So, in Summer 2003, I did the atkins diet, a low carb diet. I more or less stayed on that for 2 years. My main complaint was that it did not really seem to account for the very active lifestyle. You just did not get the fuel you needed to perform well. Food choice was also a little restricted.
The main advantages were that it was easy to follow (just avoid carbs) and not too hard on the system after the first couple of days. I found I had a good amount of energy, just not the afterburner I sometimes wanted for the really intense workout.
Enter the anabolic diet. Arnold (the anabolic girl wonder) has been chortling about her initial success on the diet recently. I discovered this diet a couple of months ago after Arnold's last competition when we were looking for a better training program. I found the book Serious Strength Training after Arnold showed me an article on periodized training programs. Serious Strength Training recommended the anabolic diet (basically, a sport-oriented version of the metabolic diet).
The main idea of the metabolic diet is to go low carb to get yourself in a fat burning mode. The initial goal of the diet is not to lose weight but merely to switch from carbohydrates to fat as the main source of your body's fuel. Di Pasquale, the diet's creator, in fact recommends that you not have a target weight as your goal but rather a target body fat percentage. Once your body is burning fat, you can manage your body composition by reducing dietary fat.
Sounds great. We'll see if it really works.
I'm just 6 days in to the 12 day induction phase, but I think I've switched into fat burning mode. Energy is good. Di Pasquale recommends going two months before you try to pull any manipulations like weight loss. Personally, I know I have lost weight during the first week. I think it is mainly fluid, but it's pretty clear my body has undergone quite a transition and not reached a steady state. It doesn't seem like I have the basis to play around with yet.
One difficulty with these diets is keeping proper track of how many carbs you are consuming. Here are two good resources:
- Fit Day, a nice online macronutrient tracker, originally brought to my attention by Scott Bird.
- The carbohydrate counter is a nice resource if you don't want to go to the hassle of tracking all the details of what you eat.
- Here's another account of one person's experience with the diet.
The diet sounds good, although I think I'll wait a few weeks before joining you in this quest for reduced bodyfat. By the way, the link to the anabolic diet has the same URL twice.
Posted by: Scott | August 20, 2006 at 05:21
The diet is certainly a change of pace. Results remain to be seen.
Posted by: nancy | August 20, 2006 at 21:39
Scott, I feel pretty certain the diet can produce a reduction in body fat.
Posted by: Bud Gibson | August 21, 2006 at 00:22