Articles by Lyle McDonald

Subject: Big Beyond Belief Hi Lyle, What do you think of Tom Platt’s ideas in Big Beyond Belief? For those who aren’t familiar with it, the Big Beyond Belief system (which is really just a reworked version of Bulgarian Burst by Leo Costa) is purportedly based on Bulgarian training methods. The Bulgarians are known for […]

Subject: Zone Diet Question Hi Lyle, Okay, have a question for you.  I am a woman using the Zone diet to lose weight.   Supposedly I am supposed to eat 11 blocks of protein and the appropriate amount of fat and carbohydrates that go along with this.  As a block of carbohydrates is 9 grams, I […]

Subject: Protein and overtraining Mr. McDonald, Good morning! Is there a maximum amount of protein that is absorbed in one sitting? I’ve never found anything to suggest that this is the case. While there is probably a maximum rate that protein can be digested, it should all eventually get absorbed. If it didn’t, you’d be […]

General Announcements Before getting to the Q&A’s, let me say that I hope everyone had a safe and healthy holiday season. If you were in a mass phase, hopefully you gained the 7-10 lbs. that the average person gains during the holidays (I didn’t). If you were dieting well, it’s time for a new Year’s […]

Although ketogenic diets are useful for fat loss, while simultaneously sparing muscle loss, they have one significant drawback: they cannot sustain high intensity exercise. Activities like weight training can only use carbohydrates as an energy source, ketones and free fatty acids (FFA) cannot be used. Therefore the lack of carbohydrates on a ketogenic diet will […]

As the Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD) becomes more popular among natural bodybuilders, a great many questions have arisen regarding any and all manners of topics. One of the primary has to do with exercise on a CKD. First and foremost, individuals want to know what types of exercise can and can not be sustained on […]

Subject: Creatine and Benching I was wondering if you could help me answer a few questions? I’ve taken creatine monohydrate before, but never really kept track of the gains that I had made from it. I haven’t taken it for bout a 1/2 a year now but I was wondering how many lbs. on my […]

Subject: Creatine questions Dear Lyle,I’m confused about when to take creatine. Before, after, during a work out, or does it even matter? Also, does drinking coffee with creatine have an adverse effect on it. Craig For the most part, I don’t honestly see that taking creatine before or during your workout will have a major […]

Subject: No Fat Loss on CKD Dear Lyle, I am in quite a dilemma. I have tried the Body Opus diet to the T, but it seems s though after the initial ketogenic cycle I don’t lose any more body fat. The first week I lose upwards of 8 lbs. After this though it is […]

Hello Lyle, I recently ran across the Mesomorphosis web pages and your articles and responses therein. I would like to say that I am very impressed with your knowledge and feel that you have probably provided me with more useful information in reading just your articles on this site, than I have been able to […]