My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

bkmacky9288 · June 23, 2007, 5:27am

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Photo Guy wrote:
This time around I’m not scared of fat! It took a while for the low fat brainwashing to be cleared out of my head and I now know that my adaptation would have happened much faster if I had not been so timid (initially) of consuming a high percentage of fat.

1.5 gallons of water per day is the absolute minimum for me when on the AD. I had no idea how vital it was to drink lots of water. 3 gallons per day is pretty typical.

Green tea and fish oil! I was a little slow signing on to both of them and now can’t imagine not having them.

The big lesson for me was not waiting until I was fully adapted before experimenting. I started trying to tweek things way too early (couple months in) and in hindsight this really was a mistake.

While this entire post is awesome, I think EVERYONE who begins the AD should read and fully understand the last paragraph especially.

Maybe it should be the AD mantra…

AD[/quote]

i need to take to heart the water intake im far behind…

AlphaDragon · June 23, 2007, 7:41am

[quote]bkmacky9288 wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
Photo Guy wrote:
This time around I’m not scared of fat! It took a while for the low fat brainwashing to be cleared out of my head and I now know that my adaptation would have happened much faster if I had not been so timid (initially) of consuming a high percentage of fat.

1.5 gallons of water per day is the absolute minimum for me when on the AD. I had no idea how vital it was to drink lots of water. 3 gallons per day is pretty typical.

Green tea and fish oil! I was a little slow signing on to both of them and now can’t imagine not having them.

The big lesson for me was not waiting until I was fully adapted before experimenting. I started trying to tweek things way too early (couple months in) and in hindsight this really was a mistake.

While this entire post is awesome, I think EVERYONE who begins the AD should read and fully understand the last paragraph especially.

Maybe it should be the AD mantra…

AD

i need to take to heart the water intake im far behind…[/quote]

No joke there. Especially because it’s summertime…I mean, that would mean at least 2gal/day (all things considered).

As for me…maybe 3 gallons (living on a tropical island and all, I mean).

AD

Pauli_D · June 23, 2007, 12:28pm

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
(living on a tropical island and all, I mean).

AD[/quote]

…Just HAD to throw THAT in there…Yeeesh!

Photo_Guy · June 23, 2007, 1:48pm

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:

As for me…maybe 3 gallons (living on a tropical island and all, I mean).

AD[/quote]

I never would have guessed that I would need to drink that much water in a day. Very early in this thread I remember reading about people drinking 1 to 2 gallons of water a day and quite frankly I didn’t believe them. Figured they must have some weird condition or a fetish for standing at urinals for extended periods of time.

I’m trying to find a link that I stumbled upon quite some time ago that was a daily water needs calculator. I was stunned when it told me that I needed a minimum of 164 oz daily. I think I had the same reaction to that number as I did the first time I did the BWx14 calculation. Looked at it in disbelieve and calculated it again only to get the same number.

If anyone is having trouble drinking that much water try adding a little Crystal Lite to a few of the servings. This stuff is tasty (new green tea version just released that is really good). I wouldn’t advise adding it to all of your water but it certainly helps me get my daily intake on the days when I don’t want to drink that much.

AlphaDragon · June 23, 2007, 2:03pm

[quote]Pauli D wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
(living on a tropical island and all, I mean).

AD

…Just HAD to throw THAT in there…Yeeesh!

;)[/quote]

Normally I try to restrain myself.

Hey, if the Lord has been that good to me, why not brag a little about it from time to time?

Actually I meant it as more of an “exlamation point” as to the necessity of water. Yeah, that’s it.

AD

Pauli_D · June 23, 2007, 3:44pm

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Actually I meant it as more of an “exlamation point” as to the necessity of water. Yeah, that’s it.

AD[/quote]

Ha! Yeah, I bet!

On the thought of water though…

Crystal Light is a great idea…also just keeping it cool (w/ice) and available helps.

Dr DiPas has an article in PLUSA (May 2007) that addresses the whole issue of hydration --although I must admit to being more confused than enlightened by some of the findings.

For instance…one study suggests that if a subject is accustommed to caffeine intake on a regular basis…the fluid used to transport (i.e. diet soda, tea, coffee etc…) could actually count towards their daily fluid intake.

…I know…me too huh!?
Bring on the Diet Coke!

I’d love to find a 32 oz stainless container with an easy access drinking spout…that would be sweet!

The poly bottle I have now works…but ain’t so sweet. In fact, my teenagers call it my “Sippy Cup”

…No respect, I tell ya

AlphaDragon · June 23, 2007, 4:37pm

[quote]Pauli D wrote:

For instance…one study suggests that if a subject is accustommed to caffeine intake on a regular basis…the fluid used to transport (i.e. diet soda, tea, coffee etc…) could actually count towards their daily fluid intake.[/quote]

I was just wondering about this. I love green tea (and it’s SOooo easy to get fresh stuff out here) and drink it a lot. Summer is here and I tend to brew a lot of it, and chill it to enjoy on a hot day (not too chilled as it’s harder to drink lots of it…room temp is best to drink more).

[quote]The poly bottle I have now works…but ain’t so sweet. In fact, my teenagers call it my “Sippy Cup”

…No respect, I tell ya

[/quote]

Can’t you get, like, a 7-11 cup or something? I may have been gone from the ‘States’ too long, but…

AD

AlphaDragon · June 23, 2007, 4:40pm

Addendum to last post:

Pauli: my bad…didn’t see the “stainless” requirement for your new cup…but by now they had to make something like you’re talking about.

I mean, there are tons of caffeine junkies out there.

not that I know about such things, I mean.

AD

InTheZone · June 23, 2007, 4:52pm

           Hey guys,

Alpha and anyone else, it’s true that the good Dr. says contrary to the popular belief, once again, that ice tea at least can be consumed as part of the daily water intake, and the status quo who have been saying no,no,no… are wrong again with findings proving this.

       So, go brew some green tea you island dwelling lucky devil!
             Tonebone

AlphaDragon · June 23, 2007, 5:06pm

[quote]InTheZone wrote:

           Hey guys,

Alpha and anyone else, it’s true that the good Dr. says contrary to the popular belief, once again, that ice tea at least can be consumed as part of the daily water intake, and the status quo who have been saying no,no,no… are wrong again with findings proving this.

       So, go brew some green tea you island dwelling lucky devil!
             Tonebone[/quote]

That has just made my day and I will toast (with chilled green tea) to you all. Well, tomorrow…it’s 1:10AM here and I need to sleep/recover.

Thanks guys.

AD

Photo_Guy · June 23, 2007, 5:25pm

I believe I heard something simlar from Dr. Jose Antonio (www.javalution.com excellent coffee btw) about the diuretic effect of coffee not being very significant (my memory is a bit fuzzy at times so please don’t anyone go nuts citing studies contradicting this statement, I’m admitting that I may be in error) so I usually include my coffee and green tea in my daily totals but I try to limit consumption…

I sit in an office all day with access to free coffee so it would be very easy for me to go nuts with my consumption.

On an AD note, I work in a mining camp and end up eating all my meals with the folks I work with and they’re now starting to notice that my food intake has changed…maybe it was the 3 BBQ chicken thighs, 3 oz cheese, and handfull of olives that I had on my plate at dinner last night ;o)

I’m sure the questions will start this afternoon when I toss out the buns on the pre-made sandwhiches (these suckers are loaded with meat!!) that they serve for lunch here.

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Pauli D wrote:

For instance…one study suggests that if a subject is accustommed to caffeine intake on a regular basis…the fluid used to transport (i.e. diet soda, tea, coffee etc…) could actually count towards their daily fluid intake.

I was just wondering about this. I love green tea (and it’s SOooo easy to get fresh stuff out here) and drink it a lot. Summer is here and I tend to brew a lot of it, and chill it to enjoy on a hot day (not too chilled as it’s harder to drink lots of it…room temp is best to drink more).

The poly bottle I have now works…but ain’t so sweet. In fact, my teenagers call it my “Sippy Cup”

…No respect, I tell ya

[/quote]

raviraj · June 23, 2007, 7:00pm

hey guys …wonderful every 1 are doing just fantastic on this diet so far on this diet for past 18 months and doing great …has any 1 read our good docs new book called the radical diet ? and does any 1 has a idea what it is all about ? maybe the outline …seems that that diet is specially for ripping to the bone

Photo_Guy · June 23, 2007, 7:48pm

I went onto the radical diet for a few weeks to make a target weight that I had set for myself and break a sticking point.

Someone posted some info on this thread on it a while ago but basically you’re following the same macronutrient patern but cutting the calories down to 1200/day to start. You set up a weekly goal for yourself and progressively cut calories (if needed) until you meet the goal weight or BF% that you set for yourself. No carb-ups until you hit that target as well.

Needness to say, cutting calories that low is going to take a toll on your thyroid so supplementation is almost mandatory. Dr D’s brand of supplements for the radical diet are pretty expensive but they do seem to work.

My stay on the radical diet outlasted the small amount of his supplements that I bought and I did end up depressing my thyroid a bit (based on body temp only, no lab work to confirm this).

Hope that helps a bit.

[quote]raviraj wrote:
hey guys …wonderful every 1 are doing just fantastic on this diet so far on this diet for past 18 months and doing great …has any 1 read our good docs new book called the radical diet ? and does any 1 has a idea what it is all about ? maybe the outline …seems that that diet is specially for ripping to the bone [/quote]

raviraj · June 23, 2007, 8:09pm

[quote]Photo Guy wrote:
I went onto the radical diet for a few weeks to make a target weight that I had set for myself and break a sticking point.

Someone posted some info on this thread on it a while ago but basically you’re following the same macronutrient patern but cutting the calories down to 1200/day to start. You set up a weekly goal for yourself and progressively cut calories (if needed) until you meet the goal weight or BF% that you set for yourself. No carb-ups until you hit that target as well.

Needness to say, cutting calories that low is going to take a toll on your thyroid so supplementation is almost mandatory. Dr D’s brand of supplements for the radical diet are pretty expensive but they do seem to work.

My stay on the radical diet outlasted the small amount of his supplements that I bought and I did end up depressing my thyroid a bit (based on body temp only, no lab work to confirm this).

Hope that helps a bit.
raviraj wrote:
hey guys …wonderful every 1 are doing just fantastic on this diet so far on this diet for past 18 months and doing great …has any 1 read our good docs new book called the radical diet ? and does any 1 has a idea what it is all about ? maybe the outline …seems that that diet is specially for ripping to the bone

[/quote]

hey thanx for your promt reply …u mean 1200 cals is mandatory ? in the sense whatever ur weight is u have to start from that point ??? u mean its just ad stlye high fat medium protien and low carbs …with no carbs up atall … just 1200 cals right ??? …and how many pounds u lost and how many weeks u were on that diet ?

Photo_Guy · June 23, 2007, 8:38pm

It has been 6 months since I looked at the eBook and I can’t remember the detailed specifics of whether it was a mandatory 1200 calories or a calculated number…all I remember is that it was 1200.

Fat, protein, and carbs follow the same philosophy as the AD but carb ups only occuring after you’ve hit your goal weight. If you go past the date that you set your target for and haven’t met it, then you start cutting calories…believe there was a plan to go as low as 800. Once you hit your target it’s time to carb up and move onto your next target weight.

I was stuck at a weight between 285 to 282 pounds on the AD and it seemed that no matter what I did I couldn’t break 280 (in hindsight overtraining may have been the cause) so I decided to give the RD a shot for a planned 8 weeks to see what would happen. I bought 4 weeks worth of supplements and dropped from 285 to 278 in a week and a half or so (don’t have the logs in front of me).

After the carb up (sorry, can’t remember the details of the carb ups but I think it was only a 24 hour, clean eating 2000 calories) the combination of being overtrained and on such a low calorie plan really took a toll on me and decided to stop everything for a while and rest up.

In hindsight it wasn’t the right approach for me to take and a week or so out of the gym and eating more would have given better results in the long term (given that I still have a bunch of fat to lose, maybe a different story if I was looking to go below 7% BF) but that’s why I keep good records and review them, so I don’t make the same mistakes over and over again.

[quote]raviraj wrote:
Photo Guy wrote:
I went onto the radical diet for a few weeks to make a target weight that I had set for myself and break a sticking point.

Someone posted some info on this thread on it a while ago but basically you’re following the same macronutrient patern but cutting the calories down to 1200/day to start. You set up a weekly goal for yourself and progressively cut calories (if needed) until you meet the goal weight or BF% that you set for yourself. No carb-ups until you hit that target as well.

Needness to say, cutting calories that low is going to take a toll on your thyroid so supplementation is almost mandatory. Dr D’s brand of supplements for the radical diet are pretty expensive but they do seem to work.

My stay on the radical diet outlasted the small amount of his supplements that I bought and I did end up depressing my thyroid a bit (based on body temp only, no lab work to confirm this).

Hope that helps a bit.
raviraj wrote:
hey guys …wonderful every 1 are doing just fantastic on this diet so far on this diet for past 18 months and doing great …has any 1 read our good docs new book called the radical diet ? and does any 1 has a idea what it is all about ? maybe the outline …seems that that diet is specially for ripping to the bone

hey thanx for your promt reply …u mean 1200 cals is mandatory ? in the sense whatever ur weight is u have to start from that point ??? u mean its just ad stlye high fat medium protien and low carbs …with no carbs up atall … just 1200 cals right ??? …and how many pounds u lost and how many weeks u were on that diet ?[/quote]

raviraj · June 23, 2007, 8:53pm

[quote]Photo Guy wrote:
It has been 6 months since I looked at the eBook and I can’t remember the detailed specifics of whether it was a mandatory 1200 calories or a calculated number…all I remember is that it was 1200.

Fat, protein, and carbs follow the same philosophy as the AD but carb ups only occuring after you’ve hit your goal weight. If you go past the date that you set your target for and haven’t met it, then you start cutting calories…believe there was a plan to go as low as 800. Once you hit your target it’s time to carb up and move onto your next target weight.

I was stuck at a weight between 285 to 282 pounds on the AD and it seemed that no matter what I did I couldn’t break 280 (in hindsight overtraining may have been the cause) so I decided to give the RD a shot for a planned 8 weeks to see what would happen. I bought 4 weeks worth of supplements and dropped from 285 to 278 in a week and a half or so (don’t have the logs in front of me).

After the carb up (sorry, can’t remember the details of the carb ups but I think it was only a 24 hour, clean eating 2000 calories) the combination of being overtrained and on such a low calorie plan really took a toll on me and decided to stop everything for a while and rest up.

In hindsight it wasn’t the right approach for me to take and a week or so out of the gym and eating more would have given better results in the long term (given that I still have a bunch of fat to lose, maybe a different story if I was looking to go below 7% BF) but that’s why I keep good records and review them, so I don’t make the same mistakes over and over again.

raviraj wrote:
Photo Guy wrote:
I went onto the radical diet for a few weeks to make a target weight that I had set for myself and break a sticking point.

Someone posted some info on this thread on it a while ago but basically you’re following the same macronutrient patern but cutting the calories down to 1200/day to start. You set up a weekly goal for yourself and progressively cut calories (if needed) until you meet the goal weight or BF% that you set for yourself. No carb-ups until you hit that target as well.

Needness to say, cutting calories that low is going to take a toll on your thyroid so supplementation is almost mandatory. Dr D’s brand of supplements for the radical diet are pretty expensive but they do seem to work.

My stay on the radical diet outlasted the small amount of his supplements that I bought and I did end up depressing my thyroid a bit (based on body temp only, no lab work to confirm this).

Hope that helps a bit.
raviraj wrote:
hey guys …wonderful every 1 are doing just fantastic on this diet so far on this diet for past 18 months and doing great …has any 1 read our good docs new book called the radical diet ? and does any 1 has a idea what it is all about ? maybe the outline …seems that that diet is specially for ripping to the bone

hey thanx for your promt reply …u mean 1200 cals is mandatory ? in the sense whatever ur weight is u have to start from that point ??? u mean its just ad stlye high fat medium protien and low carbs …with no carbs up atall … just 1200 cals right ??? …and how many pounds u lost and how many weeks u were on that diet ?

[/quote]

thanx so much my friend …iam just trying to give it a shot for a week or 2 and see what happens as iam really stuck badly on ad now …did u do cardio while u were on the diet ??? i eman what was a rough typical training scehdule ? …iam sorry if iam really asking a lot of questions to you

Photo_Guy · June 23, 2007, 9:18pm

I don’t mind answering questions at all.

Before resorting to the RD I was cutting 300 to 500 calories out of my diet every 2 weeks and had increased both my strength training and cardio.

I had been following the 10x3 for fat loss protocol which was working great until I stopped taking time off, started dropping calories too fast, not noticing that my lifts were all going down and adding in extra interval work when I could.

It all seemed perfectly logical at the time but in looking back on the logs I can only scratch my head and wonder why I couldn’t see that I was setting myself up to stall my progress by burning myself out and overtraining.

I’m writing all this out hoping that you’ll take the same things into consideration. If you haven’t had a break in 5 or 6 weeks of dedicated training, a few days off and a re-feed may break the plateau you’ve hit.

If you go the RD route be prepared to really cut back on what you’re doing in the gym. 1200 calories a day won’t allow you to train at typical AD intensities. I didn’t back off nearly enough to compensate for the reduced intake and it caught up with me pretty quick.

[quote]raviraj wrote:
Photo Guy wrote:
It has been 6 months since I looked at the eBook and I can’t remember the detailed specifics of whether it was a mandatory 1200 calories or a calculated number…all I remember is that it was 1200.