Carb Back-Loading - CBL experts please review this diet

[jerrysiii]

Ok, first I guess I need to clear up some misconceptions:

1) The goal of this experiment is not to gain 2lbs, its to objectively evaluate carb back-loading. 2Lbs of LBM with very little fat gain and a moderate increase in strength are how I'll determine if it was a success for me. If it is successful, I will continue the diet for at least four more weeks.

2) My cardio routine is 15 minutes of incline walk at 3.6mph / 13.5% incline. I do this fasted in the morning five days per week.

3) I agree that the food choices on my menus are very unconventional for a bodybuilding diet. I would normally never eat these foods. However, believe it or not, each item was chosen specially and purposefully to be in accordance with this diet.

If you are at all interested in it, check out some of Keifer's writings and pod casts. This guy is not a hack and there is a scientific method to his madness.

Now, I'm not saying that I fully believe in this approach, but it obviously intrigued me enough to give it an honest evaluation. I've chosen not to deviate or try to tweak his diet at all. I'm following strictly according to the author's outline.

[jerrysiii]

Energy level for today's training was surprising very good seeing that yesterday was ULC.

Bench Press: 230x10 -- felt good and almost got 11 reps

[JoeySon]

Subbed..looking into running CBL in a few weeks

[JoeySon]

Also, did you do the depletion phase?

[jerrysiii]

Also, did you do the depletion phase?

No. I'm doing the "Density Bulking" version. In the book Keifer says its ok not to do the prep phase for this protocol if you are below 15% bf.

[jerrysiii]

Strong squat workout: 220x17 -- a little bit of rest/pause going on with these high rep sets, but I'll still count it at 17 reps

[MuscleGauge1]

Okay so your diet is good but I definetely think it could be better. Where are your healthy fats? I think you should add some avocado on your list as well as some healthy fats. Almonds are a great source for healthy fats also Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil is another way to get healthy fats in. I think if you add these two things you will greatly benefit from them. Keep your diet clean and watch the size of your portions for sure.

[Distilled Water]

In for further discussion on the subject. I'll add what I can. I'm working on something myself with these type of principles

[jerrysiii]

Okay so your diet is good but I definetely think it could be better. Where are your healthy fats? I think you should add some avocado on your list as well as some healthy fats. Almonds are a great source for healthy fats also Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil is another way to get healthy fats in. I think if you add these two things you will greatly benefit from them. Keep your diet clean and watch the size of your portions for sure.

I agree with your suggestions from an overall health perspective. Keep in mind this is an experimental diet and not something I would do indefinitely regardless of the results -- at least not without some modification.

Again, for this two week experiment I've chosen not deviate from the author's outline. This is the only way to fairly evaluate the diet.

Keifer suggests that fats come predominately from coconut oil and meat.

I have given some thought on how to make this diet more healthy. If I decide to continue beyond two weeks I'll switch out the coconut oil in meal #2 for evoo. Next, I'd add some vegetables to meal #4. I'd also eliminate the junk from meal #5 and replace with healthier alternatives. I may include some complex carbs in the back-load, but would use a GDA one hour after my last meal to help clear glucose prior to bed. With these minor modifications I'd still be very close to the the author's plan.

[jerrysiii]

Tonight's workout was weighted pull-ups: BW + 27.5 x 14. Energy was good and muscles felt more full than usual.

[murk01]

How bout coconut butter, i have seen it around never tried it, and how would u use it?

[jerrysiii]

How bout coconut butter, i have seen it around never tried it, and how would u use it?

I just looked up the nutrition info for coconut butter. It contains some carbs, but most of them are fiber. This may work ok as well. I assume it is also mostly MTCs, which is what you want.

[jerrysiii]

Shoulder press: 145x4 -- was hoping for 5 or 6

Energy was good, but I'm a little sore from yesterday's back work. Luckily tomorrow is an off day. Going to skip cardio also and take a complete day of rest. This will also give me an extra half hour of sleep. I want to be well rested for deadlifts on Saturday.


Edit: Checked my training log last night. The weight was actually 145.

[jerrysiii]

Yesterday was deadlifts: 300x13

I'll post my updated weight, bf, and waist measurement tomorrow. This will also complete the two week evaluation.

I'll probably make some small modifications and continue the diet for another 6 weeks. However I'm going to end the log due to lack of interest.

[jerrysiii]

End of 2 Week Evaluation:

Start:
Weight: 176.4 lbs
BF: 11.5%
Waist: 31.75"
Bench Press: 240x8
Squat: 205x22 (recently reset)
Shoulder Press: 150x4
Deadlift: 310x10

End:
Weight: 178.6 lbs (+1.0lbs from last week, +2.1lbs from start)
BF: 11.8% (+0.1% from last week, +0.3% from start)
Waist: 32.00" (+0.25" from last week, +0.25" from start)
Bench Press: 245x6
Squat: 220x17
Shoulder Press: 145x4
Deadlift: 300x13

I gained 1.4lbs lean mass and 0.8lbs fat. Again, the accuracy of my BF reading is somewhat questionable. But overall I think this is fairly accurate given the 0.25" increase in my waist. This equates to a weight increase ratio of 65% LBM to 35% fat.

For me this is just about in line with what I would expect from any mass gaining diet. I was not able, at least in this two week experiment, to achieve the author's "holy grail" claim of lean mass without fat gain. However, even in writing this I'm hesitant to draw too many conclusions because I've only given the diet two weeks and many dietary changes take a few weeks to show optimum results.

Strength does not appear to have increase by a meaningful amount. On the other hand, my energy level for my workouts feel good. As with the body composition, it is difficult to draw too many conclusion after 2 weeks.

On a positive note, the amount and types of foods that I'm eating on this diet is out of the ordinary for me as well as most people on a typical bb style diet. So this in itself provides a fun change of pace without any detrimental consequences.

I've decide to continue for at least a couple of more weeks. I'm ending the log today, but may provide one more update at the end of my second 2 week run if there is something of interest to report.

[rambofireball]

Please let us know how the next two weeks go. I'm following!

[jerrysiii]

Please let us know how the next two weeks go. I'm following!

No problem. I'll post tomorrow's weigh-in results and follow up with a "final review" next Monday.

[rambofireball]

No problem. I'll post tomorrow's weigh-in results and follow up with a "final review" next Monday.

Awesome, much appreciated.

[jerrysiii]

Week 3:
Weight: 179.3 lbs (+0.7lbs from last week, +2.8lbs from start)
BF: 11.8% (+0.0% from last week, +0.3% from start)
Waist: 32.00" (+0.00" from last week, +0.25" from start)

It was a good week. Weight is up 0.7lbs without any noticeable fat gain. There were a couple of changes:

First, I cut back on the carb back-load meals slightly by removing one cup of cereal from the post workout and reducing the potatoes at dinner to 8 oz.

I also switched to a four day training schedule. By doing this I now have three ultra-low carb days and four back-load days.

Note: Last week included Thanksgiving which ended up becoming a "mega" back-load day. I still followed the diet by being ultra-low carb in the morning. I trained around 2pm and did not eat carbs until dinner which was around 5:30pm. The rest of the night included two full plates of Thanksgiving dinner and two rounds of deserts.

[hossjob]

So I learned last night that every low-carb meal is supposed to 1:1 protein to fat grams. I reformulated both training and non-training menus (the non-training had to be completely rewritten). Basically the low-carb periods are true keotogenic high fat.

Training days: 1:1 grams pro/fat for each low-carb meal. 1:1 calories pro/fat for the daily total. Carbs are at 2.4x target body weight. 3,865 kcal 47% cho / 26% pro / 28% fat

Non-training: 1:1 grams pro/fat for each low-carb meal. 2,918 kcal 7% cho / 30% pro / 63% fat

I'll post the menus if anyone is interested.

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Tonight's workout was shoulder press. I'm a little sore from yesterday's back work. However, it was still a strong workout: 140x6

Overall, I feel good. Plenty of energy and surprisingly not hungry during the low-carb part of the day. Still mentally adjusting to diet. I'm used to very high protein with low to moderate carbs and fat. Eating several teaspoons of coconut oil per day (12 tsp today) seems very strange. Of course pounding tons of high glycemic carbs at night also seems strange.

On low carb meals you are supposed to be 1:1 fat grams to protein grams? or is it 1:1 fat calories to protein calories?