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who's on it? And is it working for you? How do you find training without carbs pre/post workout, by which i mean what are your energy levels like in the gym? What do you think are the advantages over daily carb cycling (ie having carbs around the workout window)? And are there any downsides you've experienced?

Thanks in advance
Bobby

I've been doing it since about April. Sometimes I went 10 days without carbs or sometimes I'd have an extra carb day (which usually lead me to a couple of weeks without carbs) but all in all I've been doing it pretty strictly.

The first month was horrible, felt drained while training, no motivation to lift because I just felt lethargic in the gym, felt sick and a bit dizzy with higher rep stuff. But I was also having long fasts and a big calorie deficit. I've got to the point now though where I can have a successful work out, hit a PR on just a protein shake for breakfast. The fat loss was very noticeable everywhere, as was the flatness of my muscles! Just got back from my holiday though (what I was dieting for) and after eating anything I felt like for a week, I just look bigger. I haven't put on any noticeable fat but my muscles look a lot bigger.

I'm carrying it on with it now but attempting it with a bit of a calorie surplus. It's so hard though during the week with no hunger spikes, I'm literally forcing myself to eat. The weekend's easy though.

I'm gonna carry it on until uni starts again and go for the 'eat anything and everything' approach and start the whole cutting thing again before next summer.

getting ripped for the beach were ya? Good lad.

If you don't mind my asking, how much fat were you carrying before you went on the diet? Was the fat you lost just purely because you were having no carbs or did you make an effort to just eat less as well? Also, how long were you on it before you started to notice changes in body composition?

Also, where'd you go on holiday?

I don't really know how much fat I was carrying but I was about 13 stone 4 and I have a small build, I was 12 stone in September so put a hell of a lot of weight on in 6 months so quite a bit of fat, but I didn't mind. I'd say I was about 22% bodyfat, but I didnt look tubby or anything I just looked bulky, I noticed when the fat went that I was carrying a lot on my thighs.

I did purely diet and my normal weights routine which at the time was 3Xfull body's a week and lost a stone. In the last few weeks I started doing a bit of HIIT and played squash and was eating very low calories, sometimes just protein shakes but I had loads of energy.

To begin with I wasn't making any effort to eat less, just no carbs but after a couple of days you just stop getting any need to eat. I had to make myself eat. It's all due to insulin, I'd notice on monday after the carb weekend my appetite would pick up again.

After a couple of weeks I noticed a less bloated belly, and the first 6 weeks were rapid for around my stomach. After that it slowed down around there and the majority came off my arms and legs. Started having to wear my belt again and my thighs could fit in older jeans. But after I loss a stone and a bit it started slowing down a lot. I think I was near optimal bodyfat, although when I was growing up I was always defined, I never really had prominent abs, must be a genetic thing. I think I'd have to get to single digits to see them properly. Also, I lost a surprising amount of fat from my chest! I didn't mind though it's a bit out of proportion and I only do 1 exercise a week for it.

I went to Turkey, it was amazing!

that's interesting, I'm already fairly lean but I'm thinking about starting the diet as a kind of bulwark against ever getting fat. I reckon I have pretty good anti-fat genetics as I'm 5' 11", 175lbs and have never needed to buy higher than a 32" waist trousers.

What I think I'll do is continue to try and bulk (albeit cleanly) with carb cycling until I get to about 190lbs then switch to the anabolic diet. I reckon I'll struggle like hell for the first month or so without my precious carbs!

Congratulations on your weight loss, and yeah I bet turkey was amazing!

You need to build up them glutes.... Even with a 32" waist, you still don't want 32" waist trousers to actually fit you

I do cycle in some carbs every 6-12 days (usually 9 days), but I always do it after a deadlift or squat day. I don't understand the point of just randomly spiking your insulin on the weekend - it seems arbitrary?

that's more about the style of the trousers young man, don't tell me you wear skin-tight jeans?

that's an interesting point, I think maybe it has something to do with simplicity - you have a schedule, so you stick to it...

I dunno though, just thinking out loud (even though I'm writing it)

It's to replenish glycogen stores. The logic is if you're working out during the week, by the weekend a carb up will be advantageous to the follwing weeks training. The fact that it's on the weekend is lifestyle choice. At the moment I'm going to do Thursdays and Saturdays. Firstly because I'm training 4 times a week now and don't really want to deplete glycogen too much but also don't want any unneccessary fat gain (albeit, some).

In reality, you don't really need a full weekend of carbs if you're dieting, and a carb day 6-12 days like you say is enough. In the book he chooses weekends to carb up partly for psychological reasons (last the week and relax at weekends etc.) and partly because it's directed towards getting lean not completely ripped.

Robert, your build sounds similar to mine except I'm 5' 10. I think you're around my age too, so why are you worried about being ultra ripped? Surely the majoriy of the year you wanna be packing on some mass and increasing strength? We've got a good few years yet to maintain a good shape. I was gonna try anabolic diet-like bulking, but then I thought why limit myself? As soon as summers over and gonna eat as much as I possibly can as often as I possibly can, only young once!

You can lift glycogen depleted. It takes some getting used to. But I did and it meant the workouts were that much more help for losing weight. Maybe my performance was not great, but I still got plenty of newbie gains. And I lost a lot of fat.

I think a lot of people have priority issues. If your priority is weightloss and you just want to lift also, well fine. Go after it that way. don't compromoise on the fat loss when you've said that is your main priority. If your main priority is hitting some strength number and you don't mind having an NFL lineman gut...well go after that. If you kind of want some balance of both, I beleive that unless you are super advanced, that you can lose weight just fine while lifting. If anything, you can think of the lifting as maintaining muscle. And the attitudes of dedication and diligence and methodical execution really build on each other psychologically. Staying on plan diet wise, makes one more motivated to exercise. And exercising makes one more motivated to be good on the diet front.

Oh...and if you cheat and the diet doesn't "work"...DUH. There's no such thing as a diet not working. Restrict calories and you WILL lose weight. We can argue about how fast is best, which foods are most satiating, RDA of protein and all that...but that's a nuance. Bottom line...if you cut the calories, you will lose weight. Ask any high school wrestler...

This may be the first sensible thing you've said on here..... well no... I think there was one other time, so maybe the second.

Now I feel guilty for contradicting you in the knee thread.

Well, read my reply and feel guilty no more.