My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
8063

alright the verdict came to me and my calories were too low so i added 400 cals to help speed up recovery/metabolism heres my log.(food in no particular eating order)

8 boiled eggs
1oz almonds
3.5oz sirloin steak
6oz chicken breast
6cups broccoli
1cup spinach
5oz new york strip
scoop chocolate whey
2TBS EVOO
half can of pumpkin
3.5oz muenster cheese

Cals:2518 Fat:169 (heh 69)62% carbs:57-25(fiber)32 5% Protein: 205 33%

8064

[quote]RockmanX88 wrote:
I’ve given this one a shot for 2 months about last summer and switched back to a balance of fats and carbs. The reason being is because I’m in college and find it a hellauva lot more manageable to incorporate carbs (school food). I had the “crash moment” and my energy was always piss poor and performance in the gym wasn’t as great even after 2 months…Trust me I was eating 6 times a day with 6 eggs in the morning and about 8-12oz of steak/pork/chicken/some bacon the other meals along with a shots of olive oil and hanfuls of walnuts/almonds. Lots of veggie intake.

I’m back on a balanced diet (carbs in the morning and postworkout) and f/p the rest of the day and seem to manage better with much better workouts. I feel better when I time my carbs correctly.

Just my 2 cents.[/quote]

Cool bud. For some it works, for some it doesn’t. I am guessing it works for all here, or we wouldn’t be on it. No one ever said that the diet could be optimal for everyone.

In other news, anyone getting excited for carb-ups? I normally do a Friday night to Saturday night, and I am looking forward to my first meal - 2 oranges, 5 slices of 100% whole wheat toast, and a monstrous sweet potato with natty PB and honey. SO good.

8065

Does anybody having troubles getting back onto P+F meals after carb ups? I’ve noticed, that i usually feel like shit on Monday after my carb-up. I tried both 24 and 48 hours carb-ups.

8066

Hey guys…im cutting on this diet…day 14…feeling very good.

My question is, do you think its okay to have blue cheese dressing on the salads I eat. I have 1-2 a day, using about 1-2 tbsp. of dressing per salad. Caloricaly it is fine for my goals, but I don’t want to hinder progress for taste. The extra fat is beneficial though. Any thoughts?

8067

[quote]Zluke wrote:
Does anybody having troubles getting back onto P+F meals after carb ups? I’ve noticed, that i usually feel like shit on Monday after my carb-up. I tried both 24 and 48 hours carb-ups.[/quote]

Do you think the problem is related to the carb up or the protein-fat? Or do you not know? :slight_smile:

If it is the carb-up, I would stick to clean sources for the entire carb-up just to see if that effects you. Low GI, enough good fats, etc. If you are already sticking to mainly clean carb ups, you can manipulate your macros during the carb up. Some people do better with more fat, some people do better with almost none. I remember DH saying that he had tried 30-40% fat, 30-40% carb, and 10-20% protein. In other words, more fat than normal. I would just tinker with it until you find what works for you.

If it is the protein-fat that is bothering you right away, stick to lean proteins and good fats. Sometimes when I go straight into the full fat ground beef, cheese, bacon and eggs I get a little turned off - but mainly I am looking forward to my bacon and eggs toward the end of my carb up :). Try a chicken+olive oil or some other lean protein and healthy fat combo to start off and see what happens.

8068

If you had to guess, and based on your knowledge of the claims of the anabolic diet , what do you ballpark ’ significantly ’ as being defined as - i.e as compared to a traditional macro profile ( other things being equal ) for example …

  • 10% less fat ?
  • 20% less fat ?
  • 50% less fat ?
8069

[quote]Phate89 wrote:
If you had to guess, and based on your knowledge of the claims of the anabolic diet , what do you ballpark ’ significantly ’ as being defined as - i.e as compared to a traditional macro profile ( other things being equal ) for example …

  • 10% less fat ?
  • 20% less fat ?
  • 50% less fat ?[/quote]

I am not sure what you are referring to… but I’ll guess and then you can correct me.

traditional macro profile would be 30/30/30 or 30/40/20 or something along those lines (c/p/f) but to be honest it’s been so long since I have done the traditional diet that I don’t know what is “in” right now…

For me on the Anabolic diet I do 5/35-40/55-60. (c/p/f) On the carb-up I try to stick to 55-60/15-20/25-30. (c/p/f) Even that is a little high on protein. The Doc has said that as low as 10% protein may be optimal.

8070

Thank you, but my question was how much less significant fat you would gain on the anabolic diet.

is there a certain number or educational guess?

8071

[quote]Phate89 wrote:
Thank you, but my question was how much less significant fat you would gain on the anabolic diet.

is there a certain number or educational guess?[/quote]

Ha. A lot less complicated than I thought :slight_smile: I have never heard a certain number, or an educated guess. I just know that while on it, I can stay within 6-8 pounds of my desired weight (while maintaining) even with some MASSIVE cheats and drinking thrown in - obviously this is not optimal and it has only been a couple short phases, but it is valuable to me to know that I can do that every once and awhile and not feel the pain as much, especially since if I was on a carb diet I would probably have gained twice or three times that.

As far as gaining, when I really put my mind to it I put on 30 pounds in the first 5 months of being on the diet and did not notice a significant rise in bodyfat. Now, I am not trying to all out gain but I can see myself getting thicker and wider in certain places and am gaining very little scale weight while getting stronger… can you ask for more than that?

8072

[quote]Zluke wrote:
Does anybody having troubles getting back onto P+F meals after carb ups? I’ve noticed, that i usually feel like shit on Monday after my carb-up. I tried both 24 and 48 hours carb-ups.[/quote]

im the same way(i contribute that shit feeling to my injury…FUCK) so what im gonna do now is carb up saturday and use my rest day (sunday) as my feel like/drop bombs in the toilet shit day

8073

Hey,

I am new here and am actually going to start this diet on Monday. I’ve been working out for 3 months now and just found out about this diet. I’ve done a lot of research, but need some help refining my diet for the week. I work 9-5 Monday through Friday and go to the gym after. It would be expensive for me to buy lunch and dinner out, but I don’t have too many other choices. I wanted to know if there are meals I can bring to work with me. So far this is what I have been thinking on doing:

Breakfast
5 hardboiled eggs

Snack:
can of tuna with mayo

lunch:
beef/steak with broccoli (dressed with Olive Oil)

snack:
pepperoni and mozzarella cheese

dinner:
chicken with broccoli (dressed with Olive Oil)

I also will be taking a multivitamin and about 3 fish oil pills a day.

According to Fitday, this is 3131 calories with F/P/C being 64/34/2(17g)

It looks good, but buying lunch and dinner out will be expensive. Thanks for the help

8074

[quote]thoughts1053 wrote:
Hey,

I am new here and am actually going to start this diet on Monday. I’ve been working out for 3 months now and just found out about this diet. I’ve done a lot of research, but need some help refining my diet for the week. I work 9-5 Monday through Friday and go to the gym after. It would be expensive for me to buy lunch and dinner out, but I don’t have too many other choices. I wanted to know if there are meals I can bring to work with me. So far this is what I have been thinking on doing:

Breakfast
5 hardboiled eggs

Snack:
can of tuna with mayo

lunch:
beef/steak with broccoli (dressed with Olive Oil)

snack:
pepperoni and mozzarella cheese

dinner:
chicken with broccoli (dressed with Olive Oil)

I also will be taking a multivitamin and about 3 fish oil pills a day.

According to Fitday, this is 3131 calories with F/P/C being 64/34/2(17g)

It looks good, but buying lunch and dinner out will be expensive. Thanks for the help[/quote]

It seems like every one of those meals could be premade and brought to work. Just make the meals you eat at work the night before and pack them up!

8075

[quote]CJK wrote:
madrad1 wrote:
I got another quick question - I am really crashing today and am guessing it is either the shift or the inadequate sleep last night. I still continue with the high F/P food till my 12th day, right. That is what I remember from the 150 pages or so I have read so far but just wanted to make sure.
thanks
THis is a great thread- logging in every day keeps me motivated.

Yep - continue the 12 days of low carb. The crash is a good thing, and you got it out of the way! Should be high, even energy from here on out. [/quote]

Thanks - appreciate it. And yes, you were right about the energy being even and high. I am really happy with that. I don’t need coffee or tea or soda anymore.

What happens if one goes beyond 12 days lo-carb? The reason I am asking is this- I read that one should exercise all out the day before the carb up so that all the carbs go where they are supposed to go; however, I sprained my back yesterday and cannot go exercise but today is my 13th day. I am hoping that I will feel better soon and can go run and workout a lot by Sunday and then carbup. What do folks think?

Also, if I should go ahead and carbup and not wait to be able to exercise (I dont know when my back will get ok), how many CHOs should I consume on my carbup? I was thinking of doing just a day if I can’t exercise (Saturday morning to Saturday night)- would that be ok?

Once again I’d appreciate any help you can give. Thanks a lot.

8076

[quote]MissMaria wrote:
ovalpline,

thanks for the help. I definitely need to eat more. I’ll be getting some fiber supplements too. I forgot to add that I take a great MV, calcium, some flora (to keep that intestine of mine healthy) Any suggestions on dealing with the nausea?

I used to be quite the foodie, so packing down food when I’m not really hungry isn’t as much the problem as feeling sick to my stomach 24-7.

I’ve really tried upping the fat cause it seems like an easy way to get more cals-- (coconut milk in all my coffee, lots of sausage, evoo…) and all that fat gives me gut rot. Is that temporary? I used to eat a low fat, high fiber diet–maybe I’m in shock?

Would some long cardio sessions drain my body of glucose and speed up the fat adaption process or is that just counter productive?[/quote]

Miss Maria, Dr. D. in his book, the anabolic diet says that:
"Also, keep in mind that the percentages we listed above for fat, protein and carb consumption are optimum numbers. If you’ve never done any real diet planning before, you may have a bit of trouble reaching them at first. If so, don’t worry.

By shooting for the 30 gram carbohydrate
limitation and a 40% minimum fat level in the diet during the early weeks, you’ll make the metabolic shift necessary to the diet."

Sometimes I have difficulty meeting my parameters too- I usu add extra flax seeds to my protein shakes- gives me fiber, makes my shakes tasty, and I can meet the requirements. And yes, the gutrot should be temporary.

Another thing that occurs to me- you may wanna try other fats like cream instead of coconut milk. Just a thought. Dr. D. recommends avoiding coconut milk (something to do with the longchain fatty acids discussed somewhere in the first 100 pages of this thread) as a main fat source.

UPDATE: I just found this in Dr. D’s book:
“It’s also important to note that Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) get a big thumbs down
for use in the Anabolic Diet. Very few foods actually contain MCTs, but you’ll find many people
are very big on MCT supplements, most of which are derived from coconut oil. They’ll say,
It’s fat, why can’t we use it? but it basically bypasses the whole energy pathway we’re trying to
establish with the Anabolic Diet and can be very counterproductive.” Hope that helps

8077

I’m on day 8 of the first phase. Feel great still. Been a little more groggy in the morning but still functioning. I’ve been losing weight still, however, I’m assuming that its just glycogen been sucked from the system. By the way. Does everyone crash? Or will 12 days of uber low carb, high fat swap you over no matter what? Day 12 will be next Wednesday, but im going to weight until friday to carb up. Is that bad? Should i carb up wed/thurs then just go an extra day the week after to push it back to fri/day carb up?

8078

I just finished day 11 of my induction phase. I’ve got at least one more day, but I’m not sure if I should go longer. My energy isn’t great–not terrible either.

I guess I’m concerned that perhaps I’ve gone over my carbs on a few days and it may have prevented me from converting. When I say “over” it was at the absolute max 5g over–probably more like 2 on a few days.

I’m just thinking that since I’m not measuring my veges and sometimes not good about measuring nuts (I keep a ball park of how many I ate)that I may have gone over a few times. You think maybe those extra few grams could have hurt? Should I stay on longer and get super strict or even go down to 20g?

8079

Well it took me three days to read this thread at work…well worth it. I now have most if not all the AD ebooks and have printed and satrted reading them. I will start this on Monday for sure.
Thanks

8080

[quote]madrad1 wrote:
What happens if one goes beyond 12 days lo-carb? The reason I am asking is this- I read that one should exercise all out the day before the carb up so that all the carbs go where they are supposed to go; however, I sprained my back yesterday and cannot go exercise but today is my 13th day. I am hoping that I will feel better soon and can go run and workout a lot by Sunday and then carbup. What do folks think?

Also, if I should go ahead and carbup and not wait to be able to exercise (I dont know when my back will get ok), how many CHOs should I consume on my carbup? I was thinking of doing just a day if I can’t exercise (Saturday morning to Saturday night)- would that be ok?

Once again I’d appreciate any help you can give. Thanks a lot.
[/quote]

The exercise before a RIGHT before a carb-up is not necessary. Since you already crashed, it is likely that you are switched over and your body is ready for some carbs. The exercise before a carb-up is for more ketogenic based diets. The AD doesn’t require you to have a super intense workout right before your carb up, just make sure you have had intense workouts during the week and you will be fine.

EDIT: Didn’t see the last part of your question. Do the full carb-up. You said you just sprained your back yesterday? So you have been working out normally for the entire two weeks? If that is the case, carb-up normally.

If you back doesn’t get better and you can’t work out for the next week, consider either doing the 12 days again, or do a more modest carb-up NEXT weekend, taking into consideration the lack of training.

8081

[quote]ironjoe wrote:
I’m on day 8 of the first phase. Feel great still. Been a little more groggy in the morning but still functioning. I’ve been losing weight still, however, I’m assuming that its just glycogen been sucked from the system. By the way. Does everyone crash? Or will 12 days of uber low carb, high fat swap you over no matter what? Day 12 will be next Wednesday, but im going to weight until friday to carb up. Is that bad? Should i carb up wed/thurs then just go an extra day the week after to push it back to fri/day carb up? [/quote]

You are correct, the losing weight is most likely the glycogen. We can hold a lot of it. Occasionally you will have the odd person that doesn’t crash - I did, and it was awful, but there are people that don’t. It doesn’t mean that you haven’t switched over, though - and you are still on the 8th day.

If you haven’t crashed, just make sure you count EVERY carb that goes in your mouth, I mean look at the labels on everything and make sure you are under 30g.

Waiting til Friday is fine. I prefer to carb-up on the weekends as well. Carb Friday-Saturday and then just keep that rotation if you desire.

8082

[quote]MissMaria wrote:
I just finished day 11 of my induction phase. I’ve got at least one more day, but I’m not sure if I should go longer. My energy isn’t great–not terrible either.

I guess I’m concerned that perhaps I’ve gone over my carbs on a few days and it may have prevented me from converting. When I say “over” it was at the absolute max 5g over–probably more like 2 on a few days.

I’m just thinking that since I’m not measuring my veges and sometimes not good about measuring nuts (I keep a ball park of how many I ate)that I may have gone over a few times. You think maybe those extra few grams could have hurt? Should I stay on longer and get super strict or even go down to 20g?

[/quote]

I wouldn’t stay on longer. I would carb-up normally, and then determine whether you want to just go into the normal 5/2 rotation (or 6/1 if you prefer) or do another 12 day stretch. It’s up to you. If you go into a 5/2 you will switch over eventually (if you haven’t yet) but doing another 12/2 will ensure the switch. It’s really up to how you feel after the first carb-up.

I wouldn’t lower your carbs to 20 necessarily, just MAKE SURE you are getting 30 or less. Count everything. Sugar free gum, 1 carb in spices, etc… they can add up.