I’ve been looking around and found your article
“The Best Damn Diet for Natural Lifters”
would you still Recommend this plan for someone at 30% bf
1.25g-1.5g protein is recommended should I do is at this weight? h. so I started writing down macro options starting with what should be my maintenance then deducting 15 to 20 %
High protein option
I am 21 yrs old 5’11", 250 lbs 30% body fat
Endomorph body type
Daily caloric intake on a fat-loss diet: 250x10=2550
The problem with this that I’m currently at 2000 calories and maintaining 250 somehow not sure if I can even eat more than this
Protein: 1.25 grams per lbs = 312.5g or 1250 cal
Carbs: 40%=300 (daily)
Fats: 450cal (daily) + 300cal (carbs) + 1250cal (protein) = 2000 cal
So
Protein 312g
Carbs 75g
Fat 50g
would you still Recommend this plan for someone at 30% bf if not what would you Recommend
Current Workout plan
• Monday: Back and biceps
• Tuesday: Chest, shoulders, triceps
• Wednesday: Legs
• Thursday: Back and biceps
• Friday: Chest, shoulders, triceps
• Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Off
bench= 275 max
squat 315 for 10 reps not sure about the max
deadlift 315 for 10 reps not sure about the max
You should know that CT very rarely gives direct diet guidelines for an individual as diet is going to be very individual. He has general guidelines and recommendations but, it will be up to you to find out what works best. You may run better on higher carb and are eating low carb, etc.
I will say no one will be able to help you if you are not honest with your tracking. There is no way in hell you are maintaining on 2000 calories. You can eat more than that and have been. You weigh 250 lbs, you are fat, that did not happen from under eating.
For someone carrying 30% body fat, I feel adjustments need to be made in the calculation process. By going simply off body weight, calculations are thrown off and you’re eating too much because you’re feeding a lot of fat as well as your muscle. I can’t speak for CT of course but I feel you should reduce (calculate) your body weight by 20% (50 pounds) or so and then re-calculate using the multiplier of 10 for total calories and then go ahead with the other macro calculations. Monitor over the course of a week, as described in the article, and make adjustments.
I was 250 2 years ago I went on keto dropped to 235 hit a plateau then was recommended a high protein diet used it and got to 227 I went back to school took things for granted and made purely bad decisions then gained all that weight back and some muscle. I say 2000 calories because that’s the starting point I used when on keto. Thank you for being honest tho I’m going look at what I’m eating currently and make sure there aren’t any miscalculations I usually log everything in my fitness pal.
should count consider fiber as carbs?
Ex 30g of fiber + 50g = 80g carbs total
or
can i subtract it from my carbs
Ex: 110 carbs - 30g of fiber = 80g carbs total
@maxamillion I don’t suppose it matters much at the beginning, as you’ll make adjustments along the way. However, I usually look at total carbohydrates, not net.
Again, at this early stage, it’s splitting hairs. Don’t major in the minors. Pick one and go with it for a week.
Y don’t u try Dr Pasquale’s Anabolics diet or C.T’s Carb cycle its really amazing, on this stage i do agree on @lucasmon as it Always vary on individual to individual and its really important to study one’s body that what suits on it and on which diet and training protocol it is responding best.
I am trying to formulate a diet plan based off of this article as well. My question is what happens to the carbs on the days you are not training. Do I just remove the carbs and calories from the day completely or do I reallocate those calories from carbs to protein and fat?
@lgoetz1418
It’s not expressly stated, you’re correct about that, however, I feel it’s implied to eat your carbohydrates on off days as well. Choose the low gi sources.
CT will probably correct this if I’m wrong about this, but I don’t see where he implied dropping carbohydrates.
I am not CT but what I found on my journey of fat loss was the following. I was 95 kg at 175 and about 30 % body fat. I dropped to 78 in a few months via a calorie counting. I was still fat without muscles with ugly stored fat at abdominals, love handles and lower chest. I started lifting heavy and now I am at 87 kg, the fat is still there but mind it I do not feel bad when sitting naked. I have added enough muscle on chest, shoulders, back, lats, traps and legs to make a frame of a big man with some fat.
Regarding to low carbs or high carbs, I d recommend you to stick to foods that will make the deficit easy to handle, while keeping on counting. The results come for fatties like me and you. When you drop to 20% you my try adapting different strategies.
And as far as diet goes, well that reply goes into it. Have three hearty meals a day.
If you need more specific guidelines, here are some I enjoy that will work quite a while for you,
Eat two palms of protein
Eat two cupped hands of carbs
Eat two fists of vegetables
Eat two thumbs of fats
No need to be in a hurry. You can have a tremendously better body in 36 months. You are only 21. This article was written for someone at another level than you, it is probably an ideal way to diet for most people. But, to lose some fat you do not need an ideal diet yet. When you are at 12% BF trying to get to 7%, then you need to really get out the scale and do things at this level of minutiae and time your carbs. But at 30%, just exercise a lot, eat, and get stronger.
My two cents worth is that this can be judged based on your normal activity levels on this day as well as your stress levels. I’ve just posted on another thread that this chimes in with the old Poliquin mantra about ‘earning your carbs’. If you’re active outside the gym and/or stressed, then you probably have earned, at least enough, to blunt cortisol at night. CT’s position, from my reading, is very close to his old mentor on this point. From practical experience, it does make sense provided said carbs do not trigger dietary lapses.
Well I don’t go as far as Charles in saying that you must earn your carbs because I do not believe that insulin is as “fattening” as Charles believed. I do think that when you are insulin resistant it is harder to lose fat but not to the point of avoiding carbs altogether.
Anyway, I do believe that carbs should be ingested to serve a specific purpose.
To increase the mTOR response to training (pre/intra workout carbs)
To reduce cortisol and increase serotonin (help with relaxation) in the evening or after a stressful event
Cheers CT. I don’t think anyone would accuse you of living in Charles’ shadow these days! One of the benefits of being a long-term frequentor of this website is seeing the transformation of ideas from the early Poliquin period. No flattery intended, just an observation.
I had no idea what my macros (or calories) were despite eating pretty consistently, so yesterday I logged what I ate. It was a pretty typical weekday, but often I have nuts and didn’t yesterday. I was surprised by the amounts, as I thought I ate more:
Carbs: 212 g
Protein: 165 g
Fats: 42 g
Total calories ~ 1900.
So, about 45% calories from carbs, 35% from protein, and 20% from fat.
I think what I do is I under-eat during the week, and then have a couple ~3000 calorie days on the weekends. I maintain a pretty narrow weight range (170 - 174) so clearly I’m eating maintenance overall.
I have more or less paired your writings on carbs, with John Berardi’s writings, depending on the nature of the upcoming training session and my activity levels.
If it’s a hypertrophy leg workout, I’ll spread out my carb allowance in a manner similar to this,
to optimize performance and spread the remaining 15% throughout the rest of the day - where exactly depends on a few different factors such as if the previous day was an off-day or not or if sleep has been poor lately. In the former scenario, I’d have it early, and in the latter, I’d have it late in the day.
Otherwise, for upper body days, I’ll have more carbs intra-workout and post-workout.
Other times, if I’m being active enough, I’ll have some carbs in every meal. Usually, this results in a higher activity level overall - I’ll even walk between places quicker. And start adding in additional movement to the day, such as handstand practice etcetera. without necessarily planning to do so. So, hard to discern what comes first - higher carb intake, or more movement.