Of course it won’t work for EVERYONE!No single diet can take into account every single individual’s needs.
Works pretty damn well for me so far though.Like some of the veterans said,it’s really The Anabolic Lifestyle.
First, I want to thank all you guys at T-Nation, this thread in particular, for helping me kick alcoholism’s ass. You guys have been so motivating, just seeing how dedicated you are.
I quit drinking cold turkey last week, and the same day began the anabolic diet. I will not relapse. Reading T-Nation everyday and seeing results in the gym and in the way I feel is motivation enough to prevent it.
I have a question about the anabolic diet. I’ve read over half the thread and seen recommendations about supplements here and there, but if someone could sum it up, it would be great.
In particular, which supplements would you consider necessary or at least a good idea while on the diet, and what brands do you use?? I’ve learned that brand quality is something you don’t want to mess with. I know I should supplement fiber, fish oil, etc., but how exactly do you guys do it?
Thanks again.
[quote]dharmabum31 wrote:
In particular, which supplements would you consider necessary or at least a good idea while on the diet, and what brands do you use?? I’ve learned that brand quality is something you don’t want to mess with. I know I should supplement fiber, fish oil, etc., but how exactly do you guys do it?
Thanks again.[/quote]
Congratulations and good luck!
As far as dietary supps…
I use the Fiber Choice tablets as recommended by Shugs (last time I ordered from drugstore.com, good price and on sale to boot). But the majority of my daily fiber I get through whole foods, lots of veggies plus things like low carb tortillas, I found some with 14g fiber/5g cho! So I find it pretty easy to get 30g/day of fiber.
Fish oil, a lot of people use the Sam’s club or Costco brand which is pretty affordable.
Protein, Low-Carb Grow!, of course! 
The above, plus a quality vitamin, are probably sufficient “supps” at this point.
Sabrina
[quote]Sabrina wrote:
dharmabum31 wrote:
In particular, which supplements would you consider necessary or at least a good idea while on the diet, and what brands do you use?? I’ve learned that brand quality is something you don’t want to mess with. I know I should supplement fiber, fish oil, etc., but how exactly do you guys do it?
Thanks again.
Congratulations and good luck!
As far as dietary supps…
I use the Fiber Choice tablets as recommended by Shugs (last time I ordered from drugstore.com, good price and on sale to boot). But the majority of my daily fiber I get through whole foods, lots of veggies plus things like low carb tortillas, I found some with 14g fiber/5g cho! So I find it pretty easy to get 30g/day of fiber.
Fish oil, a lot of people use the Sam’s club or Costco brand which is pretty affordable.
Protein, Low-Carb Grow!, of course!
The above, plus a quality vitamin, are probably sufficient “supps” at this point.
Sabrina[/quote]
You might also want to consider Spike and Power Drive in the morning as you get started. Your mind may feel a little slow at first. Obviously, this is not very advantageous for work and working out. I would drop the Spike after 2-3 weeks, but keep using the Power Drive.
Todd
I have not checked in for awhile. Thought I would give an update. I’m getting ready to bulk up right now so I’m cutting first. I know that doesn’t make sense to most, but from my past experience I have had the best muscular gains while starting with very low bodyfat percentages. I’m making an attempt to get to 8% bodyfat. I plan to bulk up to 10 or 12% bodyfat and gain a good 20-30 lbs. My arm, thigh and calf measurements are all the same or bigger, so I’d say I’m actually getting more muscle while cutting.
I have been using complexes ala John Davies in training. I’ll do a complex of Front squat/push press/back squat/push jerk/front squat I do 4 sets of three. This morning first set was the bar with the remainder being with 95lbs. I am doing a planned over training week with a light restoration week to follow. By the third week I’ll be using 135 during the complexes and doing it very explosively. Three weeks is all I should need to get to 8% bodyfat and then bring on the carb up days. I have fantastic energy…when not overtrained on this diet. I have to train before work at 0430 in the morning so my max effort work is taking a back seat and it has all been explosiveness with 40 to 60% of one rep max. The muscles don’t know the difference when you are doing it with maximum velocity. The spine does though.
dharmabum13, I think what you did/are doing is fantastic! You get my instant respect for whatever that’s worth. I know from some people very close to me just how hard it can be to kick stuff like this.
Anyway, this diet does kick ass! I and three of my clients are doing very well on it.
This thread needs to be kept alive for all of us. Not that we need the support but it does really help.
It’s kinda cool doing something sooo easy, so result-producing and yet so misunderstood by the general populace.
I’ve got a question regarding post workout nutrition while on this diet. So far I have been having a whey isolate shake along with some fat 1 hour to thirty minutes before my workout, followed by another whey shake afterwards, minus the fat. I guess I have just had it beat into my head for so long that fat slows down the absorbtion of whey, which is not good PWO. However, I was wondering, since fat is the primary fuel on this diet is it best to include fat in every meal, including PWO?
Speedy5323-
DH and Il Cazzo went into a fair amount of detail about this way back at the beginning of the thread, I think page 2 or 3. Too much to cut and repaste, but go back to those pages and re-read for the low down.
Sabrina
Now, I’m no gourmet, but I know there have got to be poor college student bachelors like myself who subsist on their own cooking. So with that in mind, here’s a few of the things I eat on a regular basis:
Spinach and parsely, or whatever greens are cheap at the grocery store. Melt some butter and crush some garlic. Put the garlic in the butter. Make sure it’s good and melty. Cut or tear up your greens while this “steeps”. Then add a spoonful of olive oil and dribble the butter/garlic/oil onto your greens. MMM mmm good.
To a can of tuna, add a little shredded cheese and about half a can of green beans. Mix it up, throw in a little olive oil and nuke it. Also delicious.
Sometimes I hardboil eggs and eat them with mustard, sliced up like little crackers. Not as good as the above, but it’ll get the job done.
A good moderate carb snack, especially when I get a sweet craving, is a low carb tortilla with a dab of peanut butter in it. Roll 'er up, make sure it gets a good coat of butter in the pan and fry that sucker up. Sometimes a dash of cinnamon inside really hits the spot. Delicious and only about 10 grams of carbs.
I liberally add no sodium greek seasoning to nearly everything I eat. My other standby is tobasco sauce and jalepeno salt. Mustard also goes well with everything. Nothing like double fisting a hot dog and a dill pickle, slathering both with mustard…
Anyway, hope someone finds that useful.
Helpful post!
One of my staples is lemon.Buy a few,put them in the fridge and cut and squueze that good stuff over nearly evcerything.Makes bland chicken and regular beef gorumet.Also greait in chopped spinach with some flax oil and a tablespoon of flax seeds.
“I’ve got a question regarding post workout nutrition while on this diet. So far I have been having a whey isolate shake along with some fat 1 hour to thirty minutes before my workout, followed by another whey shake afterwards, minus the fat. I guess I have just had it beat into my head for so long that fat slows down the absorbtion of whey, which is not good PWO. However, I was wondering, since fat is the primary fuel on this diet is it best to include fat in every meal, including PWO?”
I lifted for about 9 years before I ever heard of Surge…Tried it, made no difference to me. I go pro/fat post workout. Usually whey and either fish oil caps or olive oil.
I’ve also tried just protein…IMO p/f works better.
I think that if you are adapted to this diet, and are a person who responds best to pro and fat, then why ingest a butt-load of sugar pw?
Well, week three and I’m STILL dialing and perfecting. This weeks carb load took me from 234 to 241. I’m hoping to keep 3 or 4 lbs of it and go up from thre. Others have complimented on my improving shape. Energy is great. The diet is super-easy. I used a 48 hour carb up… this seemed to work best for me. I tried 36 hours and didn’t seem as full (muscle-glycogen-wise).
One of my clients brought in the South Beach Diet book. It really sucks for the most part but there’s quite a bit a recipies we can all use. Maybe you can check it out from a library.
For those who travel, what do you find works for you in terms of staying within diet parameters? I managed to bring a blender, two tubs o’ protein, a bottle of olive oil, and a carton of heavy cream (at least I can make good shakes). Beyond that, I just try and take bread off burgers and stuff like that to avoid carbs. Unfortunately, I’m in a training course where often meals are provided which sucks, and I already have so much gear to pack with me bringing my food is not an option (besides a couple of PF shakes.) Oh well, I can’t train this weak anyway, so the reduced calories will probably benefit me as far as fat loss goes.
HogLover, I think you should give serious consideration to INCREASING your calorie intake. 2000kcal a day is pretty low for someone your BW. Maybe your body “thinks” it is being starved and is therefore hanging on to all the fat. What you probably need to do is increase your cals until you are clearly putting on weight (say an increase of 3lb or more in a week). Then cut the average daily cals by 500 from there. If you don’t lose after a few weeks, try cutting cals a litte more, say another 250/day.
[quote]HogLover wrote:
Alright ladies and gents, I’m not panicing yet but I’m starting to get a little discouraged or something. I’ve been doing this plan for a couple of months now and I’m not seeing just a ton of movement on my weight. I think I can tell some difference in the mirror but I don’t have anyone really saying anything to me about my weight loss or anything so I’m concerned it might be in my head.
I’m taking in probably a little over 2000 kcal a day (I weigh 203). During the week I usually get down around 200 and then jump up between 205 and 210 on the weekends and then drop back down to 200 during the week. This is the typical pattern. I’d really love to get under 200 though at some point. I haven’t worked out much this week due to a busy schedule. I’m just wondering if I’m doing something wrong in order to not see the weight drop.
I know I’ll probably get lectured about not watching the scale and such but I’d really like to be under 200. [/quote]
[quote]sharetrader wrote:
HogLover, I think you should give serious consideration to INCREASING your calorie intake. 2000kcal a day is pretty low for someone your BW. Maybe your body “thinks” it is being starved and is therefore hanging on to all the fat. What you probably need to do is increase your cals until you are clearly putting on weight (say an increase of 3lb or more in a week). Then cut the average daily cals by 500 from there. If you don’t lose after a few weeks, try cutting cals a litte more, say another 250/day.
[/quote]
Very interesting theory. I mean, I guess it makes sense but if my calories were too low wouldn’t I be hungry or something. I know the answer to that question really but thought I’d ask. You know how us fat boys have this phobia of gaining weight so I’d hate to think that I need to up my calories to the point that I’m gaining 3 lbs. in a week.
My first theory on why I may not be losing the weight or fat that I think I should is maybe because my carb weekends are off. I’m going to cut it back to 1 carb up day rather than 2. I’m also going to try and eat cleaner carbs on these days. Honestly, on carb up days I typically eat as much crap as possible and I do stress CRAP.
You could be right though about the calories being too low but at the same time, for the last week or so I haven’t gotten in the gym once, so that could be hurting me as well. There seems to be too many variables lately to just write the diet off as not working for me.
I’ve thought about doing another induction period of 12 days to get my system reacclemated to the diet but I think I’ll try the shorter/cleaner carb up days first.
Thanks for your thought and keep 'em coming if you’ve got any more.
DH-
What are your dosage and cycling recommendations for trying Vanadyl Sulfate while on this diet. I never used VS before.
Thanks
[quote]Disc Hoss wrote:
Calories = How much you gain/lose
Macronut. Ratio = What you gain/lose
DH
[/quote]
Great little tidbit there to remember
Hoglover,
I disagree with the advice of upping your cals. 2000 calories is low for your body weight. From what I understand, that is a good thing since you are trying to lose bodyweight. I think you are on the right track by seeking to shorten and clean up your weekend carb ups. I found that even with 36 hours my body would switch to carb burning by Sunday evening and then back to fat burning around Wednesday. The end result was that I felt like crap for most of the week. DH recommends 400 g carbs at a minimum for a carb up weekend. I would take in that 400 g in a 12 hour period with either no or maybe one cheat meal. The rest of your carbs should probably be from oatmeal, fruit, etc.
Another recommendation I will make is to divide your weekday cals up over 6 whole food meals if possible. I dropped shakes (I think that even PF shakes have a greater insulin response than whole foods) altogether and just ate 6 meals that were approximately half the size of the 3 whole food meals I was eating before. This had the effect of keeping my body fed throughout the day. I believe that this will help prevent undesirable drops in metabolism.
Todd
What is everyone eating for breakfast these days that does not use eggs?