Former Fat Guy - Weight Loss Blog

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Natural Hormone Enhancement Carb Cycle For Weight Loss

Like I said yesterday, my 7 days of eating no carbohydrates in order to switch from sugar burner to fat burner is over. This is the initial start of the Natural Hormone Enhancement program by Rob Faigin. Now, I'm pretty sure I was always a fat burner, but I wanted to follow the program from start to finish just as outlined.

That's the problem with a lot of books people read. They discount some of the information, or it's challenging their beliefs on what is right and what isn't when it comes to health and weight loss. They begin to read, but either add in some of their own things, or modify the program, or don't even complete it.

Start with the chapter explaining how to do the first 7 days. Then go back and read from the beginning to learn how the Natural Hormone Enhancement program works. Give yourself the 7 days to catch up to that chapter and go beyond.

I have begun my first carbohydrates cycle. I'm adding Cauliflower back in, as Rob suggests removing all carbohydrates during the "switch over" cycle to fully facilitate changing from sugar burner to fat burner. I'll be limiting my "active carbohydrates" to under 30g per day and 20g per day if I can do it. It's been a long time since I've been that low on carbohydrates for such an extended time, so it's just a matter of getting into the habit of reading labels for everything I eat. What I'm going to be most cautious about is hidden carbohydrates. I actually have no idea how many active carbohydrates are in mustard. I'll look that up. The low number of carbohydrates doesn't concern me, it's just getting into the new habit.

You'll have two programs to choose from, the regular program for maximum fat burning and then the bodybuilder program which is a lot more strict and does require a good deal of commitment in order to get enough carbohydrates on the re-feed meal. As Rob says, the lows are lower and the highs are higher.

The regular program allows for between 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per day and then during the re-feed meal, he suggests 40g of active carbohydrates for women and 60g for men. Compare that with 200g for bodybuilders. I remember trying this with brown rice and it turns out to be a LOT of brown rice. Now, remember that the amount of active carbohydrates mentioned above is for one meal… the last meal of the day. Bodybuilders can split the 200g into the last two meals. Rob also recommends limiting fluids and fibrous carbohydrates for this meal as it would just create extra volume in the stomach when the goal is to eat as many active carbohydrates as possible. In fact, the amounts above for the regular program is minimum amounts of carbohydrates because there is no limit.

This re-feed meal happens during two different cycles. Cycle one is 3 days and cycle two is 4 days. So every 3rd or 4th day depending on the cycle, you get to eat an enormous amount of food. Now, that said, the reverse is true for fats and proteins. With this re-feed meal, the idea is to have as much insulin response as possible, so you'll also have to reduce the amount of protein at that meal as well as the fat with less than 20g of each suggested. Up until that last meal of the day, everything else is the same…. Namely meals comprising of protein, fat and fibrous vegetables and little or no active carbohydrates.

My breakfast for today:

8 Egg whites
3 whole eggs
3 inches of polish sausage sliced up
½ a green pepper
3 Tablespoons of Coconut oil
2 slices of Yves veggie cheese
2 slices of Elk Sausage diced up
Organic black pepper
1 cup Cauliflower

I warmed up the frying pan with the coconut oil, browned the sausages and green pepper, added the egg whites, whole eggs and veggie cheese and then kinda scrambled it / made an omelet out of it. Nibbled on the Cauliflower (raw) afterwards and washed it all down with some Fortune D.

Lunch is going to be some Elk burgers with veggie cheese and mustard, no bun, and more cauliflower and maybe a green salad.

Meal 3 will probably be a protein shake with 1 scoop whey protein with 8 egg whites and two tablespoons of Udo's Oil. I call this my Chocolate Egg Shake.

Meal 4 and 5, not sure yet, but will be more meat and veggies and fat.

WHY? All this to INCREASE fat burning, increase testosterone, Thermogenics, reduce insulin response and increase Glucagon.

This post is certainly going to piss off a lot of vegetarians (I'm a former vegetarian….. so take it easy) and surely create some controversy. I look forward to the comments.

Labels: Natural Hormone Enhancement, Rob Faigin, weight loss

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Natural Hormone Enhancement Carb Cycling Weight Loss Program

After 7 days of eating nothing but protein and fat (zero carbs), I'm starting my first two days of my carb cycle.

I've followed Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle for a few years now and I've wanted to try this Natural Hormonal Enhancement program by Rob Faigin for about a year. Wanted to start it last year but due to my traveling, it was just impossible to begin.

The first 7 days on the NHE program require you to reset your system from sugar burner to fat burner. This is done by completely limiting carbs to less than 20g per day. I took the plunge and just did zero carbs. With the exception of some hidden carbs in say mustard and Franks Red Hot sauce, I think I got away with it. Franks Red Hot sauce says there is 0 carbs in a tablespoon, so I'm going with it.

For the past 7 days, I've eaten only egg whites, whole eggs, whey protein, Chicken, smokies, steak and Udo's Oil for good fats.

Now the carb cycling begins.

The idea is to have two cycles, one 4 day and one 3 day. During the cycles, I'm only eating protein and fat, and less that 60g of carbs. I'm going to see if I can get it as low as possible, say less than 20g of carbs per day. Then on the end day of the cycle, the last meal is comprised of minor amounts of protein and fat but HUGE amounts of carbs to restore glycogen levels. My plan is to use whole grain brown rice as my carb of choice. Rob says there is no need to count calories on this program however knowing grams of carbs, protein and fats would be a good idea.

Cruciferous vegetables are free and are not counted at all towards carbs because of their thermogenics impact and lack of an insulin response, so I'm sticking with Cauliflower as I just love it.. raw, steamed, however. Cauliflower also has the ability to lower estrogen levels thereby changing the Testosterone / Estrogen balance in favor of Testosterone.

After these past 7 days with no carbs, I have no cravings, but I do want an apple. I'm not craving the apple, but I would like to experience one again pretty soon. I love apples. Low GI, High Fiber, Thermogenic, taste good and they come in a convenient package.

I know that I'm a fat burner, but wanted to go through the process from start to finish as an example. I function better on protein and fat than I do on carbs anyway. I called a very famous friend of mine as I remember him telling me how he dropped all his weight eating protein, fat and saturated fat. He had told me that his cholesterol levels dropped to normal or better than normal range as well. We've decided to do a mutual interview on the subject which will be posted when the time comes. When I called him to ask him about what it was he did (as I had just my memory to go on), he agreed that my memory was correct. He gave me an example of what he had to eat today. He said that on his way home from the gym, he stopped at McDonalds for two Quarter Pounders with Cheese and two chicken sandwiches'. He removed the bun and the sauces and ate the veggies, meat and cheese. That was his food for the day.

According to Rob Faigen, his Natural Hormone Enhancement program is based on how we used to eat thousands of years ago before the "grain" movement (10,000 years ago) and before the industrial revolution which included the processing of foods.

Eat more like hunter gathers and our hormones will not only be stable, but we'll be in a hormonally enhanced state whereby ALWAYS burning fat for energy, having a great immune system, proper cholesterol levels and the ever elusive Anti- Aging miracle formula. I'm paraphrasing of course, but his book NHE lays out all the foundations for this sound science. With our hormones running at optimal levels, Human Growth Hormone, Testosterone, Glucagon and Insulin will all be maximizing muscle growth as well. Rob says that it's possible to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. He has two programs within his book, 1 for those who want to maximize fat loss and a 2nd for bodybuilders who want to maximize muscle growth.

For the record, this is not a "no carbs diet". It's inteligently cycling of carbs. How I do it as a bodybuilder may be differnt from the program outlines for the general public. I do eat carbs. I just eat them in a specific maner at a specific time. More on that in later posts here and on my other blog.

It makes sense to me and I'm going to try it. I'll let you know how it goes as I'll probably be sticking with this one for the rest of my life.

Labels: Natural Hormone Enhancement, Natural Weight Loss, No Carb Diet, Rob Faigin