Further carb cycling inquiries

[Premo55]

Okay, so I'm finally gonna get on this carb cycling bandwagon starting wednesday, and I'm gonna try using it for a bulk in this order:
Monday- High (Quads, calves)
Tuesday- No (Rest)
Wednesday- Low (Shoulders)
Thursday- High (Back, bis)
Friday- No (Rest)
Saturday- Low (Hamstrings, lower back)
Sunday- High (Chest, tris)

Minor glitch though: I had the largest binge of all time last night at Canadian Thanksgiving dinner (at LEAST 12 ounces of turkey (without gravy, thankfully), three bowls of wild rice, three huge yams, some pie, ice cream, carots, corn, half a bowl of salad that was meant for 10 people, a bit of mashed potatoes), which didn't do much harm, seeing as how it probably affected leptin levels and got my metabolism kick-started again (I've been sub-120g of carbs every day for the past two months at maintenance calories, I'm 6'0" 168 at 8% body fat), because I was fuller and leaner this morning.

Today I did a no-carb day with salmon, sirloin, shark, cottage cheese, flax, natural PB, eggs and a crapload of veggies, is that enough for me to make a transition to the carb cycle, or should I throw in another no carb day? Which day should I Start the cycle off with first?

Thanks for the help!
Peace.

 

[Jodi]

LOL - We need a carb cycling sub-forum for all these questions

How many days did you binge and why only 1 bite of mashed potatoes? I would have been all over those, I love mashed potatoes Shit, I love food

I would start with 2 days no carb, then go high, no, low, high etc. so on and so on.

 

[kdwa1]

Yea we need a sub forum Jodi as we all modify it to suit our body types etc. I'm trying a no low no low no high no etc.meaning a high every fifth day to lose some fat.Sound OK? Tks!

 

[Premo55]

Thanksgiving dinner...

I only binged for one meal, and this was my post-workout meal, right after a grueling back workout with 10 sets of deadlifts, lots of wide-grip pull-ups, a few sets of The Bear (anybody familiar with this?), and some other stuff, I wanted to play it safe, I thought if I'm gonna down so much damn food, why not make use of the nutrients as a post-workout meal...I swear my back grew thicker last night, or I'm just deluding myself and trying to make myself feel better for binging...

And Jodi, I really should've eaten more mashed potatoes, considering my girl made them... ..she wasn't very pleased that I didn't eat them, I was trying to avoid the high GI carbs though, but that went COMPLETELY out the window when dessert was served... ....

I was thinking of doing a low carb day tomorrow to restore some glycogen stores that I depleted today with an insane leg workout (I swear today was the most pumped my quads have been, and my poundages went up by 1.5 times after last night's binge), going sub-150g and doing my shoulder workout....good idea? Or should I do no carb again tomorrow? You're incredibly helpful, I really appreciate it...

Peace.

 

[Jodi]

Originally posted by kdwa1
Yea we need a sub forum Jodi as we all modify it to suit our body types etc. I'm trying a no low no low no high no etc.meaning a high every fifth day to lose some fat.Sound OK? Tks!

I would try the diet the way its written first and then you could use the rotation adjustment as a tweak. If you do that to start you don't have anywhere to go when progress slows.

 

[Jodi]

Re: Thanksgiving dinner...

Originally posted by Premo55
I only binged for one meal, and this was my post-workout meal, right after a grueling back workout with 10 sets of deadlifts, lots of wide-grip pull-ups, a few sets of The Bear (anybody familiar with this?), and some other stuff, I wanted to play it safe, I thought if I'm gonna down so much damn food, why not make use of the nutrients as a post-workout meal...I swear my back grew thicker last night, or I'm just deluding myself and trying to make myself feel better for binging...

And Jodi, I really should've eaten more mashed potatoes, considering my girl made them... ..she wasn't very pleased that I didn't eat them, I was trying to avoid the high GI carbs though, but that went COMPLETELY out the window when dessert was served... ....

I was thinking of doing a low carb day tomorrow to restore some glycogen stores that I depleted today with an insane leg workout (I swear today was the most pumped my quads have been, and my poundages went up by 1.5 times after last night's binge), going sub-150g and doing my shoulder workout....good idea? Or should I do no carb again tomorrow? You're incredibly helpful, I really appreciate it...

Peace.

Glad I can help

Go ahead and do low carb tomorrow and then start your rotation. No, High, Low etc.

Mashed Potatoes & Dessert. Skip the turkey

 

[Premo55]

And kdwa, I'm pretty sure that's not the idea of carb cycling. The high days are important to make sure your caloric deficit isn't significant enough to downregulate thyroid output and function and sacrifice your metabolism.

By scheduling constant high days you're re-igniting your metabolism's fuse, restoring leptin levels and giving your body the go-ahead to burn more fat by forcing your metabolism to work harder after it has started to settle in the groove of expecting a smaller amount of carbs. I think skipping the high days would do much more damage than good, IMO.

I remember when I was using a CKD variation (DP/W8's plan) throwing in more carb-up days made me leaner as opposed to trying to stick it out with more no-carb days. Also, yesterday's Thanksgiving binge further affirms to me that a huge cheat after a long period of the same diet WILL make you leaner. By continuously throwing a spanner in the works you're keeping your body guessing, which is essential for any kind of body recomposition.

I guess what I'm trying to say is stick with TP's plan. I'm 80% sure that it will work for you (the other 20% being the consideration that everybody is bio-mechanically different), because I have always seen great success from cyclical diets.

Jodi, if I do low tomorrow, should I start with a high day? That's how my schedule reads...And I swear I ate half the turkey last night...and the tryptophan ATE AWAY at any desire for Thanksgiving lovin', to say the least...my girl wasn't impressed...first the mashed potatoes, then me falling asleep on her...

Peace.

 

[Jodi]

I already responded. See above

 

[_Aj]

Premo, i am in the same boat as I ate way too much thanksgiving. My menu looked really similar to yours, lol. I actually don't feel fuller but FAT. Gained a whopping 15llbs(water, glycogen, some muscle but mainly fat) I am doing a few days of no then a high just because I put my caloric intake way above maintence for the next week.

But I agree on the sub forum for carb cyclers

 

[Premo55]

_Aj, you gained 15 pounds in one day? Now that's just ridiculous. The thing with me was I tweaked my breakfast and lunch to accomodate the thanksgiving dinner, though, and I only ate one meal following that, as opposed to my usual 6/7 meals, so I didn't really go that overboard as far as cals went....

Peace.

 

[_Aj]

Well It was really the coiurse of the weekend, saturday I had a preety clean carb up, and a low carb day the day before. But there is some visible fat gain. THat is why I am going to go a few low days with no training, I am taking a break.

 

[Twin Peak]

Apparently I am going to have to address Canadian Thanksgiving refeeds, in my next article.

 

[Triple Threat]

How about generic celebratory refeeds (holidays, birthday parties, etc)?

 

[Twin Peak]

Well, I would think the level of the refeed woudl depend on the holiday.