Weightlifting Supplements

[BDawg]

Before I was back on the diet fully (still eating low carb, but not agressively and trying to lose weight), I was taking whey protein after workouts.

I've cut that out due to the carbs that are in it (5-7g and 1g sugar IIRC). Are there any supplement that anyone takes and are carb friendly?

[tfek70]

Re: Weightlifting Supplements

I take creatine when I am trying to gain strength. Right now I am more into weight loss, but in 14 more pounds, it's on! Now for the kinda gross part. I take straight creatine, not the phospagen type with the dextrose transport formula, just the chalky powder. I just shovel a teaspoon of the crap in and slam some water after it. Looks like chalk, tastes like chalk, but it has 0 carbs and it works. My doctor says that the extra creatine I get from taking a supplement is wasted money while I'm doing this diet. He thinks I am eating enough meat to get all the creatine I can use. I disagree because I notice the results. I seem to need less recovery time on creatine, and I'm able to to more reps.

[4themasses]

Re: Weightlifting Supplements

I agree. I don't think it's wasted for sure.

[Mfit4me]

Re: Weightlifting Supplements

I take xtend before, during and after I work out. I also mix some creatine in there as well.

[chinadoll]

Re: Weightlifting Supplements

I take L-glutamine. NO bad side effects, supposedly has a mild appetite depressant effect, and helps rebuild muscle tissue.

[neutronnorman]

Re: Weightlifting Supplements

I follow a strict Atkins like induction phase 5-5.75 days per week, and limit carbs to ~12-15 grams. My average caloric intake during the week is ~2,800 cal per day.
On the weekends, I carb load with ~4000 cal per day, using a macro split of 20-25% fat, ~15% protein, and the rest carbs. This diet aka the Anabolic / Metabolic diet by Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale is producing gains in me that I formally had years ago cycling Decadurabolin and Anavar.
I usually gain about 5-10 lb over the weekend and start to lose the weight by Wednesday. By Friday, I might retain about 1-2 lb of the weight gained from the previous week, but my body fat stores keep shrinking. I'll lose about 0.5-1.0 mm of skin fold measured in the supraillic area. My metabolic index has risen over 1.2 units. I'm 71 inches tall, weigh 230 lb and am at a body fat of 17.2-18.1% depending if I use the Jackson-Pollock 3 or the Jackson-Pollock 4 equation method to measure body fat.

I notice how people stay on the AD and follow it religiously, but their weights and / or gains seem to plateau for months. It seems to take them a few months to achieve what I'm gaining in a few weeks.

What's also weird is that when I carb load,(I do all forms of carbs on the glycemic scale), my body is still craving fats and proteins. So, while everybody is arguing whether or not to use aspartame or if there is 0.5 grams carbohydrates in Hellman's Mayonnaise, I'm sitting in a Denny's eating pancakes, grits, cinnamon apples, all chased by a glass of milk, and getting bigger, stronger and leaner.

BTW, creatine supplementation sks and is potentially bad for the liver, kidneys and can be addicting. It works well in increasing hypertension, though.

Also, boys and girls, insulin is extremely lipolytic and anabolic. After glycogen depletion it will drive poly and oligosaccharides into the liver and muscles, and if you time the carb load right, the body will never have a chance reverting back into a carb burning metabolism and the insulin will not lay down fat. You get the best of both worlds: lipolysis during the week, anabolism during the weekend. And on the weekend, as far as eating, anything goes! Pizza, beer, pasta, cake, etc., you name it, are foods that are fair game. Wow, no deprevation and the gains are excelerated compared to the Atkins diet.

What's really cool is that by Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on your personal metabolism, you will look stronger, leaner and more muscular than you ever had before. Every week, year in and year out, you WILL Look Better. It works for everybody. It is the Holy Grail of diets. You can time, after you know how your body reacts to the carb load, social situations. Say, for example, you are going to attend a party on a Friday night and want to look your best, you might consider starting your carb load maybe Tuesday, for example, so by Friday night you look the best than you ever had before.

It's a biochemical inevitability. It works for everybody all the time. Both genders, no exception. There are tricks (tweaks) to making a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD) work for you, and my suggestion is to read and research the topic. You will reach the body of your dreams way, way faster than just doing the AD diet.

Yes, I know, this is heresy, but as a PH.D. candidate in physical - organic chemistry, undergrad in three majors: math, physics and chemistry, leaning towards research in theoretical molecular biophysics, working on three active research projects (even one for NASA), I think I might have a clue supporting arguments to what I've posted. I have pages of citations from papers published in various journals through out the world. I've pulled many of them and read them.

Atkins was great for the seriously obese person who hardly could walk up one flight of stairs. My hat's off to the doctor on that point. But the AD fails miserably for extreme physique enhancement.

I finally decided to put my 2 cents worth in. I'm kind of angered by the lack of compassion shown to some posters when they slip of off their diet goals. The inflexibility in thought and lack of experimentation when a plateau is reached by dieters irks me.

I think it's both funny and sad when some of these dieters "slip" and eat a high carb meal and some moderators throw harsh words or unsympathetic statements in response to the dieters anguish and sense of defeat. Then I look at the same AD long timers stats, their current weights, start dates and goals and chuckle because they are so far from having anything close to an aesthetic, visually pleasing physique. Some of them haven't changed in months, and are still way too overly fat.