T Nation

My Experience On the Anabolic Diet

#1

This is the start of a thread about the effects of the anabolic diet on me. I bought the book after reading the "Tell em David Barr Sent ya" thread. Disc Hoss is a Hoss. I want to be one strong mo' fo' Hoss myself.

I started the anabolic diet Sunday June 12, 2005 and feel great so far. I'm not having much of a problem sticking to the diet so far. I ate really clean before and only miss my veggies and oatmeal with blueberries so far. I have never kept a journal of any kind, but did yesterday as the start of my diet. I ate too many veggies and went over about 8 carbs. I will adjust and just eat a shitload of veggies in 12 days. The first 12 days my goal is high protein/high fat/30 grams of carbs. By keeping the food journal I found that I don't get even close to enough protein. I got about .8g per pound of body weight yesterday and ate more protein than I have in years. Changing that is a new goal of mine.

I'll try to update this thread every few days. I'll try to post my diet journal once a week...if anyone is interested.

The first 12 days of the diet is the conversion from carb. burning for fuel to fat burning for fuel. Then 1 to 2 days of carb. spiking. After you start to "smooth out" you go back to high fat/high protein/low carb for 5 days and then you spike for 1 to 2 days. This cycle continues on indefinately. I'm giving it 3 weeks. If I don't see muscle mass gain and better recovery then I'll go back to my usual diet with the addition of more protein. If my workouts are shit and I'm loosing muscle I'll go back to my diet with the addition of more protein. If I see better workouts/better recovery and additional muscle mass I'll continue the diet indefinately. I'm motivated by getting stronger! Hopefully this is the missing link for me.

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#2

Awesome dude, I look forward to reading about it.

BTW, I did the diet back in my grappling days. Have faith, it worked like a charm.

Let me know if I can help w/ the tinkering.

#3

You say you will try this for three weeks. Remember about two of those weeks will be the 'transition' phase. You may want to give it more time as you will only be a true 'fat' burner for one week. Think about going for 8 weeks or more. The first while you will be weaker and feel flat and feel generally out of whack. If you judge the diet off what you feel like after 3 weeks you will probably want to cash it in. I've seen quite a few guys start strong on this diet and give it up after about two weeks. But if you will stick to it, look out! This diet lives up to the hype.

I do it usually in the spring/summer to lose the winter gut. Lately I've been on this diet for about 8 weeks and the results are great. One word of advice I would give you is don't be afraid of 'fat'. Eat bacon, whole eggs, salami, buy a meat lovers pizza and scrape the top off, little smokies are good. Food like chicken breasts and tuna fish just don't seem to provide the 'energy'. Good luck and keep us posted on the results.

Barry

#4

Ok gents

You have both said it works. I'm eating tons of fat, no worries there. I compete strongman, loosing fat is not a big priority for me, I want to gain muscle and as much as possible. Do you feel I'm on the right diet?

#5

Are you doing the AD for PLers or BBers?

-J

#6

I am one week into the AD for pL and so far so good. Let's keep this thread going.

#7

I just ordered AD and then saw there were two diff. versions. I got the one for BB's by default. I wish I had gotten it for PL's. Any big diffs?

#8

mdragon...

I've used (and use still use the diet currently) for both fat loss and at other times muscle gain. When I'm trying to get bigger, I use 2 full carb up days as opposed to 1 when dieting and just eat a little bit more food during the week. An extra tbs of olive oil here, an extra egg there...it adds up. For me, protein + fat + heavy lifting = a big me.

#9

Thanks IL Cazzo

I'll do the two full carb up days. I'm not sparring any fat. I'm eating lots of olive oil, flax oil, Omega 3 pills, sausage, bacon, eggs, hamburger, cheese... the list goes on. I need all the tips I can get. I'm eating cream cheese too umm umm good!

Matt

#10

Question: How do the calories compare between a typical week day and a carb up weekend day? Is it a matter of replacing fat cals with carb cals or do you keep the fat the same?

#11

What do you guys eat on the weekends? Do you do your best to keep your fat intake low? One of the quotes from Dr. DiPasquale that sticks in my mind is that pizza and beer are okay on weekends... in moderation.

Going a little deeper, do you use mostly complex (low GI, low II) carbs or do you favor faster digesting (and higher GI/II) stuff? Or perhaps phase from simple to complex during the course of the weekend al a Bodyopus?

TH

#12

From what I've read you lower the fat a little. Down to about 30% if I recall. I'm not really counting calories myself, just trying to eat a lot. I'm not in it to get cut though, I'm trying to get hyouggggg!

#13

Bud if you are going strictly for size then you have found the grandaddy of diets. Sounds like you have a good idea of how to do it. The carbs on the weekend really do the trick. You may have read in other threads about this diet that the effect of the carb loads on Monday and Tuesday of the following week is incredible. 2 days of a carb load should be great for your goals. At first you will probably have some strong cravings for certain carb loaded foods. Go ahead and cram these down on the weekends. You will find as time goes on the cravings aren't as intense.

For example I never miss a weekend without at least one Chocolate Shake and a BIIIG bluberry muffin. Be careful though if you have a contest on a weekend. This carb load can set your butt on the couch. After your body has made the switch this diet is very user friendly. You might go crazy on a weekend and put on a little bodyfat. No problem, by Wednesday it will all be gone and your energy will be up to boot. One time I took in 11,000 calories, give or take, one weekend. My waist went down 1" the next week.

Barry

#14

What are you guys doing for PWO nutrition? I am a week into the AD for PL and I have not carb loaded yet. Are you just eating a protein and fat meal PWO?

#15

Read the lead article on the main page. Shoots down alot of the ideas about Post workout eating and needing big shots of carbs. Fat is where it's at. Little Smokies, Pepperoni, nice steak. Probably some of the fine nutritional products offered here on T-Nation would be great post workout.

Barry

#16

Where's DH on this one? We need to get him involved...

#17

After a workout I have a shower and a protein only shake about 45-60 minutes later. Then I usually have steak, eggs and salad straight after that. An hour and a half after I finish that, I have another steak and another protein drink.

I have found that a whole chicken wrapped in bacon is good for post workout as well. Actually, I eat like that all the time. I love this diet!!

#18

You are supposed to lower the fat a bit and the protein is way low, as in around 10%. I will admit that my pro is higher than this because i lift on saturdays and i have a shake pwo. I would say that during a 2 day carb up, cals are higer than any 2 day period during the week because i go through at least one box of cereal post workout. I love cereal. Cereal loves me.

I try to stick to the 75% rule...eating clean carbs 75% of the time during the carb ups...the other 25% can be pizza, ice cream, candy, whatever. Honestly, this only breaks down to about one meal of true junk.

P.S. I love cereal.

#19

Agreed! I have PM'd him and no response.

#20

Great tips. I will be posting my meals soon.