Ok, let’s say it’s mid-Summer and you’ve been invited to a last-minute beach trip with some friends from work.  You workout regularly and stay “relatively” lean…and you want to show up and turn some heads. 

Now, we can’t turn Fred Flintstone into Chris Bumstead…but if you’re off-season CBum we can make you presentable CBum.  How?  We’ll go with specialized carb cycling.  This will let you take advantage of the fat-burning effects of low carb eating while also taking advantage of the periodic carb up.

Now, this plan will take a full 2 weeks…14 full days.  If you don’t have that, it won’t work.

Now, here’s how things will go.  Starting day 1 off on a Monday, you’ll go low carb for four (4) straight days.  That’s Monday-Thursday.  Your goal is to deplete glycogen stores while keeping insulin levels low.  This, in turn, will make you a fat-burning machine.  You will need to train with weights for a minimum of three (3) of those days…obviously four (4) would be better.  This will optimize the glycogen depletion, burn fat, and maintain muscle.

For this program, some type of “cardio” should be done daily.  A minimum of 30 minutes of either steady-state or HIIT.  As you know, we are advocates of some type of HIIT vs. steady-state in most circumstances…but even more so here for depleting glycogen and maintaining muscle.

As for carbs per day…here’s a simple calculation: 0.25 grams per POUND  of bodyweight.  If you weigh 100 lbs (just an example), you’ll get 25 grams of carbs per day.  I realize that is LOW, but we’re in a time crunch here and you’ll need to suffer to turn some heads in two weeks...SUCK IT UP!

Go ahead and set your protein at 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight and fat at 0.25 grams per pound of bodyweight.  So, that’s 150 grams of protein and 25 grams of fat, for a grand total of 925 calories per day (25 g carb, 150 g pro, 25 g fat), or a tad bit under 10 kcals per pound of bodyweight.  Again, on the extreme side, but we’re in a time crunch.  Do this, and your lean-ish will become "regular person" beach ready.

A simple plan, but it will get you looking NICE for this last-minute beach vacation.