[quote]sarah1 wrote:
This is a question to all of you on the thread…
I’m wanting to start the AD, but as it seems most people have, I have reservations about veggies. However, veggies, ARE carbs. I looked up the carb profile on the veggies I eat (broccoli, bell peppers, green beans, cucmbers, spinach, and romaine lettuce) and they average about 2-6 g. NET carbs per cup. Well, I eat about 12-15 cups a day, that gets me to 60 carbs all ready, and throw in the few from protein powder, I’m at 80. This according to the AD would be way too high. Would the diet then not work?
Could some of you who have had such great success post one day’s food as an example?
Second of all, do you find you can eat a lot more on this diet without gaining fat?
Third, how long does the bloat from the refeed last?
Fourth, would it be advantageous to have a mid week carb up (one day) and just one day on the weekend?
Also, do you eat fats BEFORE working out if you workout very early in the morning? I just can’t stomach fats that early. Should I just eat protein? Would my body go into “protein burning” mode?
Any insights would be VERY appreciated.
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First and foremost, that’s A LOT of vegetables. I thought I ate a lot of 'em…
My experience is this: I don’t count veggies whatsoever. I treat them as water. I eat them with as many meals as I can and in varying quantities.
Fact of the matter is that veggies have been shown to increase insulin sensitivity, which translate to better uptake of glucose in our muscles in our carb-loads → better performance in our workout → higher energy expenditure → higher food intake → higher G-Flux. And, of course, it seems that establishing a high G-Flux is the key to reaching our athletic and physique goals.
Soooo… don’t count 'em. Besides, the majority register <15 on the GI scale and actually require calories just to digest (potentially making them a negative calorie food, although I’d prefer you not quote me on that).
As far as my food intake, I take in anywhere between 3300-3700 calories/day, depending on how much my body wants me to eat. I eat about a dozen eggs/day and the rest of my calories (I don’t count veggies or fish oil caps, of which I take 10/day) come from 20% fat ground beef (this is what you’ll find generally at fast food joints and is the cheap ground beef at grocery stores) and cheese.
In general, I would say I can eat a lot more food on this diet and not add fat the way I would on a higher carb diet. I wouldn’t take this testimony as an excuse to eat more on your part, but I’m simply saying that I take in more calories per day and am slightly leaner on a regular weekly basis. Again, your best bet is to simply eat when you are hungry and not get too caught up in the # of calories you eat per day. Watch the mirror and every now and then take a look at the scale.
“The bloat”, or when you hold subcutaneous water is, for me, the one drawback to the diet. Simply put, it’s not the best of looks. Allow me to illustrate: I carb-load Friday and Saturday, once I start holding water on Saturday, I stop the carb-load, and generally really dislike the why I look (which is kind of ironic, because typically 2 hours before this point I’m just loving my full muscles). Come Sunday, I typically look the same as the night before, and come Monday, I’m usually about 75% flushed of the water, and then Tuesday I look and feel great.
Don’t let the bloat scare you away from the diet. There are things you can do to minimize it. Drinking more water, eating asparagus for the first couple days after the load, and avoiding sodium all help flush the water away more quickly. Finally, there is the option of doing a 1 and 1 carb-up, that is, a Saturday and a Wednesday carb-up, which brings me to your last question.
I think that the 1 and 1 might help minimize the “bloated” look by shortcircuiting the glycogen supercompensation (basically, the more carbs you eat, the more water you hold… and essentially halving your carb-loads in to two loads should minimize the pendulum). To be fair, I have not actually tried the 1 and 1, but I’m considering it being that I will be abroad in another country with hopefully many beautiful, exotic ladies, and looking bloated if only for a day or two simply doesn’t fit in to my agenda very well.
Still, I wonder about the 1 and 1… I have a gut feeling that it’s less effective for muscle gain and fat loss in that you never quite reach a glycogen supercompensation, which has all sorts of special effects on the body. It should, in theory, keep you looking good though. Anyone else have an opinion on this?! I only have two more days 'til I’m outta here and I’ve been toying with the idea for a long time…
As far as what to eat before working out, your best bet is always to get more fat calories than protein. The crux of the diet is fat adaptation and thus free-fatty acid burning… the more fat you provide your body, the more (and I should say paradoxically) it will burn from your body (within reason, of course… calories still do matter to a degree). Still you’ll want some protein to ensure a positive nitrogen balance, which is ideal for protein synthesis and reduction of protein breakdown for energy.
My hands are tired, but before I depart, I really want to hammer it in that the AD is something you’re going to need to experiment with long-term. I wouldn’t plan on using it for 2 months and then switching back. Give it time. And if you have any issues, talk to the people on this thread. Godspeed.
