[quote]sifuinkorea wrote:
roofus_5 wrote:
My background, I bought the Anabolic diet back in 94-95 when it first came out. I was young to the iron game and used it to go from 185 lbs with a 36" waist to 205 with a 34" waist. I was 24 at the time. I went on to reach a weight of 225 at 8% bf. Over the last 12 years I have used it off an on, but have recently started back with a very focused approach. Currently at 36 I’m 6’4" 264 with a 41.5" waist (umbilicus). I powerlift now and my goal is to hit 275 at 10-15% bf. I am currently on day 8 and suprisingly had no trouble making it through the weekend. This is my first attempt at a 12 day induction. I went through my “crash” on day 3 which is where I have always had it. My workouts are okay, but I scheduled a deload phase for this week, so weights are moderate and reps a little higher.
The best part, so far, is that I started at a shade over 42" for my waist and 260 lbs fasted. Today I was 41.5" but up to 264 fasted. I have always dropped 5-6 lbs the first week, but in the past I don’t think I kept my fats as high as I am now. I am also far from constipated, so I know it’s not being held up in the intestines. Looking forward to staying the course and shattering some pr’s.
I have a similar history to you, roof. I’m 37 and was powerlifting back when I was first introduced to the diet. Currently, I am into a crossfit type program with sprints/oly lifts/calisthenics as the core.
When we first found the diet, we completely abused the weekend carb ups, but being in our early twenties, our metabolisms’ were more forgiving. Like you, I have been eating in this way for over a decade and until recently (within the year) have never quite come upon the “sweet spot”.
I don’t officially carb up at all these days although once a month or so I have a beer, which will lead to more. My drinking is down to the above mentioned and that is what I found to be the wrench fucking up my progress. Drinking alcohol will fuck your progress almost as much as carbs will. I find that if my fat intake is kept high my performance is better than it ever was. On the opposite end, if I reduce the calories/portions I will loose bodyfat within days.
To mention of alphadragon’s post, and to base with what is being talked about lately: you really do need to first transition over to burning fat primarily before making some tweaks. This, as mentioned, can take months. I can’t speak to everyone, but for myself and some others, once the foggyness goes away you should be just about done. The general foggyness that may last only a minute or two is the last sign of switching that I have noticed, and it’s the first sign to come back if when I used to eat carbs for too long. Anyone else notice this? Also, in my years of going “on” and “off”, I noticed that the switch is made quicker and quicker the longer I’ve been eating like this. I also noticed that whenever I did go back to eating carbs, I felt the metabolic switch harder in the carb direction, making me believe that over time, one truly gets fat adapted. If you think in terms of your body wanting burn fat for fuel, and carbs just getting in the way all those years, then the longer you eat “properly” the more natural a state burning fat for fuel will be and your body will try to maintain this.
Once you have transitioned, you need to take careful notice of what is going on with your body and the performance resulting from what you put into it. When eating like this, small tweaks will be noticed rather quickly. One thing you will also notice is that you can eat much more calories exceeding your output and not gain fat or gain very slowly. And, as I said, if you reduce your overall caloric intake your bodyfat will melt off in days. My view of the prescribed calories is mostly for those transitioning. After that, if you want performance, eat a lot… if you want to loose bodyfat, eat less. You can be on the verge of hunger, eating 1000 calories or less per day, and still out perform fairly decent, understanding that this is not your focus. The best part of eating such a low intake on this diet is that your head always feels pretty good, as opposed to the complete misery on a carb based low cal diet. The worst thing is considering that our food is protein and mostly fat, the portions are so small.
Hope this helps someone.
-Al[/quote]
Very well put, IMHO
