Natural Anabolic Eating

[RazorCuts]

By Lee Hayward

In order for you to gain 20 lbs. of muscle you will have to gain a lot more then 20 lbs. of bodyweight. It is almost impossible to gain a pound of lean muscle for every pound of weight that you gain.

By bulking up to this way you can then diet off the extra pounds of fat and have a bigger more muscular body. Everyone that you see who is big and muscular did it this way. There is no way to stay lean and gain a lot of strength and muscle mass quickly. That is why most bodybuilders bulk up and gain weight in the off season and then diet down for a contest. If they were to stay lean all year long they wouldn't be able to gain as much muscle mass.

In order to gain this extra muscle mass you'll have to take a 2 steps forward, 1 step backwards approach. This is how it works.

For 2 weeks you will have to stuff your self with lots of calories, protein, carbs, and fat. Don't worry about eating low fat. Just eat a ton of food at least 5000 calories a day and make sure you keep your protein intake at least 250 grams per day. Eat something every 2 hours during the day. You'll also need to increase your water intake to at least 1 gallon per day. Supplement your diet with a good creatine + carb supplement.
Keep your training hard and heavy. Train 4 or 5 days a week.

After about 2 weeks your body will start to reach a plateau. If you follow this program exactly you will have gained about 5 lbs. of bodyweight. Now you need to back off for a week and basically let your body re-prime itself.

For 5-7 days you will eat a minimum amount of food. Eat no more then 2000 calories per day (200 grams of carbs, 200 grams of protein, and very low fat). Stop taking creatine and eat stuff like very lean meat, chicken breast, fish, fruit, and veggies. Also cut back your weight training to every other day, and don't really push yourself in the gym. This is just a maintenance phase.

During this phase you will lose a few pounds of water because you won't be eating as much. Don't let this discourage you because after a week of low calorie eating you will go back to stuffing yourself for 2 weeks and training hard. Your body will then absorb the extra food like a sponge and drive your natural anabolic hormones crazy. It will be like you are on steroids. You will get awesome pumps in the gym and gain strength and size very rapidly. You should be able to gain at least 5 lbs. during this phase.

But after 2 weeks your anabolic hormones will go back to normal and your growth will slow down. So then you will go back to low calorie eating for a week to re-prime your body and the bulk up for 2 weeks, etc... You see this idea when bodybuilders carb deplete and carb load before a contest so their muscles fill out more then normal.

This technique works awesome for gaining muscle mass and strength.

After you have done this for at least 6 months you should have gained 30+ lbs. of bodyweight. Of course some of the weight will be bodyfat, but you can stick to the low calorie phase for a month or two and increase your cardio exercise to burn off the extra fat.

[betito]

Very bad approach

[dallascowboys]

i actually think its a pretty good approach....

[finny]

It makes sense to me provided one is eating clean during the bulk periods.

It would be interesting to see if one were to actually try it. RazorCuts, are you planning to give it a go?

It would be nice to see comments from some of the 'veterans' in here.

[Roux]

not good advice imo.

if you're relying on food as your main anabolic, a better approach to "natural" anabolic eating would be to follow something along the lines of a 40/20/40 ratio. thats protein,carbs, fats. to put it simply per meal, 50g protein, 25g carbs, 20g fat. have a look at palumbo's off season diets, they're basically set up in this ratio.

[j-bird]

How does backing down on the food intake for two weeks make the cells in your small intestine more efficient at asorbing nutrients?

[Agent]

Thats what I do. While on AAS cycle (mod calorie-high protien diet) at least 6 weeks more like 10-12 wks. On cycle I ride recumbant bike and walk 3.5-3.8mph on an 3-7 degree incline for cardio. Off cycle during PCT I run like a bat out of hell on the treadmill and have a low calorie diet-mod protein diet. I lose bodyfat on AAS cycle but not like I do during PCT. During PCT all fat just disappears and you can see every muscle fiber.

[fbxdan]

Originally Posted by Agent

Thats what I do. While on AAS cycle (mod calorie-high protien diet) at least 6 weeks more like 10-12 wks. On cycle I ride recumbant bike and walk 3.5-3.8mph on an 3-7 degree incline for cardio. Off cycle during PCT I run like a bat out of hell on the treadmill and have a low calorie diet-mod protein diet. I lose bodyfat on AAS cycle but not like I do during PCT. During PCT all fat just disappears and you can see every muscle fiber.

Just curious do you lose much lean mass when your doing that much cardio in pct? Your post interests me because I know a guy that always seems alot more ripped when he's on pct, vascularity was more pronounced, lower bf it seemed, etc. Do you think its because your losing water/bloat?

[natabolic]

Hey bro,

Not a bad approach. I do know a couple people who have eaten that way, basically like a yo-yo diet, and it does work. One guy even had his blood levels of test tested before the higher calorie phase, and then on the last day of the low calorie phase. His test levels were 39% higher during the high calorie.

I have another approach to eating for natural anabolic hormones.
It involves eating high protein, high fat, and low carb throughout the week, then on saturday and sunday you carb-up, with high protein, and moderate fat, and yes, high carbs. Basically the high fat during the week increases your test levels, and your GH levels, well keeping insulin at a steady pace, in order to try and keep bodyfat away. Then during the weekends you create a deliberate insulin spike, shuttling amino acids and glycogen to your muscle cells. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Ill give you a real world example. People with type I diabetes have no insulin, they are constantly hungry, and eat, eat, and eat some more, and never gain weight, because the carbs are constantly being broken down and urinated away before they can actually be stored as glycogen. Eating this way has the same approach, as during the week, providing you keep your carbs low, you have no insulin, and cannot put on fat. Then on the weekend, with the high carbs, and when your body is not used to the insulin, it reacts to it in such a way that it see's the high carb intake as an emergency, and releases more GH, so during the carb-up period you have high levels of insulin (which assist in muscle growth by shuttling amino acids straight to the muscles), and GH. This cannot normally happen in the body as when one hormone rises the others usually fall. This diet bypasses that feedback system. A buddy of mine had used this diet in the past, and also had his test levels checked, before, during and after the diet. During the diet, his test levels were up 42%! NATURALLY. I've used this diet in the past for cutting ( which i am right now), as well as bulking. And youd be surprise how well it actually works. Since cutting, i've gone down 20 lbs, 8% bodyfat, as well as gained inches on legs, as well as arms. Just my input. It worked well for me, as well as many of my buddies.

[muscledoc1]

Originally Posted by natabolic

Hey bro,

Not a bad approach. I do know a couple people who have eaten that way, basically like a yo-yo diet, and it does work. One guy even had his blood levels of test tested before the higher calorie phase, and then on the last day of the low calorie phase. His test levels were 39% higher during the high calorie.

I have another approach to eating for natural anabolic hormones.
It involves eating high protein, high fat, and low carb throughout the week, then on saturday and sunday you carb-up, with high protein, and moderate fat, and yes, high carbs. Basically the high fat during the week increases your test levels, and your GH levels, well keeping insulin at a steady pace, in order to try and keep bodyfat away. Then during the weekends you create a deliberate insulin spike, shuttling amino acids and glycogen to your muscle cells. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Ill give you a real world example. People with type I diabetes have no insulin, they are constantly hungry, and eat, eat, and eat some more, and never gain weight, because the carbs are constantly being broken down and urinated away before they can actually be stored as glycogen. Eating this way has the same approach, as during the week, providing you keep your carbs low, you have no insulin, and cannot put on fat. Then on the weekend, with the high carbs, and when your body is not used to the insulin, it reacts to it in such a way that it see's the high carb intake as an emergency, and releases more GH, so during the carb-up period you have high levels of insulin (which assist in muscle growth by shuttling amino acids straight to the muscles), and GH. This cannot normally happen in the body as when one hormone rises the others usually fall. This diet bypasses that feedback system. A buddy of mine had used this diet in the past, and also had his test levels checked, before, during and after the diet. During the diet, his test levels were up 42%! NATURALLY. I've used this diet in the past for cutting ( which i am right now), as well as bulking. And youd be surprise how well it actually works. Since cutting, i've gone down 20 lbs, 8% bodyfat, as well as gained inches on legs, as well as arms. Just my input. It worked well for me, as well as many of my buddies.

Now i like that one better!

[Superior1]

I actually did this diet back in the mid 90's after a 5 year layoff. I got the idea from the old Muscle media 2000 magazine, it was called the ABCD. Anabolic Burst Cycling Diet. Witten by some russian guru but retold by Bill Philips or one of his writers back then. Since I was coming off a long layoff I needed some type of diet to stick to so I chose this one.

When I was 18 Y.O. I was a skinny 6' 128lbs and had beefed up to 189lbs at 22 Y.O. on traditional training and diet. The got married and had a 5 year layoff. During the payoff I dropped from 189lbs down to 160-165lbs. Then one day I said I am getting back to it. So I started the ABCD diet. I didn't adhere exactly as the writer had stated since I knew what it took me to grow. They claimed 5000 Calorie bulk phase for 2 weeks and 2000 calorie cut phase for two weeks. Just as you have. But I bumped the bulk phase to 7500 calories (higher in some cases) in the bulk phase to 3000 calories in the cut phase.
By the end of 7 months I gained 35lbs and was actually pretty lean roughly 10% BF.

I tracked my weight using some software so I had a line graph that I could see day to day progress. I was never one to advise weighing everyday but I did anyway.

I didn't see much the couple weeks. Yes some weight gain etc.. and some weight loss on the cut phase. But after about 6 weeks, things really started happening. Like clock work I would gain 10 lbs every 2 week bulk phase and lose 5 lbs every cut phase. 90% of the weight I gained in the bulk phase happened in the 1st week of the bulk phase, and 90% of the weight I lost was in the first 10 days of the cut phase. It was consistent week after week. Every month I was 5lbs heavier and remained relatively lean. And this was 100% natural.

I kept this up until I went from 165lbs at 6'2" to 200lbs. It was amazing to see what would happen in the first 5 days of each phase after I was on the diet for a few weeks.

I come out much better on this diet (and I admit I had some muscle memory going on) than I did on most diets after it. I even went to all high calories for months and months at a time 7000-10,000 calories daily, but mostly 7500-8000 calories as that is about the extent of what I could eat day after day. A 10,000 calorie day could only be withstood for 3-4 days at a time. I gained to 230lbs but by then with the use of chemicals.

Attached is a collage I had put together. Some of you old school guys will remember a couple of the pics I threw up for critic years ago. But it gives an idea of progress. In 1992-1993 is when I got up to about 189lbs. Had a layoff from 93-97/98. The pics dated 98 is from the period of the ABCD Diet. And the remaining (up to 2002) was Chemically enhanced where I look heavier (but bloated). The pics 06 and newer are not chemcially enhanced but another diet cycling massive amounts of EFA's with protein for 12 hours a day and a hefty carb up at training time. It's been a very good diet.

But the 2 week bulk/2 week cut diet work to get some mass on me that was very difficult to get my first time around in my younger years. I thing the diet could work for many given the fact that it's modified to the individual since no one diet will work for every individual the bulk/cut diet modified slightly for myself worked well.

[natabolic]

Great results bro!

[gogotren]

yes i have also read about this anabolic burst cycling diet and it does work!! In studies blood levels were checked and in the bulking phase igf, hgh, test, etc all spiked helping to grow muscle. After week 2 those levels taper off and you begin to pack on more fat into storage. After 2 weeks of dieting and loosing almost all fat the body goes into energy conserve mode, then its time to bulk again. Google the article it really makes sense... a lot more than eat everything for 6 months then starve yourself for 3 months.

[natabolic]

Originally Posted by gogotren

yes i have also read about this anabolic burst cycling diet and it does work!! In studies blood levels were checked and in the bulking phase igf, hgh, test, etc all spiked helping to grow muscle. After week 2 those levels taper off and you begin to pack on more fat into storage. After 2 weeks of dieting and loosing almost all fat the body goes into energy conserve mode, then its time to bulk again. Google the article it really makes sense... a lot more than eat everything for 6 months then starve yourself for 3 months.

It does seem to be backed scientifically.. Same with my type of diet. They both work to your advantage to control your bodys most anabolic hormones, putting on the most amount of muscle, with the least amount of fat.

[cecray3]

Originally Posted by natabolic

Hey bro,

Not a bad approach. I do know a couple people who have eaten that way, basically like a yo-yo diet, and it does work. One guy even had his blood levels of test tested before the higher calorie phase, and then on the last day of the low calorie phase. His test levels were 39% higher during the high calorie.

I have another approach to eating for natural anabolic hormones.
It involves eating high protein, high fat, and low carb throughout the week, then on saturday and sunday you carb-up, with high protein, and moderate fat, and yes, high carbs. Basically the high fat during the week increases your test levels, and your GH levels, well keeping insulin at a steady pace, in order to try and keep bodyfat away. Then during the weekends you create a deliberate insulin spike, shuttling amino acids and glycogen to your muscle cells. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. Ill give you a real world example. People with type I diabetes have no insulin, they are constantly hungry, and eat, eat, and eat some more, and never gain weight, because the carbs are constantly being broken down and urinated away before they can actually be stored as glycogen. Eating this way has the same approach, as during the week, providing you keep your carbs low, you have no insulin, and cannot put on fat. Then on the weekend, with the high carbs, and when your body is not used to the insulin, it reacts to it in such a way that it see's the high carb intake as an emergency, and releases more GH, so during the carb-up period you have high levels of insulin (which assist in muscle growth by shuttling amino acids straight to the muscles), and GH. This cannot normally happen in the body as when one hormone rises the others usually fall. This diet bypasses that feedback system. A buddy of mine had used this diet in the past, and also had his test levels checked, before, during and after the diet. During the diet, his test levels were up 42%! NATURALLY. I've used this diet in the past for cutting ( which i am right now), as well as bulking. And youd be surprise how well it actually works. Since cutting, i've gone down 20 lbs, 8% bodyfat, as well as gained inches on legs, as well as arms. Just my input. It worked well for me, as well as many of my buddies.

Yeah, this is referred to as a Keto diet...and it's nothing new! Pros have been using it for MANY years.

[JohnnyPro]

If I did that "anabolic eating" diet I would put on way too much fat, and then it's hell trying to get it off. I'll just stick to getting lean muscle gains, slow and steady, without putting on the fat.

[Dangkolo]

Originally Posted by JohnnyPro

If I did that "anabolic eating" diet I would put on way too much fat, and then it's hell trying to get it off. I'll just stick to getting lean muscle gains, slow and steady, without putting on the fat.

Yes sir, There is quality and then is quantity................

[natabolic]

Originally Posted by cecray3

Yeah, this is referred to as a Keto diet...and it's nothing new! Pros have been using it for MANY years.

A keto diet is NO CARBS, ever. Mine is low carbs week days, high carbs weekends. So similar to a keto diet, except higher carbs on weekends, and I actually use up to 30 grams of carbs a day.

[MASS BANDIT]

Originally Posted by RazorCuts

By Lee Hayward

In order for you to gain 20 lbs. of muscle you will have to gain a lot more then 20 lbs. of bodyweight. It is almost impossible to gain a pound of lean muscle for every pound of weight that you gain.

By bulking up to this way you can then diet off the extra pounds of fat and have a bigger more muscular body. Everyone that you see who is big and muscular did it this way. There is no way to stay lean and gain a lot of strength and muscle mass quickly. That is why most bodybuilders bulk up and gain weight in the off season and then diet down for a contest. If they were to stay lean all year long they wouldn't be able to gain as much muscle mass.

In order to gain this extra muscle mass you'll have to take a 2 steps forward, 1 step backwards approach. This is how it works.

For 2 weeks you will have to stuff your self with lots of calories, protein, carbs, and fat. Don't worry about eating low fat. Just eat a ton of food at least 5000 calories a day and make sure you keep your protein intake at least 250 grams per day. Eat something every 2 hours during the day. You'll also need to increase your water intake to at least 1 gallon per day. Supplement your diet with a good creatine + carb supplement.
Keep your training hard and heavy. Train 4 or 5 days a week.

After about 2 weeks your body will start to reach a plateau. If you follow this program exactly you will have gained about 5 lbs. of bodyweight. Now you need to back off for a week and basically let your body re-prime itself.

For 5-7 days you will eat a minimum amount of food. Eat no more then 2000 calories per day (200 grams of carbs, 200 grams of protein, and very low fat). Stop taking creatine and eat stuff like very lean meat, chicken breast, fish, fruit, and veggies. Also cut back your weight training to every other day, and don't really push yourself in the gym. This is just a maintenance phase.

During this phase you will lose a few pounds of water because you won't be eating as much. Don't let this discourage you because after a week of low calorie eating you will go back to stuffing yourself for 2 weeks and training hard. Your body will then absorb the extra food like a sponge and drive your natural anabolic hormones crazy. It will be like you are on steroids. You will get awesome pumps in the gym and gain strength and size very rapidly. You should be able to gain at least 5 lbs. during this phase.

But after 2 weeks your anabolic hormones will go back to normal and your growth will slow down. So then you will go back to low calorie eating for a week to re-prime your body and the bulk up for 2 weeks, etc... You see this idea when bodybuilders carb deplete and carb load before a contest so their muscles fill out more then normal.

This technique works awesome for gaining muscle mass and strength.

After you have done this for at least 6 months you should have gained 30+ lbs. of bodyweight. Of course some of the weight will be bodyfat, but you can stick to the low calorie phase for a month or two and increase your cardio exercise to burn off the extra fat.

good write....i also believe this exept the part cutting food intake for 2 weeks.

here is the thing...B.F % and metabalizom are big factors here, most of what was writen works great for me , but i know for a fact it don't work for a friend.so i think this is a call on an idividual basses.....not for the masses.

[natabolic]

Originally Posted by MASS BANDIT

good write....i also believe this exept the part cutting food intake for 2 weeks.

here is the thing...B.F % and metabalizom are big factors here, most of what was writen works great for me , but i know for a fact it don't work for a friend.so i think this is a call on an idividual basses.....not for the masses.

well said.