Howdy folks,
Yesterday, I had the most fantastic “cheat” meal
I put “cheat” in quotes because, technically, I’m “supposed” to carb up once a week…but this was clearly excessive, haha.
I won’t go into full details, because this is already going to be a lengthy post, but all 3 of those plates and 2 bowls were for me (featuring 5-6 slices of pizza, a plate of nachos, a plate of breakfast food/pasta, a cinnamon roll and a bowl of chili), and that was the FIRST trip. My second one was dessert, which had 3 slices of dessert pizza and a powdered sugar coated brownie.
This morning, I woke up absolutely jacked and ready to crush a workout.
I leveraged a LOT of resources from here to do all that, and I wanted to write a guide to help those that may be looking to do the same sometime.
MINDSET
So first off, before engaging in a cheat meal, this is a great article to read
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I ALWAYS have this in the back of my mind before engaging in some sort of hardcore nutritional debauchery. Some great takeaways.
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“So the gross overfeed led to zero net fat accrual.”
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“They found that regardless of how many calories subjects ate in a single day, whether it was 2,000 calories beyond maintenance or 5,000, it only resulted in a fat gain of about 0.2 pounds.”. .2lbs of fat gain is TOALLY worth the benefits of eating like this. Socially, physically, etc: I was recharged.
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“A small amount of carbs is turned into fat via DNL, but much of the rest of the ingested carbs are stored as glycogen in the liver and muscles”
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“The amount of “soggy” glycogen stored varies enormously from one individual to another and may be particularly large in weightlifters, athletes, or muscular people in general, especially if they’ve worked out that day (thus depleting glycogen to a certain degree).”
Those final two points are huge, and play into the next bit.
THE PLAN
Being in a carb depleted state prior to this meal was huge. I wanted my body to soak up every single gram of carbohydrate possible. To accomplish this, I’ve had the Velocity Diet as my baseline diet (and, if you’re REALLY curious, here is my detailed write-up of the process), and this day in particular leaned into that. I had a Metabolic Drive shake for breakfast that morning with some egg whites. Additionally, right before the meal, I slammed a 2.5 scoop Metabolic Drive shake (like, literally, parking lot of the buffet, pound the shake, show up and ready to rock). This plays into something Jim Wendler wrote about here
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“As for diet, I knew I had to cut back on my calories so I developed a very simple eating plan. Ready? I basically did the opposite of my high school weight gain system; so instead of drinking a weight gain shake after each meal, I drank a protein drink (2 scoops of whey protein in water) before I ate a meal.”
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But along with that, I also knew that this was going to be pretty sparse on quality protein, so I wanted to do my best to try to improve the meal quality. I don’t believe there’s any real magic in macro ratios, but I DO believe that there’s something to be said about a meal being more “valuable” when it has a good amount of quality protein in it, even IF it comes along with a bunch of garbage carbs and fats. Basically: if we KNOW we’re gonna have garbage, we might as well put some good with it. This also provided a “nutritional insurance policy”: I walked in knowing that my protein needs were covered, so I could just enjoy.
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Talking more to that above insurance policy, first thing that morning, before my Metabolic Drive, I had 2 scoops of Superfood, so I knew my micros were covered and I wouldn’t have to try to eat 3lbs of beets at the salad bar. I also took Flameout, so I had my healthy fats covered, so no trying to find fish. And then finally, the secret weapon of Indigo-3G 30 minutes before the meal, alongside some Apple Cider Vinegar . I wanted to be as insulin sensitive as possible and ensure my body was going to soak up every gram of carbs as glycogen, rather than fat. And I had my Spoke Hardcaore Energy for all the fat burning qualities that come with caffeine.
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Earlier in the day, I did this workout
- Dragged a sled, did a humane burpee ala Dan John (here he calls it “The Coyote”) for 20 minutes. This helped burn up every last bit of glycogen that I had before I rolled up to the buffet. I was primed.
POST MEAL
I fasted for the rest of the day. This wasn’t to be a martyr: I legit was not hungry, because I ate enough. This is a pretty valuable lesson in and of itself. I had this meal at noon, it was lunch. Dinnertime rolled around and I fasted (I actually mowed my lawn while wearing a 45lb weight vest, because I had a LOT of energy to burn), dessert rolled around and I fasted. I finally had a Metabolic Drive shake before bed, because I like to have protein before I sleep to help with recovery, and @Chris_Shuggart speaks positively of that here
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“Don’t skip or decrease the pulse thinking you’re “increasing progress.” It won’t do that and may lead to consuming too few calories, which will backfire by slowing your metabolism or causing muscle loss.”
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I woke up this morning with my abs ripping through my skin and the most vascularity I’d ever seen before in my legs after that workout. The systems works.
Hopefully this helps. Happy to discuss more if there are any questions.