Any of you guys out there who regularly follow my blog knows that I generally live a very low-carbohydrate lifestyle. Other than training days, I actually don’t consume carbohydrates. Hell, even on training days I only consume something of 110 grams. Needless to say, I am on a CKD type diet.

Nonetheless, my all time favorite day of the week has to be Saturdays. “Why? Might you ask”. Because on Saturday. I engage in what is called a carbohydrate refeed where for 9 hours I consume as much high-gi/low fat treats as possible. If my body is telling me to eat 9 pancakes w/ syrup, I’ll eat it. Drizzle extra syrup over the top? I’ll do it. However, once the moment comes where the 9 hours are up, I go immediately back to my old dieting ways. This refeed allows for a number of things for both my body and my sanity.

If you’ve ever dieted down you can tell when your body gets sluggish and tired. What sometimes happens as a result of the daily demands of working out and dieting, is that your body decreases a hormone called Leptin. Leptin is a tricky bastard because it helps stimulates other hormones in your body (the important ones) that are responsible with keeping your metabolism going and keeping muscle building happening. What happens though throughout Sunday – Friday is a fall in the body’s glycogen due to the dieting and a decrease in this Leptin. However, Leptin is very responsive to high glycemic carbohydrates / low fat meals. A person could nearly inclemently increase fallen leptin levels by momentarily eating these types of foods (i.e., the Saturday 9 hour refeed).  So it actually, despite eating junk food – does a body good.

And let’s just be honest. If you’ve ever dieted down for a bodybuilding competition, wedding or photo shoot; pancakes and high GI carbohydrates just sound absolutely delicious. I’m out people. I’m off to down a Monster Energy Drink and slam some pancakes.

This is what my typical Post-It note looks like

Alright gang, I have to admit, I haven’t updated in awhile… and I apologize. I’ve just been crazy busy these last two weeks. If you could peak your eyes back into the back-end of this site, your would see that I have about 9 articles/blogs that I’m sitting on waiting to release… They just need a bit more editing before publishing them.

You might be saying… “Dude, your blogging about how your too busy to blog?” Trust me, I see the irony. It’s not that I’m “too busy” to sit down and crank out an article or two, it’s that I live in that mode 24/7 Sunday through Friday. Truth is, I need a bit of “me” time on Saturday to step away, refresh from strength & conditioning and enjoy the fruits of all my labor.

It’s about the start of the school year which means I’m busy in preparation of Fall Sports in-season team training and preparing pre-season training for the Winter Sports. An extremely busy time! On top of that, which is nearly a 50 hour a week job… I am in my final year of Graduate School and let me tell you… I’m kicking it’s ass like I’m Hulk Hogan. If your an undergrad, take it from me when I say that Grad school (Kinesiology/Exercise Science) is no more difficult than undergrad academics.  The difference is instead of busy work, you will focus on big projects, papers and reviews. I’ve found my first year of graduate school to be a refreshing change after four years of undergraduate academics.

Anyways all, I’m off to go grab a Monster Energy drink and sit on my couch eating some high GI carbs. For the new readers here, I’m on a very strict diet that restricts carbohydrates Sunday-Friday, however on Saturday for 9 hours I’m allowed to eat sugary, high GI carbs. After an hour of cardio this morning I sat down to 6 waffles stacked with Low-Fat “Birthday Cake Flavored” Ice Cream & Syrup.  It was absolutely delicious and now I’m hungry again.

Waffle / Ice Cream / Waffle / Syrup / Waffle / Ice Cream / Waffle / Syrup / Waffle / Ice Cream/ Waffle

Mmm…