My Experience On the Anabolic Diet Part II

[fotakou]

Glad to see that the new thread is alive and well!I am also following the AD and i would like to share my experience from the last 2 carb ups

The first one,last week consisted of
Apples,strawberries,goat milk yogurts,yams,oats,some potatoes and a hamburger.No sweets at all

2 days ago the carb up consisted of
Clementines,a fruit pizza(really great),oats,enough sweets,yams,cereal bars,yogurts,strawberries,small cheese pies and some bread

Although the 2 carbs ups seem to be like night and day,regarding the quality I can say that 2 days after the carb up I felt really good.My body looks good and i also feel good.The first carb up was really controlled while the second one was a wild one.Still i dont feel that i took a step backwards and trust me i ate a respectable amount of sweets.Note that we are talking about a one day carb.To sum up,dont worry and if you feel like you would love to have some processed goods,go ahead and have them.The AD is really forgiving!

Now i would like to ask something.How does your meal timing looks when carbing up?Most of the times i eat even after i am not feeling hungry,simply because i think that i deserve it and that it wont affect my goals that much.How about you?Do you have a program?

[Evil1]

[quote]Max888 wrote:
Hey guys,

Been trying a new quick recipe for breakfast:

5 raw eggs into blender, 50ml whipping cream, 50ml water, tpsn of cinnamon/ nutmet powder.

Blend

Gulp…mmmm

Over from start to finish in under 3 mins!!: over 600kcals, 35g protein, 50g fat, 8g CHO

Now some of you -like me - might be concerned about the raw eggs, so you could warm up the mixture lightly in a pan and drink it before it curdles.

But otherwise, Id say drink this mix once in a while!..

~M~[/quote]

You do realize that what you have described is a basic eggnog/bhang recipe right? try adding a drop or two of rum flavoring.

[KingIndy]

I’m about to come off this cutting phase… can’t wait to be able to eat some of these recipes people are talking about again. Just not enough calories in the day when you are taking in atleast 50% fat a day on a severe cut. Get to have energy and my life return for the summer…

[Kassad]

[quote]phatkins187 wrote:
Kassad wrote:
Has anyone experimented with ultra short carb ups? I’m talking maybe one carb-heavy meal per week.

The reason I ask is I’ve had absolutely no trouble on this diet. I’ve been on it for about 2.5 months and the first 3 days of the induction were tough because I just wasn’t getting enough calories. Ever since I sorted that out I’ve had zero problems with fatigue, and I carb up largely out of a feeling that I should. Carbing until I smooth out seems like a bit of a waste. But I’m worried because of the importance based on the CYCLING aspect of the diet; all the benefits you supposedly gain by ingesting all those carbs occasionally.

Do you think severely limiting my carb ups would jeopardize that?

One carb heavy meal per week is only ample if you’re working out maybe 1-2 times per week. If you’re cutting and have quite a bit of muscle mass, you’re probably getting quite a lot of atrophy/catabolism. The carbup is to replenish glycogen in you muscles for the whole week.

My carb ups are shorter than the recommended length but I make sure to get ~4g/lb of LBM which comes out to around 550g CHO.

What are your goals on the AD?[/quote]

As far as goals go, I just wanted something that would let me shed some bodyfat while at least maintaining my weight, but maybe gaining a small amount. I realize that that is way slower than just bulking/cutting, but it fits my lifestyle a bit better.

[raviraj]

if ur goal is fat loss still the carb meal is imp . here are the reason
!) as mentioned for glycogen compensation
2) in my view very imp to readjust your leptin levels which fall during lowcarb eating and also your tsh levels making fat loss a little harder as u come close to your fat loss goals .

so in this case if u think u dont handle the carb meal so good or u just dont feel very good having that then instead of having a big carb meal or a reffeed day for some hours have that carb meal broken in 2 meals …in 1 week around your training maybe before or maybe after or maybe half -half and again later in the last workout of ur week u can have another carb meal .

means your 1 carb meal will be broken in 2 carb meals say on wed and sat or the way ur training is in a week . and havinga little less water intertake around ur carb meal will also make u feel a little less bloated.
carb meal on such kind of a diet will help not hinder ur progress infact it will even enhance ur fast loss .

[nz6stringaxe]

Indy, it’s good to hear from you again.

How has your thing been going?
My cals have been at 1550-1700 for the last 3ish weeks with a carb-tastic day of 4000cal every 10 days. I’ve made a lot of noticeable change (once I’m completely through I’ll post my 4mo before/afters). I plan to go another week or so like this and then begin the Getting Unshredded plan for transitioning off Get Shredded. I don’t know if I’m going to continue the AD or not yet. I’m pretty split down the middle.

I, too, cannot wait to resume a normal diet (calorically). I’ve been reading several sources warning against the ill effects of yo-yo dieting, while less extreme, zig-zag weight flux with general direction is more desirable for health reasons. All this in mind, I plan to finally cut the crap and get on my way to making appreciable, but slow/steady movements up to 30lbs+ over my current bodyweight without ever removing cardio or any sort of athletic conditioning. I just feel like bodybuilding has strayed so very far from health enhancement. Hopefully then I can upgrade my past records of a general building of 10lbs annually to something a bit more significant.

Sorry this has become such a rant. Ha, let us know how you’ve been doing, Indy.

[KingIndy]

My thing has been going okay. Not as fast as I would like for the effort I have put in, but I am down 10 pounds and am noticeably leaner. My stomach fat is the last to go and very stubborn but I’ve got some abs showing through. I did this without any cardio pretty much, just diet (1800 calorie anabolic diet) and lifting 3 times a week with one alactic sprinting day a week.

Maybe this was a mistake, but I really wanted to avoid losing LBM at all costs. I lost some because I got sick one week and was in bed for 5 days. Got back in the gym and that is where I went backwards strength wise.

I feel like I need to get my metabolism back up for a couple weeks and feed my muscles back the nutrients they need and then I might do a little 3 week cut to finish off for the summer.

I’ve had very little energy recently and definitely no motivation to socialize on the weekends that didn’t involve the refeed. Looking forward to re-establishing my social life and getting energy back in gear for working out and just life in general. I’m thinking of sticking to the anabolic diet for awhile and see how it goes for the summertime. I’ll be having day drinking events and such on Saturdays, so the carb ups will definitely not be as clean but such is the sacrifice.

Right now I’m doing a 3 day carb up at 50% calories from carbs on a 1800 calorie diet and a sodium deplete just to see how my body reacts to it before I switch back to boosting my metabolism and refueling my body.

[phatkins187]

Hey KI and nz would you each mind posting a sample menu from your current cuts? Especially KI since you’re doing a strict AD cut @ 1,800 calories. I’ve been REALLY hungry when trying to consume between 65-75% fat calories on the AD and keep the total kcal ~2000. I’ve consistently been going upwards of 2,400 kcal just to stay sane, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but has slowed my progress.

Also, KI what types of CHO foods are you getting on your mini 3-day carb up?

[quote]Kassad wrote:
phatkins187 wrote:
Kassad wrote:
Has anyone experimented with ultra short carb ups? I’m talking maybe one carb-heavy meal per week.

The reason I ask is I’ve had absolutely no trouble on this diet. I’ve been on it for about 2.5 months and the first 3 days of the induction were tough because I just wasn’t getting enough calories. Ever since I sorted that out I’ve had zero problems with fatigue, and I carb up largely out of a feeling that I should. Carbing until I smooth out seems like a bit of a waste. But I’m worried because of the importance based on the CYCLING aspect of the diet; all the benefits you supposedly gain by ingesting all those carbs occasionally.

Do you think severely limiting my carb ups would jeopardize that?

One carb heavy meal per week is only ample if you’re working out maybe 1-2 times per week. If you’re cutting and have quite a bit of muscle mass, you’re probably getting quite a lot of atrophy/catabolism. The carbup is to replenish glycogen in you muscles for the whole week.

My carb ups are shorter than the recommended length but I make sure to get ~4g/lb of LBM which comes out to around 550g CHO.

What are your goals on the AD?

As far as goals go, I just wanted something that would let me shed some bodyfat while at least maintaining my weight, but maybe gaining a small amount. I realize that that is way slower than just bulking/cutting, but it fits my lifestyle a bit better.

[/quote]

Kassad, to maintain your current LBM, it’s all the more important to get your carbs. I’ll second the above reasons. I’d suggest limiting the calorie intake during the week on your AD cut to ~2,000 so you really kick the fat burning in and you’ll NEED every bit of glycogen from your carbup because your muscles will be fully depleted.

I’d recommend trying to keep the calories near maintenance or slightly above for your carbups and you won’t see a massive jump on the scale. You can also choose lower GI sources (cleaner carbs).

[sunshne]

Hey guys, so I have a quick question.
I started the AD on a wednesday (not the best idea in hindsight). I want to do my re-feed starting after my friday AM workout and end saturday night. For starts at any rate, since I haven’t even had my first re-feed yet.

So anyway, at first I thought I would overshoot the induction period and go for 16 days before my first refeed, just to make sure I’ve adjusted. But I was eating less than 100g CHO before I started the AD, and I am already noticing my muscles looking a little flatter.

Do you think it would be a good idea to do my first re-feed this friday (which would be 9 days). Or should I stick with my original plan?
Sorry about the ramble, ty if you actually unravel it enough to give me some advice! lol

[DJS]

Hey Indy… how much you weigh? Just curious what how far down I am going to need to drop.

[phatkins187]

[quote]sunshne wrote:
Hey guys, so I have a quick question.
I started the AD on a wednesday (not the best idea in hindsight). I want to do my re-feed starting after my friday AM workout and end saturday night. For starts at any rate, since I haven’t even had my first re-feed yet. So anyway, at first I thought I would overshoot the induction period and go for 16 days before my first refeed, just to make sure I’ve adjusted. But I was eating less than 100g CHO before I started the AD, and I am already noticing my muscles looking a little flatter. Do you think it would be a good idea to do my first re-feed this friday (which would be 9 days). Or should I stick with my original plan?
Sorry about the ramble, ty if you actually unravel it enough to give me some advice! lol[/quote]

Hi sunshne. I was faced with a similar scenario when I started up the AD since I was coming off my first week and a half of the Velocity diet transition. I had a couple servings of SURGE postworkout but otherwise was keeping the carbs to only veggies and peanut butter. I did my carbup after 9-10 days but I felt fully induced since the V-Diet was such a carb limiting one.

I’d say go for it early and learn about how it effects your body. If you aren’t feeling fuller and more vascular the day after the carbup, you probably didn’t eat enough. If you feel bloated then you might’ve gone overboard! Try to get some HIIT in on your carbup day and take advantage of the energy surplus.

Do you have a plan for what/how many CHO you’ll be getting? I went grocery shopping the day before and planned my refeed on fitday. It was definitely a lot of fun ingesting ~850 CHO after being on a really restrictive diet for 5.5 weeks!

[KingIndy]

I weigh 180 pounds now at about 9-10% body fat.

This is what I did Friday and yes I’m hungry on this:

Breakfast
6 omega 3 eggs

Snack
2 Tbsp All Natural peanut butter

Lunch
1/2 pound angus burger with mustard (no bun of course)- aprox 400 calories
1 serving Flameout

Snack
1 oz almonds

Snack
Uncured pepperoni - approx 150 calories

Dinner
10 ounces of chicken breast
1 serving Flameout
Mound of spinach

If I worked out this day I would have subbed out the pepperoni and some of the chicken breast and had 1 scoop of whey + 1 tbsp olive oil PWO between the snack and dinner.

Carbs I am eating on this 3 day carb up:

Brown rice
Whole wheat protein enriched pasta
Oatmeal no sugar
Sweet potato

[phatkins187]

[quote]KingIndy wrote:
I weigh 180 pounds now at about 9-10% body fat.

This is what I did Friday and yes I’m hungry on this:

Breakfast
6 omega 3 eggs

Snack
2 Tbsp All Natural peanut butter

Lunch
1/2 pound angus burger with mustard (no bun of course)- aprox 400 calories
1 serving Flameout

Snack
1 oz almonds

Snack
Uncured pepperoni - approx 150 calories

Dinner
10 ounces of chicken breast
1 serving Flameout
Mound of spinach

If I worked out this day I would have subbed out the pepperoni and some of the chicken breast and had 1 scoop of whey + 1 tbsp olive oil PWO between the snack and dinner.

Carbs I am eating on this 3 day carb up:

Brown rice
Whole wheat protein enriched pasta
Oatmeal no sugar
Sweet potato
[/quote]

Thanks, this is very similar to my current cut…roughly 2,000 cal. The chicken breast would probably help me quite a bit to stay full since I’ve been eating fattier meats (beef, pork, salmon).

Are you not having a shake before bed? I get hungry around 2-3 hours after dinner so I either add a scoop of casein and heavy cream or have another 2 tbsp of peanut butter.

I also have quite a bit more fat than you from cheese and olive oil on my salads. There’s the 500 kcal difference!

[KingIndy]

[quote]phatkins187 wrote:
KingIndy wrote:
I weigh 180 pounds now at about 9-10% body fat.

This is what I did Friday and yes I’m hungry on this:

Breakfast
6 omega 3 eggs

Snack
2 Tbsp All Natural peanut butter

Lunch
1/2 pound angus burger with mustard (no bun of course)- aprox 400 calories
1 serving Flameout

Snack
1 oz almonds

Snack
Uncured pepperoni - approx 150 calories

Dinner
10 ounces of chicken breast
1 serving Flameout
Mound of spinach

If I worked out this day I would have subbed out the pepperoni and some of the chicken breast and had 1 scoop of whey + 1 tbsp olive oil PWO between the snack and dinner.

Carbs I am eating on this 3 day carb up:

Brown rice
Whole wheat protein enriched pasta
Oatmeal no sugar
Sweet potato

Thanks, this is very similar to my current cut…roughly 2,000 cal. The chicken breast would probably help me quite a bit to stay full since I’ve been eating fattier meats (beef, pork, salmon).

Are you not having a shake before bed? I get hungry around 2-3 hours after dinner so I either add a scoop of casein and heavy cream or have another 2 tbsp of peanut butter.

I also have quite a bit more fat than you from cheese and olive oil on my salads. There’s the 500 kcal difference![/quote]

No shake… it’s barebones… not fun. I try to push dinner back 2 hours before bed max and I usually wait and eat the spinach later to fill my stomach a bit.

[DJS]

[quote]KingIndy wrote:
phatkins187 wrote:
KingIndy wrote:
I weigh 180 pounds now at about 9-10% body fat.

This is what I did Friday and yes I’m hungry on this:

Breakfast
6 omega 3 eggs

Snack
2 Tbsp All Natural peanut butter

Lunch
1/2 pound angus burger with mustard (no bun of course)- aprox 400 calories
1 serving Flameout

Snack
1 oz almonds

Snack
Uncured pepperoni - approx 150 calories

Dinner
10 ounces of chicken breast
1 serving Flameout
Mound of spinach

If I worked out this day I would have subbed out the pepperoni and some of the chicken breast and had 1 scoop of whey + 1 tbsp olive oil PWO between the snack and dinner.

Carbs I am eating on this 3 day carb up:

Brown rice
Whole wheat protein enriched pasta
Oatmeal no sugar
Sweet potato

Thanks, this is very similar to my current cut…roughly 2,000 cal. The chicken breast would probably help me quite a bit to stay full since I’ve been eating fattier meats (beef, pork, salmon).

Are you not having a shake before bed? I get hungry around 2-3 hours after dinner so I either add a scoop of casein and heavy cream or have another 2 tbsp of peanut butter.

I also have quite a bit more fat than you from cheese and olive oil on my salads. There’s the 500 kcal difference!

No shake… it’s barebones… not fun. I try to push dinner back 2 hours before bed max and I usually wait and eat the spinach later to fill my stomach a bit.[/quote]

Best of luck to you. I have been cutting back the last few weeks and am at 3k now during the week and i dont think that is fun either. i am hungry. I have not been watching cals during the weekend though. Guess will need to eventually. my day isn’t that different than yours either. i have cut out all the good stuff i was eating like almonds and cheese. But the extra cals is coming mostly from the fact i still eat a lb of ground beef a day. I kind of cut around it.

So…

wakeup
workout
post workout shake containing
8 oz hood low carb milk
1 scoop low carb protein
2 tablespoons olive oil

breakfast
6 whole eggs

lunch spread over two meals:
1 lb of ground beef as meatballs

dinner:
8 oz chicken breast w/ 2 tablespoons of mayo
1 serving Flameout
spinach

before bed
1 scoop low carb protein

[Evil1]

[quote]sunshne wrote:
Hey guys, so I have a quick question.
I started the AD on a wednesday (not the best idea in hindsight). I want to do my re-feed starting after my friday AM workout and end saturday night. For starts at any rate, since I haven’t even had my first re-feed yet.

So anyway, at first I thought I would overshoot the induction period and go for 16 days before my first refeed, just to make sure I’ve adjusted. But I was eating less than 100g CHO before I started the AD, and I am already noticing my muscles looking a little flatter.

Do you think it would be a good idea to do my first re-feed this friday (which would be 9 days). Or should I stick with my original plan?
Sorry about the ramble, ty if you actually unravel it enough to give me some advice! lol[/quote]

IMO, go the 16 days. It’s only 2 more days. Better to over shoot and be sure of adaptation than undershoot and be left wondering.

From an adaptation point of view I don’t think it matters that you were on a lower carb plan before. It may accelerate depletion and fat burning, but my theory is that it does not induce fuel-adaptation at an accelerated rate.

Just my $0.02

[nz6stringaxe]

Very interesting Indy…so you apply the carb days through the confines of your restricted energy… What have you observed? Did you do that from the get go or was it an idea you assimilated?

Phatkins, my diet is normally a variation on the following:

Breakfast:
4 eggs, chopped mushrooms and peppers (and sometimes 40g tomatoes, chopped onion, chopped spinach)

Snack:
usually a mixture of almonds and cheese(s), reduced or full fat

Staple meals:
180-250g vegetables (broccoli, zucchini, green beans, carrots, cauliflower)
100-200g meat (chicken breast, lean steak, ground turkey, lean ground beef, salmon with butter/herbs)
15ml EVOO (if using a leaner meat)

Bedtime:
120g Friendship cottage cheese
32g natural pb
chopped spinach
mix of cocoa powder and Splenda
(sometimes added almonds/walnuts/cream cheese to add to fat if needed)

Breakfast and bedtime are always the same base formula. The arrangement of meals and snacks depends on my day. If I train on a given day, I’ll add the ol’ whey+EVOO in water or just whey in water shake.

The meals are modified each day to adhere to the caloric restriction (or boost if I’m too low based on the beginning of the day).

I’ve lost nearly 15lbs and am 151-152lbs. Strength is all still there from observation. Endurance…not so much. I fear my metabolism has taken quite a hit these past months, but that’s what the impending transition is for.

[sunshne]

Thanks for the advice phat and Evil! I could wish you two agreed, though, lol!

phatkins, I was only planning on going 300g CHO for the 36 hours, like 150 on friday and 150 on saturday. I (hopefully) weigh less than you guys, so I figure my carb-up probably should be a bit less extravagant.

Evil, I’m hearing you say I should suck it up and man out those last days, huh?? It’s all this Easter candy my kids keep leaving out! It’s making me weak! lol! But seriously, that was how I felt when I planned this, that a few extra days of induction would be worth it to make sure. I think I’ll see how I feel for the rest of the week, and make up my mind on thursday… But feel free to chime in with more opinions!

[phatkins187]

Thanks NZ…I’d do much better if I was able to keep the fresh veggies in the house. I am an avid Costco shopper so I buy in bulk and there’s no way I’d finish a 3 lbs bag of spinach or broccoli before it spoiled!

The frozen veggie bags always have higher GI carbs (carrots, potatoes, peas) in them…but I might look into just throwing them out!

How many times a day are you eating?

You can critique my plan for today if you want

Breakfast
3 eggs
1.5 oz cheddar cheese
1 oz heavy cream

Snack
1/4 c almonds

Lunch
3 oz spinach
1 tbsp EVOO
tsp balsamic vinegar
175g canned turkey

Snack
24g whey/20g casein

Dinner
1/3 lb ground beef
3 oz. spinach

Bedtime
24 g casein
2 tbsp natty PB

I add in a couple of Crystal light packets a day and that comes to ~20kcal and 9g CHO…cut em out?

[Evil1]

[quote]sunshne wrote:
Thanks for the advice phat and Evil! I could wish you two agreed, though, lol!

phatkins, I was only planning on going 300g CHO for the 36 hours, like 150 on friday and 150 on saturday. I (hopefully) weigh less than you guys, so I figure my carb-up probably should be a bit less extravagant.

Evil, I’m hearing you say I should suck it up and man out those last days, huh?? It’s all this Easter candy my kids keep leaving out! It’s making me weak! lol! But seriously, that was how I felt when I planned this, that a few extra days of induction would be worth it to make sure. I think I’ll see how I feel for the rest of the week, and make up my mind on thursday… But feel free to chime in with more opinions![/quote]

caution: easter candy can be detrimental to good decisions…lol.
If you’re gonna do something do it right.
Sure you may be adequately adapted in 9 days. But if you are not, that would mean an extended period until full adaptation. In turn this would mean a longer period of energy fluctuations, during the week.
Why not try it the regular way though? what do you lose? (cept maybe a wee bit more fat)

have people done it your way before? Of course. Were they successful? Sure they were.

Like I said, it’s just my $0.02.