Steak, Eggs, Lean Salad and Two (Potentially Three) Beards. Diet Log.

[LtL]

A little update: I am now down to 95kgs even. I haven't made any major changes recently. I want to drop to around 94.5kgs by the time I compete in 4 weeks so I'm bang on target. Here is an average day's food from today:

Up at 5:30 - Thanks Mini Al
Coffee from 6:30 onwards, 3 cups before
9:30 - 50grams vanilla whey, 1 large tbsp coconut oil, cup of coffee all mixed together. Fahrenheit Flexible. Tribulus.
12:30 - Caesar salad (lettuce, Parmesan, dressing, no croutons) with 3 medium sized sausages
14:30 - 1 scoop Endurance plus BCAAs
17:00 - Backload! 2 hoisin duck wraps, 1 medium bag of crisps (chips in American), 2/3 packet of pink wafer biscuits
20:00 - Regular portion of spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread with another serving of Endurance plus. Fahrenheit FIT, Flexible, Tribulus.
Soon - Bed.

I am loving the backloading at the moment. Very manageable and despite the fact the Mini Al has forgotten how to sleep, my energy is good during the day. Backloading is really the second half of my JM Blakely bulking experiment and I plan to do a full write-up on that soon but probably not until after the meet.

[Kuytrider]

I am very interested in this nutritional journey of yours Al. In your opinion, what are the main pros/cons of CBL?
I am actually doing it myself after managing to live through 7 low carb days in a row a couple of weeks ago. The trashy carbs thing is certainly strange but as long as one doesn't make a pig of oneself, it should be ok. Weight has actually been steady in the last 2 weeks but I am anticipating a slight weekly drop from now on. Looking at pics of myself taken 10 weeks and 15 pounds ago, my stomach certainly appears to be smaller and my upper body suddenly looks that bit more muscular as some of the fat makes a welcome disappearence. My weight belt is now on the last notch, it was third last 2 months ago

The first few sessions with no carbs until the evening were not great but energy in the gym is gradually improving. The next few months will be interesting.

[LtL]

For me CBL works great. In my last big period of weightloss I went from 95-96kgs all of the way down to 77kgs at my lowest. During that period I went from carb cycling to full Leto diet as I got leaner. Eventually I was having 25grams of carbs pre and post training and one carb up day per week where I'd eat as much as possible. I got pretty lean, 10% body fat possibly lower but I also lost muscle, was grouchy, miserable and lacked energy.

Naturally I am not a big eater of carbs anyway. Never have been. I would eat meat and veg all day with the odd sweet treat rather than loads of potatoes, bread or rice with each meal. Those kind of carbs often left me feeling lethargic particularly first thing in the morning when the blood sugar drop was pretty bad.

All of these things combined mean that CBL works well for me. To answer your original question the pros are:

- Works with my natural eating rhythms (light in the morning, heavy in the evening) and with my natural food tastes as described above.
- It requires minimal food prep as you can always find meat to eat and remove carbs.
- It's a sociable diet. I can eat with the family in the evening and if I have a business lunch and stay on diet without having to raise hell to get the food I need.
- You get to eat whatever carbs you want.
- It's the only time I have actively recomped since I started training. I can maintain weight and have my waist get smaller at the same time.

Cons:

- Difficult to gain mass on it I think although I haven't tried yet.
- Won't work for everyone. If you are a natural meat eater, it's great but my wife for example processes carbs really well, never gets the blood sugar spikes and drops that I had even when eating "good" carbs so she would HATE the keto part of the day.

Does that cover it?

[Kuytrider]

Originally Posted by LtL

For me CBL works great. In my last big period of weightloss I went from 95-96kgs all of the way down to 77kgs at my lowest. During that period I went from carb cycling to full Leto diet as I got leaner. Eventually I was having 25grams of carbs pre and post training and one carb up day per week where I'd eat as much as possible. I got pretty lean, 10% body fat possibly lower but I also lost muscle, was grouchy, miserable and lacked energy.

Naturally I am not a big eater of carbs anyway. Never have been. I would eat meat and veg all day with the odd sweet treat rather than loads of potatoes, bread or rice with each meal. Those kind of carbs often left me feeling lethargic particularly first thing in the morning when the blood sugar drop was pretty bad.

All of these things combined mean that CBL works well for me. To answer your original question the pros are:

- Works with my natural eating rhythms (light in the morning, heavy in the evening) and with my natural food tastes as described above.
- It requires minimal food prep as you can always find meat to eat and remove carbs.
- It's a sociable diet. I can eat with the family in the evening and if I have a business lunch and stay on diet without having to raise hell to get the food I need.
- You get to eat whatever carbs you want.
- It's the only time I have actively recomped since I started training. I can maintain weight and have my waist get smaller at the same time.

Cons:

- Difficult to gain mass on it I think although I haven't tried yet.
- Won't work for everyone. If you are a natural meat eater, it's great but my wife for example processes carbs really well, never gets the blood sugar spikes and drops that I had even when eating "good" carbs so she would HATE the keto part of the day.

Does that cover it?

Thanks a lot mate

[BendtheBar]

Originally Posted by LtL

For me CBL works great. In my last big period of weightloss I went from 95-96kgs all of the way down to 77kgs at my lowest. During that period I went from carb cycling to full Leto diet as I got leaner. Eventually I was having 25grams of carbs pre and post training and one carb up day per week where I'd eat as much as possible. I got pretty lean, 10% body fat possibly lower but I also lost muscle, was grouchy, miserable and lacked energy.

Naturally I am not a big eater of carbs anyway. Never have been. I would eat meat and veg all day with the odd sweet treat rather than loads of potatoes, bread or rice with each meal. Those kind of carbs often left me feeling lethargic particularly first thing in the morning when the blood sugar drop was pretty bad.

All of these things combined mean that CBL works well for me. To answer your original question the pros are:

- Works with my natural eating rhythms (light in the morning, heavy in the evening) and with my natural food tastes as described above.
- It requires minimal food prep as you can always find meat to eat and remove carbs.
- It's a sociable diet. I can eat with the family in the evening and if I have a business lunch and stay on diet without having to raise hell to get the food I need.
- You get to eat whatever carbs you want.
- It's the only time I have actively recomped since I started training. I can maintain weight and have my waist get smaller at the same time.

Cons:

- Difficult to gain mass on it I think although I haven't tried yet.
- Won't work for everyone. If you are a natural meat eater, it's great but my wife for example processes carbs really well, never gets the blood sugar spikes and drops that I had even when eating "good" carbs so she would HATE the keto part of the day.

Does that cover it?

I'm going to x-post this in the CBL sticky.

[LtL]

Quick update:

After the meet I got straight back onto the CBL plan. Only slight change is to include a shake with 30grams whey, 10grams of leucine and 20grams of creatine at around 16:45. This gets me a bit of extra protein and also helps to create that initial insulin spike.

Weight has hit a new low of 94kgs dead on and I feeling and looking more muscular thanks, in no small part, to all of the raw volume work that I have been doing alongside the diet. I will take a sort of break over Christmas and will eat what I want when I want. The only thing I will keep constant is the breakfast plan of just coffee and a mid-morning shake. I feel awful if I eat any sort of carb first thing in the morning. After the festivities I will be back on plan with the aim of getting under 93kgs by the end of January.

I like the way I am implementing this diet: I add in small things, one at a time and that way I can guage the effect better. Last changes I made were the inclusion of Coconut oil in the morning shake which killed my morning hunger pangs and also to switch to more sugary carbs for the backload and that normally has me waking up feeling drier and leaner.

[MikeM]

Thanks for the info.

[Fazc]

Time to squat. I'm dedicating this workout to the lives lost at Newton. God bless.

Whatever our political views on this, we can all agree it was an absolute tragedy.

[big_swede]

Al, I enjoyed reading your rxperience with CBL.

Fazc - Crush it!!