I've been thinking.......

[JJFigure]

I know cyclical low carb diets don't work for everyone, but my PL friend (world level competitor) uses the anabolic diet to control his weight for competition, and actually feels he gets stronger on the diet. He stayed on it last year for 6 months and was able to come in at a lower weight class and still get a gold in the squat and 3rd overall at the worlds.

He's a little more loose with it than I am - eats about 100 grams of carb/day on low carb days and whatever he wants on the weekend (high carb days). He naturally tends to eat only starchy carbs (pancakes, bread, rice, etc) - not a big sugar fan, but does indulge in ice cream and beer (if he's not training) on the weekends. I tend to go really low carb during the week, but I'm learning to relax a little on the weekends and treat myself, too.

You might want to check it out. You can get most of the information you need from www.metabolicdiet.com, without buying anything. Dr. DiPasquale now has a PL specific diet you can purchase, but you can download a free version that has most of the info you need.

 

[The Shadow]

I dropped a LOT of fat on a 40/30/30 P/f/c diet a few weeks ago.....BUT....I noticed that the refeeds were just as, if not more important than the actual diet days....

 

[MS]

After doing some reading and sleeping on this one, I think you should go back to your old cutting diet. I say this based on
a) the higher carb diet you're on now isn't working for you
b) your complaints of symptoms of rebound hypoglycemia in the past, and
c) a piece of research published last May (High protein vs high carbohydrate hypoenergetic diet in treatment of normoinsulinemic and hyperinsulinemic subjects) which clearly showed that normoglycemic folks lose weight equally well on either a high carb or high protein diet of the same calories, but hyperinsulemic folks have trouble losing weight on the high carb diet compared to the high protein diet. In this study, high carb fiet was 12% protein,
58% carbohydrate and 30% fat. High protein was 45% protein, 25% carbohydrates, and 30% fat . On both diets total calories was 80% of resting energy expenditure.

It just may be that you will have to eat like a hyperinsulemic person for life if you want optimal mass gains or fat loss. Have you ever had your insulin tested??

This research was also interesting because it clearly showed that both groups (normo and hyper insulemic) experienced a greater drop in metabolism on the low protein/high carb diet. As a general rule, it may be the safest bet to start all BB diets with the high protein/low carb (but not necessarily keto) diet since it preserves metabolism better and it will work just as well for folks that may already be insulin resistant.

 

[JJFigure]

Just curious - if Spatts went on a higher protein/low carb diet, would she need to cycle in high carb days - say 1/week?

 

[MS]

I would think her previous high protein (350g per day) diet combined with carb cycling based on training and recovery would be fine. It worked for her before. And even IF she is insulin resistant to some degree, there is still a nice window of post-training insulin independant glucose uptake that she should take advantage of. Remember the folks on the diet I mentioned were NOT doing any exercise. They prolly would have had better results with the higher carb diet if they had used exercise and timed carbs for the higher carb diet.

 

[spatts]

MS...Interesting study. Is there a full version I can get my hands on? Would like to add it to the collection.

Had a glucose challenge done when I was pregnant, 3.5 years ago, and again about a year ago. Both were normal.

As I told corn last night, after eating yesterday (high day), and training, I actually weighed less...was definitely not eating enough. I am ALL over that problem.

JJ...I'm not sure refeeds are all that necessary for me, since I cycle the carbs (like MS said). Right now it's:

S...high
M...high
T...low
W...high
R...low
F...high
S...low

...so it's easy to not feel deprived.

I pretty much eat whatever I want on Max Effort Squat day prior to training. There's NO chance those cals don't get burned off.

 

[MS]

I can email you the full article Spatts. Glad you've got the problem sorted. for the record though, a glucose challenge tells you nothing about insulin levels. Many people can be in a pre-diabetic insulin resistant state for decades yet pass a fasting glucose challenge with flying colors. I just wondered both because of your hypoglycemic symptoms (when you eat carbs without r-ALA) and your lack of fat loss with the higher percentage carbs in the diet. Better safe than sorry.

I also lose weight faster after a 'refeed'. It can be quite dramatic some days.

 

[MS]

Oh, do you have an email addy??

 

[spatts]

I also lose weight faster after a 'refeed'. It can be quite dramatic some days.

Seems to be pretty common. Makes me wonder why more people don't carb up before a show.

 

[MS]

"Makes me wonder why more people don't carb up before a show"

The smart ones DO!