Matt Version 2006? vs. recent Mattsquatch sighting
From early October to Christmas I built approximately?15 pounds of lean body mass. I have ALWAYS struggled to gain muscle and I have been lifting weights my entire life. I even had a full gym next?door to my bedroom growing up. I watched my friends get huge. Me?? Nothing. Nada. Even from my Freshman year of high school to my Freshman year of college I only added 20 pounds or so to my bench max, and a total of?less than 5?pounds to my frame?- I weighed close to 170 pounds’throughout.
But it worked this time thanks to a combination of proper training and a very important dietary priming period that I went through, which I believe maximized my muscle-gaining ability. In the next two videos I further explain what worked and why. You can read about priming your?body for enhanced muscle gain by reading on how to RAISE TO YOUR METABOLISM.
For Natural testosterone enhancement and “priming” yourself for gaining muscle like I explained in the video – a must for anyone that doesn’t gain mass easily and what many will find far more productive than training (but it will also make training much more effective), read more on how to RAISE YOUR METABOLISM?and follow the guidelines with a heavy carbohydrate emphasis. Do not be concerned about “raising your metabolism” if you are underweight. Underweight people often have the lowest thyroid activity (compensated for by increased adrenaline production which is muscle-wasting), which is a primary reason for why they cannot build new tissue effectively.
For great physique enhancement training tips, and what I?patterned my own training after,?go to www.scottabel.com
Funny that you talk about fruit in the morning in the second video. That's exactly what I've been doing for the last week or two. Tons of fruit during the first part of the day, and mixed meals for the rest of the day. The first few days felt a little weird, but now I'm feeling pretty great. I've got steady energy, I feel light and energetic versus lethargic. I definitely have more energy for working out (sort of doing a PACE/MET combo right now). My moods have been better, too (absolutely no PMS–crazy for me, I know).
Yep, it's the chronic. It does feel all kinds of wacky starting out though. Fuzzy tongue, sore teeth, headache, hershey squirts. But what dietary adjustment doesn't feel weird? Especially eating 200+ grams of carbs by themselves?
Haha, that Mattsquach photo is just as bad as those bigfoot/loch ness monster photos you see.
BTW, Matt, did you buy the dvds from Scott to learn the workouts or just figure it out on your own?
Trying to decide whether to drop $130 on the 5-day MET training.
LOL @ you claiming that's "muscle"
Chris –
Abel has lots of my money. I got to see part of his 5-day hypertrophy program with a friend of mine and that's better. He is narrating the workout instead of doing the workout himself, and the routine is much simpler – doing circuits of 2 exercises at a time instead of 3 at a time. But those are the only 2 programs of his I've been able to see.
They are very hard and very advanced. I never got to the point where I could do his whole workout, but I suspect I probably could now with this fruit-loading thing I've got going.
But the 5 day program would be my favorite, and you could actually go through it and instead of doing 5 sets of each "biplex" you could do 1 for a couple of weeks, 2 for a few weeks – and work your way up to all 5 sets of each biplex. It would be an easy progression from beginner to sasquatch.
Anonymous –
I was fatter than I am in the frisbee sasquatch pic before I started the training in October, and scale weight increased by 10 pounds.
I am more than 30 pounds heavier in the sasquatch pic than in the "way too much 'cleansing'" pic on the left.
I'd guess I now have roughly 25 pounds more lean mass and 5 pounds more fat than I did in version 2006.
I have probably 15 pounds more lean mass and 10 more pounds of fat than I had in the pig head photo in my profile pic on a low-carb diet.
Nice input on the topic, and very interesting.
When you said that you added some "more" sugar to your diet you really meant a shit ton "more".
I have not gone to that extreme, but I am also not really doing a lot of intense exercise, maybe one pushup, pull-up routine, and one kettlebell routine a week. But lowering the amount of "muscle" protein and displacing some of that with sugar has given me a similar if not the same results in terms of energy and mood, weight loss, etc.
It is an entirely different energy, than that cracked out "adrenal" / caffeine jittery anxious energy.
Body warmth has also had a notable increase. Have not taken temps in a few months but just hands and feet feel much warmer, and I never really was a person that got "cold" in the winter.
Now I just need this f***in' winter to break so I can get more sun light.
Oh yeah, did not shy away from the paczkis this morning!
Well, you know, I don't like to scare you guys. But it's me we're talking here. I don't tend to do things half way. And I'm glad I didn't with the fruit because when I do add a little it just makes my teeth ache and doesn't help body composition.
Do not be concerned about "raising your metabolism" if you are underweight.
Could you clarify: is raising your metabolism the same as raising your BBT?
Thank you!
Matt,do you think you'd be having the same effect with 400g of starch in the morning?Or do you think this effect your experiencing is unique to fruit carbohydrates?Do you still believe that starch is a superior carbohydrate to fruit?
fat loss for me is all about macronutrient ratios. when i noticed i lost some weight eating more carb and less fat i went for <50g fat per day, enough protein and then carb to appetite. basically potatoes with some cheese. lost 30lbs in 3 months. did no resistance training at all, almost no exercise really. since i look bigger and more muscular now i can only assume i lost no muscle.
also key to this was stuffing myself with ice cream or whatever when i felt like it. at least once i week i'd eat lots of fat and protein and then back to potatoes.
that was a couple months ago. been eating loads of fat + carb since then and no weight increase. i barely exercise. i'd guess i was between 10-15% bf after this. now i'm trying to get properly lean, fruit in the morning and potatoes the rest of the day. like last time my appetite dropped as soon as i restrict fat, and again the fat is melting off me.
basically the point i'm trying to make is a little intelligent fat restriction with refeeds is a simple way to lose fat and is much easier than trying to lose it eating lots of everything, assuming you have reached the point where you can eat anything without gaining weight. then you just go back to eating however you like, no regaining and no problems. a strong metabolism isn't destroyed in a few days of a little less food.
and btw i'm ice cold most of the time with a temp bouncing around constantly, always been like that. investigating Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency which would explain everything. a real lack of cortisol but good thyroid function. imo almost all general adrenal fatigue symptoms are thyroid and various other things and not cortisol. in ideal health cortisol does very little. anyway, only tests will tell. damn this is pretty long now haha, bye now
Sophie –
I think most underweight guys with poor musculature think they have a high metabolism, and a program that claims it will raise your metabolism wouldn't interest them. But thyroid is highly involved in synthesizing new tissue and also blunting catabolic adrenal hormones. It's high levels of adrenal hormones and low thyroid that often keep an underweight guy from being able to build muscle. It's a hard thing to do when your body is flooded with muscle-wasting hormones. But RRARF shuts down muscle-wasting hormones.
Anonymous –
400 grams starch I've found to be more hypothetical. I really have a hard time eating more than 400 grams of starch in a day and that's really trying hard.
I've always thought sugars had the potential to be better carbs for athletic performance and recovery, referring to fruit as sort of a performance enhancer back in my fruit vs. fat post from last spring/summer.
Terpol –
It ain't a bad strategy. I've had quite a bit of ice cream periodically over the last several weeks eaten to appetite and have really enjoyed that too.
Matt, sometimes when I read or listen to your stuff, it feels like my own. Pretty much exactly what's going on in my head, I'm just not as effective getting it out as you.
Keep up the good work buddy.
Hey Matt
I really liked your videos but i am wondering about something..
At some point you recommended protein in the morning for energizing yourself, and carbs at night to be able to sleep. How come the sudden change?
I agree, Kasper! I'm so confused. and I am not to the point where i can rely on myself to make those types of judgments for my body, so I look here for answers :)
Ok Dude, you say you are friends with the Berkham, so were are your shirtless with tight undies before and afters??? His site is lousy with them.
Better get a hot chick to take you some real pics bro.
You are pretty buff btw. Good job!
A long time ago I heard a fitness guy say "after a workout your body really needs pure sugar". Like candy.
love
haggis
Hi Matt, I did Bee's program (anti candida diet) for several years hoping I will feel better but lately I realized that it wil never work for me.
When I was doing low carb I was always hungry, adding something like 100g of carbs along with the lot of fats I was eating (mainly from coconut oil and butter) made my appetite very low.
Even after waiting a lot of hours without eating my appetite is low when I eat.
My body temperature increased from 96.6 to 97.3 in little time. I also put on a lot of weight (mainly fat).
Because I was gaining weight and I was never hungry I had to reduce my calories from 2000kcal to 1400kcal to stop weigh gain and having more hunger. I cut only fats while keeping carbs at the same.
After about a month I checked my temperature and it returned to 96.5 (my weight was not decreasing so I was not malnourished)!!
How do you explain this?
You say that I should eat carbs by appetite, I feel no carb craving when I eat 100g a day in an high fat diet.
Crushing tons of carbs early in the day seems to run counter to your post back in September on the carb to protein ratio. Have you changed your views in general on what is optimal or is it just a matter of what your objectives happen to be?
Also, I was surprised to hear you describe fruit as being "energizing". I was under the impression that fructose was a drag on the metabolism, given that it does not raise leptin and it promotes lipogenesis. And I can say anecdotally that when I consume lots of fruit, juice, honey, etc., it really knocks me out.
Matt… I'm confused… I thought that fructose was something to avoided… or is it just highly processed items like high fructose corn syrup that are devoid of the nutrients?
Also for a type II diabetic would you still recommend daily consumption of over 400g in carbs as a means to overcome type II/insulin resistance?
Yes, this runs completely counter to the concept of a higher protein breakfast with tapering throughout the day. I'm aware of that.
Part of the reasoning was knowing that blood sugar stays more stable, appetite stays lower, and it's more the natural rhythm to have more stress hormones in the morning than in the evening.
But there are other ways to examine it for sure. Guys like Peat are into the idea of choking off cortisol and keeping it minimized as much as possible. I think this is probably more appropriate, but warrants personal experimentation I suppose.
In the morning you are the most dehydrated and the most glycogen-depleted with peak stress hormone production. Eating high protein and low-carb for breakfast kind of perpetuates that high adrenal state, borrowing an increasing amount of hormonal energy without supplying any real energy. Just more glucagon, more cortisol, more adrenaline.
Another way to look at it is putting the brakes on it as quickly as possible. Fruit and juices in the morning works wonders for this, saturating your glycogen reserves for the rest of your day. I'm certainly not having any energy problems. Week 3 of this is better than week 2 is better than week 1 where I just wanted to lie around all day.
Marc –
Note that the first time I did this I had a horrible headache and had to lay down. I had a fuzzy tongue that actually turned green, felt kinda sick, had gnarly breath for a few days, had quite a bit of tooth pain… Not so much anymore.
And I don't just eat my fruit in the morning, but continue eating quite a bit during the rest of the day whenever I want some, but also have been eating fresh coconut, ice cream, milk, oysters, shrimp, mussels, bread, a yam or tater here and there, and so on.
I'm not going to fully go into it here because it warrants a full post. Maybe in a week or two I'll be ready to fully feel confident that it's not something that's going to backfire. But as a 15-year sufferer of lingering exercise-induced asthma, let's just say that going to heart rate max in a 45-second run today, totally cold without the slightest wheeze, warrants a descriptive word an octave above "promising."
I will address the fructose issue as well. For starters, Richard Johnson, one of the world's 3 leading anti-fructose scientists, vilifies fructose primarily because it raises uric acid. In a head to head trial with equal amounts of refined fructose vs. fructose in fruit, the refined fructose raised uric acid levels, and fruit lowered uric acid levels. Not only are they not the same, but caused the OPPOSITE physiological response, which speaks volumes. Most of the 658 primate species eat fruit all day long, so it's hard to be too paranoid about it.
Snaider – On a high fat diet you will not crave sugar. On a lower fat diet you most likely will. I always used this as a sign that fat was the ultimate health food because it kept us from eating all that sugar. Then I tried exercising without sugar. Not so good.
Bryan –
Most cases of type 2 diabetes stem from excessive cortisol, high levels of free fatty acids because of it, and so on.
Diabetics also have very poor glycogen storage and are chronically in a state of glucose deficiency on the cellular level.
So I think that the carbomaniacs that claim to reverse diabetes (Fuhrman, Cousens, Graham, Barnard, Whitaker, McDougall) are probably using a superior approach, as long as they are making sure their diabetics are getting sufficient calories to function and feel good and keep cortisol suppressed – which few are.
If I was diabetic, which I'm not, I'd first try to deal with the disorder by stuffing myself silly with carbohydrates. If that didn't work, and I had tried many variations of that approach (starch vs. sugars, high-calorie vs. low-calorie, high-glycemic vs. low-glycemic, high-fiber vs. low fiber, low omega 6 AND omega 3 vs. low omega 6 and HIGH omega 3 being some interesting permutations)…
Then I might throw in the towel and go Bernstein. But that's always the last resort.
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Good videos. As a rule I dislike videos compared to text (and that rule applies here too), but good for videos. I could have read an essay of that length in probably 1/10th the time, just sayin'. Others may prefer videos though.
I have so many thoughts from these, not all of them coherently related.
First off, I'm calling you Hans from now on. CHIEF is Franz.
Also, first "fat dribbles" and now "hershey squirts" and ?green tongue?? You're not exactly selling the 180 lifestyle to the new reader. ;-)?
—?
Um, another point – Interesting about "priming the the pump" for lean mass gain. I think I did that, albeit not intentionally. Back around Jan 1 I saw a comment from CHIEF about all the things he did to gain fat mass (sought out stressful situations, messed up his sleep schedule, skipped meals, ate small portions, etc.) and I thought, "Okay, I'll just do the opposite." And part of that was "buffet style eating." I deliberately sought to portion out to myself way more food than I thought I could eat, and I did that by doubling my carb portions at every meal. I ended up eating it all though, so I tripled it. I even ate that, so added more. Pretty soon I was having 3~5 sweet potatoes with dinner and bowls of oatmeal nearly the size of my head for breakfast. I added 1~2 cups of brown rice to my normal bagged lunches. I was really surprised by how much I could eat, since it was way, way more than I had eaten before.
(Makes me wonder if I was only doing half-assed RRARF before.)
Shortly after that I busted out a 99.1 body temp. Boo-yah. And my bowel movements would have left Paul Chek speechless in awe. I'm talking logs that would have intimidated Babe the Blue Ox, sometimes three per day.
Around the third week of January my appetite tapered off while energy levels remained high. But I think this "sweet potato challenge" was what really got me through the last of my body's attempts to hold onto fat mass. I lost an inch off my waist during this time, with no change in weight and minimal exercise (some Kettlebell swings; maybe 10 total minutes of exercise during the month). Then I started doing PACE sprints, and in February alone I gained 13 lbs. with no change in body measurements. That's a minimum of 13 lbs. of lean mass, and probably more.
So … yay carbs. My appetite for ?muscle meat? protein has fallen like a rock even as I've been adding this lean mass. For a meal I might just have 2-3 baked potatoes and get by on the protein in those, plus the sour cream and bacon naturally. Or some cheese. Or maybe a glass of milk with bread & butter. No steak with that. I prefer shellfish to steak these days, and hate chicken in all its forms.
I guess that's my long-winded way of saying I think you're right.
[PART 2 FOLLOWS]?
[PART 2 OF 2]?
Oh, so "muscles as a system." I've been meaning to mention how sprinting has really taxed my muscles to work as a system. Each time I did sprints I was sore somewhere different than the time before. I think the "weakest link" in the muscle chain was always being taxed and improved, and it wasnt' until Week 3 that I felt like the whole system was finally in sync and being taxed as a whole. And in Week 4 I pulled a hammy. Yay.
Now that I've switched to using the eliptical machine instead of running, I'm back to taxing different muscle groups, as the muscle demands are slightly different of eliptical vs. running. My glutes have felt it the most this past week.
That's the best part of doing something that works the whole body. No part of you can get away with being weaker than the others.
—?
Okay, second-to-last point. Carb loading in the morning. A while ago Matt you wrote a post about Serotonin, and how to best smooth out your serotonin levels you should protein load in the morning and carb load at night. I really didn't understand well enough to even formulate a question about that, which starting me bleating like a lost little lamb. Baaahh! Baaaaaah! Thanks for explaining to the others.
Unlike the lost little lambs up thread bleating about the fruit (Baaahh! Baaaaaah! ), I understand. I remember the words of the wise and illustrious Dr. Robert Lustig in all their bitter truthiness. He who cures childhood diabetes (PBUH) noted that while ?Fructose is poison?, fruit comes with minerals, vitamins and good fiber (which turns into metabolism turbo-charging SCSFAs in the gut) in such quantity as to more than outweigh any down-regulatory effect of the fructose. And if little diabetic nose-pickers can handle fruit, surely adult RRARFatarians can do so.
(I didn't know about the uric acid, but more good news. Yay fruit. I'm gonna go eat a cantaloupe)
—?
Last point. I think the worst thing about Scott Abel is that he sets you up for a "gym lifestyle." I don't believe there's any way to maintain his (or Kevin "The Machine" Weiss') level of physique without putting in the workouts he puts in more or less for the rest of your life. No thanks. If that's the price you pay to be huge, I'll pass. The 20 minute PACE workouts I do at the YMCA are fine with me, and I plan to add in some calisthenics work on the mornings I don't hit the YMCA at home, once I lean out some more, but even 60 minutes in a gym is way too much. Maybe on a temporary basis for a few months or so, but not as a lifestyle. What an awful way to live.
—?
P.S. That comment from "Samantha" is obviously spam. You really need to shut that down, and also lock comment threads after a couple weeks (it's an option in Blogger). I'm getting a lot of emails every day from your old threads with spam posts.
The more I read this blog, the more confused I get. I suppose I must be one of Brock's sheep. The only things that seem to have stood the test of time are:
1. Eat the food. Do not restrict calories.
2. No food is off limits, provided that it is nutritious.
3. Pay attention to how your body responds.
4. Everything else is mere details.
Matt:
Acne seems to be an issue many at 180 degree health have given up on. Seems like for many, "raw fats" didn't work and then "no fructose" didn't work and then "PUFA restriction" didn't work, etc. It's such a difficult issue that you wisely seem to have stopped bringing it up the way you used to.
Anyway do you think there is any skin connection with the way you've been doing things lately?
Strength training/Bulking up/Testosterone are all buzz phrases notoriously associated with causing acne. Then again, you're not exactly recommending drinking gross whey shakes all day to get 500g of protein in. So what's the deal – is this a skin deathtrap, or could it possibly be safe for a skin-problem-person to eat a couple hundred carbs (sugar and starch) in the morning…
I second the preference for written/audio over video: up in the boondocks with sleeping bears and melting ice here! On the other hand, it's very instructive to see you in person, see the results of your self-experiments.
I think it's very courageous of you to lay yourself wide open to judgment like this. Instructive too–even without the drastically different hair, you do look very different.
The whole fruit thing is just fascinating. I'm restricting it again temporarily while taking these antifungals but the past few months I'd been eating more and more of it and seemed to be ok. Probably needed to quit it for awhile after living on it (I couldn't build muscle when I was fruitarian)! It recalls so many old memories of fights on raw food forums years ago between the Rainbow Green crowd who believed that anyone who ate a piece of fruit was going to be overtaken by fungi and the prequel 30-banana-adventists who thought that any molecule of 'overt fat' you'd eaten in the past year was responsible for all your ills.
I'm holding out the hope that you can eat high amounts of carbs and have your coconut oil too!
I've never been inside a weights room–but we haul water to our home in 6-gallon jugs: couple hundred yards from the truck down icy driveway–does that count?
"And my bowel movements would have left Paul Chek speechless in awe."
This is the most funny thing I've ever read in the comment section !
Martin.
So Matt,
are you saying that by maxing out your glycogen stores you have actually seen some fat loss?
Do you think this is because you have more energy to work out harder or are we seeing evidence that the body can release excess fat in a scenario of abundant glycogen?
Conventional wisdom tells us that the body uses fat only after glycogen stores are depleted but I have experienced differently in the past.
Also, hows it going with the molasses? I've been taking a couple of tablespoons(UK) for two months now and have seen interesting results. More energy, no more candida related issues and hair growth after 20 yrs of thin hair post anorexia in my late teens.
Keep up the outstanding work bro. This blog never gets old or boring.
Hey Matt
I tried the food punchin' strategy this morning, and it was quite easy to get down. The only problem is that i feel worse today than i usually do, and i have this acidic feeling in my throat and stomach, which by the way isn't that pleasant..
But are you suggesting that this will be better if i just continue?..
Hi Rocket,
I also lost a lot of hair due to anorexia. Why molasses helped? Due to its high calorie content?
Before trying molasses did you find carb overfeeding helpful for your hairs?
Thanks
Kasper-
I can't promise anything. But I can say that I felt pretty ill for the first few days – having legitimate and not make believe raw guru-esque detox symptoms. Then very loose bowels for 2 weeks before things started to become normal. Lots of little things like that.
Acne Deathtrap –
I did notice from Abel's training that I did get a little acne on the upper shoulders, but not the face. But I am still training now and not having that issue (or muscle soreness, or joint pain, or other signs of inflammation). The clearest my skin has ever been was when I was eating a primarily fruit-based diet (like in the Maui 2006 pic above), although when actively overfeeding my skin became equally phenomenal – even not eating that cleanly.
The only problem I think with eating that way (fruit based) was eating insufficient calories, eating a lot of raw vegetables (raw crucifers especially, I ate like a half head of cabbage sometimes), doing a lot of really low-calorie "cleanses," not eating enough animal products – particularly animal superfoods like shellfish and dairy, and then eventually including a massive amount of high-PUFA nuts when I got really hungry from all the muscle loss. It was very poorly strategized that's for sure, with many anti-thyroid components.
But no. I think eating plenty of sweet fruit, particularly first thing in the morning like I talk about in the video, would improve, not worsen, acne issues – especially beyond the first couple of weeks. I'm finding it to have a very powerful anti-inflammatory effect which may be the reason for clearer skin. But there are many surprises remaining to be uprooted with skin health. Received an email 2 days ago from an acne sufferer that noticed that the only thing that helped was going out and eating a bunch of restaurant food full of vegetable oil. Go figure.
Ela-
That totally counts.
And on fruit and fat, it will ALWAYS come back to metabolism. That is the core issue. With a low metabolic rate you cannot clear the fats out of the bloodstream fast enough to keep from interfering with glucose clearance. And if you take a person with a low metabolism and add a little fruit to their diet, you might find they just end up with high triglycerides and more insulin resistance. Various restrictions that keep fat and carbs from competing with one another may provide short-term relief, but ultimately lower the metabolism long-term – the Catch-22 of macronutrient restriction.
It is all about CONTEXT. In the context of trying to raise the metabolic rate, and also with doing high intensity exercise in short bursts (glucose burning), eating fruit or juice or fat or all of it mixed together is tolerated totally differently. Like I've said before, the biggest improvements I've ever had in glucose clearance were eating a high fat AND high carbohydrate diet while eating high-calorie (body temperature increased 1.5 degrees along with the improvement in glucose clearance).
The fats matter too. Getting most of your fats from fiber's conversion to short-chain fats plus dietary medium chain triglycerides in coconut and saturated dairy fat is a totally different animal than eating a bunch of "healthy fats."
That's great rocket. Maybe I'll do a post on molasses soon. I still have some molasses in milk but obviously getting more fruit sugar now instead. I've got a few missing hair follicles from my vegetarianish, overexercising escapades that I wouldn't mind having back.
My dietician friend was telling me about something she came across recently that showed that the greater the person's ability to warehouse glycogen, the leaner the individual. That makes perfect sense to me. I associate maximized glycogen with maximized metabolic rate. To get the most sugar from food into cells it requires maximal insulin sensitivity.
And yes, part of it is enhanced exercise performance to get the leaning effect, but it's not like exercise is forced when glycogen reserves are high. It would be more likely that with maximized glycogen you'd feel like a young, healthy kid – unable to sit still.
Tezza-
You sound less confused than I do with that list! Well done!
My objective is learning, which is not finite. So there will always be new ideas coming into the mix and challenging the current 180 belief system. That's just how it is. But I promise you that's more fun and productive than just repeating the same tired mantras and running around the internet looking for further proof of pre-set ideas.
Brock –
Legendary comments in every way comments can be legendary. A true beauty. Any time Chek gets inserted I get excited and want to go build rock Buddhas.
I have a feeling you are going to be the most beastly and ferocious of all 180 followers by the time this escapade is all said and done.
13+ pounds of lean gain in 2 months from a few sprints, kettlebells, and Elliptical sessions. That's what I'm talking about.
Between that, your 99 degree body temp., and you curing your mom's diabetes, I'm pretty sure you should take over this blog now! Brock really is the Last Dragon!
Anon-
Nah, wasn't the calories. I reckon it is the minerals in the molasses. It stands to reason that extreme dieting would deplete mineral stores manifesting in lowered body ph, dental problems, hair loss plus a hundred other symptoms.
I have been eating the food for a while but in hindsight and in my particular case I can still see how a chronic mineral deficiency would have remained unreplenished. A large volume of food requires minerals to deal with it so I would advise addressing the issue before eating big. Try it for a few months and see how you get on.
Matt-
I'm gonna try some morning glycogen loading over the next week or so.
It does make sense, the morning being the most insulin sensitive time post sleep/fast. A little while back I was eating a fruit dominant diet and did experience a really nice clean kind of energy. Kinda felt like energy coming up through my feet when I was walking outside lol, I think this would be interesting while eating bigger later in the day.
Yeah, look into the molasses/mineral issue and maybe do a future post on it. I honestly feel that our mineral status is a major factor in how our bodies cope with a sudden increase in food and might make a big difference to RRARFr's.
Matt,
Love the videos. I can multitask and listen. As much as I like text, videos on occassion are fine.
I am going to start experimenting with the fruit and juices first thing in the day. Truth be told, I have never had an appetite for mixed types meals until halfway through the day anyway. I am heeding your advice from a post back in November to just Eat The Food and let my body composition sort itself out with Abel-type training. I was doing stuff I had picked up from his YouTube vids, but just the other day his 5 Day Whole Body Hypertrophy arrived, will be a bit more structured now. Let us where all this takes us now.
@Brock,
Love your post, just want to add that I believe all of Abel's programs are meant to be short term, intense periods of training. I could not agree more, 60-90 minutes a day 5-6 days a week for life?? No thanks.
Are you using raw juice in the morning? After your workouts, do you prefer fruit carbs or complex starchy carbs?
holy shit!! i can't believe your over 200 pounds at 5'9!! I might look like a little guy next to you now… i am 154 pounds at 5'9.
What do you think of Beer sugars… I read somewhere that good micro brews or gruite ales that are alive, have a some kind of glucose factor that makes you handle carbs better… i can't remember the exact article. Friends and I are talking about brewing our own gruite ales this spring, specifically ones that improve stamina and strength… i want to see what effects it has on us, since these beers won't have any hops.
troy
Hey Matt,
Great videos! This is a really interesting topic as I have been experimenting with different ways for gaining muscle and losing fat. I have quite a few questions though. Isn't fructose in large amounts a bad thing, and can lead to fat gain? Do you do this carb loading on rest days too? What do you think of intermittent fasting, as in Martin Berkhan's approach? I have also heard of benefits from fasted training, but maybe they aren't as great as the huge carb loading that you are doing? haha. One more: You say that building strength won't necessarily build you much muscle, so I am wondering if building muscle is more important than building strength. Does building muscle (as the focus) still produce great strength results?
Thanks for all that you do! Your posts are always amazing and I honestly check your blog (including 180 Metabolism) everyday for a new one. Have a great day.
Sincerely,
Brandon
Thanks for the props Matty. I am really pleased with how things are proceeding right now. For the first two years of following your suggestions I was improving body temps and digestion, but slowly, and weight never came off. But I feel like in the last couple months I've passed some kind of metabolic threshold and am now firing on all cylinders. I can feel the difference in so many ways.
What was the threshold? No idea. Maybe I finally purged all the PUFAs from my system, or finally replenished some vitamin or mineral to a certain point. Or maybe I wasn't eating enough until the sweet potato challenge really changed my conception of what proper portion sizes consisted of. Or maybe it was the blackstrap molasses. Or possibly it was work-life-stress issues (2009 was not a good year for me). Or all of the above.
But now I'm on fire. Nearly literally. In January I was running outside, at night, in the snow, in my flip flops and a T-shirt in frickin' Boston just to cool off. I didn't wear a coat the entire time I was in Boston or Cape Cod during January. Back here in Florida I'm sweating just sitting here at my desk in the A/C.
Also, I've lost 5.5 lbs. in the last five days and 1/2 inch off my waist. Weight peaked at 256.6 lbs. last Thursday, now down to 251 this morning (a weight I haven't been at since early Feb). Total inches lost off my waist since Jan 1 approx. 1 1/2 while first up 13 lbs and now up a net of 8 lbs. Energy levels are … well, let's just hope no brick walls get in my way, for their sake.
On the up/down/flip side, I damn near reached across a conference table this morning and punched a co-worker right in the face. Bitch. Apparently I don't have much practice at controlling Hulk-like testosterone levels, due to not having them before. Gotta work on that.
I'm gonna go home now and eat a whole cantaloupe, a loaf of bread and a stick of butter. Mmmmm. Lunch.
Brock you are Man Beast of epic proportions! Good work!
Funny, I told Matt this off line, but lately, fruit, chocolate, a bit of juice, some cheese has been my fuel. And things are looking up for this post meno monster. :)
I also love my tateys. Maybe I need to eat more than one a day so I too can impress Paul Chek with my bowel filling efforts.
xo
deb
Matt, I still want you topless.
omg BOWL filling. what a slip that was ;)
@Brandon said,
Not Matt, but what he said from the Mattcave is dead on about strength versus physique. It is a myth about a direct correlation between the two. Abel himself does not consider himself very "strong", but that is all relative. As far as I am concerned, if you are strong enough to do just a single pullup or even two that is as functionally strong as you ever need to be. Think of a life and death situation where you must be strong enough to lift your entire body. I long ago stopped being impressed by someone who can bench 300 pounds plus.
Most of us would rather look good and look strong at the same time. Matt is hardly "weak" if he can do 5 pullups at 200 pounds plus. Are you kidding??
I craved molasses when I was pregnant. I'd eat it from the jar. I thought it was the iron — but is there any iron in it? And sometimes during that time of the month I have powerful cravings for old-fashioned black licorice, which, I believe, is black because of molasses. There's definitely something in there…
Brocks comments are unbelievable. Seems like you are doing great and I am sure you will be in peak shape in no time, sometimes it just takes a little longer for good things to happen and stuff to click! Keep up the comments, hilarious and informative….
@ Matt: I have to second the thumbs up for the vids, as previously mentioned they allow for multi-tasking and shooting links to people who won't read a video but will listen to a 10 minute rant. Besides the optimal length for a post with modern attention spans is 400-700 words with vids optional IMO
Brandon,
Strength and muscle gain are closely related. Just because they're not linearly proportional doesn't mean focusing on muscle building won't lead to strength gains. Last time I checked, Branch Warren, Johnny Jackson, Ronnie Coleman, etc were putting up huge weights, and their focus is bodybuilding. Of course certain training methods will lead to better strength gains per lb of muscle gained.
@ Maggieo: Blackstrap is full of Iron, check these posts http://wp.me/piFK9-PQ and http://tinyurl.com/5v8mkpt full of a alot of other stuff as well, definitely explains rockets hair regrowth….
Matt,
Right on. Congrats on the gains. With the frequency of things changing and new info coming in, I keep coming back to the importance of trusting your body. Just about every strategy we talk about here I've inclined toward myself at one time or another- fruit and juices in the morning, fatty proteiny breakfasts, lots of starch and fat with minimal meat, lots of green and raw vegetables, meat and taters, etc. The key I guess, is to trust those inclinations and ride em out, and maybe at some point down the line, figure out an explanation for it physiologically. But trust first, since your thining may not catch up til later. 'Sall good, though.
Brock- epic posts, indeed. And super inspiring. Seems like you're well on your way to being an adrenal type, if you're not already there.
I find these days that my sticking point is eating: I can't seem to get food down like I used to. I think a round of RRARF helped that. bBt I don't think I rebuilt my reserves altogether, because, though I lost the fat I put on RRARFing, I can't seem to gain lean mass now and still don't seem to be firing on all cylinders. Maybe another round of it to max the tanks out might be in order.
Troy,
Another gruit ale-er, huh? Awesome- haven't come across too many folks familiar with gruit, or with the fact that hops is so high in phytoestrogens. Stephen Harrod Buhner talks about it here: http://www.gruitale.com/art_fall_of_gruit.htm When people talk about the beer-gut wearning, lethargic drunk, maybe it's not the booze but the herb.
Cool y'all.
Thanks rockets.
However I don't think your hair regrow is due to molasses because hair cycle is 2-3 months.
Admitted that 2 months ago some hair started to regrow, now them should be long max 2cm so difficult to notice unless you have very short hair.
If you were losing a lot of hair the regrow you are seeing may be due to less shedding (thanks to mineral/vitamin deficiencies you replenished).
Thanks, Matt–great clarification on the contexts and on the 'Catch -22 of macronutrient restriction:' I guess that explains how the raw food movement could support fanatics on both sides of the fence.
I love the constant exploration.
Also look forward to a post on molasses, to which I've always been drawn.
I want to recall your point a few weeks ago that exercise should be enjoyable. I'm just not attracted to gyms, prefer to use my own bodyweight for strength exercises, but sometimes worry that I'm wimping out.
As for the change from protein-am to fruit and juice-am: I think it's a really interesting experiment. Thinking of changing breakfast ratios really reminds me of how easy it is to acclimate ourselves to something that didn't initially feel good and then become very unsure about what really does feel good to the body. (e.g. I switched from years of no breakfast (bad idea and hungry for hours) to fruit breakfast to protein/fats/greens/berries smoothie and each switch didn't necessarily feel great initially.) 'Listen to your body' is great advice, but you can get very mixed messages sometimes…
Anon-
Dude, it's the molasses.
I clip my hair down to stubble, make Matt look like a hippie in fact ;-) I had areas on my head that had about 30-50% reduction in hair density now I've got strong stubble filling in the blanks.
Within a week of taking molasses I noticed that the speed that my hair was growing had dramatically increased. Easy to tell when it is so short.
I'm gonna give it a month or so and then stop clipping it down.
It's not my intention to convince anyone, just to share my experience.
Rocket, how much molasses per day?
So what about the adrenal guy, Wilson, who says fruit in the morning (or at all, but esp in the morning, and super-esp bananas) is a big no no for adrenal recovery?
Nothing I do seems to be helping with that. All I want to do is lay down – but I can't actually sleep. Grr.
undertow –
For the first three weeks I took 1 tablespoon(UK) in warm water 3 times a day.
I then brought it down to 2 tablespoons a day which I'm still taking.
re: Gruit ales
Haha! They are the best. A local brewery made some and my friend and I probably drank at least 25 pints each over a period of a few weeks. Both of our wives became pregnant within that time frame and our children were born within 2 weeks of each other. Gruit is the ultimate beverage for male fertility! I love it so much that I have been brewing my own. Check out "Ancient and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentations." Great recipes and thoughts on why gruits and meads are the ultimate health foods.
Scott
Here is what I found on molasses:
Blackstrap molasses is an excellent source of manganese and copper. It is a very good source of iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium. In addition, blackstrap molasses is a good source of vitamin B6 and selenium.
For an in-depth nutritional profile click here: Blackstrap molasses.
Hey Matt,
You mentioned in the first video that strength gains don't correlate to muscle gain and I seem to have had the opposite experience.
Since october I've been following a fairly basic barbell strength training program that focuses on low reps, low sets and heavy weight. From october to january I gained about 30 pounds training for strength and RRARFing. Its not all muscle of course but I'd say at least 15-17 pounds of it is.
I think its possible to gain strength without muscle but that doesn't mean that with a good diet, strength training can't lead to muscle gain.
I think hypertrophy or oxygen-debt work is also good stuff I just wouldn't rule out strength training as an option.
Thanks,
Love the blog, its completely changed my outlook on food, diet and nutrition
I went from about 135lb to 170 in six months. At 5'10" or more, I needed the weight. I tried not to let myself get hungry, drank a lot of milk, ate raw carrots, ate a lot of sugar, and took thyroid. Similar results, slightly different method.
I meant 175-180lbs
Hey Rob A.!!
I don't think the phytoestrogens are that problematic when the beer is finished… its when it fresh and being made at a brewery when its harsh. My good friend is a head brewer at Great Divide Brewery here in Denver, and when i helped him make a fresh hop beer in the big boys…. that smell and aroma was really screwing with my eyes and nose!! I can see how modern day micro brewist can get brewers droop or whatever they call it. He had his head in the mash and stirring things around, and i didn't even want to go near it… not only that but, all the other strange chemicals that were being used… like alot of diatamation earth… that shits harsh.
I have also started to smoke after meals… as to not suppress my appetite, organic roll my own tobacco, and have found it to be amazing! I smoke about 30 minutes after a big meal… it revs up my digestion time and elimination time!!! And… there freakin clean missles(poop)!!! i don't have to use any toilet paper!! Also i smoke alittle before a workout, and couldn't believe how open my lungs feel!!
I don't smoke a whole lot… maybe a whole cig a day, as the good stuff takes along time to burn.
Life is Great! I can't wait to brew some gruit ales this spring… Brewing small batchs of regular beer in Great Divide is fast and everyone so far has come out primo.
troy
400g of carbohydrate is easier to take in if it is something such as brown rice. Potatoes and beans are difficult to do because it seems they're a lot bigger bulk. Rice isn't as bulkly and it's much higher in carbohydrates. It takes me 2 hours to consume 840g of white rice, though it may not convert to the amount of carbohydrates I want it to. It's way cheaper than fruit though. Brown rice would be ideal for me.
I do not know how to explain this…
http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/mahatma/extra-long-grain-white-rice
I eat 6 cups before workout
This is the amount of carbohydrates I thought I was getting in:
http://www.coheso.com/nutridata/Mahatma/White_Rice,_Uncooked/item_details.html
I do not know how I was able to lift weights for an hour, do stretching and all that for 2 hours, then run for 6 hours maintaining 140-70 beats a minute the entire time, and at 172 pounds of lean body mass. Not to mention I'm at the place for 12 hours, my heart rate being elevated. That would mean I'm burning atleast 8000 calories. 4000 as fat calories and 4000 (1000g) as carbohydrate calories. Yet at the most I only took in 200g of carbohydrates. I think Satan has been helping me, but I didn't ask for his help. Hope he doesn't make me annighlate mankind or anything. I didn't lose any lean body mass. This goes against science.
So you're going the Buster Martin route, not bad. But don't tell me you're rolling American Spririt. Unless you remoisturize the fresh stuff just right you're dealing with garbage. The Bali Shag red equivalent "Danish Export" from Peter Stokkebye was my go to. While it did help me at first, I think I lost the good effects when I got to over 20 a day. I think cigarettes work like little cortisone shots.
The only cheap way you're going to be able to consume 400g of carbohydrates in a reasonable amount of time is to consume something like sucrose. It takes me 2 hours just to consume 279g of white rice. Just take 250g of carbohydrate from sucrose and mix it in with 2 litters of water (32 oz) and down it. Much more expensive options are to blend fruits or cold packed honey. You could mix in the sucrose with raw milk, coconut milk, and water so it has more flavor.
I meant to say 1 liter. It's good to have 250g of carbohydrate for every 1 liter or 32 oz of water. That's how it stores in muscle and liver glycogen.
Someone left a comment somewhere that I can't seem to find now. It was a concept about two approaches to weight loss – the thyroid approach vs. the adrenal approach, and that virtually everyone else is taking the adrenal approach (calorie cutting, carb cutting, fasting, fasted training, stimulants).
I had never thought of it this way. It is truly genius, and i will be plagiarizing it for sure. So thanks whoever wrote it and whereever it is.
On muscle gain vs. strength –
It's hard to gain muscle without gaining strength (this period was the fastest I've ever gained strength in my life), and likewise it's hard to gain strength without gaining muscle, but they are not one in the same.
My good friend Cody has only 10 or so pounds more lean mass than I do, and holds 4 Hawaii state powerlifting titles, bench-pressing well over 500 pounds at less than 200 pounds. He describes his training as, "Ho brah, always train heavy brah, supa heavy."
I will also note that Berkhan seems much stronger at less than 200 pounds and several inches taller than Abel than Abel was in his prime at 5'9" and 270 pounds.
Berkhan does weighted chins at low reps. Abel does supported chins at high reps. That's all I'm saying.
Beer boys –
That sounds pretty sweet. You'll have to drop some knowledge on me. Adding beer and tobacco to the 180 program would help the 180 degree image that has softened since I stopped eating 2 sticks of butter a day and started eating, shhhh, fruit.
Andrew-
Many 180kateers have had similar experiences by eating the food. Like I say in the video, if you are underweight and a natural low testosterone producer, you'll get a lot more mileage out of the diet than the training. And, once you've extracted the goodness out of the diet, you'll get more out of the training than if you hadn't undergone that process.
@ maggeio:
Blackstrap molasses is full of magnesium, as well. They say most of us are extremely deficient of mg. Maybe your body was craving that?
I assumed the magnesium as well – as that is the one nutrient that molasses excels in above all others. Off the charts. My Brer Rabbit claims to have 25% of the daily value per tablespoon.
Speaking of hair, the hair on my head has thinned considerably in the last month or two. It's freaking me out a bit, I must admit. I started to thin years ago (along with lots of areas turning grey/white at around 27), but it's really accelerated recently. I guess I have been stressed, esp since new year's day (personal relationship issues that included a threat to my wellbeing – Happy New Year to me!)
I know that magnesium is supposed to be one of the things that's depleted quickly if you're stressed, so I'm going to get some molasses today and start taking it again. I used to, years ago, and since then, it's something that I've always told myself I should start doing again.
Hopefully I can slow the thinning down, or maybe even reverse it. Then again, maybe I should just try to stop stressing about it – I'm sure that's not helping.
One thing that someone here can maybe give me their ideas on: over the last few months, I've been applying virgin coconut oil to my scalp probably 3 times a week. Is it possible that the coconut oil's affecting my hair growth negatively? I didn't think it would, as apparently people in India (and other places, no doubt) have commonly done this for a long time, but who knows?
One other funny things about the thinning hair: In the last month or so, I have an almost constant tingling in the area that's thinning. I've had the same thing happen before – about 3 years ago on the crown of my head (very thin spot there since then) and sides of my head near my temples and above my ears (pretty thin there, too. Receding as well). Grey/white hair in those areas as well. Coincidence, or the sensation of hair follicles dying?
Hey Matt,
Your second video about weightlifting is definitely true. Back in my track days (I was a thrower-big tall girl can't run, she throws discus) my coach had me lift lower amounts of weights with more reps, concentrating on form. I was wanting to get to the heavier weights, just because, but he wouldn't let me. Every few weeks we would 'max out' just to see how we had improved. Well, my body changed a lot. I didn't lose weight, as in the scale stayed the same, but my arms and legs were rock hard, I went down some clothing sizes and another added bonus, I got FAST in running, though I didn't practice much running. My strength SHOT up- I went from squatting 125lbs to 355lbs in about 2-3 months. Of course nothing changed in the dietary part, I was 17, gonna eat what I wanted. I didn't bulk up really, because the coach changed me to lifting less reps with more weight after I got a lot stronger, in an effort to keep me from bulking up.Plus, since I am a girl,I imagine it would be harder for me to get really big muscles.
To sum up:
I distinctly remember him saying that you use lower weights with more reps to build bulk, and heavier weights with low reps to gain strength. I believed him :)
Anyways, so would you recommend that a person that needs to go through the rrarf training NOT do carb loading? Do they need to wait till the body temp is up first?
Anneatheart said "I distinctly remember him saying that you use lower weights with more reps to build bulk, and heavier weights with low reps to gain strength. I believed him :)"
That is pretty much exactly what Pavel Tsatsouline says.
Yeah, so if you don't work 2a or 2b for awhile it will go away. It comes back right away because of muscle memory. That's why people are able to gain back over 30 pounds of muscle in a month. You have to make sure to consume enough protein so the muscle can return. When training as a powerlifter for initial bulking you want to develop IIA to your genetic potential, then stop training it so it goes away and you just have the IIB, lose all the excess bodyfat, so you have the weight advantage in your competitions.
It would probably be wise for bodybuilders to also develop their 2b because that does add on more muscle, giving you that extra hardness. Though I have no proof whether or not it adds to the aesthetic of the physique to do this. My original trainer told me that I wouldn't be able to develop my 2a unless I developed the 2b, and that the 2b causes lots of anabolic growth. The quality of your form is the most important, and when that is perfect your ability to lift more weight is also greatly improved. So quality of form is still there when you're lifting your heaviest. You always need maintain perfect form, perfect is not compromised when you're lifting your heaviest if you're doing it right.
I always thought that it was important (for men)to keep iron levels low, so who has blood donating with their molasses? Or is it not true?
about the way muscles look. some bodybuilders train static holds. this makes them look bigger when they flex. arnold has said he did this.
if you look at ring gymnastics (static holds) they usually look way bigger when they are flexed.
Matt-
thyroid vs adrenals. i don't think you are reffering to my post near the top of these comments but it was the point i was trying to make. if i do have Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency (pituitary problem probably, was hit enough times) i would have had it all my life. no cortisol to fall back on. i have no option but to go the thyroid approach. i said i don't exercise, because it is extremely uncomfortable. i can't sweat and my heart feels like its hammering in my chest at the slightest exertion. a little argument feels like a fist fight. all true low cortisol signs. never ever has changed since i can remember.
so i live as stress free as possible and watch my response to what and how i eat and what i do. i don't have cortisol interfering.
the idea behind that post was to help the thyroid as much as possible so that i need the least amount of cortisol. no exercise, plently of carbs, sugar, gelatin, refeeds, get up and go to bed early to get the most daylight etc. let the body use the fat instead of forcing it off. i swear since writing that post i have more definition on my abs. i'm probably losing 3lbs of fat a week. totally effortlessly. i also built a fair bit of muscle a while ago with a very small amount of resistant training.
this is also basically what ray peat is about. the better the thyroid function the less the need for cortisol.
and i think this is why most people who think they have adrenal fatigue don't get better. they restrict carbs, which alone are extremely helpful. if carbs give you trouble you are (mainly) too dependant on cortisol. until you improve the metabolism you can not fix your "adrenal fatigue". the changover is undoubtably hard especially if you must maintain a stressful life but its the only way imo.
About the whole muscle building-thing.. You can build strength without muscle volume, no doubt about it. Keeping your reps low, between 3 and 5 builds strength without the added bulk. Higher volume (10-15/20 reps) gives your muscles more bulk.
Muscle memory is very real. What I would like to know is how to make your body "forget". I've had to discontinue my Tabata training for a bit, because I regained the muscle volume I had when I was doing bodybuilding, in a matter of weeks! 4 mins twice a week was all it took for my body to bounce right back to freak of nature. I guess there is not much I can do about it. No matter how I trained (low or high reps) I've always been strong, benching 1RM of a 100kg's (sorry Matt) and putting most guys to shame.
What baffles me is that my muscles does not seem to be affected by my still low temperature?
I am happy to hear that a person has had good results regarding hair thickening, with molasses. I've just received a jar in the mail and am hoping it will fix my hair issues too.
Terpol,
That's a deeply informative post you've got there. Thanks.
I'm interested in the few mentions of gelatin I've seen recently. Any links on that? I see Ray Peat has an essay on it (which I haven't read yet) but any other sources would be appreciate too.
Terpol, what would you say are your Top 5 sources on "Thyroid-based" weight loss? I imagine Ray Peat must be one of them.
—
Sheila,
I guess everyone has their issues, but I can't say I can muster up much sympathy for your muscular "problems". ;) If you figure out how to make your muscles "forget", please let us know. I'm sure it will be informative, if not exactly useful for the muscularly-challenged. :)
BROCK-
Ha ha.. Yeah I know I don't get much sympathy for that but it really does annoy the piss out of me. I guess it's not the worst "side effect" in the world, in fact most would call it a bonus ;-) I guess it's a matter of you-want-what-you can't-have kinda thing.
Yes I will continue to try and figure out what TO DO in terms of muscle shrinking and then inform 180 what NOT TO DO ;-P
Rocket said:
"So Matt, are you saying that by maxing out your glycogen stores you have actually seen some fat loss?"
I was wondering the same thing, because of this…
"Conventional wisdom tells us that the body uses fat only after glycogen stores are depleted."
Is that not true? When does your body (get a chance to) use/burn excess body fat, if glycogen stores are always maxed out??
Also, regarding glycogen loading…
Rocket said: "I'm gonna try some morning glycogen loading over the next week or so. It does make sense, the morning being the most insulin sensitive time post sleep/fast."
So, would eating a fruit meal be best way to break a fast – as well as fruit for breakfast – for someone who is trying to lose body fat, using high starch\low fat to appetite (not restricting calories) approach?
And why FRUIT specifically (over, say, starch) for glycogen loading?
Matt, Rocket, Anyone?
damn site ate my post
Brock-
search WAPF for gelatin. i'm not certain if i notice an effect from it but i think its good to take even a little each day, especially if you have anything its said to help.
my view on health is mainly from this site and ray peat. i've been reading this site for over 2 years and i've learned the value of food, quality and of course quantity, and all the other little gems in the comments. ray peat explains why the food makes me feel good, why it is that i feel better in the sun instead of the dark. his site is a goldmine, i go back to it over and over trying to understand and connect things. the illnesses that kill people do so in mostly the same ways, and the same basic things can prevent them.
i do think peat misses the value of starch and fiber. fruit is great and all but you can only eat so much before you crave a potato. and in the name of health i don't think its good to eat loads of calcium. closer to a 1:1 ratio of calicum/magnesium, or even more magnesium with lots of sun/vit d is best. i think a little magnesium (i use spray) is one of the best and safest supplements.
180lurker-
read my 2 posts in this thread.
"Conventional wisdom tells us that the body uses fat only after glycogen stores are depleted." seems not
fructose replenishes gycogen fastest. i think it essential to be able to eat anything and not gain weight before doing this. you don't want to be stuck eating no fat to keep the fat off.
I think that using and replenishing glycogen is the key to being lean. In conjunction with anaerobic exercise, the body learns to use glycogen as its primary fuel. Then, the body will store glygogen preferentially over fat, therefore keeping less bodyfat.
Alwyn Cosgrove says that to burn bodyfat, you have to deplete glycogen.
An example that I like to use is, if you are going on a long car ride across the desert, you aren't going to shovel your trunk full of coal to make sure that you get there. You would take a few extra containers of gasoline. The human body is the same way. If you are constantly using glycogen for your energy needs, why would you have a need to store large amounts of fat?
That doesn't exactly answer your question but maybe it helps a little.
anyone see Gary Taubes on Dr Oz? I have to say, I can no longer stomach Dr Oz, he was a total asshole on that show, eating pork rinds, salami and a steak as big as his head for ONE DAY and saying it made him feel sick. What a douchebag.
just wanted to vent.
xo
deb
The Real Will-
if you need to deplete glycogen then how can i eat fruit and potatoes from morning to night and lose so much fat. a few more weeks and i'll be under 10%. i'm not doing any exercise as such but i'm doing stuff around the house and not sitting down much. and i can clearly see it is fat and not muscle.
you can lose fat different ways. for me, my guess is my body needs fat, i'm not giving it much so its using bodyfat. sounds almost too simple but it seems to be what is happening.
"I think that using and replenishing glycogen is the key to being lean. In conjunction with anaerobic exercise, the body learns to use glycogen as its primary fuel. Then, the body will store glygogen preferentially over fat, therefore keeping less bodyfat."
That was great Will. I think there's huge metabolic, respiratory, performance, and recovery advantages to training the body to use more glucose for fuel and less fat. This is done primarily through the right training (hard and short) at the exclusion of the wrong and eating a predominantly carbohydrate-based diet – although it probably need not be extreme.
Thinking of burning body fat mechanistically will always fail. The human body does not work that way at all, and thinking of burning fat mechanistically is what has gotten everyone to believe that moderate heart rate cardio and dietary restriction are the ways to lose fat.
What none of that takes into account are the hormonal adaptations the body undergoes in response to those stimuli, and how much more powerful hormones are in fat storage and body composition than relative energy surpluses and deficits.
When you think of fat loss mechanistically you get great short-term results and make it increasingly difficult to maintain a muscular and lean physique long-term because you push your body in the wrong direction. It reacts defensively.
The 180 approach is to steer the body's hormones in the right direction, not just say "my hormones don't cooperate" and then force them into submissions with a bag full of starvation tricks.
terpol, that was in regards to the type of training that is best for losing bodyfat…not the only way to lose bodyfat, because it can be accomplished without exercise as you have seen.
Thanks Matt. I started working out again and actually worked out twice this week, LOL! It's been about 16 months since I worked out regularly, so once I find a "groove" and get into a routine to be consistent, I'll be good to go.
I found hair loss happens after starting to eat normally again. It's actually the new hairs coming up again and pushing out all the dead ones. Normally it happens all the time only you don't notice. But when you starve yourself, lots of your hair goes into its death phase at the one time, to conserve energy I suppose.
Hey Matt! So I was curious as to what your thoughts on raising blood sugar levels is. MAny other metabolic so called experts agree sugar is great (particulary fruits), however most say to couple with fats and proteins. What is your thought on that in general for the morning and for the rest of the day? Should you couple fruits with the other nutrients or just go for the fruits?
I think fat and protein interferes with proper utilization of sugar, hence why all the big sugar-eating vegetarians always advocate keeping fat and protein intake low. Eating fat with sugar, for example, just interferes with glucose clearance. I eat fruit by itself most of the time, and even eat huge fruit “meals” a lot. It’s insane what it can do for recovery and athletic performance once you’ve reached a certain threshold of sugar intake in proportion to other foods.
Matt, please address this in relation to adrenals.adrenal fatigue. Obviously its been said people with AF should avoid sugar hits, etc so please address the above in relation to that as well. Thanks!
The more sugar, the more stress is taken off of the adrenal glands. Ingesting carbohydrates of any kind allow the adrenal glands to shut down. Some may notice, for a short while, that they experience “blood sugar crashes” accompanied by elevated stress hormone production. But this is usually short-lived and fixable if you are sleeping well, keeping stress levels low, eating enough, and supporting metabolism in general.
Hi Matt,
So you eat for breakfast just fruits?
You do not feel cold after eating fruits? What fruits do you eat and how much calories you get during day?
I’ve heard that is is better to eat fruits with fat and protein.
Could you give example of your meals?
I try to gain weight as well.
Thanks
Hi Matt,
So you eat the morning for breakfast just fruits?
You do not feel cold after eating fruits? What fruits do you eat? And how much calories you get per day?
Could you give example of your meals?
I try to gain weight and build muscles.
Thanks
Matt how looks your current diet, could you write example of your meals?
Do you eat just fruits for breakfast? What fruitS? You do not feel cold after?
I have read that fruits combinated with fat and protein is more balanced and satisfied.