Who's had success with low carb/high protein diets?

Who’s had success with low carb/highprotein/moderate fat diets? Diets of extremely low carbs, under 30g or moderately low, like under 100g?

For natty’s, I’ve heard this is the best way to go. (If the goal is gaining lean mass).

This approach absolutely works!! I’ve been doing this for 16 months now, and have experimented with the range from zero carbs (fat fast) to 100g a day. During this time I have lost 115 lbs of fat and gained 45 lbs of muscle. If you’re interested, you can check out my progress so far in the photo forum in the thread titled “Fatty in Progress”.

I have been living low carb for the last four years. On and off, but mostly on and never completely off, just planned for days off.
My trainer who was a '97 Mr. Pittsburgh and is going to Jr. Nationals in Aug follows similar eating plan. He zig-zags his carbs…up one day…then down for a few, and then jacks them again. Never eating white flour or sugar. His carbs come from yams, brown/wild rice, oatmeal, veggies and salad.
My muscle gains have been quick using low carb/high protein/mod. fats.

I never drop below 20g and never go over 100.

whats a natty?
anyway yeah they work but are pretty tough. i would ease into one next time i dieted, drop carbs, then dropping cals after a week or two. Check out t-dawg diet (1 or 2) in the FAQ

I’m assuming a “natty” is a natural trainer, who would benefit from increasing endogenous T levels through increased dietary fat consumption.

Yes, Natty = natural.

So you guys vary carbs from day to day? Do you have more carbs on training days than off days? What about cardio days?

How much fat/good fat are you taking in? I’ve heard over 100g fat raises hormone levels significantly.

How much protein are you guys considering high? Right now i’m aiming for 1.5x bw but I’ve heard I should aim for more, like 2xbw. It’s hard to eat that much protein though without a lot of it being whey.

This is what I’m planning for my diet.

Pro: 255g (Mainly from chicken breasts and Optimum whey)–might try to eat a little more protein. Gonna try to eat as little whey as possible, but I can’t find much else to eat to get enough protein.
Carb: 75g (Brown Rice, veggies)
Fat: ~80g (Olive oil) (Might up this a little over 100)
That’s about 2040 Calories.

What do you guys think?

I remember an earlier issue of T-mag where it says that brown rice has a higher insulin index than white rice, despite the lower glycemic index of brown rice.

Iron Maiden, I’ve heard about carb cycling before. I understand the basic concept, but I’m sure people “cycle” in different ways. Could you (or would you be willing to) lay out how your trainer cycled his carbs?

Did you know that one can of tuna has @ 32–37g of protein per can? not to mention the omega 3 benefits. convenient and inexpensive as well.

One, it’s highly individual because some of us respond well and others respond HORRIBLY to higher levels of carbs. Some people need higher levels of carbs because of the demands of their athletic (and work) endeavors – and maybe good carb/sugar-management genetics. Other people have to get by on lower levels of carbs to achieve their goals of a lower BF% because of poor genetics.

If you do some searches and read up on carb intake and manipulation, you’ll see that a number of us like to take in the majority of our carbs at the two times we’re most insulin sensitive (a good thing); i.e., post workout and fasted state. The body processes carbs VERY efficiently at those times and you get maximum muscular glycogen replenishment. But there are many schools of thought on this topic and many different approaches.

BTW, One, if you have questions on your diet, you may want to start a new thread. That way it will get the attention it deserves and people get a preview of your question.

Uhh… almost everyone?

How is this for a low carb diet?

10:00 - Pre-HIIT/ 40g whey w/ water
12:00 - 8oz Chicken breast, 1 Cup brown rice
2:00 - 2 Turkey slices, Brocolli, 2 tbsp Olive Oil
4:00 - 2 Turkey Slices, Brocolli, 2 tbsp Olive Oil
6:00 - Chicken Breast
8:00 - 2 Turkey Slices
10:00 - 1 Cup Cottage Cheese

Weight training days might be a little different, but basically the same.

I might only have 1/2 cup brown rice, instead of a Cup.

That totals:
Calories: 2254
Fat: 82g
Carbs: 77g
Protein: 296g

I’ve also heard eating 100g+ of fats increases hormone levels, so should I have another tbsp of Olive oil to get 100g+ of fat?

Suggestions?
So far you guys have helped a lot. thanks

You’ve got plenty of monos in there. I’d much rather see you add in some flaxseed oil, fish oil, or coldwater fatty fish to up your EFA intake and even out your Omega-3: Omega-6 ratio.

As for the 100g question, it depends on how much you weigh. 100g for a 250-pounder is nothing. It’s a lot for a 100-lb. woman, though.

For my training, I’m going to do:

Mon: Weights/abs
Tue: HIIT
Wed: Weights/abs
Thur: HIIT
Fri: Weights/abs
Sat: HIIT
Sun: Rest

Abs:
Crunches (legs up–slow) - 2 x 15
Standing side crunches - 2 x 15
Reverse Crunches (slow) - 2 x 15

Do you think this is enough volume for abs?

For the weights, I’m gonna use really slow negatives, and controlled explosive positives.

I’m 170lbs, so 100g fat is probably about right?

The fat is mainly from Olive oil, isn’t that a ‘good’ source of fat?

Low carb? Yeek.

I tried doing >30 g and got a monstrous headache for hours. My body doesn’t take well to below 100 g. of carbs.

looks like you listen One. Good for you. And listen to what tampa-terry on has to say on nutrition she knows her shit! You can ask anyone in here about TT and they would agree w/ me.

As far as volume for your abs I think its fine for right now. How long have you been on this program? Because after 3months - 6 months you may want to change it.

In Health,

Silas C.

I got lean with a Renegade conditioning program and by eating lower carbs and getting my carbs from fruits and vegetables only. I eliminated bread, pasta, rice and went easy on the potatoes. It made a huge difference in getting lean.

Now that I’m trying to gain mass, I have added whole wheat bread, oats, more sweet potatoes and brown rice to my nutritional plan. Besides that, I get my carbs from other veggies (mostly green) and some fruit (one or two servings per day maximum).

I’ve heard fruits are bad while trying to get lean because they have simple sugars. I think I’m going to get most from veggies and a little brown rice.

For the weights, I was going to try DC–I don’t know if you guys have heard of it. It basically calls for slow negatives, statics at the end of each set–1 set per exercise/per muscle group, and you work like 4 body parts each day. 1 set of 15 reps, go for failure around 8 reps+, then rest pause to 15. I’ve heard it works really well for people in terms of size gains. I might try something else with slightly more volume though.

I just need to lose around 5-8% bodyfat, I’m around 10% now–I think, but could be as high as 15%.

Do you guys think I should up the fat intake over 100g? Then lower the carbs slightly–like have 1/2 cup brown rice instead of 1 Cup.