My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
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[quote]sarah1 wrote:

Yep…nice to have girls giving encouragement here too. :slight_smile:

I know this isn’t on the topic of nutrition…but what’s your training like jeepemilie by the way? I was just curious…you seem to be pretty strong and lean if you have vascularity and all!

I was also wondering other’s opinions on protein powders…I could easily give up the night time scoop I’ve been having, but I usually have whey before working out in the morning. My new routine has become:

wake up, eat 1 scoop whey with 2 tbsp flax

ride train to gym (20 min plus 15 min. walking)

eat a few walnuts sometimes before I start working out

lift for ~1 hr.

drink a scoop of whey

eat meat/nuts/veggies ~1-2 hours later.

Any suggestions on this routine?

Other than that I’ve been using a lot of nuts for fats. They do have a few carbs…would it be better to stick to meat and eggs? I like the nuts and they are supposed to be healthy…I want to get a good routine down though.

And lastly, I’m going into my second try at a carb up…is Surge an okay thing to have on carb days around workouts, or should I stick to other carbs like oats? I also was wondering about dairy like milk…I usually crave sweets and what I want to eat is fruit, milk and oats…

Thanks so much to everyone on this thread! It is very supportive!
[/quote]

On the note of vascularity, for me I think it’s one part genetics, one part the number of years i’ve been lifting (a very long time), and one part leanness. It is however one way i judge how lean i am. The infamous BF scales put me at 13% so margin of error plus/minus 3% i guess. I go more by how I look at this point. Abs are a good barometer for me.

My workouts right now are structured for strength all though at the moment they aren’t as intense as I would like. My workout partner is recovering from surgery so I’m solo until he’s back to the gym. We mainly do the basics. Bench, SLDL, rack pulls, different variations of bar rows, squats, weighted hanging dips, pull ups, and we add some ab work in there as well.

I don’t know how much detail you were wanting but that’s the overview. Our goal like I said is to get him big and strong and for me to get stronger (my genetics fight the big part)

I have a weird work schedule so I only have 4 days a week to train. I do some sort of cardio on those days either HIIT or just low intensity treadmill/elliptical. I’ve been rather fond of HIIT the past few weeks.

Glad your sticking with it. Don’t be afraid to gain some weight and for your weight to swing back and forth a bit. Big picture is the viewpoint here.

Note: I would put my BF at closer to 15 to 17%

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[quote]Disc Hoss wrote:
Sarah1,
Buy Faigin’s Natural Hormonal Enhancment book. Also, get Doc’s Anabolic Solution for Bodybuilders. You’ll have a strong grasp as to why you are doing what you’re doing, which in my experience, is the biggest motivator to continue on. You’ve got to believe in something to stick to it.

The AD will deliver, IF you stick with it. It doensn’t fail, but sometimes people do.

As far as conflicting goals, you should always lean out a bit before adding a mass phase. For males get to 10-12% at most, and for females about 18-20% should be low enough.

Follow the basic structure for 2-3 months and then determine what your goal should be from the above.

Best,
DH

[/quote]

Thanks so much for this advice! I will definitely get the books. I am so worried since I don’t understand exactly the concept yet, so I don’t know if I’m doing things right.

I PMed you this, but I thought I’d put it out here too. I have questions about the carb ups…

I gather the purpose of these is to replenish glycogen and spike leptin? Is it ideal to be using carbs like oats or would it be okay to get almost all of them from fruits and other veggies like red peppers and cucumbers and onions (the ones I miss so much in the week.) Basically, is the goal to have high insulin the whole weekend, or is it ideal to try to keep your insulin on a level plain?

Also, should the carbs be really all day long up until the night? I have been trying to workout in the morning so that I have the carbs mostly in the few hours post-workout. Yet then I keep having them at night, and that makes me feel bad.

Would it be better to have carbs only in the morning (and workout both mornings) on Saturday and Sunday and keep the carbs low in the evenings? Or would it be better to do just a one day carb-up and eat the carbs the whole day long?

Then also, should protein be lower on the carb up days? It seems to say in the diet the protein can fall to 20%.

And then finally, should the cals be much higher on the carb up days? Is that inportant for the functioning of the diet? I am scared of fat gain. But is the idea that your body can use WAY more cals on these days since it should be packing them all away to your muscles?

I feel maybe something is terribly wrong with what I’m doing and I’ll gain a huge amount of fat. I ate about 1800 cals a day this week for 5 days with 16-15 g. carbs each day, the rest of the cals divided about evenly between fat and protein.

By the end of the week I felt tired, but not “dry” or shriveled. Now today is my carb up (The first day…and I’m really thinking I should keep it to only one??) and I just feel even fatter. This is what I ate so far:

1 scoop whey + flax + apple pre workout

few sips surge during workout, dumped the rest

1 c. milk + 1 c. yogurt + 1/4 c. raw oats + 1 c. cherries post workout

1 hr. later…

5 egg whites, onions, cottage cheese
raspberries and strawberries
whole grain fiber bar (20 net carbs)

5 egg whites
1 apple
2 small squares chocolate
fish oils

2 slices whole grain bread
cottage cheese
1 cucmber
2 whole red peppers
1/4 head iceberg lettuce

And I feel sick.

It is 7 pm my time and I just had whole grain bread and so many carbs! I feel really bad. Is this okay? I also was told that you should just feel your body “ramp up” with all these cals and carbs…be sweating/vascular, etc. I do not feel that way. I feel fat.

I do need to gain lean mass, but I have very little right now. I’m sitting about 13% bf but only 116lbs…should I really try to get leaner before gaining?

I’m also injured so I can’t do heavy lower body work, which SUCKS. I’m also only 116 lbs…does that mean I should only be carbing up a little? I mean, I think probably my muscles can only hold about 200-300 g. carbs, right? So should I eat about 200-300 g. carbs and then stop? I don’t want to spill over into fat.

What would you recommend I do now this week? Should I stop the carbs now after just about 12 hours? I’ve eaten too much I fear…

Thanks so much!

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Good God!!!

I’m gonna have to put on a helmet before checking in here from now on. Every time I check back there’s like 3 pages I missed.

I’m going to be headed into my sixth month here soon. Have had zero issues after about week 8. Food prep is second nature. Making steady gains and even running late in the week is no problem.

I really think a lot of folks don’t grasp how radically different they are asking their body to operate and hence underestimate how long full adaptation should take them. (I believe I may have said that before =] )

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[quote]Tiribulus wrote:
Good God!!!

I’m gonna have to put on a helmet before checking in here from now on. Every time I check back there’s like 3 pages I missed.

I’m going to be headed into my sixth month here soon. Have had zero issues after about week 8. Food prep is second nature. Making steady gains and even running late in the week is no problem.

I really think a lot of folks don’t grasp how radically different they are asking their body to operate and hence underestimate how long full adaptation should take them. (I believe I may have said that before =] )[/quote]

That’s so right…I am in month 5 now and my lifts are skyrocketing like never before even with the high carb diet…the next one that will tell me that anaerobic work can only be fueled with glucose…I will laugh like crazy…But an issue still remaining is sweats and pissing like hell sometimes during the digestion of the P+F meals…this hasn’t passed yet so I am worrying a bit does anyone has a piece of advice about it? Drink more water? I tried but no results? So what should I do? Thanks guys.

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[quote]sarah1 wrote:
I gather the purpose of these is to replenish glycogen and spike leptin? Is it ideal to be using carbs like oats or would it be okay to get almost all of them from fruits and other veggies like red peppers and cucumbers and onions (the ones I miss so much in the week.) Basically, is the goal to have high insulin the whole weekend, or is it ideal to try to keep your insulin on a level plain?

Also, should the carbs be really all day long up until the night? I have been trying to workout in the morning so that I have the carbs mostly in the few hours post-workout. Yet then I keep having them at night, and that makes me feel bad.

Would it be better to have carbs only in the morning (and workout both mornings) on Saturday and Sunday and keep the carbs low in the evenings? Or would it be better to do just a one day carb-up and eat the carbs the whole day long?

Then also, should protein be lower on the carb up days? It seems to say in the diet the protein can fall to 20%.

And then finally, should the cals be much higher on the carb up days? Is that inportant for the functioning of the diet? I am scared of fat gain. But is the idea that your body can use WAY more cals on these days since it should be packing them all away to your muscles?

I feel maybe something is terribly wrong with what I’m doing and I’ll gain a huge amount of fat. I ate about 1800 cals a day this week for 5 days with 16-15 g. carbs each day, the rest of the cals divided about evenly between fat and protein.

By the end of the week I felt tired, but not “dry” or shriveled. Now today is my carb up (The first day…and I’m really thinking I should keep it to only one??) and I just feel even fatter. This is what I ate so far:

1 scoop whey + flax + apple pre workout

few sips surge during workout, dumped the rest

1 c. milk + 1 c. yogurt + 1/4 c. raw oats + 1 c. cherries post workout

1 hr. later…

5 egg whites, onions, cottage cheese
raspberries and strawberries
whole grain fiber bar (20 net carbs)

5 egg whites
1 apple
2 small squares chocolate
fish oils

2 slices whole grain bread
cottage cheese
1 cucmber
2 whole red peppers
1/4 head iceberg lettuce

And I feel sick.

It is 7 pm my time and I just had whole grain bread and so many carbs! I feel really bad. Is this okay? I also was told that you should just feel your body “ramp up” with all these cals and carbs…be sweating/vascular, etc. I do not feel that way. I feel fat.

I do need to gain lean mass, but I have very little right now. I’m sitting about 13% bf but only 116lbs…should I really try to get leaner before gaining?

I’m also injured so I can’t do heavy lower body work, which SUCKS. I’m also only 116 lbs…does that mean I should only be carbing up a little? I mean, I think probably my muscles can only hold about 200-300 g. carbs, right? So should I eat about 200-300 g. carbs and then stop? I don’t want to spill over into fat.

What would you recommend I do now this week? Should I stop the carbs now after just about 12 hours? I’ve eaten too much I fear…

Thanks so much!

[/quote]

Too many questions and not enough eating. This is going to sound offensive, but stop asking questions!

FOLLOW THE DAMN DIET. You are not even adapted yet. FOLLOW THE DAMN DIET! (screamed cordially, of course)

As to your questions about your carb-up. It’s weak. You have eaten maybe 900 calories? Look, the body is going to burn for energy what you feed it. It will preferentially store carbs, but you will be burning them as well.

You have eaten what amounts to 80 total carbs that can go to muscle glycogen (fructose cannot be stored as glycogen). Not nearly enough. In fact, the total number of calories you have eaten is probably the reason you feel sick. You are starving yourself… and depressing the hell out of me for asking if you’re eating too much.

STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AND GO EAT.

You feel full because you have eaten a ridiculous amount of fiber. A RIDICULOUS amount. There is a difference between bloating and holding subcutaneous water (when you spill over to fat, essentially) and it’s unmistakable.

Wait. Don’t ask questions. No. I know you have some. No questions. Go eat. Go follow the diet. Come back in 2 months.

Take Disc Hoss’s advice and get the NHE. He seems to feel strongly that it will help answer your questions as to dieting, calories, fat gain, fat loss, etc… and I have read every post DH has ever posted on this thread. Trust him.

Wait. Don’t ask it. Go eat.

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[quote]TheTank123 wrote:
I have dropped down my kcals to the recommended BW X 12 and am feeling good. I am currently doing the Neanderthal No More workout by Eric Cressy and Mike Robertson to correct posture and muscle imbalances.

It calls for a 4 day a week program and I have been sticking to that. I currently work 10 hour days and am gone from about 730 AM until 730 PM, not including my workouts. I really would like to lose this weight, but am afraid that by not doing cardio I am missing out on a vital component to burning this fat.

How many days would you suggest that I do cardio and what kind of cardio? I have read a multitude of information concerning uphill walking, HIIT, etc., but am still confused about what I should be doing in conjunction with the Anabolic Diet. I certainly do not want to lose the muscle I have worked so long and hard to gain, but my priorities lie in losing fat above all else.

Also, how important are veggies while on this diet? I will admit, I hate vegetables in pretty much every way shape and form. It’s bad, I know, but I do. Would taking something like Greens+ suffice?[/quote]

First and foremost, you are certainly at a good caloric level for weightloss. You may suffer a few hunger pangs initially, but those will subside. Step one is essentially covered.

As far as weight training, I’m not overly sure as to what Neanderthal No More entails, but I could give you some general tips that seem to help speed up the metabolism. Total body training, supersets, and dropsets all with minimal rest are quite effective and challenging with the added bonus of increasing adrenal and GH output for increased fat burning.

Still, I wouldn’t advise you to pick up one over the other. Similarly, I wouldn’t advise you to stop using the Neanderthal No More program because if you feel you have muscle imbalances, you probably do. And I certainly don’t want to be responsible for suggesting a program that exaggerates these imbalances and/or causes injury. I’m simply throwing some ideas out at you.

Cardio and HIIT are both excellent tools for fat loss. Although they are not necessary for fat loss, they do tend to speed it up. Depending on how much extra fat you have, you should either increase (if you have more bodyfat) or decrease (obviously, if you have less bodyfat) your cardio and HIIT.

I have given this tip before, but it’s something to take with a grain of salt. You may consider doing HIIT early in the week so as to exhaust your glycogen stores to tap into your primary fat burning mode. Long sentence, I know. Basically, the sooner you exhaust your glycogen, the more pronounced your fat burning. A couple HIIT sessions after your weight training sessions for 20 minutes or so should do the trick.

Here’s the caveat with purposeful glycogen exhaustion: it works better when you have more bodyfat. The more bodyfat you have, the more readily your body will oxidize it for energy, hence the less likely you will burn aminos (dietary or muscular protein) for energy.

As far as cardio, I’m simply not a big fan. However, again, if you have more bodyfat, you can get away with more cardio. The ideal times for cardio are probably first thing in the morning and after your workouts (although if I were you I’d stick to HIIT sessions early in the week and then straight cardio later in the week).

Remember that your food choices carb-ups, although to a lesser extent, are also important. This is particularly so when cutting. Be smart with your food choices: fruits, oats, sweet potatoes/yams, brown rice, whole grains (I personally seem to have issues with gluten).

Godspeed.

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sarah1,

It (your post) looks like an awful lot of dairy -especially for a carb-up.

Have you an account on Fitday.com?

You can make your Journal “Public.” Which is to say that by posting the link, others (like us here) can view the foods you eat and their macro breakdowns.

Nothing else will be open for viewing -only the foods you eat daily.

-Unfortunately, it looks as though you’re dancing on that razors edge between doing the AD… and not doing the AD…
Not a good place to be.

Also -the “fat” feeling you experience could be due to the dairy you’re ingesting, OR …the AD is notorious for making one feel (and look) “bloated.”

…are you drinking enough water?
I mean a LOT of water…?
You need to.
You weigh a bit over 100lbs? Try to drink a gallon a day (c’mon, try).
I’m 240 I drink close to three gallons a day.

Also watch your salt intake -table salt, salty meats etc…
You may be getting too much OR you may be salt deficient.
Only YOU know for sure.

Hang in there…you’ll get it
:wink:

peace

4369

I’m sorry for having offended you. I did not mean to be annoying. I am just trying to learn. Please do keep in mind that I am not a 200 lb strong 20 year old male that burns up tons of calories every day, so eating big is slightly different. I DO gain on merely 1600 cals a day, so by eating 1800- 2600 (about what I hit by the end of today) is a LOT above maintence.

And the e-book only said for the carb ups to eat what you want. Well, all I want is fruit, milk, and yogurt. I had to come up with other carbs to try to eat them. That’s why I was asking…are the carbs supposed to be refined? Must they be? I simply did/do not know.

I’ve eaten much more than I really wanted today, so I don’t know if that is following the diet right. The only reason I’m asking so much is because I am trying to do the diet correctly and as Disc Hoss said it is only the person who can fail at it. That is all. I’m sorry for offending you.

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[quote]sarah1 wrote:
I’m sorry for having offended you. I did not mean to be annoying. I am just trying to learn. Please do keep in mind that I am not a 200 lb strong 20 year old male that burns up tons of calories every day, so eating big is slightly different. I DO gain on merely 1600 cals a day, so by eating 1800- 2600 (about what I hit by the end of today) is a LOT above maintence.

And the e-book only said for the carb ups to eat what you want. Well, all I want is fruit, milk, and yogurt. I had to come up with other carbs to try to eat them. That’s why I was asking…are the carbs supposed to be refined? Must they be? I simply did/do not know.

I’ve eaten much more than I really wanted today, so I don’t know if that is following the diet right. The only reason I’m asking so much is because I am trying to do the diet correctly and as Disc Hoss said it is only the person who can fail at it. That is all. I’m sorry for offending you.

[/quote]

No, I should clarify. I’m not offended. It was just my way to get you to worry less. It just seems that you’re dizzying yourself unnecessarily.

I, too, am fat-phobic (bodyfat that is) and have learned a lot about dieting and eating. The thing is, I really do sympathize with you. I’m just giving you the advice that I think you really do need. Sugar-coating is nice, but it doesn’t get you the body you want (yes, I’m proud of this pun).

I know that you’re looking for someone to tell you what you want to hear (sounds worse than it really is), but again that won’t get you anywhere except increasingly frustrated and increasingly stagnant (and probably farther off).

Just make sure that you are following the advice you receive and are focusing on the generalities and not particulars.

On a final note, I only started making solid progress when I basically told myself to shut up and just do it.

I know I sound like a know-it-all (circular comment, huh?), but I do feel bad. My intention was not to cast you aside, but give you the advice that I believe you really need. I’m what you call impatient, so believe me, I really do sympathize with you.

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[quote]sarah1 wrote:
And the e-book only said for the carb ups to eat what you want. Well, all I want is fruit, milk, and yogurt. I had to come up with other carbs to try to eat them. That’s why I was asking…are the carbs supposed to be refined? Must they be? I simply did/do not know.
[/quote]

By refined I assume you mean complex. And the answer is yes. They are best suited to filling your muscle glycogen.

Refined vs unrefined carbs is something up to you and is a matter of how long you want to carb-load and how well your body tolerates refined carbohydrates. Refined carbs refers to the processing of the food by the manufacturer. Bleached flour = refined. Cooked yam = unrefined.

Personally, I prefer unrefined carbs and other whole foods. Then again, I also seem to have a gluten intolerance (reaction to the protein in wheats, rye, oats), so I more or less must eat unrefined, whole foods.

Try them both and see how you feel. You’ll find your way.

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Oval- Thanks so much for such a quick and thorough response. I am not sure what my bodyfat percentage is but my guess is that it is higher than most of the people on this site. I’ll give the HIIT early in the week a try. Any thoughts on the Greens+?

4373

[quote]sarah1 wrote:
I’m sorry for having offended you. I did not mean to be annoying. I am just trying to learn. Please do keep in mind that I am not a 200 lb strong 20 year old male that burns up tons of calories every day, so eating big is slightly different. I DO gain on merely 1600 cals a day, so by eating 1800- 2600 (about what I hit by the end of today) is a LOT above maintence.

And the e-book only said for the carb ups to eat what you want. Well, all I want is fruit, milk, and yogurt. I had to come up with other carbs to try to eat them. That’s why I was asking…are the carbs supposed to be refined? Must they be? I simply did/do not know.

I’ve eaten much more than I really wanted today, so I don’t know if that is following the diet right. The only reason I’m asking so much is because I am trying to do the diet correctly and as Disc Hoss said it is only the person who can fail at it. That is all. I’m sorry for offending you.

[/quote]

Don’t worry Sarah. I doubt you’ve offended him as much as concerned him. Make no mistake we are a community here that supports each other. Think of it in the same way you would think of a concerned parent chastising their son/daughter/semi-post-op transsexual offspring.

The concern that you are not eating enough to trigger the physiological responses is valid. As DH the moses of our world said, get the books and do exactly as it says. Watch your carbs that are non-fiber and eat at 18xBw for the induction and keep maintenance levels for a few months. Once you have adapted you will know. Now I can eat as much vegetable CHO as i want and not care. I can also perform without CHOing up as often. This is the area where you want to be.

For now just eat the good food and keep the fats (poly, mono, and sat) equal on fitday.

12, 2, 5, 2, 5, 2, 5, 2… and so on. And train hard to get the most out of your transitory stage.

Don’t think about it just do it. meat and veggies for 5 days, oatmeal and other clean CHO for 2. eat up on both days. maybe eat less on non-training days that are low CHO.

have fun, quit worrying.

-chris

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[quote]ovalpline wrote:
sarah1 wrote:
And the e-book only said for the carb ups to eat what you want. Well, all I want is fruit, milk, and yogurt. I had to come up with other carbs to try to eat them. That’s why I was asking…are the carbs supposed to be refined? Must they be? I simply did/do not know.

By refined I assume you mean complex. And the answer is yes. They are best suited to filling your muscle glycogen.

Refined vs unrefined carbs is something up to you and is a matter of how long you want to carb-load and how well your body tolerates refined carbohydrates. Refined carbs refers to the processing of the food by the manufacturer. Bleached flour = refined. Cooked yam = unrefined.

Personally, I prefer unrefined carbs and other whole foods. Then again, I also seem to have a gluten intolerance (reaction to the protein in wheats, rye, oats), so I more or less must eat unrefined, whole foods.

Try them both and see how you feel. You’ll find your way.[/quote]

For CHO try and pick whole foods. I think you mean processed when you say refined. This would imply that the sugars are small chain, like glucose, fructose, dextrose etc.

things like oats and yams and potatoes and stuff have larger chain sugars and starches. These will help you really lose the fat you want. I find progress with fat loss is based primarily on the types of CHO you eat on your CHO up.

Once you figure out what foods don’t bloat you and cause intestinal agitation you can primarily consume those foods.

I use oats or whatever is handy. Depends how serious you are with your goals. I also think that training style is highly indicative of fat levels and body composition. The inclusion of sprint work, circuit training and anaerobic sports are all correlated with low body fat.

So if you are worried about fat loss tag on some rowing, sprinting, skipping or any other type of interval work at the end of your training. It only takes like 12 minutes, and some guts.

-chris

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Okay, so I guess the idea is for carb ups to work they must be:

HIGH calorie
rather dense carbs like oats?? (does anyone do fruit only?)
2 days even if you feel bloated?

I can try to blindly do that as long as that’s the right idea although it scares the heck out of me.

I also feel REALLY sick this morning after thos carbs…I am swollen and about 1 million degrees, yet during the night I was so cold I was shaking…any ideas on why this is happening? I should press on?

And I do try to incorporate sprints…however I’m injured right now.

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hi

4377

Hello guys!

Does anyone have an answer to my question? My question was about the sweats that I still have even after 5 month of adaptation after ingesting P+F meals

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[quote]sarah1 wrote:
Okay, so I guess the idea is for carb ups to work they must be:

HIGH calorie
rather dense carbs like oats?? (does anyone do fruit only?)
2 days even if you feel bloated?

I can try to blindly do that as long as that’s the right idea although it scares the heck out of me.

I also feel REALLY sick this morning after thos carbs…I am swollen and about 1 million degrees, yet during the night I was so cold I was shaking…any ideas on why this is happening? I should press on?

And I do try to incorporate sprints…however I’m injured right now.

[/quote]

Sarah, I mean this as constructive criticism so please take it as such…

But judging from all the posts you’ve had you seem to have some psychological issues that are not going to be solved by a diet.

It seems to me that you worry way to much about little things, and its hard to enjoy life if your constantly worrying…

I know because I was that way when I used to be extremely fat (and your not fat by the way, being a girl at low percentage of bodyfat like 10% I bet your hot as hell).

But back to the point. You need to pick up a book called Psycho-Cybernetics 2000, order it from Amazon while your ordering the books Disc Hoss recommended. It may actually be the most important book you ever read in your life. It will teach you how to abolish all worry and doubt by using your mind. But you seriously NEED to get this book somehow.

-Bizmark

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sarah1,

Re: Carb-ups…

Don’t make them a “chore”…
This is first and foremost a healthy lifestyle! There is some adjustment that needs to happen -of course. However don’t get too caught up in the details and don’t make a career out of eating.

Eat comfortably and when you feel like it on the carb loads. Eat as much or as little as you wish. Just make wise food choices and eat a variety of carb-rich foods. Forget about protein. You don’t “need” it on carb-loads. You’ll end up with plenty from the incidental protein in your diet.

Feel good! -not stressed -not sick -not bloated…

As for the “Sickness” you mention in your last post, you may indeed be sick -or you may be experiencing the “crash” that some feel during the induction phase. It’s hard to tell.

If it is the “crash” (which I doubt) …it may be due to your approach, in which case your adaptation is just taking a little longer -that’s all.

Be well!

-peace

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[quote]Bizmark wrote:
Sarah, I mean this as constructive criticism so please take it as such…

But judging from all the posts you’ve had you seem to have some psychological issues that are not going to be solved by a diet.
-Bizmark
[/quote]

I don’t know if that would’ve been exactly the way I would’ve worded this, but I do believe you are on target here. She seems like such a sweetheart and it pains me to see her playing emotional ping pong with herself like this.

I hope we didn’t scare you off Sarah. This is only this difficult for you because you are craving an unrealistic level of precision to avoid some, I believe, imaginary consequences. A level of precision that isn’t necessary or even possible for anybody.

Nobody is angry with you or tired of hearing from you, but you have yourself backed into a self destructive corner that you have to get yourself out of before anything else is going to really make any difference.

I am in no sense saying “we can’t help you, go away”. I am however saying that you need to conquer this anxiety you have over self image and the sooner the better. You’re still young and now,s the time. It will not get easier as you get older.

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Thank you so much for your posts. I know I worry too much about details…I seem to always have to find something to worry about. And Tribulus you are right on - I just want utter precision that realistically won’t happen. I am so absolutely PAINFULLY aware of the minutest changes in my body, and they freak me out…I try to step back and take perspective but no matter how hard I try I just end up in this whirl of worry, trying to control everything EXACTLY so as to do everything “perfectly” which of course is impossible.

You guys on this thread got the worst of it becuase I got injured. When I can just go and WORKOUT it helps SO much. It is my main form of stress relief. Yet now I simply can’t and it makes me want to cry every time I go to the gym and have to be so careful. So now my main stress relief has turned into a stressor, and I’m COMPLETELY bogged down. Hence the turning to diet, seeing if I can control everything exactly though the AD. Yet I’m beginning to see the AD requires a lot of fluctuations, which are probably going to stress me a lot.

Yet I find I get so many ideas about good things to try that I never end up sticking to just one so I don’t know how they work. I have actually seen increases in upper body strength in my last two workouts which is I suppose the one bright spot here. So it makes me feel like this time I need to actually stick with one thing…one program and one diet and see what happens before I move on to the next. It’s not a be all end all, right? If the diet doesn’t work well for me my body won’t be screwed up forever and I will just go back exactly the way I was before, right? So I can (try) to sit back and just try it for a while without worrying…