A while back, JoeyD20 and I discussed the topic of going on a quick (7-10 day) cycle of DNP as a means of countering the additional body-fat gained while on a regular non-ketogenic bulking diet. Basically, what most people here would consider the opposite of a “clean” diet in terms of the obvious macronutrient breakdown, thus leading to that unpleasant addition of 5-10lb of chub.
Having been on cycle for 9 weeks now, and intending to remain on cycle for an additional while in order to total 13 weeks, I decided to moderately decrease my caloric consumption to the equivalent of maintenance, which in my case is roughly 3,400 calories per day. For the duration of my cycle, however, my daily intake consisted of what would be described as “conservative” by some, meaning about 4,300; only 900 more than for maintenance.
The reasoning behind this is I have never been one to feel well eating such large amounts (hell, 3400 feels like more than enough already) as well as the fact that not because one consumes 2000 excess calories per day while on cycle means they’ll be constantly putting on 4.6lb of muscle per week. Quite the contrary.
I began Day 1 with a moderate 400mg per day, with an equal amount continued for days 2-4. On the 5th day, once I could feel my body temperature considerably higher to the point of discomfort, I cut down my carbohydrate consumption and replaced most of those calories with a 50/50 split of protein/fat. This, as some of you might know, alleviated me from a great deal of pain.
See, carbohydrate-heavy meals while on DNP directly lead to a drastic increase in body-heat while said carbs are being broken down and absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract. Because I knew things would go a bit smoother, I increased my dosage to 600mg for days 5-7 and then dropped back down to 400mg for my last (8th) day.
The results:
Roughly 6lb of fat lost as of a few hours ago, but will realistically be a bit above 7lb seeing as this is literally the end of Day 8. The estimated extra pound is for the duration it will take for the DNP to clear my body.
My AAS intake was roughly 750mg/week during all of this, and it certainly helped in not losing a bit of muscle mass, although a bit of strength was temporarily lost during the 600mg days. I will utilize the remaining weeks of my cycle to tighten up my diet and focus back on training.
I didn’t change things much while on DNP. What might shock some people is that I did not increase my water intake by much more than what I normally consume. I was curious to see what my body would feel like if I didn’t flush it with water, seeing as my first time around with DNP, I was taking in roughly 2 gallons of water per day. All that ever did was make me sweat and urinate like an animal. Surprisingly, taking in a bit less than 1 gallon per day was enough to keep me feeling healthy while not overly bloated due to the water excess.
Yes, I still felt uncomfortably hot in many instances.
Yes, my body fluids turned a yellow color.
Yes, my aerobic capacity has noticeably improved over the last week.
Some might wonder why on Earth I chose to cycle this DNP with roughly 4 weeks of cycle left, to which I answer: Because I can. Sure, there were smarter ways to go about this, but all of those “smarter” paths have been taken already and most people that have used DNP know about them. I wanted to shine light on a different approach to it, and my conclusion is that, so far, all is well!
