strength is going up, so does the lean tissue and… so does fat! Caliper measurement on my abs is half a mm higher and i look a tad fatter. I must admit, that i looked the leanest on the last day of break-in.
after the break in phase, i added 400 calories to my weekly average and now consume ~3600 cals per day, which makes ~19cals per pound of BW. I consumed ~3200 before and it was ~17 per pound of BW.
I want to do a few mass programs and gain some muscles for next 1.5-2 months and then do some cutting for a month more.
Currently i want to find a way of minimizing fat gain and maximizing muscle gain. I am not concerned about fat-loss as for yet, i will do that in a few months. So far, i have few ideas on how to optimize the diet and i would really appreciate your comments:
cut the calories by 200 and then up them steadily, adding 200 each week? This will work, i know, but in 2 months we only have about 8 weeks and by the end of last week i will be getting 4800 (3600+1200) cals a day which makes exactly 25 per BW.
Leave calories as they are and add them as necessary, hoping that i am not full fat adapted yet? Hmm… Maybe, it would be wiser to minimize fat-gain on adaptation by getting back to previous level of calorie-intake?
Carb up only for one day per week, but double calories during this day?
Introduce some Cardio/HIIT? I wanted to save this for my fat loss.
Currently i take ~3900 cals on work-out days and ~3300 on off-days. I am doing ABBH (finishing it this week) and squat/deadlift days are much heavier than upper body days. Maybe, i should introduce some ‘moderate’ day in my diet and get something in between of workout and off-days in terms of calories?
Do you guys taper off calories during the day? I’ve been evenly splitting them during the day and my last meal happens 1-2 hours before i go to bed. However, my meals are small, cause i split them into 7 so i can eat every 2 hours, otherwise i feel very hungry!
With each of my meals i eat 150-200g of either spinach, broccoli, lettuce or chineese cabbage, which, fiber discounter, makes 15-20 grams of carbs per day. As far as i know, these veggies are mostly insoluble fiber and it is not digested, but looking at the fitdays “Carbs” graph which counts 1200 grams of spinach as 42g carbs i am kind of getting concerned… however, it is only 13 grams of carbs if you discount fiber. Maybe i should try to limit my carbs intake by 20, or even 15 per day?
I have posted a sample of my carb-up and my weekday menu. To describe it in few words, on weekdays i eat:
fish/eggs/beef/lamb/cheese/chicken/turkey + 200g of spinach/chineese cabbage/iceberg lettuce + olive oil (when necessary). My ratios are: 65% fat, 33% Protein, ~2% carbs. Fat breakdown is 25-30% sat and the rest is 50/50 Mono/Poly.
On carb ups i eat: rice, oatmeal, buckwheat, veggies, barley, potatoes, some milk and a cheat meal per each day. I try to count calories in cheat meals and factor them in. Macros breakdown is like this: Pro 15, Carbs 50, Fat 35.
Sorry for the long post guys. I would appreciate any feedback.
nice to hear you’ve already been witnessing good results from the AD. what does your calories intake look like now (amount and macro breakdown).
post a days meal plan out to see if people can help. i’d actually stick with one full day instead of starting your carb up fri night. the reason being, you’ve been ingesting all that fat in the day and then have a big hit of carbo’s which overloads you with an insulin response. fat plus in insulin = not good[/quote]
My macros are about 61%f, 35%p, and 4%f. Sometimes the fat is one or two points higher then the protein is 1 or 2 lower.
What I eat is as follows (no certain order)
5 large eggs, 2.5 scoops whey, .5 scoop casein, 28g cheddar cheese, butter, light mayo, tuna, ranch dressing, fish oil (lots of), flax oil, chicken thighs, sometimes steak, fibersure, leafy green veggies with every meal except my very first (preworkout) and very last (pre bed)
This weekend, I didn’t count cals for the carb load, first time I haven’t. I cheated maybe a little too much, not that much though. I’m not too concerned about it since I’ve been clean the last 3 or 4 carb loads, I still should have been a little more under control though. I’m not going to get onto the scale until Saturday morning. I’m hoping this weekend threw my body a curve ball and going back to how I was will make me lose weight again.
If Saturday morning I still weigh 180, I have no idea what I’ll do next to get off this plateau.
[quote]conorh wrote:
Hey y’all, I’m back on the wagon. I got my tax return and bought a shit-ton of meat and cottage cheese. I may even try to keep a food log.
Hells yeah.[/quote]
Great to (re)have another on the AD train! a food log would be awesome. I am always curious as to what other AD’ers eat on a daily basis.
[quote]CJK wrote:
conorh wrote:
Hey y’all, I’m back on the wagon. I got my tax return and bought a shit-ton of meat and cottage cheese. I may even try to keep a food log.
Hells yeah.
Great to (re)have another on the AD train! a food log would be awesome. I am always curious as to what other AD’ers eat on a daily basis. [/quote]
Hi guys
does anyone have the ebook of the Anabolic solution or metabolic diet? I have the 2000 version of the AD and wanted to see what the main differences were and for updates etc.
PM me if you like
Cheers!
Wow…what a thread…hey guys, Im new to posting but Ive been reading T-Nation for over a year now and have learned TONS.
Im an 18 year old college student ready to hop on the AD. Im presently cutting for the summer, but my focus is not loosing weight as much as it is dropping bf, while increasing strength. Im a baseball player that cares about his physique and strength, but I admire the dedication that goes into bodybuilding.
I believe I understand this diet after reading through many articles and this thread. Im 6’1’’ 196 pounds…Question is 18x196 leaves me at around 3500! on a cut thats crrazyy but im gonna try it out and see where it gets me and make changes as neccesary…but ne ways…Im only going to be able to do a 9 day introduction phase because I have a wedding the weekend of the 10th day…I was on a relatively low carb diet previously so i dont think it will matter much…ne opinions???
[quote]Lions Pride 21 wrote:
Wow…what a thread…hey guys, Im new to posting but Ive been reading T-Nation for over a year now and have learned TONS.
Im an 18 year old college student ready to hop on the AD. Im presently cutting for the summer, but my focus is not loosing weight as much as it is dropping bf, while increasing strength. Im a baseball player that cares about his physique and strength, but I admire the dedication that goes into bodybuilding.
I believe I understand this diet after reading through many articles and this thread. Im 6’1’’ 196 pounds…Question is 18x196 leaves me at around 3500! on a cut thats crrazyy but im gonna try it out and see where it gets me and make changes as neccesary…but ne ways…Im only going to be able to do a 9 day introduction phase because I have a wedding the weekend of the 10th day…I was on a relatively low carb diet previously so i dont think it will matter much…ne opinions???[/quote]
Yes, using better grammar and spelling will solicit more support from your fellow forumites.
After the first phase where you’re basically getting used to the diet, you can drop the kcals down around 15 x bw. You may find that you maintain or cut bodyweight at more calories on this diet. There’s no way to know unless you try it, keep a food log (at least at first) and adjust accordingly. Make sure your introduction phase is legit.
Personally, at a fat and sassy 265 I’m maintaining/maybe dropping bodyfat at 4000 kcals, so it’s a very individual thing.
[quote]Lions Pride 21 wrote:
thanks bud. No problems, but your a stickler on the grammar, but I don’t blame you i’ve seen some butchered english on here. Take care.[/quote]
No problem, just busting chops a little. Hope that helped you out.
I decided to switch to 24hours carb ups, meaning that i am eating carbs whole saturday. My daily total during the week is ~3300 kcals and i decided to consume 5000 kcals on the carb up. Oh boy, it is tough! Especially when your carb sources are mostly clean.
I am going to stick to 24hrs carb-ups for some time and see how it works. For now i feel they are a bit easier in terms that i can eat more frequently, which is a concern for me when i am on a high-carb food - i am hungry in much shorter time than when i am eating P+F style.
However, i feel a bit more bloated, but this must be because of the milk - i should minimize it for the next bout.
[quote]Zluke wrote:
I decided to switch to 24hours carb ups, meaning that i am eating carbs whole saturday. My daily total during the week is ~3300 kcals and i decided to consume 5000 kcals on the carb up. Oh boy, it is tough! Especially when your carb sources are mostly clean.
I am going to stick to 24hrs carb-ups for some time and see how it works. For now i feel they are a bit easier in terms that i can eat more frequently, which is a concern for me when i am on a high-carb food - i am hungry in much shorter time than when i am eating P+F style.
However, i feel a bit more bloated, but this must be because of the milk - i should minimize it for the next bout.
Take care guys![/quote]
i use to get that with milk also…try lactose free soymilk or just plain run of the mill lactose free milk…you could be sensitive
Guys, I’m still stuck on 180, didn’t weigh myself the whole week, got on the scale today and the same. I think I am still losing fat, but very little.
I am getting about 2100-2250 cals a day following a 61/35/4 ratio. My saturated fats are the same as my healthy fats intake wise. Sometime my Monounstaurated fats are slightly lower, usually their all even though.
I am really thinking to increase my cals to 2700. Thats what it would be at 15xbw. I also want to try to increase my size or keep it while losing more fat since I seem to be a little smaller. Does that sound good?
Anyone else have any suggestions?
EDIT - Just thought I should post my training, I lift 5 days a week and do cardio afterwards. My cardio session is about 30-45 minutes. I keep my heartrate at around 140-150 bpm. I do a cool down my last 5 minutes. I sip on my PWO shake while doing cardio, finishing it within the first 30 minutes. Look good?
Also, what is a good preworkout meal? I have one ‘meal’ before I workout, but I think its too little. Just two boiled eggs. What could I do for this?
alright two things i never worried about so i never kept it in my depository of facts…but is it a bad move to start a carb up after your final workout out of the week and then continue through the rest of the next day making it last 24 hours…and when it comes to the carb up is it bad thing to get a huge amont of fiber because i eat a lot of oats and high fiber cereals and WW bread and pasta, i suppose it is okay.
i like to make my carb up a plumming day as well any problem with that?
Count - whats your goal? to get heavier, lighter, what. If its to gain weight then yes, add calories, you’re doing a LOT of activity there so to gain weight you’re going to need to up your caloric intake.
I’d even suggest dropping to 4 days a week tops training to allow for recovery, otherwise you’re just systemically smashing yourself and not getting optimum recovery time in there. /remember you grow outside of the gym, not in it… get in lift and get out, then spend more time outside of the gym eating and recovering.
My 2 cents worth.
Yeah, i’ll give a lactose-free milk a try. I think it may help. I took ~650 grams of carbs during this carb-up. If my weekly calories are under control, do you think it is ok to get so much carbs in one day?
Actually, i decided to adopt this tactic after i read in the book, that for those bodybuilders who can take 10.000 calories a day, Doc advises to limit their intake to 24hrs. Also, a lot of people use so called calorie waving here - they ‘wave’ calories during the week and then take much more on the carb up.
I go like this:
2700, 3100, 3600, 2700, 3100, 3600, 5000.
Where i take lower calories on off-days, higher calories on squat/dl days and moderate on upper body days.
I am going to start TBT and i think i am gonna ditch the moderate day and use only high-cals day and off-days.
As for starting the carb-up - i can’t give you the 100% correct answer, since i am no vet here, but while reading the thread, i’ve noticed that some people use this tactic.
About fiber - i got about 70 grams on my last carb-up I also stick mostly to whole-grain cereals and stuff with a lot of fiber.
[quote]Matt007 wrote:
Count - whats your goal? to get heavier, lighter, what. If its to gain weight then yes, add calories, you’re doing a LOT of activity there so to gain weight you’re going to need to up your caloric intake. I’d even suggest dropping to 4 days a week tops training to allow for recovery, otherwise you’re just systemically smashing yourself and not getting optimum recovery time in there. /remember you grow outside of the gym, not in it… get in lift and get out, then spend more time outside of the gym eating and recovering.
My 2 cents worth.[/quote]
I spend more time out the gym than in. My split is chest/tris, legs, back, shoulders, biceps/forearms. I used to have biceps with back day to make it 4 days, but I just seem to respond better to the 5. My body is recovering fine.
My goal was to lose about 20 more pounds, but I seemed to lose some of my size on this cut, not too much but a little. So now I would like to try and gain some size and try and lean out. Thats why I’m debating now whether or not to eat around my maintanence(sp).
Yeah, i’ll give a lactose-free milk a try. I think it may help. I took ~650 grams of carbs during this carb-up. If my weekly calories are under control, do you think it is ok to get so much carbs in one day?
Actually, i decided to adopt this tactic after i read in the book, that for those bodybuilders who can take 10.000 calories a day, Doc advises to limit their intake to 24hrs. Also, a lot of people use so called calorie waving here - they ‘wave’ calories during the week and then take much more on the carb up.
I go like this:
2700, 3100, 3600, 2700, 3100, 3600, 5000.
Where i take lower calories on off-days, higher calories on squat/dl days and moderate on upper body days.
I am going to start TBT and i think i am gonna ditch the moderate day and use only high-cals day and off-days.
As for starting the carb-up - i can’t give you the 100% correct answer, since i am no vet here, but while reading the thread, i’ve noticed that some people use this tactic.
About fiber - i got about 70 grams on my last carb-up I also stick mostly to whole-grain cereals and stuff with a lot of fiber.[/quote]
i think its just fine…i started the 24 hour carb up for wrestling season ansure enough i noticed i got to my last years weight faster and alsoo with more LBM proving to me tht this diet works and as long as i keep 90% clean i can eat however many clean carbs i want
