My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
5402

Greetings.

Comments and questions regarding the “metabolic shift”:

When I first tried out the Anabolic Diet (around ten years ago) I began with the 12-day induction phase. I remember “shifting” sometime after the first week. But the question is how do I know I “shifted” during the initial 12-day phase? How do you men know you’ve “shifted” during the initial 12-day phase?

I remember a couple of days where I really felt “out of it.” Really tired, weak, and clouded by an extreme mental fog. But the fog cleared one day, and I felt great. I had razor sharp mental clarity (acuity) and was literally leaping out of bed when the alarm chimed 4 a.m. Of course, these are just the mental aspects.

The physical strength went way down in the gym…but then after the carb up (post induction phase) came Monday’s workout. I recall the high-rep squats were very nice. Anyways, any comments regarding the question, “HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU SHIFTED?” would be much appreciated.

Further comments regarding the mental aspects of what I think was the “metabolic shift”: I speculate that the mental fog was due to low blood sugar, and then the razor sharp mental clarity was the brain adapting to the usage of ketones.

An aside: Mr. Faigin says YOU WILL SHIFT in only seven days. He sounds quite certain of this. But in my case (those many years ago), that was definitely not the case.

5403

[quote]Nariyan wrote:
A big thank you for the guy that came up with the homemade flax muffin.
[/quote]

Please don’t microwave flax meal. You’re destroying the omega-3s.

5404

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
For the second week in a row, I took in just over 100 grams on Wednesday. This has been a welcome change.

On Wednesdays (I’d have trained anywhere from 6-9 hours), I start feeling like total shit. I’d just grind out my training sessions, but it was more about survival than anything else.

Last night before training I took in some frozen yogurt, had a great workout, and drank some pineapple juice and ate some oats afterwards. (About 150 grams in total).

This a.m. I actually had a good HIIT session. I didn’t feel as good as after a full carb-up, but felt much better. I wasn’t “holding on for dear life” when running hills.

So this weekend I’m going to do mostly carbs on Saturday, taking in around 400 grams or slightly less. On this coming Wednesday I’ll up the carbs to 200 or so grams - all pre- and post-workout.

Some random observations:

  • I tinkered with this before being fat adapted. The carbs actually made me sluggish. Now carbs re-charge me. I wonder if there is some link to being fat adapted and your insulin sensitivity? It’s like a switch has flipped when it comes to carbs.

  • This is the first time in my life carbs have given me energy. Even as a kid, I never got a “sugar rush.” I was never diabetic or even close, and my blood glucose levels have always been fine. But carbs always tired me out, made me sluggish. Now, it’s no longer the case. This is terrific.

  • In light of the fact that glycogen recompensation is most effective in the first 24 hours of the carb-up, why aren’t more people doing, say, 4 days without carbs and 1 day with carbs? For me, the second day of carb-loading gives me only diminishing returns.

Why the two-day carb-up? I’m starting to think it’s more a “reality” thing than scientific thing. I.e., “Let people eat what they want during the weekend,” and “Most people can’t pragmatically plan their eating in shorter cycles.”

To me, a Wednesday mini-carb-up still gives me a Saturday to dine out with friends and otherwise not stress much over what I’m eating.

Thoughts?[/quote]

So thats 600g carbs a week. Wow I think thats kind of low especially considering your activity level. On bodyopus I took in 1800 grams of carbs every weekend and still lost 25 lbs of fat and my activity level on it was less than yours. I can’t do this on the AD, maybe when my knee feels better and I can add in some HIIT and light cardo.

Lately I’ve been doing the Poliquin thing, taking in around 30 g of glutamine post workout. I think its working I felt like He-man in the gym today. I carb up sat and sun and my friday workouts have been strong but I think my carb levels were too high since I gained some fat.

Last weekend I might of went to low since I burned out half way threw my monday workout. To correct this I’m going to keep track of everything on the weekend, eat in and hopefully I’ll figure it out.

5405

[quote]Hagar wrote:
So thats 600g carbs a week. Wow I think thats kind of low especially considering your activity level. On bodyopus I took in 1800 grams of carbs every weekend and still lost 25 lbs of fat and my activity level on it was less than yours.[/quote]

Probably. I am still tweaking things. I am also only eating 2,000 cals a day and losing just 2 pounds each week. Even on a cheat day, I try to stay under 4,000. Once I’m done dieting portion (sooner rather than later!), I’ll experiment with more carbs. I’m having fun tweaking things. It’s like working on an old car or something. So we’ll get there.

The “end game” is to see if it’s possible to remain fat adapted while regularly ingesting post workout carbs. That would be awesome.

5406

[quote]extol7extol wrote:
The physical strength went way down in the gym…but then after the carb up (post induction phase) came Monday’s workout. I recall the high-rep squats were very nice. Anyways, any comments regarding the question, “HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU SHIFTED?” would be much appreciated.[/quote]

Shit… How do you know you’re in love? You just know.

I thought I was adapted. I got the flu-like symptoms (even before I knew that people got those, so it wasn’t placebo flu). Then I got them the next week. Then I got them again 6 weeks out.

I would say it actually took me eight weeks to get fat adapted. At about that point, fat just starting melting off. Also, I had a better relationship with carbs. For example, when I ate them, I actually felt better.

5407

Cheers for the advice, however, although I agree that using a microwave is not desirable, the thermal oxidative stress on the polyunsaturates has been found to be very minimal when using a microwave. Check this bad boys out…

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=12577584&ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Now I know this was not done with flax meal but fatty acids are fatty acids what ever source they come from so I hope that very little degradation is occurring.

I mainly use the flax muffin as a fibre source too so not too stressed if a few grams of fat go missing.

Cheers for the heads up though.

5409

[quote]Nariyan wrote:
Cheers for the advice, however, although I agree that using a microwave is not desirable, the thermal oxidative stress on the polyunsaturates has been found to be very minimal when using a microwave. Check this bad boys out…

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=12577584&ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Now I know this was not done with flax meal but fatty acids are fatty acids what ever source they come from so I hope that very little degradation is occurring.

I mainly use the flax muffin as a fibre source too so not too stressed if a few grams of fat go missing.

Cheers for the heads up though.[/quote]

I’m sorry but that report was funny. Not the best written and confusing at best. What is n-3? Do you know? I’ve never heard that term before.

Furthermore, if we were to listen to this report it also says frying is safe for polyunsaturates, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

I honestly don’t know why anyone would think that microwaving flax meal is ok. You’re exposing it to high temperature at which point you are probably ingesting linseed oil (which is harmful) by the time you take it out of the microwave.

If you don’t mind this that’s fine, but that “study” you posted was just false.

5410

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Chill Tone.

No need for the aggro. If you don’t like something, just rise above and ignore it. Besides, others might glean something from CLs post.

bushy[/quote]
I now extend my hand in friendship to Mr. Cali Law in hopes of ending our feud. I’m sorry I wrote that, and didn’t mean it deep down. I actually enjoy some of his advice and just want to be respected like everyone else. I think I understand more than he seems to think, and that’s why I am getting “razzled”.

Ok? I have humbled up, apologized to you, and given you credit for advices given. How bout an apology back for insulting me, would that be too much to ask for?

I just want a little more credit than what you have been giving me. I get the diet more than you think, and I just like to interact with guys about the foods etc. Don’t read too much into my questions if they aren’t up to par with yours.

Let’s not forget at some point in time everyone here had simpler questions to ask and didn’t know as much about the diet, and learned a lot from Disc Hoss and others in the early part of this thread. Is that a fair assesment?

      I hope this is taken into consideration, otherwise if not, then I will leave this thread.
5411

Oh and I just wanted to add that the flax oil is safe at the temperature of boiling water. So if you wanted to bake something with flax seeds in it that’s fine. However, with a microwave we really don’t know what temperature it’s heating the item up to.

5412

Hey all,

So I’m 4 days in, and haven’t really had any energy issues so far. If anything I’ve felt more energetic. Yesterday was a typical day, and here were my macros:

Cals: 3200 (exactly 16x BW)
72% Fat
26% Protein
3% Carbs (29gms)

I ate:

Eggs, Cheese (Cheddar, Muenster, Havarti, Mozarella), Olive oil, Salmon, Ground beef, Bacon, Prosciutto, Salami, Pistachios, Walnuts, a bit of Ranch Dressing, and a little whipped topping with sugar free jello.

I worked out this morning, however, and felt very weak. I missed all of my lifts. I didn’t eat before, so that may have something to do with it.

I’ve got some Xtreme ICE BCAAs/Glutamine on the way which I’ll take before/during/after with some creatine. One of the reasons I did this diet was to be able to gain strength while losing bodyfat (like so many others have done, it seems). Hopefully after I adapt my strength will improve, so I’m not so worried right now.

Can’t wait to “adapt”! Anything I can do to speed it up?

5413

[quote]solidgk wrote:
<<< Can’t wait to “adapt”! Anything I can do to speed it up?
[/quote]

No, but you’ll know when your body shifts.

5414

[quote]solidgk wrote:
Hey all,

So I’m 4 days in, and haven’t really had any energy issues so far. If anything I’ve felt more energetic. Yesterday was a typical day, and here were my macros:

Cals: 3200 (exactly 16x BW)
72% Fat
26% Protein
3% Carbs (29gms)

I ate:

Eggs, Cheese (Cheddar, Muenster, Havarti, Mozarella), Olive oil, Salmon, Ground beef, Bacon, Prosciutto, Salami, Pistachios, Walnuts, a bit of Ranch Dressing, and a little whipped topping with sugar free jello.

I worked out this morning, however, and felt very weak. I missed all of my lifts. I didn’t eat before, so that may have something to do with it.

I’ve got some Xtreme ICE BCAAs/Glutamine on the way which I’ll take before/during/after with some creatine. One of the reasons I did this diet was to be able to gain strength while losing bodyfat (like so many others have done, it seems). Hopefully after I adapt my strength will improve, so I’m not so worried right now.

Can’t wait to “adapt”! Anything I can do to speed it up?
[/quote]

I might have lost a little bit of strength during the 2 week break in but not much. However, after my first carb up I felt like a machine and my numbers went back up. I am finishing my 3rd week now so I am no expert by any means. But our goals are similar.

I think something that helped me out was I followd Dr. D’s instructions and started with maintenance calories even though I wanted to lose some weight. I am going to keep my calories at the maintenance level for my first 2 months on the diet. I have lost 7 lbs doing this but like I said in a previous post I am pretty fat right now. I have been on the life long bulk :slight_smile:

Good Luck and hang in there.

5415

I think 16xBW is about maintenance for me…so I’m going to stick at that, maybe a little more, until I fully break in.

Thanks for the help guys

5416 
     Hey all,

just a quick note out, I wanted to apologize to everyone on this thread for my abuse of the forum during my uncalled for tantrum at California Law.

I take resposibility for taking it way out of context, and I’m sorry to have done that. I don’t believe he really meant to insult me, and I blew it. I’m back to an even keel now. peace, Tony

5417

[quote]Arrow22 wrote:
Oh and I just wanted to add that the flax oil is safe at the temperature of boiling water. So if you wanted to bake something with flax seeds in it that’s fine. However, with a microwave we really don’t know what temperature it’s heating the item up to.[/quote]

Cheers for the info. I will now bake the muffins from now on. How do you know that flax oil is safe up to 100 degrees? Just keen to read all the info I can get.

I agree that high heat frying is bad but it has been shown to be ok for numerous oil sources. For instance, the following research shows frying in a not so bad light…

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=11714374&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus

Then again you do get the flip side too

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=7846353&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus

Your opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

5418 
    I had a pretty big workout today, squats,lunges,extensions,incline flys, incline bench flat bench. 2 hours, I'm freakin spent. I felt drained a bit but did manage to get through with a really good effort on all lifts though.

    Am staying away from the low carb Hood milk until after the break in as it's just adding too many CHO for comfort...

      Other than that I still feel relatively good despite not having the ol carbs. Have noticeably leaned out a tad. down to 189 from 195 initialy. Day 6 here, so anyway, I'm guessing that the drop in weight is due to water weight,glycogen being depleted from the muscle cells, as I'm not "adapted" yet.?

Getting used to the diet and enjoying it, which is a big part of it so, thanks for all the help everyone.
see ya, ToneBone

5419

[quote]InTheZone wrote:
Other than that I still feel relatively good despite not having the ol carbs. Have noticeably leaned out a tad. down to 189 from 195 initialy. Day 6 here, so anyway, I’m guessing that the drop in weight is due to water weight,glycogen being depleted from the muscle cells, as I’m not “adapted” yet.?[/quote]

Yes, it’s water weight. You will seem leaner as you won’t be holding and thus showing as much subcutaneous water. Your muscles will soon get “flat,” though. Like a balloon that has lost half its air. Don’t let that demoralize you. It just comes with the territory.

5420

[quote]
Arrow22 wrote:
Oh and I just wanted to add that the flax oil is safe at the temperature of boiling water. So if you wanted to bake something with flax seeds in it that’s fine. However, with a microwave we really don’t know what temperature it’s heating the item up to.

Nariyan wrote:
Cheers for the info. I will now bake the muffins from now on. How do you know that flax oil is safe up to 100 degrees? Just keen to read all the info I can get.[/quote]

OK, here goes my second post on this forum (my first was the flax muffin recipe). I’m glad so many have been enjoying these - I’ve made them a daily habit myself. I’m pleased to have made a positive contribution after lurking so long - it’s interesting to see that there’s others who have been lurking for months and rarely posting as well.

Now, I’m curious about this temperature/microwave bit. Logically, if 100C boiling point is OK, and baking is OK (which is going to be even higher temperatures, for longer periods), I don’t see how 60 seconds of microwaving can possibly create as much heat as either of those methods. The muffin isn’t piping hot when it comes out.
UPDATE - I just had to know, so I made another one, and the moment it finished, stuck a meat thermometer in and got a reading of 205F / 96C.

All that said, regardless, while the Omega 3 profile is one of the benefits of the muffins, the good whack of protein and fibre content with negligible carbs - all ready in 60 seconds - are good enough for me, even were the Omega 3’s less beneficial somehow.

BTW, I tried making one earlier today with 2 eggs instead of just one, and it worked out not too badly - ended up taking 1m40s, and next time I’d probably just run it 2 minutes with 2 eggs.

Anybody else have any good variations? I liked the idea about making sandwich-style slices.

5421

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
InTheZone wrote:
Other than that I still feel relatively good despite not having the ol carbs. Have noticeably leaned out a tad. down to 189 from 195 initialy. Day 6 here, so anyway, I’m guessing that the drop in weight is due to water weight,glycogen being depleted from the muscle cells, as I’m not “adapted” yet.?

Yes, it’s water weight. You will seem leaner as you won’t be holding and thus showing as much subcutaneous water. Your muscles will soon get “flat,” though. Like a balloon that has lost half its air. Don’t let that demoralize you. It just comes with the territory.

[/quote]

Your muscles will fill up with the carb up. Its really cool when you go to the gym and think “damn this 45 lb plate feels light”
When dieting I’d weigh in every friday morning before my carb up to see my progress since my weight would drop 5 lbs from monday to friday.