Gaining Muscle On A Low-Carb Diet

I was doing some research online about whether is possible to gain muscle while on a low-carb diet and I found this interesting post.

Meetza Is The Low-Carb Pizza

I have not been able to eat pizza for a while and I ran into a recipe for a "Meetza" online, so I decided to give it a try. Surprisingly, this recipe turned out to be pretty tasty and easy to do. It makes 8 servings enough for 4 adults.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving 

• 318 calories, 19g of fat, 3g net carbohydrates and 33g of protein

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of ground beef
• 5oz of mushrooms
• 3oz of green bell peppers
• 4oz of shredded Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 6oz of low carb tomato basil (about 6 net carbohydrates per half a cup)

Seasonings

• 4oz of grated Parmesan cheese
• 1tsp of salt
• 1tsp of caraway seeds
• 1tsp of oregano
• 1tsp of garlic salt
• 1tsp of coarse ground pepper
• 1tsp of crushed red pepper 

Quick Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit
• Mix all the seasonings in a bowl
• Mix the ground beef with the eggs
• Add the seasonings to the ground beef and mix well
• Place the ground beef on a 12" x 17" cookie sheet. It should cover the entire cookie sheet
• Cook it in the oven for 10 minutes
• Saute the green bell pepper and mushrooms with some butter on an iron skillet, when ready put aside.
• Remove the ground beef from the oven and drain the fat carefully, put aside
• Set the oven to Broil on high
• Put a layer of tomato basil on the ground beef, then a layer of the shredded Parmesan cheese and lastly the saute mushrooms and green bell peppers evenly distributed
• Place the ground beef with all the toppings back in the oven for anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes. You need to check it often because it might burn.
• Take it out of the oven and cut it in 8 slices so that you can use the nutrition facts above

It takes about two slices per person if all you are eating is this Meetza

Photos

Ingredients

Prepared ground beef on a 12" x 7" cookie sheet

Finished Meetza

Meetza cut into 8 pieces (after we ate 3 pieces)

Low-Carb Skewers

I been making Low-Carb skewers for the last few weeks every time I see that I need some extra calories and very few carbohydrates. Everybody at the house eats them as if they were candy. The 7yr old eats two skewers.

Nutrition Facts

4.2g Net Carbohydrates, 24g of Fat and 39g of Protein for a total of 416 calories per skewer

Ingredients Per Skewer

• 1oz of Green bell peppers
• 1oz of Onions
• 6 shrimps
• 8 pieces of 1/8 of an ounce of bacon
• 8 pieces of  about 1/8 of an ounce of pork sausage
• 8 pieces of sirloin

The Sequence

Green bell pepper, onion, bacon, shrimp, sirloin, sausage

Photos

Ingredients

Skewers before cooking

Skewers cooking in a George Foreman style grill.
Don't forget  to close it and turn them every few minutes .

Cooked skewers. I usually eat two of these.

Why We Have An Obesity Epidemic

I made a shorter version of a presentation by Dr. Doug McGuff that explains what happens when we eat and exercise at a cellular level and why we get fat and cannot lose fat. The original video was over an hour long, this shorter version is 20 minutes.

Low-Carb Diet Supplements

I take a "few" daily supplements to complement my low-carb diet. The first two are the most important to me.

1. Fish oil (about 6 to 9 grams a day)
2. Multi-Vitamins (I take GNC's Mega-Men Sport)
3. At least one whey protein shake first thing in the morning with less than 3 carbs and more than 24g of protein. I am currently drinking Cyto Sport Whey Protein.
4. Calcium Citrate (2 grams in the morning and 2 grams before bed, because if you don;t get enough, your body will borrow it from your bones)
5. Potasium and Magnesium
6. Vitamin E
7. Vitamin D3 ( I take this one because I usually don't get any sun)
8. Glucosamine (before bed. It has eliminated the pain in my injured knee)
9. Alpha Lipoic Acid (after every meal if possible)
10. I take a whey protein shake and 10 grams of BCAA after my workout

Low-Carb Picadillo

This is my recipe for a low-carb picadillo for those times when I want something more juicy and flavorful than just meat. In this recipe I did not add low-carb tortillas, but you can easily add a couple if you prefer to make tacos.

Nutrition information

425 Calories, 31g of fat, 3.4g net carbohydrates, 28g of protein

Ingredients per serving

3oz  of avocado
3.5oz ground beef (90% lean and drain the fat after browning)
1oz of shredded mexican blend cheese (zero carbs)
.5oz of tomato sauce with no salt
1-2 tbsp of pico de gallo

Photos

Ingredients

One serving

My Simple Diet Guidelines

These simple rules have helped me lose a few pounds every now and then while not limiting my food choices too much.

Basic rules

1. Calculate your basal metabolic rate ( calculator ) + activity level 
2. Eat no more than 50 grams of net carbohydrates a day (net carbohydrate = carbohydrate - fiber)
3. Eat at least 1 gram of protein per body weight
4. Calculate the calories in the carbohydrates + protein and add the rest as fat to arrive at your basal metabolic rate + activity level. 
5. Never eat less than 1,200 calories a day.

Here is my example

1. My metabolic rate is 1,784 plus my activity level for sedentary 1,784 x 1.1 = 1,962. According to this I have to eat about 2,000 calories a day to maintain my current weight.
2. 50 grams of net carbohydrates equals 200 calories (there are 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate).
3. My protein requirement is 168 grams because I weight 168 lbs (there are 4 calories per gram of protein).
4. 200 calories from carbohydrates + 672 calories from protein + 1,125 calories from fat (there are 9 calories per gram of fat) = 1,997 calories

I obviously never make it dead on, but I rarely go over my net carbohydrates and rarely go below my minimum protein requirements. After a few weeks of starting with the basic rules I realize that my actual calorie intake to maintain my body weight are about 2,500 calories.

Here is a chart that shows my daily planned calories vs my actual calories broken down by macro-nutrients. Note how Even though I have tried really hard to eat 2,600 calories a day, it is very hard for me as I am barely hungry on this diet and I almost always end up eating slightly below 2,000 calories a day.

Karim's Low-Carb Quesadilla

This is my recipe for a low-carb quesadilla that has a decent amount of calories, good cholesterol and protein.

Nutrition information

309 Calories, 22g of fat, 8g net carbohydrates, 23g of protein

Ingredients per quesadilla

1oz  of chicken
2 HEB low-carb tortillas
1oz of shredded mexican blend cheese (zero carbs)
1oz of avocado
1oz of fat free pinto beans
1/2 tbsp of sour cream
1-2 tbsp of pico de gallo

Photos