hows everyone doing on the cp diet, its been a while so what are your results… worth it or not.
I don’t have any figures to share with you, because I don’t have calipers. Also, in the past two weeks I’ve had visitors, and wound up eating a bunch of restaraunt food, which put a hold on my progress. But… I am LOVING it. First of all, it’s easy for me to understand. Second, my body feels great on this kind of intake. Carbs make me sleepy and fat. All my other previous attempts at low-carb diets lacked the fish oil component, and I think this is key, because previous attempts at low carbs would have me freaking out mentally after a few days, getting flu-like symptoms, etc. I would just go haywire. Plus, I like the food on this diet and it makes sense to me. Chicken breast/big-ass salad, or piece of fish/huge bowl of broccoli. What’s not to love? Also, to answer your question, I’ve lost 10 pounds and about 2-3 inches off my waistline, while strength levels are in line with where they should be. Oh yeah, I did a one month cycle of Methoxy 7, which also gave me a huge boost. But the main thing is, I can finally do low carbs and still function. I don’t see it as a diet, I see it as a way to eat 90% of the time. After two months, I am thrilled. (By the way, I got some good advice about modulating my carb levels… every 3 days or so I have a bowl of oatmeal, or a higher carb meal… keeps my metabolism from grinding to a halt.)
Thanks, I was wondering how the diet performed too. Lumpy, what type of workout are you doing?
restaurant food is just fine. 90% of restaurants have something grilled and something green, so its really not a problem. i, and my buddy who is on the diet, eat out all the time, and it doesnt hinder our results at all. hell, i went to the cheesecake factory on saturday night, and just got a ceaser salad with extra chicken and no croutons. i think thats why i like the diet so much, because there really arent that many limitations when it comes to food choices. ive even eaten at chili’s (salmon, veggies, rice, skip the rice), so restaurant food isnt a problem. as for addressing the thread topic, yes its worth it. i finally found a diet where a)i dont have to get fat to put on muscle and b)i get to stay at a low bf% while bulking.
You might remember that I was gaining weight like mad when doing the “full” diet. I was actually trying to lose fat though. I’ve tried cutting calories and I’m not doing too well. I don’t think it’s too good for fat loss, but I might be doing it wrong. When I was gaining weight I was doing HST. Now I’m doing RR&D variation with morning cardio. I’m giving it a bit of time to get valid feedback, but I’m not leaning out like I was when doing HST + cardio.
The reason I switched to RR&D is because I didn’t want to waste calories repairing microtrauma - I wanted to use RR&D to maintain myosin density.
For anabolism, though, I will always RAVE about the so-called Poliquin diet.
“Instinctive training” LOL. No seriously, I usually train 5 days a week…legs get their own day, chest/shoulders, back, and arms. I mix up my reps and weights every session. I usually do about 8-12 sets for larger muscle groups and 5-6 sets for smaller ones. Sometimes I will run a mile on the treadmill after lifting. I do basic lifts like squats and rows and tend to go with lower reps and heavier weights, but mix in medium and higher rep schemes so that I don’t use the same poundages on consecutive workouts. Not very scientific, I know.
Ok, I’ll ask. Machinae, what is RR&D, and are you saying that this diet works well with that type of training (to lose fat), or are you eating differently? And are you saying HST+Poliquin diet has put on mass? Thanks
I have continued to utilize a Poliquin-Style diet in my current bulk phase with excellent results.
Until El Machinae replies, RR&D stands for Ripped, Rugged & Dense, a 5x5 strength program by Joel Marion that works pretty well when you’re trying to cut. He’s got some good info in the article.
Can you use MRPs for a couple meals (besides post wo) on this plan? Since greens are a staple with this diet, I would imagine the fiber is important. Could you simply take some fiber supplements with your shake, or do you definitely need the real deal (veggies)? I ask because convenience is a big issue for me with my work schedule. Thanks.
whats the diet, and where can i find the outline for it. thanks
bump… i can’t find any details on polliquin’s diet, either. what are the specifics?
Run searches for the following threads:
“Poliquin-style Diet,” “Poliquin-style Diet Support Group,” and “Charles Poliquin Diet/David Boston.”
Thanks Tampa-Terry. If you have questions about our progress, please read the threads Eric mentioned. I’m currently trying to lose fat using the diet, but at lower calories. And my mirror-look is not improving as well as when I was doing the full diet+HST+morning cardio. But, I do need to lose fat, and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t really losing fat before - even though I was putting on gads of muscle weight.
The “full” diet as I did it is this (I’m 187 and 14%). 100g carbs per day from greens (NOT including dietary fibre, or you’ll starve to death). ~280g of protein (incl. veggie proteins). ~180g of fat per day. Post-workout I would eat 80g of complex carbs (bread, rice, oatmeal) and 50g of protein (in addition to daily allotments). I would have a carb half-day every 3-5 days (depending on training performance).
The negative side-effect of the dieting version (less protein and fat) is that I’ve been getting weaker and weaker in the gym. I’m also not really losing fat (ie. looking better in the mirror). I’m currently trying to tweak it for dieting, but I’m still working on it.
For anabolism though, it’s the BOMB.
I’ve been using the “Poliquin Diet” (which is actually a cyclical ketogenic diet) with a great amount of success for approximately 8 months now. This diet is equally effective for both getting lean as well as putting on lean mass. In fact, I’ve had a great deal of success building lean mass while maintaining single digit bodyfat measurements. I’m 5’11’, 190 lbs, ~8% bf, and I consume approximately 5000 cals/day. Last year, I used the Massive Eating protocols, which were relatively effective, except that I gained alot of adipose in addition to lean mass at the same level of calories. For those of you that are new to the “Poliquin Diet” (cyclical ketogenic), to get lean, have your carb-up (glycogen loading period) every 7-8 days for 24-48 hours. To gain mass, carb up every 5-6 days (for 24-48 hours). A pre-/post-workout shake (Surge, N-Large) is a must! However, do not count the carb calories towards your daily carb count. Fish oils and flax are also essentially, and I would highly recommend CLA (Conjugated Linolic(sp?) Acid). Fiber supplements are important as well, but just make sure there is no sugar added (ie flavored Metamucil). This diet is awesome, and I highly recommend it to anyone who believes that they may be carbo-intolerant, or is looking to build an appreciable amount of lean mass while simultaneously managing low levels of adipose tissue. Since Coach Poliquin doesn’t necessarily publish any information on this diet, I’d suggest looking up work by Dr. Eric Serrano, Dr. Mario DiPasqule (Metabolicdiet.com is very informative), Lyle McDonald (keto-dieting guru), and there is also a short discussion at charlespoliquin.net in the “Lost Poliquin Files” section of that website (Poliquin borrows many of the dieting strategies from Serrano and DiPasquale).
Prior to my “week off” last week, I had been following the Poliquin diet (or DiPasquale diet or Serrano diet or Alessi diet or whosever freakin’ diet it is) with great success for about six weeks. I am definitely carb-intolerant, and I thrive on lower-carb intakes. I strongly believe that supplements are more important on this type of diet than on any other. I pretty much used the full arsenal (fish oil, Udo’s, CLA, BCAA’s, acetyl l-carnitine, glutamine, PS, etc. etc. etc.) I used it for cutting, so my calories were a lot lower than what most are doing (2 days @ 10-12x bw, 1 day @ 15x bw, with either a large carb meal or a half a day of carbing on Sundays). I used Meltdown I for the last month of my diet, and while there seems to be a consensus that this is not an optimal diet for lower bodyfat levels, I used it successfully to shed the last bit of stubborn fat I had, and strength improved from workout to workout. This is without a doubt the least fun workout I have ever done, and I was having a hard time recovering once I added the cardio intervals into the workout. Definitely check out the previous threads mentioned above…there’s a wealth of info on them.
Thanks El_Machinae et al.