Low carb and ink...fun times for all

Its been a while since I've updated, and not a whole ton has gone on. I absolutely loved my last set of circuits from my trainer and feel like I finally made some progress last month after the holiday season backslide.

To jump start things for my next set of circuits, I decided to do a two and a half week-long carb deprivation cycle. For those unfamiliar, this is similar to the first phase of Atkins where you intake 50 grams or less of net carbohydrates a day. How you figure out the net carbohydrates from a nutrition label is really simple, too: take the total carbohydrates in a food and subtract sugar alcohols and any fiber. That's it!

What the deprivation does to your system is quite fun, too. Your system switches into a state called ketosis where it burns fat as a primary fuel source to use ketones instead of glucose. For the first few days, it is totally normal to have a headache and feel kinda fuzzy, like you just drank a few beers.

While the diet may be higher in fat than a normal one, it is being used as the primary fuel source and the high protein prevents muscle atrophy. In short durations, it is a great start...but I end up completely lacking energy. NO Xplode and caffeine in general help a ton with that, for me at least, so I'm usually able to balance it out. Lots of meal planning and meticulous tracking of macronutrients, but it is totally worth it. I'm currently sitting at 10% bodyfat; dropping to six in the next few months.

In other news, the reason I haven't worked out at all this week: I finally got a tattoo. Things came together so I could afford it, so I figured why the hell not. So now, sitting at the top of my left pec, are two small words in old Greek that have a very deep meaning to me. It didn't really hurt until he hit bone at one point, but now the damn thing is starting to hurt a little. Eh, not too bad though...but I still don't feel like getting it covered in sweat or having a scab pop open (I think it scabbed a little but can't really tell right now) in the middle of a workout. I should pick back up next week with some more cardio to keep the burn and fat loss up, so that'll be nice.