Anybody kick their carb cravings?
I notice that about 3.5 days after a carb up, I get serious cravings again. Fortunately, that means I only have 2 days left until I carb up, so it is not so much an issue. But last night it was quite challenging. I was craving carbs bad and junk food commercials were all over the TV. Anybody else experiencing this? It always happends halfway through my fourth day.
Smithers,
I get these cravings as well, vets said they should go away after a few months. On diets where you are allowed no carbs, I never really had them because I knew I couldn't eat carbs, but since I know that carbs are good on this diet, I do find myself anxious for the weekend towards wed. night. I also start craving P+F meals after about half a day on carbs. I always want what I can't have :( lol. Only a few more days...just remember that even though people around you are eating carbs, there are people like me and the other people on this thread that are in the same boat as you. We gotta stick together. Just close your eyes and imagine that 6-pack you will be sporting come summer.
Brian
[quote]FadeIntoBig wrote:
I started a controlled-carb diet on Monday 1/25/10 to lose body fat and improve insulin resistance, with the idea to transition into the AD diet once I’ve become fully fat-adapted and have reduced BF. My ultimate goal is a total recomp. and to do this right, I want to get BF down to around 10% before starting a bulk (as Pauli has suggested). I have not done a carb-load yet and am planning right now to wait until after next Friday to do so (so 25 days before the first load).
Generally I feel great, have had few cravings and have not been above 20 g / day of carbs yet. Strength and endurance are good. Had my first crappy workout after starting this past Wednesday.
[/quote]
Just wanted to drop an update in here of my experiences for those thinking of doing an extended “induction period” before the first carb load.
My BW has dropped from 210 to 195, and after last Wed’s (bad) workout, I started to get a case of the flu that lasted up until yesterday. It lasted about a week but was pretty low-grade for the most part except for the first couple of days of this week. During that time I lost only an additional 3 lbs. (surprising 'cause this was the stomach flu), so that didn’t account for the majority of the weight lost. The main thing is I actually set a few all-time PR’s in the gym today, which was pretty surprising to me. I’m pretty sure the PR’s weren’t a result of time-off from being in an over-trained state prior to the flu - it’s hard to recover from over-training with the flu - but more attributable to the change in diet. After shaking the flu, I’ve felt the best I have in a long time, also attributable to the new diet I think.
Haven’t done the first carb-load yet and (since an important goal for me is to get insulin resistance under control), I will probably hold off until I start to lose strength or see other indications of muscle catabolism going on. That said, I can’t wait to see what kind of progress I make after I truly start using the AD with carb loads and all!
Ok its me… confused!
Got my bf measured yesterday. It stayed allmost the same for the last 7 weeks.
My bodyweight is fluctuating a bit, nothing special.
This week (week 7) I dropped 4/500 cals and it really looks different, i see the changes in the mirror…
Since the start I lost 5cm , almost 2 inches at my waist…
So all in all, my body in changing but my bf isnt… which would be pretty cool, because i want a single diggit this summer 
I train doggcrapp, strength goes well, but i really doubt to continue with this combination… Maybe some regular volume training will help me cut faster.
Any toughts?
[quote]protein-pro wrote:
Ok its me… confused!
Got my bf measured yesterday. It stayed allmost the same for the last 7 weeks.
My bodyweight is fluctuating a bit, nothing special.
This week (week 7) I dropped 4/500 cals and it really looks different, i see the changes in the mirror…
Since the start I lost 5cm, almost 2 inches…
So all in all, my body in changing but my bf isnt… which would be pretty cool, because i want a single diggit this summer
I train doggcrapp, strength goes well, but i really doubt to continue with this combination… Maybe some regular volume training will help me cut faster.
Any toughts?
[/quote]
Try some metabolic circiuts, release some growth hormones and get a blood shift going to burn some fat!
[quote]tams88 wrote:
[quote]protein-pro wrote:
Ok its me… confused!
Got my bf measured yesterday. It stayed allmost the same for the last 7 weeks.
My bodyweight is fluctuating a bit, nothing special.
This week (week 7) I dropped 4/500 cals and it really looks different, i see the changes in the mirror…
Since the start I lost 5cm, almost 2 inches…
So all in all, my body in changing but my bf isnt… which would be pretty cool, because i want a single diggit this summer
I train doggcrapp, strength goes well, but i really doubt to continue with this combination… Maybe some regular volume training will help me cut faster.
Any toughts?
[/quote]
Try some metabolic circiuts, release some growth hormones and get a blood shift going to burn some fat!
[/quote]
Lol just finished my first… i just made the plan to do them on my restday(s)
Pro - Do you track your cals to the T? Im sure you have a pretty good handle on it, but if you dont it can be easy to ad a hundred extra carbs every day.
What do your cals look like now? Maybe consider dropping them another 500?
I am a pretty firm believer in using your diet for fat loss. I think for the most part, if you bust your ass in the gym 4 or 5 times a week and have your diet straight you should lose weight. Some types of training may work better than others for fat loss, but again, I am not sure that isnt majoring in the minor stuff.
Also, what do your carb ups look like? I feel like I am losing a little fat, slowly, but I think if I limited my carb ups, maybe to once every 10 days (once again, like CT recommends), I would make better progress. You might be ruining everything you are doing during the week with your carb ups.
Ok, I just weighed in at 196 lbs. That means I am up 1.5 lbs from last week. Strange. I weigh in on the same scale, on the same day, at the same time of day, following the same exact eating protocal, so I know the deviation in the weight is accurate.
However, I am putting myself in a caloric deficit, why did I not see weight loss? BTW, this is the end of Week 5, and I am 1.5lbs up from my starting weight (after the initial weight loss due to glycogen depleetion). The calories I have taken in are based on non-exercise day requirements, so they have only been around 2000 +/- 20 cals.
One idea is:
I have been sick all week with a cold, which means I have not be training at all. However, I have stuck to the diet. Is it possible that I have gained muscle due to supercompensation from not training all week (like a deload week?), while in a caloric deficit?
Second idea:
Since I have not trained all week, am I still holding stored glycogen? If so, I guess that would explain the extra weight. If this is the case, should I still carb up this weekend?
I wish I could have BF measurements and stuff done, but I dont know anyone around here that does this. However, I do feel more lean, but that just might be my imagination going.
[quote]smithers584 wrote:
Pro - Do you track your cals to the T? Im sure you have a pretty good handle on it, but if you dont it can be easy to ad a hundred extra carbs every day.
What do your cals look like now? Maybe consider dropping them another 500?
I am a pretty firm believer in using your diet for fat loss. I think for the most part, if you bust your ass in the gym 4 or 5 times a week and have your diet straight you should lose weight. Some types of training may work better than others for fat loss, but again, I am not sure that isnt majoring in the minor stuff.
Also, what do your carb ups look like? I feel like I am losing a little fat, slowly, but I think if I limited my carb ups, maybe to once every 10 days (once again, like CT recommends), I would make better progress. You might be ruining everything you are doing during the week with your carb ups.[/quote]
I calculate and register everything that goes in…dropped this week from 3000-3300 to 2600-2800 (containing 220-240gr protein, rest fat) pretty low cals for a 240 pound guy, but my metabolism sucks, and the 3000 is my maintainance level. I want to go to 2200 if next week the magic still doesnt happen… but 2200 is for a girl, not a big boy 
How terrible can your metabolism be???
The carb-up now is 36 hours, starting saturday morning. It fits best in my social scedule this way.
Oatmeal, bread, pasta and a 1 or 2 junkmeals a day. totals about 4000 cals.
It is so weird i look better and lost 2 inches on my waist isnt it?
^^^ Yeah, I think I am experiencing the same thing. My wife keeps telling me how much better she can see my muscles, and I measured around my waist this morning and I am a little more than two inches down from the start.
You are telling me about the cals, this week I hit 2000 cals +/- 20 and I gained 1.5 lbs, what the hell? I think it is strange because it goes against everything we have ever been taught about losing fat and putting on muscle at the same time, but that has to be what is happening here. I am getting stronger (noticeably), I am getting leaner (according to others, I feel like it also), and my weight stayed the same for a while and has increased slightly on my week off.
Quick question, can someone answer me by tomoro PLEASE lol. Can i change my one day carb up from sun to sat, as didnt have enough cho last week realy craving it. will this be ok? It will only be my 2nd carb up weather it is tomoro or sun. Help. Thanks Tams
[quote]tams88 wrote:
Quick question, can someone answer me by tomoro PLEASE lol. Can i change my one day carb up from sun to sat, as didnt have enough cho last week realy craving it. will this be ok? It will only be my 2nd carb up weather it is tomoro or sun. Help. Thanks Tams[/quote]
This is fine. Are you going to change it to Saturday permanently, or just for this weekend? Basically, you are in “fat burning” mode right now, so if you carb up Sat. instead of Sun., you are cutting yourself short one day of fat burning. However, if you arent going to carb up until next Sunday (after this weekend), then you will add a fat burning day back in next week, so I think it would be fine.
Even if you want to change your day from Sun. to Sat. for the rest of your AD experience, it should not be an issues, its only 1 day. Keep in mind, whatever makes it easiest for you to comply to the diet is going to increase your likelyhood of success. This does not mean cheating (other than your CHO days), but if switching from Sat. to Sun. fits your lifestyle better, go for it. I would not do it just to give in to the cravings though, I would just pick whichever day works best for you.
Tams -
I see nothing wrong with doing Saturday instead. Some people do the full Saturday, Sunday CHO up, myself included. So they are spacing 5 days between the start and end of each load. Since you stopped on a Sunday, there is no Problem starting again on a Saturday this time. There are 5 days in between.
You’re good to load 
-Adam
Pretty cool stuff. Very AD similar. The article itself is not that great but if you take a look at the discussion part of the thread (click “Discuss” at the bottom of the article) they have some good info and studies of fat loss with low-carb diets.
-Adam
Its ok, have refrained from being a pig. I will get over it and do carb up tomoro as planned. !
Thankyou all. Only a day left, knowing this makes it easy. xxxxxxxxxxx
[quote]protein-pro wrote:
Ok its me… confused!
Got my bf measured yesterday. It stayed allmost the same for the last 7 weeks.
My bodyweight is fluctuating a bit, nothing special.
This week (week 7) I dropped 4/500 cals and it really looks different, i see the changes in the mirror…
Since the start I lost 5cm , almost 2 inches at my waist…
So all in all, my body in changing but my bf isnt… which would be pretty cool, because i want a single diggit this summer
I train doggcrapp, strength goes well, but i really doubt to continue with this combination… Maybe some regular volume training will help me cut faster.
Any toughts?
[/quote]
Pro, how are you measuring BF and what range BF % are you talking here (if I missed it, sorry)?
I mean if you were already 10-12% when you started, it’s going to be pretty tough to drop that much w/o some pretty large changes in calorie intake and exercise protocol and maybe a little muscle lost.
And to paraphrase some of the old hands in these threads, don’t worry about the scale (or BF measurements), let the mirror do the talking.
About DC training, if you are gaining strength on that, then a) your body must be pretty healthy metabolically, because that is a very intense workload and b) I’d stick with whatever is working until it stops working. I mean if the main goal is adding quality mass, then unless someone is a novice, if they’re gaining strength they’re also gaining muscle.
Oh my god. I feel so sick! I HATE carbs. Why do I look forward to sundays all week then feel like shit when I get there. Ha. My 4th week next week. Want to start getting a bit more se3rious with the whole fat loss. I guess if i can resist eating cream this will be a start. Not going to drop dramaticaly just a little to see how little change i can get away with making. How did all your loads go, hope you dont all feel as sick as me. x
[quote]FadeIntoBig wrote:
[quote]protein-pro wrote:
Ok its me… confused!
Got my bf measured yesterday. It stayed allmost the same for the last 7 weeks.
My bodyweight is fluctuating a bit, nothing special.
This week (week 7) I dropped 4/500 cals and it really looks different, i see the changes in the mirror…
Since the start I lost 5cm , almost 2 inches at my waist…
So all in all, my body in changing but my bf isnt… which would be pretty cool, because i want a single diggit this summer
I train doggcrapp, strength goes well, but i really doubt to continue with this combination… Maybe some regular volume training will help me cut faster.
Any toughts?
[/quote]
Pro, how are you measuring BF and what range BF % are you talking here (if I missed it, sorry)?
I mean if you were already 10-12% when you started, it’s going to be pretty tough to drop that much w/o some pretty large changes in calorie intake and exercise protocol and maybe a little muscle lost.
And to paraphrase some of the old hands in these threads, don’t worry about the scale (or BF measurements), let the mirror do the talking.
About DC training, if you are gaining strength on that, then a) your body must be pretty healthy metabolically, because that is a very intense workload and b) I’d stick with whatever is working until it stops working. I mean if the main goal is adding quality mass, then unless someone is a novice, if they’re gaining strength they’re also gaining muscle.
[/quote]
my bf is 15-16% my goal is a single diggit… dont care about the strength or gaining more, <10% is the one thing that counts this year, dont care if its with 200 or 220 pounds…
i quit doggcrapp for now and start some normal sets&reps om manday an thuesday after my carbups and add some lactic acid circuits on thursday and friday… how does that sound?
With all the current hype regarding peri-workout nutrition (I’m thinking pre/post-workout carb loading, etc), what do you ADers ingest around the workout period?
[quote]protein-pro wrote:
i quit doggcrapp for now and start some normal sets&reps om manday an thuesday after my carbups and add some lactic acid circuits on thursday and friday… how does that sound?
[/quote]
Wish I knew enough to tell you how that sounds but I won’t pretend to 