April & May Carb Cycling

I get asked a lot about what my "diet" looks like, or when I eat, or what I eat. Its hard to always give a direct answer because I don't really eat the same thing every day. I do eat at the same times and I follow some guidelines depending on what MY goals are. I also don't like to tell someone to much because what MY goals and needs are might be different then YOURS.

For those of you that don't know, I've currently undergone a certification program to become a personal trainer. I'm also going to culinary school full time......not to become a chef in some restaurant, but to learn different techniques and products to cook. I want to eventually be a personal trainer that can also set up a whole meal plan (recipes and all) for my clients. Now I would LOVE to do this right now but being a full time student, working part time and also taking a certification program to be a PT leaves me with pretty much zero free time :/ However I would still like to help in any way I can!

For the past 2 months I've removed gluten, dairy, whole eggs, caffeine, all supplements and some fruits & veggies. If your unaware why please visit my post Fodmap Diet. I wouldn't say I've been "bulking" but I've been eating carbs regularly and eating a lot different then I usually would. I'm also getting all my nutrients from whole food sources. As far as training, I'm only doing cardio 3 days a week, weight training 6 days and 1 rest day. I've been focusing on getting bigger so I'm doing less reps with more weight, its unbelievable how strong I've gotten in only 2 months! I want my muscles to continue to grow but it seems I've come to a plateau.....so with that being said I've decided to start carb cycling again. Starting April 1st my diet will change and so will my training, I'm going to continue it for 2 months, so until June 1st.

Carb cycling isnt for everyone and I don't suggest you do it to just "loose weight". If you want to loose weight you need well balanced clean meals. If you don't know what carb cycling is you can Google it. But basically its when you rotate the amount of carbs you have each day (low, moderate, high). You would determine if its a low, moderate or high day by your training. Rest days would be low, smaller muscles would be moderate & larger muscles (leg day) would be a high carb day. You would do this as a way to maximize fat loss while maintaining the ability to perform high-intensity exercise. Then on your high carb days you would refeed your muscles. What happens during a refeed is you would change your diet to comprise mostly complex carbohydrates, limiting dietary fats as well as sucrose and fructose. Since the glycogen stores in the liver and muscles are depleted, these carbohydrates go straight to refilling them, instead of being added to the body's fat stores. For this reason, the amount of calories consumed during a refeed can be far above an individual's usual dietary intake.

Everyone has a different opinion on what carb cycling is, a lot of people weigh out all their food and count every carb, protein and fat. I'm not cutting to compete so I wont be that strict. I know what I need and portion sizes, so if I stick that that i'll be just fine. I'm also keeping all of the foods that I've removed from my diet out of my new plan. I'll slowly add some fruits, veggies & whole eggs back to see if I can handle them but for the most part I'm continuing with the Fodmap approved foods. I will also be including protein powder back into my diet but just before bed, and only lactose friendly.

I made a basic eating & training plan according to my work and school schedule (this is what works for ME). Click here for my Meal plan. Ill also be switching up my training so it wont necessarily stay like this.

 

Training Schedule

• Monday- Back, Biceps (am)
• Tuesday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Quads, hamstrings, calvs (pm)
• Wednesday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Shoulders, Traps (pm)
• Thursday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Abs, Yoga (pm)
• Friday- Triceps, Biceps (am)
• Saturday- Glutes, hamstrings (am)
• Sunday- 20 min steady cardio, Abs (am), Active rest

Monday- Moderate
Tuesday- High
Wednesday- Moderate
Thursday- Low
Friday- Moderate
Saturday- High
Sunday- Low

Goals:

1. Only 1 tbs. all natural nut butter/day
2. Cardio 4 days a week
3. Eat fish once a day
4. Have 1 cheat meal per week
5. Focus on more reps and lighter weight but still increasing weight
6. Keep portions small
7. Continue to "eat the rainbow"