I've read about it from several competitors, John Meadows swears by it, Aram mentioned using it w/ a young bodybuilder. Has anyone in contest shape been able to compare the results of strait fat loading (after several days of low/no carbs) by itself without a carb load vs. a normal carb load? Do you guys really notice a difference in muscle size, fullness, and vascularity.

Most stick with the carb loading, but some guys swear they get fuller, tighter, harder and veiny with high fats and protein, ditching the carbs which tend to bloat their bodies. Any feedback would be appreciated.

If I'm not mistaken, Fitdoc has done it, too.

I think that I am about to try it for my second show coming up in 9 days. I get very carb sensitive near a show, and even a slight carb load can give me unexpected/unwanted results. Fat loading does not seem to cause me to smooth over. Right now my plan is for a mild carb and fat load on the wednesday before the show then straight lean beef and grapefruit with added fats from natural PB on TH/FRI and SAT. I have not etched this plan in stone yet but it is what I am currently considering. I have done a combination of carb and fat loading previously and have come to the conclusion that more fats would work even better for me. I beleive that you have to be very lean going in to the show for this to be a viable strategy.

This may be a stupid question and probably has an obvious answer but I have seen a lot of people mention that they are "carb sensitive" What exactly does that mean? Thanks, Toad

For me it means that I can start to smooth over after eating any significant amount of carbs. Cabrs eaten will break down into glucose and combine with water in your system. Some will be absorbed into the muscle (a good thing) and some will be carrier interstitially (outside of the muscles and organs, i.e. under the skin) For me the goal at contest time is to attain the thin skinned, full and hard look. I have to get extra lean for that to happen and to do so I am one of those unlucky blokes who has to really lower both my carb and fat intake to get there. for example, my carb intake has pretty much been under 50g/day for about 4 weeks now. So if I take in even an extra 100g of cabrs near a show, it can cause me to smooth out a it along with filling out. If I can use fat loading as an alternative way of filling out, then I can avoid this other potential factor. Thus I consider myself carb sensitive for two reasons 1) I have to drasticaly reduce carb intake in order to get very lean and 2) Carb intake can cause me to lose hardness on show day. Some people, ecto's primarily, can eat 150g or more of carbs a day right up to a show and still get very lean and not have the other concern either. We are all a little different in how our bosied react to final dietary changes leading up to a competition.

Thats very interesting...and is familiar to me as well..I notice that when I restrict carbs and go low fat for a long time, then eat something very fried or greasy or fatty I look really good. This is only for a day or two and then I look soft and lose definition. I think I may be carb sensitive too. No matter what the carb is, oats, potato, bread, I definitely smooth out unless I'm very very depleated. So as far as general maintenance I don't know if I should decrease carbs overall or keep them moderate all of the time...I think I'm carb and fat sensetive!!!

Carb sensitivity is something to be aware of off-season but not in the same way that it is close to a contest. Off season you need adequate carbs as part of your diet plan in order to grow (add LBM) What the right level of extra carbs is varies by person, but certainly 150g a day on average would be on the low end with many able to go much higher than that without adding extra body fat.

Off-season one trick is to build a carb-cut off point into your plan, where-by you eat all of your clean carbs early in your waking day, say in the first 3 or 4 meals, then for the last two meals the only carbs would be things like green leafy veggies and or broccoli. This helps put the extra carbs to good use as energy and muscle glycogen replacement as opposed to a tendancy for carbs eaten later in the day to be used as stored fuel (i.e. converted to body fat).

Toad, i'm the same way. I usually diet with pretty low fat and almost no carbs, whatever the source I just smooth out and look bloated in the abs. But when I go from high protein, low-mod. fat and no carbs, then eat a high fat meal or too, I swell up, get veiny, and my abs look tigher. As a matter of fact, the most dramatic difference occurs when I eat white meat (basically chicken for all my meals and whey pre-post workout) Then after 3-4 days of this, eat a day of red meat, as well as adding extra fat from coconut oil and nautural peanut butter, I get a ridiculous pump.