Any thoughts on the Anabolic Diet?

I'm wondering if anyone in here uses/used this diet.

The basic plan is Monday through Friday low carb, high protein and high fat (lot of red meat).

Then on the Weekends you eat carbs in abundance and load up on them and keep your protein and fat low in order to fuel your body for the rest of the week when you go back to low carb on Monday through Friday.

Just curious what IH and others think of this diet plan and if it has any merit.

I've been doing a high fat, high protein diet for a couple of weeks now, but I think I'm going to try carb loading on the weekends.

I'll let you know if I notice any difference in a few weeks.

I've been on this diet four weeks, just some thoughts:

- Noticed no difference in hair quality, fallout, etc.. (I know that's the first on everyones mind)

- I've never felt better on a day to day basis. Eating just meat and greens just feels healthy for my body. I never get that bloated feeling despite eating a ton of food (see next).
- I'm a big, athletic guy, 6'5/240lbs.. in order to hit the calorie, fat and protein requirements I am eating close to 3lbs of beef daily.
- Carbs on the weekend are great because I go and enjoy meals out with my friends and family. Less restrictive than other diets I've been on.
- Muscle definition is up and I'm loosing weight in areas I've always had trouble with. Midsection, face and butt in particular.
- Muscle size and strength is about the same. I feel this is an achievement since I dropped creatine when I started the diet and typically I lose size/strength when I do so. I have a feeling if I added it back in now, I'd see gains on my baseline numbers.

- From time to time I get bad breath that feels like its coming from deep in my stomach. I hear this is from "ketones" and are a typical reaction to this type of diet.
- During the first 2 weeks there were times when I felt exhaustion like I never have in my life. This has disappeared.
- Carb weekends will make you feel sluggish but this is overcome with some will power.

Overall I'm loving this diet and plan on continuing it at least through the end of the year.

hadrion - I think I do this kind of diet almost by accident, but with no particular intention. I'll treat myself to spaghetti and pizza, especially on the weekends and go through a usual high protein, high fat diet the rest of the time. In this way I never feel deprived of anything, I like it.

Good stuff. I think I'm going to try this by the guidelines in the book. This is pretty much how I eat as well and I like the idea of being able to use my carbs on the weekends in order to fuel the glycogen needed in the my muscles for the week.

I have the .pdf file of the book. I don't think I can attach it to this message (if I can tell me how), so if anyone wants a copy of it, PM me with your email address and I'll send it to you.

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a hair issue to this. Back in 2000 I did Atkins for a summer and lost a lot of hair on the crown of my head. Upon stopping Atkins, my hair grew back in.

I eat a lot less than I used to since killing off the majority of my Candida, and reasonably healthy. Usually eat out once a day (a good meal), and a couple protein shakes. Granted, I haven't been lifting much, so my body needs a lot less too. Muscle mass is slowly fading but hell, that happens when you're just building helmets and working all day, lol...

Nid -- I'm more of a endomorph type and if I'm not training myself like a pack mule, I put on fat quickly so I have no choice. I literally have to do twice as much as a normal person to get lean. It's always been that way for me.

Lifting seems to be one of the better things for me when I need to shed/burn fat and keep myself in shape.

hadrion wrote:Nid -- I'm more of a endomorph type and if I'm not training myself like a pack mule, I put on fat quickly so I have no choice. I literally have to do twice as much as a normal person to get lean. It's always been that way for me.

Lifting seems to be one of the better things for me when I need to shed/burn fat and keep myself in shape.

Hadrion,
You should try P90x. I've been doing ir for a couple of months and I'm pretty ripped - I look better than I did in college when I'd go on 8 mile runs and then play ball for 2 hours right afterwards.

scottyc33 wrote:

hadrion wrote:Nid -- I'm more of a endomorph type and if I'm not training myself like a pack mule, I put on fat quickly so I have no choice. I literally have to do twice as much as a normal person to get lean. It's always been that way for me.

Lifting seems to be one of the better things for me when I need to shed/burn fat and keep myself in shape.

Hadrion,
You should try P90x. I've been doing ir for a couple of months and I'm pretty ripped - I look better than I did in college when I'd go on 8 mile runs and then play ball for 2 hours right afterwards.

Scotty -- What's p90x? Is it a supp?

90 day workout regimen - it's tough but you get sick results.

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/p90x.do?code=BBHOME_PARSEA_P90X

What is the difference between the anabolic diet and a ketogenic diet?