I’ve been doing the Carb Back-Loading thing for what? 3 weeks now?

It’s not horrible. It’s tough in some respects, awesome in others.

I think overall it’s pretty awesome because I don’t have to make radical changes to my life and diet, but yet it is still a big change with a lot of required discipline.

It’s great because I don’t feel weak. I don’t feel drained in the gym. I can go in, hit the weights hard. No feelings of tired or just being out of gas. But this took me a little bit to realize that I do need to eat more carbs than I think. Can’t go overboard, but it’s more than the “restricted carb” type diet mentality that pervades every other type of dietary plan out there.

It’s great because I can join in with the family. The other night Wife couldn’t make dinner so I just ordered pizza. I ate with gusto (it was the night before a workout; recall I am on the adjusted CBL program due to morning workouts), and I didn’t care much. I didn’t bloat and overly stuff myself, but I didn’t fear it or think I had to eat just 1 slice… or maybe just scrape off toppings… or maybe let the family eat pizza and I scrounged around to find something else to eat that “fit my diet”. No, this was great. Great to just eat with the family, be part of the whole experience instead of being the “one off”.  It’s also nice on the mind and soul because there’s not this deprivation.

But that said, there is deprivation. There isn’t much breakfast eating any more, tho sometimes on off days I might have a late breakfast with the family. I do need to come up with better lunch options, especially in the veggie department. And man… for me… a guy with a big sweet tooth… it gets hard. Oh sure, I’ll have my ice cream before bed. But sometimes during the day I like to have a Jolly Rancher. Or have a Mexican Coke (i.e. sugar, not HFCS) since I’m fortunate the day job stocks those in the fridge. But alas, no. And that gets to you. When everything is savory. When you can’t just satisfy the sweet tooth. It gets hard. You know better, you push through it, but it still wears on you.

So I’m trying a few things with artificial sweeteners. Like some sucralose; because all the bitterness of the whey and casein, sometimes you just need something to counter the bitter. Or that maybe I’ll have a Coke Zero at work. I found this Crystal Light Pure stuff (with Truvia) which isn’t half-bad. I generally stay away from artificial sweeteners, but right now I’m trying to transition. I know it’s best, long term, for me to just ween myself off. But that’s the thing: ween. Cold turkey is just going to risk failure, and all the CBL changes as it is are tough enough. I have noticed the Coke Zero seems to give me headaches, and I have no idea if the bout of diarrhea I’m presently dealing with is because of these things or something else. I just don’t know. I am not going overboard, but things are there. I do need to do more reading on these. I think the best rule really is to have none of it at all: natural or bust. But if I’m going to, what could I have? It seems pure sucralose can be OK (be mindful, because things like Splenda and even Equal’s version bind to maltodextrin) and also pure Stevia (I just read that Truvia is kinda sorta Stevia but isn’t, and is bad). Well, we’ll see. Overall they aren’t horrible things to have, but they could stall progress amongst other side-effects. So… I just need to learn to ween myself off it all, tho if I’m going to have something, aim for sucralose (only) or Stevia. Thing is, read the ingredients list sometimes for “sugar free” stuff. Almost impossible to escape acesulfame potassium and/or aspartame.

All the caffeine kinda wears on me too. There are days I can tell it’s driving me too much. Since I got the caffeine anhydrous powder/capsules from TrueNutrition, I needed to pare back since those hit faster. I’m trying to take the low-end of the scale in any of the CBL recommendations. So that generally means 200mg at a time. I do find it works nicely, and makes a good pre-workout. All that other pre-workout shit is “meh”. Just take some caffeine and roll on. But keeping my doses down to the minimums, given you take a bunch throughout the day, seems to wear on me better.

Hydrolysates. Holy shit! These are gross. Ever blow up a balloon and get that powder and rubber in your mouth? Imagine that, times 100, then chase it with a burnt tire. That’s what they taste like. Everything I read said they are “bitter”. That’s a lie. This is beyond bitter to fucking gross. 🙂  I tried mixing a couple ripe bananas with it. Even throwing in dextrose. It might reduce the horrible taste, but it’s still there. I believe the recipe calls for 10-15 grams. I go for 10g, seems to help a little bit (vs. 15). Look, I am going to trust Kiefer here about taking these, but I cannot wait until I don’t need to take these any more. Bleah.

Coconut oil? It’s solid at current room temperatures, so I just swallow a spoonful straight up. If I drank coffee I’d probably mix it in. And yes, I’m going to see if I can keep doing CBL without coffee because if the main purpose of this is appetite suppression, I’ll live without coffee. I just am not a coffee person. But taking a spoonful of the coconut oil is kinda weird. Tastes fine, just a glob of it is a funny texture in my mouth.

So results?

Hard to say at this point.

My weight is holding steady around 235#. But I (and Wife) notice that there doesn’t appear to be as much flab around my middle – the muffin-top is shrinking. I’ve also noticed more muscle in my arms and chest and such; evident when I’m crossing my arms, or putting on a shirt. You really can’t go by scale weight. Looking in the mirror tho, at how clothes are fitting, etc.. I think things are slowly getting there. I reckon if this all goes right and well, it may take me 6 months before I’m where I’d like to be, but that’s alright as long as I get there. Plus if it’s 6 months, that’s time for things to become habit and “the way it is” which improves chances of long-term success, instead of a crash diet.

So far, so good.