Thib Gets Ripped

Training
61

"Basically I’m shooting for consuming as little saturated fats as possible. "

hey Thib, i’m not 100 percent sure about this but i think natural almond butter has less saturated fats and less carbs than natural peanut butter.

Best of luckkkk, I really hope you do well. You’re extremely knowledgible unlike alot of bodybuilders with just crazy genes. And it’s awesome to see someone who use to be fat get into contest shape through knowledge, hard work, and dedication. You’re an inspiration to all of us, I really hope you go as far as winning.

62

[quote]TAVARES88 wrote:
Hi CT, what´s the ratio of good/bad fats you use or recommend when diet down ?[/quote]

While I could give you a specific “ideal” ratio (which, according to “nutritionists” would be around 50% monounsaturated fats, 25% polyunsaturated fats, and 25% saturated fats) I really don’t concern myself too much with precise ratios. I simply try to minimize unhealthy fats as much as possible and focus on adding healthy fats.

Normally saturated and trans fats are seen as unhealthy fats, however some saturated fats are healthy (coconut oil for example which decreases carb cravings, improves insulin sensitivity and promote proper thyroid function). Not to mention that some saturated fat has been shown to boost testosterone production.

That having been said, I avoid all trans fats. And limit my saturated fat sources to eggs (but omega-3 eggs are not as bad in that regard), chicken/turkey, and coconut oil (which I use for cooking).

My daily fat intake comes from:

Omega-3 eggs: 36g (9g saturated, 9g polyunsaturated, 18g monoinsaturated)
Fish oil: 34g (34g polyunsaturated)
Turkey/Chicken: 20g (6g saturated, 8g monounsaturated, 5g polyunsaturated)
Coconut oil: 15g (13g saturated, 1g monounsaturated, 1g polyunsaturated)
Natural peanut butter: 16g (3g saturated, 8g monounsaturated, 5g polyunsaturated)
Evening primrose oil: 3g

So for a daily total of 123g of fat I have:

  • 31g saturated (26%)
  • 38g monounsaturated (30%)
  • 54g polyunsaturated (44%)

So my saturated fats are at the right level, especially since most of it comes from coconut oil, which is a healthy fat. And my polyunsaturated fats are higher due to my high fish oil intake.

63

[quote]jsbrook wrote:
Sorry, just two other questions.

  1. What is your peri-workout regimen? Pre and during workout? Are you taking any additional BCAA’s and whey?
    [/quote]

I don’t take anything not written in the diet report. While I do believe in peri-workout nutrition; since my first meal isn’t that far away from my training session I don’t see the use of adding protein pre-workout.

[quote]jsbrook wrote:
2. Are you taking a fiber supplement? It looks like the greens supplement is your only carb/vegetable source. I’m planning my own shred beginning February 15. I’ve restricted carbs to 50g a day, all coming from vegetables. But I’ve never done a ketogenic diet. I’m considering it this time, however. I just have a few concerns.

Thanks! [/quote]

Charles’ Greens supplement is indeed my only source of “vegetables.” I may bump it to 2 servings per day in the future. I do not consume veggies, although I might add celery in the future.

I personally don’t feel the need for a fiber supplement since I never had any plumbing issues on a ketogenic diet.

64

[quote]daffyduck wrote:
"Basically I’m shooting for consuming as little saturated fats as possible. "

hey Thib, i’m not 100 percent sure about this but i think natural almond butter has less saturated fats and less carbs than natural peanut butter.
[/quote]

The difference is insignificant. For 2 tablespoons the almond butter has 1g less saturated fat and the same amount of carbs (although it has 2 more grams of fiber).

Personally I don’t care for the taste of almond butter; if it were A LOT better I’d suck it out and eat it, but since it isn’t then I see no reason to make the change.

65

Looks like Superfood has finally arrived! That will be a formidable addition to my program.

http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1900223

66

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
jsbrook wrote:
Sorry, just two other questions.

  1. What is your peri-workout regimen? Pre and during workout? Are you taking any additional BCAA’s and whey?

I don’t take anything not written in the diet report. While I do believe in peri-workout nutrition; since my first meal isn’t that far away from my training session I don’t see the use of adding protein pre-workout.

jsbrook wrote:
2. Are you taking a fiber supplement? It looks like the greens supplement is your only carb/vegetable source. I’m planning my own shred beginning February 15. I’ve restricted carbs to 50g a day, all coming from vegetables. But I’ve never done a ketogenic diet. I’m considering it this time, however. I just have a few concerns.

Thanks!

Charles’ Greens supplement is indeed my only source of “vegetables.” I may bump it to 2 servings per day in the future. I do not consume veggies, although I might add celery in the future.

I personally don’t feel the need for a fiber supplement since I never had any plumbing issues on a ketogenic diet.
[/quote]

Thanks, Thib.

67

Someone earlier posted a joke about you giving a time management seminar, but if you’ve got the time (get it?) I would like a serious response.

Do you have any particular time management system or products that you use to stay organized and keep your schedule?

68

CT,

Reagarding your cheat day…You are not carbing up with low GI carbs? I guess you have certainly learned how your body works and that a cheat meal is sufficient to shock your metabolism ey.

GJ

69

[quote]JSMaxwell wrote:
Someone earlier posted a joke about you giving a time management seminar, but if you’ve got the time (get it?) I would like a serious response.

Do you have any particular time management system or products that you use to stay organized and keep your schedule?[/quote]

The only system that I have is the “get off your butt you gotta save money for the wedding” method.

70

[quote]Gymjunkie wrote:
CT,

Reagarding your cheat day…You are not carbing up with low GI carbs? I guess you have certainly learned how your body works and that a cheat meal is sufficient to shock your metabolism ey.

GJ[/quote]

I’m not trying to shock my metabolism nor am I really trying to increase glycogen stores. In fact, when my body is in a ketogenic state I rarely feel “flat” since ketones are glycogen sparing.

I only have a cheat meal for mental relief and to be able to eat out with my girlfriend.

As I mentioned a zillion times I once spent 18 months without having carbs and functioned just fine in the gym and out.

71

Thib, I know you have kept a food log for the past four years and know exactly what works for you, and that in order to re-set your “set point” you must maintain that level of BF percentage for a lengthy period of time.

-Is there a rough ballpark figure though on maintaining a low BF percentage (not contest low, but 8%) for carbs, pro and fat?

-And how to get there in the first place. What are some of the best approaches? Carb cycling, carb-up days, you refined physique transformation?

72

[quote]Italiano wrote:
Thib, I know you have kept a food log for the past four years and know exactly what works for you, and that in order to re-set your “set point” you must maintain that level of BF percentage for a lengthy period of time.
-Is there a rough ballpark figure though on maintaining a low BF percentage (not contest low, but 8%) for carbs, pro and fat?
-And how to get there in the first place. What are some of the best approaches? Carb cycling, carb-up days, you refined physique transformation?[/quote]

Carb cycling works adequately only if you already have a fairly low level of bodyfat and are not really trying to lose a lot of fat.

IMHO, for 90% of the population, a low-carb diet is the best way to get down to low body fat levels.

Once you are there you need to titrate your energetic nutrients intake until you find a point where you are maintaining your level of fat.

There are NO precise guidelines as everybody is different.

73

Hi Thib.

how was your transition from mass gain phase to anabolic diet?

74

[quote]Antoine Castillo wrote:
Hi Thib.

how was your transition from mass gain phase to anabolic diet?[/quote]

Fairly easy as I’m used to doing that transition now.

I simply reduced my carbs gradually.

In my “mass gaining phase,” I consumed around 50g of carbs per meal (6-7 meals a day), plus 20g during my workout (my post-workout meal is included as a regular meal), so I was consuming around 370-400g of carbs per day. My fat was around 50g per day.

Then I removed all carbs from my last 3 meals of the day and added good fats to those last 3 meals, around 10-12g per meal. So I essentially dropped my carbs intake to 220-240g and upped my fat intake to 85-90g per day. I held this for one week.

The second step was removing all carbs, except for those during the workout (20g) and post-workout (50g). And adding another 10-12g of fat to the two non-post-workout meals remaining. This lowered my carb intake to around 70-80g per day and upped my fat intake to something like 100-110g per day. I also did this for one week.

Then I switched to an all-out ketogenic diet, lowering my carbs to 20-30g, upping my fats to 120-130g per day.

NOTE: it is NOT the “Anabolic Diet.”

The Anabolic Diet is only one of several ketogenic diets out there. It’s the one by Mauro DiPasquale. It is different than what I’m doing in several ways:

  1. The Anabolic Diet has a full 2 days of high carbs at the end of the week (the Bodyopus diet, another type of ketogenic diet has 2 1/2 days) while I only have ONE carb-dense meal per week.

  2. The Anabolic Diet, at least the original work by DiPasquale, didn’t really differentiate between healthy and non-healthy fats. As long as fat intake was high, you were fine. It did contain too much saturated fats which can be unhealthy in excess. They are also pro-inflammatory and reduce insulin sensitivity. I prefer to have the bulk of my fats as healthy fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids which are anti-inflammatory and improves insulin sensitivity.

  3. The Anabolic Diet is a high-fat/moderate protein diet since 60-70% of your calories come from fat and around 25-35% from protein. This is supposedly to facilitate the induction of a ketogenic state. It IS true that if fat levels are too low and protein levels too high, you might have more problems entering a ketogenic state. But after much reading, especially the books by Lyle McDonald, I came to the conclusion that fat doesn’t have to be set at 70% to induce ketosis. Ketosis is much more dependant on lack of carbohydrates.

For that reason my diet is closer to 55-60% protein and 35-40% fat.

Also, it is possible that with the Anabolic Diet you NEED to go up to 70% fat to quickly get into ketosis because of the full two days of carb loading. Since I only have ONE MEAL containing a significant amount of carbs per week, establishing a ketogenic state is easier.

  1. I make better use of the various types of “good fats” to promote optimal health and maximal fat loss.
75

To give you an idea… here are some low-carb diets:

Anabolic Diet
Bodyopus Diet
Ultimate Diet
Atkins Diet
Banting Diet
Protein Power Diet
Targeted Ketogenic Diet
Poliquin’s Caveman Diet
Metabolic Diet
Carbohydrates Addict Diet
South Beach Diet
Vince Gironda’s Definition Diet
Protein-Sparing Modified Fat Fast Diet
Velocity Diet
Palumbo’s Pre-Contest Diet (closest to mine, but I have more omega-3 fatty acids in my diet and cook with coconut oil)

Just because something is “low carb” doesn’t mean that it’s the “Anabolic Diet.” While they all share some similarities, they are all somewhat different.

76

CT whats your favorite flavor of Metabolic Drive?

77

[quote]brunottfn wrote:
CT whats your favorite flavor of Metabolic Drive?[/quote]

Vanilla … well it’s not my favorite flavor, but I always prefer vanilla and add crystal light to it to give it the flavor I want.

I used to love the chocolate flavor; but I used it so much that I got fed up with it. I like strawberry a lot now.

78

do you take the new Metabolic Drive or the old one?

79

[quote]crod266 wrote:
do you take the new metalic drive or the old one?[/quote]

Metalic? :slight_smile:

MeTABOlic!

I use the Low-Carb Metabolic Drive.

80

Coach, when the hell do you find time to hang out with your fiancee?

I’m really looking forward to following your progress. Can you post some current pictures of your physique?

I was reading your chest workout and was pretty surprised with the little amount of rest you need after putting out a set of low incline press and then the max swiss ball pushups. Is your chest completely fried after those 4 sets?

How do you prepare your turkey? Or could you point me in the direction of the recipe? This would be a perfect meal for me because I’m in sales and always in the car. Finding acceptable meals for me with my working conditions and schedule is my biggest challenge.