Carb Cycling- 4 Weeks Out

          I am down to 127.0 lbs and 13.03% body fat. I meet Tanji on Thursday and she wanted to see me with bigger shoulders and quads and between 12-13%.  I think she will be pleased.  I am currently in the middle of my second week of carb cycling.

What is carb cycling?


          About 4-6 weeks out (I started 5 weeks out) athletes may carb cycle to see what their muscles look like the day of show, or in other words when they "peak."

          There are many ways to carb cycle but I for me I have low-moderate carb days followed by moderate-high carb days.  From Sunday-Thursday I have NO carbs after lunch. For example, my afternoon snack is 3/4 cup of 2% cottage cheese and dinner would be 4 oz lean meat, warm spinach with balsamic vinaigrette, and 9 chopped raw almonds (fat).  I still have my last snack which is a protein shake before bed.

          The purpose of carb cycling is to manipulate your body and see how it responds to certain amounts of carbs. Sun-Thurs I drink 1 gallon of spring water per day so that I over hydrate and then Friday and Sat I carb load (about 1 gram per pound of body weight) and drink only about 1/2 gallon of spring water. Its like a science project.  I go without many carbs and drink lots of water ( I look flat during this phase), then I eat a lot of carbs like brown rice or sweet potato so that the water under my skin from over hydrating is literally pulled into my muscles (because glycogen storage requires tons of water) and by Saturday morning (day of competition) I should look my best with full, round muscles. If I look puffy I had too many carbs. If  I look flat I didn't have enough.

           Being 4 weeks out I have time to figure out what works best for my body so that I peak on Saturday. My goal is to maintain and maybe grow a little bit more muscle while I cut for the last 4 weeks.  It will obviously be harder to grow much more due to decrease in carbs, but maintaining will be a must!

          How is it going?  Well to be honest it's a true test of the level of commitment.  No, its not easy but I am determined and if I start to feel week or self pity I find a way to motivate myself.  Actually, Danny has been a huge support system for me. He keeps me going when I feel like giving up.  I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have him in my corner. I am very lucky! Thank you Danny!

XOXO,

Abby

Read more:

"First Bikini Competiton - Vancouver Natural USA 2011"

"One Week Out From My First Bikini Competition"