I’m into week 8 of carb cycling. My calories have consistently been low for the past 8 weeks. I’ve been pretty religious about injecting higher carbs every 4th day. I was fortunate for Thanksgiving in that it fell on a high carb day. I did over consume that day a bit. I did not get to workout and I consumed about 3000 calories as compared to my norm of 2000 on high carb day. I’m still getting my protein requirements through protein shakes, cottage cheese, chicken and turkey and my carbs are shredded wheat and oats.
I am now down to around 229 lbs and I can definitely tell the difference in the mirror. I judge my bf to be at around 18-20% and the scale registers me at 19%. My bf percentage is still too high and my BMI is still in the obese category, but I never concern myself with BMI. It’s an outdated method of determining health that doesn’t account muscle.
I have managed to maintain my muscle size throughout most of my body. I have lost some in the arms a bit but I have increased muscle mass in my chest and back. I attribute this to lots of pulls ups and my heavy chest day once a week.
I started doing a Crossfit/P90X type exercise routine at the gym a month ago called Torque. It is instructor led, it costs above my membership but it is brutal and has helped tremendously. At this point I can see lots more definition in my abs and in the obliques and serratus muscles.
My goal is still a ways off. My target is around 210-220 and 10-13% BF. I’m still hanging in there. I don’t cheat on meals, I workout 7 days a week and my workouts are mostly long cardio sessions with strength training mixed in.
I also started using a heart rate monitor and a Body Media monitoring device. Now, I know not to leave the gym until I have burned the right amount of calories. Most days, I burn around 1200 calories. I had a single day last week where I managed to get 2000. That was the day after Thanksgiving so that I cold be even with the house again.
I am going to continue carb cycling until Jan 1 and then I will be adjusting something. I don’t know what at this time, but we’ll see how it goes. I will keep everyone updated.
