Bill Pearl only recommends one tablespoon of fat perday!

[killroy70]

fat for fuel

I think whether a diet works or not is very genetics-dependent. Some people oxidize fat for fuel rather efficiently, while others tend to have a predominantly carbohydrate metabolism. I have done so many different diets - 40/30/30, high carb, etc..., and have to say I've had the greatest gains ever while on the metabolic diet. I feel great, body fat down, muscle mass up, and strength gains through the roof (for me ). for example, over the past 5 months, I've increased my bodyweight from 192 to 206, decreased by bodyfat from 14% to 10%, and my lifts have increased substantially. for example, my max single in the trap bar deadlift was 360x1 five months ago. This past week I hit 435x5 with room to spare. And that workotu was on a friday after 5 days of near zero carbs. To each his own

 

[MS]

There's nothing wrong with the metabolic diet, but it's not all "fat for fuel" since the protein intake is still pretty high. This allows your body to convert whatever spare protein it requires into carbs to fuel the muscles. This diet is possibly a lot better for insulin resistant people than a higher carb diet.....it provides glycogen via protein gluconeogenesis while allowing insulin sensitivity to improve so that the carb-ups are more effective. The human body is extremely adaptive and can grow on almost any diet provided adequate protein, EFAs and training stimulus. I also think you'll find that the optimum diet changes as you age.....most of us will become more resistant to insulin with age, so NClifter may have done just fine as a kid and young adult on high carbs, but may have more problems with this type of diet as he hits middle age and beyond.

 

[jerkbox]

i would have to agree with killroy on this....i don't believe any one diet is perfect for everyone....I respond best to keto type diets for burning fat...the fat just melts away, and I've always been partial to eating a lot of fat. I also know people who eat nothing but sugar, and are rail thin, etc. I above all listen to and watch my body closely.

 

[antny16]

How are you guys' testosterone levels while on these low fat diets? Since test levels drop at such a low percentage of dietary fat, are you guys affected?

 

[MS]

If a guy does not supplement AAS, his test levels will drop when his bodyfat gets very low no matter what kind of cutting diet he is on. If he's not cutting then there is no need to keep fat intake that low in the first place. Women have a different hormonal response to low fat diets. They are more likely to notice a drop in estrogen and progesterone than test (though test will also drop some). From this persepctive alone, I find the low fat diets to be a bonus (as a female) since the last thing I need when cutting is normal female estrogen levels! No matter which diet you follow, it is a good idea to have regular high carb refeeds to stall the drop in hormones and metabolism that low %bodyfat has on you.

 

[DanielBishop]

Seems to me, nclifter, that you decide what you want to believe in advance.... then you go and look for evidence to support it. All the while ignoring evidence to the contrary.

Bill Pearl is not a nutritionist. He's not a dietician. And to say that the thousands of others who disagree with his theory about low-fat don't know what they're talking about.... it's completely dumb.

The thousands of people I cited, are more often than not people with PhDs who have published their studies in reputable journals, which are tightly and strictly scrutinised. Bill Pearl isn't up to this standard.

Low fat might work for him, it might work for you. But you remind me of a Creationist arguing with an Evolutionist about where we came from. The evolutionist takes evidence which we have, which is proven and known to be true.... and pieces together a conclusion based upon that evidence. While the Christians have already decided what happened (because they read it in the Bible) and so they go looking for evidence to support it and ignore evidence which refutes it.

 

[MS]

"That's actually what I do.... in fact, when I diet I
have almost NO fat, and very little carbs.... but what works for me might not work for everyone. I would adjust the ratio,
and increase the complex carbs intake. ".......DanielBishop, 24 Nov, 2001

"The thousands of people I cited, are more often than not people with PhDs who have published their studies in reputable
journals, which are tightly and strictly scrutinised.".....................Could you please point me to these thousands of citations from reputably published PhDs in nutrition??? I can't find them in your EF diet posts!

That may sound argumentative, but I find your claims to be a little overzealous and unsubstantiated. I am a vegetarian, a dietician, a PhD AND a bodybuilder (amongst other things). I find the overwhelming majority of reputable peer reviewed research in this area points to a low fat/ high fiber/high carb or high protein/ low fat/ low carb diet as the preferred diet for fat loss. I am more than happy to recognize that higher fat, lower carb diets can also be beneficial for some people, but I find no evidence that it is in anyway preferentially recommended by nutritionists or the majority of elite bodybuilders. Do what works, but please guys, don't pull that religious "my method is good and yours is bad". Bill Pearl at least was a sucessful bodybuilder, which is far more than you can say of most nutritionists and PhDs!

 

[DanielBishop]

I never said any method is good or bad. Show me where I said you NEED high amounts of fat in your diet? I didn't. As you pointed out, I've used very low fat diets myself with good results....

.... but I've also used moderate or high fat diets with good results.

I am more than happy to recognize that higher fat, lower carb diets can also be beneficial for some people.... that's exactly my point.

My problem isn't with low-fat.... it's with taking the opinion of one bodybuilder and dismissing the opinions of many others who are more educated and more qualified as "not knowing what they're talking about"....

 

[MS]

My apologies DanielBishop. I totally agree that it is counterproductive to dismiss the results of other people just because it doesn't 'jive' with your own opinions or experiences.

Dial_tone....have you ever tried a low fat high protein diet??? Based on the available research (which Atkin's doesn't have) these appear to be the best all around diets for just about anyone. Since the question was about whether low fat diets work or not, I think these very effective diets should be included in the discussion. A low fat diet doesn't HAVE to be a high carb diet........

 

[HappyFunBall]

Bill Pearl

Bill Pearl recommends the RDA ammounts for protein, about 50 or 60 grams a day, even for bodybuilders. He says the high protein thing for weight lifters is just a myth.

Has anyone grown on these small ammounts of protein?