M.J.H.

Today is my 3rd day of under 30g of carbs per day. And this is killing me! I can't manage to focus for shit, I am completely foggy-minded, lethargic, etc.

Any helpful hints? I weighed in at 243 lbs. and I know that a ketogenic diet will help me get down to 220 or so where I would like to weigh.

Just tough dealing with the diet.

Stats!
23 years old, 5'11.5", 206 lbs., ~8% bodyfat

380/455/655 bench/squat/deadlift (current)
405/495/675 bench/squat/deadlift (goals)

The M.J.H. Chronicles

soxmuscle

why are you trying to lose massive amounts of weight?

Age: 20 | Height: 5'7" | Weight: 150 lbs | Penis: 12 inches

PreMier

Keto's arent good for you.. Do you not see the cycle you are constantly going through? Binge/diet/binge/diet etc. You should start eating balanced Mike. Diets the hardest part of the game, and if you cant get it down, then you wont go anywhere.

P-side Inc.

"the post-workout high is more profound than any drug-induced rush imaginable." -Dante B.

LittleKid

Really nothing I can suggest, carbs are basically your energy, and from what I know and heard the first week of Atkins is the hardest because your really cutting down on carbs.

min0 lee

I hate Atkins. It's a bad diet.

Cold Iron

Why you on that Atkins crap bro...you should know better

LittleKid

I've heard from a few people that the first week their mouth tastes and smells like ass.

Prince

yeah, stop doing this rediculous diet.

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nikegurl

it's part of being in ketosis and as long as you're in ketosis it's likely to stay that way.

i'm in the "hate atkins" camp as well. you can drop weight quickly but you can also rebound damn fast as soon as you reintroduce carbs back into your diet plus all that fat makes me want to

If you want to achieve things that others can't...

You have to do things that others won't.

LittleKid

You can drop weight quickly, but some of it being muscle..

and why are you dieting anyways? your pics look great, your bench squat and deadlift look great to.

M.J.H.

Wow, lots of quick responses. Thanks for all of the feedback guys.

Jake hit it right on the nail when he said that I go through this ridiculous cycle all the time of binge/diet/binge/diet. But honestly, the biggest problem is that I don't seem to have the determination to follow a clean diet. I always want to cheat. And not only just cheat, but binge excessively. I mean I hit 243 lbs. now. I have never weighed this much as far back as I can remember.

Ketogenic style dieting seems to be the quickest in terms of fat-loss. So that's the biggest reason I am going that route.

Stats!
23 years old, 5'11.5", 206 lbs., ~8% bodyfat

380/455/655 bench/squat/deadlift (current)
405/495/675 bench/squat/deadlift (goals)

The M.J.H. Chronicles

min0 lee

My friend was on it, he lost weight but gained it all back and then some. The lazy fat slob looks worse now.

min0 lee

For some reason most people seem to gain more weight than they had before they started dieting.

Pylon

OK, first, cutting the carbs out will kill your energy, so you shouldn't be suprised. I know a competitive bodybuilder who eats nothing but fish before a contest (and I mean nothing) and he is almost non-functional.

Second, Atkins, like most other diets, is mostly a way to get you to eat less calories. Yes, you can eat whole sticks of butter if you want, but you will tire of them eventually and lose your taste for them. After a few days, you will eat less or down 2 dozen Krispy Kremes, which ever comes first. (No offense to Dunkin Donuts, by the way.)

If willpower is the problem, crash dieting is not the answer. Fix the root cause, not the sympton. If your car was riding rough because it had a flat tire, you wouldn't look for a smoother road, right? You'd get the tire fixed. Stop looking at your food as a diet or a set of restrictions, and start looking at it as fuel for your machine. Garbage in, garbage out. No, not easy, but WAY better in the long run. (Trust me, I've been there...and am still working my way out of it.)

"For beverages, I only drink water or whiskey and when I’m drinking whiskey, it’s usually when I’m working out. It gives me the courage to lift more than I can when I’m sober." - C. Bratton

Prince

Sounds like you need to gain some discipline bro...we all like to eat junk food, but I keep it to one or two days per week, the rest of the time I eat clean.

Like someone else said, yeah you can drop the weight quickly, but it's not healthy, it's a terrible idea for an athlete because you need carbs for training, and chances are when you get off of it you will gain the weight back, and probably quickly.

• SBMuscle.com - Discount Supplement Superstore
• AlltheWhey.com - Bulk Protein Powders
• CEM Products - Research Chemicals & Supplements
• MusclePharm - Complete Nutritional Arsenal
• BigBackGrips - If you lift weights you've got to try these grips!
• HumaneVoLabs - Foaming Transdermal Delivery System.

Creatine Ethyl Ester HCL (CEE) On Sale $17.49 per bottle!

M.J.H.

Great post Pylon, and you too Rob.

I am tossing up in the air the idea of NHE. NHE for anyone that doesn't know is Natural Horomonal Enhancement---the book by Rob Faigin. The diet in a nutshell is:

Days 1-7 - No more than 20 grams of active carbs/day, high protein, moderate fat. Once you complete this you never have to do it again (unless you stray from the diet later down the road).

Days 8-9 - Same thing but you can have 30-60 grams of active carbs/day

Day 10 - Carb load day. Last 2 meals have at least 60 grams of active carbs each (Men) Women have at least 40 grams each meal. Each of the carb loads must not contain more than 20 grams of added protein or 20 grams of added fat, in order to enhance the absorbtion of glycogen. Up until the last two carb load meals have under 30 grams of active carbs along with high protein/moderate fat that day.

During my refeeds usually honestly I do them more binge style. As much low-fat food as I can possibly eat in an hour, and call it a night.

Now after this you cycle your carb load days would be every 3/4 days. So your next carb load day would be day 14, then 17 then 21, etc.. with all days in between mirroring days 8 and 9.

Stats!
23 years old, 5'11.5", 206 lbs., ~8% bodyfat

380/455/655 bench/squat/deadlift (current)
405/495/675 bench/squat/deadlift (goals)

The M.J.H. Chronicles

Jodi

There are no quick fixes. Learn to eat properly and you are less likely to binge. It's as simple as that!

Now every go tell Sara the same as you said here because she is insistant upon doing a form of keto diet too and she goes through the same damn cycle: diet/binge/diet/binge etc.

Essence EFA

M.J.H.

I know that there are no quick fixes, but at the same time I think that some ways of eating are easier than other ways of eating.

Stats!
23 years old, 5'11.5", 206 lbs., ~8% bodyfat

380/455/655 bench/squat/deadlift (current)
405/495/675 bench/squat/deadlift (goals)

The M.J.H. Chronicles

Cardinal

If you are trying to get through the first few days of a stringent diet, you can always drug yourself up appropriately. Has never failed me in the past

50-75 mg Ephedrine wipes out quite a few of the low carb problems
Grab a box or two of nictotine patches and some gum
Devour tons of water and fiber and you should be good to go.

min0 lee

aggies1ut

How many journals have you started on here, how many threads on CKD/TKD/Atkins have you started on here and over at Avant........It's taken you this long to realize that these are not the type of diets for you? They are completely too restrictive, especially for a person with binge tendencies. People have told you this same thing over and over. I know that this is easier said than done, but Jesus, it just takes some discipline. If you want something badly enough, you can achieve it.

Minotaur

Atkins is not designed to be a diet, but a lifestyle change. If you look at it as a diet, you will fail. It is not a temporary solution to a permanent problem.

You eat the Atkins way if your body cannot tolerate carbs from grains, corn, rice or potatoes. If you can tolerate those, you don't cut them out, you cut them down. Some people are genetically predisposed to not being able to tolerate starchy carbs (wheat, rice, oats, corn, potatoes, etc.).

I wish I could eat oatmeal, sweet potatoes, white potates, rice, etc. But I can't. So I cut them out. But I still eat vegs, more than I ever did. And fruit. And my energy is none the worse for wear. In fact, I feel better and my weights are increasing because my body is not reacting to substances it can't handle properly.

There is no right or wrong or One-Size-Fits-All diet for everyone. So before anyone bashes Atkins or anything else, walk in someone else's shoes and learn something of the subject.

Pylon

I think the point most were trying to make is that it is probably not the right choice for MonStar and his issues. It doesn't matter what plan you are on, good, bad or indifferent, if you can't reign yourself in when the dessert cart passes, it's no good.

"For beverages, I only drink water or whiskey and when I’m drinking whiskey, it’s usually when I’m working out. It gives me the courage to lift more than I can when I’m sober." - C. Bratton