I’m standing in line at TJ’s. It’s busy! I grabbed a half pound of roast beef, some sunflower seeds, greens and celery. Nicki went for the smoked salmon. We rounded things out with some jerky for tomorrows flight home!
Robb Wolf is a former research biochemist and 2X New York Times/Wall Street Journal Best-selling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired To Eat. Along with Diana Rodgers, he co-authored the book, Sacred Cow, which explains why well-raised meat is good for us and good for the planet. Robb has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world via his top-ranked iTunes podcast, books, and seminars. He also co-founded the 1st and 4th CrossFit affiliate gyms in the world, The Healthy Rebellion community platform, and is the co-founder of DrinkLMNT Electrolytes.
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Hi Rob, another CF’er here loving your blog.
Can you talk a little more about how you personally do Cyclic Low Carb? You mentioned it in passing a few posts down and the descriptions I’ve come up with through Google are pretty varied. What kind of carbs do you carb up with on those days? Is it a true off-the-wagon cheat day, or is it just good carbs to get you out of ketosis? Are you even in ketosis or just outside? How frequently do you carb up? Do I have this whole concept totally wrong? 🙂
Me, I’ve had great performance gains eating in ketosis the last few months in both strength and metcon wods. (990 Total, 3:40 Fran) I have more energy, can miss a meal without really effecting wod performance, etc, etc. However, I haven’t really leaned out in any way I can measure, which is why I tried a ketogenic diet in the first place. My now broken Tanita scale had me at 10%BF in Athlete mode, and 15%BF in Normal mode. (btw, what’s your opinion on these scales.) Scale weight is roughly the same as when I started, 200-205lbs, (I’m 5’10”) but I do get an occasional anecdotal comment asking if I’ve lost weight. My daily nutrition is usually coffee, Splenda, 1/2 and 1/2 in the am, fatty meats with occasional veggies for lunch, mac nuts in the afternoon if I’m hungry (Usually not) and some lean meats and veggies for dinner. I workout after work. So after all that, I guess my questions are…
1)What do you consider good cyclic low carb dieting?
2)How fast is “fast” for leaning out? How do you measure it? Your opinion on body comp. scales?
3)Would you recommend cycling to lean out more, or something else. (I had a similar response to strict Zone for 3mo.)
Thanks in advance for any reply. Brett
Brett-
1-CLC is good if it works for YOUR goals.
2-Fast is “wholly shit, I leaned out fast!” I hate calipers…the mirror/camera do not lie…I like to keep it qualitative.
3-Yes, I think the carb ups help leaning out…I do not think those need to be extreme…I think that is more a sell point of the book sellers to make it a “diet for anyone…eat whatever you want”.
Did my comment get lost? Or was it too much of a consultation? Sorry if it was too much. Brett
Brett-
Just fracking busy brother! Up at 3:30 am yesterday…trying to tunnel through the comments…
Thanks for the reply Rob. I was just being dumb and didn’t realize you had to click on the post to see the comments. From the front page it looked like my comment got lost. 🙂
Ok, I can go indefinitely without a cheat day, but i think I’ll try incorporating a sensible carb up day. Thanks.
Robb-
i’ve followed your blog and comments and thoroughly appreciate all the info you put out there. i have a question about fat intake and steatorrhea in my diet. i am 6’1″, 180, 10% bf (complete estimate on that! quite lean, but not bodybuilder lean). i currently eat (in blocks) 19 PRO, 14 CHO (with 8 PWO as sweet potatoes), 70-75 FAT. i get this through eggs, chicken, bison, salmon, apples, oranges, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, almonds, and walnuts, predominantly. with this level of fat i experience what i’m sure is steatorrhea since when i drop my fat levels once a week i notice a more “normal” consistency in my…stool. i have been taking super enzymes, but it hasn’t seemed to help (3 caps with a big meal). in an effort to combat the steatorrhea, i upped my protein blocks to 25ish and lowered the fat a bit (did this for 3 weeks) and noticed more normal consistency but i felt like hell, no energy, my WODS suffered enormously for some reason. switching back, i have felt much better with WODS, but the steatorrhea is still prevalent. is this something that’s ok to just live with? or are there ways to try and work around it other than what i tried? (if it matters, for those 3 weeks i upped the protein with more chicken and addition of whole milk) maybe trying to evenly space out the 75 blocks of fat in meals? does that matter? or higher doses of the super enzymes? different fat sources? any advice or insight would be hugely appreciated!
thanks again for providing such a great resource. i am looking forward to a nutrition seminar coming my way at some point!
Dave…spreading that out over the day should help. Give-er a go and get back to me. NowFoods:Super Enzymes is a good option also and will help. 2-3 caps per meal.
not really relevant to the post –
i was wondering what insulin sensitivity or lack of has to do with gaining muscle mass?
thanks!
Dan-
Good insulin snesitivity appears to improve muscle gain.
Robb, I love these Road Forager posts. I like this better than what the Crossfit Journal is doing with following an athlete for a day. I’d be really interested to read what a typical day of eating is for you.
I’ll see what I can do amigo.
Any of you blokes and femmes who are CF nutters out there give me some tips on pull ups please ? Have squizzed the net and read some but wondered if the Wolf Collective had tips too.
I can do one from dead hang.. and that was a suprise !
Thanks much
Do two next time…
Robb,
Thanks for the great nutrition cert last weekend. I started on Monday by reducing carbs on my 12 blocks down to 9. In a week, I dropped 5 pounds from the scale and had only completed 2 CF WOD’s and one lifting session. Couldn’t believe it or maybe I could?!
Next week, down to the 50% carb reduction, we’ll see how it goes.
Thanks!
Keep me posted Mary!!
hey robb.. as always great job on the blog.. found this.. unsure am i of its strengths.. just thought it worth a look..
http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/579018
Padriac-Could not access that!
I like Trader Joe’s, but as a low-carber, I personally find it a “dangerous” place to shop–all those carb-filled goodies!
Pam-
It’s some of the best and worst to be sure!