Anabolic Diet Research

The Anabolic Diet week 3.  Reading and Research:

I'm still working on the plan that's going to work best for me on the Anabolic Diet.  The thing is, carb ups are dangerous with my B.E.D.   Once the carbs and insulin start flowing, the harder it is to stop.  I think there are probably many people out there who feel the same, so I'll put down some research that I'm finding here.

alaw4516 wrote: How long do you have to be below 50g of carbs a day before your body starts using fats/ketones as a primary source of energy

Christian Thibaudeau: 7 to 21 days depending on your hormonal balance, training volume and previous dietary practices.

alaw4516 wrote: when can you have a carb up day?

Christian Thibaudeau: Never... I do not recommend a full carb-up day unless you are under 10% body fat. When you have a full day of carbing-up (especially if it is excessive) it will take you 2-3 days to get back into ketosis (using primary fat/ketones for fuel)... so that leave you around 3 days for real fat loss. Now, if your main goal is to gain mass this aspect isn't as problematic, but you will have a hard time staying in fat burning mode and that means that you will feel lethargic and lack energy because fat will never stay your primary fuel source.

I recommand anywhere from 1 carb-up meal per week up to half a day (3 meals) depending on the degree of leanness.

BUT when you start this diet you CANNOT have a carb-up until you are clearly fat adapted. That's why my clients cannot have carbs until the end of the second week of dieting. Then they can normally have one carb-up meal every week.

alaw4516 wrote: Also do you need to have large carb up days or can I just have oatmeal in the am, surge PWO and maybe a nice juicy hamburger and some fries for dinner :)?

Christian Thibaudeau: I always recommend carbing-up with clean food. Normally I will allow SURGE post-workout and then a clean carb meal of around 150g of carbs at the last meal of the day. I used to recommend having it at breakfast but changed my mind because of:

- Charles Poliquin who showed me that during a low-carbs diet you are actually more insulin sensitive in the evening AND the carbs will help you sleep better.

- Dave Palumbo who does it for a more practical reason: if you have your carbs at your last meal, you will not be as tempted to eat them again during the day. If you have carbs early, you will often crave them for the rest of the day and end up doing an excessive carb-up.

Interesting right?  Here's more...

Christian Thibaudeau: but most cyclical diets go overboard on the carb-up. Since you are never depleting your glycogen stores completely, 200-250g every 7 days is enough, unless you are training twice a day everyday, in which case you will need more frequent loadings.

Here, here's continuing to talk about only doing 1-3 carb up meals a week (considering a 6-8 meal day), so only one meal to half a day max!  This seems so much better to me, as I still have about 3-5% bodyfat to lose.  Also, I think knowing that my carb up is only allowed to be Saturday afternoon-evening, the more I could control the over-eating that has plagued me the past 2 weeks.

More...

Stop looking for a universal answer! There isn't one. It depends on various factors including insulin sensitivity, training volume, activity levels, metabolic rate, etc.

Me personally, when I train twice a day, I have to have a carb containing meal every 4th day. This meal normally provides 200g of carbs. When I train only once a day I have to eat a carb meal every 7th day.

BUT I'm extremely lean. Individual who are fatter need to space out their carb meals more.

AND it is NOT a carb load. A carb load is ingesting a ton of carbs over a period of 1-2 days. I'm talking about a carb MEAL.  

OK, I get this - finally this makes sense.  But what about the glycogen and loading up.  How much can the body hold at once?  The human body can hold about 400-500g of glycogen maximum.  How quickly are they used up - thus spurring you into ketosis?

It depends on the type of training you use. For example doing a biceps-only session will use less total glycogen than a lower body session. If you do 30 sets per workout you will use more glycogen than if you do 5 sets per workout. If you do sets of 8-15 reps you will use more glycogen than if you do sets of 1-5 reps.

But and ''average non-idiotic'' training session will use around 90-150g of glycogen. So in theory you would deplete your glycogen in 4 weekly workouts. BUT this isn't so because of two reasons:

A) When you are fat adapted and in a ketogenic state, which is glycogen sparing, you might only use up half as much glycogen. So you could, in theory require 8 workouts to deplete glycogen. But even if that is the case, you will never completely deplete glycogen because...

B) Even in the absence of carbs, your body will still replenish the glycogen stores to some extent. It will do so by transforming certain amino acids into glucose(glutamine, alanine, serine, glycine and threonine being the most glucogenic amino acids) which can then be stored as muscle glycogen. Obviously you want to avoid breaking down muscle amino acids to build new glucose, which is why a higher protein intake is important if your carbs intake is low: in that case the body will use the amino acids from the free amino acids pool to produce new glucose. ''Won't this reduce the amount of protein that we can use to build muscle?''. Not really, if you are a natural trainee there is a limited amount of protein that you can use to build muscle tissue. Over 1.0 to 1.25g per pound is about the limit; so if your protein intake is at 1.5 to 1.75g per pound, you will be able to use the excess to form new glucose without interfering with protein synthesis.

 Alright - here's the big one.  This is basically what I've been looking for:

The thing is that you are somewhat misinterpreting my recommendations. The one meal carb-up is for body composition only; or in other words to MAXIMIZE fat loss.

If you read my article ''refined physique transformation'' you will find that my recommendations change depending on the degree of leanness of the individual.

These recommendations are:

For men

Above 20% body fat: carb-up at around 0.75g of carbs per pound every 14 days

15-20% body fat: carb-up at around 0.75g of carbs per pound every 10 days

12-15% body fat: carb-up at around 1.0g of carbs per pound every 7 days

10-12% body fat: carb-up at around 1.25g of carbs per pound every 7 days

Less than 10% body fat: carb-up at around 1.25g of carbs per pound every 4-5 days

I also make recommendations regarding the type of food to use for a carb-up:

For men

Above 20% body fat: carb-up only with clean carbs (yams, non-green veggies, fruits, oatmeal, rice, potatoes, grits, etc.)

15-20% body fat: carb-up only with clean carbs

12-15% body fat: carb-up mostly with clean carbs. One or two ''cheat'' items is acceptable but avoid eating foods that are both high in fat and sugar.

10-12% body fat: Carb-up can include a bit more cheat food, but still stay away from fat/sugar combo foods.

Less than 10% body fat: the refeed can be more lenient. While results will be better with cleaner food, when you get down below 10% it's okay to include some dirtier meals (pizza, burgers, pastries, etc.) in your refeed day.

Finally the recommended amount of carbs for the ''diet days'' are also dependent on body fat levels:

For men

Above 20% body fat: no more than 30g of carbs per day

15-20% body fat: 0.25g of carbs per pound of body weight per day

12-15% body fat: 0.35g of carbs per pound of body weight per day

10-12% body fat: 0.45g of carbs per pound of body weight per day

Less than 10% body fat: 0.55g of carbs per pound of body weight per day

So someone who is relatively lean (10-12% for example) and weighs 200lbs can use 90g per day, preferably around workout time. So you could very well have 40g of carbs pre/during your workout, 40g post-workout and 10g of trace carbs during the day.

Even someone who is slightly less lean (12-15%) at the same 200lbs can go up to 70g per day which stills allows some carbs peri-workout.

Really, my recommendation to go super low carbs is only for fatter individuals.

The point I was making in this thread is that it IS possible to gain size while not ingesting carb. I never said that it was optimal.

******

BTW, just a correction regarding ATP. ATP is the ONLY fuel source that the body can use. When ATP is depleted the body will use different substrates to produce new ATP and replenish the reserves.

Creatine phosphate is the first substrate used to produce ATP and it is the fastest (higher power) but the one with the shortest duration (around 12 seconds).

Glucose used under anaerobic condition is the second way to replenish ATP, it is the second fastest way to produce ATP but is is also of short duration (around 70-120 seconds)

Glucose used under aerobic condition is the third way to replenish ATP. It is not as fast as the previous two systems but can last longer (up to 15 minutes and sometimes more)

Fatty acids via fatty acid oxidation is the fourth way and it is the slowest of the energy production pathways, but last a REALLY long time! When doing intense training this system is used mostly to replenish ATP stores during recovery periods. In fact most of the ATP is replenished between sets via the fat oxydation pathway.

Now what about ketones you say? Very little literature exists on the subject because basically no research studies the energy substrate used during weight training while in a ketogenic state. My educated guess from the available literature which shows no decrease in performance during a low-carbs diet when performing work in the zone that would normally rely on the third energy system (glucose with oxigen) would suggest that ketones are about the same power (speed of energy production) as using glucose + oxygen to produce ATP and it would also last as long as the fatty acid oxydation system.

So this tells us that during ''regular bodybuilding'' training (sets of 6-12 reps lasting 30-60 seconds), glycogen would indeed be the only way to efficiently fuel your workouts. Ketones could also be used, but the lower energy production speed would be too slow to allow the maintenance of the same intensity.

HOWEVER if one is performing work that relies more on the phosphagen system (ATP and creatine) ... sets of 1-5 reps lasting 20 seconds or less ... training intensity should not be affected by a ketogenic diet since glucose is not super important during those sets AND that ATP is replenished between sets either by using ketones or fat. 

This is what I've been feeling for so long now, and it's great to see someone else put it in writing.  I was basically straight ketosis (read: semi-Atkins) for about 30 days instead of the recommended 14-21 day induction period, to make absolutely sure I got it right.  Then finally when I went off for a carb up, I crashed.  Thank God I didn't have a gig that night, because I couldn't peel myself off the couch.  The next week, not only did I energy-crash, but I emotionally-crashed as well and binged out on every carb I could get my chubby fingers wrapped around.  Good stuff here.

Thanks www.T-Nation.com for the tips and I plan on incorporating this stuff during next week's carb up MEAL!

Ah-ha Moments

You know that one moment - the one that everything becomes clear, the Ah-ha moment?  As far as nutrition is concerned, I've had a few, each one getting me closer to the goal. 

Ah-ha Moment 1:

When I started getting healthy, I read in a Men's Health or some other magazine that some actor - I wish I could give proper credit here, used a simple diet of eating every 3 hours to stay ripped.  There were a couple things I remember still.  First, he ate about 150-200 calories every 3 hours of the day, then one low fat, sensible meal.  This made sense, so I did it. 

I wasn't really great at it though, I had no idea what protein/fat/carbs even were, I just understood 200 calories.  So I went to our grocery store and bought about 100 Michelina's Lean frozen dinners.  I ate about 5 of them a day, then one normal low calorie dinner.  I was a good soldier about timing my meals, and used my phone's calendar feature to note the time of every single bite of food.  Basically I was eating 1200 calories a day and robbing myself of every remaining ounce of muscle I had.  But I didn't care, I was losing weight!


Ah-ha Moment 2:

Starting P90X was obviously a huuuuuuuuuuuuge moment for me.  Bigger than the workouts, perhaps, was the nutrition aspect.  Finally, I understood that I was undereating and worse, not eating more than about 10% of my daily calories of protein.  Ah-ha!  I need protein!  And I want to lose fat, so I shouldn't eat any right?  Well.... not really.

I went on the standard 50% Protein / 30% Carbs / 20% Fat P90X Fat Shredder diet.  I had lost weight, but wanted to get ripped, so I continued to up my protein and lower my fat.  My fat intake was actually often less than 15g.  I was eating a diet consisting of grilled/boneless/skinless chicken breast about 3 times a day; one or two bags of frozen veggies a day and that's it.  No dressing, no oils, basically no red meat.  No fat!

Guess what?  I built some muscle, but the remaining body fat just wouldn't go away, even though I was eating under my maintenance calories, the fat remained.  I honestly could not get my mind wrapped around this at all.  How could I still have abdominal fat if I was eating 100% right?  (Hint: I was undereating fat - more on this later)

Ah-ha Moment 3:

After quite some time of doing the low fat diet, I was struggling with two things.  First and foremost, even after all this time of working out like a madman, and eating right, I still had some fat problems.  But the bigger problem was a personal issue.

After many months of doing this diet and workouts, my old binging problems were making a reappearance.   It started with an ice cream cone here, maybe a "treat night" of 6-12 doughnuts there, then suddenly, I couldn't string together 4+ days in a row without falling off the nutritional wagon.  Things weren't working.  I needed to change it up, but didn't know how.

Realizing that things weren't working was possibly my biggest ah-ha on the list.

Ah-ha Moment 4:

After reading the book "Born to Run" I started to become interested in the barefoot running, which led me to the Primal Blueprint and www.MarksDailyApple.com.  This finally made sense.  I have only read one book faster than I read The Primal Blueprint, which I'll discuss later.

This made everything seem like it fit together.  My carb cravings (which I didn't know the term for what I was having at that time), the tired feelings I would get after big meals, all of it.

The thing is - man is an animal, and yet we eat differently than every other animal on Earth.  For millions of years, we ate like other animals on the planet.  Meat, fruit, veggies and nuts.  Then we figured out farming and grains.  After I read this, I cut out the grains and almost instantly lost some of the extra fat I had compiled.  This started the ball rolling towards where I truly wanted to be.

Ah-ha Moment 4:

I read a review of the book BodyOpus by Dan Duchaine.  It said that book wasn't for people who want to lose enough weight to be average.  It was for people who are average and want to be extraordinary.  This is finally exactly how I've been feeling.  I was tired of working my as off to be average.  I wanted more!

This book is hardcore.  I can't even explain how hardcore it is without more detail than my little fingers can type.  Let me just say, that twice a week, you're supposed to eat every 2 hours, including through the night.  As in, setting my alarm every 2 hours to slam a shake or bar.  Well.... no thank you.  But the idea was right - I just needed a better solution.

After a ton of googling, I kept coming across the words Anabolic Diet.  Finally, I found the book and diet system and devoured it.  I mean it - like I read the whole thing in 2 sittings.  I just kept nodding and saying yes - yes - yes - yes.  It was everything I had learned, suspected, thought about and found in my personal experience.  Someday I'll write up a Cliff Notes version of the book, but for now, let's just say it combines the best of both worlds.  (Hell, all 4 worlds!)

Sunday-Friday - I live in a Primal world, tons of meat, eggs, poultry, fish, and veggies.  Since it's been ages since I've had wheat, rice or corn, this really wasn't that much of a change.  The biggest thing was to add fat to my diet.  A lot of fat.  A lot of oils, animal fat, fish oil etc.  What's strange is, the more fat I added, the more lean I was getting.  Every Saturday I get to carb up.

What's amazing is after about 48 days of doing this diet, I'm leaner than I've been in a while, and better and much more importantly - my carb cravings are almost totally gone!  The Anabolic Diet predicted this, but I didn't believe it, until finally it happened.  It's been a miracle - but look, I'm keeping my eyes on the goal and watching for a return.  B.E.D. doesn't just disappear thanks to a new nutritional approach, but anything that will help my binging, I'll take it and not look back.

I'll keep updating this with my progress through this and deeply encourage anyone reading this to check out the books I mentioned, even if you're just interested in learning about the human body and the way our metabolism works, as well as some amazing nutrition stuff - take my advice, check it out.  You'll thank me fore it!

BodyBlitz Cardio Plyo Circuit 1

The plan for tonight at Greentree Sportsplex.  Good luck with this :)

P90X Day 4/90

Today, at last, a yoga day.  I am crazy sore from Tuesday - it's good, but I'd like to be able to walk normally again...  Just did 40 minutes of Yoga - less sequence and more stretching today, as I could barely make it down my steps, then following that, did the planned One on One Super Cardio 5-6.  It's a nice short 20 minute cardio workout that flows well.

Tomorrow, finally, is my depletion workout and carb up.  I'm sitting here right now actually writing the plan.  Upper body should be fine, but lower....ugh.  I'm really not looking forward to a bunch of squats and lunges.

We went grocery shopping today for a huge cart of veggies and some fruit for tomorrow and Saturday.  I'm stupid psyched about eating so many veggies after all this time.

Current weight: 181.6

I don't really have a goal weight in mind.  It seems that I was pretty lean at 175, but I was smaller then.  I can't imagine getting that tiny again.

I'll check in tomorrow after the full body destruction depletion workout.  (while I'm eating a huge bowl of grapes)