Bodybuilding Forums

GT_907 wrote:I am naturally lean and muscular, MANS makes me soo lean it freaks me out, though I am muscular I am really light (150) so I feel skinny when I drop too much fat. My goal is a solid 180ish with the same amount of bodyfat right now, about 9-10%.

I've got pretty much the same body type as you; what are you eating now, and are you getting results out of it? I've been trying MANS for 6 months now without too much luck, even though I've upped the calories drastically.

MANS, with ~4000 cals a day, lets me trade a little bit of fat for a little bit of muscle, but I can't seem to gain any weight on it for the life of me.

Just out of curiosity... does the body digest olive oil well? That compromises probably half of my calories.

triple wrote:

GT_907 wrote:I am naturally lean and muscular, MANS makes me soo lean it freaks me out, though I am muscular I am really light (150) so I feel skinny when I drop too much fat. My goal is a solid 180ish with the same amount of bodyfat right now, about 9-10%.

I've got pretty much the same body type as you; what are you eating now, and are you getting results out of it? I've been trying MANS for 6 months now without too much luck, even though I've upped the calories drastically.

MANS, with ~4000 cals a day, lets me trade a little bit of fat for a little bit of muscle, but I can't seem to gain any weight on it for the life of me.

Just out of curiosity... does the body digest olive oil well? That compromises probably half of my calories.

do you get enough red meat? Beef patties have a good amount of fat so you should get a lot of your calorie from that too. You should try to get fat from cheese, dressing, flax oil, heavy cream, nuts, eggs, bacon, butter, etc. My fat sources are very varied. I get my fat sources from the foods i mentioned on a daily basis.

mykim0 wrote:

triple wrote:

GT_907 wrote:I am naturally lean and muscular, MANS makes me soo lean it freaks me out, though I am muscular I am really light (150) so I feel skinny when I drop too much fat. My goal is a solid 180ish with the same amount of bodyfat right now, about 9-10%.

I've got pretty much the same body type as you; what are you eating now, and are you getting results out of it? I've been trying MANS for 6 months now without too much luck, even though I've upped the calories drastically.

MANS, with ~4000 cals a day, lets me trade a little bit of fat for a little bit of muscle, but I can't seem to gain any weight on it for the life of me.

Just out of curiosity... does the body digest olive oil well? That compromises probably half of my calories.

do you get enough red meat? Beef patties have a good amount of fat so you should get a lot of your calorie from that too. You should try to get fat from cheese, dressing, flax oil, heavy cream, nuts, eggs, bacon, butter, etc. My fat sources are very varied. I get my fat sources from the foods i mentioned on a daily basis.

I eat roughly 1lb of beef a day, 5-7 eggs, and ~15 tablespoons of olive oil (not cooked, just swallowed). Sometimes I'll eat a few handfuls of almonds; but since most nuts don't have a great carb/fat ratio, it's not a very significant source. About a month ago I was eating sticks of butter instead of olive oil, and I was gaining weight at that point - which makes me wonder if animal fats are more digestable than plant fats. Just picked up some butter to see

triple wrote:

GT_907 wrote:I am naturally lean and muscular, MANS makes me soo lean it freaks me out, though I am muscular I am really light (150) so I feel skinny when I drop too much fat. My goal is a solid 180ish with the same amount of bodyfat right now, about 9-10%.

I've got pretty much the same body type as you; what are you eating now, and are you getting results out of it? I've been trying MANS for 6 months now without too much luck, even though I've upped the calories drastically.

MANS, with ~4000 cals a day, lets me trade a little bit of fat for a little bit of muscle, but I can't seem to gain any weight on it for the life of me.

Just out of curiosity... does the body digest olive oil well? That compromises probably half of my calories.

have fun with 4000 calories from only fat and protein.. I tried 3000 and it was harsh. I get sick of the same food REAL quick. Right now, I eat enough to get by, then eat ALOT for a day or two. Though I am not really trying to gain any mass just yet.

I may or may not go to a standard bulking phase for a bit just to gain some overall size then slowly taper off the carbs.

all that olive oil isn't gonna build muscle IMO, neither is all those fat calories. I'd say, eat for nourishment and recovery. More veggies and the like, maybe a fruit or two a day. When I was eating mostly just fats/protein/veggies, though I ate less- I remained strong. Now that I dropped alot of the protein, I am notiacably weaker and more tired throughout the day.

GT_907 wrote:

triple wrote:

GT_907 wrote:I am naturally lean and muscular, MANS makes me soo lean it freaks me out, though I am muscular I am really light (150) so I feel skinny when I drop too much fat. My goal is a solid 180ish with the same amount of bodyfat right now, about 9-10%.

I've got pretty much the same body type as you; what are you eating now, and are you getting results out of it? I've been trying MANS for 6 months now without too much luck, even though I've upped the calories drastically.

MANS, with ~4000 cals a day, lets me trade a little bit of fat for a little bit of muscle, but I can't seem to gain any weight on it for the life of me.

Just out of curiosity... does the body digest olive oil well? That compromises probably half of my calories.

have fun with 4000 calories from only fat and protein.. I tried 3000 and it was harsh. I get sick of the same food REAL quick. Right now, I eat enough to get by, then eat ALOT for a day or two. Though I am not really trying to gain any mass just yet.

I may or may not go to a standard bulking phase for a bit just to gain some overall size then slowly taper off the carbs.

all that olive oil isn't gonna build muscle IMO, neither is all those fat calories. I'd say, eat for nourishment and recovery. More veggies and the like, maybe a fruit or two a day. When I was eating mostly just fats/protein/veggies, though I ate less- I remained strong. Now that I dropped alot of the protein, I am notiacably weaker and more tired throughout the day.

so you are saying that the anabolic diet does not work at all? maybe different people respond differently but it has certainly worked for me so far. I put on 12 pound of muscle in 6 weeks with the anabolic diet without putting on fat. Still gaining weight. The problem with the high carb diet is that you end up getting chubzy and lose a good amount of muscle while cutting. Most of the weight gained from high carb diet is probably fat anyway.

I think the key to the anabolic diet is to get lot of fats from different sources. Mostly animal fat.

not saying that it does not work. It does to an extent and for an intended purpose. IMO it's best when used to gain mass gradually and slowly but not so great at gaining alot of mass in a short period of time. Was that weight you gained 'new' mass or was it 'muscle memory' from when you were at a larger weight and size. I am still working with the diet, but I seem to not only feel better and look better with more carbs daily rather then the carb up phase, but that's just me...

its new mass. I went from 148pounds to 162 in 8 weeks. I measure my arms and chest on a weekly basis and they are the biggest they have been in my whole life. Yeah the anabolic diet is slow but if you consider the fact that you have to bulk and cut on a high carb diet, i think the speed might be the same. people do lose muslce while cutting so in the end, the amount of muscle gained might be the same on either diet.

Personally, carbs give me bad gas and a good amount of water weight.

mykim0 wrote:its new mass. I went from 148pounds to 162 in 8 weeks. I measure my arms and chest on a weekly basis and they are the biggest they have been in my whole life. Yeah the anabolic diet is slow but if you consider the fact that you have to bulk and cut on a high carb diet, i think the speed might be the same. people do lose muslce while cutting so in the end, the amount of muscle gained might be the same on either diet.

Nice accomplishment man! Beginning lifting is awesome because you get so much bigger so fast - I put on 20lbs the first year I started lifting in highschool (then stalled : (). I'd agree with your philosophy on slow vs bulk/cutting. If I eat a lot of carbs, I can gain 10 pounds in about a month, but after going on MANS for a few weeks I lose the fat/water and end up at the same weight.

Personally, carbs give me bad gas and a good amount of water weight.

Also not a plus, and it's hard to tell if you're progressing or not when there's that much water weight as a variable. But, if I was trying to look my biggest all the time, I'd switch to a higher carb diet to get the benefit of the water weight - those weekend carb-ups are so rewarding

how many times do you carb up anyway? I carb up twice per week. One on monday when i do my legs and another on friday when i work my back.

Also, the best way to track progress is by measurements and your strength gains. Weight does not mean much.

mykim0 wrote:how many times do you carb up anyway? I carb up twice per week. One on monday when i do my legs and another on friday when i work my back.

Usually I try to stick to a weekend carb-up, and chow down carbs for 2-2.5 days. Lately I've been a little less strict with my carbs over the week, i.e. from <30 to <60, and keep the same carb-up. I'm loathe to start more than one carbups because it gives me an easy excuse to overeat carbs, and I've really only got 3 days or so of actual low-carbing (which doesn't seem like enough time for the benefits of low-carbing to outweigh the hassle).

mykim0 wrote:Also, the best way to track progress is by measurements and your strength gains. Weight does not mean much.

True, but if you're trying to bulk and your weight stays the same for a couple months, it probably means something is wrong. Strength gains tend to plateu at a certain point too if you're not gaining any weight. Measurements, depending on the body part, aren't always too helpful either; fat takes up more space than muscle, so if you're losing fat and getting muscle, your measurements might actually go down while your strength goes up, and your weight hovers or drops. Makes progress difficult to measure