Please give me feedback on my diet/exercise regime

[Kenny537]

It's all thanks to you!

I was 172 on Sept 15th and that's when you started really helping me, so I always like to tell people I've lost 30 lbs since September.

I haven't finished reading UD2 yet, but that is definitely the plan after my BF% gets lower. I see the beginning of the top two of my abs without needing to breathe in - but I still think I am at around 17% though. If I remember correctly, I think it is recommended that you should be down to at least 13% for UD2.

 

[Built]

Remind me again - how tall are you?

 

[Kenny537]

5 ft 7 in.

I've taken pictures too, pre and post RFL anyway.

 

[Built]

No more RFL. You'll disappear. You're my height and I currently out-weigh you.
I don't think you're as fat as you think you are. I think, grashopper, it's time to move toward UD2.0

 

[Kenny537]

Gasp! I was looking forward to RFL! I don't think I really got the results I could have the first time since I didn't do the full diet break.

You really think so? Would seeing pictures change your mind? I thought I should diet down to 15% at least. I better finish reading UD2 lol.

 

[Built]

Show some pix. I don't think you're as fat as you think you are.

 

[Kenny537]

The left side of the picture is pre-RFL at 148 lbs and the right is post RFL at about 142 lbs.
I was told pre-RFL that my BF% is 16-20%
It does seem that my BF% has lowered a bit in the right picture - but I still thought it was 17%ish

 

[Built]

No more RFL. Time to start putting on some muscle, my friend. You've just got a bit of a soft tummy, and that'll tighten up as you get stronger.

 

[Kenny537]

Okay, you win.

I have been reading UD2 for a good while today. I am almost done, but I can already tell that I will need your help with the training portion. I am trying my best to take notes on what Lyle is saying and I will post what I think needs to be done - hopefully you can help me in the beginning and validate my plan!

Thanks!

 

[Built]

You don't have to do UD2.0 if you don't want to - another alternative is to just train four days a week, do a bit of cardio and creep the calories up, slowly, until you're at maintenance - meanwhile, train hard and get your strength up. You can always do UD2.0 later on.

 

[Kenny537]

It's not that I don't want to. I was always looking forwarding to doing it. It's just that I thought that I wasn't lean enough.
The secondary reason I am hesitant is because I am still not as confident with my basic knowledge of strength training fundamentals. My only real experience with training has been doing your "Basically, Training" routine for the last five months. And even with that, I don't think my form is perfect.
So what I mean is that I don't think I can just design a workout based on the parameters Lyle gives.

But in the book, he does give sample workouts - so I guess it is not so bad - I can just use those, right? I am sure I will have some questions with the training early on - so hopefully you will be here to provide some pointers!

-------

So I finished reading the book and I think that I will start this diet on Tuesday. Tomorrow will be the last day of my full diet break.
I was going to post all of my notes on here - but I think I will instead just post my notes for the following day until I eventually post my entire cycle (7 days).

So if I start Tuesday as day 1 - my training days will be Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. That fits better with my schedule anyway.


Day 1+2: (Tues/Wed (02/15-02/16))

GOAL: Deplete muscle glycogen in all major muscle groups

DIET: 1400 calories - 140g protein, 60g carb, 66g fat (MCTs+Fish oil?)

SUPPLEMENTS: Protein powders, EC Stack, Fish oil (10g), multi, Vit E, Zinc, Calc, Glutamine, MCT oil

TRAINING - full body workout, 5-6 sets per bodypart, 1 min rest between sets. The weight is 60% of 1RM.

Leg press (3x15)
Leg curl (3x15)
Chest press (3x15)
Row (3x15)
Lat raise (2-3 x15)
Calf raise (3x15)
Bicep curl (2x15)
Tri pushdown (2x15)

^ do all of that, rest a few minutes and then repeat it.
----------------------

How does that look? I haven't yet planned out the details on what and when I am going to eat. Tomorrow I will need to go buy some Glutamine, Zinc, and MCT oil though. Hopefully GNC has it. I should probably YouTube the forms on those workouts tomorrow so I don't go in blind on Tuesday!

 

[Kenny537]

I finished the two days of depletion workouts. It wasn't very fun.
I pretty much followed that routine in my previous post. Would you recommend I add in some ab work?

Tension workout is tomorrow and Power workout is Sunday - I just can't wait for the carb loab to arrive!!!!

 

[Kenny537]

First week of UD2 is done. I look bigger :}.

Did you use MCT oil as your fat source when you did UD2?

 

[Built]

You could do some weighted ab work if you like. I didn't use MCT oil, no.

 

[Kenny537]

I just finished my 3rd cycle today.

One question I have: am I taking in too much fructose during my carb refeed? Lyle recommends only 50g I believe but I'm not really sure how to calculate that.

On Friday evening (my carb load day) I had:

Preworkout:

140g frozen raspberries - 80 calories, 17 carb, 6 sugar, 9 fiber

Post workout and later on that night:

340g frozen raspberries - 194 calories, 41 carb, 15 sugar, 22 fiber
282g blueberries - 161 calories, 41 carb, 28 sugar, 7 fiber

I may be wrong but I don't believe you count the preworkout as a part of the 24 hour carb load - it starts with your post-workout drink.
Keep in mind that I ate other food as well but I only listed the fruit related stuff.

Lyle recommends high GI stuff in the beginning of the carb load with a shift to low GI later on (24 hr carb load duration). I am just concerned that this may be too much fructose - so the two questions I have are:

- How do I determine if this is indeed exceeding 50g of fructose? Do I just subtract the sugar value from the carb value (would that mean carb minus sucrose = fructose?)
- If it is too much fructose, what are some high-GI, non-fructose alternatives that I can replace it with?

Thanks!

 

[Built]

Half the sugar is fructose.

Use dextrose and starches, like white rice, to reduce fructose consumption from your carbups. Other than that, if it's working you're fine.

 

[Kenny537]

Oh wow. I was misunderstanding Lyle when he recommended 50 fructose and 100 sucrose. I thought they were two separate things but they are one and the same - particularly, I have been eating lots of frozen raspberries around my workouts since October. All this time I was significantly going over his recommended limit.
I'll be sure to reduce this - thanks a lot!

 

[Kenny537]

Just started Week 6 today.

I started UD2.0 at 142.5 (2/15) and I weighed 139 today.

Do you think it's possible that in those five weeks I lost 6ish lbs of fat and gained a few lbs of muscle? That would make the numbers make sense. I do see subtle improvements in the mirror.

Plus, I already have calories restricted to almost as low as 1200, so I'm not sure what else I can do outside of adding in some LISS cardio. Do you think I should add that in? I don't really do any right now.

 

[Kenny537]

Built - I just finished eight weeks of UD2.0. I'll post an update on that soon - but here is my short-term plan going forward:

Full Diet Break for 3 weeks (until May 2nd) - (incorporating an IF eating pattern)
6-8 more weeks of UD2.0 (starting May 3rd)

I wanted your input on what workout I should do for these three weeks.

The 4 choices that come to mind for me are:

1. Continue where I left off with your "Basically, Training" program. I've done this from September (when I started) until I started UD2.0 on Feb 15th. I recall you telling me a while back that I should keep doing this program until I am doing 45 lbs on each side (90lb+bar total) for my back squat. Yesterday, I was up to 70lb on each side (140 + bar total). Although keep in mind that this was for my Power workout on UD2.0 so it was simply 2 sets of 3 reps and not the 3 sets of 6-8 reps like I was doing with your training program.

2. Try your "Baby Got Back" program. This looks very interesting. However, the feeling I am gathering is that beginners should stick to whole body workouts 3x a week. This seems more of a split routine that is four times a week. Is this still too advanced for me? What are your thoughts?

3. Try out Patrick Ward's K.I.S.S. program
This seems like a good fit for three weeks and seems pretty straightforward. Although I'd probably do 4 weeks instead of 3 just for completeness.

4. Try out Starting Strength. I really want to give this program a try since I've heard so many good things. But I haven't read the book yet. Not sure if it's worth it starting this for 3 weeks and then going back to UD2.0.

 

[Kenny537]

So I have just been maintaining with #1. I've been reading up on Lyle's bulking routine for the past week - gonna start that soon. Have you ever tried it? If so, did it work well for you?