My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

Nutrition
1602

I’m sure this has been mentioned before, but I just wanted to let those know that it is okay to have some carbs after a workout (I have maybe 30-40 tops).

In the Bodybuilding version of the Anabolic Diet, it says its okay to have them. If you feel like crap after the gym and you feel really depleted, you should have some carbs (simple and complex mixed is preferred). If you are trying to gain mass, the last thing you want is to be feeling hungry or depleted (except maybe on the initiation part of this diet).

1603

Hi everybody. I’m new to T-Nation.

I have to say, I can’t believe how HUGE this thread is. It took me the better part of a week to read it all. Not that I’m complaining; actually I’m glad it is so big as I’ve learned so much good stuff. I’ve taken pages of notes, no joke.

Quite literally the hour that I finished the thread, I started my first carb-up after the 12-day initiation. PB&J whole wheat sandwich, a banana, and spaghetti with tomato sauce and mixed veggies all in the inside of an hour. I love this AD!

I just wanted to introduce myself. Over the short-term, my goal is to cut over the next two months–I’d like to drop 15 lbs with minimal LBM loss. I know I’ve come to the right place with the AD.

There is one thing I wanted to ask. I’m a big fan of HIIT (high intensity interval training). I’ll do HIIT on a treadmill six days a week (10 minutes a go, plus warm up/cool down) in addition to lifting weights 4x/week. Is all this HIIT counter-productive, or totally appropriate for a cut?

I’ll end with a little contribution, a AD-friendly dessert recipe that I like.

Low Carb Gummi Worms
Serves/Yields: 10

Ingredients-

* 2 packages sugar-free Jell-O
* 2 packages plain gelatine
* 1 cup boiling water
* If sour gummies are desired, add one packet of unsweetened Kool-aid in a flavor that goes well with your Jell-O flavor. The Kool-aid really makes them sour (but good).

Directions-

* Stir all ingredients until dissolved.
* Pour the mixture onto a large dinner plate and refrigerate. It will set in about 20 minutes.
* Either slice it into worms, or roll up the rubbery disk of gelatin and cut it every 1/4 inch with a large pair of scissors. You can also use tiny cutters to make little shapes.

Optional: I like to throw in a scoop of unflavored protein powder. It really volumizes the final product, making is “spongier” and more filling (but less candy-like).

Time to nuke a yam. Later all!

1604

You’re not being mean at all. You actually read me like a book. I am as Italian as an Italian-American can be, and food is a huge deal in my family. Almost everyone in my family is overweight. Out of 16 first cousins, there are only 2 that have always beeen slim. One was an athlete who went to college on a tennis scholarship and who we suspect is now anorexic, and the other has had health problems his whole life.

Everyone else is carrying extra weight, from 20 to 100 pounds.

I have felt for a while that we talk way too much about food at home, and when I was living with my parents, one of the three of us would inevitably end up buying sweets and bringing them home.

My biggest challenge is mental. I need to separate my upbringing and culture which both place a heavy emphasis on eating well from reality.

I will write more on this.

1605

I eat at least 40 eggs a week, the whole egg.

If you’re concerned get bloodwork.

DiPasqule mentions doing so before you ever begin.

I take a lot of fish oil as is also recommended to try to keep BP/Cholesterol in check.

Make sure you’re munching down on TC’s Power Foods on the weekends and during the week depending on the food and you should have kickass blood work.

1606

Hi, guys!

I was fortunate enough to find this thread as I did a search for experiences on the Anabolic Diet… I’m 6-3, about 330 lbs., and I would like to drop about 100 lbs… I wanna get back to where I was before I got married… I have some questions about this diet, and the way that I would like to implement it…

I have a hard time eating maintenance calories, should that be a problem on this diet? Or will it just be a way of helping with the fat loss? Also, since I’m really just trying to lose fat, would it be alright if I focus the majority of my training now on cardio for fat loss?

My meal plan will go something like this:

M1 - protein shake, flaxseed oil
M2 - eggs, bacon
M3 - lean meat, salad
M4 - lean meat, salad
M5 - protein shake, flaxseed oil

I am planning on doing cardio at the gym first thing in the morning, before heading off to work.

Any thoughts and tips will be greatly appreciated!

1607

Hi All,

First and foremost, kudos to the regular contributors to this thread for their time and effort put in to providing noobies like myself vital information and personal experiences that I can draw inspiration from.

Just wanted to introduce myself and be part of this thread since I’m actually on my second day of this diet. Yesterday went smoothly, although I did feel at some point that I wanted to rip into a giant cheese cake.

Here’s a Quick meal Summary:

M1 - 8eggs with bacon

  • Fish Oil tablet

M2 - Protein Shake/ Classic Grow!

  • Apple

M3 - Pork, Spinach, CornedBeef, Salad and piece of melon + Fish Oil Tablet

M4 - Protein Shake/ Classic Grow!

  • Creatine
  • Fish oil tablet
  • Handfull of almond nuts here and there.

BTW - I’m 5’8 and 94kgs. Any comments on my meals will be appreciated.

bV.

1608

Has anyone read Rob Faigin’s book “The Natural Hormone Enhancement diet”? It is very similar to the AD but im wondering if it makes any improvements on the AD/AS diets? If anyone has experience with both I would love to hear your opinion!

1609

[quote]bloodVeins wrote:
Hi All,

First and foremost, kudos to the regular contributors to this thread for their time and effort put in to providing noobies like myself vital information and personal experiences that I can draw inspiration from.

Just wanted to introduce myself and be part of this thread since I’m actually on my second day of this diet. Yesterday went smoothly, although I did feel at some point that I wanted to rip into a giant cheese cake.

Here’s a Quick meal Summary:

M1 - 8eggs with bacon

  • Fish Oil tablet

M2 - Protein Shake/ Classic Grow!

  • Apple

M3 - Pork, Spinach, CornedBeef, Salad and piece of melon + Fish Oil Tablet

M4 - Protein Shake/ Classic Grow!

  • Creatine
  • Fish oil tablet
  • Handfull of almond nuts here and there.

BTW - I’m 5’8 and 94kgs. Any comments on my meals will be appreciated.

bV.[/quote]

I dont know if you read the rules for the diet propery, on the induction you are only allowed 30g of carbs all day. Each two scoop serving of classic grow has 16 g of carbs I think, so with your shakes and pieces of fruit you are probably well over the limit. Just remember that everything counts

1610

[quote]scottiscool wrote:
bloodVeins wrote:

Here’s a Quick meal Summary:

M1 - 8eggs with bacon

  • Fish Oil tablet

M2 - Protein Shake/ Classic Grow!

  • Apple

M3 - Pork, Spinach, CornedBeef, Salad and piece of melon + Fish Oil Tablet

M4 - Protein Shake/ Classic Grow!

  • Creatine
  • Fish oil tablet
  • Handfull of almond nuts here and there.

BTW - I’m 5’8 and 94kgs. Any comments on my meals will be appreciated.

bV.

I dont know if you read the rules for the diet propery, on the induction you are only allowed 30g of carbs all day. Each two scoop serving of classic grow has 16 g of carbs I think, so with your shakes and pieces of fruit you are probably well over the limit. Just remember that everything counts[/quote]

Thanks for your feedback.
I’ll adjust this accordingly.

1611

I know that DH and others here sing the praises of steak, but unfortunately a steak a day just doesn’t fit my budget.

How bad would it be if my primary source of red meat were hamburger patties? And are there particular kinds of hamburger patties I should try to get/try to avoid?

1612

[quote]garethhe wrote:
How bad would it be if my primary source of red meat were hamburger patties? And are there particular kinds of hamburger patties I should try to get/try to avoid?[/quote]

Hamburger patties are awesome, lots of fat and lots of protein. It’s still red meat.

Fat IS your source of energy. The same advice goes for anyone else trying to eat lean meat. Don’t, fat is your best friend.

I’ve eaten Wal-Mart 73% lean meat and it tastes just fine, it was also something like 1.88 for a lb of it, which I can eat for a whole meal with some low-carb ketchup and serveral pieces of cheese.

1613

I’ll rephrase my question here… At 330 lbs, my main objective is fat loss… Would it be a problem to just do cardio to drop the fat, then concentrate on building muscle on this diet? I had planned on doing 45 mins - 1 hour of cardio a day for 6 days a week.

1614

[quote]TarHeelMan wrote:
I’ll rephrase my question here… At 330 lbs, my main objective is fat loss… Would it be a problem to just do cardio to drop the fat, then concentrate on building muscle on this diet? I had planned on doing 45 mins - 1 hour of cardio a day for 6 days a week.[/quote]

What’s your body type, man?

1615

Endomorph.

1616

[quote]Ghost22 wrote:

Hamburger patties are awesome, lots of fat and lots of protein. It’s still red meat.

Fat IS your source of energy. The same advice goes for anyone else trying to eat lean meat. Don’t, fat is your best friend.

I’ve eaten Wal-Mart 73% lean meat and it tastes just fine, it was also something like 1.88 for a lb of it, which I can eat for a whole meal with some low-carb ketchup and serveral pieces of cheese.

[/quote]

Thanks for the thumbs up. I should have been more specific–it’s not the fat that was my concern (this is a high fat diet after all). My concern was if hamburger patties were too “processed” to be a staple in one’s diet.

The way I would conceptualize it, we have a spectrum. This is oversimplifying it, but, on one end is steak, and on the other end is bologna and hot dogs. In my mind, I would place hamburger patties in between, but closer to steak than to bologna. Would this be fair to say?

1617

[quote]TarHeelMan wrote:
I’ll rephrase my question here… At 330 lbs, my main objective is fat loss… Would it be a problem to just do cardio to drop the fat, then concentrate on building muscle on this diet? I had planned on doing 45 mins - 1 hour of cardio a day for 6 days a week.[/quote]

I was in the same boat. 325 pounds, doing tons of cardio and not losing any fat…just getting tired. I bought the Metabolic Diet ebook and have shed 40 pounds of fat and have upped my lean mass at the same time.

Workouts have switched from long cardio sessions to heavy weights and HIIT.

Lots of great info on this thread to keep you motivated and on track.

1618

[quote]TarHeelMan wrote:
Endomorph.[/quote]

It really depends on how much muscle you have built already, muscle helps to burn fat by increasing your base metabolism, more muscle=more calories consumed at a resting state, but if you feel you just NEED to drop weight fast, cardio is okay.

Building muscle has always seemed like the best option to me, but I’ve always been really skinny.

1619

[quote]Kliplemet wrote:
I weigh 74 kg, 10% bf at 5’10", am maintaining at 18 kcal/lb like the book says.

what is a good target weight? he says go over target weight 10-15% or 10-15% over current weight. If I take the minimum, it’s 110% of 74kg = 80 kg.

do you think the 25 kcal/lb target weight is good or excessive? that would give me 4400 kcal

I have mandatory weightlifting contests 11th february and 11th march, should I delay the mass phase untill after (the book says mass phase must stop at least 12 weeks before competition) or not care since I am 20 kg removed from my target weight class (94 kg)

PLEASE HELP ME, I’M BREAKING MY HEAD OVER THIS!!!
[/quote]

First thing, garethhe, yeah, I’d place hamburger closer to steak, but kinda middle of the road at the same time. It’s still a staple of the diet.

Next thing, Kliplemet, I think you can proceed with your mass phase, the weight you will add will be very slow because it’s very lean. At least that’s what I always found, I was consuming up to and above 4500 some days, some days lower around 4000. It’s very doable, as I have advocated in the past using olive oil to suppliment fats and calories.

The ending of the mass phase before competition is mostly talking about those girly bodybuilders that need more time to diet (just joking, I love you bodybuilder guys too), if you have to make a weight less than yours for a weightlifting meet most lifters use less than healthy means to aquire it, but it lets you basically lift in a lighter class with more muscle.

And there’s not a 75kg weight class?

1620

Hi All,

Just a concern regarding the amount of fibre intake per day.

Can people list down what they are currently taking to take care of the fibre/roughage the body needs?

Really appreciate any comments. Currently I am eating salad and vegies for fibre but I don’t think it’s enough.

Any ideas?

Rgds
bV

1621

[quote]Sonny S wrote:
I’m really not trying to be mean here, merely warning that if your not pretty damn strict here then your going to end up being counter productive.

You’re not being mean at all. You actually read me like a book. I am as Italian as an Italian-American can be, and food is a huge deal in my family. Almost everyone in my family is overweight. Out of 16 first cousins, there are only 2 that have always beeen slim. One was an athlete who went to college on a tennis scholarship and who we suspect is now anorexic, and the other has had health problems his whole life.

Everyone else is carrying extra weight, from 20 to 100 pounds.

I have felt for a while that we talk way too much about food at home, and when I was living with my parents, one of the three of us would inevitably end up buying sweets and bringing them home.

My biggest challenge is mental. I need to separate my upbringing and culture which both place a heavy emphasis on eating well from reality.

I will write more on this.[/quote]

Well I’m glad that I wrote then. I usually don’t bother. You are absolutely right about what you need to do. The problem is that sometimes we know what we need to do but don’t. If repeated attempts fail you might seek counseling…