Yup...we have all heard that phrase before...the key to fitness isn't in a gym. It is in your kitchen. 95% of weigh loss/fitness successes is the direct result of what you put in your body. You are what you eat, right?
For most of this year, I have been really making an effort to eat cleaner on a regular basis. No fast food for me - staying away from all of the processed goodies. That kind of thing. Despite making vast improvements, I was still struggling with my "will power" and my choices were not always the best. Regardless of my gym performance - which has been pretty solid - I wasn't losing and I was often gaining. I can feel myself getting stronger - but I still want my ass to be smaller!
Then, something happened. I was in the gym, mid-workout, when one of my favorite gym rats started chatting with the PIC about carb cycling and how he has had so much success with it over the past few months. Sean, the gym rat, is kind of built like a brick shit house, so I didn't really pay attention when he first started talking. Then he did it: he showed us pictures.
The brick shit house was right. There was a noticeable difference over just a period of three weeks. Three weeks! A noticeable difference on a guy who didn't look like he had any body fat to lose before he started. I had to ask for more information.
What is Carb Cycling? Simply put, it is managing your carb intake to maximize the way your body burns fat. Sean was following a simple 2-2-3 plan: two high carb days, 2 low carb days, 3 no carb days in a 7 days period. I did some research (see my links below...these are just a few of the places I went to read up on this lifestyle).
I am one of those people who don't do well with absolutes. I never quit smoking - I just stopped for a while. The thought of giving up cigarettes, which I used to LOVE, was more than I could handle. When you tell me that I need to deprive myself, it makes me want to stop whatever it is I am doing. I don't want to never eat pizza again. I love pizza. I LOVE macaroni and I ADORE desserts. The thought of walking away from these delicious foods makes me shudder.
Carb Cycling isn't extreme deprivation. It is control through planning, so I ultimately decided to give it a try. DISCLAIMER: I don't consider myself to be a Carb Cycling expert. Truthfully, I am probably not very good at it. One of the basics is to eat 5 times every day. I definitely don't do that every day! (But I am working on it!)
Last Monday was my first day. No carbs. The goal was no carbs for two straight days, to be rewarded with a high carb day on Wednesday. I made myself no promises - just did the best I could. I started my Monday on the scale with my "initial" weigh-in. I took a picture of the scale and every time I thought of quitting, I looked at that number. I know it isn't going to go down by itself.
Monday went OK. I made sure my food choices were yummy (eggs with spinach ended up being both lunch and dinner...but I enjoyed it, so who cares?). My carbs were limited to my morning coffee (girl needs some caffeine). Tuesday started OK, but by the afternoon, I was crashing. PIC threw me two strawberries to try and take the edge off...and it did!
So I woke up on Wednesday and hit the scale. DOWN 4.6 pounds! Shut up!
And then I ate my face off all day.
Thursday I limited my carbs to some alcoholic beverages after dance. Friday I did absolutely none. Saturday, the next high carb day, I hit the scale again. Guess what? DOWN another 2.4 pounds! Really? 7 pounds in a week? I didn't feel hungry. I didn't feel deprived. I was social. I drank. I ate. I had fun. I didn't feel like I was giving up anything! I ate my face off again yesterday - and you know what happened? I felt sick. All. Damn. Day. So, to balance the crappy feeling of yesterday, I haven't had any carbs today. And I feel kind of awesome.
I really didn't expect this to work - and there is a part of me that is convinced it might not work tomorrow. But I am going to continue to keep this up until I stop seeing results...and then I will reevaluate. For the meanwhile, though, the brick shit house gym rat got me to do something that has been eluding me for a year - I shed 7 pounds without being miserable.
http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/fat-burning-machine
http://chrispowell.com/carb-cycling-101/
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wescott4.htm
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