Adelfo Cerame - Road to Wheelchair Nationals '12: Getting Ripped For Christmas! Plus, Taking a Week Off Takes Some Courage, But Believe Me - It Will Pay Off!

Image 1: Adelfo at the Buckeye Classics, last year.

Actually, I wanted to start this installment of Adelfo's weekly contest-prep blog along the lines of "another Thursday, another ...", ... well, I guess that won't work out, because exactly those lines were the first words in the email with the weekly write-up Adelfo just sent me. So, I guess, I will just take the chance to sneak in a last-minute tip for a gift. Assuming that you have a friend or family member who really wants to make a change to the way he looks, feels and performs in the coming year, I think Adelfo is still taking new clients... but before he gets mad at me again, because I am pimping his services way too much for his liking, I better shut up now and let Adelfo tell you how he has been preparing for Christmas and his 12-weeks out mark on Christmas Day ;-)

Another Thursday, another blog…  

Damn! Aren’t you guys and, of course, girls ;-) getting tired of reading these Thursday write-ups? Well I hope not because there’s going to be about 13 to 14 more Thursday segments from yours truly ;-)

As you all know from the last installment of this series I am using this week as sort of a benchmark or test run for the show. With Christmas Day I will be hitting my 12-week mark and hopefully make myself an awesome present in terms of just about as lean and mean as possible before, ... well, before I will cram myself with every- and anything my little heart desires. What? You think that sounds stupid? Why would one diet down, just to ruin everything within one day? Well, I guess you have not read the previous installments of this series then. As I've already mentioned repeatedly, if you stay lean year round, keep your body accustomed to burning off extra calories by carefully planned cheat- and refeed-days and don't skimp on your workouts, the occasional holiday binge is not going to have any long-term detrimental effect on your physique. Enjoy your holidays - you have done your homework. It's the lazy rest of the world that's got to feel guilty, not you!

Image 2: No reason to feel guilty! I guarantee, "My 5 Simple Tricks For Guilt Free Thanksgiving Celebrations" will work for every holiday ;-)

How to minimize damage or even progress over the Christmas days? If you have not read them already, I strongly suggest you go back to"My 5 Simple Tricks For Guilt Free Thanksgiving Celebrations", where I describe in some detail how intermittent fasting and keeping your diet in check in the days before and after the holidays will help you to not only compromise your progress, but how you can even make use of a holiday binge as a strategic way of refueling your body and soul ;-) That being said, a related resource you may enjoy are the first issues (esp. Part 2 and Part 3) of the Intermittent Thoughts series, in which Dr.Andro digs into the physiology of intermittent fasting, which - as you all know - has helped me tremendously during this first half of my prep.

With only two more days to go, I am very pleased with how things are working out for me. It looks like I will be hitting my mark… As for the water retention issue, I have been seeing improvements in my physique this week, as in vascularity and separation within my shoulders, forearms, triceps and upper abs. I’ve been pounding at least 2 gallons of water a day to try and flush out as much water as I can. We will see what the end-result on Sunday will look like. I know that I will not be hitting my full potential in conditioning - if I did, the chances that I will be both as muscular, as well as as ripped as possible, on the day of the show, in 14 weeks would decrease, anyways.

Nevertheless, I do feel that I look now about as ripped as when I did the Buckeye Classic last April (cf. image 1). With another 13-14 weeks to improve, I am pretty damn sure that time (and obviously consistency as far as diet and training goes) will take care of the water retention and stubborn body fat I am still carrying. But enough about my 12-week mark! I’ve been bumpin’ my gums about it for the past two weeks, and I’m pretty sure you’re tired of it too. Note: I’ll have pictures up next Thursday on how my physique turns out this Sunday - promise ;-)

Rest, Rest, Rest... and? Well, I guess REST!

Rest, or what some people simply think of as "doing nothing", is in fact one of the most valuable training tools you have. More often than not, it is however taken for granted even by professional athletes and even I commit guilty of taking it for granted in the past, because I had that “gung-ho”,  “rest is for the weak”, or “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” type of mentality. Don’t get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with having a “gung-ho” mentality, but you should be aware of when your body is already "dead" and you begin to take steps back- not forward with every heavy lifting session... train hard, but train smart! Rest, when it’s time to rest, and learn how to listen to what your body wants.

Image 3: A brief update on my initial experience with Slinshot, Recycle and D-Pol by Purus Labs

Quick PurusLabs supplement update (Recycle, D-Pol and SlinShot): For my liking it is still too early to draw any conclusions, but as I promised to keep you up-to-date as far as my newest supplements are concerned, I thought I'd mention that I’ve been getting some pretty decent pumps in the gym, lately. While much of this could obviously be just in my head, I want to remind everyone that this is my deload week, so I’m basically just doing sissy workouts and lifting real light - still, the pump is really noticeable. And when I am practicing my poses, I feel like there was a major improvement in what people like to call the "mind and muscle connection", which is the ability to contract and flex individual muscles intentionally. As with every N=1 experiment, it is however difficult to judge how much of that can be ascribed to Recycle and D-Pol and what may be due to other parameters. With regard to the tarragon based insulin-sensitizer SlinShot, of which I told you that I'd save it for my refeeds, I will probably be able to tell you next week, whether or not it is working. I mean, the plan is to EAT BIG on Christmas, so we’ll see how much "damage" I can do, and whether or not SlinShot can help in repartitioning some of the "damage" into muscle glycogen ;-)

For me the incorporation of carefully planned rest days before it was too late, was the key to what I think is the most profound growth-spurt I have undergone in the past couple of month. Before, I did not only train 6 days a week, I also totally overlooked - or I should say - ignored the value of rest or deload weeks. Not hitting the gym for more than one day? Taking it easy, when you are not hurt? Impossible... no wonder I always felt burned out and sometimes even utterly unmotivated.

Taking more than a day off and the irrational fears of muscle loss, fat gain & co

At first I feared taking too many rest days, especially during contest prep, would hamper my progress. That being said, rationally, I was not even sure what the exact reasons for this gut feelings were. Maybe the fear of...

• losing muscle, when the latter was not constantly challenged during my diet
• not being able to get the most out of my body, or
• not having enough training days to help burn body fat, since I rarely did cardio. 

And, yes, I was one of those guys who used to lift weights constantly thinking about how that would help him burn off body fat, how many calories he would have "left at the gym" and what foods he was now "allowed" to eat after burning X amounts of calories in the course of his last workout. Thus, rather than focusing on increasing my strength and trying to build some lean muscle or at least maintain it, all my efforts in the gym were aimed at simply burning calories - a futile concept, as I have eventually come to realize.

The thought of not having done enough, alway hampered my progress

I know this may sound somewhat ridiculous, especially for the lazy guys out there, but it actually took me a whole lot of courage to finally incorporate more rest days into my training regimen, to take a week off or tick to a pre-planned deload week every 6-8 weeks. The results, however, were well worth it. Adequate rest alone, helped me to ...

• continously increase my strength on all major lifts
• make greater and more consistent muscle gains
• be able to hit the gym motivated and refreshed
• lift really heavy and not just heavy as my exhausted body would allow
• keep injury free

The latter, i.e. the ability to avoid major (and minor) injuries, may in fact be one of the most fundamental benefits you will get if you allow your body to fully recuperate. After all, what could be worse than not being able to hit the gym at all (look at Branch Warren with his torn quads!) For someone like me, who always seems to attract nagging aches, pains and tweaks during long hauls in his training, it was like a revelation, when I noticed that by just taking the necessary week off , I could totally avoid those tedious injuries.

Recipe of the week: In the good spirit of the Christmas Holidays & the birthday of Jesus Christ… I have put together a classic holiday recipe for you: Eggnog, but with an anabolic twist. Cheers!

Image 4: Eggnog - a classic recipe with an anabolic twist!

Anabolic Eggnog - ingredients:

• 4 whole organic eggs (blend in blender till frothy) 
• 1 c. non-fat milk 
• 40g of vanilla whey protein 
• 2 tsp. organic vanilla extract 
• 1 tsp. stevia 
• powdered or ground cinnamon (sprinkle to liking) 
• nutmeg (sprinkle to liking)
• Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum is optional ;-)
  
  Macros: 71g protein / 12g carbs / 20g fat

After blending the eggs till frothy, add all the other ingredients and blend till frothy, and you can add a couple more sprinkles of cinnamon on top to make your drink look fancy. ;-)

And just to make sure, you are getting the message: The type of Rest, we are talking about, here is not the time it takes to take a nip from your water bottle in-between sets (even if it has BCAAs in it ;-) It also does not mean hitting on the beautiful girl on the stairmaster instead of finishing you HIIT session. Rest, is the time you are spending out of the gym. A day, you spent with friends or family, where you treat your run down body with good nutrition and extra sleep. A day, where you get yourself a massage, take the dog for an extended walk and take your girlfriend out to a fancy restaurant that also carries bodybuilding friendly foods. And of course a day, where you have lot's of time to go and check out mine and Dr.Andro's posts, here at the SuppVersity, to learn new things about exercise and nutrition and to join the discussion... so, what are you waiting for, then? Go for it and rest... Merry Christmas, everyone!

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Three Basic Tweaks to Rid Yourself of Nasty Body Water. Plus: Three New Purus Labs Supps in My Stash!

Image 1: More often than not it's simply water that is keeping you from achieving the physique of your dreams. A profound morning vs. evening difference is characteristic of water, not fat being the last hurdle.

I don't know about you, but for me Thursday has become one of my favorite days, here at the SuppVersity. Not only can I take the seat of the almighty editor-in-chief and let other people do the work for me, I also get to read an interesting and enlightening blogpost on my own blog - sounds good, hah? Specifically, if - just like today - the topic your author blogs about is one that is actually dear and near to your heart... and I can tell you retaining superfluous and unattractive body water in the lower abdomen area is something I have involuntarily become an expert in. Hitherto, I have yet not found a way to keep the vein that is showing on my lower abs in the morning "in place" for the whole day. It appears the "water pressure" is just too high ;-) All jokes aside, if you are just about as curious if Adelfo has found the solution to this nasty problem, I guess I will not keep you in suspense any longer and hand over to the pro...

Test, test, test, ... 1, 2, 3, ... how lean can I possibly be?

You think you could use some advice on your own training, diet and supplementation regimen and want it from someone who obviously knows what it takes to build muscle and lose fat? You can reach out to Adelfo via Facebook.

Basically 11 more days till my 12-week mark and I decided to treat Christmas day like it would be the big day of the show. It's going to be a test run of how I would approach the real thing! Practice makes perfect! Just like practicing for a big football or basketball game you must practice to prepare for the stage! I practice my posing and posing routines… and yes this means flexing your muscles in front of the mirror like a total douchebag! Well I guess it’s only douchebag- esque, if you do it at your local gym where you can be seen by other gym goers. So for me, I just find a private place where it’s just me, myself and I and get going. Posing will also help get your physique harder and may even help flush out the subcutaneous water in between your skin and muscle. The obvious benefits of being able to perform better on the stage aside, there is thus also a direct physical benefit, even those of you who are not competing will appreciate. Another thing I will have to play around with in the next two weeks are my re-feeds. I need to figure out how to time them in order to "peak", i.e. to be in the best shape possible, right before the show. In that, looking my best, means being the leanest, the driest and fullest, I can look after a reefed.

Hydration, dehydration, superhydration and simple bloating

One of the nastiest problems with peaking right at a bodybuilding show relates to the issue of water rentention. You obviously have to get rid of all subcutaneous water, to show off what Samir Bannout aptly labeled your "onion skin"... or to put it more simply, be the most "shredded" guy on stage. That being said, I have in the past often had issues with the water in my lower abdomen and my sides. The "bloating" in these problem areas usually goes away in the last month or weeks of my prep. And while time obviously is a major factor, here, I have hitherto found that cutting back the variety of my diet and sticking to meat and low- to no-starch veggies like cucumbers, cabbage, asparagus, broccoli, and zucchini is a surefire (and actually the only) way to get rid of these last milliliters of water. For this ends, even my beloved full-fat dairy products (milk, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, cheeses) will have to disappear from my meal plan.

Image 2: Recent picture showing me holding some excess subcutaneous water in my lower abs (left). Picture from a competition in 2009 showing me with minimal to no water in my lower abdomen (right).

As you can see in the picture on the left hand side (image 2, left), I am holding WAY too much water for my liking. The picture on the right goes to show you what my personal benchmark is looking like (image 2, right)! I do yet hope to be able to outdo my own '09 form and go into the 2012 Wheelchair Nationals with what the bros would probably call a "sick" & "disgustingly conditioned" midsection ;-)

Three bullet proof tweaks to lessen the water-load

And though I hope not to have to resort to any tricks to get stage ready, I am planning to use the time to the 12-week mark to experiment with a few tweaks which will accelerate contemporary water loss and will enable me to lay out an appropriate strategy for the day(s) right before the contest:

• Stick to mainly lean meats (like chicken breast, tilapia and grass-fed beef) and light filling, low calorie, low carb, alkaline veggies like cucumbers, asparagus, cabbage, and zucchinis. Once I cut the starchy carbs completely, I start to notice my physique get leaner and grainier.
• Drink lots of water! I usually pound like 2 gallons/day leading up to the big day. Drinking lots of water and keeping a steady amount flowing through you, the whole day, will help you flush out that unwanted water.
• Drink some green tea everyday. Green tea also helps with expelling excess water - and, if you have been following the SuppVersity news, this week, you will also know that it can actually help you lose weight or at least stave off the potential holiday weight gain.

• 

  Image 4: The recipes are getting simpler, during the test run: Lean meat + no-starch veggie = Lean and mean physique and constantly lowered water retention... no dairy, no peanut butter, no... well, you know ;-)

  Have a carb load/re-feed day. A re-feed day, not cheat day! There’s somewhat of a difference… a cheat day implies that you eat whatever the f#ck you want from a combination of carbs and grease! This would obviously replenish your glycogen stores, but it’s a bit uncontrolled because of the excess fat that you are most likely taking in as well, when you "cheat" like that. A re-feed is where you are replenishing your glycogen stores, so you want to mainly focus on carbs, while you keep fat intake minimal and protein intake moderate to the same. Re-feeds help with getting rid of water because carbs draw in water. And on re-feeds, when you’re lean enough and glycogen is depleted (from long periods of low-carb dieting), your muscles will scavenge and fight for every carb you put in your body to refill glycogen stores (muscle stores) and at the same time, the excess subcutaneous water left in the body will piggy back on the carbohydrates and into the muscles… Well at least that’s what I think. Lol! 

Although these three "tricks" sound pretty basic (which in fact they are), they have helped me time and again in my preps to achieve that bone-dry physique.  

But remember: These are only temporary, NOT permanent fixes. These little schemes will not help you lose weight or get lean. They will just help enhances your physique when you already have at a certain degree of body fat percentage and leanness. Shortcuts and quick fixes don’t get you the physique you want! Dedication, consistency, & balance do.

Exciting new and reliable staples in my supplement arsenal

Via Dr. Andro's contacts on the Mind & Muscle Forum, I got in contact with the guys from Purus Labs, who have been on the look out for people to test some of their newest products. All I have to do is to run an honestlog and track my progress with how I am getting along with their products - sounds fair to me, especially because I think that the combination of D-Pol, Recycle and Slinshot will make a good addition to my regimen.

• D-Pol (D-aspartic acid):
  
  

  

  Image 3: Slinshot, Recycle and D-Pol by Purus Labs are the latest generously sponsored additions to my supplement regimen.

  When and how? Will be taken early in the morning on an empty stomach to avoid competition with other amino acids for absorption.
  
  For what purpose? With its proven effects LH secretion, the d-aspartic acid will hopefully help increasing my testosterone levels, which can obviously take a beating whenever you are dieting, because your body is trying to preserve body fat, so it shuts all other systems down in order to tend to more important matters like starvation.

• Recycle (natural test booster):  
  
  When and how? Will be taken in the afternoon & evening, one serving pre-workout and another serving later in the evening. 
  
  For what purpose? Recycle appears to be a good match for the d-aspartic acid in D-Pol, as it helps increase testosterone via a different pathway and will keep the aromatization into estrogen at bay and help reduce SHBG and thusly "free" the otherwise bound (additional) testosterone of their carrier protein. And though, I have not felt any low test-issues ever since I began intermittent fasting, I am hoping that the addition of the test booster will help with maintaining more of  my strength.

• Slinshot (glucose uptake promoter)
  
  When and how? Will be taken during my carb loads/ re-feed days with my biggest carbohydrate meals
  
  For what purpose? I hope that it will help shuttle the carbs into the muscle more readily, especially on the non-post-workout meals, when the glucose-uptake sensitizing effect of my workout abates.

Since I just started running these supplements on Tuesday, I obviously cannot really say anything about their efficacy till next Thursday, but as you will remember I started two other supps in the post Thanksgiving week and promised to let you know how things are going. Remember their names? Liquid Clenbutrx & Anadraulic State?

• 

  Image 4: The best fat burner is useless if you have not dialed in your diet.

  Clenbutrx: So far the only significant thing I’m noticing is the shitty taste and the awesome energy it gives me throughout the day! As for increasing my metabolism and fat loss… eeeehhhhh maybe! I mean I don’t doubt that I’m probably burning an extra 100-200 calories by taking this stuff, just like all fat burners do, but I just don’t notice anything significant to say otherwise. Plus it’s very difficult to differentiate what’s doing what? Is it the fat burner? Or the IF diet? A combo of both? Who knows? I mean I’ve already seen what an IF diet can do on it’s own without a fat burner. But I have yet to see what a fat burner can do on its own without a diet… something to think about there aye?... I should be done in 2 weeks so I’ll give the final verdict on this stuff when it’s
  finished.
• Anadraulic state: I’d have to say it’s working! My bench press is increasing little by little with every training session. My body feels and looks fuller and I have been getting really good pumps at the gym. This stuff is keeping me strong while I diet down, and I have also become accustomed to the taste. It’s really starting to taste like strawberry lemonade! Lol.

Assuming that the combination of those five is not going to kill me within the coming week, you will get an update on my (hopefully) "supplementally enhanced" progress next Thursday. For the time being, I would yet like to remind everyone that no supplement is going to save you, when you have not got the basics right and those were, are and will always be training and nutrition. So, if you have not already gotten those straight today, it's about time for you to either cook or get to the gym, now ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: My Five Simple Tricks for Guilt Free Thanksgiving Celebrations. Plus: Four Dietary Supplements You Should not Miss!

Image 1: Adelfo on Wednesday before the feast began. We will see how he looks next week ;-)

I guess, this blogpost should actually begin with the words "Happy Thanksgiving" in big, bold letters, but for us Europeans - and me as a German, in particular - today is a regular working day. Nevertheless, it is a day to celebrate, because THIS is actually post #600 here at the SuppVersity and I am in fact grateful (and thusly giving thanks) that you, my dear students, readers, followers or however else you want to refer to yourselves, are still interested in my perspective(s) on what is going on in the world of fitness, bodybuilding, sports and exercise science.

That being said, I do still hope that all of you (who actually have a holiday) are having a good time with your friends and family, just like my friend Adelfo, who has sent me his weekly contest-prep update and his best wishes to all of you last night, already ....

Turkey, pie, ... pie, turkey, ... turkey ... and some supplements!

Ok guys, I’m going to try and make this real brief because I actually started my Thanksgiving Day Feast a day early, so that I’ve been falling in and out of sleep from all the turkey and pie and still have to prepare for another day of furious eating again tomorrow, in order to "peak" (just to stick to the bodybuilding terminology) right on Thanksgiving!

Image 2: I like protein blends and Lean Supreme is one of my favorites. I gets it for $32 for 4.2lbs at my local Nutrition Zone.

As you know from the previous installments of this series, I have planned these 2 cheat / refeed days long ahead. In fact, being able to go somewhat overboard on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve and my birthday was part of the reasoning behind starting my contest preparation so early.  But before I give you guys some pointers on how to approach these holiday feasts, I thought it was about time to address the subject of supplements. I know I've hinted at being on a budget and cutting back on my usage of protein powder in a previous episode; luckily I have recently been able to stock back up on my four staples, i.e. those supplements, I think are really worth spending your money on.

For me the "basic four" are

• a high quality protein powder, 
• a bag of bulk BCAAs, 
• a quality multi-vitamin, and 
• the good old creatine monohydrate. 

Protein powder, BCAAs, a mulit and creatine are what I would call the "foundation" of my supplementation regimen. If I cannot afford all of these, I am not going to buy any other  supplement - "prioritizing" is the name of the game. If my budget allows that I am yet planning on experimenting with a few other products in the weeks to come. What I currently have on my mind are a decent fat burner, some bulk D-Aspartic Acid and a test booster if I can find one that actually works...

Image 3: Protein powder, multi-vitamins, creatine monohydrate, and BCAA’s, combined with good training + nutrition, and that’s all you need to build your physique… well at least for me it is ;-)

Remember, all four, the protein powder, the BCAAs, the multi-vitamin and the creatine are add-ons; they are not part of what I call my "nutritional regimen". They do not replace any nutrients (as Dr. Andro would say: "They are called supplements not replacements" ;-) and I am well aware that I won't get anything out of them, if my diet and training are not 100% in check. Never fool yourself into the false security that you are taking supplements, X,Y and Z and could thusly let your nutritional protocol slide. No supplement gives you the excuse to eat like shit or skip a training session! You can do without quality supplements but you can’t do without quality foods - although the colorful adverts in some of the muscle mags, try to make you believe otherwise.

Image 4: Huge thanks to Jack Gurlekian and Dr. Andro for helping me out on the supplement side.

Before I get started on Holiday feasting, I’d like to give a shout out to Jack Gurlekian and thank him for hooking me up with some of the supplements that he distributes and makes himself… I’d also like to thank Dr. Andro himself for helping me out with finances to help me purchase some supplements that should hold me off for a couple months : Creapure(TM), glutamine peptides & ZMA from True Protein. Inner Armour supplements and Jack’s very own amino acid blends! [A note by Dr. Andro: Additional sponsors are always welcome ;-]

My holiday season feasts 101!

The holiday season is approaching and you all know what that means? Epic holiday feasts and it starts with Thanksgiving, continues on Christmas and ends with New Years Eve. And when it’s all said and done, all you’re left with is a GUT full of regret! In order to help you to keep both the gut, as well as the regret at bay, I want to share with you how I like to prepare myself for the holiday food gauntlet…

Image 5: This thanks giving plate looks way better than the government's MyPlate

Actually it all begins with keeping myself in good physical shape and keeping my physique as lean as I can year round. If you read the last installment of Dr. Andro's Intermittent Thoughts Series on "Why to cut before bulking" you will be aware of the hormonal and metabolic advantages which come with being lean. That being said, there is actually little reason, why I could not enjoy occasions like this without any regret, if it's not just a few days out on the next contest, which obviously isn't yet the case... and if you have been following the whole series since September, you will also be aware that I am exactly on schedule - a schedule that allows for a long consistent cut, precisely because I knew that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Eve were coming and being in decent shape by then would allow me do some serious and more importantly guilt free eating ;-)

5 simple rules to survive the feast without too much damage

Being on an intermittent fasting protocol does help here as well, I have already touched on that in a previous installment - when you pack your complete caloric intake into a small feeding window "overeating" (no, not eating like shit!) is part of the game, anyway. Ok, the foods are probably different on Thanksgiving, but the caloric intake may in fact not vary too much. Moreover, the muscle specific improvements in insulin sensitivity that come with training fasting make it less likely that you store all the good and not so good nutrients you are about to eat today in the form of glycogen or even new muscle tissue, rather than as triglyceride droplets in your love handles.

Personally I do adhere to the the following 5 principles for intermittently fasted holiday celebrations in order to keep any potential damage to my physique at a minimum:

1. I give myself a caloric buffer throughout the week before the big day. I don’t starve myself but I don’t eat as much. I try to be like around 200-300 calories shy of my daily caloric intake (1800 kcal). And being on IF, I do not even notice this 200-300 calorie reduction as far as my appetite is concerned.
2. I stick to proteins and moderate fats throughout the week before the big feast. Just sticking to proteins, moderate fats, veggies and fruits, will help you with making that caloric buffer, simply because they are satiating. I still had my PWO chocolate milk, and PWO carbs with my meal.
3. I fast before the big feast. You may want to even throw in an intense and heavy weight training session before, so you can get more bang for your buck when you eat! (Though I wont be doing that because it’s my rest day)
4. Once I get to the party and begin my feast, I focus first on filling up on protein like turkey, chicken, roasts, fish and BBQ meats. This way I’m sure to hit my protein macros and to fill up with some good protein, then I’ll have my desserts like cakes and pies … and a couple shots of liquor and a couple glasses of wine ;-) But once I’m full… That’s it! I wont force myself to eat more just because there’s a lot of food. I’ll wait a couple of hours like I would normally do (on regular days), until I’m hungry again before I’ll eat again. I try to get in the same amounts of meals that I usually would during my feeding hours (3-4 meals) but obviously the meals will be much bigger... yeah, and with a little bit more junk ;-)
5. I push away the remote thoughts of guilt and enjoy the day! I mean, you train hard and eat smart year round to keep yourself lean & mean. One day is not going to reverse all your efforts, maybe some bloat and a little water retention, but that will subsides in a couple days. Other than that… Enjoy your Thanksgiving, because I know I will!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Eat responsibly and don’t eat & drive full ;-)

Adelfo Cerame - Road to The Wheelchair Nationals '12: Cheating Allowed! Another Beauty of Intermittent Fasting.

Image 1: Just graduated - Adelfo Cerame Jr. holds the lecture on "cheating"

When I just received Adelfo's email with his weekly progress update, I thought "Damn. He is just giving away things you had in stall for one of the next installments of the Intermittent Thoughts". In view of the fact that re-feeds, the particular value of the occasional high-carb meals on an otherwise low-carb diet and the widespread misconception that a single occasional binge could actually make you fat are so near and dear to my heart, that I think we (meanwhile I feel like Adelfo has become part of the SuppVersity staff ;-) cannot address these issues often enough. "Go ahead then, Prof. Cerame! Let the student's know about your dietary escapades!" And you, dear students, always remember: At the SuppVersity you learn everything it takes to succeed - even cheating ;-)

The four commandments of faithful cheating

I know I mentioned in last week's installment of my weekly contest prep blog that I would refrain from cheating on my meal plan or even re-feeding for the next couple of weeks, until either Christmas is almost their or my body was signalling me that it was about to time to refuel. Now, this past weekend, the occasion, or I should say, social obligations, called for it and ... I complied, realizing that the ability to cheat is another if not one of the most outstanding beauties of being on an intermittent fasting protocol!

Image 2: On Saturday night I had a medium rare double Angus burger with crisp cut seasoned fries which I washed down with seasonal pumpkin spiced ale! I finished off with a dessert: A triple chocolate pizookie. And to make sure I was really satisfied, I broke my fast on Sunday with 6 slices of pizza ;-)

As I mentioned, I had no idea that this was going to be a cheat day, when I woke up on Saturday morning, so I went about it like it was any other day: I trained fasted (this is something I only do on Saturdays, because I train in the morning, then), broke my fast at the regular time, which is around 3pm, and then went to go watch a football game. A couple hours later, I got a phone call from my family asking me if I wanted to meet with them at a restaurant for dinner... and guess what: I gladly accept - without hesitation! Now, you are probably even more surprised than my relatives, asking yourselves:

"Aren’t you preparing for a bodybuilding competition!? Why would you do such a thing!?""

To be honest, when I come to think about it, there is not just one, but rather a whole host of reasons for something so outrageous as being flexible with my diet ;-)

• For one, I started my prep early and gave myself, 20+ weeks rather than the usual 12 weeks that had to suffice in the past. So the first reason is just a time issue: Taking your time to prep for a show does not only allow you to drop body flat at a lower and much more natural pace, is also gives you the dietary flexibility you need in scenarios like these.
• Secondly, being on an intermittent fasting protocol, I was - despite a cheat - still within my caloric macronutrient range - after all, I had not had the typical 3-4 high protein, high carb meals your usual bodybuilder would already have gulped down, when I received the invitation. And though I may eventually have gone a little over my projected caloric inttake, that was not half as bad as it would have been, when I had eaten 2/3 of my daily allotment before I even arrived at the restaurant.
• Thirdly, and on a related note, intermittent fasting, that is something I have come to realize allows, no IF almost forces you to "EAT BIG!", anyway. When it's about time to eat, you eat, you do not peck like a bird, you eat until you're full... and no, not just that "somewhat satisfied" or "just enough" type of being full you are persuading yourself into, when your brain is telling you that you are hitting your planned caloric intake. No, you'll think you had overeaten, feeling guilty with your two huge meals inside your slightly protruding tummy.... and yet, you are most likely still on slight caloric deficit. Personally, I've even had to re-check or re-count the calories and macros on days where I felt I might have eaten too much, only to realize that at the end of the day, my stomach was bulging, but I had barely hit my macros for the day.
• Fourthly, I trained. When you train (heavy and intense, no sissy 30min walk on the treadmill), you have a little leeway (don't get me wrong and try to make up for binges by hitting the gym for hours - that won't work!), not because you burned so much calories (a hilarious concept, anyway), but because you have primed your body to make good use of the nutrients (remember you eat nutrients, not calories) you are consuming... but I guess you have learned all that already in the course of the past installments of the Intermittent Thoughts Series (esp. the article on the "Anabolic Barn Door"). And if I understood Dr. Andro correctly, he will have some very concrete examples of how you can make the most of this nutrient partitioning effect in the future installments on how to program dietary and athletic success.
• And fifth- and lastly, this was a cheat/re-feed day. Although many of you probably would like to eat out with family every day, this is something you can do on special occasions, it is yet something you cannot do everyday! Used sparingly, re-feeds can kick-start your metabolism, fill glycogen stores and most importantly (!) maintain your psychological health and keep your friends and family happy ;-)

"What do you say?" No! One or two days of controlled cheating will not make you fat. You might put on some extra water weight, but that will be lost as soon as you get back on track, which - and I cannot stress that enough - is what distinguishes controlled binging as in re-feeding from the disordered binge-eating you may see in some hopeless dieters who are at the verge of developing a full blown eating disorder. 

Image 3: Me on Monday morning. As you can see, I did not put on any body fat. If anything, my muscles had more pop and felt fuller and my energy and strength in the gym were through the roof that Monday.

And if you still ain't convinced, think about it this way: If you eat like shit for 14 days straight, and then decide to eat healthy on the 15th day; will that make a difference? Probably not. So the same goes with cheat days, if you eat healthy the majority of the time and decide to have cheat days from time to time, it’s fine.  

You think you could use some advice on your own training, diet and supplementation regimen and want it from someone who obviously knows what it takes to build muscle and lose fat? You can reach out to Adelfo via Facebook.

Real men (and women) ain't scared of food.
                                     It’s all about balance and moderation.

Back in my previous preps, when I used to follow a more conventional bodybuilding-type eat-every-two-hours diet, my re-feeds would last the whole day, but ever since I began to fast intermittently, my cheat meals are within my feeding hours. In my humble opinion, this really maximizes the benefits you can reap from your re-feeds. Not only does the limited feeding-window prevent you from going totally overboard, it's actually also more enjoyable, because you do not have to stuff your face the whole day! Believe me, try having a cheat day, where you eat from morning to night - sounds fun? Well, I guess you have not tried that, yet! The first meal is always great, but by the third meal of the day, lethargy, sleepiness and that uncomfortable comatose feeling start to hit you like Thor's hammer (remember image 1 from last week ;-). You don't want to do anything but lie in bed (even sitting on the couch feels like a workout) and the rest of your pre-scheduled meals become a challenging task, in the course of which you forcefully stuff yourself with carbs!

A pros pos carbs. I mentioned before that the caloric overload on intermittent fasting re-feeds is obviously limited by the amount of food you can eat within the relatively short feeding-window. Thusly, you will consume more energy than usual, yet by far not in similarly excessive amounts as on a "regular" re-feed. That being said, with the focus of my re-feeds being on carbohydrates, there is a major shift in the macronutrient composition, which is intended to top off the glycogen stores of my muscles (and liver, which is the organ that will supply your brain with glucose, whenever there is a transient shortage of energy) and to take advantage of the anti-catabolic and IGF-1 promoting effects insulin - and it is in the vicinity of a workout (as last Saturday, for example), with your muscles ready and willing to suck up every mole of glucose they can possibly get, when you get the most "anabolic bang" for your "sugary bucks" ;-)

To summarize - here is a rough outline of my cheat day / re-feed protocol:

1. I keep protein intake the same.After all, I do not want the anabolic machinery to run out of amino acid fuel ;-)
2. My carb intake is high (remember if carbs are low in your regular diet, it is only logical to put a focus on carbs when you refeed), since I am only given a small window (max. 8 hours) to carb load, I prefer fast digesting or high glycemic index carbs, so that it transports straight to the muscles and do not digest until the "anabolic barn doors" are already half closed.I do nevertheless try to avoid real junk food and stick to my pineapple coconut pancaces (see recipe of the week), white potatoes, rice, pasta and high sugar fruits to get straight to the point and not waste anytime!



Image 4: It always baffles me, how many people still believe that "low fat" equals "healthy"

3. I keep my fat intake low. This allows me to potentially eat more carbohydrates (fats take up a lot of calories and on re-feed days, when I'd rather have the calories from carbohydrates). Fats also slow the digestion of carbs, and, as mentioned before, that's not what I want on a glycogen repleting re-feed day. I realize that it is sometimes hard to keep fats low during a cheat day - after all, your usual "cheats" (i.e. the junk many people eat everyday ;-) are about as high in fat as they are in carbs, so I take advantage of the nutritional stupidity of "low fat eating" and go to Trader Joe's and similar places, where I avail myself of some low-fat junk,... ah I mean USDA myPlate-type foods like the "low fat Twinies" in image 4 *rofl*
4. I eat until I am full! And, I even dare to say, until I have to unbutton my pants... so just that you know what kind of "full" we are talking about, here ;-)

Well… that’s all I got for this week. What? Oh, yes. No, I did not forget it. The promised weekly recipe from my ever-growing cookbook.

Image 5: Pancakes are one of my favorite cheat- / re-feed meals

Recipe of the Week: Pineapple coconut pancakes

Ingredients:

• 12 oz of pineapple & coconut pancake flour mix
• chocolate syrup
• coconut syrup
• 1 bowl of cocoa puffs
• 40g whey protein (pour over cereal as milk)

Quick tip: When I re-feed, I don’t count calories - this is why you do not see specific serving sizes or macros, like you usually have with my other recipes. Just remember the four golden rules: Keep protein high, focus on carbohydrates, while keeping fats low and - never forget - eat until you're full, full as in "unbuttoning- your-pants full" ;-)

Let me just give you this advise to take along: This is a cheat meal recipe though, so I would not recommend making this a staple in your nutritional regimen… Well, now that I think of it I guess it would be possible, if you cater it to your daily macronutrient intake. Yet, not everything that is possible is also also advisable, after all the "Twinkies Diet" was a great example that you can lose weight while eating junk food, but this is neither healthy, nor will it help you to achieve a stage ready physique. So, I guess your best bet is to cheat today and to come back for next week's installment of this series for healthier alternatives!

Adelfo Cerame - Pre-Contest-Prep Experimentation Time: Re-Feeds, Bro-Science and Raw Pre-Workout Piña Coladas

Image 1: Caramel blueberry pancake?
Exactly! Food for SkipLoading.

Thursday, another week literally flew by and the last of Adelfo Cerame's pre-contest-prep experimentation weeks has begun. About time for an high-carb re-feed, don't you think so? "Re-feed? High in carbs? Isn't that this bullshit that leaves you bloated, fat and ugly?" In case this was what you just thought, when you heard the word "high-carb re-feed", it's about time you let Adelfo explain to you, why he thinks (and knows from experience) that an occasional carb-binge will do way more good, than harm.

Re-feeds keep things going, physiologically, as well as psychologically

Every Sunday I do a re-feed or carb load.... From what I have heard and learned from my own past experience a re-feed or carb load (even, or rather especially on a low carb contest prep diet) can be very beneficial. As someone once mentioned (I can't remember whom or where i had heard it from), our body is "smarter we are" and when it comes to dieting, it will, in the long run, always take measures that go against our efforts to get rid off those enervating, yet from an evolutionary perspective life-saving last fat-reserves. This is important to understand, as it is the fundamental reason why, no matter how clever we think we are, we will always have to work hand in hand with, not against our bodies.

Manipulation is the name of the game

Whatever we do will eventually trigger an adaptive response from our bodies and it goes without saying that the latter (mostly) goes right against our initial intentions.

Image 2: What contains 1C. of raw qephor, 1C of fresh pineapples, 2 organic eggs, a splash of coconut water, 1 tbsp. of agave and 1tbsp. of coconut oil? The healthiest pre-workout pinacolada you could think of! Sounds better than NO-Xplode 2.0, doesn't it ;-)

Let me give you an example: On a diet, your obviously goal is to increase energy expenditure, or even better, to increase fatty acid oxidation while maintaining your dietary intake at a level that will force your body to "feed" off its fat reserves. Now, theoretically, a proper way to do just that (increase fatty acid oxidation) would be to engage in steady state aerobic activity, which - as you have learned in Dr. Andro's latest blogpost on fiber types - via its activation of predominantly slow twitch oxidative muscle fibers should preferentially burn fat... now, if you are one of the meticulous student's of the SuppVersity, you will already be shaking you head, as you will be familiar with the unwanted endocrine and metabolic long-term consequences of endless arduous cardio-sessions, which - and here we have come full circle - are nothing but adjustments your body makes to "optimally" adapt to a training routine that requires the body of a marathon runner, and not the muscular and ripped physique of a future Mr. Olympia.

Similar adaptations occur when you cut calories, after a few days your body will realize that he is going to run "out of fuel" within no time, if he does not cut back energy expenditure. It is at these critical time-points, when your body is about to shift metabolic gears, when re-feeds and carb loads are indicated... and don't be afraid - the one day of (perceived) overfeeding is not going to make you fat (it may make you retain some water, yes, but that's about it)! Think of it as of hitting an afterburner for just as long as takes to kick start your metabolism into full gear again.

Carb-loading = selectively refueling

Figure 1: Adelfo's current macronutrient breakdown in kcal. As mentioned in the last installment he starts out high on carbs to be able to cut back on those during the prep, whenever he feels it's necessary.

Avoiding metabolic shut-down is yet only one aspect. Another one I (and I assume other low-carb dieters will share this experience) have come to appreciate is that a carb-load will refill my glycogen stores - I've found this to be particularly important, when I start to drop my carbohydrate intake over the course of my contest preparation... and those of you who are familiar with Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale's anabolic diet, will also be aware of the fact that occasional high-carb re-feeds will allow you to take advantage of insulin's anabolic effects on muscle tissue without having to suffer from its fat-storing effect on adipose tissue.

During my re-feeds, I usually follow Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale's protocol, ramp up my carbohydrate intake, go low on fat and moderate on protein. In the past I used to carb-load with complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes, brown rice and yams, but as of recent I have been experimenting with high GI, processed carbohydrates such as pancakes, pastas, white rice, and kids cereal (basically low fat junk food). I came across this type of re-feeding, when I read about a method called "Skiploading", which was created by a guy named Ken "Skip" Hill. He will be actually helping me for the last week of my contest prep which is considered peak week, with this method of carb loading to help fill me out and come in as dry as possible the day off show. I can't really go into detail, but if you google "Skiploading" you should get an idea of how I do my re-feeds.

Re-feeds, carbloading and intermittent fasting!? Does that all go together?

You think you could use some advice on your own training, diet and supplementation regimen and want it from someone who obviously knows what it takes to build muscle and lose fat? You can reach out to Adelfo via Facebook.

The way I implement these re-feeds into my intermittent fasting regime is as follows:  I still do fast for 16 hours and feed for 8 during my re-feeds on Sundays. This allows me to have three re-feed meals on Sunday, while I will stick to my usual routine for the rest of the week. Last Tuesday for example, the latter looked  like that:

• pre-workout:
  raw pina colada shake (cf. image 2)
• post-workout:
  8 oz raw wild caught soho salmon, 1 large sweet potatoe, 5 slices of mango and a handful of carrots w/ coconut water
• last meal:
  1 c raw milk, 2 oz raw cheddar cheese

As you may have noticed, raw carrots have become one of my favorites, lately. I switched over to carrots from eating tons and tons of broccoli and cabbage - not a bad choice, either, but carrots are easier to prepare, taste way better and are easier digested raw than either broccoli or cabbage.

Contest-prep pre-planning: Of Huge yams, "smooth" dairy and fruit-binges

When I start my prep, in about a week, I will probably have to start cutting back on my sweet potato/yam intake... I just realized how many ounces 1 large yam is when I weighed it.... it's like 16-18 oz, so thats almost like 80g of carbs that I'm taking in, and honestly way more than I'd thought. My current plan is to cut down to 2 medium sweet potatoes and aim for about 40g of starchy carbs.

Image 3: Contrary to what bro-science would tell you, Adelfo still did not "smooth out", despite gallons of raw milk and loafs of raw cheese. Either the bros were wrong (again) or the magic is in the bad buggers (bacteria) the FDA claims they want to protect US citizens from, whenever they raid an innocent farmer.

I've been reconsidering my dairy intake, or, I should say, my previous dairy abstinence, as well. In the past I used to cut dairy out completely, because bro-science tells you: "Dairy smoothes you out, bro! Stay away if you want to stay in shape!" ... well, now that I have been drinking tons of  raw milk for weeks and eating truckloads of raw cheese, I still don't feel that I have smoothed out. This does not go to say that at some point during the prep, I will have to get rid of them, but I got the strange feeling that raw milk and raw cheese will stay a staple of mine in the weeks and months to come, in the course of which I am also going to experimenting with sugary fruits instead of starchy carbs or low fat junk foods during my re-feeds. The rational behind this, is that - just as with the dairy - without trying, I will never be able to tell which type of re-feeding foods work best for me.

Luckily, I still have more than enough time to experiment with different types of carbohydrates to see which suit me best. A pros pos time, for me it's now time to hit the gym, where we are going to film a few more training videos for you - so don't forget to get back next Thursday, to watch me train, and read whether (and if how) I survived the fructose load from Sunday's re-feed ;-)

Adelfo Cerame: Intermittent Fasting Done My Way - How I Break My Fast, Plan & Time My Macros and Use Caloric Zigzagging & Re-Feeds on a LeanGains Inspired IF Regimen

Image 1: Intermittent fasting, breaking the fast, macronutrient ratios and timing, caloric zigzagging and refeeds - learn how it can be done, learn how Adelfo does it!

Today's thursdaily SuppVersity post by Adelfo Cerame starts with an advertisement... "What? I thought the SuppVersity was ad-free!"... I see you are shocked!? Well, actually it ain't a real ad anyway, it's more a plug and what's best, I am plugging myself, or rather the new, likewise thursdaily radio show I am going to do with Carl Lanore. Those of you who have tuned in live or listened to the podcast (click here to download) last Thursday, when Carl was sitting alone in the studio going over the latest news-stories from the realms of health, nutrition and exercise science and I shot him an email, whether he did not want to call me to have some company, will probably already know what to expect. For the rest, I would say, the best way to describe what you will  hear today at 1PM EST on Super Human Radio would be "On Short Notice", or, in SHR-terms "Casual Sciency Thursday" - call it whatever you like, but don't forget to tune in live, or come back and download the podcast (update: click here to download the podcast), in case you already missed it

But now, without further delay Adelfo Cerame's Thursdaily Suppversity post for YOU to enjoy (the rest is ad-free, I guarantee ;-)

The intermittently fasted physique (re-)engineering nutrition 101 ;-)

If I had to name one question I get most, by clients, but even more so, by people who see me train in the gym or read my blogs, here at the SuppVersity is how I am timing my carbohydrates and meals. Especially with the folks who follow an IF style protocol, questions such as ...

• “When should I eat my carbs?”
• “How should I distribute my carbs?”
• “What should my carb intake be on training days & rest days?”
• “What about caloric zigzagging”

are things male and female gymrats appear to waste more time thinking about than about their significant others! As funny as that may sound - and to a certain degree it certainly is - there is actually an often overlooked correspondence between finding the ideal partner and the ideal nutrition regimen. Not only is it rarely your first love that you will end up marrying and spending a part if not your whole life with, it is also a matter of personal preference: Luckily, I mean if it wasn't all the guys would be chasing the same girl and all the girls would jump at just one guy ;-)

Image 2: When you are approaching this degree of leanness, you can still start worrying about all the intricacies of dieting many people waste far too much time on, when it would not even matter for them.

With nutrition things are not so much different and yet strangely people tend to lose themselves over details that would be equivalent of the size of your significant others right ear in comparison to her/his left one. What I am hinting here is that you must not lose sight of the big picture and lose yourselves in intricacies like these and their respective nutritional counter-parts before you haven't laid the nutritional foundations: Get rid of processed food, learn to cook, learn the basics about macronutrients and micronutrients how much you need and what your body needs them for and develop a sense for the energetic content of the foods you eat... "What? Calories, but I thought..."

Yeah, I know you thought "A Calorie is Not a Calorie" - that may be true, but only as long as you are referring to the black on white figures you see printed on the labels of the junk you can buy at the supermarket - intermittent fasting or not, at the end of the day, the most important determinant of whether you are or aren't progressing towards your goal is still the difference between the energy you derive from the foods you eat and the energy your body actually expends. 

You may notice that I am not talking about simple "calories vs. calories out" calculations you could do based on calorie tables and the figures your stupid heart rate monitor or treadmill are displaying. I am talking about the BIG PICTURE you always have to keep in mind and which must be set straight and be geared to your goals, i.e. weight loss, muscle or strength gains, etc., before you even start thinking about whether any those  "optimizations" of which I found that they work for me will work for you, as well.

My Twist to the Original Leangains Regimen

For those of you who have been following my Thursday Blogs for the past year or so, it won't be news that follow a 16/8 intermittent fasting protocol (this means 16h of fasting are followed by a 8h feeding window) - this protocol is based on the same fundamental principles as Martin Berkhan’s Leangains regimen. I don’t follow the exact protocol to a “T’’ (you know I am not changing Martin's girlfriend either ;-), but I stay along the guidelines, with added tweaks here and there to what’s suitable and work well for me… So here is what I prefer to do   when I break my fast and do my meal/carb timing during my 8 hour feeding window.

• When do I eat my carbs? On training days, I prefer a protein + fat meal before I train because I feel my body runs better on dietary fats, when I train as oppose to having a big carb meal – so a protein shake + coconut oil (as a sponsored athlete I obviously use Myotropics Physique 2.0 and while I would recommend you give it at least a try, you can certainly use your favorite protein powder - preferably no whey isolate, but something "slower", like milk or a protein blend). The nourishing and long-lasting mix of WM-HDP, milk protein + MCTs from the coconut oil  is more than enough for me to fuel my workouts.
  
  

  

  Image 3: As it turns out the "anabolic window" is more of a barnyard door, than ...read more

  When I am back home from my workout my first real meal of the day is the one, where I place the lion's share of my carbohydrate intake. So, the meals after I train are usually high in protein and moderate to high in carbohydrates, while keeping the fat intake very modest. The reason I use this strategy is to make full use of the repartitioning effect after the workout, when your muscles will suck up more glucose in the presence of relatively moderate insulin levels. Since this "post workout window" (suggested read "Opening the 'Anabolic Barn Door' With the Key of Exercise and Nutrition Science!") also happens to fall in the evening, I don't have to worry about (a) bunking later in the day or (b) overeating and feeling sluggish, I just fill myself up with carbs and relax... when I go to bed later, I am still happy and satiated and ready to get some quality sleep.

• Which carbohydrate sources do I use on workout days? While I am now going to give you a list, the latter is not supposed to be extensive - it's more to give you an idea of the broad range you can pick from without ever having to resort to the "carbage" that's making people fat and sick and has brought all carbs into disrepute.

  

  Figure 1: Recommended (mean) carbohydrate intake in %-age of total calorie consumption ... read more

  • sweet fruits like ripe bananas, pineapples, mangoes, cherries, papayas 
  • starchy carbs like sweet potatoes, organic russets, yams, colored potatoes, butternut squash, rice
  • variety of veggies
  If my macros allow for it and I can sneak it in – ice cream, Hawaiian bread, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheesecake, mochi - but occasionally!
  
  On non-training days I spread my macros pretty evenly across the 6h feeding window, with a lower carb intake on non-workout days and mostly being from veggies and fruits this will allow for optimal insulin levels all-day. Consequently, all my meals are high protein + high fat based; I've always fared very well with this strategy and feel that my body doesn’t need much carbohydrates on days I don’t train and those I do eat mostly come from...
  • a variety of veggies, which I always eat to satiety
  • a couple of slices of tropical fruits such as pineapples, papayas, plantains, kiwi, mango, coconuts, guava…
  In the end, most of my non-training day meals will thus be more or less "Vince Gironda"-ish, such as the food he consumed on his steak & eggs diet, or his Hawaiian diet that consists of a combination of lean meats and tropical fruits.
   
• Caloric ZigzaggingCaloric zigzagging is another one of those advanced techniques I hinted at in the introductory part of this blog, it can facilitate and optimize fat loss, but is neither necessary to make progress nor optimal for everyone.
  
  
  Caloric zigzagging is not a must and not for everyone, either: In my opinion, caloric zigzagging, is not a beginner technique and the benefits are too small to risk getting totally confused . For beginners or people that just get confused with tracking numbers its much easier to just diet down and incorporate re-feed days rather than having to remember “x amount of carbs on this day, and x amount of carbs on that day” … But for individuals like myself… I don’t mind. Plus, with the protocol I follow, where I eat starchier carbs on training days and more fibrous carbs on non-training days; my caloric intake will tend to be lower on rest-days, anyways.
  Rather than just following a regular downward spiral, where you continuously decrease a constant daily calorie intake (independ of whether you work out or not) over a pre-defined, short timespan (4-6 weeks), caloric zigzagging will add an andditional "zigzag" component to the regimen, where you will now vary your calorie (and macronutrient intake according to whether you train or rest on a given day: Basically the idea is you will eat a little bit more, when you train to make use of the priming effect workouts have on the departments (muscle vs. fat) your body is going to store the nutrients, respectively the energy it derives from it in. On non-training days, on the other hand you eat less, and have your body feed of his body fat stores. There is however one thing you must never forget: At the end of the day it’s still about energy in, energy out, and your overall food consumption. Caloric zigzagging is just another one of those little pieces to the BIGGER PICTURE in which, as Dr. Andro would say it,  "weight gain and weight loss are nothing but the two complementary and yet incommensurable sides of the same coin".
  
  So, for example, my training day macros can look something like this; 200g protein/ 150g carbs/ 65g fat – then my rest day macros would look like this: 200g protein/ <100g carbs/ 65g fat. And again, different scenarios or phases in your cut will dictate how you make your macronutrient adjustments. Sometimes I can start off doing caloric zigzagging and by the tail end of my diet; I’m back to the good old proven and effective downward dieting.
   
• How do I incorporate refeeds into my intermittent fasting routine? Re-feed days are usually incorporated into a diet once an individual starts to get leaner, calories are decreased, and metabolism starts to level out. In my experience, I did not have to incorporate re-feeds into my diet for the first 3 months. I had a cheat day, when Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years came around but those were the only cheat days I incorporated into my diet for the first 3 months from October – January. The rest of the days out of those 3 months, I did just fine.
  
  I didn’t start incorporating re-feed days until around maybe mid-January, when I was really starting to dip into the single digit body fat % range. I would then still follow my 16/8 protocol and break fast on Sunday as I would any other day, but the leaner I got, the bigger and more important my Sunday refeeds became - to the point, where I was starting my re-feeds and breaking fast @ 10am and ending my them at 11pm. Lol.
  
  During my first contest prep of this year my re-feed days were pretty ridiculous. I never kept track of what I ate on my Sunday re-feeds. The only guidelines I followed were keep protein moderate, fats low, and carbs HIGH! And I ate literally the whole day. I never kept track but one Sunday I was curious to see how much carbs I was taking in, and I must have had almost ate 800+ grams of carbs that whole Sunday! And just in case you’re curious about this type of re-feed type style, it’s called skiploading (google it, and you’ll get the concept of it)! Or you can just double back to one of my re-feed blogs from a couple months back.
  
  

  

  Image 4: It's not just the nasty subcutaneous water you can avoid, when you don't abuse your refeed days to binge like a maniac!

  During my 2nd contest prep of this year my re-feeds were a bit more controlled this time around. I learned from a couple of Dr. Andro’s articles (esp. "Carbohydrate Shortage in Paleo Land") that the average indidual would not need more than max. 400g of carbs  to refill his glycogen stores (needless to say that those must not all come from dextrose or be eaten in one meal).
  
  Moreover, our glycogen stores don’t get as depleted as we think. It’s damn near impossible to fully deplete your glycogen stores during a single workout. Even after an intense session of high volume training, I don’t think even 50% of our glycogen stores get depleted – So long story short, I realized that I didn’t need to go overkill on the re-feeds 400g is more than enough to fill glycogen stores.
  
  I stuck to this principle and it has not just always worked well for me, but also helped me to avoid the nasty bloating, the gastrointestinal distress and the all the other dreaded short term and often overlooked negative longterm health effects of stuffing yourself with carbage fooling yourself to believe you were "refuelling your glycogen stores".

I hope this helps you answer some of your questions, provide orientation and give you inspiration to design and tweak your own (intermittent fasting) diet routine. And while this is all I have for you today, SuppVersity readers you are of course welcome to post additional questions and comments in the comment area below! So, tune in next week for another session with yours truly ;-)