i wish to share my personal diet results with the hope that they might help someone.
Over the last year i have performed controlled diet experiments on myself (as controlled as is possible with a busy life..but nevertheless fairly well adhered to plans).
I will emphasise that i am not very well muscled...although thats my aim. i have not realised my muscular gain potential or anything. I am the typical HIT convert who gained much strength but little mass! Although HIT is a very logical methodoligy and has GREAT merits, it took me 4 years to figure that HIT was not making ME grow!
Without posting too many details here are the important observations:
1)For the last 4 years i ate 2500kcals daily- approx 65%carbs, 20% protein and 15% fat. this provided me with a stable weight of 75kgs and a couple of modest love handles (nothing too bad)
2)This is my 5th year of training. At the beginning of the year i upped my calories to around 3000kcals daily- achieved by adding 3 extra large bowls of rice per day. This was in an attempt to grow. I maintained my regular HIT workout. I wouldnt say i gained anymore than fat as commented by many people. Weight went up to 80kgs in a month, with no significant progression in the gym.
3)Since i wasnt exactly gaining any muscle i figured i might aswell cut so that i might at least look better. so i cut out all carbs except some fruit and veg. I ate approx 1g/lb BW protein and MASSES of veg every day. Within a week i lost 3kgs (probably mostly water). After a month people started commenting on how i had really lost weight very suddenly. After 2months i was 70kgs and the love handles I carried since birth (it felt like that) had almost totally gone. I was kinda happy except that i realised that i really didnt have too much muscle
I was just a thin looking guy who knows he can squat/deadlift a house but doesnt look like he can
By the way, eating like this did not help HIT perfromance but did amke me 'feel' extremely healthy.
4)So the time came just a few months ago to try HST (after much sceptisism and doubt- I have many people at this forum to thank for some very useful information.) I performed what i thought at the time was an HST cycle on my carb restricted diet. I actually think i gained a very small amount of muscle mass but the cycle was actually not really HST.
5)So i am now on my first real HST cycle (i finally lost all my inhibitions and plunged head first into HST). I am following the same carb restricted diet but have added 100g carbs equally spaced throughout the day. Before and after workouts i down a whey shake. And the post workout meal involves 50g carbs (so on workout days i consume about 150g carbs and 50 extra grams of protein over my 1g/lb intake). 15s have just been completed. they felt VERY good! Generally i feel like i have more energy througout my busy days. I have gained a very small amount of fat at those bloody love handles again, but i figure i can live with it so that i can give HST a good shot.
My main observation over the year was that the difference between gaining body fat and loosing body fat did not amount to many calories and personal experimantation is viatal if you really want to find out what makes you tick.
Hopefully with this knowledge, i can go forth and grow!
Wish me luck.
Any adivce would be warmly recieved.
Over the last year i have performed controlled diet experiments on myself (as controlled as is possible with a busy life..but nevertheless fairly well adhered to plans).
I will emphasise that i am not very well muscled...although thats my aim. i have not realised my muscular gain potential or anything. I am the typical HIT convert who gained much strength but little mass! Although HIT is a very logical methodoligy and has GREAT merits, it took me 4 years to figure that HIT was not making ME grow!
Without posting too many details here are the important observations:
1)For the last 4 years i ate 2500kcals daily- approx 65%carbs, 20% protein and 15% fat. this provided me with a stable weight of 75kgs and a couple of modest love handles (nothing too bad)
2)This is my 5th year of training. At the beginning of the year i upped my calories to around 3000kcals daily- achieved by adding 3 extra large bowls of rice per day. This was in an attempt to grow. I maintained my regular HIT workout. I wouldnt say i gained anymore than fat as commented by many people. Weight went up to 80kgs in a month, with no significant progression in the gym.
3)Since i wasnt exactly gaining any muscle i figured i might aswell cut so that i might at least look better. so i cut out all carbs except some fruit and veg. I ate approx 1g/lb BW protein and MASSES of veg every day. Within a week i lost 3kgs (probably mostly water). After a month people started commenting on how i had really lost weight very suddenly. After 2months i was 70kgs and the love handles I carried since birth (it felt like that) had almost totally gone. I was kinda happy except that i realised that i really didnt have too much muscle
By the way, eating like this did not help HIT perfromance but did amke me 'feel' extremely healthy.
4)So the time came just a few months ago to try HST (after much sceptisism and doubt- I have many people at this forum to thank for some very useful information.) I performed what i thought at the time was an HST cycle on my carb restricted diet. I actually think i gained a very small amount of muscle mass but the cycle was actually not really HST.
5)So i am now on my first real HST cycle (i finally lost all my inhibitions and plunged head first into HST). I am following the same carb restricted diet but have added 100g carbs equally spaced throughout the day. Before and after workouts i down a whey shake. And the post workout meal involves 50g carbs (so on workout days i consume about 150g carbs and 50 extra grams of protein over my 1g/lb intake). 15s have just been completed. they felt VERY good! Generally i feel like i have more energy througout my busy days. I have gained a very small amount of fat at those bloody love handles again, but i figure i can live with it so that i can give HST a good shot.
My main observation over the year was that the difference between gaining body fat and loosing body fat did not amount to many calories and personal experimantation is viatal if you really want to find out what makes you tick.
Hopefully with this knowledge, i can go forth and grow!
Wish me luck.
Any adivce would be warmly recieved.
