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21 August 2008 00:25

Today's Article

Are Low Carb Diets The Best Way To Lose Body Fat

These days, the carbohydrate issue seems to be the burning question on the minds of nearly everyone who is interested in getting leaner. Not a single week goes by that I don’t receive an e-mail with a question about the low carb/high protein diet.

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malek256

20 August 2008
The beach awaits us! Is your body ready? This is it - summer's nearly over.

malek256

04 August 2008
Tk: keep at it man

malek256

04 August 2008
Beautiful weather - hiking along the trails burns calories, keeps you mobile and fit and gets you outside.

TkNeo

04 August 2008
Man, i'm trying so hard to get back on track.. Just can't find the rhythm...Training has been very spotty..I've gotten LAZY. YUCK!

malek256

28 July 2008
Grilled veggies and chicken on the barbecue - good for the diet, good for the body, good for the taste!

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Gaining Mass : Muscle Building Workouts and Diet Advice | Build Muscle Mass | Gaining Muscle Mass Forum - Training Routines and Brute/Volume Discussion

Author

Fat Loss Calorie Summary

malek256

Body Sculpter Guru

Joined: 13.09.03
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2058

Status:

Posted on 18 March 2007, 13:23

200/400/100 ( = 800 + 1600 + 900 = 3300 cals) is a good starting point for mass - and if mass isn't adding, typically I suggest you'd add more clean carbs to it but if your goal is to bring out your abs and lean out while preserving muscle, you need a different diet.

The best diet I've tried both personally and for others with consistent results for people is similar to but not a CKD diet - a cyclical ketogenic diet. 200/50/100 ( = 800 + 200 + 900 cals = 1900 cals) works for this purpose as a starting point and works well. This diet is ideal for use of an ECA stack.

50g of carbs isn't a lot - but it goes a LONG way to offsetting some of the energy crash that can follow, and helps your brain with available glucose so you don't become a mental zombie.

There are three variations -
1) Ectomorph (naturally small): you need to up your carbs before and after your workout; you simply cannot train 'empty' as you burn too hot/fast. You up the carbs on both Saturday and Sunday, you refeed the whole weekend.

2) Mesomorph (naturally big and muscular): you up the carbs on both Saturday and Sunday, you refeed the whole weekend.

3) Endomorph (naturally big and heavy): you refeed on EITHER Saturday OR Sunday, but NOT both.

On a refeed day, you revert back to the 200/400/100 diet. Ideally you do not use an ECA on the refeed day/weekend. Most people will as the removal of caffeine causes headaches.

Remember - the fats MUST be healthy fats, there MUST be fish oil in the mix and we MUST have some MCT's (medium chain triglycerides) in this mix. Without the fats, the diet WILL fail.

The MCT's are especially needed - you must trigger ketones to allow for protein sparing and insulin sensitizing or stubborn fat won't mobilize well; lean people do not generate ketones well. And there is a 3-4 day lag typically. MCT's cause the ketone production right away.

WARNING: MCT's can be overdosed and you'll have some nasty 'on the toilet' time if you do. There's no health issue but who wants that?

For protein, look to get some casein (low-fat cheese or cottage cheese is ideal) as it has small but significant protein-sparing effects rather than Whey. Now, obviously if you're vegetarian or cannot use Whey this optimization won't apply.

IF IT DOESN'T WORK: If you are not dropping body fat, cut the protein, carbs and fat by 20g each for the next week (80+80+180 = 340 cals off -> so 1560 cals). If it's still not budging the next week, cut the same again - but do no further cutting as it will be counterproductive! You must find ways to further up your activity instead.

Short of a very long and technical description about leptin signalling, CNS output this short summary I hope will suffice. This is actually a very long distillation of ideas and competing feedback loops in the body, I've tried to make very simple

You lose when you stop trying.

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

sscott06

Beginning Lifter

Joined: 21.10.06
Location: Newcastle, Australia
Posts: 13

Status:

Posted on 26 March 2007, 04:18

Thanks malek - that's handy to know.

I was on AE's fatloss this time last year and lost 10kg in about 3 months, a lot of which I think was muscle. I think the reason why I lost so much was due to am cardio (fasted) and taking in minimal carbs before lifting.

When you're on fatloss - how do you train? Do you still do brute/volume? Is is ok to eat oats before training for fuel?

I read in the link below that HIIT is the way to go - I haven't tried this for fatloss yet but plan on starting this week. Not sure whether I can reduce the calories to as low as you've stated. I currently weigh 90kgs I imagine I would starve being that low. Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

malek256

Body Sculpter Guru

Joined: 13.09.03
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2058

Status:

Posted on 27 March 2007, 13:32

Yes, I do train with brute/volume - I work on ensuring I can keep muscle and look to get in intense bursts of cardio where I can.

Oats prior to lifting can be okay - just don't get a full belly and try to do 10x10's or deadlifts as you can get uncomfortable and sick.

You lose when you stop trying.

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

Kuraudo

Body Builder

Joined: 02.12.05
Location:
Posts: 106

Status:

Posted on 02 October 2007, 05:52

My wrist is 6"
my ankle is 9"
my waist , well you know how big that is. (but it wasnt always like this)

Would You call me an ECTO-ENDO?

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

malek256

Body Sculpter Guru

Joined: 13.09.03
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2058

Status:

Posted on 03 October 2007, 01:47

Oh you really really don't want to just let me make this simple do you? LOL

Yes actually Kuraudo I would. I think your metabolism has been slowed and/or there's a poor hormonal profile at work - so hard, heavy lifts and a slower focus on clean massing is the best approach because it slowly corrects the hormone profile.

You lose when you stop trying.

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

Passion

Body Sculpter

Joined: 10.10.06
Location:
Posts: 296

Status:

Posted on 04 October 2007, 14:17

3300 calories is starting suggestion for the "average" guy. What do you consider "average", obviously GK wouldn't be in that category.

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

malek256

Body Sculpter Guru

Joined: 13.09.03
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2058

Status:

Posted on 04 October 2007, 19:06

People vary so much - there isn't an average really and if they 'are average' then after they start lifting their metabolism and body composition/hormone profile changes and they aren't average any longer again LOL

But I'd say average here is a male between 20-40 in good health, 160-180 cm tall.

You lose when you stop trying.

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

Passion

Body Sculpter

Joined: 10.10.06
Location:
Posts: 296

Status:

Posted on 04 October 2007, 23:41

So the 3300 calories is a "starting point" for?????

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

Kuraudo

Body Builder

Joined: 02.12.05
Location:
Posts: 106

Status:

Posted on 05 October 2007, 03:46

Can I use MCTS on my 180 carb, 240 protein, 50 gram fat diet?
I don't know if that will help . I do refeed on saturday as it produces no fat gains for me.

Author

RE: Fat Loss Calorie Summary

malek256

Body Sculpter Guru

Joined: 13.09.03
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 2058

Status:

Posted on 05 November 2007, 18:11

Passion wrote:
So the 3300 calories is a "starting point" for?????

3300 = Starting point for massing, 1900 (with the calorie cycle) for fat loss. This is for everyone who has no idea where to begin but it's meant for a male between 20-40 in good health, 160-180 cm tall; others will need to adjust pretty rapidly based upon the first week's results

You lose when you stop trying.

Edited by malek256 on 13 January 2008, 16:44

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