First Week Experiences on The Anabolic Diet
Oct 12th, 2007 by Mehdi Tags: Anabolic Diet, Nutrition
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Reader James sent me his first week experience on the Anabolic Diet:
“I’ve started the Anabolic Diet twice, given up before the first two weeks were out. I just find that after 4-5 days, I feel crappy - lethargic, like I’m sleepwalking, not really aware of what’s going on around me. No mental sharpness.
Of course, it gets worse when I go off of the Anabolic Diet and back on carbs so I’ve been feeling mentally cloudy for about 4 weeks now. Been back on the Anabolic Diet for 5 days, hope to stay the distance this time.”
12 Days No Carbs. T-nation has a large thread on the Anabolic Diet were people recommend eating no carbs during 12 days. The goal it is to clear your body of carbs. This causes a “crash” after 5-10 days.
If you want to do a 12 days no carbs: be my guest. Mauro Di Pasquale doesn’t mention this in the original Anabolic Diet book dated 1995. 5 days no carbs then 2 days carb up is ok. First week included.
The Transition. The first week is the toughest: 5 days no carbs, 2 days carbs up. Eating no carbs for 5 days will force your body to use fat for energy instead of carbs. This causes the first week experiences below.
In general, the higher your current carb intake, the harder the transition. The lower your current carb intake, the easier the transition. Also, big people tend to have more adverse effects than small people.
First Week Experiences. Here’s a list of things you’ll experience the first week on the Anabolic Diet. Use it as a guideline first time on the diet.
- Carbs Craving. Carbs craving is a self-fulfilling prophecy: don’t eat them & the cravings stop. Count days off. Think at the carbs you’ll get in the weekend. When the weekend comes: eat all carbs you craved for. You’ll end up in the couch and will be happy it’s no carbs again on Monday.
- Diarrhea. Fat softens your stool. Your bowels need to adapt to the drastic change of diet. Diarrhea is common the first week. Make sure you drink enough water & eat green veggies.
- Constipation. After diarrhea comes constipation. You need fiber. Which means lots of green fibrous veggies & a fiber supplement. Flax seeds is your best choice. One or two tbs. daily will do.
- Mood Change. Irritability, mental fogginess, feeling crappy & lethargic, etc. All are caused by the absence of carbs. It only lasts a week.
- Low Energy. Sleepiness, tiredness, lack of energy, bad workouts. First week can feel like having the flu. Eat your calories, including lots of fats. Might be a good idea drop the intensity of your workouts, you’ll feel tired anyway. Plan a deload.
- Hunger. Don’t start cutting calories from the first week on. Eat your calories, eat your veggies. Wait for your body to adapt to using fat for energy, then only think about cutting weight.
- Weight-loss. Carbs hold water. Going no carbs will drain water out of your body. 5-10lbs water loss in 5 days happens. In the mirror you’ll skinny, like flatting out. Don’t worry: you’ll get the opposite effect during the weekend carb loading. After a few weeks on the Anabolic Diet this yo-yo effect will be less pronounced.
Be Confident. Best tip I can give you. All of the above lasts for 1-2 weeks max. Then you’ll be rolling on the Anabolic Diet. The first weekend carb loading will already make you feel better. Second week will be much easier.
After 3 to 4 weeks, your body will be fully adapted to the Anabolic Diet. Meaning it will optimally use fat for energy instead of carbs. That’s when you can start thinking about bulking or cutting.
Post Your Experience on The Anabolic Diet. James is not the only one who has tried the Anabolic Diet. Post your experience using the comments below:
- How did you feel during the first week?
- How did you made it through the 5 days no carbs?
- How was your first weekend carb loading?
This way we can all learn from each-others. You’ve got a whole weekend to share your experience on the Anabolic Diet.
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My first week was very foggy, and I was very hungry a lot of the time. I didn’t have many cravings for carbs, which made it easier to get through. I was lucky there. The first weekend carbload was actually not as exciting as I thought it would be. However, it served it’s purpose well and everything has been, for the most part, on track since.
The key is to stick with it.
This diet is easy. It is fun. The really weird part is I am getting stronger while losing body fat. It feels good!
I never had an offical ‘first week’. I eased into it over 6 months because I had been trying different diet approaches. I found this site, dropped my carbs, upped my fat, my body did the rest.
I even dropped my cardio and obtained amazing results.
Cons - I tend to feel weak by Friday. Lifting can be tough. Plus I feel too flat and too skinny by Friday. Any ideas how to avoid?
Thanks for this Mehdi … I’m wondering if this diet is right for a guy like me, who lifts weights not to get huge but to get lean. Not interested in bulking up - looking to burn my last little bit of fat and get a clean, toned look. But some of the stuff I read on T-Nation seems to infer that this diet is aimed at guys who want to get huge. What do you think about that?
hey james, I have the exact same goal as you: getting ripped by shedding weight & going for that ‘compact’ look. unfortunately I only managed to find a good gym and start training a week ago so I can’t really say anything about the effectiveness of the AD with those goals in mind. but, I’m confident it’ll kick in any minute now.
my first twelve days on the AD weren’t too bad. got a little diarhea, then constipation like everyone else. I crashed bigtime on day 4. by day 6 I was already back to normal. it helped me to have a lot of AD-friendly snacks around to get through the days: cheese, smoked meat like bacon strips & italian sausage, smoked fish like salmon & eal (yum :), raspberries, some lettuce with olive oil & balsamico vinegar, nuts, etc… (just make sure you don’t get too many of those last 3 items, they do hold some carbs.)
all I can say is, hang in there. it gets easier as you go along.
@skibengal05
Look into Rob Faigin’s Natural Hormonal Enhancement. Very similar to the AD, however the carb load differs which may solve the problems you listed. I have been using this eating plan for the last couple weeks and it seems to be going better for me.
Well , nothing happened in the first week , I really don’t know why
But , I noticed something , in the normal days before the diet , I was eating a lot of carb and little protein and fat , so the diet changed that bad habit ( we often eat rice for dinner as traditional food ) .
Now I’m in the second week , it as normal as the first week , nothing changed , except …
I monitored my weight during the diet , I noticed that my weight was increasing slowly , As sown below
1st Day : 72 Kg
3rd Day : 72.2 Kg
5th Day : 72.5 Kg
7th Day : 72.5 Kg
8th Day : 72.5 Kg
10th Day : 71.3 Kg
Now ( 13 Day ) L: 75.2 Kg
So I still don’t know the effects yet
Yes you can do a mid-week carb loading skibengal05.
Lots of people in the T-nation threads are strongman who want to be strong without looking as a fato. Meaning: people in the heavy-weight classes who want to cut the body fat somewhat.
One of the disadvantages of the anabolic diet for those who want to gain weight, is that fat satiates. I think the Anabolic Diet is better for those who want to maintain their current bodyweight while cutting down fat or lose weight/fat.
If you want to get huge, you’ll need to eat more calories, whatever the diet you’re on. Thanks for remembering me to write this article James.
The 13th day was your carb loading day I suppose? Looks to me weight has been stable until the carb loading on day 13. It’s normal to gain weight during the carb loading because of the water content.
Have you tracked your caloric intake? Could also be that you just eating more now than before.
My first week wasn’t that good. I drink coffee a lot and I had to give it up for a week. The 3rd and 4th day, I felt really sleepy! I had mood swings but my stools were fine. Amazingly on my carb loading day I didn’t want to eat all the carb that I was craving the whole week even though it was in front of me. Usually when I was on other body building diets my 1 day free day would be filled with carbs all day but somehow I manage to change all that and it’s only been a week!
I’m going to keep on with AD and thank you so much for your site. It’s very informative.
Thanks for the motivating words on the blog SH.
Just started and I am into day 3. I’ve been drinking 1.25 to 1.5 gallons of water a day the first 3 days…should I be doing this? Maybe I’m defeating the whole purpose. Should I or should I not be drinking a ton of water?
@Jason
Drink a lot it’s ok. No problem with water. Anabolic Diet gets you thirsty
I’ve been on a modified version of the diet for about 4 months. I was 6′ 200lbs 15% bf. I am now 180lbs 10%. This diet rules! HOWEVER, my modified version includes 100g carbs EVERY postworkout (1 cup oatmeal, no milk but rather 3 scoops protein). I lift every other day, never any cardio. I stay at 30g carbs on non workout days. I cheat often, and it still works eating carbs mid week. It is basically a version of the ‘T Dawg’ diet. After toying with anabolic diet I think T Dawg is better. Look it up. A low dose of carbs on workout days keeps me from looking flat and it keeps my energy up.
Thanks Mehdi…
Few more questions…
1 - My fat/protein/carb ratios and foods are good, but my calories are at 2,514. Does that sound about right? I’m trying to cut, drop body fat percentage. I’m 6′0 175..about 13 to 14% body fat. I might be low on the calorie intake…is this OK? It’s a safe bet that before I started I was consuming 2,000 cal or less a day for an extended period of time. Just wasn’t eating well. So how does that effect where I have set my calorie level at?
2 - In 3 days I gained over a 1.0 lb. Is this normal at the start?
Jason, I would give it 4 weeks before worrying. I think you’ll find 178lbs and 10%bf to be your ideal. Your calories look ok to maintain or even drop weight (you might need higher), I would just make sure your protein is higher than 1 gram per pound of weight which will help drop bf. That my 2 cents.
@Jason
Like skibengal05 said: don’t worry about it for now. Goal is to adapt to the diet. Worry about losing fat when you’re used to the diet. 2500kcal is too low at your body-weight. You need 18x your body-weight kcal.
Last few questions for now Mehdi, I promise…ha.
- How much should I work out? 5 days a week?
- Do I take the weekends off completely?
- Does my diet plan change on days when I am not working out?
- I do some cardio - running w/sprint intervals for 10 minutes every time I workout - should I be doing this as part of this diet or should I not be doing cardio?
@Jason
Continue working out like you did until now. Your questions are unrelated to the Anabolic Diet. It’s just a low carb diet with weekends carb up.
[...] on the Anabolic Diet, and how it felt. For even more information on the first week, check out StrongLift.com’s write-up.I first started on the Anabolic Diet in April of 2007. I read up on it for about two weeks before [...]
So…after 12 day induction period at 2800 calories (I started at 173lb and 15-17% body fat)…my weight was holding at 172lb. Then I did a moderate carb load, didn’t go crazy, but had 2 to 3 beers on both Saturday and Sunday. My weight on Monday was 179lb. Is that abnormal? I appear to be adding muscle and bulking a bit. This isn’t my goal, my goal is to drop the fat around my waistline which appears all back after the carbload. Should I drop calories from my diet now to cut, since cutting is my ultimate goal, not bulking? To clarify, I just started my 3rd week of the diet.
@Jason
You need to wait 4-6 weeks before being adapted to the diet. The weight gain in the weekend is normal, a lot of it is water. You’ll lose it all by wednesday. Start measuring your body fat instead of your body weight, it gives better results. You shouldn’t cut calories at all during the first 4 weeks. Make sure you read all the articles tagged anabolic diet, the answer to all your questions is already on this blog.
Mehdi,
The reason you see the T-nation guys starting out with a 12-day no-carb period is because on page 62 of The Anabolic Solution book, it says:
Perhaps it doesn’t appear in his 1995 book, but my copy of the 2002 e-book certainly promotes a 12-day startup.
@Sean
Thanks for the info. The 1995 version doesn’t say anything about a 12 day carb load no. I’ve done both the 12 day & 5 day approach in the past. The former is probably better, body is definitely forced. But doing a 5 day no carb will force your body to use fat for energy too, althought it would probably take longer to adapt that way.
I just started this diet, however, I felt so good during the week - I wondered why I had not done this sooner. I had so much energy - however, I couldn’t even do my Wednesday workout after squats I was shot. No cleans, no press. Even doing the 50% warmup sets hurt so bad I swear it felt much more like injury than the normal “pump” I get. Friday same thing. Overall I lost 5lbs during the week. But I do want to be able to get my workouts in - exercise, diet and rest are the three legs of fitness after all. Though on Thursday I was *so* sick of meat; I couldn’t wait for the weekend carbs…
I stuck to the diet Friday and
On Saturday I did the carb up thing - hooray pizza and beer!
I fell directly to sleep only to awaken with a thirst that was to be quenched with 96 oz of water! I did not pee at all. I fell back to sleep and awoke 5lbs heavier.
Overall I found myself wishing that it could be Monday so I could go back to the low-carb diet. I did not feel good at all.
Sunday came and I ate every dang thing in sight. I used to think that eating carbs did not make me hungry. However, throughout the initial week I dreaded having to eat another meal - I was not hungry at all. I couldn’t believe that I was on a diet that didn’t make me feel like I was starving to death. Sunday was like the total opposite. And I knew from my diary that indeed carbs had changed my hunger significantly.
Over all I will stick with this diet, but I think I am going to eat much more clean carbs on the weekend from now on; and I will also be cutting back to the low-carb diet by noon Sunday. Overall I like how I feel during the week much better than how I felt this weekend.
I’m starting the anabolic diet today. I’ve been malnourished ( undernourished to be exact ) the last month and a half. I ate a low calorie, low fat, protein diet inadvertently ( just ate what I wanted, but wasn’t anywhere near enough ). I lost so much strength during that month and a half that I decided today to start the anabolic diet. I hope it helps get my strength back and then some.
Hey, I have just started the anabolic diet am about 190lbs i lift weights and do Mauy Thai it’s intense Thai boxing, i lift weights 3 days a week and do mauy thai 2 days a week i was wondering does the cardio effect my lose of muscle. Or does it help with this diet i have already nocited a decrease in my muscle. Any suggestions on how i can keep my muslce weight and get shredded.
i’m on day 4 of the AD diet. i’ve noticed a slight loss of weight and a slight loss of strength. i have chosen to do the 5 day no carbs as opposed to the 12. it may take longer to adjust….maybe. i feel as though i am adjusting well now. thank you to stronglifts.com for the informative help with this diet. i have a positive outlook for the future regarding this diet. to all of you who have just started like myself, i encourage you to stick it out. man up. do it. it’s not so bad. take the plunge and buy some beef, cheese, eggs, greens and just hit it up. who knows, it may live up to what it says it is. e.
Well, it is just over the 7 week mark now that I have been on the diet. Some very, very interesting things have transpired. 3 inches have come off of my waist. Additionally, my blood test 21 days in - confirmed that I had dropped LDL, raised my HDL and cut Triglycerides by half. My physician wanted to know what I “took” because the very best drugs would take 90 days to do this. I explained; that I stopped eating refined carbs. And he stood there in disbelief; and then it was almost as if he had a eureka moment and he said “Of course; just 100 years ago if you didn’t grow it or kill it; you didn’t eat.”
The other day, I had a mid week card-up because of a birthday. And much to my surprise; my body was still showing a state of ketones in my urine even after gorging on carbs! I take this as a sign, that my liver has decided the new default state is to burn fat for fuel.
Overall, I have lost about 1lbs a week and I am 7lbs lighter today than when I started. I have not made any effort to eat more or less. Nor to gain or loose weight. I have stuck to my diet; logged my weight & waist everyday and run a 5 day moving average on those numbers. The trend is definitely very much a loosing streak. My bodyfat is very clearly leaving my extremities as you can now see the muscle fibers in my shoulders, arms & legs - almost like a body builder; only I am really small. I wish my six pack would come back; but I guess I am a few months away I estimate my body fat to have dropped from 22% to 17%; but the margin of error is likely quite high as I am using fat calipers that I am not trained to use; along with us-navy body fat calculation charts to confirm the numbers.
I am very full most of the time, and I now find it trivial to get 40g of fiber today where I used to find it impossible.
I do exercise 3 times a week minimum as a 30-90 minute walk; far more often this is 5 days a week at an average of 70 minutes. I lift weights about twice a week; I do the 5×5 - and I want to get to where I can do it 3x weekly but my fridays have been very, very difficult. I often can not lift half of what I could lift on Wednesday and just can not fuel the workout.
Cheers to all! I love to read your stories as well - they inspire me.
Well, I’ve been on the metabolic diet for 4 weeks. I’ve gotten stronger, but my waist seems to have gotten larger. this could be because I just had a big meal ( I hope ). I weigh about the same as I did when I started, so I suppose I’ve put on some muscle mass. I weigh about 228, with my bf, that leaves me with a leave mass of around 185. I consistently weight anywhere from 228-234, so obviously I have high fluctuations of water weight. I think the biggest reason I haven’t lost much fat ( or may I have and it’s just not that noticeable since I have 40 pounds of it ) is because I exceed my 3300 calories ( 185*18). I may begin watching my calories if my weight doesn’t drop. Overall, I really like the diet. I feel a huge surge of energy after eating fat.
Seems to me like this diet might lead to some major acne?…..anyone have any problems with anything like that?
My first week I was hungry all the time. I didn’t do 2 weeks straight but 1 week and 1 wknd day of carbs instead of 2 days. This seemed to work better for me. I was tired but not too tired and I was thirsty all the time. I’ve since gotten up to drinking 8+ cups of water since on this diet. I LOVE IT!! Stick with it. It gets better after that first week. Like butter babay!
Medhi
Is it ok to consume artificial sweeteners and drink coffee on this diet ?
And is the weekend carb up really necessary ? I am quite happy eating protein+fat.
Here is another update:
==============
1 month before diet
Testosterone 636
Cholesterol 233mg/dl
Triglyceride 355mg/dl
HDL 42
LDL 121
181 Lbs
Waist 37″
Body Fat 22%
14 days on diet
Testosterone 1112
Cholesterol 207mg/dl
Triglyceride 198mg/dl
HDL 43
LDL 124
178.4 lbs
Waist 36 inches
Body Fat 19%
36 days on diet
176 LBS
Waist 34.5 inches
Body Fat 17%
85 days on diet
Testosterone 1488
Cholesterol 194mg/dl
Triglyceride 211mg/dl
HDL 31
LDL 121
175 LBS
Waist 34 inches
Body Fat 16%
Weight & Waist are taken first thing upon waking up each morning between 9am and Noon. The body fat is computed using the YMCA method and is not intended to reflect an accurate body fat % but is used as a metric to track changes.
By any standard that you look at it; things are getting better. However, I can see from the progression that I need to exercise more regularly. (between day 60 & 90 ) I have been really busy and progress was not as good as the first 60 days. My sleep has suffered as well. I had a few more carb days than I should have during that period as well.
I realize now that this is going to be a 6-9 month journey back to “full health”; but then in the big picture this is not all that long. I have no real desire for carbs anymore. Often at the grocery store I wonder if they sell “food” at all. I jokingly refer to it as the “carb-warehouse”.
And on carb days I have like oatmeal and stuff.
I have very rarely been hungry; and that is mostly on carb up days. I have also found that during my 60-90 day period that I work much better or 40 carbs per day; than 20 per day. (Note: I average over 200g protein/day; and 1750 kcal) My workouts have much more energy and I make better progress when I eat, sleep and exercise. Possibly this is because via a tip from a friend; I now add a scoop of instant coffee to my pre-workout protein shake. On the whole I can see myself being able to keep this up as a lifestyle as opposed to a diet.
I typically take a glass of red wine with dinner, I am going to stop that for the next 30 days and see if my Triglycerides don’t respond.
Cheers to all!
im going to do the 12 days w/30g carbs or lower. I usually lift 3 times a week and cardio for 2 days so if I don’t carb up on the first weekend and wait till the 2nd, does that mean I’ll have no energy at all to do my current workout?
K,
No problem with acne so far. Although I thought the same thing.
Congrats to Sevorg! Doing great man.
I have gained much weight so far on this diet. I went from 187lbs to 198lbs on my carb up day. Today, however, I am 194lbs. I know that much of this is from not getting enough fiber those first days I was on this. I am also coming off of the warrior diet (2.5 years) and I believe my body is resistant to heavy food so early in the day. I plan on sticking this out for another 10 weeks and see how it goes.
i find it hard to get 18X my body wieght the first 3 weeks
I’ve been on the AD for only two days now. My trainer gave me the info on it and after many fights I’ve decided to give it a try. Along with the diet I do Crossfit twice a week with the trainer, and I try to fit in 2-3 more days of quick cardio during lunch. Seems like a lot of guys in this forum, but I am a girl trying to make this change and figured I would share my experance. I am trying to lose inches and weight!
Thursday: Week 1
187lb
31.7% body fat
5.7′ tall
I haven’t taken any measurments, but I am wearing between a 14-16 right now. My goal is 9-10 by October (brothers Wedding!)
Hi Mehdi,
First thanks for this site! I decided to do a search for the AD and almost every link and person who is doing it pointed me in this direction. I will be starting my journey on it next Monday. I was reading the book (2002) and on this one it does mention to do the first cycle for a full 12 days (Pg 6 under the Four Practical Steps). I don’t know how “easy” will this be, since I know that most people are having a hard time doing the 5 days. I guess that helps the body switch to burning fat faster than just cycling after only 5 days.
Thanks again and I will keep track of my progress and post here once I get some time under my belt!