About, Face!

OK, Bulking is over. I don't like the way I feel when my waist is over 34", and I hate the way the extra fat affects my climbing performance, so I think it's time to scrap this cycle and start over.

Results of this cycle
OK. In two months I managed to gain 13 pounds, approximately 5-6 of which were muscle. Much of this cycle was marked by frustration and no gains, though, until the final rest week when I managed to double my gains in one fell swoop. Lesson learned: rest more. Actually DO the half-intensity weeks and weeks off. I will continue to try and improve LBM gain efficiency next time, most likely with IF.

Goals looking forward
First, I want to drop the bodyfat I picked up this cycle ASAP, so I can get back on the growth wagon. I figure losing 10 pounds of bodyfat should put me at about a 32" waist and 10% BF, which seems a good place to start again. Here's the plan on how to do that...

Intermittent Fasting
Approx 4-5 days a week, I will fast from ~8pm until ~noon the next day (target: 16 hours). Never on rest days. I will learn to appreciate black coffee. I will learn to take my vitamins at different times.

HIIT Me Baby, One More Time
To complement the IF, I will try to incorporate 10 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training in a fasted state in the mornings. This should cause my body to activate some body fat for energy and dump it into my bloodstream. After a 10 minute break, I will then spend the next 30 minutes or so in some form of lightly-elevated-heartrate activity to burn that dump. Here's what I'm thinking:

• Gym mornings: 10 minutes on the rower (30 sec sprint, 90 sec cruise) after climbing, followed by a shower and the ride uphill to work.
• At home: Tabata burpees, followed by a brisk walk to work. Heavy on the brisk!

Macrobionic Man
This will be tricky, as there are a lot of goals to cover. While I'm focusing on fat loss, I'll primarily be interested in muscle retention rather than growth. So 160g/protein (1g per lb LBM) daily should do it. If I like how IF goes and decide to try and GAIN weight with it, this will go up to 210+g/day, and therefore become even trickier. I would like to limit my carbohydrates to below Mark's Daily Apple's "magic number" of 150g/day. 100 would be better. Not only that, but I want to have the bulk of those carbs post-workout. This means no more toast, no more protein bars or shakes, and limited milk. I won't concern myself with fat - whatever it wants to be, it will be. I have enough on my plate already (so to speak).

5x5x0
I can't expect to grow on a caloric deficit, so I will suspend the linear increase of my 5x5 program until such time as I can support growth again. However, I do not want to lose what I've gained, so I will keep doing some deadlifts and squats, but just maintaining current levels.

Expectations
Oh, who knows. This is changing a LOT of things all at once, several of them outside my regular experience. I don't think it will take long to lose the weight - maybe a month, certainly not more than two. At the moment I'm thinking I would like to continue the IF during another gaining cycle, to see if I can achieve more efficient growth, but this from a perspective of not having actually TRIED it yet. I'll revisit in two inches.