Today I thought I’d explain exactly what I’m trying to do this fall/winter with my program. For the past month and a half, I have been following Dr. John Berardi’s recommendations for raising my metabolism to its proper baseline level in order to put on a little extra muscle and to make sure all my metabolic turbines are spinning at full speed when I start my pre-wedding cut in late January or early February.

I know how to lose fat at sub 1550 calories per day down to (ugh!) 1200, but frankly, I don’t want to go there anymore. I want to see if it IS possible to raise my maintenance calories up to at least 2200-2400 per day and subsequently manage a successful cut at a comfy 1700-1800 calories per day.

I’m tired of freezing my ass off at work because I’m working out 60-90 minutes every morning and trying to maintain my 114 lbs of lean mass on 1400 calories and under 30 g of fat per day. Something is just not right when you lose feeling at the tip of every finger and need to go outside and sit in your sweltering hot car during lunch breaks to warm up, don’t you agree?

Basically, what I’ve been doing is raising my (still clean) calories up by 250 cals/day every two weeks while keeping up with my workouts with 100% intensity. I will do this two more times (4 weeks total) until my exercise day intake is at 2500 calories. I’m currently weight-stable at 142 lbs and 20% bf with a daily intake of around 2100 calories for the past week. That should take me through December 28, at which point I will keep my intake steady according to the Maintenance estimations below through my birthday on January 18 while increasing cardio on non-TT days to a solid 30 minutes of medium-high intensity effort.

After January 18, I’ll drop my calories down to the 1950 calories/day suggested by the Fat Loss estimate below without modifying my workout schedule. After two weeks I’ll gauge whether I am making progress at that intake level. If not, I’ll start reducing my calories, again in blocks of 250 at a time, give each change two weeks to settle in, and then reassess my progress to determine if I can keep my current calories for another two weeks, or if I need to decrease my calories again or increase cardio to achieve regular fat loss.

This is probably the toughest program experiment I’ve performed since my first BFL challenge in 2004–not physically, but mentally. It really isn’t fun to see the inevitable weight gain start to happen as I have incrementally raised my calories, but I think I’ve gotten over that part now that I’ve stabilized. Besides, it will all be worth it if I can just add a pound or two of legitimate lean mass (hopefully on my back, shoulders, or arms) before I start cutting. I know I’m making progress in my hamstrings and glutes, too, which is another nice perk of all those squats and lunges in Turbulence Training.

And I definitely don’t want to put off this process for another year. I’ve seen too many other women chip away at their metabolisms 100 calories at a time until they are lucky to maintain at 1200 a day. That isn’t living anymore–that is just surviving.

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TODAY’S WORKOUT:

- Yourself Fitness Cardio or Core (45 minutes)

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TODAY’S EATS:

1: 1.5 c. Frosted Mini-Wheats and Rice Krispies, 3/4 c. light soy milk, 3 egg whites
2: 1 small banana, Chicken in Red Tomato sauce (3 oz. chicken breast, 3/4 c. mixed Peking veggies, and sauce from this recipe)
3: 2 rice cakes, 1 T. all natural peanut butter, 1/2 scoop whey protein, 3/4 c. baby carrots and zucchini, 1 oz. trail mix
4: 4 egg white/2 whole egg omelette with 1 c. spinach, onions, and tomatoes, 2 T. salsa, 1 oz. trail mix
5: 3 oz. chicken breast, 3 c. lettuce/tomato/onion/pepper salad, 2 T. Kraft Free Zesty Italian dressing
6: Peanut butter walnut banana smoothie

Water: 16 cups (~2 cups green tea)
Supplements: 3 capsules Digest-All, 6 capsules fish oil, 1 multivitamin, 1 calcium 600 + D, 10 g. l-glutamine

CALORIES: ~2000 calories (34% carb/36% protein/30% fat)