Anyone SPIKE dieting?

[Tinyblu]

...so I was uber excited about the concept of being able to eat whatever I wanted, as much as I wanted for one day a week if I stuck to my diet all week.

I finished reading the book this weekend, and I am on the fence about it... according to the author, I should be eating my BMR caloric intake on training days (Hello... that's only about 1,350 calories a day). He then suggests eating at a 500 calorie deficit on days that I'm not training (which would put me at 850... WAY too low). His disclaimer then says "it's unhealthy to eat below 1,200 calories a day so eat at least that many and burn the rest off (i.e. with cardio... it takes quite a bit of cardio to burn off 350 calories). Finally, he suggests doubling your BMR calories on your "spike" or cheat day, which would put me at 2,700 calories (one good "southern" meal would blow that out of the water).

So... I'm thinking this isn't the way to go for me. The daily caloric numbers seem too low.

My goals are to get back into bikini model shape again (believe it or not, I was once there). Granted, 125 is not heavy, but the body fat makes me look HORRIBLE. I am prone to cellulite and saddlebags, so I know that I am going to need to lift heavy in order to put on the muscle and put everything back where it's supposed to be (about 2-3 inches higher).

Should I go back to more of a "bulking" diet or start by cutting the fat? My maintenance calories come in right around 1,600 according to a calculator on this site. I don't want to be skinny... I want to be ripped. My curves look pretty darn good when they are muscular. Suggestions?

[LHarwood]

...so I was uber excited about the concept of being able to eat whatever I wanted, as much as I wanted for one day a week if I stuck to my diet all week.

I finished reading the book this weekend, and I am on the fence about it... according to the author, I should be eating my BMR caloric intake on training days (Hello... that's only about 1,350 calories a day). He then suggests eating at a 500 calorie deficit on days that I'm not training (which would put me at 850... WAY too low). His disclaimer then says "it's unhealthy to eat below 1,200 calories a day so eat at least that many and burn the rest off (i.e. with cardio... it takes quite a bit of cardio to burn off 350 calories). Finally, he suggests doubling your BMR calories on your "spike" or cheat day, which would put me at 2,700 calories (one good "southern" meal would blow that out of the water).

So... I'm thinking this isn't the way to go for me. The daily caloric numbers seem too low.

My goals are to get back into bikini model shape again (believe it or not, I was once there). Granted, 125 is not heavy, but the body fat makes me look HORRIBLE. I am prone to cellulite and saddlebags, so I know that I am going to need to lift heavy in order to put on the muscle and put everything back where it's supposed to be (about 2-3 inches higher).

Should I go back to more of a "bulking" diet or start by cutting the fat? My maintenance calories come in right around 1,600 according to a calculator on this site. I don't want to be skinny... I want to be ripped. My curves look pretty darn good when they are muscular. Suggestions?

Go on a bulk and build your muscle. ..then go on a cut.Thats just my personal opinion. Also use the sticky on the nutrition section by Emma-Leigh n figure out you BMR and macros.

[SugarFree1]

The wife and I have had good results with carb cycling which gives us one day per week too refeed and eat whatever we want. The wife went from 33% to 14% bf in about 45 months (bodpod tested throughout) and won one of those transformation thingies here on bb in October. My point of view is it's always better to lean out first and then build back up or you could wind up gaining too much fat and raising your BF even higher.