strength and higher calorie CKD

[killroy70]

Just a quick update. I've been doing the metabolic diet for a while, i'm in my 6th week. I'm also using the westside training system, which I've used in the past with some success. Well, I've set 2 personal records so far, really blowing away my previous bests in 2 lifts - the low box squat and the 2 board bench press. Despite those saying carbs are necessary for strength gains, my late-week workouts after several days of no carbs have been excellent. My previous best in the low box squat was 290 (I'm 6'2" and use a 14" box). Last week I hit 315. I couldn't believe it. When I attempted 290, the weight just flew up. And on the 2 board press - previous best was 240. I hit 250 with room to spare.

As an aside, for whatever reason, I seem to get an "energy burst" from eating a good size portion of heavy cream (sweetened with a bit of spenda). I'm not sure why this is, but when I eat about a half cup of whipped heavy cream (around 45 grams of fat), I get an energy burst that feels like I drank a light cup of coffee. Quite interesting.

 

[Ceebs]

As an aside, for whatever reason, I seem to get an "energy burst" from eating a good size portion of heavy cream (sweetened with a bit of spenda). I'm not sure why this is, but when I eat about a half cup of whipped heavy cream (around 45 grams of fat), I get an energy burst that feels like I drank a light cup of coffee. Quite interesting.

Lowcarb diets tend to increase catecholamine levels (and decrease serotonin), so this isn't surprising. I get the same energy burst and an almost Zen-like euphoria after eating a high fat meal myself. I wonder what it is about a specific amount of fat that does this - have our bodies simply become more adept at using FFA's for fuel, or is it possible to spark up central drive with a high fat meal?

 

[Puttn]

i think because your carbs are low the fat is giving you energy ur not used to so thats why

 

[Cobin]

Your doing this for bulking right? Have you gained any fat or has it stayed minimal? How about weight, what did you weigh when you started and what are you at now?

 

[killroy70]

My CKD bulking results thus far

Although I am using a CKD for "bulking," I'm not going overboard with regards to total calories. Now, when I began, my bodyweight was at 195. After the first 2 weeks, I had dropped to around 190 and had to adjust calories accordingly. I weighed in this past monday at 198. Although I have not checked my bodyfat since beginning the diet, it is very evident in the mirror that the vast majority of my gains thus far have been lean mass. My goal is to hit 210-215 in 6 months. Right now I'm eating around 3500 calories per day on the low carb days, eating 300 grams of fat per day and around 180-200 grams of protein. On the carb ups I bump up the calories to around 4500 on saturday and 4000 on sunday. On saturdays, I eat absolutely anything I want. I'll go through an entire box of pop tarts in the morning, eat pizza, whatever, making sure to consume around 700-800 grams of carbs. On sunday, I bump up the fat a bit and reduce my carbs to around 400-500 grams and try to keep them somewhat clean, but still, I'm not overly strict.

Overall energy throughout the day is up. And my strength training sessions have been going much better than anticipated. Actually, they're going better than they ever have. Although I stated that my weight gain goal target is set at around 6 months, I do plan on continuing the diet and have strength goals of hitting 450 in the squat and 300 in the bench press by mid summer. (currently at 365 squat and 235 bench). Although these strength goals may seem out there, many people who use the westside system experience tremendous gains their first year, so yes, I'm aiming high!

Once I hit 215 bodyweight, I plan on cutting down to around 200, aiming for 6-8% bodyfat.

I'll tell you what, I am amazed that I am able to workout so hard and continue to gain strength faster than I ever have while eating essentially no carbs for 5 days each week.

 

[Parabellum]

I train westside also and with a CKD type diet I was afraid that Iwould not make any strenght gains.

I have been setting PR's and getting stronger every ME workout. My DE days surprize me too. I have a ton of energy, I am never hungry.
My goal was to lose BodyFat. which is not working for me right now, so I will change to crum's diet and see haow that affects my workouts in the future.