And unto this...RONIN

[Ronin]

I’ve been intending for a while now to start a journal, and now seems like as good a time as any. I’m starting off on the Anabolic Diet, and figured that charting my progress would help not only myself, but anyone else who may be interested. There seems to be a few, judging by the questions on the thread in the Nutrition section.

So first a bit of background. Once upon a time I was quite fit. I spent 6 years in the Army (TF) and trained in a few martial arts. Then I spent 11 years doing security, which meant sleeping and eating patterns were either non-existent or totally screwed. Meals consisting of a pie (or two) at 3 am, and bugger all sleep don’t help. Add in smoking heavily, and it would be fair to say that I wasn’t exactly at my best. My heaviest recorded weight was 100kg, I probably got a bit higher, but was kinda scales-aphobic after that. The first pic below was taken at Xmas 06.

I’d sporadically tried getting back into training, and had gone on a low-carb diet a few times while I was married, but never stuck to either, and always had a ready excuse; wife, kids, work….. I’m sure you’ve heard them all before lol. Then last year I managed to drop about 30kg in the space of 2 months, ending up at 70kg. I don’t recommend it, I pretty much stopped eating, due to some stresses going on. Back up to about 80kg now, and feeling better.

I’ve been livin la vida low-carb for about 5 months now, and training for about 4. And gave up smoking (cold turkey) 2 months ago.

As of 2/09/09, my BF was at 19%, chest 100cm, waist 91cm, arms 35cm. The pics were taken 12/09/09. I’m 36, and 5’7”, and last weight (about a week ago) was 83kg.

Goals: Short term is to be able to see abs by xmas. I’ve decided that I’d like to get to 9 – 10% BF, basically because it sounds good, but don’t know how this equates to appearance. Feedback appreciated. Long term, well I’d like to enter a BB comp. Again, don’t know how realistic this is, given my age and condition, but it’s an idea to aim for.

As a single parent, I can only train Mon-Fri, during school hours, and given that it’s now school hols, training is a little sporadic. This might not be the best time to start this journal, as for the next week, I can only train what I can, when I can squeeze it in.

My split is:

Mon – Chest & Tris

Tue – Back & Bis

Wed – Shoulders

Thurs – Legs

Fri – Whatever I feel like, or whatever feels like it could do with a bit extra.

And for the record, I HATE cardio. Loathe it. It was obviously invented by Satan. Nuff said?

Yesterday

All I could squeeze in was 30 min cardio, cycling. 390 cal burnt, according to the bike. I figure this is only an estimate, but also figure that it’s not a bad guide of performance from day to day.

Today

Cycle 20 min 255 cal

Bench

4 x 8 x 55kg

Inc Bench

2 x 8 x 45kg

1 x 7F x 45kg

1 x 4F x 45kg

Tri P/down

1 x 8 x 59kg

3 x 8 x 53kg

O/Head Extn

4 x 8 x 8kg

Calf raise

1 x 8 x 150kg

3 x 8 x 160kg

Embarrassingly low weights, I know, but I guess everyone has to start somewhere. Also, I recently dropped the number of exercises per bodypart, in favour of increasing cardio time.

Eats

M1 100g minced beef, 3 eggs, 6 egg whites all in together

M2 Post W/O protein shake

M3 185g Chop Chop

M4 350g Steak

M5 Sludge

M6 (will be) Jelly Fluff (before bed)

Supps

Protein Powder (of course)

Kre-Alkalyn

Carnitine

Fish Oil

Colostrum (for general health)

A bit light on the food today, lotsa running around after the snots. Usually the first feed after training would be 100g of Broccoslaw with 185g tuna. And I don’t generally count the PWO shake as a meal. Other than that, this isn’t too atypical of the way I’ve been eating for the last 4 months. Variations between chicken, steak, pork, lamb. Sausages have often been used as snacks. Oh and I’ve come to love almonds.

In fact, adjusting to the eating style has been my biggest challenge so far. I've had to go from eating one meal every 2-3 days to eating one meal every 2-3 hours lol.

A little nervous about taking on this Anabolic Diet, as I’ve been doing pretty well so far with little to no carbs in my diet, and now I’m about to spend 2 days a week loading up on carbs. I think I could count on one hand the number of cheats I’ve had in the last 4 months.

Anyway, I’m sure there will be plenty of old hands out there who can give me some advice and pointers. Bring it on, all advice will be taken in the spirit is intended.

Oh, and I have an appointment with a PT tomorrow for up-to-date BF and measurements, so I'll have a benchmark for progress on the Anabolic Diet.

[Luigi]

which anabolics will you be taking

[Mr_Krabs]

I know its probably hard after doing "traditional" weight loss diets but you need heaps more fat than that per day.

Try adding some cheese and making all of those eggs whole eggs (almost half the protein is in the yolk and you need the fat).

Good luck with the goals :clap: Ill be following with interest

[rose]

I know its probably hard after doing "traditional" weight loss diets but you need heaps more fat than that per day. Try adding some cheese and making all of those eggs whole eggs (almost half the protein is in the yolk and you need the fat).

:nod: And definitely good luck with the goals Ronin

[Pseudonym]

Yeah, I wouldn't do the Anabolic Diet without sitting down and crunching the numbers first. You really need to work out out your daily calories properly. Don't try to guess, because it's very different from what you'd expect.

Use the Cunningham equation mentioned here:

http://stronglifts.com/anabolic-diet-10 ... iet-guide/

[Ronin]

I know its probably hard after doing "traditional" weight loss diets but you need heaps more fat than that per day.

Try adding some cheese and making all of those eggs whole eggs (almost half the protein is in the yolk and you need the fat).

Good luck with the goals :clap: Ill be following with interest

Point taken, thank you. Having said that, I still have 2L of egg whites to get through, and hate thie idea of wasting food. So until they're gone, I'm throwing lots of cheese into all egg meals, hopefully that will help.

Pseudo, thanks for the tip, have worked my way through the advanced calculus required , but not sure of the results. Have PMd you. But at least I have a better idea now.

Was a bit gutted yesterday to find that after a month of sweating my ass off, my BF was still at 19%. Grrrrr. On the plus side, chest is now at 103.2 cm, waist 89 cm, right arm 36.9 cm, left arm 35.9 cm. So that took a little of the sting out, although my goal at this time is actually to lose fat. Just as an aside, is it normal for a PT to only take those 4 measurements? What about thighs, calves, forearms, neck? When I asked about this, I was told not to worry about it.

Anyhoo, on with the show.

Yesterdays' eats

M1 Mince with 3 eggs, 6 egg whites and lots of cheese

M2 Mince with 4 eggs, 4 egg whites and lots of cheese

M3 PWO protein shake

M4 Tuna/Chilli melt

M5 Tuna/Chilli melt

M6 Sludge

Yesterday's Training

Cycle 20 min 232 cal

Lat Pulldown

4 x 8 x 54kg

Seated Row

4 x 8 x 54kg

DB Preachers

8 x 12kg

7F x 12kg

5F x 12kg

EZ Curls

4 x 8 x 20kg

I really can't wait til school goes back. Dreading the Xmas hols.

[Pseudonym]

Pseudo, thanks for the tip, have worked my way through the advanced calculus required , but not sure of the results. Have PMd you. But at least I have a better idea now.

I'm posting your PM here, mate, so others can answer it better than I can.

Hi,

Thanks for your input on my journal. I've just used the Cunningham equation as suggested, and come out with 3200 for rest days and 3400 for training days (rounded down). Is it just me or is this too small a difference?

Obviously the difference is in the ERAT, for which I have weight of 83, duration of .75 and MET of 6. I'm taking duration as being weights, not including cardio, because I assume cardio has a different MET than weights, but don't know what it is.

Are you able to help or point me in the right direction, as I'm sure my training day requirements must be higher.

I calculate your ERAT as 373.5 calories (83x0.75x6). So if your 3200 is right, then on training days you should be getting 3573 cals. Which is probably not unreasonable? (I really don't know, TBH)

How do those numbers compare to what you've been eating previously?

[Ronin]

That does sound better. Not sure where I went wrong there. Maybe hit the wrong button on the calculator. Shoulda double-checked lol.

As for what I was eating previously, I have to confess that I never really bothered with tracking macros other than keeping my carbs as low as possible, trying to stay in ketosis.

At the risk of appearing even dumber than I probably already do, how do you convert kilojoulles into calories? I assume there's a magic number to multiply it by.

[HumanPerformance]

The cunningham equation is quite usefull, but honestly Ronin you dont have to be taht precise as the cunningham equation when you are on the anabolic diet. You will get amazing results just by making sure you keep your carbs low enough to put you in ketosis. You should go in by tuesday or wednesday. You can go in faster if you incoperate a glucose disposal aggent like Alpha lipolic acid (ALA) or even plain old cinnamin will help you get in faster as it has similar properties. I assume you are using ketostix?

[Ronin]

Na, haven't been peeing on sticks, but carbs hover around 20gm per day. And let's just say that I'm keeping mouthwash companies in business :shock:

Where do you even get them?

[HumanPerformance]

Most chemists will have them. And if they dont they will courier them in for you so will have them later that day. They are worth getting as are only around $15 for 50 stix or so (this will last a month or so). If you have bad breath all the time you may be to far in to ketosis. It is best to stay between trace and small on the stix as this is where the most fat burning and anit catabolic properties of the diet occur. Plus it is very instructive on how your body responds to carbs as you can see an immidiate change right before your eyes after you have had a high carb meal, or how your body plunges down the ketogenic scale after a hard leg workout.Its a huge learning tool.

[Ronin]

Thanks for that HP, I'll give them a go. Should be interesting.

[Ronin]

Yesterday and today were no-training days due to miniature people. Only 3 more sleeps til I get my life back, yay. Training with some regularity lol.

On the food front, things haven't changed drastically, although I'm now going through a lot of cheese, trying to up the fat intake. Only one more sleep until carbs can pass these lips. Have to admit to a little trepidation, but at the same time, I'm looking forward to it. Have spent large chunks of the day trying to decide what sort of carby foods to have, without going nuts and having a big junk-frenzy. I'm thinking that I'll probably load up on bread and pasta, as that's what I miss the most. The idea of chocolate, cakes, bikkies etc doesn't really do anything for me, so I should have no trouble avoiding overloading on sugars.

[Ronin]

Halfway through Carb Day 1, and any doubts I might have had about the effects of living on a high carb diet have gone. Shortly after a feed I'm feeling jittery, like I'm on a massive sugar high, even though I'm staying away from sugars. And about an hour later I'm yawning and don't feel like getting off the couch. This is weird.

Also, I think I'm gonna have a bit of trouble accurately tracking the macros. So far I've been keeping tabs on the numbers with Fitday.com, and the CalorieKing software. After breakfast and Morning Snack, Fitday had my calories at 1597, while CalorieKing had them at 1730. Over 100 variance after only 2 meals?

Will update with day's eats at the end of the day

[HumanPerformance]

Halfway through Carb Day 1, and any doubts I might have had about the effects of living on a high carb diet have gone. Shortly after a feed I'm feeling jittery, like I'm on a massive sugar high, even though I'm staying away from sugars. And about an hour later I'm yawning and don't feel like getting off the couch. This is weird.

Also, I think I'm gonna have a bit of trouble accurately tracking the macros. So far I've been keeping tabs on the numbers with Fitday.com, and the CalorieKing software. After breakfast and Morning Snack, Fitday had my calories at 1597, while CalorieKing had them at 1730. Over 100 variance after only 2 meals?

Will update with day's eats at the end of the day

Its normal for you to feel jittery, and or extremely tired and listless as your body is struggling to process the carbs. Everyone reacts differently when re introducing carbs after being in keto. Some of my clients have had mild stomach pains, extreme tiredness,headaches, huge sudden increases in libido, a feeling of euphoria, a slightly spaced out feeling, all these are completely normal. As I stated earlier dont fret to much about the exact nmumber of calories or carbs you are eating, the main thing is that you are taking in enough carbs to achieve full glycogen saturation of the liver and muscle tissues.

[Ronin]

huge sudden increases in libido,

Geezus mate i hope not, any higher and my pants are gonna explode

As I stated earlier dont fret to much about the exact nmumber of calories or carbs you are eating, the main thing is that you are taking in enough carbs to achieve full glycogen saturation of the liver and muscle tissues.

Don't think there's much doubt about that so far lol, think I might've overdone it :toilet:

[Ronin]

OK, so it would appear that I am no better now at maintaining a journal than I was when I was 13 and had to do one for school. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima fucking Culpa. No excuses, although I have still been training & dieting, just not journalling.

I've just switched gyms, and as a result, now have a new Personal Torturer, and thusly, a new training regimen. So figured it was time to dust off the ole journal, and have another crack at this.

Still on the Anabolic Diet, and finding that my body has adapted quite well to the carb-up weekends. I still get a massive rush after that first bowl of oats on Saturday morning, but no longer getting the jitters.

As of Friday morning, my weight was up to 86.1 kg (from 83kg), and I'll be getting BF and measurements sometime this week, just gotta sort out a time with the Torturer. I've definitely noticed some increases in muscle, just hoping that most of that weight increase hasn't been from fat. Fingers crossed.

Here's my training from the last week.

Mon (Cardio)

Bike 10 min warm-up

X-trainer 15min @ level 10, as close to 70rpm as poss

Stepper 5 min @ level 12, Random setting

Rower 2 x 400m sprints. As hard as poss, will build this to 4 x 400. 45sec rest between sprints.

Bike 5 min Warm-down

Weights days all start with 1000m on rower, as hard & fast as poss, for warmup and a wee bit of cardio.

Tue (Chest & Bis)

BB Bench

12 x 40kg

8 x 60kg

12 x 50kj

12 x 40kg

DB Inc Press

6 x 18kg

7 x 18kg

Cable X-overs

3 x 12 x 40lb

Super Set with

Cable X-unders

12 x 30lb

12 x 20lb

BB Curls

3 x 12 x 22.5kg

DB Curls

10 x 13kg

10 x 11kg

8 x 11kg

Cable Curls

3 x 12 x 40lb

Wed (Back & Tris)

Machine Pull

3 x 12 x 30kg

Lat Pulldown

2 x 10 x 120lb

1 x 9 x 120lb

Seated Row

2 x 12 x 105lb

1 x 12 x 120lb

Hyper Flyes

5kg DB

21, 20, 15

Pressdowns

2 x 12 x 60

1 x 11 x 60

1 x 8 x 60

Single Arm Cable Pulls

3 x 10 x 30lb

Kickbacks

3 x 12 x 6kg

Roman Chair

3 x 15

Thurs (Shoulders & Traps)

Seated DB Press

12 x 13kg

8 x 16kg

7 x 16kg

9 x 13kg

Upright Rows

2 x 12 x 35kg

10 x 35kg

Lat Raise

12 x 8kg

2 x 11 x 8kg

Machine Shrugs

15 x 180lb

15 x 195lb

14 x 195lb

Dumbell Shrugs

15 x 21kg

2 15 x 23kg

ABS

Roller 15 reps - left, straight, right

Dec Crunch Punch

5kg DB

2 x 15

Fri (legs)

Leg Press

12 x 120kg

12 x 160kg

10 x 200kg

Hack Squats

10 x 80kg

9 x 80kg

10 x 80kg

Leg Extn

2 x 12 x 120lb

10 x 120lb

Super Set with

Leg Curl

10 x 100lb

12 x 100lb

10 x 100lb

Walking DB Lunges

each set = 2 lengths of weights area = 8 each leg

1 x 11kg

2 x 16kg

Standing Calf Raise

10 x 360lb

10 x 375lb

9 x 375lb

Seated Calf Raise

12 x 45lb

2 x 14 x 45lb

Stair 50s

35/20/20

Kia Mate Toa

Edit.

This week I'm planning to shift Cardio to Fri, and move each weights day forward, to make the most of the weekend carb-up for chest and back days.

Also, I bought some Ketostix, but there's never any colour change when I piss on them. They just stay the same skin-tone colour, even on days when all I've eaten is eggs, steak and chicken. Have I gotten a defective bunch, or am I just pissing wrong?

[Ronin]

Eats

M1 5 eggs

M2 PWO Shake

M3 6 eggs

M4 6 eggs

M5 150g roast beef & 80g cheese

M6 180g mince, 1 pepper, 80g cheese, with chilli & lime 8)

M7 will be Tuna Melt

M8 will be Sludge

Weighed in at 88.9kg (2.8kg up since Friday :shock: )

Chest & Bis

1000m row warmup

BB Bench

12 x 40kg

7 x 60kg

8 x 60kg

10 x 50kg

Inc DB Press

2 x 10 x 16kg

8 x 16kg

Cable X-Over

3 x 12 x 40lb

Super set with

Cable X-Under

12 x 30lb

2 x 12 x 20lb

BB Curl

3 x 10 x 25kg

DB Curl

2 x 10 x 13kg

10 x 11kg

Cable Curl

12 x 40lb

12 x 50lb

10 x 50lb

Roman Chair

3 x 15

[Pseudonym]

My understanding is that on the Anabolic Diet, you shouldn't be in ketosis.

[Ronin]

Isn't that what is meant to happen with a high protein/high fat/low carb diet?

Anyway, on with the show

Eats

M1 5 eggs

M2 PWO Shake

M3 100g Ham, 100g Beef, 80g Cheese

M4 Tuna Melt

M5 380g mince, 80g cheese

M6 jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 87.7kg

Back & Tris

1000m row warmup

Machine Pull

4 x 12 x 30kg

Lat Pulldown

4 x 10 x 120

Seated Row

4 x 12x x120

Hyper Flyes

with 5kg DB

20,20,13

Pressdowns

2 x 12 x 60lb

11 x 60lb

10 x 60lb

Single Arm Cable Pulls

12 x 30lb

10 x 30lb

12 x 30lb

Kickbacks

3 x 12 x 8kg

Roman Chair

15, 15, 20

[Pseudonym]

Isn't that what is meant to happen with a high protein/high fat/low carb diet?

I think the small amount of carbs you get in the Anabolic diet is enough to keep you out of ketosis.

viewtopic.php?p=143671#p143671

[Ronin]

Cheers for that Pseudo. How are you finding it so far?

M1 5 eggs, 2 sausages

M2 PWO shake

M3 200g roast beef, 80g cheese

M4 Tuna melt

M5 200g mince, 80 g cheese

M6 Sludge

M7 Jelly fluff

Weighed in at 86.4kg

Legs Day (woot)

Warmup row 1000m

Leg Press

12 x 160kg

2 x 12 x 200kg

Hack Squats

9 x 80kg

2 x 10 x 80kg

Leg Extensions

3 x 12 x 120lb

Superset with

Leg Curls

12 x 100lb

11 x 100lb

12 x 90lb

Walking DB Lunges

each set = 8 per leg

1 x 11kg

2 x 16kg

Seated Calf Raise

15 x 45lb

15 x 60lb

14 x 60lb

Standing Calf raise

2 x 10 x 375lb

9 x 375lb

Stair 50s

30/25/20

[Ronin]

So, today

M1 5 eggs, 1 sausage

M2 PWO Shake

M3 Tuna Melt

M4 200g roast beef, 80g Cheese

M5 2 chicken legs

M6 Sludge, handful of almonds

M7 Jelly Fluff

Weighed in at 87.3kg

Shoulders today

Warmup row 1000m

DB Press

12 x 13kg

11 x 16kg

5 x 16kg

6 x 16kg

Upright row

3 x 12 x 35

lateral raise

2 x 12 x 8kg

11 x 8kg

Front raise

2 x 12 x 8kg

12 x 11kg

Machine shrugs

3 x 15 x 195lb

DB Shrugs

2 x 15 x 23kg

15 x 26kg

SB Crunch

3 x 15

Roller

10 reps (left, middle, right)

Cardio day tomorrow :cry:

[Ronin]

Cardio day. Traditionally the bane of my existence.

But today, for some reason, it wasn't so bad. Still had to drag my ass out of the gym at the end of it, felling like I'd doubled my age in the space of an hour. But by mid-afternoon I actually felt really good. Still stiff and knackered, but a feeling of general "goodness". Maybe cardio isn't so bad after all. The jury's out on this for the time being. More research to be carried out. Really wishing I'd never been a smoker :cry:

Anywho...

M1 5 eggs, 1 sausage

M2 PWO Shake

M3 Tuna Melt

M4 150g Ham

M5 2 Chicken legs

M6 will be Sludge

M7 will be Jelly Fluff

BTW, can't remember whose post I first found Sludge in, but if I ever have another child, I will seriously consider naming it after you.

Weighed in at 86.7kg

Cardio

Cycle Warmup 10min lvl 6

Xtrainer Cardio program 10min, 150b/m

Xtrainer Manual, 5min lvl 9-11 65 - 70 rpm

Stepper Random program, 5min, lvl12

Rower 3 x 400m sprints, 1min recovery

Cycle Warmdown 5min, lvl 5

Looks kinda wussy when I see it like that, but I was fair puffing and sweating, so I think I did ok.

With the weekend carb-up looming, I'm determined to clean up the carb intake a bit. Last weekend fish'n'chips made it onto the menu :shock:

The weekend before, it was my son's birthday, and we went to a buffet. Mmmm, tempura, Thai green curry, sweet'n'sour pork, ice cream & apple crumble. So this weekend, it'll be better.

Also, gonna cut it down to 36ish hours instead of the 48 it had been. So midday Sat will be the start of the carb-up.

Anyone else out there trying this out, if you felt like posting up some of your days eats, I'd be very appreciative, especially for carbs days. Cheers.

[Roidzilla]

fat slows protein absorbtion, right? so on this anabolic diet, all the pro/fat must keep your protein synthesis constantly burning right?? is that part of it? :-s :grin: