The Trials of the Anabolic Diet

[brah_of_iron]

I'm sure some/most of you guys haven't heard of the Anabolic Diet, and I'm sure some/most of you will reject it upon hearing what it is, but I figured I'd try my luck anyways. Now I would go and write a big article explaining what the Anabolic Diet consists of, but I'm going to go ahead and take the lazy man's option and just throw down someone else's article, since it lays the diet plan out so nicely.

http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=460968 - Eat Like a Man, Part I
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459762 - Eat Like a Man, Part II

Now that you've read those, if you're still interested there's a massive thread about it as well, which would definitely cover every question you may have in it's 250+ pages. I was intrigued by this diet and went and read the whole thread (it took me several days though, and not all in a row), and from what I gathered from the many people who have given this diet a shot thought the results were awesome... and almost all of them are still on it.

So now I'm giving it a go, I'm heading in to week 2, and I've created this thread to spark interest, as well as share my experiences with the diet. Hopefully some of you will come to realize that high carb is NOT the only way, and are brave enough to give this a shot. Reading the thread I linked will give enough proof that this diet does indeed work, and allows you to gain maximum amount of muscle while completely limiting fat gain (some people have even gained muscle while in a cutting phase).. which shows that gaining muscle while losing fat IS possible.

http://www.t-nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=658379 - My Experience On the Anabolic Diet (huge thread)

Now who's ready to maximize their growth hormones?!? I know I am!

[bunbury]

so lots of meat and hardly any carbs untill the weekend?

[brah_of_iron]

Did you read the article?


Basically:

Weekdays = high fat 60% of calories coming from fat, less than 30 GRAMS of carbs, and the rest from protein

Weekends = High carb (60% total calories) 30% fat, low protein. But you can eat pretty much anything, keep it about 75% clean, 25% dirty.

So yeah, tons of fattier meats on weekdays, as well as cheeses, eggs, butter, olive oil, fish, etc.

Keep in mind guys, this is NOT a keto diet, Dr. DiPasquale states that very clearly a few times in his book.

[brah_of_iron]

Anyways, tomorrow morning I'm going to my first workout after my carb up *yesterday + most of today being my carb up* and I'll report how it goes.

However I got a pretty big pump just from sitting here eating carbs the past two days (hit me very hard after I ate whole wheat pasta in particular). This is from all the glycogen pouring into your muscles, and apparently it's pretty common. Anyways, it as pretty cool getting pumped while doing nothing.

[1quick1]

Mmmmm meat.

[bunbury]

i read the article .. so what does your weekday look like? how much meat in a day?

[brah_of_iron]

A typical day of mine looks like this:

5 eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, fried in either butter or olive oil

Ground beef (regular), shredded cheese (spiced so it tastes like tacos)

Fatty steak, mushrooms fried in butter

5 scrambled eggs, shredded cheese

Salmon steak, broccoli and/or cauliflower

(Before bed) Scoop of whey, 5 tbsp heavy cream (this tastes awesome)


That's what I've pretty much ate the past couple days, and it won't get old for a while, it's so tasty.

*Important Note* Fiber in any food does not count towards the 30g carb total. So say if you were eating broccoli and there was 10g of carbs in it, but 5 grams of fiber, you'd count a total of 5g towards your carb total. The reason for this is fiber doesn't affect us as carbs.

So you can eat TONS of these veggies because the fiber count is high:

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Mushrooms
Asparagus
Celery
Spinach
(there's a few more, but I can't remember. Pretty much any dark green leafy vegetable is okay)

[Samantha905]

what have your results been then following this diet?

[brah_of_iron]

what have your results been then following this diet?

Well I'm only going into the second week, so results are small so far, but this is what I've noticed:

- Down 4 lbs first week (almost all water weight most likely, not muscle cause I increased all my lifts the past week)

- Look more cut

- When I wake up in the morning eating this way, I practically jump out of bed, I'm not groggy or anything

- Steady energy the whole day, I haven't yawned during the day once since starting this (or atleast not alot)

- And, *ahem*, NO gas. And if you're eating the typical body builder's diet, that's a god send.

Now I have had experience with low carb eating before, which is most likely why I didn't crash during the first week. But if you are used to high carbs Dr. DiPasquale says you might crash pretty hard. You'll become tired, sluggish, weak, etc. This is your metabolism 'shifting' from carb burning, into fat burning. After this you will use fat for energy, and you'll most likely have more energy than before (many people in that thread I linked can attest to this).

[LeavingYourBM]

But don't you NEED carbs to put on mass? Thats always been my understanding. I'll have to go and read the article!

[brah_of_iron]

But don't you NEED carbs to put on mass? Thats always been my understanding. I'll have to go and read the article!

Nope, not at all. You pretty much have to throw away all 'common knowledge' you know about nutrition to accept this diet. But like I keep saying, all the people in the thread I linked have found success with this diet, and even report INCREASED energy with low carbs.

[nekkidbear]

Well keep reporting to us man, sounds interesting.

[brah_of_iron]

Yeah for sure, going to eat a big ol' steak in about 30 minutes, then give it some time to digest and I'm off to the gym!

If anyone tries this diet, steak = best pre workout meal ever. When you start burning fat for energy, nothing gets a buzz going like a fatty steak. You can literally feel the energy run through you after eating one.

[brah_of_iron]

Also if anyone is interested in my first carb up, and what they look like, this is what I had from Friday morning to Saturday at 1pm *I'm using Fri/Sat as my carb up days, as they fit my schedule more and that's when I usually go out with friends*

Note: I only went to Saturday at 1 because I was getting sick of the carbs, and wanted to get back to the meat.

2 cups oatmeal
6 100% whole grain bagels with light strawberry cream cheese
~200g whole wheat pasta (this is where the pump REALLY hit me, even my lats had a pump, which is kind of odd IMO, I don't usually get one there)
Various fruits
2 pancakes (Aunt Jemima's 'Just add water' pancake mix)
half a 'log' of Pillsbury cookie dough


Next week's carb up is probably going to be concentrated on whole wheat pasta, and I'll give brown rice a go as well. I probably won't do anything sugary like cookie dough again because it sent me into a sugar coma and I went to sleep for an hour or two after eating it.

[LeavingYourBM]

I'm not necessarily going to do this, but when I bulk I think I may try and keep my carbs low.

[Ted Nugent]

im really interested in this. the whole philosophy that your body stores fat because you dont eat enough is veeery cool. Unfortunately my parents are vegetarians so it would be very tough for me to get meat daily inless i buy it myself.

[brah_of_iron]

I'm not necessarily going to do this, but when I bulk I think I may try and keep my carbs low.

'

If you do that make sure you increase your fat intake.

One of the reasons low carb diets get a bad rep is because when people try and go 'low carb', they have no idea what they're doing. Usually they'll take carbs down to around 100g, continue to keep fat low, and make protein very high.

When you do this your metabolism is in a 'limbo' and is caught between two different paths. It'll continue to burn carbs as it's main energy (since fats are low and thus you're not fat adapted), but since carbs are scarce it'll resort to turning muscle into glucose.

And then after people eat like this for a week or so, they report back saying that 'low carb sucks, I had no energy and lost strength'.... well duh.

im really interested in this. the whole philosophy that your body stores fat because you dont eat enough is veeery cool. Unfortunately my parents are vegetarians so it would be very tough for me to get meat daily inless i buy it myself.

What about eggs? Eggs are perfect for this diet, especially if you are on a budget.

And this concept (high fat, low carb)has been around for long time, and it was how many of the pro's ate in the 60's-70's, advocated by Vince Gironda.

However manipulating one's hormones through diet is still relatively new (discovered by DiPasquale in the 90'), it's only just catching on now.

And I just want to report back my workout went GREAT! I was sweating buckets by the end, and all my lifts continue to rise (I'm on Bill Starr's 5x5, fyi).

[LeavingYourBM]

Would you still see benefits from dropping your carbs to 100grams a day and increasing the fat? Or do you truly have to be around 5% to accomplish the goal? My fear is that I won't be able to get through the first week what with all the oil and butter (mentally).

[Thaigga]

Yea for sure, going to eat a big ol' steak in about 30 minutes, then give it some time to digest and I'm off to the gym!

If anyone tries this diet, steak = best pre workout meal ever. When you start burning fat for energy, nothing gets a buzz going like a fatty steak. You can literally feel the energy run through you after eating one.

i lurrrrrv steak but before a morning workout? No

[brah_of_iron]

Would you still see benefits from dropping your carbs to 100grams a day and increasing the fat? Or do you truly have to be around 5% to accomplish the goal? My fear is that I won't be able to get through the first week what with all the oil and butter (mentally).

That would not accomplish the goal of this diet (manipulating hormones), because carbs are still somewhat high, and would cause insulin to fluctuate. The goal during the week is to keep insulin levels low and steady, and keep testosterone and GH high (increased by the fat and low carbs), then on the weekend you eat carbs to create an insulin surge, and flood the muscles with glucose, raising all growth hormones and creating an extremely anabolic environment.

i lurrrrrv steak but before a morning workout? No

What's wrong with steak in the morning? Steak is great any time!


I'm surprised this isn't gaining a bit more interest from this section. This isn't a fad diet promising to add 50lb of muscle in 2 months. It's a diet created by a world class powerlifter in order to try and manipulate hormones to create the best environment for muscle building without the use of drugs, and it does this.

[Thaigga]

What's wrong with steak in the morning? Steak is great any time!

not really dude. Im barely awake enough to pour make a sandwish and pour a glass of milk, much less broil a steak

[brah_of_iron]

Haha, the steak was my second meal, so I was already awake.
When I woke up I had a cheese omelette.

[brah_of_iron]

Bump for people interested.

Let's make this thread for all to share their experiences of this diet if they choose to try it.

[Beowolf Agate]

Oh, Shugart, how we love your willingness to be your own guinea pig.


Great diet. Good luck.

[brah_of_iron]

I'm definitely enjoying the meat+fat meals.

I just finished making chicken wings on the BBQ, and the seasoning I used alongside the crispiness the skin developed made it taste like KFC chicken.

[grahhl]

hey after reading this post last night, when i woke up this morning instead of having oatmeal i had 4 eggs fried in oil (450 cals?), and from there i decided to just eat ground beef with cheese for lunch, so no carbs whatsoever yet.

after trying this i felt as though i could get used to this, so i am now officially doing the anabolic diet, and so far no cravings for carbs in hour 4.

my advice to people doing this is to not think about it just wake up and eat anything with fat or protein in it.
i also recommend that seeing as how you get more than enough protein in this diet to no longer buy whey protein in such bulk quantities (though i suppose you might need some pwo), tonight i am gonna eat some pumpkin with my beef to get my carbs in.

also the "anabolic diet" has now been updated to the "anabolic solution" and is available online as a PDF or in hard copy. i downloaded a copy today (not gonna say where, don't ask) but bought a hard copy of the book from the doctors site which should be on its way. right now i am just familiarising myself with the diet.

feel free to ask some questions

[grahhl]

forgot to say that this is the link to the hard copy of the book. the ebook is $10 less

http://www.mdplusstore.com/viewitem.asp?idproduct=204

there is two versions of the book, one aimed at BBers and another at PLers both available in book form or pdf form.

there is not that much of a difference between the two so it doesnt make that much of a difference as to which one you buy if you fall somewhere in between the two classes

[The_Nyne]

This Anabolic diet is more or less a Keto diet..

Still though, I plan to do go on a Keto diet after football and get down to single digit bodyfat. Keep informed on how well it works for ya.

[KellerLB]

im gonna try this as well ill report back l8r

[brah_of_iron]

This Anabolic diet is more or less a Keto diet..

Still though, I plan to do go on a Keto diet after football and get down to single digit bodyfat. Keep informed on how well it works for ya.

It's not a keto diet, DiPasquale always stresses that point.

On a Keto diet the goal is to reach a state of Ketosis, and you test this by using Ketostix to detect ketones in your urine. When you're in Ketosis you run off of ketones for energy, and Dr. DiPasquale says this is very inefficient.

On the Anabolic Diet/Solution, you hover just outside of Ketosis, and use fatty acids for energy, which your body prefers.

Anyways I'm glad to see a few others who are interested. I'm in to my second week and am feeling better and better. My workouts are going great, and my energy levels continue to stay steady throughout the day. Also my sleep has improved, when I go to bed I am dead to the world until about 7 or 8 (am), and then I spring out of bed and get on with my day.

kmkr1990 I agree that you wouldn't need whey on this diet, however I still use it before bed mixed with 4-6 tbsp heavy cream. Sometimes I make whipped cream and mix the whey powder in that, it tastes like pudding!