My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
7743

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
cant believe this thing is still going strong. i actually dropped the diet about a month ago…maybe 2? (was on it about 7 months) because the food became so boring that i was eating less. i will say this, from when i was on the diet til now i havent noticed any physical changes…that isnt to say nothing hasnt changed because i never measured my CHL or my T before i started this diet, or after.

although like i said there hasnt been any noticeable change in gym performance or my appearance after stopping this diet. just thought id drop by and mention all this. [/quote]

Man, when I transitioned off the AD I had it rough. Lots of water retention and mental fogginess until my metabolism changed.

Very happy to be back on a lipid metabolism.

7744

Hey fellas, haven’t posted for a while. I have been following the AD for a while already, been great, however I took your advice ovalpine and have been doing 1 clean carb reload day a week. I currently weigh 215lbs with 13% bodyfat. I consume 300 grams of carbs, 150 grams of fats and under 30 grams of carbs. I have been trying to cut to be below 10% bodyfat. Been doing heavy training 3 days a week, 2 days of circuits and 5 days a week of hiit training for 30 minutes. My muscles feel flat, canI consume a post workout protein/carb shake with 40 grams of protein and 40 grams of carbs to avoid the flat feeling? Am I doing too much cardio. Need all the help that I can get, I really need to drop below 10% bodyfat.

7745

[quote]labikes wrote:
Hey fellas, haven’t posted for a while. I have been following the AD for a while already, been great, however I took your advice ovalpine and have been doing 1 clean carb reload day a week. I currently weigh 215lbs with 13% bodyfat. I consume 300 grams of carbs, 150 grams of fats and under 30 grams of carbs. I have been trying to cut to be below 10% bodyfat. Been doing heavy training 3 days a week, 2 days of circuits and 5 days a week of hiit training for 30 minutes. My muscles feel flat, canI consume a post workout protein/carb shake with 40 grams of protein and 40 grams of carbs to avoid the flat feeling? Am I doing too much cardio. Need all the help that I can get, I really need to drop below 10% bodyfat.[/quote]

How is your performance? How are your energy levels throughout the week? Are you still dropping bodyfat every week?

If your performance is still increasing, your energy is consistent on your PRO/Fat days, and you’re still dropping bodyfat every week, then I wouldn’t worry about it. I feel a little flat at the end of every week, but glycogen stores are low; this is common.

However, if any of the three indicators I mentioned are off, then I would take CHO/calories really high on your next CHO load, particularly if your body composition has stagnated and your energy levels suck. Take one day and eat whatever sounds good to you. Then get back on the typical weekly diet and re-assess at the end of the week. It’s possible that your metabolism is dropping and you need to kick it in the pants a bit. If this is the case, I’d eat my shoe if you don’t drop a noticeable amount of bodyfat in the following week.

But like I said earlier, if it’s just flatness and everything else is going well, then I wouldn’t put much stock in it.

-Zed

7746

[quote]labikes wrote:
Hey fellas, haven’t posted for a while. I have been following the AD for a while already, been great, however I took your advice ovalpine and have been doing 1 clean carb reload day a week.[/quote]

Actually, I recommended one clean cheat meal. Can you detail your clean carb reload day for me?

Keep up the exercise volume. You’re doing great.

No. And to be frank, there are other reasons for feeling flat besides a low carb diet. First and foremost, check out a recent article by Scott Abel (I swear I’m not a Scott Abel homer!) on sodium intake. Low carb diets are especially diuretic, and without a high sodium intake, the loss of water will come not only from under the skin (which makes us look good), but also from within the muscle (which makes us look bad, hinders performance, etc). Secondly, you will look and feel harder and fuller when you drop below 10%.

You’re not doing too much cardio. And if you really believed that you need all the help you can get, you’d be worried that you aren’t doing enough and that carbs post-workout would thwart your fat-loss.

Keep it up.

7747

1.This is my third day of AD and i’ve been feeling somewhat tired and lazy, due to carb deprivation i guess. How long do these symptoms usually last?

  1. When on the AD diet, are you supposed to eat in a surplus, and what if you are on the AD diet and only eat around 2500 calories, or around maintenance?

  2. When would be my first carb up? I know its not this weekend, but would it be the next weekend?

  3. When on the carb up, would it make a difference whether they come from bad or good carbs?

  4. We don’t have a lot of beef and red meat in our house so i usually get my protein intake from Tuna + chicken + eggs, and my good fats from Almonds + natty peanut butter
    is this alright?

  5. What is the difference between keto and the anabolic diet?
    Both have you eating around 30g of carbs or less, and wouldn’t people who eat on the AD still be in ketosis?

7748

[quote]Phate89 wrote:
1.This is my third day of AD and i’ve been feeling somewhat tired and lazy, due to carb deprivation i guess. How long do these symptoms usually last?

  1. When on the AD diet, are you supposed to eat in a surplus, and what if you are on the AD diet and only eat around 2500 calories, or around maintenance?

  2. When would be my first carb up? I know its not this weekend, but would it be the next weekend?

  3. When on the carb up, would it make a difference whether they come from bad or good carbs?

  4. We don’t have a lot of beef and red meat in our house so i usually get my protein intake from Tuna + chicken + eggs, and my good fats from Almonds + natty peanut butter
    is this alright?

  5. What is the difference between keto and the anabolic diet?
    Both have you eating around 30g of carbs or less, and wouldn’t people who eat on the AD still be in ketosis?[/quote]

1symptons can last anywhere from a week or two to a month, make sure youre gettin enough calories also.

2 youre only supposed to eat at maintenance level until youve made the “metabolic shift” in which you burn fat instead of burning carbs for energy. 18x bodyweight is the formula given but you may need to add more or less calories depending.

3 your first carb up is 12 days after you started…most people schedule the start so it works out on a sat/sun although it doesnt really matter and you should do whatever is most conveinient for you.

5 chicken and tuna are good sources of protein, but not good sources of fat. either add something to them such as mayonaise or olive oil. you may also need to start doing some grocery shopping on your own. …also how old are you? i dont think this diet really applies to younger people with high metabolisms as ive found out myself.

5 from what i understand, ketosis is when your body runs off of ketones released from the brain but that doesnt occur on this diet because you take in enough carbohydrates to remain above ketosis. as mentioned in the book “ketosis never happens”. what happens is you burn the fat for energy rather than carbohydrates.

7749

Wow. Thanks for the detailed response.

  1. I am 18 years old, living with family, looking for a part time job so i can buy my own food.

  2. I don’t have a fast metabolism that needs me to eat 3k+

  3. Yea, tuna is definetly not a source of fat. I’ve been eating atleast 5-6 boiled eggs a day, table spoons of peanut butter, handfuls of almonds to get my fat. I also started eating mayonaisse for the first time in a year, mixed it into my tuna to get some fat and i love it.

The only thing that i have to watch for is not eating too much PB or almonds and going 30g over…

I am pretty much endo-meso btw.

I will try this diet out as long as I can, and see what happens.

7750

Today Is my 9th day. I think I had the crash yesterday because of a massive headache. I haven’t been too hungry and I’m actually waving my calories with different amounts each day(I went into a cut as soon as I started).

This weeken I will take 60000 calories over a 36 hour period: from sunday morning to monday night. My lifts have been fine except for today…it was really interesting to see how my body couldnt handle it, maybe I need more calories but I take enough this weekend.

I think I need some carbs, just a couple of more days. As far as my carb up. I don’t know if I should eat really clean or mix them up…lets see how it goes.

7751

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
This weeken I will take 60000 calories over a 36 hour period: from sunday morning to monday night. [/quote]

60,000?! LOL goodluck getting half that. And please don’t take that as a challenge.

7752

[quote]ovalpline wrote:
ronaldo7 wrote:
This weeken I will take 60000 calories over a 36 hour period: from sunday morning to monday night.

60,000?! LOL goodluck getting half that. And please don’t take that as a challenge.

[/quote]

7753

You’re on lad :P…6000*. Kind of late over here.

ovalpline:

What foods do you suggest for carb ups?

7754

[quote]ovalpline wrote:
labikes wrote:
Hey fellas, haven’t posted for a while. I have been following the AD for a while already, been great, however I took your advice ovalpine and have been doing 1 clean carb reload day a week.

Actually, I recommended one clean cheat meal. Can you detail your clean carb reload day for me?

I usually start with fruits, then I eat potatoes, wheat bread sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, one junk food meal at the end, maybe a burger no fries.

I currently weigh 215lbs with 13% bodyfat. I consume 300 grams of carbs, 150 grams of fats and under 30 grams of carbs. I have been trying to cut to be below 10% bodyfat. Been doing heavy training 3 days a week, 2 days of circuits and 5 days a week of hiit training for 30 minutes.

Keep up the exercise volume. You’re doing great.

Should I increase the exercise volume? Any recommendations?

My muscles feel flat, can I consume a post workout protein/carb shake with 40 grams of protein and 40 grams of carbs to avoid the flat feeling?

I tried Thibs reccomendation of the peri workout formula which uses alot of bcaa’s and creatine, however, creatine makes me look bloated, especially my face which I hate. He also reccomends glycerin which I havent tried, what do you think about glycerin?

No. And to be frank, there are other reasons for feeling flat besides a low carb diet. First and foremost, check out a recent article by Scott Abel (I swear I’m not a Scott Abel homer!) on sodium intake. Low carb diets are especially diuretic, and without a high sodium intake, the loss of water will come not only from under the skin (which makes us look good), but also from within the muscle (which makes us look bad, hinders performance, etc). Secondly, you will look and feel harder and fuller when you drop below 10%.

Once I drop below 10% bf, can I include a post shake with carbs? How much more salt should I intake, I read the article but was a bit confused.

Am I doing too much cardio. Need all the help that I can get, I really need to drop below 10% bodyfat.

You’re not doing too much cardio. And if you really believed that you need all the help you can get, you’d be worried that you aren’t doing enough and that carbs post-workout would thwart your fat-loss.

Keep it up.[/quote]

Tanks for the support and advice ovalpline.

7755

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
Today Is my 9th day. I think I had the crash yesterday because of a massive headache. I haven’t been too hungry and I’m actually waving my calories with different amounts each day(I went into a cut as soon as I started).

This weeken I will take 60000 calories over a 36 hour period: from sunday morning to monday night. My lifts have been fine except for today…it was really interesting to see how my body couldnt handle it, maybe I need more calories but I take enough this weekend.

I think I need some carbs, just a couple of more days. As far as my carb up. I don’t know if I should eat really clean or mix them up…lets see how it goes.[/quote]

eating clean or not depends on your goals. if youre doing this diet to lose weight then go clean and take in your cheat foods on the first day. if youre just trying to bulk, eat whatever you want on the weekend. i would usually have ice cream for breakfast and just consume lots of milk and have some pasta. also make sure to eat foods that arent just carbohydrates. you dont really have to log your micros on the weekend just make sure to eat some protein and fat based food also.

7756

bkmacky9288 wrote:
curious…why would being on the AD not be ideal for this prgram

(from Joel Marion on his new hypertrophy thread)-Because you need to pick a program conducive to your goals. You can’t just pick any training program, which it seems like many people on this site have lost site of. The volume and overall goal of this program (hypertrophy) is not suitable for someone on a reduced calorie diet trying to lose fat. In fact, it’s an outright waste of time and effort.

this made me upset so i retorted

7757

[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
You’re on lad :P…6000*. Kind of late over here.

ovalpline:

What foods do you suggest for carb ups?[/quote]

First off, can’t believe you called me lad LOL

Man, I hate to give you a non-answer, but that’s the best answer I have. It depends on your goals, how hard you’ve been training, your caloric level on the low-carb days, how your body handles insulin, etc.

I personally like to lay out a cycle of 6 low-carb days at a relative caloric deficit followed by one cheat day.

I would advise you to experiment. With some time and patience you’ll come to learn your body.

7758

Since being on the AD, I decided to get a lot of my fats from EFA oils, eggs, and fish oil. Using fat as a primary fuel, I’m wondering if my body will simply burn it without nutritional use, or will I still get the associated health benefits from these fats?

7759

Hey. What happens if you accidentally one day ate alittle above 30g?

I ask because I ate a chicken breast from KFC, and stupid old me forgot they way their chicken is cooked it contains carbs.

I looked it up and with skin, it contained 16g and that bumped me up to 33g of carbs!!!

This has been my 5th day of AD, and did i just put everything to waste?

Did my body get “pushed” out of that transition to fat burning? Or can i still continue?

7760

going up 3 grams of carbs is pretty much negligible, its not going to do any damage. although this early in diet you really need to be more cautious and aware of what you are eating as an accumulation of mishaps or plain disregard can lead to the diet not working and you wasting your time.

7761

going up 3 grams of carbs is pretty much negligible, its not going to do any damage. although this early in diet you really need to be more cautious and aware of what you are eating as an accumulation of mishaps or plain disregard can lead to the diet not working and you wasting your time.

7762

Okay, i see.

Just out of curiousity, what would happen if someone did hit 50g or even more of carbs one night, would that mean that he has to start over? Would that kick his body out of fat burning mode, or could he still go 30g carbs and less the next day and get back on track?