over a month since my last report, wherein I stated that I was “pleasantly surprised” to be down to 19.5% BF. Well, today I’m “unpleasantly surprised” to still be at 19.5% BF. This is especially disappointing, since over the last month I’ve dipped down to 18.5% BF (I thought I’d have a good report for the group!)…
[/quote]

Stop worrying about supplements for now. It’s obvious that you have to learn how lose fat through manipulating your diet, exercise, and medication first.

You have enough variables as it is, so there’s no point in throwing more into the mix.

39

Sounds like someone needs to increase the amount of exercise they are doing and reevaluate that diet. Protein bars are okay when gaining weight, but on a diet they ARE cheat meal. Look at the carb/sugar content of just one of them and you will see what I mean. Switch over to whole foods like chicken, lean beef, turkey, cheese.

How many hours per week do you spend on exercise right now? It should be at least 5 hours including weights and cardio… I would recommend a bare minimum of 7 myself. I was doing about 10 hours a week when I got to 8% body fat… I dont think you understand how much work this is going to be.

You should be doing much better than you are doing… I normally wouldnt recommend it, but you may want to look into the Velocity diet to take out all the guess work. You obviously do not have what it takes to plan a diet out at this point. Read up on the V-Diet and more importantly the transition off of it.

40

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on T.V.

If you are on thyroid meds DO NOT add HRX untill you’ve talked it over with the prescribing physician (and maybe an endocrinologist, too). One of the things HRX does is to stimulate the thyroid. As you might well imagine it could throw things awry if taken with meds.

Also like the others have said ditch the protein bars. It looks like you could add some protein and vegetables at the least.

You might try something like this:

8 a.m.: Egg sandwich- 2 eggs, slice of tomato, spinach leaf, wheat bread. Glass of milk with one scoop of Metabolic Drive and “spoon” of coffee (whatever is needed to make one or two servings).

10 a.m.: Metabolic Drive Complete shake (in water), perhaps with another “spoon” of coffee.

Lunch: Spinach and Salmon salad and Tea. Maybe some fruit for desert.

3 p.m.: 2 scoops Low-Carb Metabolic Drive and fruit

6 p.m.: Chicken breast and steamed vegetables. If wanted/needed rice, potato, pasta, or whole grain bread.

Bedtime: Serving of cottage cheese with fruit, beans (black beans would taste really good. May just be me though), or vegetables. Or another 2 scoops of Metabolic Drive.

Feel free to move some these around to fit your schedule. For instance swap the breakfast sandwich and 10 a.m. shake if it works better. You could also use lean beef or fish or pork at dinner instead of chicken.

As for supps, the only thing that I would even worry about is fish oil. If you are getting a couple of servings of fish a week, you may not even need that.