My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
9143

[quote]pikebinscho wrote:
So…If I wasn’t a little punk who didn’t lack discipline I’d be on my first week of the 5/2 split. I started on Dec. 29 for the first time but broke and got fairly drunk on New Years Eve. No biggy I said, I’ll start again on the Jan. 5 (the next Monday).

So I crash hard on the 6th, huge headache, no motivation, no energy and assume my binge drinking didn’t affect me too much (I had been “test driving” the <30carbs idea for a few weeks anyways before I decided to get to it). Fast forward to this past weekend (first scheduled carb up), I go hiking with my buddy and hit dunkin donuts for something I can eat in my car.

Sunday I wake up and puke/diarrhea all day. Today is the first time since I’ve had a solid movement and/or didn’t throw up my breakfast.

So after that novel, does anyone who has been on this for awhile, or on/off a few times, think I need to re-do the induction phase to get the best results, or would getting back to the 5/2 split work?

Any and all help is appreciated. [/quote]

from what i was told you have to do the induction plan for 12 days before your first carb up , i could be wrong but if i was you id start again and nail it.

9144

Today’s day three, and my D workout today which I’ve performed 3 times was the best of the 3 by far. However, I also did a little rest-time trick that may have caused it to be superior.

I just got done a horribly painful bowel movement after shitting my pants an hour before. It was painful inside and out.

Sleep was hard last night.

Otherwise, I feel pretty fine.

A lot of these fatty foods gross me out though. Does one start craving them and feeling good about eating them the way carbs ‘satisfy’ you?

9145

Yummy… I just started the AD. Im on day 4 and feel fine. Im looking forward to the donut carb up this weekend.

9146

G’day Everyone,

I haven’t quite finished reading all of the 350+ pages contained within this thread (I’m only up to page 20), but already there has been an unbelievable amount of useful information provided. No doubt it will become invaluable when following the Anabolic Diet.

I am currently on day 11 of the “maintanence” (i.e. “induction”) phase. I’ve been doing it pretty tough so far. I’ve had headaches, irregular bowel movements (which seem to have been sorted since increasing the fibre intake), cravings, a lack of strength, and overall feel quite exhausted. However, I am still quite optimistic that things will get better.

I wanted to wait until I had read all of this thread before posting this question, but I figured that if I wait any longer it will be too late (and the question will no longer be relevant).

Anyway, my question is in regards to the metabolic shift and being able to identify when it occurs. The previous 11 days my carbohydrate intake has been under 30g, however, I feel that my total calorie intake may have been too low (due to lack of appetite) and I am concerned that this may affect the metabolic shift from taking place (in addition to having other consequences such as catabolism). All I can say is that the last two days I have been extremely fatigued (i.e. poor workouts, irritable, etc.) but would this be considered the “crash” which indicates metabolic shift?

Any guidance on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

9147

[quote]B85 wrote:
G’day Everyone,

I haven’t quite finished reading all of the 350+ pages contained within this thread (I’m only up to page 20), but already there has been an unbelievable amount of useful information provided. No doubt it will become invaluable when following the Anabolic Diet.

I am currently on day 11 of the “maintanence” (i.e. “induction”) phase. I’ve been doing it pretty tough so far. I’ve had headaches, irregular bowel movements (which seem to have been sorted since increasing the fibre intake), cravings, a lack of strength, and overall feel quite exhausted. However, I am still quite optimistic that things will get better.

I wanted to wait until I had read all of this thread before posting this question, but I figured that if I wait any longer it will be too late (and the question will no longer be relevant).

Anyway, my question is in regards to the metabolic shift and being able to identify when it occurs. The previous 11 days my carbohydrate intake has been under 30g, however, I feel that my total calorie intake may have been too low (due to lack of appetite) and I am concerned that this may affect the metabolic shift from taking place (in addition to having other consequences such as catabolism). All I can say is that the last two days I have been extremely fatigued (i.e. poor workouts, irritable, etc.) but would this be considered the “crash” which indicates metabolic shift?

Any guidance on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks![/quote]

What is your caloric intake? Has it been less than 18x your body weight?

9148

Only because I started my whole nutritional career/working out at all by reading Berardi, but its frightening that some find it so ‘perfectly fine’ to binge on donuts, pizza, ice cream etc…does anyone take in account their health?

its not like the AD makes these foods good for you what they do is speed up your blood flow to muscles but better food choices will do the same+shuttle more nutrients since there aren’t much if any true nutritional value in the junk many on this diet shove down their pie-holes…pun intended!

Now not gonna lie when I did this diet (for 3.5 years) I did the same binging weekend after weenkend…then I revisited my common sense and thought what a dozen donuts will do for me compared to a lot of skim milk, oats, fruits, and whole grains, and natural sweeteners like honey. Just giving throwin it out there folks

9149

[quote]B85 wrote:

Anyway, my question is in regards to the metabolic shift and being able to identify when it occurs. The previous 11 days my carbohydrate intake has been under 30g, however, I feel that my total calorie intake may have been too low (due to lack of appetite) and I am concerned that this may affect the metabolic shift from taking place (in addition to having other consequences such as catabolism).

All I can say is that the last two days I have been extremely fatigued (i.e. poor workouts, irritable, etc.) but would this be considered the “crash” which indicates metabolic shift?

Any guidance on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks![/quote]

You won’t affect the shift from taking place. Not eating enough will simply make the shift harder, as you’re experiencing. You’re probably not getting enough fat…so while it’s hard enough for your body to shift to fat burning, you might not be giving it enough fat to burn. Hence, you feel like crap.

18xBW is a good place to start for the induction phase. You’re kinda past that, and I don’t know what your goals are. After your carb up, you may shoot for that. If you’re trying to lose weight, maybe shoot for 15xBW.

I think that if people feel like crap during the induction, then they need to eat and not worry about how much they’re eating – hungry or not.

Anyway, hope that helps!

9150

[quote]bkmacky9288 wrote:
Only because I started my whole nutritional career/working out at all by reading Berardi, but its frightening that some find it so ‘perfectly fine’ to binge on donuts, pizza, ice cream etc…does anyone take in account their health?

its not like the AD makes these foods good for you what they do is speed up your blood flow to muscles but better food choices will do the same+shuttle more nutrients since there aren’t much if any true nutritional value in the junk many on this diet shove down their pie-holes…pun intended!

Now not gonna lie when I did this diet (for 3.5 years) I did the same binging weekend after weenkend…then I revisited my common sense and thought what a dozen donuts will do for me compared to a lot of skim milk, oats, fruits, and whole grains, and natural sweeteners like honey. Just giving throwin it out there folks[/quote]

What makes a food good for you or bad for you? What reactions it causes inside your body! Donuts are so bad for you under a “normal” eating environment (high carb/low fat) because they are so high in carbs, simple sugars, as well as fat.

When your body has full glycogen stores and is full of insulin, that kind of intake is going to all kinds of fat because your body is going to store any kind of fat possible as well as the excess insulin that is laid down as fat.

Now come back to being on the AB…those donuts are going to create a horrendous blood sugar spike which will put you into a virtual coma, but it will also refill glycogen stores and not be in an environment which will lay down fat, thus still being beneficial.

Of course carb ups that do not create such a wild swing in insulin and instead a slow build are much more ideal.

9151

KingIndy - that logic (though correct in some ways) is not optimal.

if the doughnuts are simply there to keep you honest the rest of the week then I say go ahead. Everyone has at least one thing they eat every weekend (mine was cereal/bread). but dont justify it as a optimal

9152

[quote]KingIndy wrote:
What is your caloric intake? Has it been less than 18x your body weight?[/quote]

I believe it has been less than 18x body weight, yeah. I have been keeping a food log on most days, but I haven’t been weighing my foods.

As a result, it’s difficult to accurately predict how many calories I am consuming. I will weigh my foods for today just to give me an idea of where I am at currently and will post back with the results.

[quote]dlannan wrote:
You won’t affect the shift from taking place. Not eating enough will simply make the shift harder, as you’re experiencing. You’re probably not getting enough fat…so while it’s hard enough for your body to shift to fat burning, you might not be giving it enough fat to burn. Hence, you feel like crap.

18xBW is a good place to start for the induction phase. You’re kinda past that, and I don’t know what your goals are. After your carb up, you may shoot for that. If you’re trying to lose weight, maybe shoot for 15xBW.

I think that if people feel like crap during the induction, then they need to eat and not worry about how much they’re eating – hungry or not.

Anyway, hope that helps![/quote]

Thanks a lot for your reply. My goals after completing the “maintanence” (or “induction”) phase were to immediately go onto a “cutting” phase.

I am quite concerned about not consuming enough calories during the “maintanence” phase. As a result, after my first carb-up I am considering completing another 12 days of the “maintanence” phase (ensuring that I eat more). Would this be beneficial, or am I better off simply going onto the “cutting” phase?

I really appreciate the help, thanks!

9153

For he who is feeling terrible on Day 11, I’m only on day 4, but I’ve been taking this very seriously.

I calculate every number throughout every day, and the number one thing I’ve found is how hard it is to eat enough calories. I find myself eating straight mayonnaise and drinking olive oil just to fulfill one last push to my desired caloric intake (which I’m purposely lifting above 18xBW since that’s where it was before the beginning of this).

I feel like the trick (at least for me) is to up your portions quite a bit. My meals aren’t nearly as ‘well-rounded’ or ‘complete’ anymore since vegetables, fruits, and carbs of any kind are so carefully chosen. A lot of great fat sources also contain a frustrating amount of carbs, like peanut butter. So, I realized due to the lack of variety, the best option would be to increase the portions of fat/protein foods like bacon and all the meats at each meal.

I learned my lesson yesterday and am taking guar gum or psyllium husk twice a day. I had a wonderful bowel movement when I woke up today and really thanked the heavens for the effectiveness of a little fiber powder.

9154

question on temperature - back in page 124 - 08-18-06 9:38 pm

DH responce to a “…slow weight lose” with advice on droping calories based on mesuring his temperature at morning before activity.

any idea what that is all about?as i, also dont see drastic changes-

i realise i use 3200 cals a day and i take 2800-3000 so that only amounts to about -1.5 oz a week, once distributed all over the body - no drastic change will be apparent.

i am verry curious on the temperature thing if any1 has detailed info i would appreciated

9155

so, as a followup to the post quoted below, i thought I’d report on my experiences using L-leucine on the AD.

  • took it 4 times a day with meals/snacks

  • didn’t feel any huge performance effects or radical changes

  • what i did feel was hungrier, more often and sooner after meals, with no change in my caloric intake.

  • also, my weight started going up after holding steady for a few months, again with no change to my caloric intake.

  • my lifts all went up too, but nothing amazing-- i’d have expected them to increase as much anyway.

so, overall, i think it was worthwhile in that it made me helped me put on weight. I’m looking to start cutting over the next 2 months and am going to keep using it. will report back again after

[quote]Lifty McWeights wrote:
Mlettier wrote:
Lifty McWeights wrote:
haven’t seen much discussion of the new L-Leucine in this thread… what’s everyone think about it as a supp for someone on the AD?

I think L-Leucine is a great supplement to the Anabolic Diet. It has no caloric value, it’s an essential amino acid, and it has many benefits on performance. I believe that it is mainly found in whole grains and nuts - And since your obviously not eating a lot of grain on this diet, and unless your eating a shit ton of nuts, then it could not hurt to supplement with it. It’s not too expensive either.

Ordered some, gonna give it a shot. Will report results, if any.

[/quote]

9156

On day 5, still feeling good. I still have a large appetite when putting in about 3300 calories a day, so I think that is an indication my body is still looking for carbs for energy. I’ve only gotten 2 workouts in this week so far, which may be slowing the glycogen draining process. I strained my forearms a little bit doing my deadlifts, snatches, so it slowed my workout schedule this week as I had to back off upper body yesterday.

I’ve been getting less than 20 carbs a day and keeping up with 3300 calories. It’s not hard.

My biggest question is this. Friday and Saturday nights are big social nights for me being a 23 year old single guy, which means quite a bit of drinking. Now, I’m obviously skipping any drinking this first weekend of the induction, but my main question is this:

While keeping in mind I plan on curtailing some of the massive binging I’m used to in order to activate testosterone and growth hormone, if I only take shots which contain 60 calories, 0 carbs, how should I treat these alcohol calories? Furthermore, with the drinking starting in the late pm on a Friday, when should I start the carb-up to compensate for this planned destruction of my body? Should Friday be considered a carb day and start the carbing all day Friday, or should I start it in the pm Friday and just run it to Saturday night?

9157

[quote]KingIndy wrote:
bkmacky9288 wrote:
Only because I started my whole nutritional career/working out at all by reading Berardi, but its frightening that some find it so ‘perfectly fine’ to binge on donuts, pizza, ice cream etc…does anyone take in account their health?

[/quote]

My grandfather was a alky for 20 yrs, smoked 1-2 packs a day for 40 yrs and lived to be 81 with only 3 of those years needing help with getting around.

Seeing that I’m working out and living a pretty healthy life, If having donuts and junk food on the weekends is going affect my health, than maybe I should give this whole “silly” bodybuild fitness thing up and become a alcoholic and smoke some cigs.

I think the whole binging on the weekends is bad for you is a bunch of balony… nice fattening balony with a 65 to 35 % fat to protien ratio :wink:

9158

Hey… anyone know if smokeless tobacco has any carbs? As in dip? I bet it might. Need to find out with such a small 30g window.

9159

All I can say to you, KingIndy, is that I feel like Dr. Di would consider those calories carb-like calories. That is, something to distract your metabolism from the LCTs. Just an opinion.

I started getting an EXTREMELY mild headache last night as I’ve been expecting them for a while now. I wonder if that’s why, however.

I’m doing a big squat workout in an hour, which I’ve been dreading all week since it fell pretty deep into the ‘induction phase’.

One thing I’m a bit concerned about (I have no idea if this is AD related): I broke my wrist twice in my life, both times many years ago. Just the other day I woke up, and it felt stiff, just as it did coming OUT of the cast(s). It loosens up a bit during the day but doesn’t lose the painful lack of ROM.

Do you think I just had a weird sleeping experience one night or is it possible this is some inflammatory issue? I will also add that I’ve been eating at least a can or two of salmon/tuna since I’m out of fish oil for another several days.

9160

[quote]B85 wrote:

I am quite concerned about not consuming enough calories during the “maintanence” phase. As a result, after my first carb-up I am considering completing another 12 days of the “maintanence” phase (ensuring that I eat more). Would this be beneficial, or am I better off simply going onto the “cutting” phase?

I really appreciate the help, thanks![/quote]

No, if you were strict on the carbs in the first 12 days, I don’t see why you wouldn’t go into the 5/2 schedule.

9161

[quote]nz6stringaxe wrote:
All I can say to you, KingIndy, is that I feel like Dr. Di would consider those calories carb-like calories. That is, something to distract your metabolism from the LCTs. Just an opinion.

I started getting an EXTREMELY mild headache last night as I’ve been expecting them for a while now. I wonder if that’s why, however.

I’m doing a big squat workout in an hour, which I’ve been dreading all week since it fell pretty deep into the ‘induction phase’.

One thing I’m a bit concerned about (I have no idea if this is AD related): I broke my wrist twice in my life, both times many years ago. Just the other day I woke up, and it felt stiff, just as it did coming OUT of the cast(s). It loosens up a bit during the day but doesn’t lose the painful lack of ROM.

Do you think I just had a weird sleeping experience one night or is it possible this is some inflammatory issue? I will also add that I’ve been eating at least a can or two of salmon/tuna since I’m out of fish oil for another several days.
[/quote]

Yea, I think your opinion on the alcohol is correct. Just need to figure out timing for the carb ups now. As far as the wrist thing, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Sounds like a sleeping thing like you said.

How much fish oil do you usually take? Could be the lack of anti-inflammatories that you usually take has your body reacting negatively with them missing.

9162

[quote]ypsisynth wrote:
KingIndy wrote:
bkmacky9288 wrote:
Only because I started my whole nutritional career/working out at all by reading Berardi, but its frightening that some find it so ‘perfectly fine’ to binge on donuts, pizza, ice cream etc…does anyone take in account their health?

My grandfather was a alky for 20 yrs, smoked 1-2 packs a day for 40 yrs and lived to be 81 with only 3 of those years needing help with getting around.

Seeing that I’m working out and living a pretty healthy life, If having donuts and junk food on the weekends is going affect my health, than maybe I should give this whole “silly” bodybuild fitness thing up and become a alcoholic and smoke some cigs.

I think the whole binging on the weekends is bad for you is a bunch of balony… nice fattening balony with a 65 to 35 % fat to protien ratio :wink:
[/quote]

well whatever works for you guys…me personally once i pop the fun dont stop lol And i never got anywhere but having a roundness to my physique. Since cleaning up I’ve lost 10 lbs and al my lifts are higher…

So clean eating floats my boat and works wonders for me…just letting everyone know that junk isn’t the 1 way ticket to a perfect physique for all