The Master Plan...

The Diet

I find that I am more diligent and tend to stay on track more when I have STRUCTURE. So, I customized a very detailed diet and exercise regimen to follow. I plan to began carb cycling as I found that staying very low for an extended period of time no longer works for me as my body may have gotten used to it. After doing extensive research and finding that nothing works for me like watching my carbs (I've gone from Atkins to Weight Watchers to Atkins to HCG to my own version of low carb which is Atkins inspired) I have decided that cycling would be the best way to go. The science behind it is, my body won't have a chance to adapt to the levels of carbs I am ingesting as it will differ every few days.

According to this chart, between 100-150 grams of carbs should be consumed for weight maintenance. Since I am trying to lose and not maintain, my levels will never go above 100g until I reach my goal weight or should I allow myself a "cheat MEAL" (cheat DAYS are counter productive as they are harder to recover from) and even those won't be often.

On my carb DOWN days I will consume between  30-50 grams of carbs 3 days a week and on carb UP days I will consume 65-85 grams of carbs 4 days a week. Since I am incorporating strength training into my workouts (I was doing primarily cardio before) I may bring those levels up to the max (100) to ensure I have the strength. The reason for there being 4 carb up days is because I will be working out 4 days a week and my body will need the nutrients.

This past MONTH (yes, you read right, MONTH) my eating was a complete and utter FAIL so to kick things off I will resort to Atkins induction (20g of carbs or less) for 2 weeks to deplete my body of the glycogen it has stored, to rid my body of water weight and to enter ketosis (fat burning mode). Once these two weeks are up I will began cycling.

I downloaded an app on my phone to help me keep track of my carbohydrate consumption. I used to use a hand written food journal but I got tired of googling foods to find out the amount of carbs and fiber it had lol.

Exercise

I have come to realize that what I was doing wasn't giving me the effects that I wanted. Pure cardio was no longer sufficient the more weight I lost. As my body got smaller and smaller, I realized I needed to do a lot more to get the weight to come off. I incorporated strength training in the form of workout DVD's (Jillian Michaels is my FAVE) as I don't know much about formulating an effective workout routine.

My problem is that once I get home from work, exercising is the LAST thing on my mind and even getting started was a chore.

 I recently discovered bodybuliding.com and stumbled upon a regimen that promised results in a short amount of time and it appeared completely do-able. At first I was gonna do the entire plan (exercise regimen and diet plan) but I decided I was tired of flip-flopping from eating plan to eating plan and I should just stick to what works for ME. My knowledge of strength training isn't that great (yet) so I figured its best I take a fully regimented plan and follow it. The workout is set to 4 days a week, 3 days rest. The workouts were consecutive but because I work full time and I am a part time student, I had to break the days up to fit my schedule and it goes as follows:

Day 1: (Tuesday) Chest/Triceps

Wide Pushup

Dumbbell or Barbell Bench Press

Flat Bench Cable Flyers

Narrow Pushup

Overhead Triceps Dumbbell Extension

Triceps Pushdowns

*3 Sets of 12 reps each exercise

Day 2: (Wednesday) Back/Biceps

Wide Grip Lateral Pull-down

One-Arm Dumbbell Row

Seated Cable Row

Underhand Cable Pull-down

Alternating Dumbbell Curl

One-Arm Dumbbell Curl

Standing Biceps Cable Curl

*3 Sets of 12 reps each exercise

Day 3: (Friday) Legs/Calves

Leg Press

Leg Extensions

Sumo BB Squat

Seated Leg Curl

Standing Calf Raises

Seated Calf Raises

*3 Sets of 12 reps each exercise

Day 4: (Saturday) Shoulders/Abs

Seated Dumbbell Press

Front Delt Raise to a “T” up

Side Lateral Raises

Seated Bent Over Rear Seat Fly

Exercise Ball Crunches

Air Bike

*3 Sets of 12 reps each exercise

I will also be adding 30 minutes of cardio to that regimen, I usually stick to the treadmill or the elliptical so I may do 15 minutes on each. Btw, I added some more ab and butt exercises to the program as those are the areas I want to train the most.

Why I Think It'll Work...

In the past, I deprived myself of so much as I was in a rush to get to my goal weight and be HAPPY. After almost 3 years of living my new lifestyle I realized that this isn't a race, it is a sprint (I think that's how the saying goes lol) but I am no longer in a rush to get THERE, I will just enjoy the ride down. Also, the 4 days where I am allowed a higher amount of carbs will allow me to add variety to my diet and enable me to feel less restricted and deprived. I am only staying low for 3 days and I can do almost anything for 3 short days.

Well, there goes my plan in a nutshell. This blog is partly to serve as a reference to me but more importantly its for those of you who are in need of a plan and don't know where to start. I hope this helps someone as much as I believe it'll help me. If you guys have any questions, don't hesitate to drop a comment :)