Hey there!
Sorry for the dearth of material on the blog of late. I have been pretty hammered with travel, the gym growing and frankly, just spinning with my book. I’ve been unlear how to divide the material and make it accessible to the lay-person while keeping the science-y stuff that many people are looking forward to. The direction I’m going is essentially 2 books in 1. The first book will be accessible to literally anyone. It will touch briefly on the health implications of insulin, autoimmunity and associated lifestyle issues, then just hammer the practical elements. book 2 will get deep on intermittent fasting, and a host of topics no one has really addressed in a formalized manner. I have some really good information, it’s now a matter of organizing it and getting it out.
My friend Andy Deas stayed with us this past weekend and he helped me to get organized and he kicked me in the ass to get the damn book done. When this project is wrapped up you will be able to thank him for much of the follow-through.
In the comments someone asked about leaning out. If you recall, I did a mass gain experiment about 9 months ago. Moved from 163-185. Strength was up, but I was pretty damn chubby. I have been following either CrossFit Football or Rutman’s ME-Black Box for training. For about 6 months I was still messing with some post WO carbs, typically about 50-70g depending upon the size of the WOD. Not surprisingly, my leaning out has been glacially slow. I thought back to when I just did cyclic low carb, what Poliquin had to say about leaning out (earn your carbs, be lean…) and I dropped to less than 50g of carbs per day with an occasional (once per week) larger carb meal that I just dropped in whenever. Result? Stunningly rapid fat loss. I’m about 178lbs but below 10% BF at this point. In general I’ve had 4 meals per day, large whacks of protien, just a little added fat and then loads of veggies. I have been using a post WO whey protein with coconut milk (40g protein, 20-30g fat) and I really like this. This was something I used in the past but this article from Mauro Dipasquale reminded me of the utility of a low carb PWO shake. I generally recommend against liquid food for fat-loss scenarios but as with all things, there are exceptions. Keep in mind, a low carb approach will NOT turn you into a CrossFit Super Star. It is however a nice approach to leaning out, getting healthy and not being a fat-ass for summer.
79 Comments
AWWW…you’re just saying that!
Chuck-
I need to do a post on the differences between PWO for performance and PWO for body-comp and reversing metabolic derangement. As a short answer I think Dipasquales recommendation of a low carb PWO meal is spot-on for the right situation. Those situations can include muscle gain and reversing insulin resistance.
For your situation, the “42 ways” tweaks dovetail nicely with what Cordain recommends. From there it’s just experimentation to see what works best for you.
Fellows-
Being concise and somewhat diplomatic, I’d say “NO”. There is no compelling evidence to eat 15 small meals per day as Sears recommends.
Fellows-
It is interesting stuff. Devany had some very interesting stuff on self image…way back when.
Robb, I get twisted in my head on the whole Fat thing. I want to be lean and yet not become a total weak shit. So moderation is my goal on lean and strong. I know I need fat in my diet and I get it via bacon, Almond butter and other good stuff.
B-fast
Two eggs/3 strips of Bacon/ coffee with cream.
Lunch 1/4 pound roast beef with a side of cold slaw with some Russian Dressing.
Dinner, Beer..it had to happen. Grilled Tuna/spinach. Dark Chocolate dipped in Almond butter.
This is a very typical day for me. Not beer everyday and it was just one.
Don-
tough to tell at this point. I am hoping to have it to the publisher by November but that may be overly ambitious.
Justin-
For the purpose of the low-carb approach, yes I think you are good to go.
Eric-
Really tough to say…I think I down upwards of 10-12 oz of meat at many meals. Others are more along the line of 4 eggs. it’s pretty variable, especially when I’m on the road!
Tom-
It’s really tough to know…if you are highly insulin sensitive you will likely be fine with a low carb PWO meal. But without knowing your exact situation and goals it’s tough to tell. I’ll say this: I absolutely gain muscle and stay lean FAR better on a low carb approach. I may not turn the CF world on fire, but all other parameters are far better. If I genetically had better insulin sensitivity this might not be the case.
Awesome Bob!
Robert-
I have a whey protein isolate with sucralose. I throw ~50 go of that into 8oz of water. Then I add about 1/4 can of coconut milk and 2 heaping tblspns of unsweetened coco powder. Shake vigorously and it’s good to go!
Zack-
I like BCAA’s…I’m blanking on a manufacturer…I think MRM? Give that a look. Ido Portal really likes large doses of the BCAA’s…upwards of 50g for mass gain efforts.
jen- that looks pretty solid to me. Good call on the Dark Chocolate + Almond butter! Yowza!
How are you looking/feeling/performing on this?
Thanks Brian! Quite a compliment. Back to work on my damn book!
Bridget-
I’ll do a post on this today.
Sean-
I’ll do a post on this today.
Buck-
It’s just a private label for a local supplement store. Any good quality WPI is good to go.
Ok, here’s his recipe: one 13oz can coconut milk, 1/2 C whey protein (34% protein, unsweetened), optional flavorings (1 tsp vanilla or almond extract, and/or 1-2 tbsp cocoa, 1-2 tbsp sweetener (Splenda, but you could use real carbs too such as dextrose or sugar), and water to dilute to ~44oz. The nutrition for the total volume is estimated as 820 cal, 82 g fat, 57 g saturated fat, 16 g carb with 11 g sugar (using only Splenda), 20 g protein. Of course, the proportions and flavorings can be adjusted to suit your needs and taste. This works well for him for a 50K run.
Hey Rob,
How did the idea of a “Beta” version of the book turn out? I am sure a lot of folks would be happy to pay up the $30 or so up front to get the Beta chapters and then a printed version once it’s finished. We’ll give you some feedback on whether it’s too science-y as well.
Cheers,
Lukas
I seem to be one of the few who do NOT lean out on low-carb / high fat diets. I tried zoning, then increasing fat blocks on zone, then a Keto cyclical stint. And for each of these, I gave it a solid 4-6wks. On all 3, my energy was terrible. My brain function was almost moronic. And in the end, I was gaining fat if anything. I have a nutrition background, so I am very specific with tracking calories / splits / blocks or whatever I need to.
I’m 5′4″, 128lbs, 17%BF. Trying to get to about 13-14%BF…While not suffering any performance output at CF.
If I go below 1600 calories, no matter what the Macro splits, my body seems to start storing fat like there’s no tomorrow. I can’t imagine ever trying a 12-block Zone diet again.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Am I just someone who has to do 60% Carbs every day to function?
I do have a history of Figure competing in which I had to drop calories down to 1400 for an extended period and cut out everything but Protein for 2 weeks. It kind of messed up my system for a few years. But I did get down to 10% bodyfat doing this. ** I wasnt eating ANY fat…In fact for 2 yrs my fat intake was probably less than 8% of total. (very bad, I realize now)
help?
Rob -
Nice call on the shake – that is tasty!!
Kari-
It could be a number of things…you may just be wired up to run on more carbs, you may have a little thyroid issue…zinc deficiency can play into this, fish oil deficiency. It’s tough to tell given the amount of information here but those are some areas you could investigate. How mucha re you training? How much sleep?
Lukas-
It’s just going to be a standard book…I’m working like crazy to just get it done.
Thanks Robb — cause I seem stuck…
I do Crossfit 4-5X a week. Just recently forced myself to cut down to only 4X when possible. I’d like to do it 7 days a week…haha
I also play soccer 1X per week and sometimes a 30min morning run 2X a week (like to start the day w/ some peace and quiet in the fresh air.)
I sleep 9hrs a night. Sometimes also take a 30min nap.
I’m 39yrs old and find I just don’t recover like I used to.
I do take ZMA at night (2pills) as well as 6g of fish oil a day. Carlsons brand.
Just had my thyroid tested and it was something like 1.35 in the ‘normal range’ of 0-4.5. I don’t know which test it was. Something to do w/ T3/T4 reactive.
I did try the Anabolic (5days no Carb / 2day load) for like 6-8wks, and I might as well have been comatose. My brain had 0 function. And my energy was terrible. Even tried 13-14 days Keto to see if I needed longer to kick in w/ the fat burning.
thx again for any suggestions!
kari-
Up that ZMA a bit (3-4 caps/night for a few weeks, then back to 2) you might also consider adding a 150mcg of iodine/day. I’ve seen a surprising number of women who seemed to have normal thyroid REALLY benefit from the boost in iodine. Keep me posted!
I’m all over it. I’ll let you know in a few weeks!
In the meantime, I’m going w/ the following for nutrition:
1600-1700cal/ day
Approx macro splits: 40%C / 35%P / 25%F
Gluten free / Dairy free / Sugar free
Every 4th day increasing Cals by about 200-300 to keep metabolism from crashing.
I’m doing a Crossfit Strength-biased cycle starting today as well. Training Mon/Tues, Thurs/Frid.
Kari – your situation sounds similar to mine in the storing fat/brain fog area. I’m 29 years-old, 5′4″, 115 lbs, about 19% body fat (which, of course am trying to decrease), and pretty active – training 6 days/week with kettlebells and sandbags. I’ve only been following the reduced carb blocks/increased fat blocks for about 5 days now, but feel DUMB! Right now I’m averaging 1600 cals/day (no dairy or grains) and am feeling like I might be getting mushier. I’m afraid to increase my fat blocks any more…can anyone offer any guidance?
Also, when counting carb blocks how much do you consider the carbs in nuts/nut butters? I often include them for my fat blocks (in lieu of oils) but am not considering the carbs they contain.
Thanks for any offered info!
Jessica-
Yep, you count those fat blocks. Read the post I did recently on the Zone and athletic performance. You may not feel spectacular for up to 3 weeks as your body adjusts to the lower carb intake. This is largely dependent on what your carb intake was like previously.
Kari & Jessica
I had a similar uncomfortable experience the first time I tried really lowering the carbs and going paleo. Months later I’m finally brave enough to give it another go. This time it is a ton more fish oil (30 of the costco variety) and the carbs aren’t coming from calorically-dense nut butter this time…Maybe that also makes a difference for you. I’m still tweaking all of this.
It really has taken a lot of fish oil for me to actually notice something from it…