Lifetiquing

Don’t worry, I’ll get around to explaining what the heck my exercise names mean. I got feedback from someone the other day who said that he had no idea what half of the exercises were.

But for now, the much-anticipated nutritional update: the method to my madness, cyclical ketosis, a.k.a. the cheat day strategy.

It goes like this. During the week, I eat a very low carbohydrate diet as described in my previous entries. I train hard 6 days a week. Then, on the weekends, I have a cheat period that comes in one of two forms:

Option 1: The “I’m a Serious Exerciser with a Grave Interest in my Glycogen Levels” Carb Up

If I'm seriously carbing up as per Lyle McDonald's The Ketogenic Diet (highly recommended reading), I do a 24 hour carb up with the recommended carbohydrate intake (in the range of 400-800 for most folks- yes, that much).

I start with simple carbohydrates taken immediately after my last workout of the week, which is usually a doozy (also as recommended by Lyle). Then, I slowly taper to more complex carbohydrates throughout the 24 hours. I use the glycemic index of foods as a guideline. Lyle recommends a 48 hour carb up but I have not found that to be necessary because I'm not very concerned about the rate of my muscle gains. The 24 hour carb up seems sufficient to replenish the glycogen stores in my muscles, and it significantly accelerates my performance throughout the week.

When do I do this? When I feel like it. Or when I have the urge to perform at a particularly high level the following week.

Option 2: The “I Just Want a Damn Slice of Cheesecake” Carb Up

I allow myself 1-3 cheat meals containing whatever I want. And by whatever I want, I mean whatever I want. I polished off an entire tub of movie popcorn a few weeks ago, and then had a huge slice of cheesecake with ice cream later. The only limitation is that I eat discrete meals- no nibbling or snacking throughout the day. If I can’t finish it in one sitting, it goes in the trash (or the freezer for next week).

How, you may ask, does this do me any good?

Well, I’ll tell you what it hasn’t done:

• I have not gained fat.
• I have not experienced a sudden re-ignition of sugar cravings. In fact, I’m perfectly happy to go back to ketogenic eating the next day.
• I have not experienced guilt over eating!

And here are the benefits:

• I experience residual positive effects on my workouts from the glycogen build up
• I have ZERO cravings during the week. Ketogenic eating is completely unburdensome because there is no food that I can “never eat again,” (besides gluten, to which I have an allergy).
• I have found it to be easy as pie, er, chuck roast, to eat a diet that any ketogenic nutritional expert would probably use as a template. This is a very restrictive diet, not to mention one that is not socially accepted, making this a major accomplishment.
• It has changed my entire relationship with food. I no longer experience any residual guilt about what I eat. I know that the nutritional impact of my cheats overall is negligible because they provide me with the willpower to eat perfectly the rest of the time, so I don’t worry about them. And because I allow myself the psychological release, I am under no pressure to be perfect, which makes it much easier, ironically, to be perfect.
• Um, I get to eat an entire piece of cheesecake? I never allowed myself to eat something “bad” until I didn’t want anymore. This is one of those pleasures in life that everyone should experience.