My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
3362

After 3 weeks, my body seems to be responding nicely to the AD. So far I feel like I’m achieving my goal to remain the same weight, but lose fat and gain muscle. I have more energy, I feel firmer and less flabby and bloated, and my lifts are up slightly. Even if the scale shows I’m basically unchanged, I swear my love handles have gone down a bit. I’m currently 83kg.

However…even after all this positive feedback, the question still comes to my mind that maybe things could be tweaked a bit. Yes, I admit to being guilty of having long term goals, but still looking for instant results!

Am I maybe eating too many nuts or veggies? By my calculations I’m under 30g carbs (net of fiber) every day, but some packages I buy have confusing numbers. For example, the Broccoli/cauliflower/BrusselSprouts that I eat tons of shows these numbers per 100g: 2.1carb and then 2.6 fiber.

So I assume they are already netting the carbs and use 2.1 in my calculations. The nuts I eat are similiar. I’m in Italy, but when I’m confused about something I check on the nal.usda website, but maybe I’ve missed something.

Does this diet look ok?
220g Egg
20g Bacon (no dextrose)
3g Fish Oil Omega-3

30g Mixed Nuts

450g Broc/caul/bruss
32g Extra Vergin Olive Oil
15g Grana Padano (parmesan)
100g Speck (smoked ham, no dextrose)
3g Fish Oil Omega-3

30g Mixed Nuts

112g Tuna
100g Lettuce
32g Extra Vergin Olive Oil
85g Olives
125g Mozzarella
10g Flaxseed whole
50g Chicken Breast
4g Fish Oil Omega-3

100g Mixed Nuts

2909 cals
PRO: 170g (23%)
CHO: 28.2g (4%) net of fiber
FAT: 236g (73%)
Fiber: 28.8g

That was only 16x BW, but I hit 18x most days.

Any tweaking reccomendations?

3363

[quote]VibeAlive wrote:
Well this guy uses them all the time… and really likes them… I dunno… I think we’re ALL different, and some work for others… some don’t… so I’m gunna keep at this…

Thanks for the feeback though…[/quote]

How is it going VibeAlive?

3364

[quote]TigerJim wrote:
After 3 weeks, my body seems to be responding nicely to the AD. So far I feel like I’m achieving my goal to remain the same weight, but lose fat and gain muscle. I have more energy, I feel firmer and less flabby and bloated, and my lifts are up slightly. Even if the scale shows I’m basically unchanged, I swear my love handles have gone down a bit. I’m currently 83kg.

However…even after all this positive feedback, the question still comes to my mind that maybe things could be tweaked a bit. Yes, I admit to being guilty of having long term goals, but still looking for instant results!

Am I maybe eating too many nuts or veggies? By my calculations I’m under 30g carbs (net of fiber) every day, but some packages I buy have confusing numbers. For example, the Broccoli/cauliflower/BrusselSprouts that I eat tons of shows these numbers per 100g: 2.1carb and then 2.6 fiber.

So I assume they are already netting the carbs and use 2.1 in my calculations. The nuts I eat are similiar. I’m in Italy, but when I’m confused about something I check on the nal.usda website, but maybe I’ve missed something.

Does this diet look ok?
220g Egg
20g Bacon (no dextrose)
3g Fish Oil Omega-3

30g Mixed Nuts

450g Broc/caul/bruss
32g Extra Vergin Olive Oil
15g Grana Padano (parmesan)
100g Speck (smoked ham, no dextrose)
3g Fish Oil Omega-3

30g Mixed Nuts

112g Tuna
100g Lettuce
32g Extra Vergin Olive Oil
85g Olives
125g Mozzarella
10g Flaxseed whole
50g Chicken Breast
4g Fish Oil Omega-3

100g Mixed Nuts

2909 cals
PRO: 170g (23%)
CHO: 28.2g (4%) net of fiber
FAT: 236g (73%)
Fiber: 28.8g

That was only 16x BW, but I hit 18x most days.

Any tweaking reccomendations?[/quote]

I think it looks alright. However, maybe that last meal should have some slower digesting protein thrown in there while taking the fat down a little bit. Although this diet is protein-sparing, a little more PRO in your diet couldn’t hurt.

My diet is the same as yours in that I have nuts as a snack in between meals twice a day. For me, it helps keep my protein intake down so I don’t flirt with gluconogenesis (spelling?), but I still try to get at least 200 grams a day at 175 lbs. I remember DH saying that you can eat lower amounts of protein on this diet, but you should still get at least a gram per pound of bodyweight. Hope this helps.

Zac

3365

Newcomer to AD; going on second carb up coming weekend. Diet is awesome and the results are fast and steady. I am consuming around maintenance level of cal and of course my ultimate goal is to increase lean and lose the fat.

How does your approximate macro break look like for the carb up weekends? I am trying to be as clean as possible even during the carb up weekend, using mostly oats and whole grain pastas with some exceptions with ice cream and deserts a like.

Dr. DP talks about high GI w/ low fat will equate to short and intense carb load, while lower GI with combo of pro and fat will give you that longer load period. He doesn?t really go too deeply into the macro break down, so I am wondering, as a newcomer, should I be staying high carb and pro while relatively low in fat?

Dr. DP also talks about how you can go low protein on the weekends after being on the diet ?for a while?. I am wondering do any of you guys practice this, how is the results, and how long on the diet before you tried this out? I realize its different for everyone but wanted to get some general idea of what I can look for when I am trying it out.

BTW this is one of the most informative and the longest freaking thread; thanks for all the great information to all of the contributors on here.

3366

wow, its been quite a week. the water retention from last saturday’s carbup came off in full force. I was 215 on sunday monring and and now 195. The carb cravings and anticipation for the weekend come and go, but are getting less and less i noticed. I still like saturday’s, but the week isn’t hell. Never hungry, can’t beat that.

3367

If you’ll think the AD is awesome, try the Natural Hormonal Enhancement Diet, which is somewhat like the AD only one hundred times better!! It’s the best money I’ve ever spent and the results are mind blowing! It comes with two versions, the fat-loss program and the bodybuilder program, which are truely amazing!

The hormonal effects are undiscribable as well as the strength and fat-burning effects!! It also educates you on fats, warning you on fats that you might think are harmless but can actually destroy your testosterone levels and fat-burning. This is a must! The NHE diet is truely the best diet ever.

3368

[quote]Corona’n’Lime wrote:
If you’ll think the AD is awesome, try the Natural Hormonal Enhancement Diet, which is somewhat like the AD only one hundred times better!! It’s the best money I’ve ever spent and the results are mind blowing! It comes with two versions, the fat-loss program and the bodybuilder program, which are truely amazing!

The hormonal effects are undiscribable as well as the strength and fat-burning effects!! It also educates you on fats, warning you on fats that you might think are harmless but can actually destroy your testosterone levels and fat-burning. This is a must! The NHE diet is truely the best diet ever. [/quote]

Thanks for the info, but it would be appreciated if you started a separate thread for this eating plan.

Post the link here once you do so, and perhaps some people would be more interested and join a conversation about that topic.

Because, IMHO, such an introduction as you have put can easily be read by others as rather rude.

3369

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Thanks for the info, but it would be appreciated if you started a separate thread for this eating plan.

Post the link here once you do so, and perhaps some people would be more interested and join a conversation about that topic.

Because, IMHO, such an introduction as you have put can easily be read by others as rather rude.[/quote]

He probably didn’t meant it that way, but I agree. Also I read up a bit a little while back on the NHE, just a bit to be honest, but it seemed pretty close to the AD with some more detailed information which can be had from other sources if you look.

–Tiribulus->

3370

I weighed in at the same weight as last week(178.5 lbs). I feel much better now, as I’ve seemed to find my maintainence level for calories. I’ve been eating +/- 3500 calories per day, along with 3-4 20 minute HIIT sessions on the stairmaster every week.Last weeks carbup was very clean. It was all oats, whole grain breads, loads of apples, pears, blueberries and some full-fat milk.

Here is my first carbup marcos:
grams cals %total
Total: 3923
Fat: 105 941 26%
Sat: 25 224 6%
Poly: 12 105 3%
Mono: 38 338 9%
Carbs: 549 1847 50%
Fiber: 88 0 0%
Protein: 222 888 24%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

and last weeks:

grams   cals  	%total

Total: 3466
Fat: 114 1027 32%
Sat: 45 405 13%
Poly: 5 47 1%
Mono: 20 183 6%
Carbs: 553 1764 55%
Fiber: 112 0 0%
Protein: 109 438 14%
Alcohol: 0 0 0%

I’d say it was an improvement.

I sort of want to recomp my body now, meaning staying at around the same weight(give or take 5 lbs) and improve my body composition. 200lbs lean is just my long term goal. I don’t expect to reach it anytime soon, as weight lifting requires patience, consistency, and time.

3371

I have to say this again. To anybody lurking about thinking about dabbling with this way of eating. Don’t waste your time unless your willing to give it at least a couple of months. I even read in one of the articles here, can’t remember which, where the author was talking about he and his wife being rubber legged and tired when they tried it and that can only mean it wasn’t given enough time.

As I’ve said already many times, I had these same misgivings for the first several weeks, but I’m heading into my third month now and all that is over. even later in the week.

Today is Friday and this morning’s run was virtually effortless. Workouts are progressing better than ever and I think I’m hitting a growth spurt which has persuaded me to up the cals to a chunk above maintenance.

I started into this looking to get leaner, but have revised my goals. I thought I may not have that much growth left in me at 42, but I think I was wrong. I’ll worry about getting leaner when I see how much meat I can gain.

Right now if I had to guess I’d say I’m about 13-15% BF. My abs which are actually pretty decent, are visible albeit when I tighten up and they’re blurry, but I’m going for some more size.

I know this isn’t in strict compliance with the AD as layed out in the book, but I’m not competing and I’m confident at my age I’ll have an easier time dropping the fat that’s left than gaining size and the clock is ticking on my natural muscle building days.

Last night I was scratching the back of my head and my wife said “holy Shit, look at your arm!”. (you can tell how busy she is and she’s with me all the time so I guess it’s easy not to notice until it’s really obvious) Now, my arms would be a yawn to a lot of people here, but they have grown along with all the rest of me (almost ;-D) to the point where I want more. I’m not going to get more worrying too much about cutting at this juncture.

–Tiribulus->

3372

To all the brand new guys:

I don’t want this to sound like we don’t want to help or at least that I don’t, but definitely read the first 50 or so pages of this thread and absorb the stuff from Disc Hoss and Ilcazzo especially. It’s getting tough to address what everybody asks and most of it has been covered. Also, guys like myself are still pretty new and while I may to be able help somewhat, the vets are definitely better resources.

–Tiribulus->

3373

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
I sort of want to recomp my body now, meaning staying at around the same weight(give or take 5 lbs) and improve my body composition. 200lbs lean is just my long term goal. I don’t expect to reach it anytime soon, as weight lifting requires patience, consistency, and time. [/quote]

This is pretty good % wise, but I think you could trim the protein by a chunk and the fat by a bit still, in my opinion. I don’t know if you ever said how old you are or your stats, but I’ve been really thinking hard lately about the whole bulking, cutting, what are my goals thing.

I really am more convinced than ever that unless you are FAT, it’s tough to put an exact % on it, but in most cases I think we’d be better off worrying more about gaining muscle than getting lean. At least for a while, especially on this diet. I don’t mean anybody in particular necessarily, but this diet is about eating large to get large primarily.

Once the muscle is there it’s going to be that much easier to shed the fat. If you are already FAT then you are going to get leaner just working out and not eating shit food as well as gain muscle for a while.

Rememeber Dr. D’s “don’t go over 10% BF or 15% of ideal contest weight when bulking” principle is for guys trying to get ready for a contest. I wouldn’t mind staying where I’m at, 13-15% (give or take a couple points) if it meant I could make consistent gains. I really think CT’s article about bulking has inadvertantly led a lot of guys to become more preoccupied with not getting fat at the expense of their gains.

I bet you could gain most of the 20 pounds of muscle you eventually want in the next year and some change if you didn’t mind not being Clarence Bass in the meantime.

I was looking back at when I was training like a ferocious predatorial beast years ago and I gained 40 pounds of lean mass in about 2 years, but I was eating like a black hole and I never got actually fat. I just wasn’t ripped along the way either though. I guess you could count the first year where I fumbled around learning and did make some gains, but it wasn’t until the last 2 that I really saw the progress. I had the same girl do the testing each time. What I saw was in line with what her results were telling me.

Losing fat once you’re that much bigger is not much of a problem. Just a long drawn out way of saying. If you want to gain 20 pounds lean before you die you’re going to have to be satisfied with not being cut all the time. Once you drop to a certain level of bodyfat you cannot gain muscle and keep getting leaner. That level is going to vary with the individual. This is a different situation from what the book is talking about where guys are already competing.

–Tiribulus->

3374

[quote]Tiribulus wrote:

Losing fat once you’re that much bigger is not much of a problem. Just a long drawn out way of saying. If you want to gain 20 pounds lean before you die you’re going to have to be satisfied with not being cut all the time. Once you drop to a certain level of bodyfat you cannot gain muscle and keep getting leaner. That level is going to vary with the individual. This is a different situation from what the book is talking about where guys are already competing.

–Tiribulus->[/quote]

The thing is, I’m not even cut to begin with. I’m skinny fat. I look fine with a t-shirt on(you may even suspect that I was lean) but once it comes off, the loose skin and extra fat I have from my massive weight loss a couple years back still rears its ugly head.

My lower back and abdominals seem to be where I store most of my fat. My calves are somewhat ripped, and my arms look skinny. This is why I want to recomp my body. I don’t want to bulk and look like lard ass, or cut and look like skeletor again. I’ll try to take some pics tonight, just to show you what I mean.

3375

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
The thing is, I’m not even cut to begin with. I’m skinny fat. I look fine with a t-shirt on(you may even suspect that I was lean) but once it comes off, the loose skin and extra fat I have from my massive weight loss a couple years back still rears its ugly head.

My lower back and abdominals seem to be where I store most of my fat. My calves are somewhat ripped, and my arms look skinny. This is why I want to recomp my body. I don’t want to bulk and look like lard ass, or cut and look like skeletor again. I’ll try to take some pics tonight, just to show you what I mean.
[/quote]

I don’t mean to sound like I’m trying to tell anyone what they should do, but I really believe you’re underestimating the positive effect 20 pounds of lean mass would have on your physique. For one thing it would eat the remaining fat off your body with much greater efficiency. For another it would tighten that skin up and believe me you would not not look or feel like lard ass.

I became a repugnant beer bellied slob over the past decade plus and I got caught up in the fat loss craze myself when I lost a shitload of it after I started training again. I lost track of what got me into premium shape last time.

To be honest, listening to guys like Professor X, Sasquatch and Rockscar I started to reflect back. It was like what am doing here? I’ve been eating just over maintenance and my strength is going through the roof, for me. Not to mention I’m noticably growing again, much more of both than I thought I would be capable of.

It was like, I ate big last time and I went from under 160 lbs mid twenties bf to 200 plus 6% bf, but I didn’t get really cut until after gaining all that mass. Why would I think it would be different now? Because I’m older? Yes that’s what I was thinking, but no, I believe I was wrong. The more I eat, the bigger and stronger I get and I’m not getting fatter, not leaner either, but not fatter.

I really think you may be making a mistake friend. I’m not saying eat with abandon and become fat again, but you may windup spinning your wheels trying to get a lot leaner before you get a lot bigger. The whole way your metabolism works when you get big would take care of what you’re talking about, even the loose skin, 70% by itself. I’m just throwing it out there.

–Tiribulus->

3376

"Chris, give it time for the hunger to subside. The first few days, even though I was eating lots of cals, I was pretty hungry. That went away fairly quickly. Now, I’m having to make a conscious effort to eat enough.

What frozen veggies are you missing? I eat a ton of frozen veggies- Spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel Sprouts. I cut out corn and peas, but so far I’m not missing them at all."

I’m getting better at incorporating more veggies. On my days off I’ll intake lots more olive oil and less cheese and nuts which will afford me more carbs for frozen veggies. Now I can get at least a couple bags of salad day.

Is anyone in the military following this diet?

3377

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:

I sort of want to recomp my body now, meaning staying at around the same weight(give or take 5 lbs) and improve my body composition. 200lbs lean is just my long term goal. I don’t expect to reach it anytime soon, as weight lifting requires patience, consistency, and time. [/quote]

I’m far from an expert, but from what I gather:

To get to what you want you have to gain weight, if I’m not mistaken. To stay at 175-ish is ok, IMHO, but I think you’d have to gain more weight (LBM) to be able to lose fat and stay that weight.

By trying to lose weight, in order to improve body comp, you will go under your goat of staying 175, I think.

I’d guess to get to about 195 then reduce calories (‘cut weight’) would get you to where you want. Otherwise, it may be a loooooonnnnngggg journey to your goals.

Again, I’m no expert…maybe someone else can say it better.

3378

Thanks all. I guess the 5lb weight increase last week just scared me. I don’t want to gain weight that rapidly. 1-2lbs per week, sure, but 5? No way.

4000 calories was probably just too much for me. I’ll try to bulk slightly above maintainence to ensure muscle gain with minimal fat gain. Isn’t the muscle:fat ratio more favorable on the AD than the standard high carb bulk diet? That’s really what I’m after.

3379

[quote]abcd1234 wrote:
Isn’t the muscle:fat ratio more favorable on the AD than the standard high carb bulk diet? That’s really what I’m after.[/quote]

I think so…mostly because our bodies use fat instead of carbs as fuel, thus actually reducing stored fat…assuming we’re not trying to force feed ourselves to grow (i.e…I think that many people try to “force” their muscles to grow by eating way too much).

I think that maybe there is a limit to how much the muscles can absorb and utilize.

Again, I’m freakin’ far from an expert and if I’m wrong, I’d appreciate corrections.

3380

I would just like to ask for the opinion of any competitive atheletes on this diet. I have a rugby match tomorrow and was just wondering if any of you guys do carb ups before something athletic like that. Normally I get very bloated and retain 5-8 lbs of water, so I’m thinking it might be best to wait until after the match?

Thanks.

Also, did the spark notes document ever get made up for this thread? If it did I"d appreciate a PM.

3381

Just thought i would give an update to my cutting phase on this diet, i started on 14% and a slight appearance of the top 2 abs,

Now half way through my schedule i have dropped down to 11% with clear definition of the my 4 top abs and the bottom 2 slowly coming through. This is pretty much the first time in my life that i have got this lean as i was last year at 25% BF.

I dont count calories durring my carb ups as im cutting during the 5-6 days protein fat days and its below maintance.

I just make sure that im roughly over 700g of carbs for the first carb up day and 200-300g for the second day.

I am an endomorphic person “puts fat on quicker than muscle”

I will post some pics in at the end of the month to show a before and after.

Should be interesting :slight_smile:

Hope everyone else gets the results they want, it’s all about adjusting the diet to your needs