The first, really laid out diet PLAN I followed with any results, was the old T-Dawg Diet. It wasn’t fancy, but it did explain things very well, and with little deviation, you didn’t have to worry about making decisions from day to day.
For a show, I cut with a carb cycling/Target carb approach. I’m still sort of adhering to that approach I’d estimate about 90% of the time as I bulk up for next season. Definitely takes a little thought and planning (which I know the majority of the people who train won’t do), but it does work in the long run.
Why do you only use whey protein powder, and no casein? Just curious. And for you bedtime meal, do you have 50g whey/5g leucine/ the PB and Cottage cheese at once, or are those two separate ‘meals’.
Why do you only use whey protein powder, and no casein? Just curious. And for you bedtime meal, do you have 50g whey/5g leucine/ the PB and Cottage cheese at once, or are those two separate ‘meals’.
Thanks[/quote]
budget mostly, plus I figure taking it with fat will slow down the digestion enough to make it last until the next meal.
I have the cottage cheese and PB first then the shake about 15 minutes later, then go to sleep.
Why do you only use whey protein powder, and no casein? Just curious. And for you bedtime meal, do you have 50g whey/5g leucine/ the PB and Cottage cheese at once, or are those two separate ‘meals’.
Thanks
budget mostly, plus I figure taking it with fat will slow down the digestion enough to make it last until the next meal.
I have the cottage cheese and PB first then the shake about 15 minutes later, then go to sleep.[/quote]
Way, how old are you? Not still in college are you? It seems this would be a very hard diet to eat while in college busy with classes, a social life, etc…
Why do you only use whey protein powder, and no casein? Just curious. And for you bedtime meal, do you have 50g whey/5g leucine/ the PB and Cottage cheese at once, or are those two separate ‘meals’.
Thanks
budget mostly, plus I figure taking it with fat will slow down the digestion enough to make it last until the next meal.
I have the cottage cheese and PB first then the shake about 15 minutes later, then go to sleep.
Way, how old are you? Not still in college are you? It seems this would be a very hard diet to eat while in college busy with classes, a social life, etc…[/quote]
I’m 20, so yah still in college. It’s summer now so its easy, and I work 5 hour shifts at night so I just have a shake or 2 while I’m at work.
It’s really not that bad, I just have to carry around like 6 shaker bottles lol. As far as social life goes, every time I’ve left the house and know I’ll be away for more than 2 hours I bring food, it’s just second nature now.
Also one of the great things about college is the unlimited meal plan you can purchase. I had that and planned my schedule so I had a 1 hour break in between every class. Freshman year I walked on campus at about 230, I hammered that meal plan doing 6 meals a day with 24 glasses of milk, 4 glasses per meal. By the end of that year I was about 255, then the next year…same deal, got to 280.
Gotta utilize that shit to it’s maximum potential. I obviously supplemented with shakes and did my best to eat clean though.
[quote]forlife wrote:
My favorite diet is Cheat to Lose, both for results and for sanity. It works for cutting, and can easily be modified for bulking as well.[/quote]
Did you not see the part about CTL also being a good diet for bulking? The nice thing about the diet is that there is a Core phase and a Maintenance phase, and you can tweak the Maintenance phase to allow extra calories for bulking.
Sounds like you have a good plan for yourself. Did you implement refeeds during this time or just keep daily calories/ratio’s pretty consistent?[/quote]
Like I said, it seems to be doing the trick! I personally do not believe in refeeds as they only lead to increased cravings, even if they are from “clean” sources.
I really have never found a valid reason for straying from one’s meal plan aside from social norms and pressures. For example, I went to a wedding with my girlfriend during this last cut which was quite the experience. I knew that there would be steak provided, and that steak was not on my diet, but I didn’t want to put my date in an awkward situation by making her look like she had brought the ‘weird’ guy. So I adjusted. I ate the salad, but not the crutons. I ate the steak, but not the potatoes. I moved some food around like a little kid and hoped that no one would notice and everything went fine (although the girl sitting next to me did comment at one point “What, you don’t like crutons or something?”
So this whole dieting thing is really just about being comfortable with what works for you and knowing how to think on the spot and manipulate the situation to work for you. This allows me to have a social life, not be the awkward guy in the room/at the party, and still look damn good with my shirt off.
So this whole dieting thing is really just about being comfortable with what works for you and knowing how to think on the spot and manipulate the situation to work for you. This allows me to have a social life, not be the awkward guy in the room/at the party, and still look damn good with my shirt off.[/quote]
I completely agree, can’t become some hermit who doesn’t go out because he can’t eat anything. One thing nice about lower carb diets is its easy to find some protein source when out generally but not so much with carbs (for instance most restuarants have a chicken/steak dish but any carb dishes are generally really refined/sugary/etc…)
Waylander, how can I PM you? It says your profile is set to private.
My favorite thing about CTL is that it delivers results, while allowing for normal eating, which makes it easy to follow the rest of your life. It allowed me to break through a plateau that I was on from following Berardi’s Precision Nutrition program (still a good program, just not for me). Basically, it is carb cycling where you do a couple days each of:
Protein + Fat
Protein + Fat + Low GI carbs
Protein + High GI carbs
The last day of the week is your cheat day, when you can eat anything you want.
For bulking, the Maintenance phase allows for cheat meals spread throughout the week, which along with larger portions of the regular meals, you can increase as needed to meet your caloric needs.
sounds interesting. So I’m guessing calories would be cycled too with each of those 3 days right? Or are you keeping calories constant but just with different ratios/foods?
[quote]Dan Thompson wrote:
A smart carb cycling approach seems to work well for gaining mass while keeping fat at bay.
For me, “smart” means low carb (protein, fats, and green vegetables) throughout the day (including breakfast) using a variety of food sources, although mostly solid foods (as opposed to shakes). Carbs are ingested during the para-workout window and consist mostly of Surge, SWF, and some sort of starchy carb for my first solid meal afterward.
When looking to get cut up, usually start to drop the PWO carbs, slowly replacing them with glutamine, whey hydrolsate, and BCAA’s. Nothing fancy, but it seems to be doing the trick for me. [/quote]
By carb cycling, you seem to be referring to different times of the day and para workout. Do you not cycle the carbs from one day to the next with the traditional low/mod/high? If you don’t, what do you do on the days you train and the intensity is highest (for example leg day)? And then on your off days are you as low carb as possible or still following the same daily routine? I will dangerously assume that your caloric intake varies with what you have described, no?
[quote]Mateus wrote:
Dan Thompson wrote:
A smart carb cycling approach seems to work well for gaining mass while keeping fat at bay.
For me, “smart” means low carb (protein, fats, and green vegetables) throughout the day (including breakfast) using a variety of food sources, although mostly solid foods (as opposed to shakes). Carbs are ingested during the para-workout window and consist mostly of Surge, SWF, and some sort of starchy carb for my first solid meal afterward.
When looking to get cut up, usually start to drop the PWO carbs, slowly replacing them with glutamine, whey hydrolsate, and BCAA’s. Nothing fancy, but it seems to be doing the trick for me.
By carb cycling, you seem to be referring to different times of the day and para workout. Do you not cycle the carbs from one day to the next with the traditional low/mod/high? If you don’t, what do you do on the days you train and the intensity is highest (for example leg day)? And then on your off days are you as low carb as possible or still following the same daily routine? I will dangerously assume that your caloric intake varies with what you have described, no?
[/quote]
That is what I do and I am making the best lean gains I have had. I use 2 high, 3 med, and 2 low days a week. Cals and carbs are highest on high days, lowest on low days, and fats are inversely related. Protein is lowered on the high days but kept at 1.5grams per lb of BW on med and low days.
[quote]ajweins wrote:
Mateus wrote:
Dan Thompson wrote:
A smart carb cycling approach seems to work well for gaining mass while keeping fat at bay.
For me, “smart” means low carb (protein, fats, and green vegetables) throughout the day (including breakfast) using a variety of food sources, although mostly solid foods (as opposed to shakes). Carbs are ingested during the para-workout window and consist mostly of Surge, SWF, and some sort of starchy carb for my first solid meal afterward.
When looking to get cut up, usually start to drop the PWO carbs, slowly replacing them with glutamine, whey hydrolsate, and BCAA’s. Nothing fancy, but it seems to be doing the trick for me.
By carb cycling, you seem to be referring to different times of the day and para workout. Do you not cycle the carbs from one day to the next with the traditional low/mod/high? If you don’t, what do you do on the days you train and the intensity is highest (for example leg day)? And then on your off days are you as low carb as possible or still following the same daily routine? I will dangerously assume that your caloric intake varies with what you have described, no?
That is what I do and I am making the best lean gains I have had. I use 2 high, 3 med, and 2 low days a week. Cals and carbs are highest on high days, lowest on low days, and fats are inversely related. Protein is lowered on the high days but kept at 1.5grams per lb of BW on med and low days.[/quote]
I am doing that exact thing. This is the first “diet” I have ever been on. By that I mean that I have never counted anything. I always thought I was eating good and enough but until I started to count everything I realized I was eating shitty and missing about a 1,000 calories a day. I know the thread is geared towards the best diet and so far this one has been great. I am just in the beginning stages of it but the crazy thing is that I am eating over 3,500 calories a day and over 600g carbs on the high days. Since I started this I have lost 5.5 lbs. Another few weeks and I will be able to give a much better synopsis of the results.
That is what I do and I am making the best lean gains I have had. I use 2 high, 3 med, and 2 low days a week. Cals and carbs are highest on high days, lowest on low days, and fats are inversely related. Protein is lowered on the high days but kept at 1.5grams per lb of BW on med and low days.[/quote]
What do each of your days look like in terms of calories/macro breakdown?
[quote]pumped340 wrote:
sounds interesting. So I’m guessing calories would be cycled too with each of those 3 days right? Or are you keeping calories constant but just with different ratios/foods?
[/quote]
You don’t track calories, but instead use guidelines he provides on how much to eat. The calories tend to be lower on the protein/fat days. My favorite are the protein/fat/low GI days, although I only follow the diet loosely now.
