Just my thoughts, I’m sure others may have additional advice, you could probably toss out the 200 push up and 200 bodyweight squat finisher. Assuming you’re doing them to get the heart rate up and such, but I think it’s overkill. You’re not really giving yourself much recovery time considering how you’re ending the workouts. You already have a good exercise selection and set/rep scheme. I’m sure that’s why you feel so wiped. Especially with that training and those finishers, you’re certainly not eating enough to adequately recover on the two low days. Just my thoughts, I’d recommend keep the NEPA and keeping all of the training except the finishers. You’ll have more productive training sessions, and better recovery.
Are you sure your macros are right? I know you said you eat at the cafeteria and it’s challenging to do so, so I’m assuming they’re a little off. If you’re getting 2500 calories, with the fat and protein numbers you put up, that means you’re getting about 325g carbs on average, which I would think wouldn’t leave you feeling so drained.
It can be tough to eat quality food from the cafeteria, but there are some options. Some protein with a cup of organic oats is a cheap, easy way to get good quality carbs, you don’t even have to cook the oats. Do rolled oats and not steel cut if you’re not cooking them. You can toss 'em in a drink as is, or leave them soaking in your protein shake overnight and eat next day.
Quality carbs are easy most of the time. Fats and protein are the deal breakers. I’ve been trying to get by on whole foods for the most part. I have concluded that I will just have to have a shake to get my protein when they serve up greasy food. I’m also considering being more aggressive with the fat loss which would require a different diet.
I’ve been on the 5/2 to lean up a bit after December excesses and I’ve found it works well. What’s more, I train normally on those days and haven’t felt any detrimental effects. I aim to keep calories at maintenance level the rest of the time, with the exception of the weekend where I will have a higher calorie cheat meal or two.
Thanks for your answers Rob. I decided to give the 5/2 diet another try. I think last time I did this diet my calories were too low on the non-fasting days, which caused my lifting progress to stall. Also, the user MarkKO wrote in another thread that he was able to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time using this diet.
So my idea is as follows, assuming that I keep training 4 days per week and that my basal metabolic rate is 1770 calories:
Fasting on two off days a weak; i.e. 2 meals with a total of 800 to 1000 cals. Pulsing with some BCAAs if needed.
That leaves one normal off day, on which I will eat at maintenance, but low carb (below 100g). According to MyFitnessPal, maintenance is about 2140 cals for me, considering that I spend most of my day sitting.
On my training days, I would add 500 to 600 calories to my maintenance, based on the calculation method proposed here: Massive Eating - Part 1
That would make 2700 for my training days, with a carb intake of around 300g.
However, if I calculate my maintenance for off days according to the method also described by Berardi in that article, my maintenance calories for off days would already be 2655 (resting metabolic rate x 1.5 for light activity level). That’s way more than the 2140 proposed by MyFitnessPal. On training days that would make 3200 calories.
So, my question is: Which maintenance level should I follow - 2140 or 2655?
And for my training days, would you suggest adding an extra 200 to 300 calories to achieve some muscle gain (in addition to the 500 to 600 I’m adding in accordance with the method described by Berardi)?
Ideas and recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!
Awesome glad you found the info helpful, cool that you’ve had good success with the 5/2 plan! Just a question, if you’re using the 5/2 plan to lean out, why would you have a cheat meal?
Very welcome man! Regarding the maintenance calories, I’d recommend going with 2140.
Just my thoughts, 500-600 extra on training days may be a bit much IF you’re trying to get leaner. Then you consider adding on ANOTHER 200-300, now you’re talking about almost a 1,000 calorie surplus on a training day, which in my opinion is too much. It’s not about adding a ton of calories on days you train, it’s about adding a slight caloric surplus consistently, plus having the best peri-workout nutrition, like Plazma. Again, we need to prioritize. Definitely want a slight surplus, but maybe 300-400 extra, being all from workout nutrition, like Plazma. You really don’t need to add that much of a caloric surplus to gain LBM. 2 scoops of Plazma will do wonders for your training and will allow you to use all those extra calories efficiently. You could still increase carbs on training days though. So if you low carb it on your maintenance day, then have higher carbs plus extra workout nutrition on training days, you’d be set.
With your two low calorie days, make sure they’re split up and nonconsecutive.
I’ve found going for 100% dietary compliance for 7 days can be unrealistic when you have a family life. Don’t get me wrong, if it’s possible to go 10-14 days I may do so. However, when you keep kcals around maintenance for 4 days, and circa 800 kcals for 2 days then, then factor in the energy burned by training 4-6 days a week, you can afford to let your hair down once a week and still enjoy body comp gains.
JamesBrawn, you’re right, and while I don’t have a family which might ruin my diet, I have dinners with clients (alcohol always involved), banquets, etc. in connection with my job. I always try to mitigate the damage, i.e. by fasting the hours before the big meal and approximately tracking how much I might have been eating.
Another small news here. I’ve always been measuring my body fat percentage using an Omron KaradaScan (bioelectric impedance device). I told a colleague about my body fat percentage and he said there was no way I could be 15% or even above, so I finally bought a caliper and made a few measurements according to instructions on the internet. The results were between 9 and 12% (several 3 fold methods applied). I’m going to repeat the measurements when someone can lend me a hand for the 7 fold method, and also try to take some pics so you guys can take a look (I don’t have a big mirror at home).
Now, of course the percentages are mere numbers and I do want to get a little bit more cut and defined. Therefore I will stay with my current diet plan as described above for a few weeks. However, assuming that the numbers provided by the caliper are right, my prioritization may soon shift more towards “building muscle mass without adding fat”.
In that case, how would you recommend altering my diet? Any recommendation for a good lean bulking nutrition plan? Staying with 5/2 but increasing calories on my non-fasting days?