Trying Low/Practicly No Carbs

Diet and Nutrition
1

I’ve been on a fat loss diet for the past 6 weeks. So far things have been going well. My only supplements are HOT-ROX extreme and Metabolic Drive. Check the pics in my profile for some results. Since the pics were taken my abs have improved some.

I like to experiment and see what works for me, so I’m cutting out carbs starting tommoro till January 14th. The only carbs I’m going to eat are green veggies as according to CT they are non digestible so you shouldn’t count them.

Since I won’t be eating much carbs, should I also cut out cardio and focus soley on the weights during this phase? I dont know if energy systems work will benefit or harm me without carbs to use for energy.

2

Judging by your pictures, the last thing you need to do is to abandon carbohydrates. If anything I think you should eat more.

3

You can keep the cardio.

But with low carbs, stick with low to moderate intensity work. Anything harder and you’ll be using what little glycogen stores you have, which you want to save for your lifting sessions.

4

Well good luck cutting your carbs. Make sure you eat a lot of veggies, more than you think. And I don’t know about the whole “non digestible” thing, but they are higher in fiber.

No fish oil supplement? Gunna be doin the olive oil thing?

I’d keep the ESW to (varied terrain if possible) walking and maybe some light bodyweight circuit stuff sometimes for a bit more intensity (but the longer the workout, the shorter you should keep it). What does your routine look like in general? Make sure you’re judicious with your volume. What kind of “fat loss diet” were you on before?

I wouldn’t recommend no carb for a long period of time, but I know that’s not what you’re asking. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

5

Welcome to the site of conflicting advices… don’t skimp on the cardio if you’re going low-to-no-carbs for fat loss. Keep it less than 20 minutes and make it HIIT. Of course your weight training is higher priority. Why should you do less work if you’re trying to burn stored calories in the first place?

Eat protein and fat (all 3 kinds) with every meal. Make sure your vegetables are green and high in fiber. Invest in no-carb condiments to keep your diet from going stale. Food logging, especially if this is your first no-carb attempt, is a must.

You’ll “hit the wall” often, especially in the afternoons. You don’t notice it anymore when you’re used to it. Just a fair warning.

Personally I’d wait until after the holidays to start this, unless you celebrated Chanukkah and all the fun foods are gone until next year.

6

Bah I’m not gonna let something like a 2 week period of holidays slow me down :).

My plans for the holidays is simply this. Have a few drinks on the 23rd during our annual “Eve, of Eve” party. Eat clean, no holiday foods both on this day AND christmas eve. Eat clean on christmas but allow myself christmas dinner and some cookies and fudge. Have a few drinks on New years eve, but eat clean. And then New years day still eat completely clean. The thing is I’ve been undergoing a body transformation for almost a year now and I honestly do not crave junk anymore. Even during times like now when its so easy to “take a break” and “live a little”

I know I should be taking fish oil but its honestly just not in my budget right now. The majority of my fat intake is going to be from olive oil, natural peanut butter, occasional avacado, walnuts and almonds. I’ll also be eating cheese in moderation and ofcourse the fats from animal flesh.

7

[quote]esk221 wrote:
Judging by your pictures, the last thing you need to do is to abandon carbohydrates. If anything I think you should eat more. [/quote]

Yeah, I’m pretty small right now. The thing is though, and i don’t mean to boast, but I’m pretty strong for how low my body weight is. Last week I got a 3x3 240 pound hang clean. Needless to say that got me pretty fired up.

I know I am pretty lean already but I promised myself when I started this that I’d get below the 10% mark before I started to build mass. (expect another thread asking for mass gaining advice after the 14th guys :slight_smile: )

Judging from my picks can anyone give a rough estimate on what my bf% level is right now? I’ve never been this lean before and have never been tested so i have no idea.

8

[quote]gi2eg wrote:
Well good luck cutting your carbs. Make sure you eat a lot of veggies, more than you think. And I don’t know about the whole “non digestible” thing, but they are higher in fiber.

No fish oil supplement? Gunna be doin the olive oil thing?

I’d keep the ESW to (varied terrain if possible) walking and maybe some light bodyweight circuit stuff sometimes for a bit more intensity (but the longer the workout, the shorter you should keep it). What does your routine look like in general? Make sure you’re judicious with your volume. What kind of “fat loss diet” were you on before?

I wouldn’t recommend no carb for a long period of time, but I know that’s not what you’re asking. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

[/quote]

My routine in general is MWF full body lifting. Pretty high volume at 5-7 lifts per session. My training focuses on the big compound movements (squats, front squats, deadlifts and variations, pressing, and olympic lifts.)

For those wondering my previous diet would look something like this:

Training day:
Breakfast:
4 whole eggs
1/2 cup oats
1 cup blueberries

Snack:
1 scoop Metabolic Drive
apple or other fruit

Lunch:
8oz chicken
1 or 2 cups of broccoli
1 tbsp olive oil

snack:
4oz turkey
1oz almonds

Dinner:
95% lean ground beef
1 or 2 cups brocoli
1 cup spinach
olive oil

snack:
natural peanut butter
1/2 cup to 1 cup cottage cheese
1 scoop Metabolic Drive

This is just a basic gyst of what i’ve been doing. Would take HOT-ROX about an hour before breakfast at 7 (eat around 8) and another dose at 2 or 3. I think the thing lacking in this diet was fat, but at 1900-2000 calories its hard to get alot of fat in there and eat enough food !!

Thanks for the encouragment you guys. I’ll post updates as progress comes. Off to the gym for me. :slight_smile:

9

The reason why I suggested that you not do this until after the holidays is because you’re only doing this for a month. If you’re going to give yourself that little time then you need to make each day and each meal count.

I’ve been carb cycling (6 days of survival carbs and 1 off day) since July and I have cheat days, just like you are planning to. I allow myself to do this because I don’t have a deadline for this anytime soon and I’m still getting results even now. So if you don’t have a strict deadline, go ahead and cheat 10% of the time. Otherwise, cheat when you socially should, like during the family Christmas dinner.

I would skip the alcohol. Seriously. It’s no better than carbs and it doesn’t serve the body any positive function. That way your dessert and fudge will be more deserved. :slight_smile:

I agree with you, fish oil is great but you should be fine with other fat sources. Don’t be afraid of eating cheese. It has protein and calcium that you’ll need since you won’t be able to drink milk due to the lactose (milk sugar) content.

Best of luck and Happy Holidays. :-)`

10

Do you think I should add two more weeks on and go until the 28th due to the cheats?

On the 23rd i really only plan on having 2 or 3 beers socially, however New Years i was gonna drink till i got my fill.

I havent touched alcohol in over 6 weeks when i started the previous diet phase and I enjoy the taste of beer so i was going to use it as a reward type deal :-/.

I really hate to cheat. I usually don’t. I’ve found the theory that the more progress you make the more the desire to cheat goes away to be very true.

Thanks for the support man. After the phase is over I’ll post the results. I’m pretty curious and excited to see how the low carb thing works for me. I enjoy carbs so this is gonna be pretty brutal.

Happy holidays to you too brotha :slight_smile:

P.s. today is my first day on the new diet. After my last meal tonight i’ll post what I ate for some pointers.

11

Well, to be fair, I just reread your first post and you did say that it is an experiment for you. I think doing this for a month is enough. I was posting with the mindset that you want as much results as possible in that short time frame. Even a month with a few holiday cheat days should be enough time for visible progress, either from the scale or your calipers. Then you can decide from there if you want to keep on going or do something else.

By the way, were you still losing fat from the diet that you stopped yesterday? Or have your progress stalled? I did low-calories only for a month before things slowed down. I started reading stuff on things like the Anabolic Diet (minimal carbs with scheduled refeding) and that got me losing with regularity.

Also, are you still taking a fat burner like HOT-ROX? Or is it a food-only experiment?

12

Sorry for the delay, busy day yesterday.

As far as what im doing, this is an experiment to see what works best for me for fat loss, however I DO want to see fast results. I think I am going to go till the 28th.

My previous diet did show me results. I can almost see a six pack at this point. I figured change things up to keep it interesting and try different methods.

I am still on the HOT-ROX. I have about 1/3 of the bottle left and i will continue to use it till it runs out.

To any sceptics out there: this stuff works. The key to it is though it is a supplement to proper nutrition. If you are taking the HOT-ROX but your diet consists of stuff like bread and cheat meals of burgers and pizza every weekend it aint gonna do much more than be an expensive caffeien pill.

13

Here is a food log from the past 2 days. Monday I had to go to a japanese restuarant for my girlfriends work thing, I had steak and veggies and allowed myself some fried rice. First time eating non clean in over 2 months but it seems no damage was done.

HOT-ROX was taken 1 hour before breakfast each day and a second dose before dinner around 3.

low carb:

day 1: dec 18th

4 whole eggs 320
4 oz turkey 120

1 piece string cheese 80
1 oz almonds 160

8oz gb 320
2 cups broc 30
1 tbsp olive oil 120

4oz chicken 120
1 cup broc 30

4oz chicken 120
1 cup broc 30
1 tbsp olive oil 120

1/2 cup cc 80
1/4 cup walnuts 200

day 2: dec 19th

3 eggs 240
1 piece pepper jack cheese 80
4oz turkey 120

8oz chicken 240
veggies 30
1 tbsp pb 105

1 serving walnuts 200
1/2 cup cc 80

4oz chicken 120
veggies 30
1tbsp olive oil 120

4oz chicken 120
veggies 30
1 tbsp olive oil 120

1 scoop md 100
1tbsp pb 105
1 tsbp olive oil 120

what do you think?

14

Todays training consisted of cleans and deadlifts. I had to cut the day short though because I felt something pull in my lower back and rather then risk hurting myself I stopped after my first set of deads. I did 1x4 320 pounds on the deads.

After I it happeend I did a 3 sets of 12 dumbell bench press then called it quits because it was bothering me. I hope this isnt something more serious than what i think :-/

15

[quote]mthomps wrote:
Todays training consisted of cleans and deadlifts. I had to cut the day short though because I felt something pull in my lower back and rather then risk hurting myself I stopped after my first set of deads. I did 1x4 320 pounds on the deads.

After I it happeend I did a 3 sets of 12 dumbell bench press then called it quits because it was bothering me. I hope this isnt something more serious than what i think :-/[/quote]

never a good sign. I had something like that happen a month or two ago and had to take a week off just about everything. Now would probably be a good time to read the 3 part perfect deadlift series from awhile ago and practice your form in a mirror or videotape it since poor form seems to be a common issue for deadlifts(not that your is bad). Hopefully it’s nothing serious!

PeterD

16

ive read that a little alcohol every so often is good for you.

dont know why but it seemed credible. anyone else have any thoughts?

17

[quote]chutec wrote:
ive read that a little alcohol every so often is good for you.

dont know why but it seemed credible. anyone else have any thoughts?[/quote]

If it’s wine, yes. Beer, no. And it has more to do with the antioxidants in the grapes used for the wine than the alcohol itself. I don’t believe that alcohol has any place in a low-carb diet except for those cheat meals/days, if even that.

To the OP, you definitely aren’t no-carbing it, but the carb count is low enough. Do you have something to keep track of your carb count as well as your calories? You’re eating 90% of the things that I’m also eating, hah!

Fiber is not counted sa a carb, since the body does not use or store it. Subtract that from your total carbs for your net carbs.

I pulled my lat deadlifting last month, but it’s getting better. Train around it and ice it morning and night. Blame that on me being too good to do a warm-up set first. :frowning: Feel better soon, all diets work better if you’re able to train at 100% as well.

18

Where do you see non fiber carbs there? The almonds have 6 grams per serving, not sure about the walnuts but they cant be higher then that. When i say veggies i mean all green veggies (spinach, broccoli, grean beans etc)

I didn’t warm up much before the deads. Was a little rushed because I had to be at work in a few hours. :-/

To my knowlegde I have correct deadlift form but I’ve been wrong before. I’ll see if i can get a video camera to critique myself.

19

BTW, after this is done how do i go about re introducing carbs into my eating. The stuff I used to eat is tons of fruit and berries, other veggies besides greens, plain yogurt, beans, and oat meal. Should I slowly add more each day or will i be able to jump right back into eating this type of stuff without having to worry?

Also after the 28th of january I’m going to be done with the fat loss (if my results are satisfactory) and will be eating at maintnence (2400) or above. Should I slowly up the intake till i reach maintnence or will I be able to jump right to 2400 and above.

What about stuff like bread and rice? I flat out don’t eat stuff like this right now and havent in months. I want to gain muscle but with little to no fat as well. Should I keep these out of my diet or introduce stuff like this as well?

20

[quote]mthomps wrote:
What about stuff like bread and rice? I flat out don’t eat stuff like this right now and havent in months. I want to gain muscle but with little to no fat as well. Should I keep these out of my diet or introduce stuff like this as well?[/quote]

If you want to gain muscle, you’ll need some calories from carbs. You can eat brown rice and whole wheat breads. Stay away from the white stuff.

If you want to take it a step further, have your carbs before say 2pm, and fat/protein meals after 2pm.