Fats

Not many people will know I have low blood sugar so I need to keep my carbs at a reasonable level. About two months ago I decided to play around with the macronutrient percentages in my daily intake.

I tried to go for a 33/33/33 ratio of calories which for me worked out at 350 protein, 350 carbs and 150 fats. I then adjusted the levels to suit me and it worked out at 375 protein, 300 carbs, and 150 fats. I know this changes the percentages of kcals but not too much.

I found that I didn’t go hypo with lower carbs which must be due to the extra fats being used for energy saving the carbs for my blood sugar levels to be stable. I do agree that we need more carbs first thing in the morning and less or none in the evening.

One thing I will say about zero carbs and high fats is that protein is bloody hard to eat on its own or just with fats! I need to eat carbs to help shovel down the chicken/tuna etc. Also my training partner has adopted this approach and although he has gained exceptionally well, even he will admit that the high fats have made him fat!

AS a point to consider, he tried the Atkins diet when he was training naturally and it worked very well but as soon as he started using androgens, the exact same diet did the opposite and he gained much fat confusing him massively! We have a theory that androgens may encourage body fat storage if you’re consuming to much fat. Maybe replacing some of the fats for moderate carbs can change that?

Any comments?

This may depend on how your body reacts to oestrogen. If you don’t suffer then you may be safe but if you’re like me or bill, the androgens react with the high fats in the form of oestrogen, causing a fat bloated appearance. Again, this is only a theory.

I believe in moderation, I have gained approximately 1 lb per week on my new plan, even though the protein is fairly low and have visibly lost body fat as well!

High carbs definitely do make us soft and promote water retention as well as being so stuffed you struggle to eat the next meal. High glycaemia index carbs in large quantities produce too much insulin which in turn makes you soft as well as making you crave more of the same carbs when the insulin spike drops, this is bad. Make carbs too low and I think you MAY run into just as many problems. Protein tastes bland without them which can also force you to leave your meal unfinished, you may develop a blood sugar problem if you’re unlucky, you may not consume enough kcals to grow and in training low glycogen loses the pump you need for an effective workout! Too much fat can make you fat and if you’re not careful what fats you eat you may get artery problems.

We all need a balanced diet containing all the nutrients in the correct percentages tailored to our own specific needs. Fad diets are bad. Nature produces all the nutrients for us; if we didn’t need any one of them then they wouldn’t be there!

Two last points, there are many clever fat supplements available to us containing all the omega 3,6 & 9's these I feel may take the place of olive oil. You can guy one in H&B called optimal oil blend. Nuts are also a great source of protein and fats, they contain cholesterol which is good to produce testosterone **
If you use insulin or GH then you should also swat up on what carbs you consume and when because they both effect your blood sugar levels in totally different ways.


** If you use letrozol arimadex, keep the cholesterol levels up because these compounds (unlike nolvadex) severely affect them