(reply to “The Edge”) I really don’t know on the cardio question, but not only does that method work for Skip, based on your report, but a lot of bodybuilders follow that approach successfully. I don’t know whether it is better, but it is for sure that it works. Not for the fastest fat loss possible, which requires cutting calories, but for reasonable trimming when already not in too bad a condition; or for moderate-rate long term fat loss.
Bill is there any direct correlation between the amount of nutrients that the bacteria gets versus calorie burning efficiency? Meaning if I eat 2 meals of the same calories though their absorbtion rate is different, will the total useable calories to my body be identical? I ask because during the week while I diet I rarely have bowel movements which leads me to believe that the “bacteria” aren’t getting much if any of the nutrients. However on my free day I always, and I do mean always, have bad gas. Also within the next day or 2 after I always pass a big bowel movement.
This leads me to believe that on my free day bacteria is getting a great deal of the nutrients whereas they get few on diet days. BTW I am not ultra low carb, usually about 100-125 in total so the absence of bowel movements isn’t fiber, I never feel constipated. It almost seems like on the free day my body is being inefficient in calorie burning and is wasting a lot, which seems like a good thing during a diet cycle.
I’m just curious as I’ve never heard the finer points of what truly goes in during digestion.
Can we talk about real experiences here and not theories and what someone “thinks”?
Personally, I go keto Monday-Friday (single digit carbs daily, low cal), on the weekends, I eat big, “carb-up” if you will, still high protein, and if I feel like having some junk, I do.
The result?
Come Sunday (or Monday), I definitely look fuller, bigger, and more defined.
How 'bout some real-world experinces???
The reason that you look bigger the day after you carb up day is because the carbs cause muscles to fill with water when glycogen stores are replenished, that is the reason bodybuilders often use a carb up day before a show. So, sure you look bigger then when all of the water is drained from your muscles. However, the net weight loss should not be any greater from your carb up day.
Vageta- ones intestine acts as a “natural chemostat.” So, bacterial growth is controled by the amount of nutrients that are available to the bacteria. Bacterial growth is directly related to the nutrients available to it, until they reach a certain platau (but you won’t reach that unless you are fat ass and eat cake all day long). The gas that you asked about is because of the extra carbs, some anoxygenic bacteria can create methane as a byproduct of their digestion (fermentation) (although it is usually CO2). Also, bacteria have little effect on the total calories taken in versus total usable calories.
Bionic Man - There is nothing inherently special about a Keto Diet that makes it better than others. All diets do the same thing, they cause a reduction in calories which means your body is forced to burn it’s stored energy(fat)to make up the difference. The Keto diet is simply a different way of doing it.
However, there is a new rage about dieting out there and it revolves around Leptin, one of the hormones that supposedly plays a major role in bodyfat levels. So there may be scientific evidence out there that will prove that a “free day”, aka “refeed”, where you injest higher than maintenance calories will in fact promote fat loss in the long run greater than a strict diet with no “refeed” days.
The basic premise is that when you diet your leptin levels fall which in turn affects your metabolism and will slow fat loss. By adding a “refeed” once a week, or perhaps even sooner, you will raise leptin levels again and will keep your metabolism normal to promote fat loss. So short term you will lose more weight without free days however the lack of a maintenance or higher calorie day will eventually catch up with you by slowing your metabolism and the “refeeders” will continue burning fat at a steady rate. For instance If you eat 500 calories below maint. 7 days a week you will burn a pound of fat. However continuing that for weeks on end will inevitably slow your metabolism down. So if you continue with 500 calories below maint. you will find that your maint. setpoint is lower therefore you are not burning a pound a week anymore. In fact to continue burning the magic pound per week you will find that you have to lower you caloric intake further. The “refeed” on the other hand will keep your metabolic setpoint high so that even after many weeks of dieting you are still burning fat efficiently and can keep your caloric intake the same.
So the answer is probably that for short term diets, skip the free day as you won’t be dieting long enough to hurt your metabolism. But for long term diets the “refeed” will work in your favor and at the end you will have burned more total calories overall WITH the free day than had you just dieted straight through.
Keep in mind that the “refeed” day isn’t a picnic at McDonald’s. It requires that you eat higher carb, lower fat to recieve the benefit. Apparently carbs have a greater effect on leptin levels than fat or protein so no matter what diet you follow during the week, you should have about 70% carbs on the refeed day. You should also shoot for slightly above maint. calories, but not grossly above.
I think this phenomenon is what makes Keto diets “seem” to work better. Because of the carb-up day(s) you are inadvertantly raising leptin levels which helps you out in ways you did not account for. So it’s not the Keto diet itself, just the carb-up that really makes the difference. Not to mention that the “refeed” day will help us out mentally as it allows us to indulge a bit.
This is of course only my opinion…
Jag, cardio dosen’t necessarily burn muscle. Maybe over doing it, but taking in the extra calories will offset most of that muscle loss. Just taking in a lot less calories and doing less calories would more than likely cause more muscle loss. Thats the reason Skip changed to this method. For the last few years, he’s used the lower calories way, but he says he lost muscle. He says at this point he’s looking even better, while using the higher cal. method.
When dieting I use cheat days(eating MORE calories) to boost my metabilism up a couple notches. You’ll definatly burn more cals. after this “cheat” day !
Bill,
What about the fact that the cheat day boosts your metabolic rate while on a low calorie low carb. I have been on an anabolic diet for the last 4 weeks and the lbs of fat are just falling off. I have not lost much muscle. I eat 2000 calories per day and on my cheat day I eat as much as possible. Now I think you see it as a black and white situtation but what about your metabolism when you restrict calories your metabolic rate drops using a cheat day can boost your meatbolism for several days there after. I may way off base here but I see numerous pro bodybuilders using this method pre-contest sucessfully. I understand that most pro’s use triatricol, cytomel, and other cutting agents / supplementation along with their diets but what they do works unless you know somthing I don’t. I do agree that your dieting methodology works but as I see it mine works best for me. I’ve tried many diets and a cheat day seems to work for me.