Hey Chris…please keep us up to date with the modified T-dawg diet that you are experimenting with. You say you are shooting for under 100 carbs, is this everyday or workout days…also any new modifications to this killer diet?..thanks Chris
Also Chris, would substituteing "good"fats for Saturated fats during the day have any disadvantages. For example, instead of having a burger topped with cheese just have two tablespoons of Flax…is there anything wrong with that. or dropping the bacon in the morning and adding some udo’s. Are the Saturates just there to make the diet easier, because I really have no desire to eat bad fats. Thanks
Sure, I’ll keep everyone posted, but remember this is just an experiment. I’m just coming off a successful bulking cycle and my goal is retain all the muscle I gained while losing the fat.
First, I multiplied my bodyweight by 17, then dropped 500 calories. Instead of eating 30 grams of carbs on non-training days and 70 on training days (mostly post-workout) I’m going to just try to stay under 100 each day. The post-workout shake will probably push me to the top end of that range on training days. Non-training days will be lower, I’m sure.
In the original diet, we wrote “protein intake should be 1.4-1.8 grams per kilogram (0.6-0.8 grams per pound) of bodyweight. The rest of the calories should come from carbs and fat. Don’t try to make up the rest of your calorie requirements by eating more protein. The body will eventually deaminate the amino acids and make glucose so that you’ll have no hope of reaching ketosis, even though this diet doesn’t necessarily require you to enter complete ketosis in order for it to work.” I’m going to break that rule and eat as much protein as I want, which will be over a gram per pound of body weight. (I weigh 215 right now.)
I’m also adding Androsol in the morning and Nandrosol at night, full dosage. Neither of these products were available when TC and I wrote the T-Dawg.
One day per week, I’m going to The Olive Garden and making them regret that “all you can eat salad and breadsticks” policy. In other words, I’ll allow one free meal per week.
We’ll see what happens!
Davan- Using flax instead of meat? Nothing wrong with that, except that it’ll taste like shit! Seriously, I don’t think saturated fat is that bad if you’re an otherwise healthy, hard training person. In fact, I think it can be quite helpful. (Mauro DiPasquale talks about this a lot.) Besides, you won’t eat this way forever, just on the diet. So I don’t sweat the saturated fat. I eat hamburger and cheese once a day on this plan. The rest is eggs, egg substitute, MRPs, chicken, tuna, etc.
I like your ideas, Chris. One thing you guys might consider too is to keep fructose and sucrose to a minimum during your carb-up for best results. I know, it’s not as much fun but it’ll be a bitch to get back into ketosis if you overload on these types of sugars; at least it is for me. Or, you could also do an hour of LOW-intensity cardio (such as walking on an inclined treadmill) first thing in the am after your carb-up on an empty stomach-this’ll get you back to ketosis very quickly.
Teddykgb, interesting ideas, but truthfully, I could care less if I’m “officially” in ketosis or not. You don’t have to be to lose fat, after all. I know this is oddball thinking when playing with a lower carb diet, but my goal with this new variation is to avoid being too anal and complex. (I think ketostix are pretty worthless by the way.)
I’ll use my Tanita scale, the mirror, and how I feel in and out of the gym to monitor the diet. If I’m successful, I’ll find a way to tweak it so that I’ll slowly drop fat and MAYBE add some muscle at the same time. I think that’s largely impossible for the average guy without drugs, but that’s my ultimate goal. It’ll be a slower process, no doubt, than a straight fat loss or muscle gain diet. Still, using Androsol and Nandrosol (and maybe Methoxy-7) while doing it, I just might me able to pull it off. We’ll see.
Fair enough, Chris. I remember my first couple times on keto diets, I used to used those cursed sticks every time I had to pee, and if I didn’t show purple my day was absolutely ruined. Just “a tad” obsessive/compulsive, I know. If I only knew then what I know now. I’ve gotten the best results from combining your T-
Dawg plan with the Fat Fast and a strict carb-up. I do a tbsp flax and 3 fish oil caps w. a scoop of whey for 4 meals, then post-workout I use Grow w. extra glutamine. I then carb-up after the Friday workout for 24 hrs. w. the intention of doing it strictly but I’ve been known to slip into a 5000-7000 calorie binge (last weekend I was so engulfed in water I could barely get off my couch), weighed myself the day after my carb-up and had literally 14 lbs. of extra weight. I didn’t mean to seem like I was criticizing your ideas, actually you have helped me a lot. I just seemed to notice there were some people on here worrying about ketosis so that’s why I mentioned the fructose/sucrose thing.
Okay, I’ve been on the modified diet for about a week now. I dropped four pounds in the first week. My size 32’s are fitting better already, but that’s too much, too fast, obviously. I’ll bet at least half of it is water weight. I was being pretty liberal with the carbs in the weeks prior on my bulking diet, so I expected to drop a lot in the first week of controlling carb intake. I’m going to up my calories about 200 a day just in case. (And no, I haven’t used any cardio yet, although I do a little boxing one day a week.)
Hey Chris what do you think of all the different Protein Blends from Protein Factory…have you used any of them?..I am interested in the one with Efa’s or with added CLA…a lot of new research on CLA…very positive for fat loss…I am on the T-Dawg…for the next 7 weeks…
Davan- No, I’ve never tried them. I hear the quality is good and the taste is bad, but I guess that depends on how you have it made up. Honestly, although I avoid soy and get extra casein at night, I don’t think protein intake needs to be complicated. Just get enough and use a casein/whey blend if in doubt. I’m looking forwards to Biotest’s low carb product coming out soon. That should make low-carbing a breeze.
Glad to hear you’ve started the diet. Keep us updated and we’ll help you out along the way. I’d offer you a free e-mail consult, but I think it would be more educational to all readers if we do it here on the board. You might want to start a new thread- tell us your stats, goals, daily diet, etc. and then keep us updated and post questions there, too. I’ll be glad to help out. I’m sure other readers would too.
Tip: When low carbing, if you don’t have any low carb protein powder around, you can do this in a pinch. Take one scoop (or 1/3 of a package) of Grow! or whatever MRP you use and blend with water. Add one carton of Second Nature or Egg Beaters egg substitute, then add a serving of cottage cheese. Tons of protein, plus the egg sub and the cottage cheese only add about 7 carbs. The Grow! can make anything tastes good so this is actually pretty decent tasting, even though I’m not crazy about cottage cheese. This has been my usual breakfast with this new diet experiment so far, along with 3 fish oil caps.