TT Eric diet log 2014

[steve_d]

I think you've reached the body fat % in the pics that you could strive to stay within 5 pounds of year round. IE - stay around 190. If you start going close to 195 it's time to ease off. That doesn't mean you can't gain muscle since you're close to that weight. If you lose 10 more in 5 weeks, at this point its just 'for fun'. I don't think getting much leaner is going to necessarily help you gain more muscle like I was talking about before. You should be able to maintain what you are now by eating about 2500 calories a day, and you might even have to do a little cardio - but cardio is good for your cardiovascular health - so it's not like doing it is BAD in the offseason.

[TT Eric]

I agree with keeping my weight ideally under around 195lbs. I'll keep dieting down because Ted seems pretty set on the fact that the leaner you are, the more you are insulin sensible, I cannot say I have experienced it deeply, but it make sense to me and want to at least try it!

The protocol I've used last year for my carbs was like this :
-Some in the morning (From raw milk and berries)
-Some 30min before workout (from raw milk and sometimes a 15-30g added from powder form)
-Most of them 1h-1h30 PWO (From rice, potatoes or a home made 'treat' dessert)
-A few before bed (From raw milk)

The idea behind this protocol I have done last year is: since I'm a natural, I wanted to keep insulin at bay during workouts and wait an hour after the workout before adding extra carbs to allow maximum natural production (we talked about this is in a thread), so I was having most of my daily carbs an hour after the workouts.

Now I want to aim for using a lot more fast absorbed carbs just before, during and PWO workout*, I want to try this with the idea that with good insulin sensibility those carbs & insulin will be more anabolic then the little GH naturally produced during/after training. Beside those carbs peri workout, I plan to only have a few in the morning via raw milk and berries and some via raw milk in the shake before bed time. On off days, I'll have less carbs since I do not workout and will take some in a normal meal at dinner time. Also will look to have less overall fat during the days and plan to be in 250g/pro area instead of 300g.

* About 100-160g before and during workout and another 50-75g in the meal after the workout. So a total of about 250-300g per training day and a total of around 150g in off days.

Basically here is what a training day will look like:

Meal#1: Raw milk + 1/2-1 cup of berries + 1/2 avocado + 1-2 eggs + whey Isolate (high protein, high fat, moderate carb)

Meal#2: Meat + vegs (low fat, low carb)

Meal#3: Peri-workout nutrition : 50-60g of pro and 160g of carbs shake, I begin to sip 15-30min before workout and sip all the way during the workout till the end. (160g of carbs for hard weeks and 100g for easy weeks) +GDAs.

Meal#4: PWO meal (an hour after workout): Meat + vegs + carbs +GDAs, will try to keep this meal low fat, but this might be a challenge

Meal#5: Shake before bed: Raw milk + whey Isolate + fibers.

So one less meal then usual since the meal #3 will be stretched over 2 hours.

The proteins in the peri-workout will be from hydrolized casein and the carbs will be high quality like cyclic dextrin or vitargo. I decided to try the protein/carb protocol they recommend on T-nation since many claim to have good results with this, I will mimic the same products they sell (Plazma and MAG-10) but will do my own recipe via RAW materials from our sponsors here, it will be MUCH cheaper.

Meal #1 and #5 should be the ones I use to control my weight gain, if I gain too much weight I should adjust the fat accordingly.

Overall macro: 250g/pro, 90g fat, carbs 250-300g on working-out days ~2800cal and ~2200cal on off days.

Hope you'll agree that it sounds good.

Eric

[TT Eric]

Week #16: 184.2lbs so another 2.0lbs loss. I'm increasing cardio +10min.

I'm now at 120min of fast walking per day (+ ~30min per day to go the gym and chores).

If I need to increase cardio next week, do I continue to add on top of that or I add a 3rd session ?

Eric

[cog]

Why so much milk?

[TT Eric]

In this diet, there is only milk twice a day. Beside the fact that I'm dairyolic and they make shakes tastes so good. I think raw milk is among the best superfood we can have, the quality of proteins (non pasteurized and non homogenized), good fats (saturated & omega-3), the good enzymes, all the beneficial bacterias, the good natural vitamins like D & K, etc. Some even says it's the most perfect food for bodybuilders.

Eric

[steve_d]

I'm curious how fast your weight climbs when you go from your current diet to the new one. From the sounds of it, your calories will be upped by about 1000 calories / day + I am not sure how much less cardio you'll be doing, but it sounds like about 2 hours less cardio. IE - you're going from eating next to nothing and doing a tun, to eating good and doing a normal amount. I can certainly see your workouts being a lot funner!

I would normally say 2800 calories is fine for someone your height and weight, but I might favor gradually getting back up to 2800 or gradually easing off the cardio. I assume the 2800 daily is most days and you still have a cheat? or is this stable? Like I said before, the less extremes you take, the better you are in the long run. I'd be surprised if you didn't feel better simply eating 2500 calories a day year round and doing cardio for fun when you felt like it as opposed to doing 2-3 hours a day for a few months, and then alternating to a larger calorie diet. I am not making the suggestion for you to scrap your plan. I am just waiting to see your results.

Just to be clear, I don't see any harm in not reverse dieting. There are people who just eat normal or whatever they want after the diet, and people who reverse diet for 6 months to get their 'metabolism' back. Either is fine given the individual and how they handle post contest / post diet. The people that 'NEED' to reverse diet, are the people who probably shouldn't have competed in the first place. They are the people with no control and who eat emotionally for months after a show. The people who are better at handling post contest issues are those who can eat whatever they want for a week, but that whatever they want quickly goes back to 'normal' emotionally.

I've reverse dieted, and all it really does is prolong the inevitable - you get back to your set point. And during that time, its still harder than normal, and you just stay leaner for longer. It's great if thats what you want, or if you have photoshoots, etc. But it's not necessary. That said, I guess my point is if 2800 calories is what you ate to get your body to 200+, and it felt like force feeding, then reconsider the calories. Don't force feed, just eat what you need. Some days might be 2000 some might be 3500. just choose the right foods, and you should be good to go. just my 2 cents (rounded to 0)

[TT Eric]

Thanks again for your comments Steve! Yes I'll be doing a transition. When I go in vacation, I eat when I'm hungry and don't force feed, usually 4 meals a day. In vacation, I'm extremely active, yes I have more cal then the diet, but I move so much, also I honestly do 0 minutes of lying on the beach/pool, I hate that, I do endless snorkeling and free diving and if I'm not in the water I walk, hike, move. 2 Years ago after my keto diet, I ended-up at 175lbs, went for 2 weeks in vacation and came back at 173lbs even though I re-introduced carbs, I've ate when I was hungry and pretty much stopped when I was feeling satisfied, I did 14 days in a row of activities.

I do not go for a spree like eating, not even for a week, I don't understand this, it's unhealthy and a waste of the prior good works.

My intention are to progressively increase carbs and fat. When I'll be back from vacation, I'll start probably my meal #1 with just raw milk + whey + berries and will introduce avocado and eggs later on, depending on how it goes. For meal #4, I will go with smaller portion of carbs and fats at first.

Thanks for pushing me to reconsider force feeding, I will definitely. Particularly the solid meals are often force fed. I already planned to eat less on off days, but I can give a try to eat more intuitively vs eat as a 'job'. This is what I was doing before returning to bodybuilding and I was keeping a decent waist and BF%. I think the plan I made is a good one, but I can keep it as a general guideline and adjust the quantities on the way.

Eric

[Praetorian]

If you you go directly from your fat loss protocol (cardio and diet) to the gaining diet you posted you will blow up like a balloon and gain siginificant weight...most not muscle. You need a gradual transition especially with carbs or peripheral edema will be a major problem. You cannot force muscle growth its a gradual process.

[steve_d]

If you you go directly from your fat loss protocol (cardio and diet) to the gaining diet you posted you will blow up like a balloon and gain siginificant weight...most not muscle. You need a gradual transition especially with carbs or peripheral edema will be a major problem. You cannot force muscle growth its a gradual process.

Last year I went from pretty hard diet to eating anything and everything without notable gain. 7-8 pounds in 1 months morning weight (I would say 5 of it was water), and it only got to 12 pounds by the end of the 2nd month. I didn't have any problem with edema. I have in the past. The biggest difference was that I didn't ever restrict too bad, I didn't deplete water and or sodium, and I didn't do too much cardio pre contest. I find the biggest culprit for post show balloon is not the reintroduction of carbs, but the reintroduction of water / sodium / and the readjustment of how extreme you went the final week. That combined with carbs and sweets and whatever else you might be craving from a restrictive diet is a recepie for disaster.

Eric is a perfect example since he went from diet to eating normal and still stayed the same. Had he followed a bad dehydration protocol right before the vacation, messed up aldosterone, etc, I bet that wouldn't have resulted in the same outcome. \

As for force feeding. It just doesn't make sense on any level. The sport is extreme, but if you're body doesn't want more food, its time to listen! You're just going to be paying more bills in food and toilet paper. Eating 8000 calories vs. 4000 calories doesn't mean you have 4000 more calories that will turn into muscle. Diminishing returns. And they diminish FAST

[Praetorian]

It depends on the diet and what you do after. If you diet with significant carbs then no adding more back in wont have a huge effect but if you say were on keto for 8 weeks and start eating 400g of carbs per day you wil balloon up drastically. Dropping water and lowering sodium rally doesnt do much the next day ...its a minor rebound compared to carb sensitivity.

A lot of the problem comes from the idea of super compensation gone awry.

P