My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
8003

[quote]Zluke wrote:
Hi guys!

It’s a carb up day and it seems that everything works just fine. Same weight on the scale, minus 1 cm on the waist, minus 1mm of caliper scale on the abs and i have 4500 calories to chow down today :slight_smile:

Since Biotest has their Flameout on backorder, i order some fish oil in liquid form - Ascenta NutraSea. Has anyone tried it so far? Any comments?[/quote]

Good to hear bro! that calorie waving must be doing its job.

whats the intake look like today then? e.g. food items

You gotta make the carb ups a cooking baking day man, get your betty crocker on!

nice work on getting some more fish oil before the Flameout gets to you. I find its very helpful on the carb ups to make sure those carbs get digested and shuttled to the right places.

Are you going to be training today with all those carbos in you?

8004

Here is what i have had and going to have:

Oats with wheat flakes + Rye Crisps (with fiber) + Butter on them.

Muesli + 250g milk + Rye Crisps (with fiber) + Butter on them. Actually, during my whole childhood i had a bread with butter with some tea in the mornings. I love to have a healthy substitute for this stuff on carb-ups.

Buckwheat on water + cake

Then i had fore whole cereal bars while i was on my business classes.

Barley Flakes + Rye Crisps (with fiber) + Butter on them. Those flakes are actually being being prepared now in the microwave and i am waiting for that “Ding” sound from the kitchen.

I am going to finish my carb load with brown rice and maybe those oats with wheat bran.

So far i will have 4500 cals today. About 75% of my carbs are going to be clean. Well… if you consider milk and muesli a clean carb.

I am thinking about giving NHE style carb-up a shot next week. I hope i will be able to raise the calorie whith increasing speed of muscle growth without getting on some fat. Yes, whole day carb up has some psychological merits, but i think that it may be even easier in terms of psychology to have two carb-load evenings during the week than one carb-load day. Also, by having only two carb ups you may be sure that you will not spill-over as you may on the AD style carb-load.

About training - no, i had hell of a work-out yesterday. It was Day3 on TBT and i am sore as hell :slight_smile: Not an excuse, but i still try to excuse myself :slight_smile:

I also take SAN’s Na-R-ALA today. Very powerful stuff, makes me hypoglycemic! I think when i finish this bottle i will get somethink less powerful.

Cheers everybody! It dinged finally! :slight_smile:

P.S. - It is the first super energized carb-up after a month on the AD. I dunno if it is the change of weather or i am becoming more adapted to the diet, but i can’t stop typing… can’t stop it… LOL :slight_smile:

8005

BTW, here is what i was thinking about. As i already said, i consume less calories on my off-days than on my work out days. My meals during the day are Pro 35, Fat 27 for off-days and P45, F40 on workout days. So i have P35/F65 ratios on both days. I feel ok in terms of energy, but food on off-days really lacks bulk and i become hungry fast. What if i make protein constant at 40g per meal and fluctuate only the fat? So, i will have more cals when i workout by adding more fat. The breakdown will look like this:
WO Days : P - ~33%, F - 67%
OFF Days : P - ~40%, F - 60%

Well, i know that it may seem a bit anal, but i am kind of numbers guy and i just like to adhere to them. Actually, Doc gives rough recommendations in the book and i think these numbers do conform to them. I just wanted your opinion on it.

8006

Just making sure I’ve set this up right. I’ve read ALL of the “My Experience On the Anabolic Diet” (yes all posts) and have decided that my extreme love protein and fats is making me an excellent new member of the Anabolic Dieters ^_^.

However I am OCD about getting it right so here is my set up/diet/food stuffs etc. all I need is a thumbs up or down on if I’m right. If you have enough time to tweak you’ll be my hero. Here it goes.

total cals = BW (225) x 18 = 4050 cals/day (rounding to 4k)

Therefore during the first phase and subsequent weeks it is
1600 cal/day protein = 400grams - 67grams/meal
2400 cal/day fat = 267grams - 44.5 grams/meal
<30 grams carb

I used fitday to make up each meal I’ll post them later but I have a question about veggies. On my current diet i eat a lot of veggies ( multiple pounds per day) but im assuming this is not conducive to a successful switch to a fat burning metabolism.

Can I still eat some broccoli/bean sprouts/mushrooms/peppers? i was going to have 1 cup of veggies with every other meal to keep my fiber up (i’m using flax seed as well) and a final question, do i count my peri/post workout shake in my total protein intake? i usually have a 60gr shake half during my workout out then slam the rest after my last rep.

As for my goals after my metabolism “switches” is to lean down to under 10% BF to get them abs out then bulk up without getting fat as I am an FFB and would abhor getting fat again.

Breakfast
3 eggs, 1 cup egg whites, 5oz Turkey Sausage
61gr protein, 44gr fat

Meal 2
9oz Ground Beef, 1 cup broccoli
62gr protein, 46gr fat

Meal 3
Same as above

Meal 4
Had Breakfast again

peri/post workout shake with Udo’s Oil (1tbs)
60gr protein, 10gr fat

Meal 5
9oz Chicken, 1 oz Cheese, 1 cup broccoli, 2 tbs udo’s oil
67gr protein, 8 gr Carbs, 35 gr Fat

Meal 6
2 scoops Protein powder, 1/2 cup egg whites
2 tbs udo’s oil, flax seed.
60gr protein, 30gr Fat. 3gr Carbs

Total for the day
433gr Protein, 251gr Fat, 22gr Carbs

= 4079 cals
= 42% pr / 55% Fat / <3% Carbs

Anyone see any major flaws, carbs I’ve missed etc?

8007

[quote]ironjoe wrote:
Breakfast
3 eggs, 1 cup egg whites, 5oz Turkey Sausage
61gr protein, 44gr fat[/quote]

Always whole eggs. And I’d recommend pork sausage because 1.) Fat is your friend, and 2.) Tastes better.

[quote]Meal 2
9oz Ground Beef, 1 cup broccoli
62gr protein, 46gr fat[/quote]

Beef + broccoli = Perfect
Maybe some EVOO on the broccoli if you’re feeling frisky.

[quote]peri/post workout shake with Udo’s Oil (1tbs)
60gr protein, 10gr fat[/quote]

Hmm, I personally would eliminate the fats. You still want fast nutrient delivery, even though you’re carbless. Whey protein at this time.

[quote]Meal 5
9oz Chicken, 1 oz Cheese, 1 cup broccoli, 2 tbs udo’s oil
67gr protein, 8 gr Carbs, 35 gr Fat[/quote]

I’d change the broccoli for a different green veg, just to give your body some other nutrients. Variety is your friend.

[quote]Meal 6
2 scoops Protein powder, 1/2 cup egg whites
2 tbs udo’s oil, flax seed.
60gr protein, 30gr Fat. 3gr Carbs[/quote]

Again, no egg whites and unless you’re using a caesin protein brand, I’d pick whole food before bed.

[quote]Total for the day
433gr Protein, 251gr Fat, 22gr Carbs
[/quote]

Overall, pretty good. The only changes I’d make are;

1.) Whole eggs.
2.) More veggie variety. And it’s ok to have them at every meal. Make sure you are subtracting the fiber from your carb count.
3.) Flax seeds suck. It looks like you put them in for more fiber. I’d put in the mushrooms and bean sprouts instead.
4.) This is nitpicky, but eat some real fish for one meal, not just fish oil.
5.) Yes PWO counts. But who cares? You need more on workout days anyway.

Good setup, but one of the great things about the AD is you don’t have to be OCD about it. I like to save my OCD for my hatred of blue toothpaste and my fear that my microwave will explode.

My approach to the AD is

1.) Eat every three hours
2.) Each meal needs meat, veggies, and a healthy fat. (Saturated fat is healthy, btw.)
3.) Liquor is carbless.

That’s it.

8008

[quote]Brant_Drake wrote:

3.) Liquor is carbless.
[/quote]

Haha. We had a little discussion of this a while back. Do you regularly imbibe during the week? If so, how do you think it effects your progress? I am not against it, but I don’t do it often.

8009

My carb-up is tomorrow. Gonna have fruit, lots of oats, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, beans, milk, whole wheat bread…haha i’ll just post the log tomorrow.

8010

First carb up today…only day 10 but im going to a wedding…gonna make it a 12 hour CHO upski…started the morning off with 4 blueberry pancakes and feel great but not even close to full. Gotta enjoy today because the next 5 days im dropping my cals to 2500 from 3000…LETS GO ABS

8011

Hi folks
I had posted earlier - I am now on Day 5 of the AD based on this thread. My goal is to lose about 20 lbs and about 12-15% BFI feel like I am doing really well in terms of energy level and was able to add 10 lbs to my squat yesterday (which felt amazing, I was just stuck and unable to make much progress with increasing the weight).

I am also losing weight have gone from 156 lbs to 151.5 lbs in these 5 days. I am also noticing a difference in how I look- however, that feels really subjective esp since none of my measurements are changing at all and my bf (according to the handheld I used) went up by 4%. I am 5’3" (height), bF 35%, and 37y.o. My calorie intake ranges from 10-12 X BW (based on DH’s recommendations from really early on in this huge thread).

I’d really appreciate any input/help on what I might need to do to actually change my measurements. Thanks a lot.
madrad

8012

[quote]CJK wrote:
Haha. We had a little discussion of this a while back. Do you regularly imbibe during the week? If so, how do you think it effects your progress? I am not against it, but I don’t do it often. [/quote]

I don’t drink much. Maybe a couple of old fashioneds or scotches during the week, a martini if I’m going out to eat, and then a beer or glass of wine on the carb days with a rusty nail or specialty drink if I’m out. I have Sunday brunch with my family and we usually have bellinis there also. My total weekly intake is usually around 5-7 drinks a week.

I tended bar for a few years so I’m kind of a liquor afficianado. I like trying new things and now cocktails, but I keep it to one drink at any event where I imbibe, then switch to water.

Personally I haven’t noticed any negatives from this amount. Obviously I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who is trying to get down to a very low bf%.

8013

[quote]ironjoe wrote:
I was just using egg whites because they fill me up more. and i’ll try beef sausage for extra fat (i dont like pork… unless its bacon)[/quote]

Bacon rawks.

Hot sauce rawks.

I’d stick with whey during this time.

Spinach, cucumbers, cauliflower, arugula, watercress, celery, zucchini, squash, onions, asparagus, brussels sprouts, cabbage, eggplant, chard, collard greens . . . veggies rawk.

Ok good. Caesin slows down digestion. So does fat and fiber. Put all three of them together for a rawking pre-bed meal.

I’d just adjust my veggie intake if things aren’t going to great. Your body will adjust and excess fiber won’t be necessary. I have a hypothesis that when we eat a lot of carbs certain intestinal flora overflourish because of an abundant food source, while when we low carb it, a “proper” microbial balance is restored. I’m hoping to be involved in some research looking into this in the next few years.

I should mention that my view is biased as I believe that a low carb diet is mans naturally intended diet.

[quote]I usually can’t stomach store bought fish, but seasons open soon enough so i’ll catch enough to eat. mhhh, fresh halibut.
[/quote]

Sounds good. Fish rawks.

8014

in the veggies column… are green peppers alright?

8015

[quote]ironjoe wrote:
in the veggies column… are green peppers alright?[/quote]

I’d go a head and say… yes

Brant, Im studying sports and exercise science at the moment and anatomy and physiology is amongst my favorite aspects of the course. could you expand on the physiology digestion and the digestional transitions you believe to be correct?

I also agree with you on the low carb diet being the way we were meant to eat or at least the diet that we have evolved with over time. the homo specie has been around for 4.5million years, homo sapiens sapiens for 180’000 years being hunter gatherers. agricultural farming has only been around 1200 years or so

8016

Today’s training:

Flat Bench, 4x4
135, 155, 170, 180
Flat Bench 2x4
170, 170

Zercher Squats, 4x4
135, 225, 245, 265
Zercher 2x4
225, 225

Clean and Press, 4x4
95, 115, 135, 145
C/P 2x4
115, 115

Supinated Pullups, 2x12
BW, BW

Incline Bench, 2x12
95, 95

= TORCHED.

8017

[quote]madrad1 wrote:
Hi folks
I had posted earlier - I am now on Day 5 of the AD based on this thread. My goal is to lose about 20 lbs and about 12-15% BFI feel like I am doing really well in terms of energy level and was able to add 10 lbs to my squat yesterday (which felt amazing, I was just stuck and unable to make much progress with increasing the weight).

I am also losing weight have gone from 156 lbs to 151.5 lbs in these 5 days. I am also noticing a difference in how I look- however, that feels really subjective esp since none of my measurements are changing at all and my bf (according to the handheld I used) went up by 4%. I am 5’3" (height), bF 35%, and 37y.o. My calorie intake ranges from 10-12 X BW (based on DH’s recommendations from really early on in this huge thread).

I’d really appreciate any input/help on what I might need to do to actually change my measurements. Thanks a lot.
madrad[/quote]

The handheld thing you are using is likely shit. They are very unreliable. The weight loss as of now is likely water weight/glycogen- hence the lack of change in certain measurements. Since you are only on day 5, stay the course and once it has been 4-5 weeks without progress, THEN change what you are doing. As of now it is too early to determine if something is wrong.

8018

Hello all. My first post here… would first like to say I’ve been referring to this board for weeks now and all of your shared experiences have been invaluable to me. However I have one question I’m hoping someone can answer.

First, a little background info… I just turned 33, female, 5’1", 111 lbs. 12.6% body fat. I’ve been lifting for several years(heavy), own a Pilates studio and have been a fitness trainer for 11. It wasn’t until about 2 or so years ago I got into really heavy bodybuilding type lifting (have been obsessed ever since). Currently I lift 4-5 days a week, 2-3 hours a day. Minimal cardio if any… occasionally I’ll add in a few cardio intervals to my full body resistance routines 3x a week, but never on a super heavy lift day (which are the 2 or 3 days I isolate muscle groups and lift to exhaustion).

After gaining a LOT of muscle mass and losing a good amount of body fat, I decided to go for it and shred the last amounts of bf off while keeping all the muscle of gained, hopefully continuing to gain strength, etc. Thus, I found the anabolic diet about a month ago and so it all began!

I did the induction phase for a few weeks… wasn’t all that different from what I’d been doing diet wise for the past 6 months or so anyway, so it wasn’t a huge adjustment. The biggest adjustment was adding so much fat to my diet, but hey…I’m willing to try anything at least once! The first week I did notice a severe crash in energy around Wednesday night. No big deal, just consumed about triple the caffeine I usually do and I was able to get through the week. The second week, I didn’t hit my crash until Thursday evening, and by Friday during my 2nd hour of working out (full body- trying to completely deplete my muscles of glycogen) I definitely hit the wall. I actually was happy about this… told me my body was responding exactly the way it should.

Now we get to the carb up phases. I decided to only do 24-36 hours of carb loading (starting on Saturday evenings), as I am a little body…I don’t think I need 48 hours worth. The first carb up day for me (a Sunday) I kept it super clean… oatmeal, cereal with soy milk, rice, etc. That day was really strange feeling. I was constantly hungry (I’m talking like every 30 minutes), I was eliminating water CONSTANTLY (which is odd because I expected to retain water on carb up days), just felt different than I expected. The real shock was as I was going to bed that night and got undressed and looked in the mirror. Expecting to resemble a pregnant whale from ingesting mostly carbs all day, I almost fell on the floor when I saw the image staring back at me was the tiniest, thinnest, leanest body I’ve seen as my own reflection in years, if not ever! Perhaps I didn’t hate this carb-up thing after all! The next morning I awoke with so much energy I felt I could jog from here (Mass) to Miami and have energy left over. My spirits were great, energy was great, and my lifting over the next two to three days was incredible to say the least.

Got right back to my no carb routine Monday morn, and let me tell you… nothing felt better than not eating carbs again (I never in a million years thought I’d ever be saying such a thing!) My no carb days just have me feeling amazing. Strong, energetic, my sleep is great, no hunger… love it.

So then comes my second carb up day the following week (last night into today). Didn’t keep it quite as clean as carb reload day 1 this time. I had a wine tasting party last night and of course enjoyed various treats such as bites of cake, bread soaked in oil, spinach dip on tortilla chips, chocolate truffles, cupcakes…you get the gist. Not to mention the wine. Although I drink wine every Saturday night and it never seems to effect my dieting/workout/body really much at all. But the junk food, which I rarely indulge in on a regular basis as is, had/has me feeling toxic. Never again shall I reload without doing it cleanly! This just feels GROSS! Today wasn’t much better…cereal with soy milk, an entire bag of organic sweet potato chips, waffles… never again! I am counting down the seconds until tomorrow morning when I get back to my regulation eggs, bacon, salmon, steak, broccoli and muscle milk shakes!

So after this ridiculously long introduction (my apologies), here is my actual question… my head has been absolutely SPLITTING since about 1pm. And before you assume it is from last night’s wine, I assure you…it is not. I felt absolutely fine when I awoke at 8am this morning (except for the carb bloat… yuck). It wasn’t until about 1pm after filling myself with carbs for several hours that I thought my head would spontaneously combust. 2 full strength doses of prescription migraine medication didn’t even begin to alleviate this insane pain! So my question to any of you… has anyone experienced headaches from reloading carbs?? I know headaches when you are depleting is common (lucky me, I never experienced that… I think my body might actually hate carbs!), but I can’t find a single thing about possible headaches during the carb reload phase.

Regardless of whether the carb reload is fueling this migraine of epic proportions or not, I have certainly learned my lesson about keeping carb reload days as clean as possible. Although I don’t seem to look like a bloated pig in the mirror right now, the way I feel inside tells a different tale!

Thanks for any info and/or experiences you might be able to share. I really enjoy reading your posts and am thankful I have this board to refer to!

8019

Missa:

First off welcome to the AD, it sounds like this diet will fit you perfectly once you iron out some kinks!

I have experienced headaches after a carb up, and I always attributed it to dehydration. During a carb up I am constantly thirsty but also tend to be constantly full from eating all of those carbs, and my water intake suffers occasionally. That was my diagnosis when it happened to me. I have since made a conscious effort to drink enough water during the carb up and it hasn’t happened since. Again like I said that has been my experience, perhaps one or two other people can chime in with their’s.

Good luck with your goals!

8020

another quick quick question. im starting at 18 kcal/lb as recommended on the AD website, if i want lean out should i lower it to 15kcal/lb? So far, I’m on day 2 but im still hungry all the time. I’m at 4kcals/day, drinking 8 litres of water/day. Why the hell am i hungry???

8021

Ironjoe, I would stick with 18kcalxBW for at least the first month, that way you can gurantee (if keeping carbs under 30g on weekdays) that your fat adapted and have made your best effort to change your energy fueling mechanisms.

For some people that had a high bodyfat I might be inclined to set kcals a little lower, but you have an appreciable amount of muscle and are certainly not out of shape, you will need the extra caloires to start with. after the month, alter cals and monitor from there

8022

[quote]CJK wrote:

I have experienced headaches after a carb up, and I always attributed it to dehydration.

[/quote]
You know what…you are absolutely correct…and I figured this out last night as I spent the entire night tossing and turning due to my head throbbing, severe dry mouth and the desire to drown myself (figuratively speaking, of course.) I must’ve downed 3 or 4 huge bottles of water overnight between episodes of trying to fall asleep. Of course upon the first discovery of sandpaper mouth I realized, “You idiot! Its the dehydration!”

First factor, the wine from the night before. Second factor, the increased sodium in whatever carb products I consumed, and thirdly, I had drank NO water all day yesterday except slightly carbonated bevs that contained caffeine… factor #3. So yes, I think it is safe to say every ounce of water in my body was being directed into my muscles while carbing up and leaving the rest of my body dry as could be. Lesson learned, that’s for sure!!!

Thanks a bunch for the advice. Although I have to admit, as miserable as it felt (and as sleepy as I am today from the tossing and turning all night long,) I’m glad I felt it… means my body is reacting exactly the way it should to all of this!!! Thanks again :slight_smile: