It’s hard to believe the June bank holiday weekend has already arrived! But with some great weather behind us and some more to look forward to this weekend, I hope you’re all getting outside to get grounded and soak up some Vitamin D!
I’ve even found myself getting out of the gym and into the sun for a few of my own sessions.
For those of you who read my first post, you’ll know I’ve been experimenting with my macros for the last few weeks. I’ve just finished my 14-day macro cycling through two rounds of:
Tuesday - Thursday: Moderate calories (50% F / 40% P / 10% C)
Saturday & Sunday: High calories (40% F / 40% P / 20% C)
Monday: Low Calories (40% F / 50% P / 10% C)
(This is a pretty drastic cycle and not something I would recommend for everyone.)
My initial goal was to watch the trend and potentially lower my median weight. When I say median weight, I’m talking about the weight that we fluctuate above and below by anywhere from 0-5kgs depending on our metabolism and diet.
We all have daily fluctuations and women experience monthly fluctuations. Daily fluctuations are easy to monitor; weigh yourself in the morning and then again in the evening to see how your body reacts to what you’ve had to drink / eat or how much you’ve exercised that day. These numbers won’t show you overall weight change, if that’s something you’re interested in tracking, then you need weigh yourself at the same time everyday.
Monthly trends require a bit more time and effort and it’s not something I’m a huge fan of, because it means you have to weigh yourself frequently and an overemphasis on numbers / weight can be mentally fatiguing or discouraging.
What trends did I notice?
I felt restricted for the first 7 days, like I really had to be on point with my self-control, but for the second week, I felt like it was a lot easier to stick to the plan.
After the weekends, I would feel a bit inflamed and bloated due to the increase in carbohydrate intake. But then, even though they were tough, I would feel an immediate impact on my leanness once I made it through my low calorie Monday.
When did i eat?
True to my advice for improving sleep quality, I always tried to finish eating 5 hours before bed. Otherwise, I kept my normal eating windows in order to remove an extra variables from the experiment.
There was one day that I ate late for a special occasion and I definitely felt “food hungover” the next day.
How did I feel during and after?
My training, hydration, and sleep were all on point.
The high fat diet is really successful for me because it helps my mental clarity and focus. In part, this is due to the number of concussions I’ve accumulated over the years from contact sports and the high fats / low carbohydrate approach really helps to restrict any unwanted inflammation.
It wasn’t so much a goal as a hypothesis that being a bit more stringent regarding macro intake would decrease my median weight, but when all was said and done, I didn’t notice any significant change from beginning to end. I wasn’t discouraged or overly surprised by these results, since the 14-day trail wasn’t drastically different from my normal eating styles. At the end of the day, I’m happy that my current weight allows me to be healthy and maintain my performance levels.
Where will I go from here?
I love to change it up and so, as I’ve spent the last two weeks focused on my physical response to nutrition, my next goal is to focus on my mental knowledge of nutrition.
My new goal is to study for and take the Certified Sports Nutritionist - International Society of Sports Nutrition exam. This is a prestigious qualification that I’ve always wanted to get, but due to my normal training, coaching, and working life-style, I’ve never been able to set aside enough time to study. However, with more time on my hands then I’ve ever had, I’ve decided that this is the perfect time to achieve my goals and advance my professional development.
Every day I plan to be better and strive to learn something new. If there’s something on your goal list that you’ve been putting off, now is the time to pick it up and give it a go.