Carb Cycling vs VLCD.

Diet and Nutrition
1

Which one is right for me?

I’m in need of some diet help. I’m 6ft, currently 230lbs. I had ACL surgery back in september of 2009, and managed to bulk from 180 to 230, probably around 20% bf. I honestly have no idea how many calories I eat a day, I just eat a lot. I know I need to track them, so I just started up a fit day account.

So my question is, Carb cycle vs VLCD. I picked up Shelby’s VLCD handbook, however he recommends LISS cardio. I currently lift 5 days/week, and do cardio EOD, which is either AM sprinting on incline treadmill (empty stomach), or prowler pushing in the evening.

Can I do these types of cardio on VLCD? My goal is to drop to around 200-210, with some visible abs. Not looking to get ‘ripped’ at all, just want to get into better football shape.

Katch formula I found online stated:
Caloric Need:
Estimated Base BMR: 2172 Calories.
Estimated TDEE: 3367 Calories.
Estimated Daily Caloric Need For Weight Loss: 2867 Calories.

Should I aim for that, or a little bit less?

The only thing I have ever kept track of was protein intake, always making sure to get around 300g/day. Any help would be appreciated!

2

You want to be careful with higher intensity cardio when you’re running lower carb diets. High intensity work is fueled primarily by glycogen. THIS is the reason why low carb dieters do lengthy sessions of steady state work, or why people doing fasted early morning cardio go easy as well.

When I employ Interval work in cutting for a contest (usually in the afternoons), I have a couple of Finibars before hand (carbs!) and then bust my ass on 'em.

S

3

Thanks Stu. So I could do low intensity empty stomach cardio for longer duration, then maybe have carbs with breakfast & pwo only. On days where I do prowler work, just treat that as my lifting and have PWO carbs. I plan on doing LISS every morning for 45-60 mins.