HELP- CBL OR CARB NITE- 14KG WEIGHT GAIN IN A MONTH!!!

[shaun j culleton]

Ok- this is my first time writing on a forum. Which I hope shows my need to get this right.

I’ve been resistance training for 10 years and worked in the fitness industry for 10 years.
I have always been i guess reasonably lean- probably sitting at about 12-14% body fat. Never super lean- i have had abs but never a rippling 6 pack.

And then……

My parents came to visit from ireland…

We drank- a lot. An awful lot of cider and in the space of a month.. I put on 14kg of fat. Pure fat. I guess about 900g’s of sugar will do that…. per day.
Now i must just add that I have never had to “watch” my weight before. So this has brought about some new thinking towards diet and training- hence- kiefer sets in.

My problem is- I probably have another 7 kilos to lose to be back to my normal weight (i have lost about 7kgs on carb nite in about 4 weeks)

This is how it looks right now-

Wake 5am.
Train at 7am fasted (caffeine)
PWO shake
Eat

And then continuous fat/protein meals for the rest of the day.
The problem is by fri/sat (carb nite is on a sat) i have nothing left to lift!
My heart tells me I want to CBL but i am still carrying an excess 7kgt of i would say pure body fat. From my reading i understand you shouldnt really go on CBL unless you’re around 10% bf.

Im considering putting in another carb feed on wednesday.. Or do you think when training heavy 6 days a week you can afford to cbl?

Any help would be much appreciated!!

[Steve Cauffiel]

Carb Nite and heavy lifting are a no-no; if you’re going to do CN then cut your lifting volume by half or a little more. If you’re going to lift heavy then go CBL but your fat loss will be slower. You could try a milder Carb Nite with a refeed halfway through the week if you want to go slightly heavier lifting, but you’re going to have to play it by ear and see how you feel and how your weight goes. Report back with what you do and how it works out!

Steve

[Makoto Tomizawa]

I doubt you put on 14 kg of pure fat, though it would be quite impressive to say the least.

Anyway, simply put, CBL is nothing special in regards to fat loss. The important part is being in a state of energy deficit, and the whole “backloading” can make it easier for some people to adhere to the diet. If eating carbs helps you perform better and push harder, you can give it a shot. The 10% deal is that leaner individuals can get better nutrient partitioning, thus able to use the protocol to their advantage to gain mass.

At the same time, if you’re seeing results on Carb Nite, you could just stick it out until you reach your goal. If you can’t sustain your intensity throughout the week, then tapering down your workouts is an option as well. If you really want to lean down first, and are okay with just sparing your muscle, I would go this route. Even tapering down on your sessions will not make you lose the muscle you already have (which I’m assuming you have a good amount, given your background).

Training Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vuwHRdBaPVILxxLhXly_N1Ys66Hcwk4j-bM7nvKSLrI/edit?usp=sharing

[Richard Schmitt]

You can lift heavy with CNS, lifting with a lot of volume is probably not the best thing to do.

[shaun j culleton]

Thanks everyone I really appreciate you getting back to me.

As hard as it is to believe I would actually say it was 14 kilos of fat and water. I didn’t train once in that time…. I kinda thought I was bulking at the time.. Until it came time to go back to work and I tried on my trousers that would no longer go up past my knees… Ouch is all I can say..

Anyway- your info really helped me come to the realisation- I need to decide what I Wana do. My goal is to lose the excess body fat. I need to forget about muscle gain. I don’t think its gona happen on cns and I’m probably being detrimental to my actual goal- fat loss. I need to make muscle maintenance my goal and fat loss my priority.

So in terms of training volume- are there any programmes you might recommend? I’m thinking-

Carb nite sat.
Hiit sunday to knock out glycogen
Chest/Tri Monday
Hiit Tuesday
Legs Wednesday
Back/bi thursday
Shoulders/hiit Friday
Sat carb nite/rest

I would normally do 4 exercises per body part. Do you recommend cutting that to 2? And in terms of weight- stay heavy for 5 reps as I am?

Thanks!

[Melvin McLain]

I don’t know your schedule, but IMO, lifting the day after carb night makes better use of glycogen than HIIT.

Compound exercises work well, as they allow heavy but brief workouts (CNS doesn’t support long, heavy workloads very well). Lifting isn’t even a requirement for CNS, but a couple of brief workouts per week can prevent muscle loss.

For example, you could do bent-over rows/bench presses one workout, and squats/ham curls the next. These 4 exercises work most of the body pretty well.

As usual, just my two cents. 🙂

[Makoto Tomizawa]

While an increase in mass might be difficult (not impossible, but everything has to be on point), an increase in strength is very achievable on Carb Nite. Check this article out: http://athlete.io/2113/
Increasing strength while leaning down should be very helpful for adding mass later on, since you’ll be able to use heavier weights and train harder.

In regards to lifting, that’s really up to you, although like others have said, it probably wouldn’t be wise to go crazy on volume. It might be beneficial (in terms of overall strength gain) to do 3-4 sessions of full body or upper/lower split type, focusing on heavy weights. Even on when in a massing phase, I’ve heard that unless you’re really advanced or using something like GVT, body part split is not the best way to go. There was a study done that showed 3 full body sessions lead to more increase in mass than body part split, despite the overall volume was the same. I’m not an expert in this field, so I’m just sharing what I’ve found and not claiming I’m right. But it seems to make sense to me.

Also, if you’re going to hit the weights that frequently, 1 HIIT is more than plenty. Placing it the day after your Carb Nite is probably a good idea, since you’ll have full (or close to it) glycogen stores, and able to reap the benefits of HIIT without risking muscle loss (if done later in the week when your glycogen stores are fairly depleted).

So big movements with heavy weight, and watching your volume should be a good starting point. The whole “not being able to last the week due to low carb” is also highly individual. I went over 3 weeks ultra low carb, and my gym performance only got better. There are other serious lifters who do extremely well on ketogenic diets. Hope you find what works!

Training Log: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vuwHRdBaPVILxxLhXly_N1Ys66Hcwk4j-bM7nvKSLrI/edit?usp=sharing

[shaun j culleton]

Thanks guys.

I have got stronger for sure.

I think a lot of that comes down to the fact I have motivation back to train.. Not rocking up every day just throwing weights around just cos….

Anyway I will keep you updated.

Weighed in this morning- been doing CNS 5 weeks today.

Pre getting tubby- 93kg

Start weight when tubby 107.5kg
Current weight 99.9kg

Feels good to get under the hundred!

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