Refeeding For Fat Loss

As you all know (if you are new read my past entries) yesterday was my carb-up day and I had a whole pizza just for me.

Mmmmmmm... carbs

Some people where asking me why I had a pizza and others were telling me that I wasn't supposed to eat that during my dieting period (lmao I'm like lmao).
For those that asked here's the reason why I had that meal:

When you are on a low carb diet your muscles burn almost all the glycogen that's stored in them which means that they also lose a lot of water (for every molecule of glycogen your muscle stores 3 molecules of water). This is great for fat loss but after a week or two (or more if you are obese) your metabolism gets a little bit slower and you burn fat at a slower pace. So what do you do to fix this? You REFEED (aka "carb-up). Carbing up is nothing more than eating 400g-1000g of carbs in a 3h-48h period (like runners do before a marathon). This monstrous amount of carbs has several benefits: supercompensation (being able to store more carbs than you normally would), accelerating your metabolism, muscle hypertrophy (the water stretches your muscle cells which is exactly how creatine works) and it's a fantastic way to indulge your cravings and not feel bad about it.

So many benefits so little time

You see your body NEEDS carbs to burn fat but it doesn't need them every day. Another reason why I carb-up is because carbs are protein sparing. After a while your body turns protein (your muscle mass!) into glucose to feed certain organs and tissues. Carb-ups allow your body to go without carbs for a relatively long time without using your own muscle mass as an energy source.

Oh dear pizza... I missed you

So to summarize:

• Low carb diets burn a lot of fat
• Your body needs carbs every once in a while to burn fat
• Refeeding boosts your metabolism
• Refeeding increases muscle mass
• Pizzas are effing awesome

Of course I didn't finish the whole pizza, I'm not a pig...

In 14 days I think I'll have sushi. Maybe a box of cereal?

Take care!

Progress Picture - Week 7

Week 7 - October 30, 2012

Weight 182.4lbs -0.6lbs -8.8lbs

BF: 24.3% -1.3% -2.2%

Lost another 0.6lbs and reduced my body fat by 1.3% (see? I told you my body fat was actually lower than 25%). 

Remember that I said that low carb diets only work if you refeed (eat 500-1000g of carbs every week or every other week)? Well today is carb up day and I'm eating a pizza (not a slice... a whole pizza). I know I didn't post anything last week and I'm sorry for that. It won't happen again. 

Next week I'm going for 17xlbs. I'll have to adjust my training and I'll post all about it tomorrow (I promise).

Take care.

Progress Picture - Week 6

Week 6 - October 23, 2012

Weight: 183lbs -3lbs -8.2lbs

BF: 25.6% +0.7% -0.9%

God I love low carb dieting. I lost almost 4 pounds in a week and next week will only get better. I know my BF% went up BUT it's just because I lost a lot of water (my actual body fat did NOT go up). My strength is only going up so I'm not worried about losing muscle mass because it's not happening. Tomorrow I'll show you what I'll be doing for cardio from now on (my foot has healed). 

Starting tomorrow I will be posting a low carb recipe every day and I will also talk a little more in depth about my diet and training program.

Stay fit.

Going Low Carb To Burn More Fat

Last post I said that I had to get serious so I've decided to go low carb for the following reasons:

1. Going Low Carb Burns Fat Faster

There's a lot of studies out there that say that if you diet for 6-12 months going low fat or low carb makes no difference and I agree. What those studies don't mention is that the first months of low carb diets make you burn fat way faster than a traditional low fat diet. I don't have 12 months to burn fat so the choice is obvious.

2. High Protein Diets Make You Less Hungry

When you ingest protein you body releases a hormone called Cholecystokinin (CCK) which reduces appetite. I shouldn't have to explain this but given that this world is filled with people that lack common sense here it goes: the less hungry you are the less chances there are that you'll cheat on your diet.

Eat meat. Be less hungry. Period

3. Low Carb = High Protein

I don't really care what you've read or heard. High protein diets promote muscle synthesis at a faster rate than moderate protein diets. It's also very hard for your body to turn excess protein into fat. Also remember that for every 100kcal of protein you need your body has to burn 30kcal just for digestion purposes.

4. You Can "Cheat"

Your body does need some carbs to burn fat so every once in a while you have to "refeed". This means that every 1-2 weeks you'll HAVE to eat somewhere between 400-1000g of carbs in a day or two just to BURN MORE FAT. How long you go without carbs depends on your current level of body fat. The higher it is the more you'll have to wait.

Going low carb is really easy. If you aren't losing weight (and you want to) try a low carb diet. 

Cheers

Progress Picture - Week 5

Week 5 - October 16, 2012

Weight: 186.8lbs 0lbs -5.2lbs

BF: 24.9% 0% -1.6%

This was a no progress week which means it's time to change things. This foot injury is really starting to annoy me because I can't even go for a walk but whatever like I said before this blog is excuses-free. All I know is that this time next week I'll weight 182lbs. 

Cheers

Progress Pïcture - Week 4

Week 4 - October 9, 2012 

Weight: 186.8lbs -1.4lbs -5.2lbs

BF: 24.9% -0.2% -1.6%

Another 1.4lbs lost and just 6.8lbs away from getting to 17x pounds (which I haven't been in a little over a year). Now my body fat % could´ve been lower but I'm not stressing about it. I just need to make some minor adjustments to my diet and training and I'll be able to reach 23.x% next week. 

I haven't been able to walk/jog/run/sprint/jump/squat because I injured my right foot but the pain is almost gone so I'll be able to do all of those things in a week or two. I just have to be smart about it and let it heal like I told you.

Tomorrow is Big Mac day! I'll have 1 or 2 and yeah, I'll get to 23.x% body fat by next week. It's all about calories in vs calories out!

Tete out.

Never Train "Around" An Injury

This is going to be a short post because there's really not much to say about training while injured.

Just don´t train the affected area! Training while injured means you aren´t letting that injury heal and what could´ve been 2 weeks of recovery for a minor discomfort will become 6 months due to a serious injury.

Now just to be clear, what I'm saying is that if you injured your foot (like I did) don´t run/squat/sprint/jump but I´m not saying stop training all together. You can still train your chest, back, arms and shoulders.

All I´m saying is be smart about your injuries and use common sense.

Cheers.

Training At Home - Excuses Are Killing You

A lot of people have been asking me why I chose to train at my house and the answer is that training at home means I have 0 excuses to skip a workout. 

I love training at home because you can't use traffic jams as an excuse, you can't claim you have no time and you can't say "the gym was full".

Think about it, you already bought your equipment and you can train at any hour. If you skip a workout you are just being a lazy quitter. 

Yeah. I said it.

IF YOU TRAIN AT HOME AND YOU SKIP A WORKOUT YOU ARE A LAZY QUITTER

Being lazy gets you nowhere

See that? Just lying on your bed because you have nothing better to do is KILLING YOU. It kills your body and it kills your spirit. It will also make you a diabetic (most likely).

If you are that lazy let me tell you something: that attitude is like a cancer that spreads across every aspect of your life. I know it. I've been there.
The good news is that unlike cancer your laziness is 100% curable. All you have to do is to take that first step, move forward and NEVER look back. 

EARN your sleep

Train hard. CHALLENGE your limits and crush them. EARN  those precious sleeping hours and wake up the next morning KNOWING that you are a better person than you were the day before. 

Tete out.

Progress Picture - Week 3

Week 3 - October 2, 2012

Weight: 188.2lbs -0.4 lbs -3.8lbs

BF: 25.1% -0.8% -1.4%

Weight loss was almost non existent (I only lost half a pound) BUT I lost 0.8% of body fat which means 2 things:

1) I gained some muscle mass
2) I was able to burn more than 0.6% of body fat (last week I lost 0.6% of BF)

I don't care if I weight 188lbs forever as long as my BF% keeps going down but I'm guessing that next week I'll lose 2lbs and my body fat will be at ~24.5%.

Cheers