Normally, when I want to shed a few pounds quickly (in this case, to make weight in the 90kg class for a PL meet in November) I just grit my teeth and drop carbs for a couple of weeks. With my normal cardio routine (walking the dogs for 8+ hours per week + Touch Football) this works well.
But after an 8 hour hike gone wrong a couple of weeks back I have not been able to walk the dogs. Thank god I can still lift weights. The problem only flares up when I put my ankle into dorsiflexion. Physio thinks it will settle down quickly.
The only thing is, 2 weeks of diet hell and I’ve only shed 1kg, but my belt was feeling loose so I measured and I’ve lost about 1/2" from my waist. In the past I would have lost a solid 3kg by now (assuming a carb-up and putting back on water weight).
Normally, not a bad problem to have at all - more guns, less love handles. There’s no way I’m going to make weight, much less fit into a size 34 Z-suit, not at this rate.
The only real difference is that I’m not doing any cardio at all. If there wasn’t the risk of my dogs eating me in my sleep if I don’t exercise them, I wouldn’t mind trying this experiment over a longer period.
My squat has been bounding, but I think that’s mostly because I’ve found my groove after correcting some weaknesses. But I got a nice surprise when I benched on Monday, so maybe I have put on some decent muscle mass. I should have had skin-folds done before I started.