My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

[quote]InTheZone wrote:
nycsoccax wrote:
InTheZone wrote:
natural59 wrote:
Ad B wrote:
After reading the links natural59 posted got me thinking. Im wanting to put lean mass on with the diet and wondering when increasing calories would it be better to keep the macro % at the same e.g 60% fat 35% pro 5% CHO or just increase fat kcals

Hmmm…I guess, at some point, that would pose a dilemma, since .8 or 1.0 g. per pound of lbm won’t change radically/quickly. So if your protein is FIXED, and your CHO are FIXED, you would have no choice but to raise fat intake, in that scenario. Perhaps, you’ve unwittingly stumbled on an optimal intake level, IF the ratios are to be kept in tact.

As a side note, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing, I just never thought of it that way. I count my Protein and carb intake, and keep my total FAT calories at 60% of my total caloric intake. At least, that’s been my simple formula for the AD.

as it seems that fat tissue is burned better when protein is at a baseline amount.

anyone got any ideas on this?

I don’t think that this is what is being implied by the above. My understanding is that during the 12-day break-in, and subsequent 5-day carb depletion periods, the fat you INGEST is being burned for energy, not adipose tissue. So if you were to lose fat, you’d have to actually CUT fat intake at some point, which is what I had planned on doing, ESPECIALLY on carb-loading days, and if necessary, during the 5-day, low-carb maintenance periods as well, say, dropping from 60% of total caloric intake to 50%, etc.

However, it may be advisable to allow for, what, up to 12 weeks b4 doing this, to ensure that your body is fully fat adapted…?

-james

Hey guys, my experience, which has been in accordance to the good Dr.'s guidelines has worked great when cutting, to drop my fat cals to 40-48% or so during the week…I waited about one and a half months before doing it to that extent, but it went really nice, and as far as I know didn’t effect my fat adaption at all…You just have to stay above the 40% mark, or you will then have some problems with switching back to burning carbs possibly…

         and always cut fat on carb ups as per the guidelines in his book.
                    just my opinion.
                     Tonebone

I’m defintely going to drop the fat cals to somewhere 40%<x<50%, something i never really tried. But that also juxtaposes what that other guy was saying about lowering protein to cut, doesn’t it? You must leave carbs constant, and if you lower fat cal %, doesn’t protein cal % HAVE to raise? Let me know what you guys think!

No that defeats the purpose bro, you have to drop calories right? So the point is, take them from your fat intake, that signals your body to go grab it’s own fat to use, since it’s fat adapted…and voila, you’re on operation “meltdown”… if you increase your protein, then you haven’t dropped any calories…you see? So. there ya go. best ,TB[/quote]

My .02 and this has worked for me up until current:

Keep fat at about 55% each day and up the pro to about 40%. Keep carbs about 5%. Reduce total cals, but keep these percentages (we don’t want to switch to protein-burning mode).

Again, my .02.

AD

[quote]Filmmakerr wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
Filmmakerr wrote:
Anabolci Diet is seriously the best diet…I wish I could get on it, but I’m cutting bodyfat, and carb ups aren’t optimal for me, atleast according to CT in his article.

With all due respect to CT, I personally lost 25 LBS in 12 weeks on the AD. AND that is with UNCONTROLLED/UNCLEAN carbups (I’m talkin’ Pizza, Tirimisu, KFC…even mixing in P/F/C meals). Although, I did pretty much (with 1-2 meals/weekend exceptions…but those were HUGE cheat meals) stick to my daily caloric intake plans.

AND, I always did at LEAST a 36 hour carb up, and more often than not, it was 48 hours.

FYI.

AD

so basically you always stuck to your caloric intake? so none of the “carb up should be 10-20% above maintenance” is true?

How many calories were you intaking?
[/quote]

I don’t really want to say that it’s not true, because we’re all different in some ways.

M-F I was spot on with caloric intake…always. Weekends was different.

I will say that while my caloric intake was scheduled at 1750/day on non-training days and about 2000 on training days, on the weekends I did have a considerable amount of cheat meals.

Cookies for breakfast, pizza for lunch (occasionally), ice cream (not too much)–that kind of thing.

Which of course, meant that my intake probably went way over 2000/day (considering that 1 piece of deep dish pizza is 250 cals by itself and I’d eat at least 4 at a time).

I don’t know as I never tracked weekends (heck, they don’t have calories on packages out here in most cases, so it was pretty much impossible anyway).

Now, what I did do is tell myself “enough is enough” for today and then eat clean when I felt icky. Usually that meant a tblspn of EVOO with some better choices of CHO (did he say he mixed C/F?? Yup, he sure did.).

Maybe it’s because I was on it at least 6 months before I did any of this…maybe I developed the “instinct”…

Again, I can’t say if the “don’t go above 10-20%” is true or not for everyone. For me, it obviously was not true…although now that I’m at about 13-14%, I’ve cut down on the weekend splurging in order to finally reach the 10% goal (my caloric intake is still substantially higher, but much cleaner sources. I’d guess I’m about 4000cal/day on Sat and maybe 3000 on Sun).

Then again, I train on Sat too.

IMHO, getting on the AD is perfect for cutting BF. The carb-ups are a necessary part (and people who cut it short to under 36 hours) are missing out on the major benefits of the AD. Yes, I still gain 5-10 lbs on weekends…but it’s normally gone by Wednesday (actually, it was gone by Tuesday this week).

So, why not try it, see what happens, then if it does not work then switch?

My .02 and I hope it was clear enough and hopefully it helped. Feel free to let me know if I wasn’t clear enough.

AD

I have just started CT’s refined transformation. As I mentioned earlier, I was going to add some carbs, as he suggested…around 60g a day. But decided against it. I am goin from 4 heavy sessions to 3 heavy + 2 circuit days, and feel like these workouts are far more energy expensive, so I have decided not to drop the calories too much to start with, maybe 200 cals…

I am however eating around 300g Pro, 230-240g fats, <30g carbs a day. I will take my measurements again this weekend, after week 1 and see where I am at. I already know, I will have dropped some fat. I was also goin to further drop my carb up to 24 hours instead of 36hr, where I am now, but after reading AD’s post, I think I will keep it to 36hr with all clean carbs.

Gymjunkie

I’ve noticed some people mentioning C+F and C+F+P when discussing carb ups.

Is the recommendation to stay to mostly C+P and P+F on carb ups? I thought it didn’t matter on the AD. Am I wrong here?

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
I have just started CT’s refined transformation. As I mentioned earlier, I was going to add some carbs, as he suggested…around 60g a day. But decided against it. I am goin from 4 heavy sessions to 3 heavy + 2 circuit days, and feel like these workouts are far more energy expensive, so I have decided not to drop the calories too much to start with, maybe 200 cals…

I am however eating around 300g Pro, 230-240g fats, <30g carbs a day. I will take my measurements again this weekend, after week 1 and see where I am at. I already know, I will have dropped some fat. I was also goin to further drop my carb up to 24 hours instead of 36hr, where I am now, but after reading AD’s post, I think I will keep it to 36hr with all clean carbs.

Gymjunkie[/quote]

now, I’m not familiar with the program you are using, but if it’s similar to the AD, your plan will probably succeed, although (to be honest) I’m hesitant to say that because (as I said) I’m not familiar with the plan you are going to follow.

I’d suggest giving it 2-3 weeks before you change it again, though.

Remember to wait until Wed or so for measurements as the extra weight from the CHO up will have been used up, for the most part.

AD

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
koots wrote:
Hey fellas, I’m in my third week on the AD and loving it.

HOWEVER,

I cannot get a good night’s sleep. I sleep like a baby on the carb-up days. On weekdays I go to bed and my heart is racing and I cannot get to sleep. Has anyone else noticed this? Any suggestions??

By the way, I’m loving the AD “lifestyle.” I’m loving what I get to eat both during the week and on the weekend. I’m hooked!

How long before bed is your last meal? Do you train a few hours before bed?

A lot of guys save their CHO for a larger CHO containing meal as their last meal of the day.

Just a thought.

AD
[/quote]

Hey bro, I eat my last meal at about 9 (steak and broccoli or similar), with small snack before bed (1/2 & 1/2, cheese, olives, someting fat). My CHO are spread out throughout the day, I’ll try putting them at the end of the day. Thanks!

[quote]koots wrote:
AlphaDragon wrote:
koots wrote:
Hey fellas, I’m in my third week on the AD and loving it.

HOWEVER,

I cannot get a good night’s sleep. I sleep like a baby on the carb-up days. On weekdays I go to bed and my heart is racing and I cannot get to sleep. Has anyone else noticed this? Any suggestions??

By the way, I’m loving the AD “lifestyle.” I’m loving what I get to eat both during the week and on the weekend. I’m hooked!

How long before bed is your last meal? Do you train a few hours before bed?

A lot of guys save their CHO for a larger CHO containing meal as their last meal of the day.

Just a thought.

AD

Hey bro, I eat my last meal at about 9 (steak and broccoli or similar), with small snack before bed (1/2 & 1/2, cheese, olives, someting fat). My CHO are spread out throughout the day, I’ll try putting them at the end of the day. Thanks!
[/quote]

Yeah, try saving CHO throughout the day for a bigger CHO meal at the end of the day will help. I figure if we use fat for fuel, if we intake a good amount anywhere near bedtime it will rev us up…at least it does for me.

Tell us how it goes.

AD

[quote]Inner Hulk wrote:
I’ve noticed some people mentioning C+F and C+F+P when discussing carb ups.

Is the recommendation to stay to mostly C+P and P+F on carb ups? I thought it didn’t matter on the AD. Am I wrong here?[/quote]

No, it really does not matter…I was merely using it as an example that the AD “Breaks the rules.”

That’s all.

AD

now, I’m not familiar with the program you are using, but if it’s similar to the AD, your plan will probably succeed, although (to be honest) I’m hesitant to say that because (as I said) I’m not familiar with the plan you are going to follow.

I’d suggest giving it 2-3 weeks before you change it again, though.

Remember to wait until Wed or so for measurements as the extra weight from the CHO up will have been used up, for the most part.

AD[/quote]

Thanks AD,

CT basically suggests a diet very similar to the Anabolic diet, but with a carb up every 10 days, with far less carbs, but slightly more carbs on a daily basis.

He also suggests a far bit more protein than fat…I only using his recommendations as guidelines and creating what suites me, according to how my body responds. During my bulk, OMC suggested adding a 50g or so of maltodextrin and dextrose, which I felt helped with muscle gaina fair bit, but off it now, as I wana drop some fat!

Regarding measurements, I have been taking measurements on a Saturday morning when Im an my flattest as such, so thats my reference for a while now…Will keep you updated on my progress…

Thanks again for the advice,

GJ

this is going to seem kind of ocd, but does anyone else cook stuff on the foreman grill? as a college student its currently the only way i know how to make stuff other than eggs, and im worried that since its a “fat reducing machine” that it is cooking out more fat from the burgers than if i cooked them on a grill. trying to save that valuable fat, hahaha.

Supposedly someone tested the machine and it didn’t really reduce the fat content; the “run-off” was mostly meat juices.

Alright, so I’m deciding to go on the AD. This will be a hard switch going from the warrior diet. I go to the chow hall so fat is not a problem. Does anyone have a sample plan they could lay out for calories?

I’m only 130 but I’m 71 inches because I lost a lot of weight in Iraq. I want to get back up to around 160-165 at least, so I was thinking a 3,000 calorie start off would be good, but I hate counting carbs. My first day looked like this:

0730: 4 eggs, 4 pieces of bacon
1030: Oh Yeah Protein bar (8g-2g Fiber=6g)
1230: 2 cheeseburgers, mustard
1530: Labrada lean protein shake (9g-5g Fiber=4g)
1730: 2 cheeseburgers, mustard

The protein bar was a one time thing, did not like the sweet chocolate. Also, is the protein shake too much? It’s high in fat, but also lots of protein.

Any suggestions for better snacks? Would almonds or mixed nuts be better? Any help would be good. And, how do you count calories on the carb up? Since I’m just starting how long should I wait for carb up, and how long in between should I do carb up?

[quote]KingTAH wrote:
Alright, so I’m deciding to go on the AD. This will be a hard switch going from the warrior diet. I go to the chow hall so fat is not a problem. Does anyone have a sample plan they could lay out for calories?

I’m only 130 but I’m 71 inches because I lost a lot of weight in Iraq. I want to get back up to around 160-165 at least, so I was thinking a 3,000 calorie start off would be good, but I hate counting carbs. My first day looked like this:

0730: 4 eggs, 4 pieces of bacon
1030: Oh Yeah Protein bar (8g-2g Fiber=6g)
1230: 2 cheeseburgers, mustard
1530: Labrada lean protein shake (9g-5g Fiber=4g)
1730: 2 cheeseburgers, mustard

The protein bar was a one time thing, did not like the sweet chocolate. Also, is the protein shake too much? It’s high in fat, but also lots of protein.

Any suggestions for better snacks? Would almonds or mixed nuts be better? Any help would be good. And, how do you count calories on the carb up? Since I’m just starting how long should I wait for carb up, and how long in between should I do carb up?
[/quote]

Cheeseburgers: What kind of cheese? On buns? That could add up in the carb count, dude.

Mustard…what kind?

Go to www.fitday.com and set up an account. After you input your special foods and their carb/fat/pro count, it’s super easy to track your progress. A few months into it, you’ll not even need it but to check in from time to time.

Trust me on this one.

As has been suggested, you should read the first 25 pages of this thread as it answers all of your other questions (and to be honest, these questions have been asked a bazillion times)…these pages (first 25) are a wealth of AD information.

Wait 12 days then do your first carb up.

Do you have the book?

Be careful of the “Bars”, dude…you can’t go by “total net carbs” on those. I have some bars with 19g cho but only 2-3g net carbs…go with the total cho (cho=carbs) and not the total net carbs.

Just off the top of my head, I’m guessing you did at least 60g carbs in the day you listed.

My snacks include Edam cheese, Protein, EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), and Fish oil.

Get plenty of veggies (as listed in the first 25 pages).

AD

I want to throw this question out to the masses here:

I’m going to start Flameout. Stuff sounds too good not to.

One serving of Flameout=52cals.

Normally I do 10 caps which equal 250 cals.

Do I need to keep doing the normal fish caps and take Flameout separately? From what I understand, regular fish caps have fats that Flameout does not contain.

Thanks for any help.

AD

[quote]getabsfast83 wrote:
this is going to seem kind of ocd, but does anyone else cook stuff on the foreman grill? as a college student its currently the only way i know how to make stuff other than eggs, and im worried that since its a “fat reducing machine” that it is cooking out more fat from the burgers than if i cooked them on a grill. trying to save that valuable fat, hahaha.[/quote]

I have the same problem as you as in the college situation, but as someone said underneath your post, the Foreman really doesn’t take out the fat content of the burger.

Plus theres so much fat on a burger that even if it took off 2 grams it still wouldn’t be significant. I actually tend to stick to the 93% Lean burgers, they have a few more grams of protein, and still have a lot of good fat.

Also, you can try braising your meet (basically cook it over the stove with the top of a pan over the burger, which is very easy to make & I think its easier to clean than the Foreman. Try it out.

[quote]AlphaDragon wrote:
Inner Hulk wrote:
I’ve noticed some people mentioning C+F and C+F+P when discussing carb ups.

Is the recommendation to stay to mostly C+P and P+F on carb ups? I thought it didn’t matter on the AD. Am I wrong here?

No, it really does not matter…I was merely using it as an example that the AD “Breaks the rules.”

That’s all.

AD

[/quote]

I’d say it does matter. I wouldn’t go hog wild combining carbs and fats like traditional junk foods do. Di Pasquale recommends you keep the fat moderate on the carb up days (30% -40%) and let’s be honest I think the cleaner you carb up (lower to mod. fat) the better off you’ll be. We all know that C+F is the number one combination for fat storing.

I used to do the ice cream and pizza, etc. and would end up feeling like shit and possibly gaining a little fat.

Nowadays, I do steel cut oats, yams, toast, fruit, maybe some sorbet, etc. Feel better and know that I’m definitely not overdoing it and risking fat gain.

No bun, and that was total carbs. I consumed about 20g carbs. It was cheddar cheese.

God dammit, I just wrote a whole long post then clicked the back button by mistake, but here goes again.

On my lunch break I went to the really nice & big GNC on Fifth Avenue and discovered a lot of good sales (40% if you buy a GNC gold card on National brands like Isopure), no tax in Manhattan, & i have a 20% coupon off my order. So regardless if you guys say don’t shop at GNC, i am, i just need your opinions on the products i’m going to buy.

I’m going to buy the Zero Carb Isopure, its on sale for $27 BEFORE all those savings. I was wondering if anybody has tried this & if so, is there any flavor thats tasty? I was gonna go with the cookies and cream, but enlighten me, please.

They have a bunch of different fish oils, Double Strength, Ultra Strength etc. Is it worth it to buy the Ultra Strength for the $5-10 more if it has a 600:480mg EPA:DHA ratio per softgel? The normal ones have 180:120. I assume I wouldn’t have to take as many, thus saving in the long run. What do u guys think?

Theres a brand of Flax seeds (Brush Creek Organic) that says on the product label Total Carbohydrates 5g, Dietary Fiber 12g per 2 tablespoons. How does this work? Can I assume that its basically 0 carbs regardless of how much I eat?

Heres the link:
www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2134345&cp&pg=2&sr=1&origkw=
flax+seed&kw=flax+seed&parentPage=search

Has anybody used Maximum Greens (or Greens+, whichever greens) with the AD? If so, which do you feel would be the most productive, the caps or the powder? The labels show the powder has 6g carbs, while the capsules don’t say anything so i’d assume I should buy the capsules. Whats your thoughts?

Any other product that you guys would recommend from there that goes well with the AD?

Thanks in advance !!

Does anyone do cardio while on the bulk phase of this diet? If so how much? I just started it two days ago. 135 pounds. Trying to get to 160 but muscular weight. Should I still shoot for 3000 calories or take calories down and cardio down?

[quote]thehorse65 wrote:
hey guys!! quick question, are there any grapplers/wrestlers on this diet? Im thinking about trying it out but dont know if it would be a good Idea since I need to be very explosive and keep my energy levels high during tornaments.

I wrestle and do some jiu jitsu on the side, I want to try it out but dont know if its a good Idea. I have read a bunch of pages but dont know if any its a good ideal for wrestlers. I also lift(oly only and runnin) 4-5 times a week in the am and practice at 5pm then jiu jitsu at 7:30pm…mon thru friday and sometimes saturdays as well as sundays!! thanks![/quote]

yea i wrestle and used this diet pre/during season…theres a user out there on the site…realpeanutbutter i believe it was…hes posted towrds the middle of this thread and he helped me alot with weight training and diet as he is a wrestler also…o and trib would have some nice info as i believe he trains like you also