My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
3262

[quote]msundi83 wrote:
I suppose the crash could happen at any time really. I don’t think the switch to fat burning necessarily happens like flipping a switch. It could occur gradually I bet and you wife just happened to experience it a little later than most. I never really crashed on this diet and I know that i’m following it correctly. Everyone is different.
[/quote]

I did have a short, maybe 10 hour crash on the evening of day 5. She responds unconventionally to all kinds of dietary things so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by this. I just wanted to see what some other folks thought.

–Tiribulus->

3263

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
msundi83 wrote:
i think you look fine IMO. I don’t worry too much about ratios of fats. I just make sure I get some good fats in there too.

Don’t ever worry about getting too few carbs on a low carb day. Just eat enough veggies and make sure your less than 30 and you should be golden.

So, is the AD basically CKD? I read in the book that the intention is to not be in ketosis and that on it you eat enough carbs to stay out of ketosis. So what’s the deal?

BTW, my first carbup is the day after tomorrow. It’s a light leg day for me. Should I get my WO over with before starting to carbup? I don’t want to be comatose before I workout…[/quote]

abcd1234,

Remember, ketosis is not the goal of the AD, it is simply a state that we pass through during our induction. As msundi83 mentioned, focus on limiting your CHO intake and moderate on your fat and protein intake. Speaking of which, have you gone through the induction phase?

As far as training before your carb up, I would definitely recommend doing so. As you can see in the article posted a couple of pages ago, glycogen supercompensation is optimal post workout.

Your macros look good and as was mentioned, just test the waters and adjust. While the AD is fantastic, you still need to structure your approach because otherwise you won’t achieve your goals.

Cheers,

Sasha

3264

I am in agreement with all the above posts. Get you workout in before your carbup. It is not totally necessary I suppose, but I think (1) it allows for some supercomposition because you deplete and prime your muscles a bit and (2) because it is kinda like a reward for getting through a bad ass workout.

The differences between CKD and AD in practice aren’t worth arguing really. I eat virtually the same on both.

3265

I was addressing the energy thing actually. It didn’t seem to matter early on for me. I didn’t get any more energy until late Saturday/Sunday morning. Each week is getting noticably better though.

–Tiribulus->

3266

What kind of cardio should be done for those of us looking to lean up?

Lots of info on HIIT and slow pace stuff, but what is truly good for us AD’ers? The info is more geared towards people who are on regular carb diets so this past 2 weeks I’ve mixed up the cardio. Other than that I’m training west side for skinny bastards - but I’m by no means “skinny.” Upper body is okay but got a belly - glad it doesn’t hang or stick out past my chest.

One day I did 10mins of skip rope straight. Another day I did:
1min skiprope supersetted with dumbbell snatches for 5 reps each arm.
1min skiprope ss with dumbbell swings 5 reps each arm.
1min skprope ss with 8reps of pushpresses.
30 seconds rest between each set.
Then I do that twice.
Gets me real taxed in 10mins but not to the point where I need to sit down and pant or anything.

Did that same workout this wednesday.
Today I tried 1 minute skiprope with 1 minute rest for 15 sets. I figure try this lower intensity workout cause I read how lower intensity focuses more on fat as energy v.s. HIIT which depletes more glyco.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Anyway, I was having trouble dropping the fat and SashaG, thanks for your response and info. I’m going to try and limit the pork products. Sucks I just bought 3 lbs of bacon before I got my laptop working. I’m going to polish that off and see how life goes.

But I did notice that this past week my stomach did reduce very slightly so I hope my body is dialing in finally.

3267

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Tiribulus, regarding the shitty workouts: my strength levels have been a rollercoster lately, up and down. This may be due to the fact that I just started working out again a few weeks back. I’m not very strong to begin with, but I’m going to stick with it and try to progress.

I’m very patient and am willing to give the diet time before I judge it. I just hope I’m able to get significant gains off of it(considering I’m still relatively new and just got back into working out after a six week layoff)

Sasha, today is my final day on the induction phase. Tomorrow, my carbup begins. I’m thinking of doing an AM leg workout. Afterwards, would something containing loads of simple sugars(I don’t have dextrose, malto, or Surge or anything like that) be optimal? Would it be best to eat higher GI foods Saturday, then gradually get more and more complex carbs in?

Thanks again, everyone.

3268

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
Thanks for all the advice everyone.

Tiribulus, regarding the shitty workouts: my strength levels have been a rollercoster lately, up and down. This may be due to the fact that I just started working out again a few weeks back. I’m not very strong to begin with, but I’m going to stick with it and try to progress.

I’m very patient and am willing to give the diet time before I judge it. I just hope I’m able to get significant gains off of it(considering I’m still relatively new and just got back into working out after a six week layoff)

Thanks again, everyone. [/quote]

I’ll be honest. I got sceptical a couple times, thinking “Man, I could go heavier, longer before”. Then, like I said above, I just thought, it isn’t fair not to give it time to fully take over and I’m tellin ya, I’m at my strongest right now and have been all week.

Each week gets better. This shouldn’t be surprising since guys who’ve been doing this for years say exactly that. Give it time.

–Tiribulus->

3269

So far a lot of my lifts have been jumping each week.

The induction phase was shitty training though. I felt tired and not too motivated to go workout.

So far it looks like training on a friday before the weekend carbup may be the best route, I’ve been saving my repetition days for saturday after my morning breakfast which is loaded with toast, waffles, some brown rice, and mostly egg white omelette.

The pump is incredible. I haven’t felt these pumps even on regular carb loaded diet so I love it.

Sometimes the pump seems to last thru wednesday and thursday I look normal again.

3270

I have an off topic question for my fellow AD’ers. Because I’m doing the AD (still dialing it in, though) and I think you guys/girls(?) have the most right to input on it:

I was approached by the manager of my gym last night. She asked me to lead a class (highly aerobic workout…either combat based or that bodypump stuff) for once a week.

At the risk of flaming, I’m considering it because 1) I have lots of time on my hands. 2) It would be good for me to meet more people (foreigner in a foreign land). 3) I think my cardiovascular health has gone down to a near rock bottom level.

BUt I have not said yes, yet.

My quesions are:

a) As long as I keep the cals up to compensate for the activity (and my workout schedule will change to accommodate, of course), will this affect my progress on the AD?

I’m doing a bulk, btw.

b) Should I change anything about my current AD plan?

3271

You may get differing views on this and I honestly don’t know what combat or bodypump aerobics means, but unless you’re really overdoing it, Ican’t imagine how once a week is going to bother you.

Look I underatnd this is Testosterone Nation after all, but I do think some guys get a little anal when someone says they’re interested in anything other than face bursting weight training. No flaming here for sure. If it improves your life, that’s all that matters. It’s not like you’re giving up the weights for sweatin to the oldies or something.

–Tiribulus->

3272

You’ll need to adjust the calories for sure, and if you’re leading the class, you’ll need to be in better shape than the class. To get there is going to take work and more calories. I lift 4 days a week and HIIT for 30min 4-5 days. And I’ve been doing the AD for a long time. No problems. It’s about calories and sticking to the prescribed macronutrient ratios.

And unlike a lot of folks on the site, I tend to think that balance between lifting and energy system work is paramount to healthy living. You can still bulk by increasing your calories dramatically, but the increased cardio will take a demand. Results will be slower to be realized. And you need to be aware of the increased chance of overtraining. I suggest you get your lifting routine very efficient and work on decreasing time between sets. You can increase your anerobic capacity that way… it will have transfer value. The body is a wonderful, adaptive thing. Just give it time to adjust. And listen carefully.

Sorry if this seemed like a rant.

3273

[quote]vasudeva wrote:
You’ll need to adjust the calories for sure, and if you’re leading the class, you’ll need to be in better shape than the class. To get there is going to take work and more calories. I lift 4 days a week and HIIT for 30min 4-5 days. And I’ve been doing the AD for a long time. No problems. It’s about calories and sticking to the prescribed macronutrient ratios.

And unlike a lot of folks on the site, I tend to think that balance between lifting and energy system work is paramount to healthy living. You can still bulk by increasing your calories dramatically, but the increased cardio will take a demand. Results will be slower to be realized. And you need to be aware of the increased chance of overtraining. I suggest you get your lifting routine very efficient and work on decreasing time between sets. You can increase your anerobic capacity that way… it will have transfer value. The body is a wonderful, adaptive thing. Just give it time to adjust. And listen carefully.

Sorry if this seemed like a rant. [/quote]

Great points about the class and I’m one guy for sure who’s with ya on the “energy system” work. If I had to choose between ultimate size and long term health I’ll take being around and kickin a good while longer and cardio work is just plain healthy. I gotta say though you do a bunch more than I do.

On a different note I’m quite excited by the way my training is progressing now on the AD. As I’ve said already, I had some ups and downs for the first few weeks, but man it is goin now.

Today I put up 20 more pounds than last Saturday for flat benches hoping to get six if everything went perfect. I warmed up stretched out, got the concentration going and went to it. I got eight on the first set and probably would’ve failed on the ninth. I sat up somewhat taken aback like “where the hell did that come from”. I’m really geeked now and can’t wait to train legs on Monday.

I have to say it again… it must be given time. The induction phase and shift are just that. It takes longer for you to really to see what it’ll do for you.

–Tiribulus->

3274

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
vasudeva wrote:
You’ll need to adjust the calories for sure, and if you’re leading the class, you’ll need to be in better shape than the class. To get there is going to take work and more calories. I lift 4 days a week and HIIT for 30min 4-5 days. And I’ve been doing the AD for a long time. No problems. It’s about calories and sticking to the prescribed macronutrient ratios.

And unlike a lot of folks on the site, I tend to think that balance between lifting and energy system work is paramount to healthy living. You can still bulk by increasing your calories dramatically, but the increased cardio will take a demand. Results will be slower to be realized. And you need to be aware of the increased chance of overtraining. I suggest you get your lifting routine very efficient and work on decreasing time between sets. You can increase your anerobic capacity that way… it will have transfer value. The body is a wonderful, adaptive thing. Just give it time to adjust. And listen carefully.

Sorry if this seemed like a rant.

Great points about the class and I’m one guy for sure who’s with ya on the “energy system” work. If I had to choose between ultimate size and long term health I’ll take being around and kickin a good while longer and cardio work is just plain healthy. I gotta say though you do a bunch more than I do.

On a different note I’m quite excited by the way my training is progressing now on the AD. As I’ve said already, I had some ups and downs for the first few weeks, but man it is goin now.

Today I put up 20 more pounds than last Saturday for flat benches hoping to get six if everything went perfect. I warmed up stretched out, got the concentration going and went to it. I got eight on the first set and probably would’ve failed on the ninth. I sat up somewhat taken aback like “where the hell did that come from”. I’m really geeked now and can’t wait to train legs on Monday.

I have to say it again… it must be given time. The induction phase and shift are just that. It takes longer for you to really to see what it’ll do for you.

–Tiribulus->[/quote]

Thanks for the words guys, and good deal Tirib.

Maybe this is stupid, but how can I judge how much extra cals I’ll need for both my “working up to it” phase as well as my “doing the job” phase?

Or is it simply back to “eat when you’re hungry?”

Again, thanks to both of you.

3275

Actually, I take back the “eat when you’re hungry,” because sometimes I don’t feel hungry at all when on the AD.

So my question still stands: How can I judge how much more cals I need to eat?

thanks for your patience and help.

3276

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Actually, I take back the “eat when you’re hungry,” because sometimes I don’t feel hungry at all when on the AD.

So my question still stands: How can I judge how much more cals I need to eat?

thanks for your patience and help.

[/quote]

I hear ya on the not feeling hungry thing. I had to start setting the alarm on my pda at work or I may go four hours or better without eating which wouldn’t kill me, but I try to stay to some semblance of a schedule.

As far as calories, the tricky part may be figuring out what you’re burning. It may pay to just do like the book says and add a few hundred cals a day for a week or two and see how it goes. I’m sure you could’ve found this your self, but this:

NutriStrategy: List of Calories Burned During Exercise may help get you in the ballpark. It should be easier figuring for only one day a week though, or so it seems.

There’s some discussion about this type of thing earlier in the thread, but this thread has all, but gone totally outta hand with it’s size.

–Tiribulus->

3277

So today was my usual Sunday Meeting…and, as usual, everyone gathered for a gorge-fest of horrible mixtures of food.

I, however, did my best to stick to the principles of the AD.

Of course, the questions commenced at that point. I don’t think I need to go through them, but let’s say they ranged from “Why put yourself through that kind of work (counting cals/etc)?” to “That’s NOT healthy!”

I’m sure everyone who has been seen doing the AD has been asked these and many other questions/accusations.

I mean, it was like suddenly I became the center of 20 people…while some merely listened, most were, well…dogmatically against the AD.

ANYWAY:

This has GOT go have been asked before, but I eat quite a bit of eggs (fried in butter, scrambled, etc) on the AD and couldn’t answer the question correctly, so I hope someone can help my future answer about how eating so many eggs can not be a health (cholesterol) risk (assuming one eats enough “proper” veggies).

Any help, please?

2nd…I’ve been asked by a few people for a copy of the cliff notes I’m copy/pasting into WORD. I’ll gladly share it but it’s not even 1/2 way through the thread…there is only so much I can do, ya know. Please be patient.

3278

Yes, this is inevitable. You really can’t blame most people I suppose. From their point of view the “experts” whose word you should be able to trust are telling them the diametric opposite of what you are.

I’ve been sifting through the stuff here: THINCS/The Cholesterol Myths - some astonishing facts lately. The bald truth is that pharmaceutical companies fund the vast majority of research and it is decidedly not in their interest to publish findings that render their drugs less necessary. It’s not so much that the studies are usually done incorrectly, though they sometimes are, but the interpretaions of the results border on the outright fantastic at times.

These folks www.lowcarb.ca/ keep up on the news really well. These should help get you some info.

–Tiribulus->

3279

Hey. I just wanted to comment on something i haven’t seen on here, and i want some answers!

People have said things about how sweaty you get during cardio, and lifting, on the AD.

Now, i’m loving this diet. For all the same reasons we all are. Strength is returning, alertness is improved, i love meat etc.

But i got lucky the other night, and let’s just say i sweated more than i wanted to. I felt a bit weird. No big problems, but i was unusually lubed! (no homo)

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Because i don’t want to get a rep as ‘that guy’ (for the wrong reasons)

Cheers

3280

[quote]dannyrat wrote:
i don’t want to get a rep as ‘that guy’ (for the wrong reasons)

Cheers[/quote]

You a gigilo or something? ;-D Aside from setting up shop in a walk in freezer, I don’t know what you’re going to be able to do about that.

–Tiribulus->

3281

My first carbup is going ok, I suppose. I started eating mainly high/med GI foods yesterday(lots of yogurt, milk, sushi, WW breads/muffins,etc.) I also had a huge cheat meal at dinner(huge portions, potatoes, dessert, the works). Today, I’m eating lower GI foods like oats, beans, and fruit. I didn’t even really count calories yesterday, but today, I’ll try to stick at around 4000, with 50-60% carbs today.