taking a break from dieting?

[Esperantistino]

It's been 7 months now that I've been dieting off and on in a low-carb way.
Off is for periods of travel when I couldn't be very strict or as in the past 6 weeks when I was cycling major distances and had to rely on carbs to give me energy.

Actually I've done a 600K trip on May 24-25 (in 38 hrs 30mins) that probably caused my body to produce a wagon load of cortisol and also a significant increase in BF% and weight when I got off the bike..

I decided to have a change of routine and opted for HST which I'm going to implement tomorrow (did 2 days of testing last week, wanted to start today but felt a bit ill with the women's blues).

Anyway... I did notice an incredible appetite when I was trying out the HST routine..

So much so, that the thought of continueing on the low-carb diet wears me out... I still have about 6-8 kg of fat to lose (came down from 38% to 29% and 85 kg to 66-68 kg, started weight lifting in October, highest weight was in April 2002, lowest 2 weeks ago)

so, would it be a good thing to try a bulk or maintenance diet for about a week or 3, just to get a break?

I've been diagnosed with a too high hormone level of testosterone and the precursor androsteendion as well as cortisol.. so it might be cool to put on a bit of muscle mass before the docs decide to put me on test-lowering drugs

What would you do if you were me?

Espi

 

[micmic]

Low carb is not the only way to diet. Changing to low fat for a while and having 2-3 meals per day may help. A good amount of carbs is recommended during the 15s. I can't really say if you should break your diet because I don't know how strict your diet is, what are your average calories per day, whether you have proper refeeds or not etc. If you decide to go for a bulking cycle though, just make sure you don't use it as an excuse to eat uncontrollably.

 

[Esperantistino]

To be more specific, I'm on a TKD-diet = eat carbs during/after workout/bike rides with a once-a-week junk/refeed day.

CKD didn't work for me.. at first I lost weight, but it's not compatible with intensive cardio (did 2 spinning classes/wk).

I really like low-carbing as it saves me from carb cravings, but abhor the religious weighing of foods..

As long as I stick to low-carb eating I should be fine I guess.. when I stray, it's very hard to control myself.

I've been discussing it with a few others and decided to not change things much, just stop calculating/weighing food but keep eating every 3 hrs but eat more consciously.

Espi (OK, tomorrow is the first real HST day&#33