So after seeing my results for the week and analyzing what I did right and wrong (minutia, trust me), I started studying up on planning my meals. What a ton of work! No wonder I eat boring all the time. It is so much work to get the perfect macronutrient ratios that it is just easier to get it right one time and then just repeat that daily.
I spent the better part of an hour on fitday.com entering and tweaking meals. I managed to get the perfect high carb day with 3073 calories at 55/35/10 (remembering that a refeed day should be low in fat). Now I need to work on the perfect low carb day(2500 calories at 40/40/20). It just takes so much time to get it right that I am too burnt out now to proceed with the low carb day and since tomorrow is a high carb day, I'm set until Tuesday. I will work on the low carb day tomorrow.
I know that this type of planning will go a long way towards me reaching my goals. I guess this is why I liked the Metabolic Surge approach. It made it very simple to “get it right” each day because I'd basically eat protein and vegetables on low carb days, all protein on the all protein days and then all fruit on the all fruit days. Finally, I'd just add starchy carbs for the first 3 meals on the 40/40/20 days. At the same time, the starvation mode issue bugged me alot. Even though Nick says that I don't have to worry about that with Surge, I can't wrap mybrain around that concept. Seems to me that if 20% deficit is 2500 calories and I'm only managing to hit 1900 calories on Surge, my calories were just way too low. That risks going into starvation mode.
I've read so much about how to up your metabolism. Some will say that you need to first fix your metabolism through a conditioning phase. What they say strikes a chord with me. The concept is that you slowly increase your caloric intake up to your maintenance level. When you hit maintenance, you rotate through 3 lower calorie days. Let's say my maintenance is 3000. That would mean that a 20% reduction would be 2400 calories. Thus, I would aim for 2400 calories on Day 1, 2600 calories on Day 2, 2800 calories on Day 3 and 3000 calories on Day 4. After Day 4 you just repeat the cycle all over again. It makes alot of sense to me because it totally avoids any one caloric deficit number being kept for too long.
Planning is the only way to make this all happen the way it is supposed to happen.
Accountability Log:
| Week Begins 2/10/2008 | |||||||
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Weds | Thurs | Fri | Sat | |
| Cycle spot | LC | HC | LC | LC | LC | HC | LC |
| M1 * | 5:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 3:30 a.m. | 5:30 a.m. |
| M2 * | 8:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 6:30 a.m. | 8:30 a.m. |
| M3 * | 11:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 11:30 a.m. |
| M4 * | 2:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 p.m. | 2:30 p.m. |
| M5 * | 5:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 3:30 p.m. | 5:30 p.m. |
| M6 * | 7:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 6:30 p.m. | 7:30 p.m. |
| Weights * | Lift | N/A | Lift | N/A | Lift | N/A | N/A |
| Cardio * | N/A | AM | N/A | AM | N/A | AM | AM |
| Abs * | N/A | FYA | FYA | N/A | FYA | FYA | N/A |
| Water * | 194 oz | ||||||
| Post-workout nutrition * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pre-sleep nutrition * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Vitamins/Supplements * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Accountability * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cals | 2450 | ||||||
| Cals within 5% (+/-) * | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ratios (C/P/F) | 38/42/20 | ||||||
| Total Completed | 15 | ||||||
| Total Possible | 15 | ||||||
| Mission 2 Total Complete | 118 | ||||||
| Mission 2 Total Possible | 120 | ||||||
| * = Counts towards total | |||||||
| Success! | |||||||
| Failed | |||||||
| Not Counted! | |||||||
Nutrition Log:
| Mission 2: Day 8 of 100 | |||
| Meal/Training Plan: Real-time accountability | |||
| Day 8: February 10, 2008 | |||
| 5:30 a.m. | Meal 1: Protein shake and oatmeal and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 5:30 a.m. | Supplements: Animal Pak, Glucosamine Chondroiten, calcium, chromium, glutamine, BCAAs | ||
| 6:00 a.m. | Workout: Lifting and 6 glasses of water | ||
| 6:30 a.m. | Supplements: Protein shake, BCAAs, glutamine | ||
| 8:30 a.m. | Meal 2: Tuna (6 oz), 10 baby carrots, 2 slices of whole wheat bread and large salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 11:30 a.m. | Meal 3: Chicken breast (1-1/2), 15 baby carrots, oatmeal and large salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 2:30 p.m. | Meal 4: Chicken breast (1-1/2), 15 baby carrots and large salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 5:30 p.m. | Meal 5: Chicken breast (1-1/2), 15 baby carrots, large salad and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 7:30 p.m. | Meal 6: Chicken sausage in marinara, large salad, 10 baby carrots and 3 glasses of water | ||
| 8:30 p.m. | Supplements: Casein protein shake, glutamine, calcium and 3 glasses of water |
Workout Log:
| Sunday, 2/10/2008 | A4 | |||||
| Exercise | Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Set 6 |
| BB Bent over row | 170 x 4 | 170 x 5 | 170 x 6 | 170 x 6 | 170 x 7 | 170 x 8 |
| BB Incline Bench Press | 165 x 4 | 165 x 4 | 165 x 4 | 165 x 4 | 165 x 3 | 160 x 4 |
| Lat pull down | 160 x 4 | 180 x 4 | 180 x 5 | 180 x 5 | 180 x 5 | 180 x 5 |
| Barbell Push Press | 135 x 5 | 135 x 5 | 135 x 5 | 135 x 5 | 135 x 5 | 135 x 8 |
| Swiss ball crunch | 20 | 20 | 20 |
My final conclusions regarding my day is that I had an awesome workout. I pushed myself extra hard today and managed personal bests on all my exercises. It was an incredible feeling today to put up the weight I was putting up. The Barbell Push Press in particular made me feel like a strong man. I've taken things to a new level today and plan on pushing even harder as the month continues.
Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!
