Diet, Nutrition and SupplementationPost here for supplement reviews or nutritional advice. If you're trying to get "ripped abz" THIS is where you should be.
Hello- Just got my book and have gone two days now without flour, bread, rice, carbs in general. Actually, I had a bite of toast last night during dinner and then put it down!!
My concerns are: I have this layer of fat over my muscles from all this pasta and garlic butter, wine and bread I eat. I am a carb addict in that way. I don't snack on anything but nuts, but it's these 4 nights a week of past, bread and wine drenched in butter and garlic that has made me thick.
I am scared that simply not eating the above is going to work while I'm allowed to eat so much cheese and cashews, red meat, some wine each night. In my head it sounds counterproductive.
I read the book and I think I understand the glycogen thing and burning your fat stores, so maybe that's all I need to know.
Any thoughts on getting over this mental block for me?
A question would be can I really eat mussles in garlic butter in a restaurant? Those are the kinds of things that made me fat, so I find it hard to believe I can lose fat eating that once a week.
I was in much the same boat, I could totally live on carbs: rice and pasta every meal. I never ate much cheese, ate most meals without it. The first week was rough, but I just finished my second week and the cravings are subsiding. Switching to eating a lot of fat was also very difficult to me. Hard to undo everything you heard about fat before. The first week of the diet I couldn't exercise because of an injury and I am already down 8 pounds. I don't know how it works, but it does. One thing to watch out for is eating out for sure. My grocery bill has gone way up, because I want to control what i am eating. It is hard, at least for me, to find many options when eating out. So far I have basically stuck to salads. I had my first bunless hamburger at a diner this weekend. No bun, no fries, no fun. I would rather not go, then go and eat that again :-)
Eating out is easy on TNT! Meat, veggies, salad! You are good to go! Steakhouses are great......just hold the potatoe and get double veggies! Outback has the BEST steamed broccoli!
Breakfast? Just hold the toast and the potatoes.
Lunch? A salad with grilled chicken or steak. Or my favorite lunch spot has a marinated and grilled chicken breast with a side salad topped with shredded cheese and a great creamy vinagerette dressing.
Heck yeah! I love eating out!! I always order steak and seafood. I USED to order pastas with shrimp, but that will have to wait at least four weeks now while I am doing NO CARBS!
I am on day 4 and just a couple hours ago I did start to feel tired and hungry even though I had eaten a pretty big lunch. I am guessing things are starting to happen now, so I'd beter be prepared for the withdrawls.
I am currently snacking on raw cauli with a little french onion dip for taste.
I am hoping to see some water weight go away, but I really think this way of eating will work for me for an extended time.
Is day 4 or 5 about the time when the pangs kick in??
Days 4-5 were killers for me. I was pretty grumpy. Pretty much it was only 2 days though. Stick with it, you will feel better after. You should have better sustained energy throughout the day after you get by this rough spell. Remember to eat fat too, fat is your new energy.
I guess since I'm not having horrible withdrawls, I keep thinking I'm not doing this right. Here is what I ate yesterday:
eggwhites and left over steak
protein shake
salad with cashews, low fat dressing, parm-crisps as croutons
left over sauteed scallops and brocolli
a parm crisp as a snack
2 glasses (big glasses) of red wine
raw cauli with french onion dip
This is what i've been eating for the most part. Tonight I will make chicken. Can someone tell me if I'm on the right track here?? That will put my mind at ease I think becasue I am scared I am eating yucky!!
Again, I've eaten no bread since last thursday and so far so good. I think becasue I am not freaking out, I think I am not doing this right.
I can't see the portion sizes to comment on if that is enough protein and without a meal notation it's hard to tell if you are having cauliflower or dinner or what.
But as long as you are eating meat (fish, chicken, beef, pork, shellfish, eggs), veggies, good fats (avocado, olives, olive oil, nut oils) and a few nuts or seeds and dairy as allowed, you should be fine. I'm not sure on the 2 big glasses of wine - perhaps one measured pour would be more on plan.
check the labels on things you don't make yourself - salad dressing, french onion dip, other sauces or condiments - you'd be surprised where there are sugars.
Stay with the approved Plan A foods for the first 4 weeks and see how it works. I would cut back on the wine for the first 4 weeks too.
It may be hard to accept at first but eating fat on this plan is the way to go. It satisfies your hunger so you actually eat less. I eat SlimJims as a snack and I have lost 20 lbs in 12 weeks without feeling hungry.
The first few days may or may not be hard, it just depends on how your body reacts. Keep it up and I recommend the workouts, the plan works. Good luck!
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"The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." --Oliver Wendell Holmes
So, I've gone 7 full days without eating carbs (other than what we would find in salad, steak, shrimp, nuts, etc.)
I can honestly say for once I was not hungry, which dawned on me today at a day long training event. I wasn't tired or hungry at all.
This feels pretty good. I have THOUGHT about eating carbs, but I am pushing through to see if I can get the scale to move in the next week or so. Or at least drop some water weight.
Another reason the scale does not move could be that you are adding some muscle. It is a good idea to take some circumference measurements of your body like your waistline and hips. Get a tape measure and keep track of the inches you may be losing. That is actually better than having the scale move IMHO.
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"The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." --Oliver Wendell Holmes
I hope you can give me some feedback Martini. I've posted what I'm eating several times, but am looking for someone to tell me if what I'm doing is OK.
4 egggwhites
protein shake (7 carbs)
cashews (handful)
leftover dinner (scallops, steak, tuna in can)
salad with cheese
maybe a parm crisp for snack or as croutons
beef jerky or nuts
steak or chicken (from the low carb recipe book)
red wine 2 glasses
salad wtih cheese and dressing
protein shake
sometimes I eat celery with cream cheese, or cauli dipped in french onion. But this is really the basics of how I'm eating. I haven't had a piece or bread or pasta in 10 days. 2 days ago my ketones were "small"(using strips) and now they are down to "trace."
Should I reduce even further the amount of carbs to ensure I get those strips to turn purple. I haven't seen one purple yet- haven't gotten into the 'moderate' range yet.
AS for the poops, only that one day and haven't had any problems since.
I did have several drinks of vodka/soda this past weekend? Are there a lot of carbs in that?
You posted what you were eating right at the beginning; I wanted to know if you'd made any changes. See my comments below in bold.
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Originally Posted by Heatrae
I hope you can give me some feedback Martini. I've posted what I'm eating several times, but am looking for someone to tell me if what I'm doing is OK.
4 egggwhites - Why are you eating egg whites? Eat the whole egg!
protein shake (7 carbs) - what's in this?
cashews (handful) - these have a lot of carbs. Stick to almonds, macadamias, or pecans.
leftover dinner (scallops, steak, tuna in can)
salad with cheese - you switched to full-fat dressing, right?
maybe a parm crisp for snack or as croutons
beef jerky or nuts - how many nuts are you eating? You shouldn't be eating more than 2oz per day.
steak or chicken (from the low carb recipe book)
red wine 2 glasses - how many ounces are in each glass? The book specifically states 4oz per glass. Ideally, you should be avoiding alcohol. Measure your drinks in a measuring cup. Any more than 1/2 cup is too much per drink.
salad wtih cheese and dressing
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Should I reduce even further the amount of carbs to ensure I get those strips to turn purple.
It doesn't matter what color the strip is. But you probably should reduce your carbs. You're eating a lot of them.
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I did have several drinks of vodka/soda this past weekend? Are there a lot of carbs in that?
What kind of soda? Soda water? Or tonic water? Or sprite? Anything but soda water would be a no-no, and you shouldn't have had more than two per day. Again, ideally, NO ALCOHOL.
Spirits (vodka, gin, rum, etc) don't have carbs, but they will take all of your body's fat-burning attention away from using fat to burn off the alcohol. The book says that your body can only burn off about 1oz of alcohol per hour. While it's doing that, it's not burning off any of your fat.
You should probably go through the book again and read the plan A guidelines. Not the recipes, but the details toward the front of the book.
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"If 'toning' is the goal, strength is the method." ~ Mark Rippetoe
I need to ditch the cashews. I will go get almonds and start measuring. I tried to measure 2 oz on my little scale but nothing registered. I will do a small palm size per day.
My shake has casesin and whey protein (24grams) and 7 carbs.
I did have vodka soda and it was three of them. The wine IS an issue for me. I've given up my pasta dinners and that was a big deal to me, so I wanted to keep a guilty pleasure with the wine to go along with my new low carb dinners. I will have to measure the amount IF I drink it. I will try to avoid this week and see what happens.
I have been on plan A all this entire week (or so I thought). I haven't made any changes and don't plan to add any carbs until after the first 4 week cycle to see if my bod has responded. I may even go 2 months on A to get me stabilized.
I will start doing whole eggs and yes, I went to regular fat dressing- YUM!
Do you have any other suggestions? I am noticing I cannot complete my workouts the past few times....I hope this will improve!!!
Also more fat. Between the protein shakes and egg whites there is no way you are getting the 60% of calories from fat the book recommends.
Also that steak should ideally be a fatty cut and the chicken should include the skin and dark meat (buy the whole chicken, not just the breast).
Remember TNT is a low carb diet, not a high protein diet and certainly not a low fat diet. The book says to be careful not to mix diets. A lot of people are tempted to keep eating egg whites and chicken breasts but that isn't the diet. Everything you eat should have significant amounts of fat except for the protein drink before and after your workout.
If you like the protein drinks at other times that is fine but add some nuts (that is one of your nut servings for the day) or cream or both.
I will second or third (or whatever we are up to now) the notion that the alcohol should be extremely limited if you want to lose weight as fast as possible.
I have to remember to eat fat. I guess I can make fried chicken then, right?
ONLY if you don't bread it or put flour on it!! Just fry it in its skin in a pan (maybe with salt & pepper).
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I guess there goes my wine! Egads!!
Hey if I can give up my 2+ beers per day, I'm sure you can give up your wine. Honestly, I sleep better, I think better, I wake up more clearly, I am glad I did it. You'll probably notice positive changes as well. Doesn't mean I don't miss beer, but I sure like my smaller waistline better.
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"If 'toning' is the goal, strength is the method." ~ Mark Rippetoe
Here's my $.02, been on the TNT for 3 months now.
Watch your protein intake, you should not go over 1gm protien/lb of ideal body mass. - why?: you are already reducing your carbs, if you are getting too many grams of protein, you won't be getting enough fat.
Get a fiber supplement - why?: you need at a minimum of 15 -25g of fiber daily. You might not be having problems now, but wait until week 4 or 5, then its too late.
Go with "fatty-er" cuts of meat - why?: seems counter-productive but I found when I would eat lean meat and fish, that I would not be able to get enough fat in my diet.
Count Calories - why?: You might not need to count them done to the exact calorie, but you need to be certain you aren't eating too much. I found when I watched the calories and tried to keep the fats/carbs/proteins levels in check the weight came off.
TNT Newbie concerns/questions- FAT intake?
TNT Diarreah- GOOD TIMES!!!!
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