Thursday, April 17, 2008

Carb Up - UGH!

Hope everyone out there in a$$ kicking fitness land is having a great week!! I am having an awesome training week and my eats have also been more consistent and higher calorie (in a good way) than normal.

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I wanted to start focusing more on my diet. So, looking at my fit day log, my macros have been 40% protein, 30% fat and 30% carbs and around 1300 calories per day (check out my public food log if you are interested). Today was a high calorie/high carb day (every 4 days I am gonna carb up) and so for my last meal of the day I ate all of this:
  • 5 oz sweet potato
  • 4 oz banana
  • 3/4 cup oats
  • 1 cup bell pepper
  • 1 TBS butter
And what is FUNNY is that when you are getting ready for this refeed you get really excited but then when you are half way through you are miserable. MISERABLE! You feel pregnant. And it is tough mentally - Noel, you inspired me with this! :)

I took the last few days off from lifting b/c my upper body is smoked from lifting so heavy Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow morning it is shoulders and then tomorrow afternoon/night I am going to hit back and biceps again. Ran tonight with the hubby - my legs are smoked. Running a 5k on Saturday morning so I am off of the running until Sat morning. Just praying some of my carbs last till then! :)

Would love to hear in comments how many of you use a refeed, cheat day or cheat meal as part of your diet and how it works for you!

Have a happy Friday!!
Jess

7 comments:

B said...

I am trying not to use a cheat day or even a meal right now it can lead to a week of bad eating for me.

sometimes when I stay strict after a few days it's easier to resist the good stuff lol

today I was in starbucks and was drooling over the cakes etc

I made sure I just sucked up the smell and ordered a green tea like the good girl I am trying to be :)

Anonymous said...

Is that a carb up meal from Beverly International? It sounds like their carb up meal---yummy.

Krissa

Anonymous said...

Oh, have fun running tomorrow!

Me again--Krissa

Cathy said...

Hey Chick! Interesting combination of carbs! :)

Anyway....I have this to add....when I was on a mission from god to get back in shape after completing my masters degree, I had JL design a nutrition and workout plan for me. So I was on 75gm carbs/day with 45 minutes of fasted, steady state cardio 6 days/week and lifting 4 days a week.
(Very effective btw!)
My cheat meal was always carbs! In the form of delicious brown sugar pancakes with maple butter that a local cafe makes on the weekends...and the effect it had was...my muscles were so pumped that day and the next...you could really visibly see the difference in my shoulders. But I never felt bloated after.
Have fun on the run!

Jessica said...

B - sometimes the cheat meal can throw you into a tail spin - the key for me is to just be prepared the next day. I drool over the sweets every time I am in starbucks - they have to clean the glass after! :) Nice job on the green tea - so good for you.
Krissa - YES!! It is a BI carb up - I love their plans - so clear cut. I try to just stay low carbs and don't necessarily follow their diet 100%. I will let you know how the race goes!
Cathy - thanks for sharing the plan! What did you lose following this plan? What was your target HR during cardio? And how often did you have your cheat meal? :)
It is funny b/c after my first competition and I gorged myself the night after, my shoulders looked HUGE. It was cool. My hubby said I should have done that before the show!
Thanks for all the kind words guys on the race !
Jess

Cathy said...

HI J: In 8 weeks I lost 2 1/2 inches from my waist ( that was my goal as it is the place where I store all of my body fat!)
MY target hr: 145. (Based on my age, yours would be higher as you are younger)
I had 1 cheat meal a week.
And yes, now I know why figure competitors carb up before a show, it really fills the muscles.)

Cathy

Jessica said...

Wow! That is incredible! Nice work! My waist is also where I hold fat. Yuck. And also my butt but mostly my waist. Since I have only done a few shows, I did carb up but not at the right timing and/or amount. I know everybody is different and has to play with the macros and amounts for each show...I guess I gotta just keep on doing shows.

Really, congrats on your accomplishment. You rock! :)