TJ Cline

Need a diet for my new cycle.
I'm 38 and about 235 at 14% Body fat.

Last cycle I didnt eat enough...lost fat but might have been to low in cal.
Basically I ate 300-350 P, 80-100 Fat and 200-250 Carb. Think I will bump up the carbs to 300-350g a day and thats it..

Tough Old Man

Do this. Keep the good fats around 60% of your total caloriews and keep the protein around 400 grams a day. Carbs under 30 grams a day. Then on sat from 8:00am until 8:00pm sun carb load keeping fats and protein low.



Toughy's new diet

Zinthar

What is considered to be a "good" fat? Does this include fats in red meats, or are we talking about EFA's? What are the best/worst fats for this diet?

Emma-Leigh

Good fat = monounsaturated fats and polyunstaturated fats.

This is NOT the main fat type in red meats (that would be saturated fats).

So you are looking at things like:

Mono's: Avocado, olive oil, almonds, peanuts
Poly's: Other nuts (eg: walnuts), seeds (linseeds are esp good), fatty fish

Generally, you want most of your fats from monounsaturated sources (about 50-55%), followed by ~30-35% of your diet from polyunsaturated fats (which includes your EFA's). For your poly fats you want about an equal proportion of fats from omega-3 and omega-6.. So that means you NEED to supplement with your omega-3 fats (because these are rare and you will easily get your omega-6 fats from your diet). So 6-8g of fish oil caps (not flax... not cod liver.. FISH) is the easiest way to do this.

Saturated fats should be kept pretty low (something between 10-15% usually... but 20% as a max). Generally speaking, you do not need to go looking for these as they will come from dairy and meat products.

Zinthar

Yikes, that's a lot of monounsaturated fat...how is it possible to get so much fat from avocado, olive oil, peanuts, and almonds when you're on a 3500+ calorie diet?!?

Emma, what is your opinion of this "anabolic diet" (60% fat/40% protein, <30g carbs weekdays; 60% carbs weekends)? Is it really possible to keep it healthy & get all of the nutrients you need daily?

I tried starting it on Monday and while I've managed to stay <50g carbs per day since then, it's been a real struggle. I've been eating virtually everything that's meat/fish in sight, as well as lots of hard-boiled eggs, and tons of dairy products (I put sour cream on a lot of stuff). I have a feeling that I'm doing it the wrong way, not to mention that I'm not getting nearly enough total calories.

myCATpowerlifts

That diet can be dangerous.

Stu

Sat fats are not as bad for you as people make out, infact they have many benefits. The ones you want to avoid are found in pasturised dairy, most vegtable oils and especially anything cooked in vegtable oils.

Emma-Leigh

Add a lot of avocado, olive oil, peanuts and almonds..




Personally - I think it is not healthy in the least... Unless you are not counting 'green things' in those 30g carbs during the week (and if I remember the diet correctly, you DO count them - so those 30g carbs includes vegetables)...

The fibre, vitamins, minerals and phyto-nutrients that vegetables (and fruits... and legumes for that matter) provide you are pretty important - especially those in fruits and vegetables... And cutting them out is stupid.

The benefits of these things in regards to your immune system, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, risk of cancer (esp bowl cancer), mental state and general well-being are well researched...

And for those who say 'take a multi-vitamin' - it is not the same.

You are also asking for problems with your cardiovascular system, endocrine system (whole meat diets can play havok with your Ca:PO4 ratio's), and...you will also, I imagine, soon become, **cough** a little 'clogged' shall we say!

Having that much protein may also (in at risk individuals who do not hydrate themselves correctly) have some detrimental effects on the kidney... So you want to be certain that your kidneys are in good nick!!


I am not saying that all carb cycling diets are stupid - so don't think that... But I am saying that any diet that stops you from eating vegetables and asks you to eat a whole heap of saturated fats instead - is... well... stupid...

This is how atkins worked - people, at first, find it hard to eat enough (they can't eat that much meat as it was much more filling) - so their total cals decreased and they lost weight.

After a little while though, the satiety provided by the higher protein diet tends to decrease and you also become 'used to' eating that way - so the cals slowly creep back up and you end up right back where you started (not to mention when you actually add the carbs back in! ).


My advice - Eat sensibly...

Sure, if you want to carb cycle, then carb cycle... But don't do anything so retarded as to compromise your long term health.

garethhe

Emma, I understand the concerns you voice about a diet that basically tells you not to eat veggies/fruits/legumes. This anabolic diet, as Toughy mentions, allows about 48 hours of carb-loading per week. If one were to basically eat a ton of fruits and veggies on Saturday and Sunday--and a bit of broccolli or what have you daily during the week--would that reduce the dangers you mention? In other words, can the weekend carb-load provide the body with a store of phyto-nutrients, vitamins and minerals that can act as a cushion during the week?

Also, could you explain "whole meat diets can play havok with your Ca:PO4 ratio's" in layman's terms?

brollickby06

bump..im very interested in this anabolic diet.

I share the same question as garethhe. What if you get those 30g from veggies alone during the week and eat a TON of fruits and veggies over the 48 hour refeed period??

also, how is it working for you tough? Its been about 2 weeks hasnt it

TJ Cline

Yet another thread where the nutrition mods ignore my question and talk to anyone but me..

Emma-Leigh

What question...??? Your initial post was a statement.

TJ Cline

No it was a estimate.....loking for feed back

BigDyl

Looks like you got Dimaggi0wn3d.



Anyways, why don't you try carb cycling?

That is supposedly all of the "rave."


Low carb day, High carb day, Medium carb day.

On the days you lift, eat medium to high carb. Definetly High Carb on Leg Day. The days you are inactive go low carb. The days you do cardio, do medium carb. You don't have to do it like this, but that seems to be an easy way to remeber the amount of carbs you should have.

On low carb days up the mono fats and protien to make up the difference. On medium carb days up the mono fats.


I'm too lazy to do it though. I need a drill sargent to monitor my diet or I just do a mediocre job.

Then again, I do work full time, take 2 classes, take Jiu Jitsu, and IT cert exams....

Total ownage.

TJ Cline

I think Tough is doing a diet like that.....it's from Iron Man....looks good and I think I'll try it.
thanks for the feedback

BigDyl

Yeah, hey, you and me should start the diet together. Like I'll send you my diet, and you send me yours.

Total ownage.

sonofman

How did the Anabolic diet work out for you?

Zinthar

I tried this diet for about 5 weeks in January/February but went off of it as it simply became too difficult for me to maintain with a constantly changing schedule and social pressures.

I used a modified version of the diet where I tried to limit saturated fats (from eggs, steak, etc.) and started to eat huge quantities of unsalted peanuts, olive oil (went through a can of it very quickly), and avocado, and made salmon, tuna, and skinless chicken breasts as my primary protein sources.

The first few days of this diet are very rough (you'll hit a wall and run out of energy and can get easily irritable and depressed during this time), but if you make it past them you'll start to lose a lot of weight very quickly -- mostly water weight initially, but you'll also feel more energized. You have to go 10 days with virtually no carbs (<30 g per day) before you get to carb load.

I did a variation where instead of a 48 hour carb load period per week, I just had 2 giant carb meals (1 full cup of brown rice, large sweet potato, green beans, and a banana) as my 5th meal of the day twice per week (Weds/Saturday). I would sometimes temporarily gain as much as 6 pounds overnight after these carb loads, but they're excellent for giving you a boost of enery for a great workout the following day.

From my experience with it, I feel like this is a great diet...but it's TOUGH -- and if you do it, you have to do it right and not cheat with the carbs (you'll fall out of ketosis if you have too many carbs too often). If you have a decent amount of free time, have a lot of willpower, and really dedicate yourself to following this (I really had to make it the focus of my day in order to stick with it), I feel like you can lose a lot of fat and maintain or increase lean muscle mass. Just remember to make the most of those 30-50g of carbs daily by eating a lot of low-carb veggies (broccoli, grean beans, mushrooms, etc.).

sonofman

Thanks , Man!