My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
8323

[quote]The Vu wrote:
Hey,

I have some problems with the AD and I think I could need some advice:

About three years ago, I was on the AD for about 6 months. My goal was losing some fat without losing muscle, and it worked fantastic. I lost about 20 pounds of fat and even gained some LBM in the process.

I started the AD again three months ago because it was so simple and I really felt great while doing it. Losing fat wasn’t a factor this time, so I just did what I did the first time without counting the calories - under 30g carbs/per day, lots of fat and 36 hours carb up per week.

The problem is, I’m more active this time. Besides lifting weights three times a week, I practice martial arts at least three times per week - and I feel like a zombie while doing so since I’m on the AD. I’ve got no energy at all. And what’s even more annoying, I crave for carbs really bad at the end of the low carb cycle.

So, what should I do? Eat less/more carbs per day? Shorter/longer carb up? It really feels like I need more carbs in the muscles to get me through the week.

Cravings and energy levels aside, I’m feeling really good on this diet. My weight didn’t change much, but I think I lost a little bit of fat a gained some muscle.

Any help would be nice![/quote]

I’ve been eating anywhere from 30g-75g of carbs after a workout. I was the same way. I was a zombie throughout the day sometimes. If you are feeling like you are losing energy towards the end of the week, you could try a Wednesday carb spike of 100g. Or even try some carbs after your workout and see how that is. Dr. D recommends this in the troubleshooting guide of the book. Some people (like you and me) need carbs during the week. If I felt fine throughout the week, I wouldn’t eat them, but I need them or else I feel like crap.

8324

[quote]HouseOfAtlas wrote:
The Vu wrote:
Hey,

I have some problems with the AD and I think I could need some advice:

About three years ago, I was on the AD for about 6 months. My goal was losing some fat without losing muscle, and it worked fantastic. I lost about 20 pounds of fat and even gained some LBM in the process.

I started the AD again three months ago because it was so simple and I really felt great while doing it. Losing fat wasn’t a factor this time, so I just did what I did the first time without counting the calories - under 30g carbs/per day, lots of fat and 36 hours carb up per week.

The problem is, I’m more active this time. Besides lifting weights three times a week, I practice martial arts at least three times per week - and I feel like a zombie while doing so since I’m on the AD. I’ve got no energy at all. And what’s even more annoying, I crave for carbs really bad at the end of the low carb cycle.

So, what should I do? Eat less/more carbs per day? Shorter/longer carb up? It really feels like I need more carbs in the muscles to get me through the week.

Cravings and energy levels aside, I’m feeling really good on this diet. My weight didn’t change much, but I think I lost a little bit of fat a gained some muscle.

Any help would be nice!

I’ve been eating anywhere from 30g-75g of carbs after a workout. I was the same way. I was a zombie throughout the day sometimes. If you are feeling like you are losing energy towards the end of the week, you could try a Wednesday carb spike of 100g. Or even try some carbs after your workout and see how that is. Dr. D recommends this in the troubleshooting guide of the book. Some people (like you and me) need carbs during the week. If I felt fine throughout the week, I wouldn’t eat them, but I need them or else I feel like crap.

[/quote]

Another thing you should probably try before adding carbs is just upping cals. I am doing several MMA classes during the week with several endurance workouts and three strength training sessions, and I had the same zombie feeling a couple weeks ago. I jacked up my cals by about 500 a day and instantly felt better. If you try this and nothing happens, then I would add carbs. House is right, sometimes people just don’t do as well with that low carb.

8325

Hey guys, thanks for your replies!

[quote]HouseOfAtlas wrote:
I’ve been eating anywhere from 30g-75g of carbs after a workout. I was the same way. I was a zombie throughout the day sometimes. If you are feeling like you are losing energy towards the end of the week, you could try a Wednesday carb spike of 100g. Or even try some carbs after your workout and see how that is. Dr. D recommends this in the troubleshooting guide of the book. Some people (like you and me) need carbs during the week. If I felt fine throughout the week, I wouldn’t eat them, but I need them or else I feel like crap.
[/quote]

Sounds good, I’ll try that. Strange thing is, my body seems to have no problem to burn fat for energy throughout the day (I had no crash at all), but for a certain way of physical work, he just needs carbs.

[quote]CJK wrote:
Another thing you should probably try before adding carbs is just upping cals. I am doing several MMA classes during the week with several endurance workouts and three strength training sessions, and I had the same zombie feeling a couple weeks ago. I jacked up my cals by about 500 a day and instantly felt better. If you try this and nothing happens, then I would add carbs. House is right, sometimes people just don’t do as well with that low carb.[/quote]

I ate A LOT in the beginning of the AD (no fat gain with this by the way), and I still felt like falling asleep after the warm-up. But maybe my body wasn’t fully adapted back then, so it’s worth a try.

Thanks!

8326

Just finished my first carb-up. Is it normal to put on 5lbs? Is this water?

8327

[quote]bkmacky9288 wrote:
after 12 days…and remember carbup dont have to be weekends just make it so you have a substantial amount of time between car ups for glycogen depletion…(5-6 days)[/quote]

The question wasn’t after how many days…cause Mauro states that that is going to be subject to whether a persons body has made the switch or not…

But rather the question was when I end the period of time that I was doing the startup phase do I end it with two carb up days…or do I go from the startup phase to the first five days of the cutting phase and then do the carb up days that first weekend?

8328

[quote]appro wrote:
Just finished my first carb-up. Is it normal to put on 5lbs? Is this water?[/quote]

I was 247.5 lbs Friday night, and this morning I weighed in at 252 :slight_smile:

8329

[quote]Pugsley wrote:
bkmacky9288 wrote:
after 12 days…and remember carbup dont have to be weekends just make it so you have a substantial amount of time between car ups for glycogen depletion…(5-6 days)

The question wasn’t after how many days…cause Mauro states that that is going to be subject to whether a persons body has made the switch or not…

But rather the question was when I end the period of time that I was doing the startup phase do I end it with two carb up days…or do I go from the startup phase to the first five days of the cutting phase and then do the carb up days that first weekend?

[/quote]

carb it

8330

Hey guys,

I’m new to the AD and this thread, although I tried to read as much of it as possible…I just wanted to know how the whole fibre thing works… I know you don’t count carbs from fibre so does that mean if you eat X food which has 10g of CH and 5g of fibre you only count 5g of carbs from that food?

Thanks in advance,

8331

Well boys, I have learned first hand the importance of carb reloading. Because my schedule was a little screwy this weekend, I had to make some adjustments. Usually I carb load on Sundays, then on Mondays have a very intense workout. Well this Monday I had Marathon Monday Red Sox tickets, which means I would be at the game all morning and afternoon and not have time for my usual Monday workout. So instead I decided to do my Monday workout on Sunday and not carb load til Monday (why not partake in some ballpark treats?)… however I knew I would need to have some fuel for Sunday’s workout.

So Saturday night I had some delicious Indian food and made sure I had between 100 - 200 grams of good carbs with it. Sunday came and I felt amazing! Full of energy, strong, lots of endurance. I’m thinking “Hmmm, this feels great. I don’t even feel like carb loading on Monday. Screw carbs, I want steak!” Sure enough, after the game we went out to eat and what did I get? Steak and eggs, sausage and bacon. The waited almost died when he took my order, then he looked up at me, assessed my situation and said, “Nice triceps.” lol

Now we get to today… I am absolutely exhausted and my brain is functioning at a bare minimum. I feel like I did the first week I was on this and crashed for the first time. My strength and stamina wasn’t as great at the gym today as usual either.

So the moral of the story is… EAT YOUR CARBS ON CARB DAY! I don’t want to screw up my schedule any more than I have, so I’m going to tough it out until this coming Sunday for my usual reload. Good luck to me… I’m going to need an IV inserted to fill my veins with caffeine!!

Missa

8332

[quote]MissaJC324 wrote:
EAT YOUR CARBS ON CARB DAY! I don’t want to screw up my schedule any more than I have, so I’m going to tough it out until this coming Sunday for my usual reload. Good luck to me… I’m going to need an IV inserted to fill my veins with caffeine!!

Missa[/quote]

Good point to emphasize. This past weekend was way too moderate for me - the next one, I’ll be sure to go more insane with carbs.

I’m about to grill me a piece of lamb before I hit the sack…

8333

[quote]appro wrote:
Just finished my first carb-up. Is it normal to put on 5lbs? Is this water?[/quote]

Well it depends on how much you all ate, but yeah…most (if not all) of that is just water retention.

8334

[quote]Tor Tor wrote:
appro wrote:
Just finished my first carb-up. Is it normal to put on 5lbs? Is this water?

Well it depends on how much you all ate, but yeah…most (if not all) of that is just water retention.[/quote]

I’m not worried now, just weighed myself and it’s all gone - minus another pound of weight :slight_smile:

8335

Hi! I need some advice:
I’ve been on the AD now for several months. For the past 5 days, I have been very sick with the flu, so sick that I have lost my appetite. I have had to force myself to eat around 1200 cals/day, less when I was running a temperature. Usually I eat closer to 3000. My daily carbs have been under 30g and I have really struggled to get enough protein(lots of whey shakes.) I have visibly lost alot of weight, since becoming ill and am starting to look skeletal.

I am on the meand, left with an annoying cough and a general feeling of fatigue. The only excersise I have managed has been today. I did a very small workout, consisting of bicep curls, tricep press-downs and butt crunches, after which I needed to lie down again.
Tomorrow, I am due for a carb-up. Should I go ahead, or wait a couple of days, until I can mange some more excersise? What y’all think?
Thanks in advance,
Delphoene x

8336

[quote]Delphoene wrote:
Hi! I need some advice:
I’ve been on the AD now for several months. For the past 5 days, I have been very sick with the flu, so sick that I have lost my appetite. I have had to force myself to eat around 1200 cals/day, less when I was running a temperature. Usually I eat closer to 3000. My daily carbs have been under 30g and I have really struggled to get enough protein(lots of whey shakes.) I have visibly lost alot of weight, since becoming ill and am starting to look skeletal.
I am on the meand, left with an annoying cough and a general feeling of fatigue. The only excersise I have managed has been today. I did a very small workout, consisting of bicep curls, tricep press-downs and butt crunches, after which I needed to lie down again.
Tomorrow, I am due for a carb-up. Should I go ahead, or wait a couple of days, until I can mange some more excersise? What y’all think?
Thanks in advance,
Delphoene x[/quote]

Hi there.

Meat and cheese. They’re not really the purest foods getting around, are they? Not with modern farming.

I always do my best to drink large quantities of wheatgrass (on an empty stomach) and sauna regularly. Not to mention many glasses of detoxing teas and water each day.
Fresh vegetable juices keep me feeling alive and fresh aswell. My carbs come primarily from bean sprouts, shoots, huge quantities of broccoli, cabbage, spinach and mushrooms.

I also alternate brands and foods regularly-> less chance of overdoing any particular toxin from any particular food.
Sometimes, I think it’s good to have a day or 2 off from eating anything. I like to fast on diluted juice, one day per month.

8337

[quote]Delphoene wrote:
Hi! I need some advice:
I’ve been on the AD now for several months. For the past 5 days, I have been very sick with the flu, so sick that I have lost my appetite. I have had to force myself to eat around 1200 cals/day, less when I was running a temperature. Usually I eat closer to 3000. My daily carbs have been under 30g and I have really struggled to get enough protein(lots of whey shakes.) I have visibly lost alot of weight, since becoming ill and am starting to look skeletal.
I am on the meand, left with an annoying cough and a general feeling of fatigue. The only excersise I have managed has been today. I did a very small workout, consisting of bicep curls, tricep press-downs and butt crunches, after which I needed to lie down again.
Tomorrow, I am due for a carb-up. Should I go ahead, or wait a couple of days, until I can mange some more excersise? What y’all think?
Thanks in advance,
Delphoene x[/quote]

go ahead and have a mild carb day…assess how it treats you in your current state and go from there.

8338

[quote]RisingEmpire wrote:
Delphoene wrote:
Hi! I need some advice:
I’ve been on the AD now for several months. For the past 5 days, I have been very sick with the flu, so sick that I have lost my appetite. I have had to force myself to eat around 1200 cals/day, less when I was running a temperature. Usually I eat closer to 3000. My daily carbs have been under 30g and I have really struggled to get enough protein(lots of whey shakes.) I have visibly lost alot of weight, since becoming ill and am starting to look skeletal.
I am on the meand, left with an annoying cough and a general feeling of fatigue. The only excersise I have managed has been today. I did a very small workout, consisting of bicep curls, tricep press-downs and butt crunches, after which I needed to lie down again.
Tomorrow, I am due for a carb-up. Should I go ahead, or wait a couple of days, until I can mange some more excersise? What y’all think?
Thanks in advance,
Delphoene x

Hi there.

Meat and cheese. They’re not really the purest foods getting around, are they? Not with modern farming.

I always do my best to drink large quantities of wheatgrass (on an empty stomach) and sauna regularly. Not to mention many glasses of detoxing teas and water each day.
Fresh vegetable juices keep me feeling alive and fresh aswell. My carbs come primarily from bean sprouts, shoots, huge quantities of broccoli, cabbage, spinach and mushrooms.

I also alternate brands and foods regularly-> less chance of overdoing any particular toxin from any particular food.
Sometimes, I think it’s good to have a day or 2 off from eating anything. I like to fast on diluted juice, one day per month.

[/quote]

I’ve never understood why they call it “wheat grass”. Wheat is a grass, so I guess they’re just emphasizing that it’s the greens and not the seed head. At any rate, grasses are a common food allergen and I definitely wouldn’t guzzle wheat juice. I also doubt these detox teas do anything. I mean, how could they possibly work, what mechanism?

As for meat and cheese, I don’t think they’re so bad. Grass fed organic is probably better than conventionally raised, but it’s not like regular meat and cheese is going to make you drop dead. I’d be more concerned with the xenoestrogens in my environment than the minuscule amount of antiobiotics and hormones in my animal foods, and I’m not terribly worried about either.

Rotating foods and fasting occasionally seem like they could have some benefits, but it’s awfully hard if your goal is to get huge.

8339

The Vu,

How muuch fat are you getting in exactly? If you don’t know then, well, that might be your problem.

If you’re ever having diet problems, you need to do a food log and then you can actually analyze it. I know, it’s pretty gay, and any red blooded man shouldn’t enjoy doing it, but sometimes it needs to be done.

At any rate, if you’re a naturally lean guy, or if you know you’re training hard enough you can probably get away with post workout carbs (limited! Like one serving of Surge or less) Otherwise, I would just increase fats using olive oil.

One of the problems people can get into that leads to them feeling like shit is taking in too much protein and not enough fat, then they’re constantly burning protein for fuel, which is much more costly energetically than burning fat.

So I would try that first.

8340

i have been reading burn the fat feed the muscle by tom venuto and whilst strictly not the same as the anabolic diet there were some points of similarity. one such point is the cycling of calories eating more on one day and less on others.he mentions though that you really ought to only go three days low before a day of eating maintainance levels as the body only takes this long before it goes into what he terms starvation mode and starts to eat muscle.

i have been going five and a half days eating below maintainance before a refeed. is this too long a break?should i be upping the calories mid week or is the nature of the carb up being substantially more calories enough to get over this starvation mode thing?

8341

I don’t know, I think the whole “starvation mode” is a load of bullshit. Maybe if you’re one of the anorexics who are eating 300 kcals a day for weeks on end it’s a factor, but at normally caloric intakes I just don’t think it happens.

There’s an enormous two volume tome called “Biology of Human Starvation” that came from the infamous Minnesota Starvation Experiment.

I don’t recall exactly, but I want to say there was only a 16% reduction in metabolic rate for these starved subjects, and most of it was accounted for by a decrease in activity. This obviously isn’t applicable in someone who is dieting and purposefully elevating or maintaining their activity levels.

Sometimes we just need to get real. I mean, if this starvation mode phenomena was such a big deal, we’d see people subsisting on ridiculously low caloric intakes, instead of kicking the bucket, like we do. This is why starvation is such a problem in some places, it can, in fact, kill you.

8342

[quote]conorh wrote:
I don’t know, I think the whole “starvation mode” is a load of bullshit. Maybe if you’re one of the anorexics who are eating 300 kcals a day for weeks on end it’s a factor, but at normally caloric intakes I just don’t think it happens.

There’s an enormous two volume tome called “Biology of Human Starvation” that came from the infamous Minnesota Starvation Experiment.

I don’t recall exactly, but I want to say there was only a 16% reduction in metabolic rate for these starved subjects, and most of it was accounted for by a decrease in activity. This obviously isn’t applicable in someone who is dieting and purposefully elevating or maintaining their activity levels.

Sometimes we just need to get real. I mean, if this starvation mode phenomena was such a big deal, we’d see people subsisting on ridiculously low caloric intakes, instead of kicking the bucket, like we do. This is why starvation is such a problem in some places, it can, in fact, kill you.[/quote]

proteinpower.com/drmike/metabolism/is-a-calorie-always-a-calorie/

Good analysis and observations about the Minnesota study and some conclusions for people on the AD.