Adventures in Carb Backloading

Having heard about it from a friend of mine several months back, ever since I’ve been intrigued to try Carb Backloading (CBL), a fat-shedding, muscle-gaining dietary plan devised by John Kiefer. 

The plan essentially entails following an ultra low carb diet during the day, then replenishing glycogen stores with high GI carbs in the evening after training, with a few other modifications such as not eating breakfast. 

In recent months when following my keto-ish diet to drop in to my weight class, I’ve sort of crudely followed this diet, having kind of worked some of it out for myself, but it seems I run out of energy after more than a week or so and just isn’t sustainable. As the plan is a bit more structured and contains higher GI carbs for my post-training nutrition, I’m interested to see if this plan leaves me with a bit more energy. 

As you’ve probably noticed my weight is quite often an issue and although I did find a ‘sweet spot’ recently with a medium-low carb diet, I still feel there are improvements to be made. I’m hoping to be able to put on a bit of muscle in the next few weeks, and being able to do this while losing a bit of fat (which is what the plan promises!) is an ideal situation.

The first 10 days of the plan involves going full keto, with an intake of just 30g of carbs a day. This is  to ‘train’ the body to use fat for energy, and to fully deplete glycogen stores. I started doing this yesterday, and as ever am constantly looking for new recipes for a bit of variety in my diet. As much as I love chicken legs and burnt broccoli, it can get tedious after the 8th day in a row!
So in the next 10 days or so you can expect some more low-carb recipes that I’ve devised. I’ve bought myself a bunch of spices and have made friends with chilli, so look forward to some aromatic and spicy concoctions. 

I’ve taken a pre-CBL progress picture, and have recorded my weight so hopefully I will be able to use these for reference a few weeks down the line. Then I’ll write a review of my experience with following the plan as a woman as it was predominantly aimed at men. 

Kiefer’s CBL is available as an e-book here.

 

Flavour Combinations – Mackerel Salad

I’ve been trying out a few new flavour combinations for salads in recent weeks, but it feels a bit wrong to post them as recipes, as combining the ingredients in a dish is hardly taxing!  So I’ve made a new category; flavour combinations, where you will be able to find all my ‘recipes’ for interesting salads.

First of which is a delicious but slightly weird mackerel salad, inspired by my mother.

Ingredients:

• 1 fillet smoked mackerel
• 1 steamed beetroot
• 1 satsuma
• Salad leaves (I used a mix with rocket)

I know it sounds weird, but the sweet of the satsuma really complements the saltiness of the mackerel.It’s also quite a stunning salad with the purple of the beetroot and orange satsuma. Don’t knock it before you try it!

This salad is a nutrient powerhouse; mackerel is an outstanding source of omega-3 fatty acids and is also rich in vitamins B6, B12 and D. Beetroot is high in folate and manganese, and also provides magnesium, potassium and iron. Satsumas are high in vitamin A and C, and full of antioxidants, while rocket is a great source of vitamin K and alpha-linoleic acid. Makes you wonder why people rely on multivitamins when combinations like this exist…

 

Chocolate Nut Butter Drops

This is a recipe from a fellow Bournemouth Barbell lifter, a third year nutrition student who’s heading to the IPF World Championships in July.  He’s been a massive help with my diet in recent weeks, and this is one of his recipes I’ve tried out for when I fancy something sweet. Check out his page here.

I’ll warn you now, these are addictive….

Chocolate Nut Butter Drops

• 3 table spoons of coconut oil
• 4 table spoons of unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tablespoon of sweetener
• A bunch of any natural nut butter of your choice!
• Silicone ice cube tray (I used a penguin mould 🙂 )

1) Melt the coconut oil down and add the sweetener and cocoa.

2) Fill the ice cube tray 1/3 of the way. Freeze for 5 minutes.

3) Add a teaspoon of the nut butter into each cube. Freeze for a further 5 minutes

4) Fill the rest of the ice cube tray sections with the remaining cocoa and coconut oil mixture. Freeze and leave in the freezer until they are needed. Simply pop one out and enjoy!

These may be low-carb, but they are still high in calories so don’t go mad (advice that I need to take too haha)

Can’t wait to finish writing this post and have one of these as a treat after my deadlift session tonight. Got into my newly sugar-washed squat suit, which didn’t seem too much tighter so I may have to wash it again, and did minimal warm ups; singles at 60kg, 80kg, 90kg and 95kg. Next onto more singles at 100kg, 110kg and then an attempted 115kg. Quite easy off the floor but didn’t quite have the adrenaline necessary to lock out. Felt good though, so looking forward to seeing what I can do next. Went back down to 100kg for doubles working on pulling my shoulder blades right back and straightening out my back so I have less work to do locking out at the top of the lift.

Finished off the session with some easy squatting, tried another member’s suit one size smaller than the one I normally use and it worked quite well for me. Unfortunately I won’t be able to use it for the Welsh, but my coach is looking into finding me a smaller one. Warmed up with a few at 60kg and 75kg. Then put my wraps on for 90kg, and straps and tighter wraps for 105kg for two. Working on unracking and setting up with confidence so I don’t have another fiasco in comp. I think doing unequipped comp so close to the equipped comp left me a bit out of practice with equipped lifting, so I have more confidence that with the next few days of practice the next comp will go a bit better for me.

 

Creamy Pesto Pork

I probably won’t be able to update again until Sunday after I’ve competed (how exciting!) so I thought I’d treat you all to a very simple yet delicious keto recipe that I’ve been having a lot in the last week. It’s recipes like this that make you feel like you’re not on a diet; truly indulgent, warming and delicious.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10-15 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients

• 2 medium courgettes (zucchini)
• 2 medium leeks
• 3 pork chops
• 4 tbsp pancetta
• 2 tbsp green pesto
• 40ml single cream
• 1 tsp butter for frying

Method 

1. Thinly slice the courgettes and fry in butter for 2 minutes to soften
2. While the courgettes soften, slice the leeks and dice the pork, then add these along with the pancetta to the pan
3. Fry the mixture for 5-7 minutes until the pork is almost cooked through, then add in the pesto and stir
4. Pour in the single cream and leave the mixture to soften and cook for a further 5 minutes or so, serve and enjoy!

I usually make 3 portions, eat one and then refrigerate the other two for the following two days. Eating this doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing out on carbs at all as it’s just so delicious! Though be warned, if you’re not used to eating that much veg in one portion you may want to tailor the recipe slightly…

52.9

Now that’s a number I like to see.

50 followers!

I’ve been super busy this week with Uni, training and work so I haven’t been posting as much as I would like. Though it seems in my absence people have been liking what I’ve posted, as I’ve now reached 50 followers! Having only started this blog just over a month ago, I can’t quite believe that 50 strangers are regularly seeing and reading what I post! It’s actually quite exciting, so thank you all! 🙂
Currently at Uni for 6 hours of health promotion lectures, so only have time for a quick post. Just wanted to share my recipe for baked broccoli, nothing groundbreaking and like the courgette fritters I’m sure there are tonnes of similar recipes out there, but this is what I did:

Makes enough for 4 servings

• 1-2 rashers bacon
• 2 cloves garlic
• 30g butter
• 3 florets broccoli

Chop the broccoli into large chunks and place in a large oven dish. Slice the bacon into small pieces (I did rough centimetre chunks) and distribute evenly through the broccoli. Chop the garlic finely, or crush (I chopped) and sprinkle over the dish. Finally, slice the butter thinly and place sporadically over the broccoli, as this will melt while cooking. Bake at 200°C for roughly 40 minutes until slightly blackened and soft, mixing once during cooking. Enjoy!