Critique my carb cycling diet

[Natestreo]

Anabolicmind peeps,

I have been doing LeanGains style dieting for the last 3 months or so and have had a very positive experience with it. I enjoy the fasted workouts and the meal sizes that come with this style of dieting, especially the large post workout meal. I would highly recommend trying this diet out for yourselves to see how your body responds to it. I always had success with the typical 6 meals per day style of dieting but thought that I would give LeanGains a chance after researching it for a while. Needless to say, I was eventually sold on the idea and my theories about dieting have been greatly influenced my Martin's well thought out dieting plan.

Due to a recent change in schedule as a result of work I will no longer be able to do LeanGains. I have never done a carb cycling program but thought that I would like to give it a chance. Especially because I am currently at a low bodyfat percentage and am trying to get that last bit of fat off of my abs. Carb cycling has a lot of claims that it is effective for someone in my shoes, why not give it a try?

With that being said, I am posting a picture of my diet I just planned out. I would appreciate some constructive criticism from those who may be familiar with carb cycling, as I am not. I am, however, knowledgable about dieting and nutrition in general but I always appreciate extra feedback from those whom more than I know in a particular subject matter. I am pretty sure that I did this correctly, but again, I would appreciate the feedback from fellow AM members.

Please do not leave comments about the calorie levels, I have recorded my calories for quite a while and am familiar with how my body responds to certain calorie levels. I think everyone would agree that the amount of calories I am planning on is quite low at times, but please do not suggest that I increase this. If I did not have extensive records of my past nutrition and knowledge of how my body responded to the past I would be much more open to advice in this area. Advice in almost any other area would be appreciated!

My stats: 5'9 ... 182lbs (dry) floats around 185lbs with water weight usually ... 8% bodyfat ... activity 5 days per week.
RMR: 1926 ... Based off most recent BodPod measurement recorded a few weeks ago.

 

[Celorza]

I ran like that for my cut a while ago and got my abs on at2 and erase bro , it looks solid , good macro set up, but I would aim for no more than 2 High Carb days and no more than 2 No carb days , that way you can cut out faster , without punishing glycogen stores too much and making it viable for at least some 6-8 weeks without it eating muscle away.

 

[bean5er]

Agreed^^^^

I have 5 low days with 1 moderate day followed by 1 high day
Looks like this

Sun- low
Mon- low
Tues- low
Weds- moderate
Thurs- high
Fri- low
Sat- low

Every week I have a cheat meal of whatever I want, on any " low" day to be consume within 90 mins towards the end of the day. Ever few weeks I split up my moderate and high days by throwing a low day in between them. Hope this helps bud, I've been meaning to get back to you about this all day but have been slammed at work!

 

[Natestreo]

I had been hoping to hear from you, specifically! Thanks for your feedback!

Do you both believe that I should limit the high carb days once it is considered that I am eating below maintenance calorie levels at all times, including the high carb days? I am on a 900-1100 calorie defecit each day at these macros.

I am okay if the results take a bit of extra time. I dont think they will, though, because the AT2/MS/AE phase of my stack I am currently doing and logging is going fantastic. I will be using Clen and MS after the current portion of my stack concludes, then EP and DAA to finish the cut. So, I have at least 8-10 more weeks to get to my goals.

Thoughts? Does this change anything?

Agreed^^^^

I have 5 low days with 1 moderate day followed by 1 high day
Looks like this

Sun- low
Mon- low
Tues- low
Weds- moderate
Thurs- high
Fri- low
Sat- low

Every week I have a cheat meal of whatever I want, on any " low" day to be consume within 90 mins towards the end of the day. Ever few weeks I split up my moderate and high days by throwing a low day in between them. Hope this helps bud, I've been meaning to get back to you about this all day but have been slammed at work!

 

[bean5er]

To be honest with I don't go off maint cals at all, I get my macros right and cycle those sometimes I'm over on cals sometimes I'm under. This is the diet I used to transform myself from a blob of beer and fast food.

 

[Celorza]

I had been hoping to hear from you, specifically! Thanks for your feedback!

Do you both believe that I should limit the high carb days once it is considered that I am eating below maintenance calorie levels at all times, including the high carb days? I am on a 900-1100 calorie defecit each day at these macros.

I am okay if the results take a bit of extra time. I dont think they will, though, because the AT2/MS/AE phase of my stack I am currently doing and logging is going fantastic. I will be using Clen and MS after the current portion of my stack concludes, then EP and DAA to finish the cut. So, I have at least 8-10 more weeks to get to my goals.

Thoughts? Does this change anything?

I do believe with 2 High carb days , you don't tax it too much and still keep going at the pace you are at , the thing with 3 high carb days is that you don't give enough time for glycogen depletion and some days don't deplete it as much , I personally would keep High Carb days for Back and Legs seeing how Squats and DL are more taxing and are more glycogen dependant , but its your choice bud , I personally ran it that way and so no tax on my muscles.

 

[bean5er]

Agreed even though I don't do it that way. My high days tend to be on off or cardio only days and low days are from back to
Legs makes no difference to me. The thing to remember is everyone is different and will respond different. I've done it both ways and honestly noticed nothing between the two except that I didn't stress about planning my high days for hard workouts lol one less thing to worry about.

 

[Natestreo]

Agreed even though I don't do it that way. My high days tend to be on off or cardio only days and low days are from back to
Legs makes no difference to me. The thing to remember is everyone is different and will respond different. I've done it both ways and honestly noticed nothing between the two except that I didn't stress about planning my high days for hard workouts lol one less thing to worry about.

Thanks for the feedback bro!

 

[Celorza]

Agreed even though I don't do it that way. My high days tend to be on off or cardio only days and low days are from back to
Legs makes no difference to me. The thing to remember is everyone is different and will respond different. I've done it both ways and honestly noticed nothing between the two except that I didn't stress about planning my high days for hard workouts lol one less thing to worry about.

This is true and I have seen it work pretty good for many people , its mainly the way your body reacts to carbs and how good are you at glycogen restoration and conversion. For some of us we need a good metabolic boost and hypertropical boost like lifting to get the insulin sensitivity at its peak to restore glycogen , hence some of us do it on heavy left days , so it does get shuffled straight into the muscle glycogen deposits , while some people are different and react better at recovery days like cardio or rest days for their glycogen conversion and restoration rates. All depends on being in tune with your body.

 

[Natestreo]

So were thinking about changing Wednesday from a high carb to something different, is that what the jist of it is? What would you guys do instead?

Im starting to follow what you are saying. And I completely agree, in theory at least. The more I think about it, I could use the High carbs on wednesday and saturday for deadlift and squat. But on Monday I could do without the increased carbs for chest. Bench Press isnt as exhausting to me as those other two lifts seem to be.

 

[Celorza]

So were thinking about changing Wednesday from a high carb to something different, is that what the jist of it is? What would you guys do instead?

Im starting to follow what you are saying. And I completely agree, in theory at least. The more I think about it, I could use the High carbs on wednesday and saturday for deadlift and squat. But on Monday I could do without the increased carbs for chest. Bench Press isnt as exhausting to me as those other two lifts seem to be.

Precisely try it out!!

 

[Natestreo]

Alright...following yalls advice. Here is the new plan.

And I picked up a crap ton of fibrous veggies for no carb days. Thanks for the tip, bean5er.

What do yall think??

 

[Natestreo]

Okay....this is about to be a perfect example of how much I think things through and hopefully an example of how much I truly care about what i'm doing here. I fully intend on succeeding and I am willing to do things that will help me in doing so. Operating on as consistent of a schedule as possible as well as having a plan to execute on any day is one step I can take to assist myself in succeeding.

I am being forced to work one of three different work shifts, as indicated by the below images. This makes it difficult to follow my past eating and workout schedule and as a result I am doing this. I have planned ahead of time as best as I could my meal timings as well as my workouts. Hopefully, this will allow me to begin operating on a better schedule and will help me to succeed. I operate best on a schedule!

With that said, I have tweaked my diet, again, uding the advice that I was given in the last few posts as well as other posts. Thanks to everyone who has been helping. And please, continue to critique.

I have removed the title of "no carb" and replaced it with "low carb", as this is more accurate. I have adjusted the amount of carbs on the "low carb" day, reduced them by 20. These will all be fibrous veggies and I dont think they can be lowered further. Also, adjusted the name of "low carb" to "moderate carb" in cooperation of the first name change.

Attached are pictures that will hopefully let everyone know what my plan is. Im sorry if these are difficult to view.


Macros/Schedule

Meal Timing/Totals

 

[Count1564]

Go to Google and look up The Carb Cycling Codex. That is by fair the best form of carb cycling IMO. In a nutshell, your high/mod/low carb days depends on how many days you train. I train 4 days a week. So I have two high, two mod, and three low. The two high days are for your most demanding workouts. Personally, I switch the high and mod days every two weeks. You protein and fat intake stays the same all three days, the only thing you change is carb intake. They give the break down of macros in the article. Look it up, its a great read

 

[vassille]

1600 cal per day?
There is no such thing as carb cycling....just because you cut carbs doesnt mean your body will use fat for energy necessarely. Most likely your body will use fat and muscle for energy at same rate. So in the end you will look flat and weak.
Carbs are just a form of energy..that's all. When you cut carbs your body will look else where to make up the difference