Getting your bodybuilding diet right is absolutely crucial for your success!
As strange as it may sound, there is a way of mimicking the effects of anabolic steroids by implementing a few secrets of anabolic nutrition. I call this the ‘MuscleHack Anabolic Nutritional Strategy‘ (MANS).
I’m not saying that you’ll see the same gains as a roidhead, you won’t. No natural diet will replicate the effects of anabolic steroids. However, your results will far surpass anything you are currently experiencing, and that’s a promise!
In the next 15 - 20 minutes I will introduce you to the nutritional strategy that will revolutionize your bodybuilding life.
And there’s more…
You can make these gains in muscle without the correlating gains in fat! Yep, you really can build new slabs of muscle with very little or no fat. Those with great genetics can actually find the holy-grail of bodybuilding as they build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
A Bodybuilding Diet That Works!
Friends, I have no interest in hyperbole or bullshit; this nutritional strategy works. It took me years to find it, implement it correctly and reap the rewards. I had to find out for myself how to build lean muscle mass like never before while keeping fat accumulation at bay. It was well worth the effort though.
So if it’s the best bodybuilding diet in existence, why isn’t it more widely known? The big supplement companies and rag-magazines would go out of business quickly if they couldn’t peddle their snake-oil to you. If the general public were more nutrition-savvy, they’d crap themselves! I doubt very much they’d go out of their way to make the public aware of it.
This article lays these secrets bare for you to learn. Implement this process wisely and I promise you will make muscle gains like never before.
Please note that this method takes planning and commitment but it is well worth it! Also please make sure your workouts are up to par by implementing ‘MuscleHack THT Training.’
Credits
Before I go any further I want to credit a few people as sources of great information and inspiration. They are:
Why The MANS Bodybuilding Diet Is The Best
So how can this nutritional strategy produce massive muscle gains? There is a way to increase anabolic (muscle building) hormones in the body in the same way that steroids do. The only difference is, it’s safe and natural.
Here’s how…
This diet will naturally maximize your body’s production of the following anabolic hormones:
Sounds good doesn’t it? You will also have controlled insulin spikes which allows the body to have high levels of growth hormone and insulin at the same time! This does not usually happen and you’ll see extremely impressive muscle gains as a result.
What Causes Muscle Growth?
Ok, apart from the actual exercise itself, what is the driver of muscle hypertrophy? We’ve been told over and over again that it’s excess calories; you must eat more calories than you expend to encourage muscle growth. I’m going to hypothesize something a little controversial.
Calories are also an effect, not just a cause.
Think of a growing child. Are we to assume that vertical growth is caused by excess calories? I think the release of Growth Hormone is what makes a child grow. Increased growth hormone then causes the child to eat more. I think we have causality round the wrong way here.
The traditional advice from bodybuilding gurus is to eat everything in sight to increase muscle size. They usually recommend high carb diets laden with oats, protein shakes with fruit, wholemeal bread, potato, rice (I don’t care if it’s white or brown) etc. Worse still, they often recommend a low-fat diet!
Hey, I thought you were trying to grow some serious muscle? If so, you’re gonna want to keep the fat intake up.
If I’m right, then what we want to devise is a nutritional strategy that ignites the release of anabolic hormones. In turn then, these hormones will let us know when and how much to eat.
How?
By getting hungry - just like a growing child does. See how causality has been reversed? It’s no longer
Excess Calories = Muscle Growth
It’s now
Anabolic Hormones = Muscle Growth (which will drive your appetite & provide sufficient calories).
Don’t get me wrong, sufficient calories are required to build muscle, but it’s important to understand the chain of causality.
Calorie consumption isn’t something you need to labor over which will cripple your life. Let your body dictate your food intake. The best calorie-counter is your stomach; when you’re hungry - eat; when you’re not; don’t eat.
Breakdown of MANS Bodybuilding Diet
This plan requires that you eat a high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate diet for 5 and a half days. Then for 36 hours you carb-up. The high protein, high fat part of the diet is what sparks the increase in blood serum levels of:
- Testosterone
- Growth Hormone
- IGF-1 (insulin-like growth hormone production is stimulated by growth hormone).
Fat Adaptation
As you will be keeping your carbohydrate level low for most of the week, your body will become a fat-burning machine. At the beginning of the diet your body will undergo a ‘metabolic shift’ and start to burn fat as its primary source of energy. This can take as little as 2 days and up to 14 days for some people. However, the vast majority of you will have become fat-adapted by the end of your first 5 and a half days.
The advantages of this are:
- Increased Lipolysis (breakdown of fat)
- Decreased Lipogenesis (production of fat)
- Decreased catabolism (muscle protein is spared from breakdown)
Insulin Isn’t your Enemy
Regular low-carb dieters want to avoid spikes in insulin levels but for the bodybuilder, a controlled spike will do you a world of good. You’ll use a 32-36 hour window (I use the weekends for this) to deliberately cause an insulin spike. Friday 6pm to midnight on Saturday works well for me.
Insulin can make you fat, no doubt about it. Insulin has a dramatic effect on decreasing lipolysis i.e. as insulin regulates fat metabolism, large amounts means that your body will not give up its fat stores for energy; it literally shuts the gates to your stored body fat ensuring that it can’t be released and used for energy. Having said that, insulin is not the enemy of the bodybuilder.
Increasing insulin through a carb-loading period is beneficial because:
- It helps shuttle amino acids into the muscle cells
- Increases Protein Synthesis in skeletal muscle
- Glycogen supercompensation (Replenish Muscle Glycogen To Fuel Workouts).
Growth Hormone & Insulin
As stated previously you will also reap the anabolic effects of increasing insulin, growth hormone and testosterone at the same time. Usually when insulin levels increase, the others decrease and vise versa.
It seems that the body (once fat adapted) sees the intake of high carbs at the weekend as a stressful situation and releases growth hormone as a survival mechanism. Increased Growth hormone is your body’s way of mobilizing energy stores to deal with this stressful situation and so at this time you can get elevated insulin and growth hormone levels simultaneously - welcome to muscle building heaven!
Traditional High-Carb Muscle-Building Diets
On a high carb diet, (usually recommended for the bulking phase of a bodybuilding lifestyle) insulin levels are chronically elevated. You therefore don’t get the edge of maximum release of testosterone, growth hormone and IGF-1. Also on the high carb approach, you prevent your body from using body fat for fuel and actually encourage the laying down of new body fat. That’s
- Decreased Lipolysis
- Increased Lipogenesis
not good news friends 
. What this anabolic nutritional strategy does is take advantage of the anabolic properties of insulin and, at the same time, restricts the fattening properties of the hormone. This bodybuilding diet will keep insulin levels steady and low most of the time but you will also be creating carefully timed spikes for explosive muscle growth.
Your Unique Carbohydrate Threshold Level
The best thing about this bodybuilding diet is that it’s tailor-fitted to your unique metabolic type; it’s not a one-size-fits-all diet. You will find your unique carb threshold level and this will allow you to:
- Gain muscle without fat
- Lose fat without sacrificing lean mass (when cutting)
Your carb threshold level can be defined as
“The lowest possible daily carbohydrate intake that allows you to function at top level”
Since we’re concerned with building muscle, we need to find the lowest amount of carbs you need in a day to not only feel good but hammer out muscle-building workouts that continually improve, week-on-week.
I recommend you start out at 30 grams per day and adjust from there. Don’t make any changes to this for at least a week because you need to make the metabolic switch to burning fat for fuel first. Once this is completed you will be able to tell from your workout performances whether or not you need some more carbs (if so increase in 5 gram per day increments).
I personally average at around 27 grams of carbohydrate per day for 5 and a half days. Some days I take in 35 grams but on others just 20 grams. Going higher or lower is fine, just check your weekly averages. This low amount of carbohydrate is enough to power me through some amazing workouts; I’ve got bags of energy and feel great 
.
Post-Workout Nutrition
Some of you may be wondering about post-workout carbs. With this dietary approach, they are not needed and may actually be counter-productive. For a full break down of why this is the case, please read my article ‘Post-Workout Carbs - Crucial or Counter-Productive?‘
So, I don’t take any carbs post-workout. My after-training cocktail consists of some whey protein isolate
I remember being advised years ago that I needed around 60 - 100 grams of post-workout carbs to encourage muscle hypertrophy. It’s no surprise now, with a little education, that I got fat. Also, remember creating daily insulin spikes will have an adverse effect on growth hormone levels so follow this to the letter.
Your Carb-Up Period
This is perfect as you can enjoy your life too after being so strict during the week. Have some pizza, Chinese, whatever you feel like. Take your woman out for a meal, have some beers with the guys and rest assured that your actually benefiting from this. I limit the junk meals to 2 and the rest of the time I eat a mostly high-carb, moderate fat, moderately low-protein diet.
It isn’t an excuse to go completely nuts but let your hair down a little. Again, there’s no reason to eat passed satiation, let your gut decide how much to eat.
There is no real limit on the amount of carbs you can have. The key is just to watch the time it takes for you to begin to smooth-out (lose definition); it may take a little bit of experimentation at first and it will be different for everyone; 32 hours works great for me. You’ll notice that evey week you go through a mini-cycle of being bigger and smaller; this is just due to fluctuating water levels. When you begin to low-carb you’ll flush out some water, it’s perfectly natural.
Continually monitor your weight in conjunction with your body fat levels. If you notice that by Saturday afternoon, you’re smoothing out a little bit too much, you know that you’ll have to limit your carb-up period to 24 hrs; keep monitoring and adjusting as necessary.
Won’t I get Fat if I Eat Too Many Calories on the Low-Carb, Weekday Section?
In a word - No. It’s a little different for when you’re cutting (and I’ll get into that in later articles) but for gaining muscle and simply maintaining your current body fat levels it’s damn-near impossible to gain fat with this anabolic nutritional strategy. Remember that insulin is key here; you’ll be keeping insulin levels very low for the majority of the time. This is the (over-simplified) mechanism of lipogenesis:
Carbs - Increased Blood Sugar - Insulin increased - Triglycerides - Adipose Tissue (body fat)
From Healing Daily website.
“These triglycerides in the blood are the direct result of carbohydrates from the diet being converted by insulin. These triglycerides do not come directly from dietary fats. They are made in the liver from any excess sugars which have not been used for energy.”
I’d also like to borrow from an example from Dr Michael Eades’ blog, if I may, to illustrate the point.
“These type I diabetics have no insulin so they can’t really stuff fat into their fat cells. And they are breaking protein down, converting it to glucose and urinating it away. They are voraciously hungry and eat, eat, eat but they can’t store any fat…Their fragile situation demonstrates that in the absence of insulin it’s virtually impossible to gain weight. After following a low-carb diet for a while, our overweight patients lower their insulin levels, so, as with type I diabetics, it is difficult for them to store fat as well. They crank up all the futile cycling, elevate levels of uncoupling protein synthesis and increase proton leakage to dissipate the excess energy they’re consuming, but they don’t store it as fat….If you start throwing back the carbs, however, you will lose this advantage.”
I hope you can now see the huge benefit there is to eating this way. The bodybuilding world is still largely clueless of this. I urge you to take advantage of this knowledge!
What To Eat On Your Low-Carb Days
For menu ideas please see this thread at the MuscleHack bodybuilding forum. Examples include:
- Taco Salad
- Low Carb Tortillas with meat and any low-carb sauce (mayo, ranch, blue cheese)
- Chicken Goujons / Breaded Chicken
- Chicken Curry
- Beef Kebabs
- Homemade Protein Bar
- Sugar-free Jell-O with Squirty Cream on top
- Hot Cocoa made with cream
In Conclusion
That’s the ‘M.A.N.S.’ bodybuilding diet plan laid bare for you. Question is, what are you going to do with it?
I encourage you to stop, once and for all, the endless bulking/fattening cycle followed by cutting (losing as much muscle as fat) year on year.
It DOES NOT need to be this way.
I urge you to join me in this way of eating. Many, many people have seen awesome changes as a result of implementing my dietary guidelines, check out their testimonials.
You can also get help and advice from fellow MuscleHackers by registering at my bodybuilding forums here. Pretty soon you’ll be wondering how you ever attempted to build muscle without this diet!
Stay tuned for recipes to help you live this truly anabolic lifestyle by subscribing here.
UPDATE : For newbies to MANS, here’s a list of further reading here at MuscleHack:
- How To Build More Muscle On The MANS Diet - Including the Mid-Week Carb-Spike
- The No.1 Mistake People Make On The MANS Diet
- How Many Calories Per Day Do I Need To Build Muscle? - I say you don’t need to be concerned about excess calories, but you may want to make sure you’re getting the minimum requirement.
- How To Calculate Net Carbs - Remember, it’s only Net Carbs you need to count, this is important
- What Fruit Can I Eat On A Low Carb Diet?
- What Every Bodybuilder Should Eat For Dinner
- What If You Can’t Get Fat On A High-Fat Diet?
- Want To Build Muscle? Eat Your Beef! - Red Meat is a staple on the MANS diet
- The Saturated Fat & Cholesterol Myth Destroyed! - Don’t believe the hype! This bodybuilding diet is very healthy
Folks, I have spent countless hours laboring over this article for you. This article can really benefit people in the pursuit of their body goals without resorting to anabolic steroids.Can I ask something in return?
Please consider helping promote this article. Click on the icons below (especially Stumble Upon and Digg), tell your friends about it, link to it on your own site, mention it in your youtube videos, or anything else you feel is appropriate.
Thank you very much.
Mark McManus
If you're new here, please download my free workout and diet book and start transforming your body today!. Thanks for visiting!
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This post currently has 76 Comments
Muata
December 18, 2007
Great post bro. I can’t wait to talk to you about the MANS program; great acronym BTW!
Joe
Mark,
All this info is great for anyone interested in gaining lean muscle mass. I was wondering if you could post a food or types of food that would be beneficial to your program. I’m in the military stationed in Germany and my knowledge of food isn’t that big. If there was a post on maybe food types that are great for the low carb days and maybe somethings to avoid on the higher carb up period. Again your information is great for any person interested in getting fit.
Thanks,
SGT Williams, Joseph
U.S. Army
Mark McManus
Hi Joe,
Good to hear from you again.
I’ll put that in the works. Been very busy with other things lately so haven’t had a lot of time to blog.
For now stick to meat, nuts, fibrous vegetables (not starchy ones), eggs, seafood during the week.
At weekends let your hair down a little, a lot more carbs - watch for weight gain so you know how long you can carb-up safely for.
I’ll get into it more in a future post.
All the best over there in Germany buddy.
Mark
TonyStark
Mark,
This site has served as great inspiration to me. I’ve visited alot in the last month reading/gaining tips. Like many others I’m trying to put on size. I just don’t want the huge effect (I’m aiming for the trim ripped look). I hope this diet mixed w/ my workout will help achieve my goals. Keep up the good work.
Mark McManus
Thanks Tony! That means a lot.
Yes you’ll reach your goals buddy, just keep going.
I agree, for me having a low body fat percentage comes first. There’s just no point in building muscle with fat on top.
Luckily enough with MANS I can build muscle and maintain my low body fat levels.
My book (soon to be released) is called ‘Total Six Pack Abs’ and the whole focus is on getting very low body fat percentages and sculpting hard abs. I’ve designed it to be a total step by step guide, no room for confusion or error.
Thanks for your support Tony
Mark
Manoj
I eat eggs everyday but do not eat non-veg daily. My regular diet is veg. Can you please give Veg meal plan that can cover good amount of protein and low carbs also. I am tired of thinking what to eat and not eat. Would be great if you can guide me on this.
Mark McManus
Manoj,I’m working on a response for you on this.
I’ll make a post here at the blog about how to low-carb on a vegetarian diet.
Thanks for your question.
Mark
Mark McManus
Manoj, see this article for an answer to your question.
http://www.musclehack.com/how-to-build-muscle-on-a-vegetarian-diet/
Harry Chittenden
Great job here, Mark. I really got a lot out of this and the article you wrote for the Four Hour Work Week.
There are a couple of issues with your diet that I would want to modify. First of all, I’d add a greater variety of vegetables and even fruits. Without them you cannot get a proper supply of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals (micro-nutrients that we know about) and the countless phyto-nutrients that we don’t know about. More vegetables and fruit would also raise the intake of fiber. Not enough fiber can cause immediate problems for some people.
Second, your ad lib (eat what you want) approach to quantity works well for you, but it simply won’t work for everyone. Excess fat is a direct, immutable function of excess calories consumed and nothing can change that. Outeat your calorie burn, which most people do, and you are going to thicken up that layer of fat. The solution is to log what you eat and monitor the results. Food logging takes very little time and gives you exponentially more control of your diet and your weight.
Thanks again for your contribution. I look forward to seeing your work in the future
Mark McManus
Hi Harry, thanks for the great comment.
Firstly, people following this way of eating can consume any non-starchy vegetable they like on the low-carb part. They will easily get enough fiber because of the consumption of fibrous vegetables (which are a staple of this section of the diet). Also, many low carb substitute products are high in fiber e.g. Mama Lupe’s low carb tortillas.
During the carb-up they can (and should) consume fruits and vegetables - no limits, no restrictions.
The issue around calories is one that I have to respectfully disagree with you on. On a low carb diet I am convinced that there can be no ‘excess calories’. The reason is that it seems that the resting metabolic rate of a low carber increases when ‘calories-in’ increases. ‘Calories-in’ and ‘calories-out’ are not independent variables’ and this becomes even more pronounced on a low carb diet.
Note that this is not the same as saying you can actually lose weight and eat thousands and thousands of calories. However, gaining fat when keeping carbs at around 30 grams a day is, in my opinion, an impossible task.
The first 2 laws of thermodynamics are often brought up when people seek to debunk this idea but the law is not broken at all. All reactions involve entropy. Entropy is greatly increased for low carbers. Anyway, it’s too big of an issue to fully discuss in a comment.
I respect your opinion; I understand your motivation to help people.
Have a look at the following link where a guy kept a food log for 30 days and purposefully overate on a low carb diet in an effort to put this issue to rest.
http://magicbus.myfreeforum.org/ftopic846-0-asc-0.php
He consumed 48,659 excess calories above maintenance over the 30 days, didn’t exercise and the result? He didn’t gain a pound.
Mark McManus
Harry Chittenden
Hi Mark and Muata. I’m enjoying this discussion. Thanks, Mark, for your hard work in coming up with the eating plan and sharing it.
There is a question of balance. We want to gain weight, but in muscle mass, not fat. We want the excess calories that ordinarily produce excess fat to produce excess muscle instead. To accomplish this requires a balance of eating and working out. Without the workout, muscles have no reason to grow and the plan will fail. Without the excess calories, weight will be lost and we’ll have muscle decline along with weight loss. If we hit the mark, as Mark seems to have done, we’ll have weight gain predominantly in muscle mass. What if we exceed the calories needed for maximum muscle growth and the increased resting metabolic rate? What happens to the excess calories?
With such a balancing act, one element or another is bound to get out of whack. Basic human nature tells us that many people will either not work out hard enough or eat too much or both. Two sides of the same coin. The only way to know for sure is to take a measure of what you’re eating. It will reveal opportunities to adjust calorie intake as well as the occasional (just once a day) donut.
I think that you are in balance with this program, Mark. But sooner or later you are going to start getting mail from people who will say it’s not working for them. I think you’ll find they are not working out hard enough for the amount they are eating or eating too much for the amount they are working out.
Again, thank you for your good work.
Muata
Hey Harry. I couldn’t agree with you more. Basic human physiology tells us that if we want to gain muscle, we need to add more calories than we’re currently consuming. And, your body won’t normally adjust its calorie upwards to do this because it’s not “normal”.
The argument of not counting calories, which has been brought more to the mainstream by Gary Taubes’s latest book, which I’ve read and reviewed, is OK when you have folks who are arguing about losing weight; however, I think that there is more than enough of a body of evidence to show that to build mass or even get down to low body fat %, your energy expenditure has to be accounted for. No disrespect to Atkins, Taubes, Eades, or Groves, but these guys don’t have one clue about how to build and sustain muscle, let alone explain how to reach low body fat %. Now, if we were to ask Poliquin, Cosgrove, Colpo, Dipasqual, Costa, or even Tom Venuto about counting calories, and I think we know that they will say.
Mark McManus
Hi again guys.
Harry, the point about excess calories could be the subject of its own book and more studies should be funded. Gary Taubes, that Muata speaks about, is someone who is calling for such studies.
The point I’m making is that there may be no such thing as ‘excess calories’ when carbs are sufficiently restricted. Therefore, all weight gain is muscle mass, no fat. This is congruent with my experience.
You say “What if we exceed the calories needed for maximum muscle growth and the increased resting metabolic rate? What happens to the excess calories?” Including the increased metabolic rate is exactly what we need the studies for - we need to know if there is a ceiling on this. I mean if someone restricts carbs to 20 grams per day and eats 10,000 calories for a month, what would happen? I, like you, would be interested in finding out.
Anyway, you would need to be forced to take in such high amounts and no-one that is eating the way I have suggested will be taking in any where near 10,000 calories. I am therefore, more than confident that excess calories won’t be a concern.
People can still add fat though. The carb-up period is highly individualized and that’s why I recommend each person test different lengths of time to notice when they begin to ’smooth-out.’
Again, can I reiterate that this does not mean people can lose fat and eat an unlimited amount of food.
If you get a chance to watch this, here is a lecture with Taubes where he talks about this issue of ‘excess calories’ and ‘calories in, calories out’
not being independent of each other.
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid=21216
Cheers,
Mark
TonyStark
Mark, not sure if you ever mentioned but when’s the (your) book coming out?
Mark McManus
Hi again Tony,
Thanks for stopping by again. Yes, I’m hoping for a release sometime during week commencing Monday Feb 11th 2008.
The book deals specifically with getting six pack abs. There’s no fluff. It’s not a book on diet science and it’s not a heavy read. It deals exclusively with providing a practical, step by step guide to ripped abs. The BEST thing though is that it actually works. It will work for everyone who follows it, no exceptions.
I will provide updates on the progress of the book in the weekly Newsletter if you haven’t already signed up to it.
Cheers,
Mark
Andrics
Hi Mark would your diet work ok if I was following a three day training week ( two body part a session)Or is the five day one body part a session essential? Thanks
Mark McManus
It’ll work fine with a 3 day routine Andrics.
I realize we all have to fit our workouts around our lives.
However, keep to low-carb nutrition part 5 - 6 days if you want to avoid laying down body fat.
Cheers,
Mark
sam
Mark, what exactly do you mean by the term, smooth-out? also, is it ok to take caffein? case in point i have some hydroxycut that i take sometimes because it gives me a little boost. is that ok while doing this?
Mark McManus
Hi Sam.
Smooth-out refers to losing your definition i.e. gaining a little fat, watch for this when starting MANS so you know your individual carb-up time limit.
Caffeine is fine (as long as you’re not a type 2 diabetic), so go ahead with the hydroxycut - go easy on these things though, you don’t want to get dependent upon them.
Thanks for the question Sam,
Mark
Zac
Mark this sounds like a great way to eat, but I’ve been brought up to believe carbs are the best source of energy. Despite this I’m keen to give the MANS diet a go, but on top of doing weights four times a week I play football which I also have to train for and then play on weekends. Is the MANS diet purely for bodybuilding or can I use it and still be able to train for football and perform on the field?
Mark McManus
Zac, it depends on how often you train. The plan is designed for the person looking to gain muscle primarily.
It sounds like you’re very active and could probably take more carbs if you preferred.
However, a fat-adapted body is just as energetic; I know a low carb guy who runs marathons so I would suggest that you go for the plan as described and adopt if absolutely necessary.
You’ll have your carb-up for your weekend game and you’re sure to benefit from the increased testosterone, so take it easy on the opposition
Mark
Rob
Mark, i am very glad i stumbled across your site today, i was always told that carbs were good and needed to get bigger as well as protein. but from reading your article i can see that it is not the case with carbs.
I train 4 times a week and this is usually every other day as this fits in best with my schedule.from readiny some of your other things i see you say to train say arms on one day and chest on another and legs on another. i have been training pretty much everything each time. is this harmful and will it hinder my results?
Rob.
Mark McManus
Hi Rob.
If carbs are used intelligently they are good for building muscle. One carb-up period per week will provide the anabolic properties of insulin without the lipogenic effects.
Are you a beginner Rob? Full body routines can be good for complete beginners but after 2-3 months you should switch over a split-routine i.e. 1-2 body parts per session to really stimulate the muscles in question.
Your routine isn’t necessarily harmful but just not as efficient as the ‘8-12 | 6-9′ approach I recommend.
Cheers,
Mark
Rob
I have been training for about 4months after being a national standard rower, so going from alot of cardio to more muscle building and sculpting. i am trying out your workout plans for each body part and hopefully will see some nice results.
one question i have about the eating fat is does it matter what type of fat? and by that i mean on a label it will have say 10g of fat and 5g of saturated fat, does it matter if it is saturated fat or not?
thanks
Rob.
Rob
Another question
I see you reccommended about 30g of carbs a day, i checked some of the things i normally eat and they have about 15g in each, also they said that the RDA was 430g of carbs. therefore would i still see the same sort of results, just not to the same extent, by eating about 100g of carbs a day and eating more fat? or would doing that make me put on fat?
The reason i say 100g is because some of the things such as snacks i eat because i am at school and sometimes it is not practical to eat something such as a wrap or sandwich.
If it is not possible to do it with 100g of carbs, are there any sorts of snack that you know of which are low in carbs?
thanks again
Rob.
Mark McManus
Rob, it doesn’t matter. Most fat I consume is saturated. Keep your carbs low. Here’s a good article to read when you get time:
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=heart.disease&conitem=a03ddd2eaab85110VgnVCM10000013281eac____
‘They’ say a lot of things; 430g of carbs a day, every day! No thanks.
You won’t get maximal results as the higher carbs means more insulin, which means less growth hormone; that’s how it works unfortunately.
However, under 100g of carbs a day is still considered low carb an you’ll do well.
I go for snacks like beef jerky, nut bars, flavored peanuts, cheese cubes. I also make my own protein chew bars - see the post I did for vegetarians for the recipe.
Cheers,
Mark
Rob
I am finding that it isnt actually that hard to cut out most of the high carb things i would normally eat as before i would try to eat more carbs…one thing i was wondering though is that with this plan you wont gain weight, but will you lose the fat as well? you have probably stated this somewhere but reading something that is so complicated means its hard for me to see some of the main points
Thanks for the great advice by the way Mark
Rob.
Mark McManus
@ Rob.
MANS is not a cutting diet. It is a muscle-building one. The goal is to allow you to build more muscle with less or no fat gains simultaneously.
You should gain weight on MANS i.e. lean muscle tissue.
Cutting requires a slightly different strategy and cardio should be factored in too.
Thanks,
Mark
Rob
Ahh fair enough, well that sounds good to me
i will also be looking forward to the book/article on six pack abs, should be interesting as i havent really read much about best way to get them before.
As to what Andrew said, i have gotten like that a couple of times when i have gone to the gym but found that it was because i had not and was not drinking enough, so went and got a drink and continued to drink throughout and it got better again after a while.
Rob.
Mark McManus
Thanks Rob and you bring up a good point. High protein diets require more water intake than normal. I have an article on it but roughly shoot for 12 x 8 ounce glasses per day guys. (I ALWAYS have a pint glass of water beside me while I workout).
Cheers,
Mark
Fred
Hi Mark,
You mentioned fruits being ok and as much as you like. Surely the sugar in fruits will increase insulin levels? What fruits do you eat and how much?
Thanks
Fred
Mark McManus
Hi Fred,
You must have misread something. Fruits will increase insulin levels like you say so you must go for low-sugar ones, try these:
# Strawberries
# Cranberries
# Raspberries
# Blackberries
# Blueberries
# Grapefruit
# Melons
# Apricots
# Plums
# Peaches
# Pears
# Guava
# Cherries
# Apples
# Papaya
All in moderation of course, just watch your total carbs.
Cheers,
Mark
Aeron
Hey Mark, Came across your site from a link on Lifehacker. THis is some really amazing stuff.
My question is I am more concerned about losing weight then gaining muscle at this point. This maybe a stupid question but will I get good results just following this to the letter?
Mark McManus
Hi Aeron,
My book ‘Total Six Pack Abs’ will lay bare the strategy for getting very low body fat percentages.
For now, I would suggest that you use a 24 hour carb-up only and measure your results. If not satisfactory drop the carb up and you should definitely factor in HIIT cardio immediately after your weight training.
Thanks,
Mark
Andrics
Hi Mark
is there a risk adding body fat if as an individual I reduced my carb intake to say 200g a day and replaced
those calories with high fat substitutes. What I am asking is do I really have to go really low on the carbs to stop
the body from putting on the fat? I have read much of your research and others you have referenced and the trend seems to imply that without the carbs fat cannot be stored but I wonder where that line is.
I am preparing mentally for this transition by taking food logs etc and I am hitting 400g of carbs a day and find it really hard
to avoid them. The only way for me would be a slow transition by cutting out my cereals and using eggs, time is a big issue
so sandwiched and wraps come in at lunch at 50g of carbs etc. Its shocking how many carbs exist in everything once you start the analysis.
hope my brain dump makes some sense?
Thanks .
Mark McManus
Those damn carbs are everywhere! lol
It’s not a bad idea to transition into low carb Andrics.
While you’re transitioning however, you should watch total daily calories. So if you are an average male and workout 3-5 times a week consume 2700-2800 calories a day to avoid gaining fat.
Once you get down to 30 grams a day you can relax and watch your daily carb count only.
Hope that helps,
Mark
ZenLC
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the great resource here!
I’ve been a low-carber since 1998 and an endurance cyclist since 2003 and it is fantastic to finally find a bodybuilding resource that conforms to my nutritional beliefs.
What is the relationship between your daily carb intake and ketosis? In general I don’t count carbs anymore, I just keep myself in ketosis by understanding food choices vs. workouts and use test strips every evening.
If I understand your theory correctly, the prime concern is avoiding the insulin spike during the week, thus if I test in ketosis my insulin levels should be pretty low.
Is my thinking on track?
Mark McManus
Hey ZenLC!
You’re absolutely correct, insulin levels need to be stabilized as I believe it is central to lipogenesis - fat accumulation.
The other objective is fat adaptation i.e. we want the body to burn fat for energy not carbs.
Welcome aboard. I see you’re into fitness, low carb and NLP, are you sure you’re not my long lost twin??
Mark
Andrics
Your advice is always helpfull and thanks for being so prompt back with all your responses.
I assume sticking to 200g of carbs a day I would not benefit from all the growth hormone increases that a 30g per day gives?
Rgds A
Mark McManus
That’s right Andrew as the fat intake would be lower.
Having said that, you could transition in a few short weeks so it’s really fine to do so.
If you need your carbs then the GLAD diet maybe more suited to you. I’m just so busy lately that I haven’t had a chance to get it written.
Mark
Laura
Would this work for a woman as well as for a man? I know I have some testosterone, but not the same amount as you guys.
Mark McManus
@Rissam. Sure but I really do promote red meat. Make sure you eat enough fat and use creatine as a supplement.
@ Laura . Absolutely Laura! There’s no reason why it won’t maximize gains for a female bodybuilder too.
Mark
Marc
Great article and I enjoy your site. However, isn’t this the Metabolic Diet?
Mark McManus
Hi Marc,
Yes it’s based on Di Pasquale’s work which is excellent. I mention him at the beginning of the article.
Cheers,
Mark
P.A.
I started taking whey protein to get all the protein I need but I think I have some sort of intolerance to it and it wrecks my digestive system. Is there some other type of protein that I can take that isn’t whey? Great article BTW!
Tosin
I need help or atlreast some guidance. For 2 weeks now, i have been doing your body building diet with Sunday thru Friday 6pm- Hight protien, Hight Fat, Low Carbs(30g) and then Friday 6:01pm till Saturday 9Pm i load up on carbs and relax a little. I also work out Mon-Friday from 630-7:15 plus 20min max HIIT cardio( i do the cardio because i was to lose the fat faster. Now my question is if i am eating the proper things. on my HP(high protien), HF, LC days(Sun-Fri) i scrable 5 egss with light tuna, than mid day i snack on almonds(10-20 nuts), than for lunch i eat egg salad and chicken salad with no bread or wrap, 2 hours after lunch i eat almonds again(10-20nuts) later i hit the gym 45min, 20min Cardio, i then take my post protien 50g, 5g creatine, 5g L-glutimine, 5g Glucose/dextrose=a gulp of gatorade…than for dinner i either have salmon or steak or grilled chicken or tuna with spinich or broccoli for dinner….i pretty much repeat that everyday and then on my HC(high carb), MP(medium protien), MF Friday6:01pm till Sat 9pm i eat oat meal, pancakes, chinese food or pizza or pasta etc….until i smooth out saturday night….now does this all sound good to you or im i messing up somewhere. oh by the way when i do my work out im doing the whole progressive over load strategy and writing everything down each week….i was afraid that maybe my body hasnt switch over to burn fat, i know you said it take 2 to 3 days and sometime longer, but how will i know? and how soon will i see results? i work very very hard in the gym for those 45 min and 20min of HIIT cardio. also prior to me starting this diet 2 weeks ago i was already working out and i was pretty good shape, i had no abs but i didnt have a gut either. now i want the abs with your new diet. Please Help me Mark.
sorry for the long comment.
Mark McManus