UKC

Anyone tried any fat restrictive diets?

Man RDA is something like 90g a day. I'm working on a not too strict 20g (usually works out to about 30-40 in the end!).

Not sure why, I guess i think that to build muscle i should really reduce fat intake, increase protein and actually do some solid strength training and mass lifting.

Am i right? any thoughts?

In reply to KingStapo: Yeah. You're wrong. Eat more fat.

In reply to KingStapo:
my 2c (or 2p as this is a UK forum)...
Consider a more sustainable approach. Your diet is really what you typically eat, not what you eat under extreme circumstances; wether it be to mess with body comp. or because you're on an expedition.

Adding on that, you're more likely to put weight back on if you've achieved you goal by dramatically adjusting your (macro)nutrient breakdown. Think about timing and ensuring you eat enough quality carbohydrate to maintain blood glucose and muscle glycogen stores. ESPECIALLY if you're pushing iron.

That's not to say your current thinking will not work, it's probably just not ideal.

In reply to KingStapo:

be careful.

some fats are vital for nerve regeneration, healing and functions like eye sight. along with being an energy source etc.

if you do drop fat intake, then make sure the stuff you are getting is the good stuff with omega acids - so make it fish, nut and olive oils rather than just any old fat. if youre upped protein intake is based around animal protein then you may get recovery issues.
if youre going to get into serious special diets for performance, be prepared to get into the details.

theres other methods of restricting carbohydrates and freeing up on the fats (tho keeping them 'good') which is less controversial and works for many (myself included). its also easier, so good for those who dont want to get too into the whole wheels-within-wheels of specialist diets (myself included there too).

In reply to KingStapo:

That's basically what I've been doing for the past few months. Eating limited carbs, low fat and upped the lean protein. Oh and cut out the drink. Combined that with bouldering and weight training.

The results have been very good. I'm back to fitness that I haven't had for about a year. Body fat percent is down massively - lost the "pinch an inch" around the waist - and bouldering grade is back up around the V6 level.

I haven't been particularly scientific about it. Just cut out crap such as crisps etc and laid off the the pasta, pizza and lasagne.

In reply to KingStapo:

Personally I tend to eat as much fat as I want. Mostly using Butter instead of sunflower spread and oil.

Sugar is now being seen to more significant to weight loss/gain. That might be stating the obvious, but just in case it's new to you, it's worth looking into.

Views on fat vary massively. Many nutritionists now consider saturated fat to be "friendly". The only one everyone seems to agree is bad is Transfat.

In reply to Daniel Heath:

Good point re the sugar. I actually actively avoid sugar more than fat. Like you say, nothing wrong with butter on toast. Whereas Krispy Kreme doughnuts are not going to do any favours for climbing (tasty though. ..)

In reply to KingStapo:

My background - Higher level personal trainer & nutritional adviser

Fat is actually an important part of your diet.

It goes without saying it needs to be eaten in moderation & watch what type of fat you eat & what time of day you eat

the body needs fat, certain vitamins are only fat soluble. also, the body uses fat in the nervous system & blood cells etc.

Thanks for all useful input.

I'm also intermittent fasting as well and have been since january.

To people talking about carb/sugar reduction; any numbers/quantities I could be aiming for or what balance of fat-carb-protein is any good?

In reply to KingStapo:

I lost around 8 stone when I was younger. I didn't up my protein, all I did was cut out high fat foods (all high fat foods). I just did extra walking too, which turned into running as I got less obese.

I certainly lost the fat, but I lost all my muscle too, as well as being hungry and tired a lot of the time. If you want to build muscle, it's essential to get your fat intake. You can keep it to "only good fats" and not eat loads and loads of fat, but eat fat you must. One of the general dietary macro splits recommended for gaining muscle is 40% lean protein, 40% unrefined carbs (your brown rice, veg etc) and 20% fat (mackerel, oils, nuts etc). Using that method a few years after I lost weight I eventually started to feel and look a lot less terrible!

In reply to KingStapo:

Low carb has fast results, but also drawbacks. Mostly the tendancy to binge is even stronger than most other diets.

I also find it incredibly hard to function without carbs (ketogenic).

Therefore my weight loss involves eating only enough carbs for energy for working out, and usually for mentally demanding jobs as well. It takes practice but essentially you're balancing along the line where do don't eat any extra apart from what you are using.

In reply to KingStapo:

low fat is not really ideal due to fats (especially some types of fat) playing a massive role in overall health (one of the big areas is with hormone production such as testosterone and beneficial with insulin). stay within in some cases increase fat intake, carbs are generally an area its better to reduce (note reduce rather than go low) find the balance and look at your sources (with both carbs and fats)

In reply to Daniel Heath:

i struggle to function both physically and mentally on low carb diets but basically agree with what you say (gone as low as 50g carbs a day and felt shit, much nicer and better results i found on leangains IF. dont know what your opinion is one this but would be intereted)

In reply to KingStapo:

Leangains is the way to go including the carb cycling. Also check out http://rippedbody.jp/

In reply to lost1977:

Thread Hijak alert. I would love to do IF and have tried it a bit. I followed your threads with interest last year. However Uni days are so irregular, I train at a different time each day so I feel like I have to eat around that. That said I still miss breakfast or train empty on the odd days where it's convenient. Have you been regular IF for some time now?

In reply to Daniel Heath:

i opted to come off leangains after i finished cutting body fat, reason being was i wanted to gain for muscle and the results have been quite interesting as i have gain muscle a lot more leanly than before probably due to better insulin response but i'm looking at getting back on to LG's in the future

In reply to lost1977:

I found IF to be a great method of losing mass and body fat % (according to my horribly inaccurate scales!), but plateaued after about 4 months and have kept the 'diet' going since then and maintained a decent weight.

I do 5:2 and dabbled with daily feeding windows (2-bedtime) but found that when the window opened I hit the butties like crazy and was sluggish in the afternoons, particularly for the ride home.

I do notice that my quickest commutes (7miles each way) are at home time (6pm) on a fast day.

Best thing i've found about IF is that i don;t have to worry about how much beer I drink at weekends, i never get a tubby belly!

I think i'll keep it up, to varying degrees of strictness, just because it's really not that difficult; I'd rather have a really hard time with hunger a couple of days a week than have a tough time every day of the week, which I imagine most other diets give you. IF is essentially quite sustainable, long term.

In reply to KingStapo:

i've actually since coming off really had to fight to gain weight, managed to finally gain about 10lb in a year and have still managed to keep 4 of the 5 inches i lost off my waist. i call this a real success

In reply to lost1977:

I've haven't actually weighed myself since may (started IF on Jan 1st) but I still look good in the mirror and seem to feel 'light' when i climb, and consequently quite good. Eaten some real shit recently too but the belly's still at bay.

I've also noticed that for the first time in many years I feel more satisifed after sensible sized portions and less desire to hit the fridge when everyone else goes to bed. No doubt related to re-formatting my insulin sensitivity.

I also stay clear of any food at 'breakfast' time, usually wait to about 11-12 each day, this helps.

In reply to KingStapo:

Certainly with leangains i never felt like i wanted to binge and things like chocolate and sweets didn't really bother me. late night carb binging was a weakness in the past