nclifter, start doing refeed days. trust me on this one. try this out, its fucking awesome.
Sun-Tues and Thurs-Friday stick w/ low calories/low carbs/and low fat. Don't go below 1200 cals for several reasons. Something like 200-250g protein, 20-40g fat, and 0-50g carbs.
Sample Foods:
Protein:
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
Turkey Breast
Top Round Steak
Eye Round Steak
Eggs with Egg Whites
Tuna Fish
Carbs:
Green Beans
Broccoli
Spinach
Salad
Asparagus
Fats:
Fish Oil Capsules (minimum 8 per day)
Fats From Protein Sources
Olive Oil
Flaxseed Oil
Wed and Sat refeed days. High calories/High Carbs/200-250g protein/minimal fat. Start with 2.5g carbs per lb. bodyweight and try to push it a little more each refeed day, up to around 5g per lb. of carbs on a given day.
On the 2 refeed days, wake up EARLY, eat a high carb/protein breakfast, go to the gym an hour or 2 later and lift heavy. Postworkout drink high in carbs and protein, and just eat carbs/sugars all day. Some foods include:
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Rice
Pasta
Oatmeal
Sweet Tarts
Smarties
Pop Tarts
Cereal
Low Fat/Fat Free Pretzels
Low Fat/Fat Free Ice Cream
Low Fat/Fat Free Cookies/Cup cakes
Snackwells
Low Fat/Fat Free Protein Bars
Jelly Beans
Candy Corn
Lifting should be geared around the diet, on the high carb days, lift after your 1st early meal, and lift heavy. Eat carbs and protein all day (low fat) which will aim at muscle recovery and may result in some anabolism. The workouts should be full body, heavy weight, low reps (4-6 reps) w/ longer rest intervals. Stick w/ your basic compound movements.
The day after each high carb/refeed day, do a higher rep, full body depletion workout. This will return the body back to burning fat at a more rapid pace. Again, full body workout, moderate weights at around 12-15 reps. Do 3-4 sets per bodypart to deplete glycogen levels. Dont go to heavy as to interfere w/ recovery from the previous days heavy workout.
The idea is that the PSMF (protein sparing modified fast) allows the fastest fat loss w/ muscle retention than any other diet. All it is is a low calorie/low fat ketogenic diet. One of the main problems is that metabolic rate begins to slow along w/ lowering of leptin after only a few days on this diet (as well as any diet), so here, we're losing maximum fat on low carb days and before a big drop in metabolic rate and leptin, do a refeed day to bump leptin/prevent a big drop, and prevent a significant drop in metabolic rate.
Besides being physiologically advantagous, its VERY easy to follow psycologically. You're only dieting for either 3 days or 2 days in a row, then allowed to eat plenty of high carb/sugar foods (although fat needs to be somewhat restricted) but this allows a great deal of flexibility and WORKS.