I’m curious what is super low carb for you? I.e. <30-50 g?

Right now, 30g per day, not counting veggie carbs that I don’t count. Oddly enough I do
really well on low to no carbs. Lots of energy, better mental focus, and even decent strength.
Obviously there is a drop off but not as much as many. Again, just a body type thing. Extreme
endomorphs like me tend to do well on low/no carb.

Typical day for me over the last 2 weeks:

1. 2 cups liquid egg whites (50g protein)

2. Redcon1 MRE Bar (20g protein, 30g carbs) - pre-workout
3. 6-8oz Chicken/Steak/Venison, Green Veggies - post workout
4. 2 scoops Whey Protein in water (50g protein)
5. 6-8oz Chicken/Steak/Venison, Green Veggies

Weekends and Wednesdays I have 6 whole eggs instead of egg whites.

Was down to 221 today so that’s almost 15 lbs in a little over 2 weeks.

Monday 4/8 - Chest/Delt/Tricep

1. Incline Bench Press 240 x 5, 215 x 8

2. DB Bench Press 80 + 11 + 2 + 2 (30 sec rest-pause)
3. Neutral Grip Machine Shoulder Press 130 x 10 + 3 + 3 (30 sec rest-
pause)
4. Wide Grip Upright Row 85 x 15 + 8 + 8 (30 sec rest-pause)
5. Dips x 12 + 2 + 2
6. French Press 60 x 10 + 3 + 3 (30 sec rest-pause)

Strength off today. Had a little too much coffee late in the day yesterday and slept like shit.
Probably only 2-3 hours total. Still a decent session, but top end strength was down

What I am doing right now is having a refeed meal(s) every time I hit a new low. So for instance, lets
say you start at 250 and after a week of dieting you hit 244 and you have a cheat meal. Then your
weight will shoot up several pounds and you just weigh every day until it comes back down to like
242 and then refeed. Weight goes up due to refeed, then you diet until you hit 240 and then refeed.
Etc, etc. Thats my plan anyways

On current fat-loss plan, body weight hit new low of 220 so I’ll go ahead and hit weekend
refeed starting tonight. Been hitting 30-60g carbs per day all week, but energy has been great
and strength has been holding. Definitely look and feel leaner.

So the way I’ve been doing the refeeds I really like. Each refeed is basically a day and a half.
For the first day, I’ll push my workout until about 4-5pm (usually I train at 11:00am). I go
ahead and stay on low / no carbs all day except pre-workout I’ll have my MRE bar which has
about 30g carbs. Then as soon as I’m done training I mix up a huge post workout drink of 2
bottles of gatorade and 2 scoops of whey. So about 40g protein and 110g fast acting carbs
immediate post workout. About 2 hours later I have a meal of basically whatever I want or
have been craving - pizza, whatever - and then before bed I have maybe a little more protein
(maybe 25g) in the form of liquid egg whites and something for the sweet tooth like cookies if
I’m still hungry. Sometimes I just do the protein if I feel like I’m about to pop from the huge
carb load. Then tomorrow I’ll basically eat my normal 5 protein meals but I’ll add carbs to
each one - basically whatever I want as long as each meal has some protein and carbs in it. No
lifting or cardio on the full refeed day. Just rest and loading. Then Sunday I’ll get back on
low/no carbs and stay there until I hit 218 - 219 and then refeed again. I’ll also make sure I
train on Sunday to take advantage of Saturdays carb load and hopefully have some good
strength numbers.

So after 1.5 day deload…body weight shot up from 220 to 228. One thing Nathan taught me is to
analyze effectiveness of carb load by mirror results…if next morning you appear to be “sloppy” with a
lot of “spillover”, then carb load was not optimal. i.e. muscles should be fuller and abs and waist may
even be a bit tighter than before as water was drawn into the muscle cells with the glycogen.
However if you just look sloppy and soft all over then you need to either shorten the loading period
or eliminate certain things from the cheat days like - heavily fried foods, ice cream, milk, etc. So carb
load appears to have gone well. Weight is up 8 lbs but not any softer than last time. Back on the
stricter diet today.

Been playing with slightly higher carb intake and lower fats, and not surprisingly (for me) the weight
loss slowed down. Strength seems about the same.

Nathan:

I’m going to answer this from a different perspective.

When it comes to weight gain, all weight is not created equal.

In that, true muscle is the desired outcome, added bodyfat is the often necessary “sidekick”
that comes along with that gain.

The goal is to minimize the fat element, as in the end it is typically just going to have to come
off anyway, and in doing so unless a very specific protocol specific to you is followed, you’ll
lose muscle as well.

Hence 2 steps forward, 1 1/2 steps back.

Slowly wins the race.

Better to add 10 pounds of quality in 2 months than 20 pounds of crap in 1 month.

Whether it’s been clients of mine like Brian Shaw going up to 460+ for the 2017 Arnold
Classic or Martins Licis going up to 360 for the 2019 Arnold Classic, those clients were
CONDITIONED and prepared over time a lengthy period to be able to process the added
calories.
Their systems were first put through my protocol to repair, enhance and increase their insulin
sensitivity.
Then they were able to do some magical things and handle their increased nutrition and
calories.

The biggest thing everyone forgets is that in any added weight scenario, your leverages
change.

So adding non quality weight just to add it, changes leverage on the static lifts that then
change again when there’s a yo yo between bulk/cut bulk/cut etc, etc.

You want to enhance leverages through “size” not alter, as just when you figure out and adjust
the leverages, you’re then either cutting again or bulking again and it becomes a broad
scenario of time spent fixing things instead of just lifting things.

Carb timing fat loss

Andy: I’m not answering for him, but usually on Nathan’s weight loss diets (for me!!!) he shifts carb
feedings to pre-workout with very small amounts of carbs at other times of the day. Not including
cheat meals which are almost always the last meal of the day the night prior to heavy training. But
my fat loss diets have much less carbs than yours does.

Nathan:

Each person is different as we all have different biology so there’s no absolute for your
scenario, especially within an IIFYM approach. The variables are endless, compared to how I
structure a diet which is created specific to the person and involves a multitude of phases each
client progresses through, all locked in a tight parameter. This enables me to make specific
adjustments to a specific item and enable a series of perpetual progress.
In your case I can however answer based on a broad scale.
You mentioned having good progress and then stalling.
A stall is indicitive regardless of diet approach, of calories being too high. Calories in vs
calories out. Calories consumed exceeded calories used.

Typically this comes down to:

1. Either the training parameter became less intense and thus less caloric needs.
2.)Hidden sources of additional calories had crept in (often liquids)
3.)Some form of metabolic damage beginning, however that’s a more long term issue.

First analyze those 3, you may need to change nothing in your current approach, and simply
address the issue.

If none of those seem to apply, then yes, adjusting your carbohydrate consumption to match
when you need them, is a good approach.

In your case try and consume the majority of your carbs prior to your workouts. There are no
essential carbs. It’s simply fuel.
Consume your carbs to provide fuel when needed and limit when you don’t, instead focusing
on the macros that change the body and thus impact strength via recovery ability, proteins and
fats.
Fats are critical for any natural athletes
The lower the fats, the lower the available anabolic hormones in your body. That’s a bad
thing.
The body can only manufacture hormones via supplied dietary fats.

If carbs are low, fat quantity must then replace as an energy source, and vice versa.
That provides satiety as well.
In the end…don’t overthink, regardless of approach used.

Andy: Whatever you aren’t eating is what you crave in my experience.

With Nathan, cheat meals have very little rules and he’s never put me on a calorie limit,
although he has put me on a TIME limit. But for the most part, we’re trying to jam as many
calories as possible into that window.

His rules for me are (1) No milk, so I use almond milk for cereal (2) no ice cream, because he
hates me (3) no heavily battered foods like fried chicken, etc.

But I just had a cheat meal tonight which was 2 Double Meat Burgers and 2 large fries from
Wendy’s with a can of Dr. Pepper.

Last night I had a large cheese pizza and a sleeve of oreos

Nathan:

Dietary fats are highly individualized and thus critical as it pertains to the relative hormone
scenario.
In that, it’s completely specific to the person and:

1. goals, regarding how strict their existing diet is

2. what their specific diet is
3. if the goal is for losing or gaining weight
4. the starting blood work of each individual which highly determines what specific fats I
then allow

This then typically includes altering their omega 3,6,9, balance through diet and timing, from
their baseline profiles. All of that information is then comparative to age, training, lifestyle,
etc…

So I would recommend Step 1: bloodwork to know exactly where your starting hormone
levels are at, as well as a full basic blood panel. Once you have that information determine
what type of diet you are going to follow (it’s imposible to have any performance enhancing
affect on increasing hormone levels without a strict diet in place to manipulate them.)
Even though not specifically your answer, hopefully this assists in some direction where to
start and things to consider as it pertains to enhancing hormone levels for a natural athlete
through dietary fats and timing.