My final week 26 measurements on Saturday morning came out to:

*All measurements taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and unflexed muscles

My fiance talked me into another cheat day on Saturday because I had measured at 207 lbs, but I think she would have "encouraged" it had I measured at 300 lbs.  Looking back on the past week, my weight went down, but my bodyfat really didn't after adding cardio daily, so that's rather discouraging. 

With this upcoming week, I'm going to redo my nutrition plan and do 20 minutes of evening HIIT cardio on weight days while doing 40 minutes of MIIT/HIIT on cardio only days first thing in the morning.

My nutrition will be 2500 calories and it'll contain more carbs.  I feel my body flattens out too much while I low carb it and then have a refeed day, so I'm going to try a carb cycle of:

250g > 200g > 100g > Repeat

We'll see how my body responds to this as I was beginning to get worn down with my consistently low carb day to day and not seeing the desired results.  Hopefully upping my calories will fill my muscles out, make me feel better in the weight room, and keep my metabolism elevated.

My weight training split will remain the same with me lifting 4 days a week, most likely Mon, Tue, Thur, and Friday.

My latest nutrition plan: DietWeek27_HigherCarbs.xlsx (25.05 kb)

Since I've been slacking and missed last week's progress report post, I'm going to just put weeks 24 and 25 in one post and break both weeks down. 

After hitting 210 lbs in week 24, I was feeling pretty run down so I decided I was going to up my carbs/calories a bit and cut cardio out except for warmups and cardio only days.  I figured this would help re-energize my body and when I brought cardio back in my body would respond better to it.

During week 25, my carb cycling went like:

150g > 150g > 60g > 60g > Refeed/Cheat > Repeat

As you can see by looking at my final week 25 results, I actually dropped a pound by doing very little cardio while upping my carbs.  I felt better in the weight room and my muscles filled out more as well.  I'm going to reintroduce cardio for week 26, but only 20 minutes/day on weight days and 40 minutes/day on cardio only days.

I'm going to keep my carb cycling schedule the same as well and then see if I should add more cardio and/or cut out more carbs for next week.

My final week 23 measurements on Monday morning came out to:

*All measurements taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and unflexed muscles

Late update this week as I've been busy, but lost one pound from last week and gained one year in age.  The numbers say my bodyfat didn't go down, but I'm not too worried about that as I feel and look leaner.  My bodyweight was about 211 lbs BEFORE my cheat day on Friday, so I'm definitely on track in that sense.

I'm going to be more proactive than reactive this week and drop my carbs to about 60-75g on a typical day (down from 75g - 100g), depending upon if I do weights or just cardio.  I've been having a cheat day every other high carb day as they've really helped speed up my metabolism and fill my body out after depleting it for three days straight with low carbs.

I'm also doing two cardio sessions this week.  20-30 minutes in the a.m. and then another 20-30 minutes in the p.m.  Both sessions are some type of interval training on a treadmill or elliptical.

My final week 22 measurements on Monday morning came out to:

*All measurements taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and unflexed muscles

Not a lot of change from last week so it's time to make a more drastic change.  What will that be?  I'll be adding a 2nd cardio session to my routine.  I've been doing about 20 minutes of HIIT cardio on workout days and then 30-40 minutes on cardio only days.  I will now add a 2nd 20 minute HIIT session on weight days and another 20-30 minute HIIT session on cardio only days.

My diet will remain the same, however I think I'll throw in one 50g carb day before my cheat day on Friday.  The cheat days have really been helping to fill me out, energize me, and give my metabolism a slight boost.

The Supplement

Universal Nutrition Animal PM

Codenamed "Project Z," Universal Nutrition finally put a stamp on a sleep supplement for their Animal line of products (Pak, Cuts, Omega, etc) with Animal PM.  Sleep is one of the most important, yet most overlooked, aspects when it comes to bodybuilding and fitness.  Animal PM combines a popular sleep supplement in ZMA, along with other ingredients to help you get a deep restful sleep which helps to repair muscle and get you refreshed for the next day.

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