As I expected, I stabilized my weight at 170lbs for the past weeks, this accounts beautifully with the initial water/glycogen replenishment from the refeed over the weeks. This is even mathematically in synch with my next step.
After the diet break I’m now entering a slow process of body recomposition, what this means is that I will eat around maintenance as I recover most of the muscle lost during the aggressive mini-cut I just finished, and while doing this in a lean way I will reduce my body fat percentage by simply adding more muscle mass than I have right now.
This is one of those scenarios where you can increase muscle tissue at a fast rate by regaining what was wasted during the deficit, weight gain is expected but not necessary, as one may be losing some body fat as well, and the scale doesn’t pick this up nicely as it does with weight loss. I do expect weight gain over the months though.
The process
The overall progression is not as exciting as a cut of any kind may be, and this is where patience is key to be able to trust the process. There are however monthly changes that are quite noticeable, but even those may be deceiving at times, so once again it’s a matter or relying on lift improvements and other metrics to assess progress.
I am switching slowly to a 5-day a week split with the idea of having light but constant training days, and little by little add more volume as needed for progression to continue. The important part always is listening to the body when it comes to individual sessions, and not get too hung up on numbers.
I am maintaining a daily activity of 7000 steps a day just to stay out of a sedentary lifestyle, plus I can still enjoy some nice weather for now and I love my nature walks.
Fasting will be sporadic, likely on deload weeks for the sole reason of health and body-mind connection. There’s always the added benefit of fat loss now and then, and I’ll be doing my 24 and 48 protocols at least once a month.
Nutrition should be quite simple, although having a plant-based diet makes it very challenging to eat enough, but nutrient density will play a big role in planning meals (granola here I go baby!). One relevant measure to take while still recovering from the mini-cut is that fat intake should be limited, but not under the minimum of 0.4/lbs of body weight as I’ve said before.
My goal
No matter how long it takes me, I am putting a hard cap on weight gain at 180lbs. Once I reach that weight, it’s time for another cut where I’ll drop another 10lbs or so and the process repeats again. This is all part of my plan to play with the body into going through fat loss and muscle regain to achieve that body recomposition I set my eyes on.
I have something in development that I am starting to test now with myself and some clients, but that plan would have to wait to be revealed, for now I am done reporting for this journal.
Until the next journal and thank you for reading.