So a little bit about me...I'm 26, male and a CFB (current fat bastard) at 6'1"/245. I've been in the gym for almost a year to the date, before which the only form of exercise I knew of was how many Whoppers I could shovel down in a day. During the course of the past year I've improved my flexibility, gotten stronger and gained muscle I'm pretty sure I haven't had. Unfortunately the weakest link in this entire "situ" is my diet. I yo-yo diet and really haven't gotten rid of much flab.

So in the past week I've been reading up on the anabolic diet and I've come up with some calculations based upon How To Get Started On The Anabolic Diet (http://stronglifts.com/how-to-get-started-on-the-anabolic-diet/) and I wanted to post them here to be sure I've done this right.


So to determine my daily caloric intake, I use:

bodyweight * 18
245 * 18 = 4410 (4500 to keep it even)


Now, to determine the proportion split:

Mon-Fri: 2700(kcal) fat / 1800(kcal) protein / 0(kcal) carbs (60%/40%/0%)
Sat&Sun: 1125(kcal) fat / 675(kcal) protein / 2700(kcal) carbs (25%/15%/60%)


Next, I need to convert those calories to grams:

Mon-Fri: 300(g) fat / 450(g) protein / 0(g) carbs
Sat&Sun: 125(g) fat / 170(g) protein / 675(g) carbs


Lastly, I determine the breakdown per meal (assuming 6 meals per day):

Mon-Fri: 50(g) fat / 75(g) protein / 0(g) carbs
San&Sun: 20(g) fat / 30(g) protein / 110(g) carbs


Now I should be sticking to this plan for around 4 weeks to let my body adapt to using fat for fuel instead of carbs. Once that happens, I can begin to reduce calories in an effort to lose bodyfat.
To me, these numbers seem very high which is why I'm looking for clarification to be sure I've done this right. Also, keeping carbs at 0 throughout the week seems to be an impossible task. I created a sample meal plan where carbs nickel and dimed their way up to 93(g) by the end of the day. Is this simply a guideline in aiming to keep carbs as low as you possibly can during the week or is 0(g) the hard and fast limit?

I appreciate any input anyone may have.

Ideally, you want to keep digestible carbs at around 30g a day on the weekdays. If I were you I would load up on fiberous veggies while getting my fats and proteins from stuff like red meat, eggs, cheese, heavy whipping cream, and the like. It should be doable.

I don't know if the anabolic diet is right for you, though. It's pretty demanding and at your stage you could probably make great progress just by cleaning up your diet a bit.

Hi Prism, I've been doing AD for 6-7 weeks now. It's been an enjoyable and interesting adventure. I agree with the above post, you should hit the 30g of carbs a day. Fibre is important!! I think you really only have to skip the one carb up weekend, and go for 12 straight days. I didn't start with the cals as high as suggested, one because I'm female and 2 because I was already eating pretty low carb anyway, 25-30%. You may find if you are looking to chuck fat faster, you may wish to reduce your carb up to 24 hours. It's pretty individual though so you have to play with it a little.

Definitely get those 30 g of carbs. I eat a lot of green vegetables along with getting some fiber from ground flax and nuts to fill in most of my carbs, with a bit coming in other places like protein powders with a couple of grams per serving or so.

I've eaten similar to AD for a year now, and I really enjoy it and my health and blood work are great. Control refeeds and don't just go nuts, or you will kill your progress. I've found for me one day is plenty.

In addition to the threads on t-nation and whatever they are calling the women's site over there these days, there's a thread here in the nutritional forum as well you might want to read.

I'm not sure I'd start my fitness path with AD. As George suggests, you can do a lot with diets that might fit the typical habits better. You could even look up the t-dawg 2.0 diet on t-nation as a test diet to see if you want to start a bit of a carb cycling path without going quite to the AD level. Another good carb controlling/cycling diet that is a little more user friendly is the Men's Health Book "TNT Diet" (you can find 90% of the important info on the Men's Health site btw).

I'm not trying to discourage you from trying AD, I'm just giving other options :)

I agree with Mannish boy, as a starter diet there's probably better options. I needed something to shock my system thus deciding on AD. I agree with his carb sources, green veg, nuts and flax, and I also LOVE berries and whip cream. I save that as a treat if I do the rest of the day super low. Depends on the berries as well, but quite the fibre content with blackberries and raspberries!!

I agree with his carb sources, green veg, nuts and flax, and I also LOVE berries and whip cream. I save that as a treat if I do the rest of the day super low. Depends on the berries as well, but quite the fibre content with blackberries and raspberries!!

I do get some blueberries in my diet on low carb days, either in shakes to give them flavor or in my high fiber/low net carb muffins made with 1/2 flax meal, 1/2 almond flour. You can sneak in a 1/2 oz of blueberries (or strawberries) here and there pretty safely.

:) totally hear you on the blueberries. Ironically as I'm reading this I'm having a piece of flax bread (made...not bought) with blueberries. I have a bit of strawberry cream cheese on it. Absolutely tasty! I think berries and the fact that cheese is "allowed" makes it a very easy diet to keep. I do think it would be more difficult in the summer. Only thing I really miss is my apple in my lunch. Small sacrifice.

:) totally hear you on the blueberries. Ironically as I'm reading this I'm having a piece of flax bread (made...not bought) with blueberries. I have a bit of strawberry cream cheese on it. Absolutely tasty! I think berries and the fact that cheese is "allowed" makes it a very easy diet to keep. I do think it would be more difficult in the summer. Only thing I really miss is my apple in my lunch. Small sacrifice.


I eat tons of cheese, omega 3 eggs, and grass fed beef :eat:

I also occasionally make a no-bake cheesecake-ish thing with blueberries, cream cheese, and vanilla protein powder that gives me my sweet fix.

Another thing I've been making lately in the food processor is almond butter with a bit of splenda and cinnamon. :eat: