To MS...About Diets

[chabbah]

MS, I've read several of your posts on both this board and the Diet board and wanted to let you know of my experiences with both a high pro/low carb diet and a moderate pro/moderate carb diet.

I was on a high pro/low carb/zero fat diet that was prescribed for me by a "sports nutritionist" who also develops diets for pro bodybuilders and fitness competitors. I went from 18.4% to 11.3% bf in 4 months, in prep for a fitness contest. I suffered along the way, as he had me cycling on and off low carb days and took out fruit, dairy, and fat from my daily intake. Also, the aftermath was bad. I gained about 8 lbs and blew past my original 18% bf.

So now I'm trying a different approach to prep for a contest. I have hired a registered dietician who is also a reputable sports nutritionist. She has put me on a 40/40/20 diet that includes fruit and flax seed oil. I've lost 2% bf in 1 1/2 months and am stuck at a plateau.

I know you are not a fan of high pro/low carb diets, but I wanted to ask your advice about moving past this plateau without having to sacrifice my carbs.

 

[MS]

I hope I'm not the only one who responds to this question. To be honest, I don't know without finding out more about you, such as what you're eating now (exactly), how often, how many total calories, what your height and weight are, as well as your activity levels including weight training and cardio. Also any supplements you're taking. How much fruit are you eating??

I will say that rebound weight gain is a problem for most women that diet for shows. I don't think it's unique to high protein/low fat/low carb diets. Given that carb-depletion (ie ketosis) is a part of many bodybuilders week before a show, we all experience excessive water and some fat gain if we don't continue dieting after the show.

Another thing I have noticed is that many women find their bodies get more resistant to dieting each time they "diet down". Sometimes the only way around this is to really shake things up by changing your diet regularly with carb, protein and fat cycling.

 

[cockdezl]

"I was on a high pro/low carb/zero fat diet that was prescribed for me by a "sports nutritionist" who also develops diets for pro bodybuilders and fitness competitors. I went from 18.4% to 11.3% bf in 4 months, in prep for a fitness contest. I suffered along the way, as he had me cycling on and off low carb days and took out fruit, dairy, and fat from my daily intake. Also, the aftermath was bad. I gained about 8 lbs and blew past my original 18% bf."

ZERO fat diet? Just from this statement, I can tell that this "nutritionist" was an idiot. I guess he forgot to read the studies on very low fat diet's and their effects on fat utilization.
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Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2001 Mar;280(3):E391-8

"Low-fat diet alters intramuscular substrates and reduces lipolysis and fat oxidation during exercise."
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Also, no matter what diet you use, restriction of calories increases the potential for fat accrual when excess calories are re-introduced.

 

[MS]

Yes, I hope most of us realize by now that very low fat diets are counterproductive to fatloss. Anyway, she now has a 'reputable' registered dietician and wants to know how she can accelerate her fatloss on a more moderate fat intake. In fact she's now on 20%, which is very close to the favorable fat intake used in the study cited by Cockdez. Most certainly her "sports nutritionist" was an idiot, and to say I'm not a fan of that type of diet is the mildest of understatements. But how can we help her now? In theory this new, higher fat diet should work even better as long as we can get the exercize, calories, timing and food composition right for her.

One thing I'm wondering chabbah, is why you don't ask you dietician why your weight loss has plateaued? That is what you pay them for.

 

[chabbah]

I actually met with my RD today and had my bf tested. I've only lost 1/2% in the past month but have lost a total of 2% in the 1 1/2 months that I've been working with her.

Her advice to me was to continue as I am with the food and cardio (5 days, 60-minutes in the AM on an empty stomach) and weights (4 x a week). We'll reassess in two weeks.

I guess I'm just still confused by what I read on this board. I mean, a lot of people talk about keto, isocaloric, etc. I need to drop another 2% bf to compete in a figure show this summer, but I don't want to resort to drastic measures. I'm hoping I can achieve this goal without having to take extraordinary steps.

Anyway, I do know that I don't do well on low carbs. I like carbs and I like to have energy (I'm 33, full-time job, and mother of a 4 year old).

 

[djfitt]

"Another thing I have noticed is that many women find their bodies get more resistant to dieting each time they "diet down". Sometimes the only way around this is to really shake things up by changing your diet regularly with carb, protein and fat cycling. "


MS-how and when do you do this cycling of the macronutrients? Do you go low carbs high fat for awhile then switch to high carbs lower fat?