My Experience On the Anabolic Diet Part III

Nutrition
181

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
Hey Pumped,

My current ratios are 45% protein and 55% fats. I have ALWAYS thought that higher protein was the key and never believed that this was slowing my fat loss down. There is SO much information out there and you tend to believer everything you read, until you experiment yourself. I have always followed Thibs reco of about 1.75g/lb pro and 0.5g/lb fats when trying to get lean, but stalled so after reading into it more, gave the above a try and things are moving again!

IF your goal is fat loss, I would say use more of a 50/50 or even 45/55 mix and drop intake a bit. I too had my intake at about 2g/lb BUT my fats were fat too low in comparison and I was burning protein for fuel. Unless you utilising the protein and fats you are taking in, you MAY store the left over as fat.

Listen to Pauli and drop your intake…make sure you training is in check. Just have one cheat meal a week.

GJ[/quote]

drop my intake of what, protein? Hopefully Pauli will chime in soon :slight_smile:

Looking at my ratio’s now it’s close to 49%p and 46%f which I thought was fine because I thought fat should be between 40-60% but thats interesting that lowering protein caused you to lose more fat. Regarding that

  1. Did you just lower protein thus lowering calories (wondering if maybe that was just the reason for fat loss)
  2. How significant has the fat loss been since switching and when did you switch?

Also my goal is still currently to build muscle with as little fat gain as possible but my waist is up ~1/4in. from last week with a slight drop in weight.

182

What is your waist measurement now?
What was it 6 weeks ago?

What is your weight now?
What was your weight 6 weeks ago?

183

[quote]Pauli D wrote:
What is your waist measurement now?
What was it 6 weeks ago?

What is your weight now?
What was your weight 6 weeks ago?[/quote]

This morning and yesterday morning: 186.6lb 32 5/8in.
September 5th (6 weeks ago): 183.8lb 31 7/8in.

So 3/4in. waist gain for less than 3lb. of weight gain. ugh…

184

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Pauli D wrote:
What is your waist measurement now?
What was it 6 weeks ago?

What is your weight now?
What was your weight 6 weeks ago?

This morning and yesterday morning: 186.6lb 32 5/8in.
September 5th (6 weeks ago): 183.8lb 31 7/8in.

So 3/4in. waist gain for less than 3lb. of weight gain. ugh…[/quote]

And your indicator lifts…How much progress since Sept 5th?

185

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Gymjunkie wrote:
Hey Pumped,

My current ratios are 45% protein and 55% fats. I have ALWAYS thought that higher protein was the key and never believed that this was slowing my fat loss down. There is SO much information out there and you tend to believer everything you read, until you experiment yourself. I have always followed Thibs reco of about 1.75g/lb pro and 0.5g/lb fats when trying to get lean, but stalled so after reading into it more, gave the above a try and things are moving again!

IF your goal is fat loss, I would say use more of a 50/50 or even 45/55 mix and drop intake a bit. I too had my intake at about 2g/lb BUT my fats were fat too low in comparison and I was burning protein for fuel. Unless you utilising the protein and fats you are taking in, you MAY store the left over as fat.

Listen to Pauli and drop your intake…make sure you training is in check. Just have one cheat meal a week.

GJ

drop my intake of what, protein? Hopefully Pauli will chime in soon :slight_smile:

Looking at my ratio’s now it’s close to 49%p and 46%f which I thought was fine because I thought fat should be between 40-60% but thats interesting that lowering protein caused you to lose more fat. Regarding that

  1. Did you just lower protein thus lowering calories (wondering if maybe that was just the reason for fat loss)
  2. How significant has the fat loss been since switching and when did you switch?

Also my goal is still currently to build muscle with as little fat gain as possible but my waist is up ~1/4in. from last week with a slight drop in weight. [/quote]

Your protein MAY be too high and thus causing conversion to glucose and stored as fat, rather than you utilising the fat you are taking in. I did not drop calories, rather switched calories, so I did drop some protein and upped the fats, leaving me with similar body weight but a drop in bf. When I suggested dropping intake, I meant equally pro and fats.

Pauli may have a better suggestion, but from what I can see you may not be working hard enough to utilise your nutrient intake.

Another possibility, which I experienced myself a while back when using 2g/lb and not counting fats and trying to gain lean mass, is that you may be allergic to something you are eating and not realise. Get your allergies tested by a kinesiologist! This helped me out alot, leaving me able to gain lean mass without any fat gain using the diet you are on.

GJ

186

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
Your protein MAY be too high and thus causing conversion to glucose and stored as fat, rather than you utilising the fat you are taking in. I did not drop calories, rather switched calories, so I did drop some protein and upped the fats, leaving me with similar body weight but a drop in bf. When I suggested dropping intake, I meant equally pro and fats.

Pauli may have a better suggestion, but from what I can see you may not be working hard enough to utilise your nutrient intake.

Another possibility, which I experienced myself a while back when using 2g/lb and not counting fats and trying to gain lean mass, is that you may be allergic to something you are eating and not realise. Get your allergies tested by a kinesiologist! This helped me out alot, leaving me able to gain lean mass without any fat gain using the diet you are on.

GJ
[/quote]

Bing! Bing! Bing!

All good points!

There are always more variables to consider.

187

[quote]Pauli D wrote:
pumped340 wrote:
Pauli D wrote:
What is your waist measurement now?
What was it 6 weeks ago?

What is your weight now?
What was your weight 6 weeks ago?

This morning and yesterday morning: 186.6lb 32 5/8in.
September 5th (6 weeks ago): 183.8lb 31 7/8in.

So 3/4in. waist gain for less than 3lb. of weight gain. ugh…

And your indicator lifts…How much progress since Sept 5th?

[/quote]
I couldn’t tell you exact numbers, well I could I guess lol but I can tell you most have not gone up much overall since then. Bench up maybe 5lb., deadlift and front squats I have no idea what happened with my back but out of no where they both went down like crazy (I know it’s not a muscular issue because my back/spine was feeling considerable strain but my other leg and back lifts are all just as high as ever). Military press has gone up a little, same with rows. Some accessory work and Pulldowns have gone up most notably but DB bench has been the same for basically the whole time I’ve been at college (8 weeks or so). Thats definitely the main reason I just switched from 5/3/1 to BBB, I really seemed to stall that last cycle of 5/3/1 that I did.

I really don’t see why that would have made me gain fat at the same body weight though, especially considering some strength was being gained, but I could see it resulting in more of what I gain being fat.

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:

Your protein MAY be too high and thus causing conversion to glucose and stored as fat, rather than you utilising the fat you are taking in. I did not drop calories, rather switched calories, so I did drop some protein and upped the fats, leaving me with similar body weight but a drop in bf. When I suggested dropping intake, I meant equally pro and fats.

Pauli may have a better suggestion, but from what I can see you may not be working hard enough to utilise your nutrient intake.

Another possibility, which I experienced myself a while back when using 2g/lb and not counting fats and trying to gain lean mass, is that you may be allergic to something you are eating and not realise. Get your allergies tested by a kinesiologist! This helped me out alot, leaving me able to gain lean mass without any fat gain using the diet you are on.

GJ
[/quote]
What were you alleric to? I really don’t have that kind of money to be getting tests done right now unfortunately.

Pauli do you have any specific dietary changes you’d make to the weekly diet days?

edit: Just out of curiosity what were your previous ratio’s before switching to 55f/45p? And what are your protein and fat set at now in g/lb of bodyweight?

188

Hey Pumped. I would suggest CHANGING whatever you eat right now as in rotate meats, nuts etc. I made the mistake of ALWAYS eating chicken and I gained a senstivity to it. This and I was/am allergic to latex, which is in avacado and I ate 1 a day!!. So by simply rotating the foods you eat now, you will not allow your body to develope any such allergies etc…this is one option.

My current intake of protein is approx 1.4g/lb and fats 0.75g/lb. Prior, it was 2g/lb and fats were closer to 0.5g/lb…so I did drop SOME calories, but this was done over a few weeks. I reduced to 1.75g/lb then 1.5g/lb until I was reaching my fat loss goal/week withouth losing muscle and getting stronger.

GJ

189

Hey guys, I’m considering starting the Anabolic Diet. I’ve been reading about it for a while, and since it’s not my weight I don’t like so much as my %BF, I thought this might be a better way for me to go about eating.

Went through Cunningham’s Equation for calorie needs (I’ve got a sweet spot for equations and Excel…), and this is what I came out with:

Normal Days: 3400 kcal, 227g Fat, 340g Pro, 25g Carb (60/40/~0)
Training Days: 3800 kcal, 253g Fat, 380g Pro, 25g Carb (60/40/~0)
Carb Days: 3400 kcal, 94g Fat, 128g Pro, 510g Carb (25/15/60)

Now maybe this is just me with my uneducated, disbelieving mind, but for a guy who’s ~220lb, ~26%bf, that all seems kinda high. Does this sound like a decent plan for a guy whos activity is walking to/from class, gym 3-4 times per week (depending on grad course load), and does karate/MMA 3x per week? Might there be a better way to get a calorie count?

Last question, any tips for buying cheaply on this diet? The ability to buy the fatty ground beef instead of the lean stuff will already save me tons of money, but is there more to it than just prowling the red meats section now that I’m not concerned about lean vs fatty cuts nearly as much?

EDIT: One more question… Do I count fiber carbs? For example, about half the carb content in peanuts is fiber, and a cup of peanuts is ~24g carbs, ~12g fiber. I doubt I’d ever eat that much at once, but would I count 24 carbs or 12?

190

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
Hey Pumped. I would suggest CHANGING whatever you eat right now as in rotate meats, nuts etc. I made the mistake of ALWAYS eating chicken and I gained a senstivity to it. This and I was/am allergic to latex, which is in avacado and I ate 1 a day!!. So by simply rotating the foods you eat now, you will not allow your body to develope any such allergies etc…this is one option.
[/quote]
Unfortunately I don’t have the option of much variety right now. I’m limited to burgers, eggs, whey, chicken and cottage cheese and I’m already eating 8-10 eggs, 1-3 burgers, 2-3 scoops of whey, 3/4 cup of cottage cheese, and about a pound of chicken every day

[quote]
My current intake of protein is approx 1.4g/lb and fats 0.75g/lb. Prior, it was 2g/lb and fats were closer to 0.5g/lb…so I did drop SOME calories, but this was done over a few weeks. I reduced to 1.75g/lb then 1.5g/lb until I was reaching my fat loss goal/week withouth losing muscle and getting stronger.

GJ[/quote]
Thanks, those numbers would only put me at a little over 2000 calories but it gives me an idea of what your doing at least. What I’ve been doing has been between 1.85-2.0g/lb of protein, I think I will drop protein to 1.75g/lb and keep it at that each day and increase fat by an equivalent amount (~10g on off days and ~20g on workout days) so calories are steady.

As always I’d like to hear Pauli/DH’s opinion first though lol

191

What are your indicator lifts?
Do you have any?

If you’re training hard, getting weaker and putting on fat around your middle -you could have a cortisol issue -you could also have a food allergy (as GymJunkie suggests) -or you could simply be eating too much and training too little.

Do you drink alcohol?

How are your training partners progressing?
Do you have training partners? Are they passing you by?
Are you the weakest in the group -the strongest?

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Pauli D wrote:
pumped340 wrote:
Pauli D wrote:
What is your waist measurement now?
What was it 6 weeks ago?

What is your weight now?
What was your weight 6 weeks ago?

This morning and yesterday morning: 186.6lb 32 5/8in.
September 5th (6 weeks ago): 183.8lb 31 7/8in.

So 3/4in. waist gain for less than 3lb. of weight gain. ugh…

And your indicator lifts…How much progress since Sept 5th?

I couldn’t tell you exact numbers, well I could I guess lol but I can tell you most have not gone up much overall since then. Bench up maybe 5lb., deadlift and front squats I have no idea what happened with my back but out of no where they both went down like crazy (I know it’s not a muscular issue because my back/spine was feeling considerable strain but my other leg and back lifts are all just as high as ever). Military press has gone up a little, same with rows. Some accessory work and Pulldowns have gone up most notably but DB bench has been the same for basically the whole time I’ve been at college (8 weeks or so). Thats definitely the main reason I just switched from 5/3/1 to BBB, I really seemed to stall that last cycle of 5/3/1 that I did.

I really don’t see why that would have made me gain fat at the same body weight though, especially considering some strength was being gained, but I could see it resulting in more of what I gain being fat.

Gymjunkie wrote:

Your protein MAY be too high and thus causing conversion to glucose and stored as fat, rather than you utilising the fat you are taking in. I did not drop calories, rather switched calories, so I did drop some protein and upped the fats, leaving me with similar body weight but a drop in bf. When I suggested dropping intake, I meant equally pro and fats.

Pauli may have a better suggestion, but from what I can see you may not be working hard enough to utilise your nutrient intake.

Another possibility, which I experienced myself a while back when using 2g/lb and not counting fats and trying to gain lean mass, is that you may be allergic to something you are eating and not realise. Get your allergies tested by a kinesiologist! This helped me out alot, leaving me able to gain lean mass without any fat gain using the diet you are on.

GJ

What were you alleric to? I really don’t have that kind of money to be getting tests done right now unfortunately.

Pauli do you have any specific dietary changes you’d make to the weekly diet days?

edit: Just out of curiosity what were your previous ratio’s before switching to 55f/45p? And what are your protein and fat set at now in g/lb of bodyweight?[/quote]

192

Not knowing jack about low carb diets, especially the AD, I did some reading about 18 weeks ago on VLCD and keto diets and decided to give it a shot. I learned I needed to go VLC for essentially two weeks to experience a metabolic shift to preferentially burning fat which was surprisingly easier than a thought. It seems my body is rather happy on low carbs. I basically only re-loaded on carbs for about 3 hours on Saturday afternoons since I was desperately trying to cut down to make a weight class. In fact, looking back at my diet I had these daily numbers for the final 4 weeks with no re-loads just to make weight:

25 carbs - 4.4% of cal
335 protein - 58.4% of cal
95 fat - 37.2% of cal

I did get pretty ripped in my show 3 weeks ago and have one more in another 3 weeks. I’ve since read about 1/2 of the Anabolic Solution and think Dr. Di Pasquale is awesome. In reading some of the threads on this site I concur that the AD takes some tweaking to fit your goals and individual metabolism, etc.

I’ve since bumped up my fat quite a bit over what’s listed above and have gained about 8 pounds in 3 weeks…hopefully quality pounds! I did do a full carb day this past Sunday and actually felt like dog-shit and am happy to be back on low carbs. I know I have a food allergy to gluten and gliadin so that may have been part of the problem.

I’m pumped to adjust my diet closer to the ratio’s prescribed by Dr. Pasquale and focus more on muscle gains via the weekend carb up once my next contest is over. I’m probably going to stick with a 24 hours max carb-up. Thanks to Pauli D and DH for sharing their insights and experiences!

193

[quote]Pauli D wrote:
What are your indicator lifts?
Do you have any?

[/quote]
By indicator lifts I thought you meant the big lifts (deads, squats, MP, bench, rows) like I mentioned above. What did you mean?

Well 5/3/1 was fairly low volume but not that low volume honestly and I was working out 4x per week. Obviously doing a lot of work now with BBB.

I’m not getting weaker but it’s just that strength was coming slowly on 5/3/1 the last cycle or so (did get weaker on deadlift and front squat but that was a back issue or something weird because it was a large sudden drop in just those 2 lifts and I’ve had something similar happen before).

Would a food allergy cause higher fat gain? I stress about school but not sure how high cortisol is really.

I never drink alcohol actually, and no training partners.

194

Hey Welcome aboard, Mark!

Sounds like you have things pretty well dialed in -that’s tremendous!

Car-ups can be tricky for sure -especially with food intolerances. Eating the wrong things can cause all sorts of problems.

Nice work adapting the plan to your goals. That’s good stuff!

~Paul

[quote]Mark74 wrote:
Not knowing jack about low carb diets, especially the AD, I did some reading about 18 weeks ago on VLCD and keto diets and decided to give it a shot. I learned I needed to go VLC for essentially two weeks to experience a metabolic shift to preferentially burning fat which was surprisingly easier than a thought. It seems my body is rather happy on low carbs. I basically only re-loaded on carbs for about 3 hours on Saturday afternoons since I was desperately trying to cut down to make a weight class. In fact, looking back at my diet I had these daily numbers for the final 4 weeks with no re-loads just to make weight:

25 carbs - 4.4% of cal
335 protein - 58.4% of cal
95 fat - 37.2% of cal

I did get pretty ripped in my show 3 weeks ago and have one more in another 3 weeks. I’ve since read about 1/2 of the Anabolic Solution and think Dr. Di Pasquale is awesome. In reading some of the threads on this site I concur that the AD takes some tweaking to fit your goals and individual metabolism, etc.

I’ve since bumped up my fat quite a bit over what’s listed above and have gained about 8 pounds in 3 weeks…hopefully quality pounds! I did do a full carb day this past Sunday and actually felt like dog-shit and am happy to be back on low carbs. I know I have a food allergy to gluten and gliadin so that may have been part of the problem.

I’m pumped to adjust my diet closer to the ratio’s prescribed by Dr. Pasquale and focus more on muscle gains via the weekend carb up once my next contest is over. I’m probably going to stick with a 24 hours max carb-up. Thanks to Pauli D and DH for sharing their insights and experiences![/quote]

195

Pumped,

One suggestion, and I’m sure Pauil would agree with me, is to train in the AM as this will ensure/help you wind down at the end of the day, when test is lower. Cortisol should be high in the morning and low in the evening, ESPECIALLY, if you don’t handle stress well… TRY and chill mentally, as much as possible. Don’t get wound up over assignments due, or tests etc…I know it’s hard, but try. Buy some sort of magnesium supplement if you can, even if its cheap(I wouldn’t normally recomemend this, as it’s kind of a waste, not been quality) given your $$$ situation. Take this after 4pm to help reduce stress and sleep.

Re training, your should be getting stronger by 1-2% or 1-2 reps EVERY WORKOUT…if not, you may need to de-load. This could be ANOTHER issue you are facing and do not realise. When was the last de-load week you had?? If overtrained, you WILL feel depressed, lack motivation, NOT gain any strength, even lose some and cortisol will be higher maybe leading to fat gain in the midsection.

Pauli…??? thoughts.

GJ

196

[quote]pumped340 wrote:
Pauli D wrote:
What are your indicator lifts?
Do you have any?

By indicator lifts I thought you meant the big lifts (deads, squats, MP, bench, rows) like I mentioned above. What did you mean?
[/quote]

I mean: How do you know you’re progressing? Do you keep a training log?

Yes, food allergies can cause fat accumulation, sore joints, foggy thinking, aches, pains, general fatigue and lethargy, sinus pressure, seasonal allergy-like symptoms -and so much more.

Experience any of that?

197

All true.

If you do get magnesium, make sure it ends with “ate”
i.e. = oratate, glycinate, chelate etc…
Magnesium glycinate is awesome as it is a wonderful detoxifier, will improve your sleep, mental focus and attitude.

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
Pumped,

One suggestion, and I’m sure Pauil would agree with me, is to train in the AM as this will ensure/help you wind down at the end of the day, when test is lower. Cortisol should be high in the morning and low in the evening, ESPECIALLY, if you don’t handle stress well… TRY and chill mentally, as much as possible. Don’t get wound up over assignments due, or tests etc…I know it’s hard, but try. Buy some sort of magnesium supplement if you can, even if its cheap(I wouldn’t normally recomemend this, as it’s kind of a waste, not been quality) given your $$$ situation. Take this after 4pm to help reduce stress and sleep.

Re training, your should be getting stronger by 1-2% or 1-2 reps EVERY WORKOUT…if not, you may need to de-load. This could be ANOTHER issue you are facing and do not realise. When was the last de-load week you had?? If overtrained, you WILL feel depressed, lack motivation, NOT gain any strength, even lose some and cortisol will be higher maybe leading to fat gain in the midsection.

Pauli…??? thoughts.

GJ[/quote]

198

[quote]Pauli D wrote:
Hey Welcome aboard, Mark!

Sounds like you have things pretty well dialed in -that’s tremendous!

Car-ups can be tricky for sure -especially with food intolerances. Eating the wrong things can cause all sorts of problems.

Nice work adapting the plan to your goals. That’s good stuff!

~Paul

[/quote]

Thanks, Paul. I didn’t want to go nuts with fast acting carbs, but something about the oats was nbt sitting well with my stomach. Maybe grits with raspberries (fiber) to slow the absoption will suit me better next go-around?

My wife made me these muffins on my low carb day last week which she aptly named Anabolic Muffins… they kick some serious ass!

Ingredients

4 omega-3 enriched whole eggs
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup shredded Colby-jack cheese
Chopped green onions
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Coconut oil
Ground bison â?? seasoned with Braggs seasoning
Parmesan cheese

Cooking Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

  2. Wipe a nonstick muffin pan with coconut oil. In a bowl mix together the eggs, cream, salt, and pepper. Pour a little of this into the bottom of each muffin tin.

  3. Add ground bison, mozzarella, Colby-jack and green onions. On top of this, add the rest of the egg mixture.

  4. Top with Parmesan cheese.

  5. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes uncovered.

199

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
Pumped,

One suggestion, and I’m sure Pauil would agree with me, is to train in the AM as this will ensure/help you wind down at the end of the day, when test is lower. Cortisol should be high in the morning and low in the evening, ESPECIALLY, if you don’t handle stress well… TRY and chill mentally, as much as possible. Don’t get wound up over assignments due, or tests etc…I know it’s hard, but try. Buy some sort of magnesium supplement if you can, even if its cheap(I wouldn’t normally recomemend this, as it’s kind of a waste, not been quality) given your $$$ situation. Take this after 4pm to help reduce stress and sleep.

Re training, your should be getting stronger by 1-2% or 1-2 reps EVERY WORKOUT…if not, you may need to de-load. This could be ANOTHER issue you are facing and do not realise. When was the last de-load week you had?? If overtrained, you WILL feel depressed, lack motivation, NOT gain any strength, even lose some and cortisol will be higher maybe leading to fat gain in the midsection.

Pauli…??? thoughts.

GJ[/quote]

Well as I mentioned I just switched from 5/3/1 (which deloaded every 4th week). Now doing BBB and my first repeated workout is Wednesday so I won’t know how strength is going until then. I don’t feel depressed or anything.

I bought magnesium + zinc + calcium pills awhile back but they didn’t seem to help much, I get up about 2x/night to go to the bathroom.

[quote]Pauli D wrote:
pumped340 wrote:
Pauli D wrote:
What are your indicator lifts?
Do you have any?

By indicator lifts I thought you meant the big lifts (deads, squats, MP, bench, rows) like I mentioned above. What did you mean?

I mean: How do you know you’re progressing? Do you keep a training log?

Would a food allergy cause higher fat gain? I stress about school but not sure how high cortisol is really.

Yes, food allergies can cause fat accumulation, sore joints, foggy thinking, aches, pains, general fatigue and lethargy, sinus pressure, seasonal allergy-like symptoms -and so much more.

Experience any of that?[/quote]

I do keep a training log, most of my strength gain has been in accessory work and a few other lifts but as I mentioned a lot of the main lifts haven’t gotten far, if anywhere, in the last 4-8 weeks. I don’t see why that would cause fat gain if I stayed the same weight but I could see it causing more of what I gain to be fat. Hopefully BBB will help with that.

As for the food allergy, I have experienced fat accumulation obviously lol but not a noticeable amount of the other symptoms. Not to any greater extent than I ever have in the past at least. I don’t think I’m allergic to anything I’m eating but even if I was I’m already limited in what I have available to eat.

Are you in favor of lowering protein and upping fat? Today I had about 20g less protein and 10g more fat and was planning on having workout days 45g less protein (so its 275g/day) and 20g more fat (200g on workout days and 100g on off days)

200

Has anyone done the mass phase of Dr. Di Pasquales Anabolic Solution. It says to figure out what your ideal weight is and add 15%. then multiply that by 25 and that’s how many calories you should consume. I have the book and have went over it lots of times to make sure and this seams extremely high. Also, when I do start should my calories peak immediately or gradually increase.