Going single digit! My 4 week UD2 madness

[BarelyLiftin]

On March 1st I'm going on a 6 week vacation. A few weeks ago I decided to get really lean until then and for a couple of weeks now I've been following a "standard cut". I've lost a decent amount of weight but it's slowing down. I could just get stricter and slightly lower my caloric intake but I love calculating macros, pushing myself to the limit and overcomplicating things way too much, so today I jumped on Lyle Mc'Donald's Ultimate Diet 2.0.

UD2 is a 7 day-cyclical PSMF (protein sparing modified fast) that gives really high rate of body fat loss with minimal muscle loss if done correctly. I'll eat as low as 1200 kcal a day up to 6000+ depending on the day. My primary goal is to go under 10% BF, preferably to 7-8, my secondary goals are going under 80kgs, which will definitely happen if I reach single digit. I also don't want to lose too much strength. I will try to only stop if I get badly injured or feel like **** for more than a week. I'll try to update as often as I can.

Age: 19
Weight: 81.9 kg (180 lbs)
Estimated BF: 11-13%
Waist: 79cm/31in
Pause bench 1rm: 100kg
Deadlift 1rm: 160kg
Squat 1rm: 135kg (140 PR)
OHP 1rm: 55kg (65 PR)

[BarelyLiftin]

For the first day I actually jumped in directly on the second day of the cycle, because having Wednesday-Thursday as my crazy refeed days fit better with my work schedule. The day has been going well and the only change I've noticed this far is tiredness and lowered sex drive. I've eaten 1300 kcal today and haven't been very hungry. I've eaten:

Food - weight - carbs/fat/protein
Breakfast:
Oats - 36g 20/3/5
Peanut butter - 15g 2/7/4
Milk 60g - 3/2/2

Post workout:
Gainomax lean recovery shake x2 20/2/60

Lunch:
Quark - 500g 16/1/60

Dinner:
Chicken breast - 210g 0/2/48
Broc**** and Brussel sprouts - 300g 15/1/20

Total: 1259 kcal - 76 carbs/19 fat/198 protein


The diet protocol includes workouts and I did my first today, and holy **** it was intense. Full body, ~40 sets, high reps, 30-60 second rest between sets. I was completely nauseous and dead by the end. I'm used to powerlifting style workouts with 4-5 min rest between my 3-10 rep sets. It has been only 8 hrs since the workout and I'm already starting to feel sore.

I have taken before pictures today, but will upload them later as I really need to go to sleep now. I look at the upcoming weeks with a mix of fear, hope and excitement.

[BarelyLiftin]

It's Friday (Saturday on the program) and the carb load is over. I've never eaten so much carbs before in such a short time. I consumed 900 grams of carbohydrates in a 30 hour span and at first I was surprised at how easy it was. But the day after the beginning of the refeed I woke up feeling relatively well, drank a couple liters of milk with 100g raisins and some cheerios, and went to work. On the way to work, I started developing a massive, migraine-like headache. It was really bad but thankfully I had some Ibuprofen so I could get through work. It lasted for maybe six hours, peaking for two. I read up, and apparently headaches are common when carbing up heavily, so keep that in mind if you want to go on a more extreme cyclical diet.

One thing that surprised me is that I hardly gained any weight, and very very little body fat despite eating 6000kcal. Wednesday morning I was 80.9 kgs, and the day after, I was only at 81.4. Just half a kilo up, which will probably come off in two days. I had my power workout today, which was nice. Strength-wise I don't think I've lost anything from last week. Pulled 145kgs for 3/3/2 reps which is fine for being on a cut. I pause benched 90kgs for 3/3 and 95 for 2. I have recently discovered how great the leg press can be. I've always felt like I couldn't 100% kill my quads with a regular low bar squat, as my lower back seem to take over slightly. I'm definitely going to incorporate it more as assistance, as I can focus more on my quads working rather then queing myself.

First week isn't over yet, but this far I'm satisfied. I'm going to try to deplete myself harder nex week, try to incorporate some cardio (can't run now because of extreme winter) and also I'm going to shift one day forward next week. I'll start on Monday instead of Sunday and will have to add "bridge" day, where I'll be eating just below 2kKcal

[BarelyLiftin]

I've done this for two weeks now but it feels like a lot longer. I'm extremely satisfied with the results though. I don't have access to a scale right now, but my weight is probably around 79.8 (-3kg in 2 weeks!). It feels like fat is falling off and it's incredible how I can eat 6kKcal in a day and not gain hardly any weight. I've already hit my goal of sub 80kgs, easily. I'm definitely not more than 10-11% BF now. I've also not lost any strength, which I find ****ing ridiculous, being on 1300 kcal a day. This feels WAY too good to be true. 3 days a week of being slightly tired doesn't feel like enough work to reward fat loss of 1.5kg per week, getting to drown myself in carbs once a week while keeping my gains, but apparently it is. I have a hard time seeing myself using another cutting scheme in the future if things keep going this well.

This week has been decent. Mon-Wed was ok, I cheated a bit by snacking (very little) at work. I also felt like I didn't really push myself hard enough during the depletion workouts but I'll go at it harder again this week. The refeed was nice, I watched LOTR with my gf and ate candy and coke, it feels weird to do that and be on track with the diet, but I won't complain. Yesterday I did a full body power workout and hit my previous PR on bench, 100kg*2. I also pulled 145 for 2*2, which is lower than before, but not terrible. I also did farmer's walks for the first time, with two 48kg dbs (heaviest at the gym), and my abs feel fried today, which was what I was hoping for. I was shocked when I looked at myself in the mirror afterwards. I've never looked this good before, and I'm only halfway through.

After the workout I looked in the mirror and damn the results are really showing. I've never even been close to looking this good before. Veins are starting to show, pecs and delts are now quite striated in even decent lighting. The different heads of the quads are separating nicely and for the first time ever my stubborn fat in the love handles decreases with, instead of growing against the fat loss.

I'm going to try to do cardio this week. I'll do (kinda) high intensity IT on the excercise bike or maybe the concept2 row machine. I'll also prep the refeed to incorporate more low GI carbs instead of eating 800g of sugar. I'll try to update again next week if not earlier, I'll upload before/after pics in two weeks, when I'm done.