My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

TravisCS84 · July 25, 2007, 6:01pm

Ok guys, I started the AD on Sunday, July 15. I had terrible headaches the first two days, but just increased the calories and the headaches were gone by third or fourth day.

Thing is, I started this diet a week out before a powerlifting meet, so I was taking no chances and carbed up on days 7 and 8 (meet day and the day before). So on Monday, July 23 I went back to being on the AD and now it’s Wednesday, July 25.

The AD was fairly easy that first week because I was exerting zero energy; I wasn’t lifting or even moving around at all because I had a meet coming up. All I did was lay by the pool and relax.

Well now I’m back to lifting and I feel like I’m going to puke just being in the gym. Granted, since my first carb up was not proper as I was not fully adapted, I’m back to square one, feeling like I did the first two/three days of the diet.

Anyway, should that first mini-trial of the AD help me adjust at all over these next 12 days?

Whey_Man · July 25, 2007, 6:23pm

Ok…I have few question. I just started the diet on Thursday (7 days go). I’ve been gradually adding more and more fat throughout those 7 days.

Also, I should mention I was already on a very low carb plan for a month or two before hand too. Ok…so then today I just realized I’ve been getting 4 more grams of carbs than I thought with each serving of whey that I consume (and I usually have it 2-3 times per day with peanut butter…which has 5 grams per serving). So here’s my main question…

Is it ok to start my carb load this Saturday (10 days as opposed to 13), especially considering I’ve had about 15-45 grams of carbs on any given day? I’m personally thinking it wouldn’t be optimal for me to have to go another week (17 days overall) without carbing up.

That plus I’m not even sure I went above 30 grams on any day. I basically thought my only carbs were coming from PB, and I certainly didn’t have 30 grams worth of it on any days.

So basically I MIGHT have gone up to 40-45 a couple of times…if even that much. Is that enough to be concerned? I wouldn’t think so but want to be sure. I want to make sure I get adapted to burn FAT and not carbs or protein/muscle.

I should also throw in that I’m already pretty lean. 6 foot, 165 pounds, near single digits bodyfat (if not already).

Hagar · July 25, 2007, 6:47pm

[quote]Ad B wrote:
day 8, and this was the first time i felt bad. had a headache for about an hour, but soon went off when i had a nice big fat/pro meal.

carb up is fast approaching and wanted to ask people’s views on a minimum and near maximum amount of CHO to consume per 24 hours on the weekend

stats as of now: 150lbs, 5"7, 11% bf

[/quote]

Hey if you search back a few pages there’s a good list on carb levels per weight by Lyle McDonald. I try for 800g on Sat and 500g on sun but I’m 5’9" 215-220 @18% bf. Thats a lot of food btw.

Hagar · July 25, 2007, 7:01pm

[quote]Whey Man wrote:
Ok…I have few question. I just started the diet on Thursday (7 days go). I’ve been gradually adding more and more fat throughout those 7 days.

Also, I should mention I was already on a very low carb plan for a month or two before hand too. Ok…so then today I just realized I’ve been getting 4 more grams of carbs than I thought with each serving of whey that I consume (and I usually have it 2-3 times per day with peanut butter…which has 5 grams per serving). So here’s my main question…

Is it ok to start my carb load this Saturday (10 days as opposed to 13), especially considering I’ve had about 15-45 grams of carbs on any given day? I’m personally thinking it wouldn’t be optimal for me to have to go another week (17 days overall) without carbing up.

That plus I’m not even sure I went above 30 grams on any day. I basically thought my only carbs were coming from PB, and I certainly didn’t have 30 grams worth of it on any days.

So basically I MIGHT have gone up to 40-45 a couple of times…if even that much. Is that enough to be concerned? I wouldn’t think so but want to be sure. I want to make sure I get adapted to burn FAT and not carbs or protein/muscle.

I should also throw in that I’m already pretty lean. 6 foot, 165 pounds, near single digits bodyfat (if not already).
[/quote]

I think your alright but when you start this diet I believe its best to count and weigh everything so you got a good idea of what your doing. After a while it gets easier. If you do things half assed you’ll get half assed results.

I never did the 12 day intro phase but I transitioned to the AD from a similar diet. Its your call when you want to carb up. BTW are you bulking (at 6’ 165 I hope so) or just looking to stay lean?

Hagar · July 25, 2007, 7:09pm

[quote]okokok wrote:
Carbing Up on the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet …go to this web site, it’ll tell you what you want to know about carbing up.[/quote]

For a guy with one post you really deliver. Great article.

Hagar · July 25, 2007, 7:24pm

[quote]TravisCS84 wrote:
Ok guys, I started the AD on Sunday, July 15. I had terrible headaches the first two days, but just increased the calories and the headaches were gone by third or fourth day.

Thing is, I started this diet a week out before a powerlifting meet, so I was taking no chances and carbed up on days 7 and 8 (meet day and the day before). So on Monday, July 23 I went back to being on the AD and now it’s Wednesday, July 25.

The AD was fairly easy that first week because I was exerting zero energy; I wasn’t lifting or even moving around at all because I had a meet coming up. All I did was lay by the pool and relax.

Well now I’m back to lifting and I feel like I’m going to puke just being in the gym. Granted, since my first carb up was not proper as I was not fully adapted, I’m back to square one, feeling like I did the first two/three days of the diet.

Anyway, should that first mini-trial of the AD help me adjust at all over these next 12 days? [/quote]

If I don’t get in enough carbs during the carb up, I run out of gas sooner in my w/o. Just keep in mind it takes some time to get used to the AD. Disc Hoss, the T-Nation AD guru, wrote that it takes up to 6 months to become truly fat adapted. I’ve been on it for 5 months plus I did bodyopus for 18 weeks right before. This diet justs seems to be working better and better as time goes by.

I can’t say for sure, but I don’t see how your mini trail could hurt your adaptation.

tmoney1 · July 25, 2007, 8:26pm

I’ve been on the AD for 2 weeks now. About 3 days in, my body just shut down and my workouts sucked (I’m assuming from the low-carbs), but I’ve recovered and am doing much better now.

My question is: would anyone recommend the AD for fat/weight loss? I’m trying to lose a significant amount of weight, and have lost 22 pounds so far just by cleaning up my diet and exercising hard. I know that essentially your body goes from burning carbs to burning fat, because the carbs are low and that you start to burn fat after a certain amount of time, but would this be recommended for a long-term solution to losing weight?

Any feedback would be much appreicated.

Ad_B · July 25, 2007, 10:10pm

Been reading through the thread AGAIN, seems like i just read the same pages and never get anywhere!!

question… it doesnt matter where your carbs come from in the weekdays, as long as there not like piling 30g sugar into you. reason i ask is that i get pretty much all of my total carbs from veg.

carb up is gonna be 600g CHO from sat 10:00am till bed then 300g sunday, all from real clean foods.
at least 60g of fats
and 80g pro
this ok?

sorry dudes, but cnt remember what ive read about this so.

after the weekly carb up, should you do any extra work excluding workouts to deplete glycogen before next weeks carb up. im right in thinking that one should be pretty much near depletion before the carb up to benefit from supercompensation

i’d appreciate it if someone could clear this up for me.

Inner_Hulk · July 25, 2007, 10:36pm

So I’m just curious as to what kind of weight gain and muscle gain people have seen on the AD?

I’m 6’3@187 pounds and always looking to put on weight so I’m hoping I’ll put on some good size with the AD over the long haul.

I’m basically an ectomorph, very hard for me to put on size. Any suggestions or tweaks I should make considering my metabolism and body’s resistance to gaining?

Underestimated · July 25, 2007, 11:44pm

[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
I’ve been on the AD for 2 weeks now. About 3 days in, my body just shut down and my workouts sucked (I’m assuming from the low-carbs), but I’ve recovered and am doing much better now.

My question is: would anyone recommend the AD for fat/weight loss? I’m trying to lose a significant amount of weight, and have lost 22 pounds so far just by cleaning up my diet and exercising hard. I know that essentially your body goes from burning carbs to burning fat, because the carbs are low and that you start to burn fat after a certain amount of time, but would this be recommended for a long-term solution to losing weight?

Any feedback would be much appreicated.[/quote]

Hey tmoney,

Good to hear things are getting better for you. The beginning can be tough sometimes. It will take a while to get 'er dialed in, but once you do you will see the benefits long term.

Now to answer your question, I personally would recommend this diet long term not only for losing fat, but keeping it off as well along with some lean mass gains to boot. I had tinkered with the AD basically since the inception of this thread(probably about 9 months out of the year from summer of 2005 to last summer{special thanks to Disc Hoss, Il Cazzo, and countless others}), but have been doing the AD consistently since June 18, 2006. I started out at 242 then and I am currently down to 206. I have yet to technically “bulk”, but I have definitely gained some LBM just by hitting maintenance cals and Jacking up the weekend cals sometimes. That may not seem all that great, but I feel and look better for it and have learned alot in the process.

The main thing with this diet is time. Time to adapt. Time to adjust(cals., training, etc). This isn’t really a diet in my opinion. It’s a lifestyle. If done properly it is a HEALTHY lifestyle. Choices distinguish that. I mean Slim Jims, Oscar Meyer, Burger King(w/o the bun) ect. are options on the AD, but steak, chicken, salad, nuts, eggs, steak, fish, olive oil, fish oils, cheese, and steak(here I go again) among others are better options.

Best of luck,

UE

Sidenote: When it gets to bulking, as I hope to get to in the next two months, then you should head over to Hagar’s house. Congrats on the numbers bro.

kkeane · July 26, 2007, 1:22am

[quote]Inner Hulk wrote:
So I’m just curious as to what kind of weight gain and muscle gain people have seen on the AD?

I’m 6’3@187 pounds and always looking to put on weight so I’m hoping I’ll put on some good size with the AD over the long haul.

I’m basically an ectomorph, very hard for me to put on size. Any suggestions or tweaks I should make considering my metabolism and body’s resistance to gaining? [/quote]

I started the diet last august or so, and by Christmas I had put on 30 pretty solid pounds. The diet got hard to follow eating at the college dorm, and I ditched it, and promptly did not gain any weight until a couple months ago when I started it up again. I am NOT planning to quit anytime too. obviously, the key is calories. eat nuts like it’s your job.

Miserere · July 26, 2007, 3:28am

[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
My question is: would anyone recommend the AD for fat/weight loss?[/quote]

Jen Heath, T-Nation author and natural bodybuilder uses the AD to diet for contests.

And remember that Dr Di Pasquale created this diet to help bodybuilders get in the best possible shape come contest day. It’s both a mass-gaining and fat-losing diet; you just have to tweak calories to be in one state or the other.

Lucif3r · July 26, 2007, 3:42am

another newbie question…do I need to take creatine while working out on the ad??? I had good results with it before the ad but am not sure if it will hinder or help my progress now that I’m fat adapted. it might be nice for those late week workouts. any input is appreciated.

Hagar · July 26, 2007, 6:18am

[quote]Lucif3r wrote:
another newbie question…do I need to take creatine while working out on the ad??? I had good results with it before the ad but am not sure if it will hinder or help my progress now that I’m fat adapted. it might be nice for those late week workouts. any input is appreciated.[/quote]

Creatine works jut fine for me on the AD. I take it with some whey protein since it stimulates insulin secretion.

Gymjunkie · July 26, 2007, 9:56am

Hey guys,

A mate of mine has done a personal training coarse and told me that on this style of diet, there is carbohydrate, because the protein we ingest turns into carbs for energy? Is this true? If so, then wouldn’t we want to make sure our protein intake is really high…Either way, I told whatever the case is…this is the strongest and biggest and leanest I have been at one, and its certainly thanks to this diet.

Once started, my strength increases weekly! He mentioned that there are potassium ions floating around after we train due to the lack of carbs, something along these lines…Anyway got the technical explaination on how our body reacts whilst on the diet regarding energy system etc?

THANKS

richo1980 · July 26, 2007, 10:08am

Ok… In 5th week in… Just an update, in 5th week of AD. think all teething problems are sorted.

Early issues re: ketosis simply disappeared, so i assume readings on ketostix were simply part of an adjustment period. Feeling fantastic. I haven’t felt this well and generally healthy and energetic since i can even remember.

Total bodyweight is down approx 2kg, all lifts are up at least 20lbs, biggest improvement has been bench which i hit 4 reps with 255lbs, about 25lbs up from 4 weeks ago. To say i am pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. I have been eating between 3500 and 4000 cals/day, and eating like a king. Tub of Double Cream - $2.90, the look on an overweight cholestro-phobes’ face when i eat it with a spoon after a good serve of red meat! Priceless.

All in all, going well during the week no-carbing it, but am not real happy with the carb up. I just don’t feel like a get the pump that people talk about, even not worrying about smoothing out and just going crazy, i don’t feel like that much happens.

Also, quite decent headaches from carbs, that simply disappear when i get back on the bacon. I wonder if this is from dehydration as the carbs pull water into muscles?? I also load creatine on the weekends too, this might be contributing??

Thought i might post yesterday’s fuel consumption, pretty hard to beat i reckon:

Iron chefs, Behold:

Breakfast :

4 Fried eggs, easy over, runny yolks
4 Rashers bacon, cooked to perfection in golden butter
Spinach cooked in Extra Virgin Olive oil

Brew :

4 Slices Safeway delicatessan Silverside
4 Slices Coon Swiss cheese
30ish mls Gippsland Dairy Double cream (60% fat)

Lunch :

200g can Sirena Tuna in Olive oil with Chilli
30 mls Gippsland Dairy Double cream

After work snack/Preworkout meal :

400g T-Bone cooked medium rare with Dijon mustard
2 easy over fried eggs, runny yolks

Dinner :

2 Pork rashers, fried in butter
150g premium mince pattie
2 eggs fried in butter, easy over runny yolks

Dessert :

Chocolate mousse, consisting 50ml above cream, 50ml water, 2 scoops sugarfree chocolate flavoured whey protein powder

Refreshments during the day included: Several cups Dilmah extra strength tea, 1.25L Pepsi Max, coke Zero can, litre of water

Total Nutritional Values:

Protein Grams : 380
Fat Grams : 280
Carb Grams : <30
Total Calories : 3975 or 16500kJ

Love it!

Richie

Ad_B · July 26, 2007, 12:49pm

sounds awesome Richie. glad to hear all the improvements you’ve witnessed, especially as your about 3 weeks in front of me on the diet.

meals look solid and loving the sound of tht chocolate mouse

whats your training look like mate?

raviraj · July 26, 2007, 8:26pm

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
Hey guys,

A mate of mine has done a personal training coarse and told me that on this style of diet, there is carbohydrate, because the protein we ingest turns into carbs for energy? Is this true? If so, then wouldn’t we want to make sure our protein intake is really high…Either way, I told whatever the case is…this is the strongest and biggest and leanest I have been at one, and its certainly thanks to this diet.

Once started, my strength increases weekly! He mentioned that there are potassium ions floating around after we train due to the lack of carbs, something along these lines…Anyway got the technical explaination on how our body reacts whilst on the diet regarding energy system etc?

THANKS[/quote]

tell your friend dude that this is just not a high protien low carb diet in reality its a low carb HIGH FAT diet and moderate protien diet . there are 2 fuel sources carbs or fats . when we use carbs as our fuel source body burns glucose more …and when u stop eating carbs naturally body will use protien to make glucose …here we are taking the carbs out but replacing it with fats as our fuel source .

so body is using fat as fuel …and protien is spared infact on this diet if u up the protien then its bad actually because it will be converted in glucose and thats is not a ideal scene we want . and like if protien was getting converted then u would have never made so nice gains …again tissues need glucose to function and that we are giving through our 30gms daily carb intake .

so dont increase the protien whatever is going for u dont tweak as its giving u the best results when u halt we will see what to do for now just do what u are doing .

Miserere · July 26, 2007, 8:33pm

Hey Richo, where are the veggies, mate!? How come you haven’t developed scurvy yet?

Seriously, why are you neglecting the green stuff? I think I don’t eat that many veggies, but I get 100 gr of each of spinach, broccoli and cauliflower every day. Then add to that any assorted lettuce, onions, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, carrots, tomatoes, etc… that come my way.

Just saying…

raviraj · July 26, 2007, 8:37pm

[quote]richo1980 wrote:
Ok… In 5th week in… Just an update, in 5th week of AD. think all teething problems are sorted.