Hello all again, i am once again on the journey to a better me. If you followed my last log, the last you probably heard from me i was on my way to Cayo Coco Cuba and was a very lean 180 at 6'2.5" tall. Well it's been a slippery slop since then ,a hell of a lot of fun, but a downward spiral none the less. I have been eating like a fat kid left alone at a buffet, running wild, eating everything in sight. It began on the vacation with the cuban cigars and rum, along with the most delicious buffet foods. I never usually ate breakfast before the vacation and would steer clear of carbohydrates until the afternoon post training. On vacation i was eating pancakes and french toast for breakfast everyday, ice cream and cookies/donuts at lunch and alcohol at every meal other than breakfast/ throughout the day. Yes it was a greasy good time and when i returned to Canada things did not get much better. I went back to work for 3 days and then i was off for Christmas Holidays.
With that being said though, when i returned from Cuba on Friday i began a prep phase reset. From Friday through til Thursday night after my workout, i did lots of hiit depletion cardio, i began using Olympus Labs Vitality (Creatine/Betaine) and i did not consume more than 30 grams of net carbohydrates a day. This primed my body to burn body fat freely again and completely emptied my glycogen stores. I knew on the Tuesday that i was completely empty of glycogen, workouts became extremely tough and muscles were completely flat. The Thursday night was Christmas eve and when dinner time rolled around, it was back to eating like a sumo wrestler.
i did continue to weight train the entire time i was on vacation and continued to do so when i got back from vacay. I only took a day or two off the weights the entire time and when i returned from Cuba i began my Cardio again. If i had to guess, while i was in Cuba i was probably eating around 8,000 calories a day. This is not an exaggeration, I love to eat and would often eat until i felt sick every chance i got. I also track my calories very closely 95 percent of the time so i did have a good idea about how much i was eating.Why on earth would anyone do this? I am really not sure, i just love to eat and am really fortunate that i have a fast metabolism that helps keep the fat off. My weight training was amazing in Cuba, i would train first thing in the morning and had tons of energy and crushed every workout. When I returned to Canada, apart from the depletion phase, my workouts have been consistently great. Ive been getting lots of rest and have been feeling over well good.
Here are my current stats
Age 27 years old
Weight 188 pounds (up 8 pounds since pre vacation levels) Also this is my weight as of this morning after taking creatine consistently since Saturday the 19th so for the last 9 days) so I'm guessing about 5 pounds of this is water weight.
Training Style: High Volume/High frequency training 6 days a week
Dieting Style: If you followed my last log, you know i am a fan of intermittent fasting. The main reason why i enjoy intermittent fasting so much is because i like to eat until i am full and by pushing most of my calories until later in the day i am able to achieve this. For this log I will be following Carb Backloading Strength Accumulation Protocol. The author claims that this diet is Intermittent Fasting Evolved. He claims it gives all the benefits of Intermittent Fasting plus additional recomp/muscle building effects. I did the prep phase immediately upon returning from Cuba. The author says that if you are 10 percent body fat or less that you do not need to worry about the prep phase at all and can skip it all together. I figure i am right around the 10-12 percent body fat mark (judge for yourself based on my before pictures taken today and yesterday). With that being said though i still did the prep phase. The creator of the diet says it is a 10 day ultra low carb approach, keeping usable carbs (carbs other than fibre) under 30 grams a day for 10 days. you can however shorten this process by 3-4 days by performing a few sessions of hiit cardio as described in the book and weight training alone should shorten the phase by a day or 2.
How he described hiit cardio in the book.
2-4 minutes very light intensity walking/ cycling with barely any output
30 seconds to 1 minute all out intensity pushing yourself as hard as you can.
for 4-5 cycles
Well i did this everyday upon returning to Canadaup until Thursday the 24th, doing 2 minutes low intensity followed by 30 seconds high intensity for 25 minutes each day pre workout. I then hit a push/pull/leg split afterwards hitting each muscle group to exhaustion. I have done ketogenic/carb cycling diets many times before now and have a feel now for when my glycogen stores are empty. I knew that by Tuesday i had successfully completely the prep phase, however pushed my first carb load off until Thursday for complete reassurance. If you do follow this prep phase you are supposed to write down your weight before beginning the prep phase and weigh yourself once again after it is complete to get an accurate estimate as to how many carbs you can eat post workout and still lean out. I was not able to do this however because i began loading creatine at the same time and that in itself would throw off all the numbers. Luckily i have tinkered around with this diet many times before and know that my carb load amount post workout to be in the range of 400-450 grams carbohydrates post workout.
In the morning time i am still practicing a somewhat intermittent fasting style approach to my day. I am using the accelerator shake as written in the backloading book to get me through into the after noon where i will have my 2 pre workout meals.
The accelerator shake that i have customized for me consumed immediately after waking and then 3 hours again later to tide me over until my first meal.
Accelerator shake
500 ml black coffee
8 grams of coconut oil
10 grams of whey protein isolate, vanilla flavour
2 table spoons of light whipping cream
Consumed 2x before first meal
Pre workout macro goals
100 grams protein
50 grams fat
Less than 30 grams Carbohydrates
Post workout Macro Totals (including pre workout macros)
Protein 230 grams
Fats 123 Grams
Carbs 415 Grams
Total Calories: 3680
I track and weigh all of my food. Nothing is left to chance. I am guessing that by following these macros, in this timed nutrient format i will maintain/ slowly lose weight over the course of this log. If my weight stays consistently below 185 i will be increasing overall calories, if my weight shoots up over 200 pounds i will be decreasing overall calories from carbohydrates.
Goals:
I am hoping to be able to pull off a recomposition. It is my goal to maintain/gain a bit of weight while staying at or even losing a bit of body fat. I am not overly concerned with body fat right now,however i do not want to gain anymore. My next vacation is in May and i do not want to have a hard time cutting for that when the time comes. I know that i look very lean at 180 pounds so the goal is to stay within 20 pounds of that. Ideally during this log i will not go above 195 pounds. This way hopefully, when i cut down again, i can be at the same body fat percent i was at 180 at 185.
With that being said though, when i returned from Cuba on Friday i began a prep phase reset. From Friday through til Thursday night after my workout, i did lots of hiit depletion cardio, i began using Olympus Labs Vitality (Creatine/Betaine) and i did not consume more than 30 grams of net carbohydrates a day. This primed my body to burn body fat freely again and completely emptied my glycogen stores. I knew on the Tuesday that i was completely empty of glycogen, workouts became extremely tough and muscles were completely flat. The Thursday night was Christmas eve and when dinner time rolled around, it was back to eating like a sumo wrestler.
i did continue to weight train the entire time i was on vacation and continued to do so when i got back from vacay. I only took a day or two off the weights the entire time and when i returned from Cuba i began my Cardio again. If i had to guess, while i was in Cuba i was probably eating around 8,000 calories a day. This is not an exaggeration, I love to eat and would often eat until i felt sick every chance i got. I also track my calories very closely 95 percent of the time so i did have a good idea about how much i was eating.Why on earth would anyone do this? I am really not sure, i just love to eat and am really fortunate that i have a fast metabolism that helps keep the fat off. My weight training was amazing in Cuba, i would train first thing in the morning and had tons of energy and crushed every workout. When I returned to Canada, apart from the depletion phase, my workouts have been consistently great. Ive been getting lots of rest and have been feeling over well good.
Here are my current stats
Age 27 years old
Weight 188 pounds (up 8 pounds since pre vacation levels) Also this is my weight as of this morning after taking creatine consistently since Saturday the 19th so for the last 9 days) so I'm guessing about 5 pounds of this is water weight.
Training Style: High Volume/High frequency training 6 days a week
Dieting Style: If you followed my last log, you know i am a fan of intermittent fasting. The main reason why i enjoy intermittent fasting so much is because i like to eat until i am full and by pushing most of my calories until later in the day i am able to achieve this. For this log I will be following Carb Backloading Strength Accumulation Protocol. The author claims that this diet is Intermittent Fasting Evolved. He claims it gives all the benefits of Intermittent Fasting plus additional recomp/muscle building effects. I did the prep phase immediately upon returning from Cuba. The author says that if you are 10 percent body fat or less that you do not need to worry about the prep phase at all and can skip it all together. I figure i am right around the 10-12 percent body fat mark (judge for yourself based on my before pictures taken today and yesterday). With that being said though i still did the prep phase. The creator of the diet says it is a 10 day ultra low carb approach, keeping usable carbs (carbs other than fibre) under 30 grams a day for 10 days. you can however shorten this process by 3-4 days by performing a few sessions of hiit cardio as described in the book and weight training alone should shorten the phase by a day or 2.
How he described hiit cardio in the book.
2-4 minutes very light intensity walking/ cycling with barely any output
30 seconds to 1 minute all out intensity pushing yourself as hard as you can.
for 4-5 cycles
Well i did this everyday upon returning to Canadaup until Thursday the 24th, doing 2 minutes low intensity followed by 30 seconds high intensity for 25 minutes each day pre workout. I then hit a push/pull/leg split afterwards hitting each muscle group to exhaustion. I have done ketogenic/carb cycling diets many times before now and have a feel now for when my glycogen stores are empty. I knew that by Tuesday i had successfully completely the prep phase, however pushed my first carb load off until Thursday for complete reassurance. If you do follow this prep phase you are supposed to write down your weight before beginning the prep phase and weigh yourself once again after it is complete to get an accurate estimate as to how many carbs you can eat post workout and still lean out. I was not able to do this however because i began loading creatine at the same time and that in itself would throw off all the numbers. Luckily i have tinkered around with this diet many times before and know that my carb load amount post workout to be in the range of 400-450 grams carbohydrates post workout.
In the morning time i am still practicing a somewhat intermittent fasting style approach to my day. I am using the accelerator shake as written in the backloading book to get me through into the after noon where i will have my 2 pre workout meals.
The accelerator shake that i have customized for me consumed immediately after waking and then 3 hours again later to tide me over until my first meal.
Accelerator shake
500 ml black coffee
8 grams of coconut oil
10 grams of whey protein isolate, vanilla flavour
2 table spoons of light whipping cream
Consumed 2x before first meal
Pre workout macro goals
100 grams protein
50 grams fat
Less than 30 grams Carbohydrates
Post workout Macro Totals (including pre workout macros)
Protein 230 grams
Fats 123 Grams
Carbs 415 Grams
Total Calories: 3680
I track and weigh all of my food. Nothing is left to chance. I am guessing that by following these macros, in this timed nutrient format i will maintain/ slowly lose weight over the course of this log. If my weight stays consistently below 185 i will be increasing overall calories, if my weight shoots up over 200 pounds i will be decreasing overall calories from carbohydrates.
Goals:
I am hoping to be able to pull off a recomposition. It is my goal to maintain/gain a bit of weight while staying at or even losing a bit of body fat. I am not overly concerned with body fat right now,however i do not want to gain anymore. My next vacation is in May and i do not want to have a hard time cutting for that when the time comes. I know that i look very lean at 180 pounds so the goal is to stay within 20 pounds of that. Ideally during this log i will not go above 195 pounds. This way hopefully, when i cut down again, i can be at the same body fat percent i was at 180 at 185.