Anabolic Diet

[Happy Panda]

4 weeks in here.

Down 15 pounds (mostly water weight 4-5 real fat pounds). Lost 1 inch off my waist.

Honestly it's not hard to stay on. Stronglifts has 3 articles of recipes here, here, and here. Use those recipes to get started and then use the food list here, a decent cookbook, and Nutritiondata.com.

I would also strongly advise checking out this thread at T-nation. It's REALLY long but there's an incredible amount of info about the diet and people's adventures with it in there.

Yeah you weren't kidding about that thread being long. Maybe on the weekend I'll make a marathon out of it. As for the recipes, I suck at cooking and don't have the motivation to learn right now. I'm usually not very picky about food, so I'll just stick to fried meat and frozen broccoli for now.

Thanks for the links though, and it's encouraging to hear that someone's getting results with the diet.

[Asriel]

I tried the diet you're on Panda and couldn't cope with it.

I was training BJJ 3-4 times a week and hitting the weights 2-3 times a week and found that without *any* carbs, I was struggling in a major way to keep up in training and I was always tired and weak.

One of the older guys at work who doesn't train at all also followed it and the weight fell off so I guess it can work.

[War Wizard]

Yeah you weren't kidding about that thread being long. Maybe on the weekend I'll make a marathon out of it. As for the recipes, I suck at cooking and don't have the motivation to learn right now. I'm usually not very picky about food, so I'll just stick to fried meat and frozen broccoli for now.

Thanks for the links though, and it's encouraging to hear that someone's getting results with the diet.

Really all you need is a decent skillet and a range. Literally the only items I ever use are my George Foreman, two skillets and the oven. Learning to cook is super easy, pick up How to Cook Everything. Between that and a decent grill book (I've got five actually) you're set. I'm not picky either, but a little variety every now and again goes a long way.

[Happy Panda]

I tried the diet you're on Panda and couldn't cope with it.

I was training BJJ 3-4 times a week and hitting the weights 2-3 times a week and found that without *any* carbs, I was struggling in a major way to keep up in training and I was always tired and weak.

One of the older guys at work who doesn't train at all also followed it and the weight fell off so I guess it can work.

Did you make it past the first 2 weeks? I can't say how my recovery is since I only wrestle about once a week, but when I do I can keep up pretty well and don't feel weak at all. If I had been trying to train regularly during the first 2 weeks though, I probably wouldn't have made it either.

[Asriel]

I don't think I did make it through 2 weeks actually. But I decided that my performance on the mat was more important to me. I managed to lose the weight I wanted in the end just by reducing portion sizes and eating more frequently.

[RaddyD]

I notice it mostly in the morning since I always have to piss like a racehorse an hour or two before my alarm goes off (high sodium = lots of water), and my heart is beating like it's going to break through my ribcage and attack me. It's definitely higher throughout the day too though.

research acidosis and ketone bodies

[Happy Panda]

research acidosis and ketone bodies

Not quite sure what I'm looking for. I glanced through the wiki on metabolic acidosis and saw something about rapid breathing, but my breathing was always normal even when my heart rate was through the roof. My heart rate is still a little higher than normal, but not nearly as much as before.

[War Wizard]

I don't think I did make it through 2 weeks actually. But I decided that my performance on the mat was more important to me. I managed to lose the weight I wanted in the end just by reducing portion sizes and eating more frequently.

The first two weeks really do suck. I had murder on the mind every time somebody was eating a large amount of carbs in my presence. The really shitty part was that the managers at work decided to have a managerial cake baking contest all week long during week 2.

[Chimaira]

It's been a long time since posting here, but I do have a few insights on this diet. I have tried it a couple of times and have since abandoned the idea.

Pros: Good amount of weight loss, both water and fat. I did have some strength improvements in my weightlifting as well. Also, I was never hungry because the food was very filling.

Cons: First couple days sucked, as most people have stated, but that passes very fast. It is a little hard in some social situations, too. There were two big downsides that have prevented me from ever wanting to do it again. First, on the reload days I had a habit of going overboard, so my progress was much slower than it could have been, but I take full blame for that.

The big con for me is that after a few weeks I pretty much stopped crapping. The scale started going up because I was losing fat but retaining waste. My kittens were taking bigger shits than me. Frankly, I am a man that loves a good dump, and this diet took some of the joy out of my life. I can do without muffins. I can't do without poop.

[Yojimbo1717]

I did this same diet from April 1st until July 1st. I was abso-fkin miserable.

Went from 182 to 154. As soon as I quit I went up to 170 and have stayed around there (but for the past few months, have been getting more and more lean).

All I have to say is: Good luck not getting fed up when you grapple, if you do. I felt so weak I was getting tapped by people that shouldn't tap me in a million years. As soon as I started eating normally, I was significantly better.

[Happy Panda]

I did this same diet from April 1st until July 1st. I was abso-fkin miserable.

Went from 182 to 154. As soon as I quit I went up to 170 and have stayed around there (but for the past few months, have been getting more and more lean).

All I have to say is: Good luck not getting fed up when you grapple, if you do. I felt so weak I was getting tapped by people that shouldn't tap me in a million years. As soon as I started eating normally, I was significantly better.

28 pounds in 2 months definitely isn't healthy...you probably felt weak because you weren't getting enough calories.

[Yojimbo1717]

3 months.

April > May > June > July

I was getting about 2500 Calories per day, lifting weights and doing BJJ for 3 hours a day (6 days a week). Sat and Sun I went absolutely crazy on food.

[honesty]

Yeh, from my calculations then you were sorting yourself about 800 calories...

[Happy Panda]

Eh...I guess I'll pull out the "been hit in the head too many times" excuse for this one. Never was much good with months.

[c22002]

4 weeks in here.

Down 15 pounds (mostly water weight 4-5 real fat pounds). Lost 1 inch off my waist.

Honestly it's not hard to stay on. Stronglifts has 3 articles of recipes here, here, and here. Use those recipes to get started and then use the food list here, a decent cookbook, and Nutritiondata.com.

I would also strongly advise checking out this thread at T-nation. It's REALLY long but there's an incredible amount of info about the diet and people's adventures with it in there.

thanks for these links, I found them to be useful.