Originally,
the plan was to sell the pair of tickets I have and make a few extra bucks, but
apparently everyone who is interested in attending Coachella on Weekend 2
already has tickets. My girlfriend and I
have never been before and since it is my birthday weekend, why not just
go? So that’s my plan this weekend! I have been on bulk mode and I would like to
look my best despite having gained a bit of fat on my body. My plan is to manipulate my macros to
decrease water retention to appear leaner while keeping calories up at a slight
surplus or at maintenance to keep my metabolism high so when I return from my
weekend, I can continue my bulk as before.
I have been on an extremely high carb bulking diet, so I am eager to see
how my body reacts when switching my energy source to consist of mostly fat
while bringing carbs down. The idea
behind all of this is similarly to that of “peak week,” the final week of
preparation of a bodybuilder before the competition. The idea is to deplete glycogen (stored
energy from carbs), since every gram of glycogen is accompanied by about 2.7g
of water. I will probably drop 2-3 lbs.
of water weight with this method. Most
of this water retention is subcutaneous (under the skin) and that is what appears to be fat. Carbs are turned into glycogen in the body and whatever excess glycogen that isn't stored in the liver and muscles are floating around in the bloodstream. The least amount
of carbs consumed will result in the least amount of glycogen stored in the
body. The least amount of glycogen
stored would mean the least amount of water stored. The result will be a leaner, slimmer
appearance by the thinning of the skin. So
here are my current macros (up to Saturday), since I started this experiment
yesterday, Sunday:
Bulking Macros
(peak calories of ~3600-3700 calories):
-230g P,
500g C, 80-90g F
The
Manipulation Plan (dropping calories just a smidge to ~3400 calories):
-Yesterday
& Today: 230g P, 400g C, 100g F
-Tomorrow
& Wednesday: 230g P, 300g C, 145g F
-Thursday:
230g P, 200g C, 190g F
-Friday:
230g P, 150g C, 210g F
*I will be
training until Friday and taking Saturday & Sunday off.
At
Coachella, I will not be training so I will be dropping calories by ~500 kcals
to ~3000 calories):
-Saturday
& Sunday: 230g P, 150g C, 160g F
I will be
utilizing the MyFitnessPal app to make sure I can keep to my macros. The trick is in the preparation, since
Coachella and other “party” events are far from healthy. I will be bringing a jug of MTS Nutrition
Whey, bananas, and a few gallons of water.
I will need to be quite flexible with my diet since this is a vacation,
so I will probably live off of In & Out burgers (protein style, no salt) to
meet most of my macro numbers since I will be running on mostly protein and fat
(not mad about that!). I anticipate some
of my carbs to come from alcohol. It’s
been awhile since I’ve had more than just a beer or a glass of wine so this
will be interesting. My goal is to look
as lean as possible this weekend as I will be working with what I’ve got—about 15%
bodyfat. If I can combat the water
retention from the high carb intake, I can appear leaner. The alcohol will work as a diuretic to
further release water from my body; but I will need to make sure I drink ample
amounts of water as well so my body does not think it is too dehydrated and go
into survival mode and retain more water and begin bloating.
Then when I
return to the real world by Monday, I will be back on my normal bulking
diet. The influx of carbs will feel like
a carb load (from 150g of carbs to 500g of carbs), and I will feel amazing. I can’t wait!
Weather forecast suggests it will be near 100 degrees in Indio
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