Since I'm not getting ready for a show, I have some time to play around with my diet and exercise. As you know, I've put on a few extra pounds (looks around) in my off season, and I want to lean out a bit. Those who know me best, know I'm not the most conventional person, and I thumb my nose at the easy route. Grr...
Three things I'm trying now:
1. Keto Dieting: I've been tinkering with my diet and supplementation schemes. I am currently on a keto-type diet. For those who aren't up on it, keto is a very low carb diet. I'm talking very. Less than 30 net carbs a day (that's less than a serving of oats! And y'all know how I love my oats... ) for a prolonged period of time, followed by a "refeed" --- reintroducing carbs into the body, once a week or so (depending on how you cycle it). While you are lo carb, you eat mainly fats and protein. My cycle is about 6 days lo carb - Sunday-Friday - Then carb refeed on Saturday. I weigh myself on Saturday morning to see my progress and that influences how I carb up. I also look at my workouts for the week and gauge my energy levels. In my prep cycle, I've found that keto diets work for ME.
(Disclaimer: Keto is NOT for everyone and NOT meant to do forever. As with all diet approaches, check with a doc or at the very least, someone who is experienced in dieting and nutrition to guide you)
2. Fasting: In addition to keto, I've been looking at "Intermittent Fasting". Intermittent Fasting (IF) is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting (usually meaning consumption of water and sometimes low-calorie drinks such as black coffee) and non-fasting (wikipedia entry). Now... I'm mixing the two dieting styles.. Keto diet, with a fast. I'm trying not to eat until about 9-10 am and to quit eating around 10 pm. Basically, 12 hour fast, 12 hour eating cycle. It pains me a bit in the morning, but I drink about 10 g BCAAs upon waking, then have some coffee/tea/cucumber slices until it's time to eat. It's not a perfect fast, but I'm trying some things out. Am I hungry? Yep. Will I die? No. Energy level? Pretty good, actually. Training? Going well.. lifting heavy and getting good results.
3. No Post Workout Shake! That's right, I'm foregoing the post workout protein shake. I know, that's BLASPHEMY in the bodybuilding world.. But.. The way I see it, after training, I'm starving. I tend to overeat, or at the very least suffer from hunger at night. So, last night, after an intense back session, instead of a shake, I drank about 10 g BCAAs mixed with Crystal Light. Granted it wasn't the best tasting drink, but... I fed my muscles, staved off hunger for a bit and saved myself about 120 cals/25 g protein that I can eat in REAL FOOD, which always keeps me full longer. So, it actually worked out nicely. I only live about 30 minutes from my gym, so I was able to eat a meal within an hour of my training. I also wasn't hungry after that, meaning I have to adjust my earlier meals to get in all my macros.
I'll discuss my training and supplementation schemes lata.. right now, it's cucumber/tea/ gum time.. got about 30 minutes until I can eat again :-).
xoxo,
L.
No comments:
Post a Comment