This is actually not my first post.  I got a little over-excited when I created my account and immediately posted some questions about Shockwave only to realize there was a new members section lol.  My apologies.  I guess this is my official introductory postMy name is Peter, I live in Southern California, and I am completely and helplessly new to the world of weight-lifting.  I've been an avid runner and snowboarder since I was young so luckily overall health and fitness(more like staying light) have never been much of a problem for me.  I'm about 5'6 and before I joined the gym 4 months ago, I was 124 lbs.  As I said, totally new to weight-lifting lol.  I decided to change how I ate and how I exercised because frankly I just got tired of looking like a twig and being called "haggard" all the time.  When I first started lifting, I was told by friends, relatives, trainers at the gym, and the media that I had to eat loads and loads of lean protein spread out over 5, 6, even 7 small meals per day.  For a guy who for some reason never really ate before lunchtime and preferred to consume the majority of his calories at night in 1 sitting, this prospect was not too thrilling.  My diet had always been very simple: fruits, vegetables, fish, and whole grains.  I ate next to no "junk food" and had fast food literally maybe twice a year.  I will admit that my avoidance of all sweets and refined carbs was not easy; I am a big-time sweettooth but was always led to believe that refined carbs were the devil so I conditioned myself to stay away from them.  So although I never ate much to begin with, whatever I did eat was split into 2 simple meals a day.  The typical bodybuilding diet everyone told me to follow not only forced me to eat 6 snacks per day, but I still couldn't get to enjoy any refined carbs!  The diet was tedious, unenjoyable, unsatisfying, and left me constantly feeling bloated; something I was not used to.  The last straw was when I noticed abdominal fat beginning to build up after only a couple of weeks.  Now I may not exactly have had what you would call a beach body, but being able to see my abs was one of the few things I was actually proud of, and I was not about to give it up for the sake of getting bigger and stronger.Thus began my long, lonely, and frustrating odyssey of obsessive searching for unconventional diets that allowed you to build muscle without gaining fat; a journey which eventually led me here.  You may even find this funny, or it might even sound familiar to some of you, but I first tried a ketogenic diet and went 3 full weeks in a state of ketosis without ever eating more than 20 grams of net carbs per day.  My mom even laughed at me when I started buying zero net carb specialty breads from diabetic-friendly markets.  Imagine a scrawny 125 lb guy like myself on the Atkins diet!  In fairness, I did notice the quick disapperance of that newly creeping abdominal fat which I mentioned earlier.  I also didn't experience any lethargy or lack of energy from the lack of carbohydrates(at least up to that point).  I thought I had found the holy grail of lean muscle building.  I figured if I could eat when and how I wanted to and simply eat more protein instead of fruits and grains, then I was all for it.  I eventually quit Atkins because although I was cut up and defined, my strength, size, and weight were getting nowhere.  I was spinning my wheels and defeating the purpose of lifting weights in the first place.  I also began reading and hearing about the possible negative side-effects(particularly on the liver and kidney) of sustained long term ketosis and carbohydrate deprivation.  Again, I was not about to put my health at risk, so I decided to turn the page on ketogenic diets.The next material I came across was The Warrior Diet(overeating/undereating).  As you can imagine, I was initially skeptical when I read Mr. Hofmekler's principles.  It went against everything we're told by the mainstream world of  of nutrition and bodybuilding.  I was open-minded enough though to give his ideas a chance and actually judge their results for myself.  I work as a nurse for a living, and his claims regarding our circadian rhythm and fight or flight response reminded me of some of the things we covered back in school and seemed to make sense.  I also realized I had already been following that eating pattern to a certain degree my whole life anyway.  After doing some more searching, I found the rest of the seemingly underground world of intermittent fasting such as Leangains, The IF Life, The Renegade Diet, Eat-Stop-Eat, and Fast 5.  I never realized it had such a thriving community, and it was actually quite refreshing to find such collection of successful and accomplished individuals who did not buy into mainstream principles.  The best part about intermittent fasting was being able to eat carbs again!  I loaded up on berries, oranges, and bananas at the grocery store.  It was so refreshing to be able to eat fruits once more.  I would skip breakfast like usual, eat a measly lunch of an orange or a banana with some raspberries or blackberries, have coffee before my evening workout, then feast to my heart's content.  Eventually, the problem I encountered after several days was not necessarily hunger; it was lethargy and the feeling of sleepiness following my fruits at noon.  That was something I never had to deal with during my 3 weeks on a strict ketogenic diet.  I wondered if this had less to do with undereating and fasting as it had to do with the fact that the food I was eating during the day was basically pure sugar, albeit in the form of fruits.  Knowing what I know now, I realize I would have probably turned fat had I continued down that road  😛  I wanted to find a more detailed guide on macronutrient breakdown during different times of the day.That's what finally led me to Mr. Kiefer's research and Dangerously Hardcore.  When I first looked up carb backloading and read that the magic is not in fasting but rather in carb-fasting during the day, it was like a light switch went off in my head.  I immediately decided to give it a shot.  2 months later here I am stronger, bigger, more energetic, and as lean and healthy as ever.  The best thing about carb-backloading personally which I think tends to get overlooked is that I'm happier living this way.  It's effortless and has turned eating from a necessity to one of life's best pleasures.  I'm just thankful I found carb-backloading early enough that I only had to deal with weeks and not years of frustration.Over the course of the last 2 months, I've checked out DH on a regular basis and have been greatly encouraged by your stories, experiences, suggestions, and ideas.  Believe me, nothing can be more discouraging than people seeing the way I eat at night and lecturing me with the same old crap they hear from Dr. Oz, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and trainers from The Biggest Loser.  I'm joining DH because it would be nice to be able to talk with people I can relate with and not feel like a lone fish swimming against the tide.Right now I'm 131.8 lbs(up from 124 originally) and my bodyfat remains exactly what it was the day I joined the gym(around 8%)  ;D.  I'm not sure how much those caliper readings and their corresponding charts can be trusted, but the point is I use the same tool every time.  My goal, if at all possible, is to someday reach 155 lbs with the same body fat % I have now.  I know I'm probably the smallest dude here haha, so I humbly join your community of S.H.I.T.'s, Supermen, and Incredible Hulks  :D.  Hopefully I get to know and talk with a few of you over time.  Thanks!