Actually i TOTALLY agree but the fact is that i fucking love learning some new stuff!
It’s so damn hard for me to don’t take care about all of this!
Hi coach Thib. I have been use a “”“normal”“” diet since I started the gym few years ago, and I have been reading many of your articles, especially the carb cycling codex.
I’m looking to lose some fat, and I would like to try to follow this diet who seem good to my opinion.
My problem is that my job doesn’t allow me to eat exactly what I want when I want. I can eat easily protein powder or nuts at 10am and 4pm but it’s quite hard for me to get some veggies.
Also, I train quite late in the evening (around 7.30pm) and I can’t eat two meal after training. Which schedule would you chose in that case ? What would you take instead of veggies if not possible to eat ?
Thank you
Put spinach in your protein shake, it will change it’s color, but you won’t be able to taste it. You can also take leafy vegetables that are easy to eat in a plastic baggy and ask to go to the bathroom and eat it on the way, or while in the bathroom if you have to.
Sorry to bring it up again, but due to my inability to take dairy-derived products, Plazma has been off the books for me. I see that you referred to dextrose as a “product from the '90s,” which is what I’ve been taking around my workouts - so would you recommend I at least find some sort of highly branched cyclic dextrin to use? Do you think any of the other maltodextrin/waxy maize/etc simply pale in comparison? Thanks!
Oh thank you it’s a very smart idea to do that. I 'll think about to put spinach inside my shaker (cut in small pieces it should be eatable while drinking).
Just put everything in a blender, it mixes well.
I am 69kg on 12%BF using Indigo/Plazma/Mag10 combo and want to cut under 10%.
How do I calculate the calories to use?
I read this:
"If your goal is fat loss, don’t assume you’ll need to adopt your previous diet and training practices to lose it. Indigo-3G changes the game. What that means is, you’ll be able to eat more carbs and overall calories that you could before, due to the nutrient repartitioning effects of Indigo. In fact, a diet too low in carbs may slow your fat loss progress. If you’re working with another diet coach, make sure he or she knows this and isn’t giving you a generic plan. "
Any advice?
Calculating proper caloric intake is not an exact science since your caloric expendire will vary from day to day. At your body weight if you want to lose fat without losing muscle a good starting point would be:
2100 - 2400 calories per day
Around 160g of protein
Around 220-230g of carbs, 80-90 of which being peri-workout and 40-50 being consumed in the solid meal following your workout
The rest of your calories for fat, ideally healthy fats (so about 80-85g)
Depending on how you are progressing adjust your macros (losing fat and maintaining or improving performance keep it up, losing weight but performance is dropping, increase carbs intake a bit, not losing weight decrease carbs)
On off days I take the Creatin first thing in the morning.
I ordered Brain Candy for the first time.
Can this be drunk immediately after the Creatin (with water)? Or better the other way round (BC first)?
I read this advice on T-Nation: “Take one teaspoon of psyllium (such as Metamucil) with water twice a day. While there’s some advantage to taking doses before a high-carb meal, the glucose-lowering effects seem to be somewhat independent of meal timing. Avoid taking it before your pre-workout or post-workout meal.”
Can I put the psyllium in my morning-whey/casein-shake? And in my evening-casein-shake?
On off-days I take creatine in water first thing in the morning (before my morning-whey/casein-shake). Can there be a problem with absorption if I take the psyllium in the morning-whey/casein-shake after that?
Why avoid taking before pre-workout or post-workout meal? Does this also mean the pre-workout Plazma and the post-workout Mag-10?
Thanks.
Because the whole purpose of the pre/during workout shake is the fastest absorption possible and fiber from psyllium greatly slows down the speed of absorption.
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On a cut/slight caloric deficit, eating about 2100-2400cal, I feel rather energy-less all the time 
Working out (3times a week) I get about 600cal from peri-workout nutrition, being 2 doses Plazma and one Mag-10.
This extra 600cal is really a treat for me, enjoying the extra energy that gives me a boost for training.
This 600cal equals out the calorie usage with this formula I could find on t-nation:
Cost of Exercise Activity = Body Mass (in kg) x Duration (in hours) x MET value
Exercise Expenditure for weights =
6 METS X 67kg x 1,5 hours = 603calories
Counting calories (with an app on my phone) I wonder if I have to take into account the calories from protein as well, since they are not used as energy source but as building blocks for muscle?
I read several thing on internet such as:
-Of course protein can provide energy, too, but for the most part protein is used to build things (muscle, hair, skin, etc.). It’s typically not used in appreciable amounts for energy unless there’s not enough carbs or fat around (starvation or extremely long-duration exercise).
-Anyone who knows what a dumbbell is knows that protein helps build muscle. But we tend to forget that protein helps build many other things like bones, hair, skin, nails, tendons, and ligaments, along with more obscure things like blood plasma, visceral (organ) tissue, and almost 2,000 enzymes.
The fact that the body (especially the body of a hard-training individual) has so many critical uses for protein, is the primary reason why using calories to indicate how much energy the human body will be able to derive from food doesn’t make sense.
-Virtually all of the protein you eat will be used as building blocks for something else. Very, very little will be available to produce our body’s energy currency, glucose. Even less would be available to create fat, largely due to the inefficiency of this process.
When you consider that protein is very unlikely to cause fat gain along with the fact that protein consumption boosts metabolic rate by about 25%, you can see why it’s a bodybuilder’s best friend.
-I learned that our body really only gets about <5% of its energy requirements from protein. Maybe up to 15% if our bodies are malnourished. So, if they count all the kcals from protein on the package, and your body really only uses 5% of protein for energy requirements, that would lead me to believe that people on high protein diets for body building may be missing their caloric intake goals simply b/c our body doesn’t use protein as kcals. Does this make sense?
I see these questions returning very often on fora but never seem to find a decent, scientific answer…
Any advice? Good links to studies?
So could I eat 2,5g/kg protein without counting these calories? I certainly would feel more energetic, I guess.
Every single diet expert that uses caloric count, every single study done on dieting where calories were counted every bodybuilding coach who counts nutrients/calories ALWAYS count protein in the caloric count.
It seems like you are overthinking things A LOT to justify eating more so that you will feel more energetic.
LISTEN you do NOT need to use such a justification
If you feel energy less it might mean that your caloric deficit is too large (theoretical formulas to calculate caloric expenditure are , at best, a starting point… you seem like an overly analytical guy and such persons ten d to put too much fate in formulas in numbers, forgetting that the body is not a linear system). Every 2 weeks you should evaluate your nutrients/energy intake…
If your goal is to lose fat…
- if in 2 weeks your weight /body fat did not drop your caloric intake is likely too high
- In in 2 weeks your weight dropped down 1 or 2 lbs and you are not under 10% body fat you also might be consuming too many calories
- If in 2 weeks your weight went down 2-4 lbs and your energy is fine, then you are on the right spot
- If in 2 weeks your weight went down by more than 4lbs BUT your energy and focus is still fine you might be okay calories wise, but be on the lookout for any suddent drop in performance/strength, which would indicate insufficient energy/nutrients intake
- If in 2 weeks you lost more than 4lbs and feel drained and suffer from a noticeable strength loss then your caloric/energy intake is likely too low
- if in 2 weeks your weight did not drop or dropped by less than 2lbs AND you feel less energetic it might just be that you are not used to the feeling of dieting
If you feel mentally drained and lack focus it might be that your carbs are too low and that protein is too high. A natural (not using steroids) will not benefit from eating more than 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight… if you are consuming more than that and are consuming a limited number of calories that will leave you less room for the best energy-giving nutrients.
Now understand that the process of fat loss entails consuming less energy than you are expending every day. So it is NORMAL to have a drop in energy at some point. You should NOT expect to feel the same way when you are dieting down as when you are eating to gain. This is in fact one of the reasons why people stop their diet: they dont feel as good as usual. It IS part of the process.
Now, if the drop is so severe that you can’t function and performance drops down a lot, there might be a problem. But it is unrealistic to thing that there will not be at least a small drop in energy
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You are right, CT,
I am way too analytic (my wife calls it neurotic, and she might be right)
and I am eating too much protein (>200g),
not having enough calories to eat in carbs (under Indigo-3G!).
Changing things from tomorrow on!
Thank you again for your expert and much appreciated advice!
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Second this. Is there any other way to mix a ketogenic diet with one that you can grow?
Second what? There are a zillion posts in this thread?
Is it possible to grow on a ketogenic diet? If you are in a caloric surplus you can build muscle on any type of diet. But the question is: can you grow OPTIMALLY on a ketogenic diet? And my answer would be NO.
Without any carbs IGF-1 levels drop and so does insulin. While insulin can increase fat storage and decrease fat loss if it is constantly elevated, it is one of the most anabolic hormone in the body. Without IGF-1 and insulin building muscle is much harder. Not to mention that carbs are needed for maximum mTor activation, which is the trigger for protein synthesis.
I’ve been a low carbs dieter myself for a looooooooong time. But looking back at it, I really did not gain A LOT of muscle during those times. Some improvements? Of course. But I did limit my muscle gain by eating a low carbs diet.
I’m not saying to eat tons of carbs, but you at least need some, at the right time, to optimize growth naturally.
Just saw this post and have to ask:
What the hell is “Anaconda?”
Thanks for any info like what it is, what it does, and where the average guy could locate some for purchase.
It was the precursor to Plazma. It doesn’t exist anymore.
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