My Experience On the Anabolic Diet Part II

Nutrition
641

Well I’ve more or less finished my first bi-weekly high carb day.

My day looked like this:

10am - (Yeah, I got up late… heh)
90g Oats
6 Egg Whites
Shea Butter
51g CHO

1:30pm -
130g Tuna
1 Apple
1 WW pitta
Spinach
Cucumber
Mushrooms
60g CHO

2pm -
60 Raisins
47g CHO

2:45pm - Leg workout… I hate leg day… I finish with a relatively light weight (it varies) on my back and squat at a brisk pace (or as ‘brisk’ as I can manage) for… well, today was 2:10, I’m adding around 10 seconds each week.
This is pretty depleting stuff.
Suffice to say, I’m making a variety of vocal noises by the end hehe

Immediately PWO -
1 Banana
27g CHO

4:30pm PWO -
220g Sole Fillet
Mushrooms
90g Oats
1 Banana
30g Raisins
129g CHO

7:30pm -
6 Egg Whites + 2 Yolks
320g Sweet Potato
Mushrooms
Cucumber
Spinach
Shea Butter
60g CHO

So my totals for today are:

182g Protein
40g Fat (+/- 5g)
350g Carbs
2730 calories

I’m ending the day with a small P+F meal of around 450-500 cals to bring my total upto 3200 cals.

  • Critique on those figures would be appreciated.
  • What would be a more optimal amount of CHO per meal based on timing of the workout?
  • Should I make my final meal high fat? I’m thinking something like a beef patty with a dollop of PB and a little salad.
642

[quote]KellsBells wrote:
I have a question about bulking on the AD:

I have chosen the AD for my off season for the following reasons:

  1. I did AD for 2 1/2 months last year and my energy level was so flippin’ high that I felt like I was smoking crack every day. Seriously. My energy level went through the roof!
  2. I am moderately carb sensitive and get bloated from carbs very easily, and I kind of go overboard on things like ricecakes and PB very easily. I love those stupid things.
  3. I carry fat like a man (i.e. in the midsection, not on the hips/butt like most women), so I figured that more of a ‘manly’ diet would work better for me for this reason. I know that if you carry fat in you midsection it means that you are more insulin sensitive than if you carry it in you hips/butt if you’re a woman.

So… back to my question about “bulking”(with the goal, of course, being to put on lean mass while keeping bodyfat relatively close to where I a now)

I read that to bulk on the AD you should incorporate a midweek carb-load meal. However, on one website it says that in order to do this you must be on the AD for at least 3 months before you start the midweek carb-up.

Is this really necessary? I could see that it would be more necessary to be on the diet for a longer time if trying to lose weight, but do the same rules apply if your trying to add lean mass?

Opinions? [/quote]

I don’t know how relevent this is to you but it might be of some help…

I’m half-way through my eighth week on the AD and I’ve decided to put ‘mini-loads’ on the days with my two hardest workouts. I’m doing doing a 5-day split so this would be legs (I hate leg day so the carbs soften the blow!) and back/biceps (although that’s a close tie with upper chest/triceps).

Anyway, I decided to do this because, well, firstly I couldn’t control myself on carb-ups and would just go absolutely nuts (see my previous posts about taking 15k+ cals in under 36 hours).
Even with a more moderate (600-800g) load I would still suffer from bloating, water retention, unholy flatulance and lethargy.

I’m currently bulking, I don’t have scales at the moment (alas!) but I would estimate my BW to be around 170lbs. I’ve only just started doing it like this but I’ll be making updates on how it’s going.

Today (see above post) has gone perfectly.
Energy levels stable, appetite controlled, workout went smoothly.

I am pretty damn tired now though which is a bitch because I’m in the process of recording (music) to send to promoters and my day is basically down the drain now in that respect. I think that leg day will always be a big drain either way so I’m pretty certain it’s not the carbs that have made me feel this way. All in all I feel good.

Oh and in not-wholly-unrelated-news, my calves are starting to take shape nicely (which didn’t take long!) - though at the moment they look more like inverted love hearts than diamonds hehe

643

[quote]El Sonido wrote:
KellsBells wrote:
I have a question about bulking on the AD:

I have chosen the AD for my off season for the following reasons:

  1. I did AD for 2 1/2 months last year and my energy level was so flippin’ high that I felt like I was smoking crack every day. Seriously. My energy level went through the roof!
  2. I am moderately carb sensitive and get bloated from carbs very easily, and I kind of go overboard on things like ricecakes and PB very easily. I love those stupid things.
  3. I carry fat like a man (i.e. in the midsection, not on the hips/butt like most women), so I figured that more of a ‘manly’ diet would work better for me for this reason. I know that if you carry fat in you midsection it means that you are more insulin sensitive than if you carry it in you hips/butt if you’re a woman.

So… back to my question about “bulking”(with the goal, of course, being to put on lean mass while keeping bodyfat relatively close to where I a now)

I read that to bulk on the AD you should incorporate a midweek carb-load meal. However, on one website it says that in order to do this you must be on the AD for at least 3 months before you start the midweek carb-up.

Is this really necessary? I could see that it would be more necessary to be on the diet for a longer time if trying to lose weight, but do the same rules apply if your trying to add lean mass?

Opinions?

I don’t know how relevent this is to you but it might be of some help…

I’m half-way through my eighth week on the AD and I’ve decided to put ‘mini-loads’ on the days with my two hardest workouts. I’m doing doing a 5-day split so this would be legs (I hate leg day so the carbs soften the blow!) and back/biceps (although that’s a close tie with upper chest/triceps).

Anyway, I decided to do this because, well, firstly I couldn’t control myself on carb-ups and would just go absolutely nuts (see my previous posts about taking 15k+ cals in under 36 hours).
Even with a more moderate (600-800g) load I would still suffer from bloating, water retention, unholy flatulance and lethargy.

I’m currently bulking, I don’t have scales at the moment (alas!) but I would estimate my BW to be around 170lbs. I’ve only just started doing it like this but I’ll be making updates on how it’s going.

Today (see above post) has gone perfectly.
Energy levels stable, appetite controlled, workout went smoothly.

I am pretty damn tired now though which is a bitch because I’m in the process of recording (music) to send to promoters and my day is basically down the drain now in that respect. I think that leg day will always be a big drain either way so I’m pretty certain it’s not the carbs that have made me feel this way. All in all I feel good.

Oh and in not-wholly-unrelated-news, my calves are starting to take shape nicely (which didn’t take long!) - though at the moment they look more like inverted love hearts than diamonds hehe[/quote]

I would advise against the midweek carb spike if you’ve only done it for 8 weeks. doing legs and HIIT with the AD leaves you destroyed for the day but rather than carb loading, have tons of BCAA’s on that day. It works much better. I like you binge on the weekends and consume 15k+ cal but thats not because of the AD. Its us who have not been able to control ourselves :). btw ive been on the AD for over a year i love it!!

644

[quote]bulgarian wrote:
I would advise against the midweek carb spike if you’ve only done it for 8 weeks. doing legs and HIIT with the AD leaves you destroyed for the day but rather than carb loading, have tons of BCAA’s on that day. It works much better. I like you binge on the weekends and consume 15k+ cal but thats not because of the AD. Its us who have not been able to control ourselves :). btw ive been on the AD for over a year i love it!![/quote]

Just when I think I’ve got it all figured out!

So you would advise against this even keeping to 300-400g CHO on both ‘mini-loads’?

I guess the point is to be depleted when you reach the carb-up… bah this throws everything into question now! :cry:

I would love to use the BCAA’s but my financial situation is a bit weird atm (I won’t go into it) so this isn’t an option… for now.

645

[quote]El Sonido wrote:
KellsBells wrote:
I have a question about bulking on the AD:

I have chosen the AD for my off season for the following reasons:

  1. I did AD for 2 1/2 months last year and my energy level was so flippin’ high that I felt like I was smoking crack every day. Seriously. My energy level went through the roof!
  2. I am moderately carb sensitive and get bloated from carbs very easily, and I kind of go overboard on things like ricecakes and PB very easily. I love those stupid things.
  3. I carry fat like a man (i.e. in the midsection, not on the hips/butt like most women), so I figured that more of a ‘manly’ diet would work better for me for this reason. I know that if you carry fat in you midsection it means that you are more insulin sensitive than if you carry it in you hips/butt if you’re a woman.

So… back to my question about “bulking”(with the goal, of course, being to put on lean mass while keeping bodyfat relatively close to where I a now)

I read that to bulk on the AD you should incorporate a midweek carb-load meal. However, on one website it says that in order to do this you must be on the AD for at least 3 months before you start the midweek carb-up.

Is this really necessary? I could see that it would be more necessary to be on the diet for a longer time if trying to lose weight, but do the same rules apply if your trying to add lean mass?

Opinions?

I don’t know how relevent this is to you but it might be of some help…

I’m half-way through my eighth week on the AD and I’ve decided to put ‘mini-loads’ on the days with my two hardest workouts. I’m doing doing a 5-day split so this would be legs (I hate leg day so the carbs soften the blow!) and back/biceps (although that’s a close tie with upper chest/triceps).

Anyway, I decided to do this because, well, firstly I couldn’t control myself on carb-ups and would just go absolutely nuts (see my previous posts about taking 15k+ cals in under 36 hours).
Even with a more moderate (600-800g) load I would still suffer from bloating, water retention, unholy flatulance and lethargy.

I’m currently bulking, I don’t have scales at the moment (alas!) but I would estimate my BW to be around 170lbs. I’ve only just started doing it like this but I’ll be making updates on how it’s going.

Today (see above post) has gone perfectly.
Energy levels stable, appetite controlled, workout went smoothly.

I am pretty damn tired now though which is a bitch because I’m in the process of recording (music) to send to promoters and my day is basically down the drain now in that respect. I think that leg day will always be a big drain either way so I’m pretty certain it’s not the carbs that have made me feel this way. All in all I feel good.

Oh and in not-wholly-unrelated-news, my calves are starting to take shape nicely (which didn’t take long!) - though at the moment they look more like inverted love hearts than diamonds hehe[/quote]

Thanks for the input.

Anyone ever heard of The Ultimate Diet by Lyle McDonald (author of The Ketogenic Diet)??? It’s like a re-vamped AD. I bought the ebook tonight and have spent the past 4 hours reading it and setting up what my macros/workout would be on it. It allows for a few more carbs during the week and utilizes more healthy fats as opposed to how on the AD you can eat more saturated fats, which I believe would be better for me because it’s more of a clean-eating lifestyle. I also like this diet because it seems to be set up well with my current workout plan.

Im planning on starting the UD this coming Monday. I’ll let you all know how it goes!

646

[quote]El Sonido wrote:
bulgarian wrote:
I would advise against the midweek carb spike if you’ve only done it for 8 weeks. doing legs and HIIT with the AD leaves you destroyed for the day but rather than carb loading, have tons of BCAA’s on that day. It works much better. I like you binge on the weekends and consume 15k+ cal but thats not because of the AD. Its us who have not been able to control ourselves :). btw ive been on the AD for over a year i love it!!

Just when I think I’ve got it all figured out!

So you would advise against this even keeping to 300-400g CHO on both ‘mini-loads’?

I guess the point is to be depleted when you reach the carb-up… bah this throws everything into question now! :cry:

I would love to use the BCAA’s but my financial situation is a bit weird atm (I won’t go into it) so this isn’t an option… for now.[/quote]

Yeah the whole point is to deplete the muscle from glycogen while maximizing testerone and GH and then supercompensate with the weekend carb load. Well thats not the whole point but its part of it. Yeah i would advice against midweek carb spikes, especially since your only 8 weeks into the diet. If Bcaa are out of the question, take 30-50g of carb from berries post workout just on your leg day. Its not exactly a load and plus the berries are very high in antioxidans. On the weekends uhm ideally its best to have it clean with 400-600g of carbs per day but… well unless i have a competition coming up i tend to eat whatever i want for those 2 days.

As long as your bf% is going down (im assuming thats your goal) keep doing whatever you do on the weekends. I use calipers to measure and i just use 3 spots. as long as the measurement is going down i;ll keep eating junk on the weekend lol :slight_smile: (My fat loss has slowed down a bit so ima clean up my weekends.) Weekdays must be strict though!

647

Bulgarian he’s trying to bulk up now. Not that the AD can’t do that but I think he’s looking to try more of a TCD now and see how he reacts to more frequent/moderate carb ups

648

bulking is even better on the anabolic diet, essentially its still best to keep strict on the weekdays but with more calories. On the weekends when bulking just eat whatever its alot better. Having multiple carb ups during the week is no longer the anabolic diet and is more of a charles poliquin type where he carbs up every 4 days. But unless hes doing some kind of endurance sport or very glycolytic activity i wouldnt recommend carb ups during the week. Just eat a ton over the weekend and have the weekday calories around 3500-4000

649

[quote]bulgarian wrote:
bulking is even better on the anabolic diet, essentially its still best to keep strict on the weekdays but with more calories. On the weekends when bulking just eat whatever its alot better. Having multiple carb ups during the week is no longer the anabolic diet and is more of a charles poliquin type where he carbs up every 4 days. But unless hes doing some kind of endurance sport or very glycolytic activity i wouldnt recommend carb ups during the week. Just eat a ton over the weekend and have the weekday calories around 3500-4000[/quote]

I used to eat 3800 calories during the week and a once weekly carb up of 4000-4500 calories. I gained weight and fat way too quickly. I’m not saying the AD can’t work but to just say eat a ton of carbs over the weekend and that many calories during the week is way too generalized and the AD isn’t some be-all end-all to bulking.

650

[quote]bulgarian wrote:
bulking is even better on the anabolic diet, essentially its still best to keep strict on the weekdays but with more calories. On the weekends when bulking just eat whatever its alot better. Having multiple carb ups during the week is no longer the anabolic diet and is more of a charles poliquin type where he carbs up every 4 days. But unless hes doing some kind of endurance sport or very glycolytic activity i wouldnt recommend carb ups during the week. Just eat a ton over the weekend and have the weekday calories around 3500-4000[/quote]

Personally for me this didnt work. I wasn’t as much as I do now during the week. Was at 2800 then Id eat all and whatever I wanted on the weekends. I literally gained fat. Since then Ive raised cals to 3300 and have included PWO carbs and no carb-up. Just keepin to 3300 until gains slow then raise to 34-3500.

651

Honestly, Im just gonna go with the old calories in calories out thing and just eat enough daily to make gains. By just eating clean daily. Junk food doesnt do me justice at all. It makes me feel and look bad. So I just eat a bunch of good foods and it makes me feel good about myself and it makes my body function more properly. Let’s see how this works in the long run

652

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
bulgarian wrote:
bulking is even better on the anabolic diet, essentially its still best to keep strict on the weekdays but with more calories. On the weekends when bulking just eat whatever its alot better. Having multiple carb ups during the week is no longer the anabolic diet and is more of a charles poliquin type where he carbs up every 4 days. But unless hes doing some kind of endurance sport or very glycolytic activity i wouldnt recommend carb ups during the week. Just eat a ton over the weekend and have the weekday calories around 3500-4000

I used to eat 3800 calories during the week and a once weekly carb up of 4000-4500 calories. I gained weight and fat way too quickly. I’m not saying the AD can’t work but to just say eat a ton of carbs over the weekend and that many calories during the week is way too generalized and the AD isn’t some be-all end-all to bulking. [/quote]

You’re right the AD is not be all diet for bulking and individual tolerances are a big factor. The carb up should be clean and you will get best results of clean carbs and good fats during the week just as the doctor says. really me saying just how many carbs and calories to eat is unfair because a calorie is not really a calorie it all needs to fit together nicely.

653

I’m going to stick to my plan and see how I go.

This is likely crude speculation but wouldn’t doing 300-400g around the two most draining workouts result in going back to a ketogenic state fairly rapidly and thus spending more time in ketosis - as opposed to a large 2 day carb up where it takes 2-3 days?

Perhaps 300-400g is too much but I would (pretty uneducated guess here) assume that it wouldn’t take much more than 24-36 hours to get back into ketosis.

So 2 day carb up = 4-5 days out of ketosis
2 seperated ‘mini-loads’ = 4-5 days out of ketosis… erm… so really it would be about the same?

I would be very interested in some clarification/correction on these times.

But then the anabolic effects of the carb intake would be benefited from more (?) because it is target around the two workouts that need it most.

…I’m gonna stop guessing randomly…

654

[quote]El Sonido wrote:
I’m going to stick to my plan and see how I go.

This is likely crude speculation but wouldn’t doing 300-400g around the two most draining workouts result in going back to a ketogenic state fairly rapidly and thus spending more time in ketosis - as opposed to a large 2 day carb up where it takes 2-3 days?

Perhaps 300-400g is too much but I would (pretty uneducated guess here) assume that it wouldn’t take much more than 24-36 hours to get back into ketosis.

So 2 day carb up = 4-5 days out of ketosis
2 seperated ‘mini-loads’ = 4-5 days out of ketosis… erm… so really it would be about the same?

I would be very interested in some clarification/correction on these times.

But then the anabolic effects of the carb intake would be benefited from more (?) because it is target around the two workouts that need it most.

…I’m gonna stop guessing randomly…[/quote]

I think i might have misunderstood your first post. Are you planning on doing 2 separate mini loads INSTEAD OF the 2 heavy loads on the weekends or are you doing the mini loads and the weekend carb ups as well?

And the anabolid diet is not a ketogenic diet. The doc explains that several times and also in interviews I have also never meen in ketosis in a year since i started it. I used to measure using ketostix never went into ketosis i stopped bothering with measuring.

655

Am I crazy, or do any of you find the AD makes you thirstier?

656

I’m drinking and taking sips all the time, more than in the past, but I’m also putting a lot of salt on my food so that could be part of it.

657

[quote]bulgarian wrote:
El Sonido wrote:
I’m going to stick to my plan and see how I go.

This is likely crude speculation but wouldn’t doing 300-400g around the two most draining workouts result in going back to a ketogenic state fairly rapidly and thus spending more time in ketosis - as opposed to a large 2 day carb up where it takes 2-3 days?

Perhaps 300-400g is too much but I would (pretty uneducated guess here) assume that it wouldn’t take much more than 24-36 hours to get back into ketosis.

So 2 day carb up = 4-5 days out of ketosis
2 seperated ‘mini-loads’ = 4-5 days out of ketosis… erm… so really it would be about the same?

I would be very interested in some clarification/correction on these times.

But then the anabolic effects of the carb intake would be benefited from more (?) because it is target around the two workouts that need it most.

…I’m gonna stop guessing randomly…

I think i might have misunderstood your first post. Are you planning on doing 2 separate mini loads INSTEAD OF the 2 heavy loads on the weekends or are you doing the mini loads and the weekend carb ups as well?

And the anabolid diet is not a ketogenic diet. The doc explains that several times and also in interviews I have also never meen in ketosis in a year since i started it. I used to measure using ketostix never went into ketosis i stopped bothering with measuring.
[/quote]

No problem. Yes, the mini loads are instead of the weekend load.
So the only time I would take carbs would be 300-400g on leg day and 300-400g on back/bicep day.

The debate about the AD being a ketogenic diet had me stumped for some time but I just kinda assumed in the end that the majority of people would end up in ketosis much of the time while on the AD. I guess the stix don’t lie!

658

[quote]AlisaV wrote:
Am I crazy, or do any of you find the AD makes you thirstier? [/quote]

Yep, I’m pissing constantly!
As I always say to people -

DRINK
MORE
WATER!

659

Well I’ve been on a low carb diet for about 9 months now, and a couple weeks ago started the AD to try to bulk up. I used to take creatine before, and I just decided to take it again last week. My question is, I did the 20g/per day up until today (which has been 5 days so far) and I know the loading isn’t completely finished, but I’m only up 2 pounds in weight.

I started out drinking 1.5 gallons a day, but was pissing a lotttt, so I’ve dropped it to close to a gallon, or however much I drink because I’m thirsty. I was honestly expecting bigger gains with the creatine, but is this due to the loss of glycogen, and therefore water in my cells. Also, during my carb up, is there a possibility that more of the water being pulled in will again be held to the creatine molecules?

It’s just that before I thought I had gained around 5-6 pounds with creatine (although honestly measurements and diet weren’t as controlled as they were now)

660

[quote]j0nasln wrote:
Well I’ve been on a low carb diet for about 9 months now, and a couple weeks ago started the AD to try to bulk up. I used to take creatine before, and I just decided to take it again last week. My question is, I did the 20g/per day up until today (which has been 5 days so far) and I know the loading isn’t completely finished, but I’m only up 2 pounds in weight.

I started out drinking 1.5 gallons a day, but was pissing a lotttt, so I’ve dropped it to close to a gallon, or however much I drink because I’m thirsty. I was honestly expecting bigger gains with the creatine, but is this due to the loss of glycogen, and therefore water in my cells. Also, during my carb up, is there a possibility that more of the water being pulled in will again be held to the creatine molecules?

It’s just that before I thought I had gained around 5-6 pounds with creatine (although honestly measurements and diet weren’t as controlled as they were now)[/quote]

Who cares, what you gain that quickly is just going to be water anyway