The past four weeks I have dieted myself down to a level where I feel close enough to start UD2.0. The first two weeks I did RFL and lost 13 pounds and followed that with two weeks of maintenance where I dropped another 5 pounds. Fast forward to today and I've got to be close to 15% BF and I've been looking to put a stop/slow on muscle/strength loss. That brings me to UD2.0, or Ultimate Diet 2.0 by Lyle McDonald.

After reading the book I was convinced it's for me. I wanted to switch things up and this seems like a great option. The plan in 6 weeks on this bad boy, a few weeks at maintenance, and then to re-assess my goals before deciding whether to continue dieting or to start bulking. Oh the yo-yo of dieting.

I'm starting tomorrow, which means my week will be Wed-Tues and my carb-load will begin Saturday evening, w/e, I don't lead a normal Monday-Friday 9-5 life.

For those who haven't read the book or don't want to research the diet the plan is as follows

Day 1: Low-carb/fat diet at 50% maintenance with depletion work out
Day 2: Same diet/work-out as Day 1
Day 3: Low-carb/fat diet at 50% maintenance with optional cardio
Day 4/5: Low-carb morning with evening carb-load AND "heavy-duty" full-body work-out followed by a 30 hour carb-load (will be ~1100g/carb for me) starting in the evening and ending the next day before bed. Calories will probably be around 6,000 with only ~500 from fat, yikes. Rest on day 5.
Day 6: Full-body "power" work-out, 4-6 sets of 3-6 reps with the focus on tension.
Day 7: Rest day, diet slightly below maintenance, 3gcarb/lblbm

There ya have it, six weeks of this ****, aint nothing to it but to do it.

yeah! I like what you've been doing. Backing off and doing the two weeks of maintenance is something no one seems to want to do, and often don't.

Don't be too easy on yourself on the depletion workouts. Or too hard on yourself on the "tension" workout on Day 4.

I did it for like 3? weeks and it was hell. I had to quit because I got sick so not much to say.

Pics and caliper measurements, if only for your own private benefit, are a good idea imo.

The best advice I can give you, other than what we already talked about, is to watch your rep tempo especially on the depletion workouts.

It's been a while since I read the book but I think he recommends something like 15ish reps for 45-60 seconds on those sets, so if you're flying by with 2 second reps, you are kind of defeating the purpose, and it's very easy to do.

They are not fun.

Ya, that was ****ing difficult. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

3x10-15 of the following

BB Bench
T-bar Row
BB OHP
DB Bench
Seated Cable Row
DB OHP Press
Decline Press
Lat Pulldown
Shrugs
Machine Flys
Back Flys
Lat Raises

I felt like ****, muscle were burning, some of the sets ended early. I blame a little of it on being a pussy and some on being kinda fasted the last 3-4 days. Hardest part was taking ~4 seconds per rep, really not used to that speed and I didn't adjust weight enough early on to compensate, after I realized I had to lift weights my grandma could use, things got better. Lyle said the first depletion is a trial/error thing so I'm sure it will go smoother next time.

Spenda,

I am commenting in this log just to prove that I don't **** all over people who don't do workouts similar to Starting Strength.

While I think Flys and Lat Pulldowns are pretty silly, everything else is great.

Obviously you are just following a stock workout by Lyle and I understand that. Good luck with your program.

I don't like doing them but the program calls for fatiguing every muscle from every angle, which is why I included them. Maybe inverted rows next time, no way I could do enough chins/pulls with his specifications.

Yes, I know. Machines are definitely good for that.

Forgot to include my diet so Lukkake and AJ could critique, pretty basic today ran out of chicken otherwise might do 16oz for dinner as well, lunch was ~2 hours after depletion work out, breakfast was ~2 before.

breakfast - 8 egg whites 1 whole egg (38gprotein/1gcarb/5gfat) 201cal
lunch - 16oz chicken 2 whole cucumbers (92g/22g/18g) 618 cal
dinner - 8oz chicken 2 whole cucumbers (48g/22g/9g) 361 cal

178gprotein/45gcarb*/32gfat = 1180calories

The numbers look pretty much perfect to me working around 145-150lbm, thoughts? I'm sure it looks boring but to be honest I don't really mind, so I figure simple works.

*not sure whether or not to count the carbs in green veggies (did not count in RFL) otherwise I could add in a sweet potato or something along those lines later in the day

Eat some berries, and many more vegetables. Some of the greek yogurts are low carb and high casein protein which is pretty satiating combined with a meal. Or just a casein/whey protein mixture is good. Calcium and micronutrients, fyi

Fish oil, too.

Ya, forgot taking Fish Oil and a Multi

Leg Depletion was, well, ****ing brutal, I'm just not used to such high reps, my breathing sucks, etc...wahwahwaheffit

3x10-15 Low-Bar Squats
2x15 Barbell Curls
2x15 Tricep Extensions
3x10-15 Smith Machine Calf Raises
3x10-15 Leg Press
2x10-15 DB curls
2x10-15 Dips
3x10-15 Seated Calf Raises
3x10-15 Front Squats

anddddd spent, brutal, almost passed out in line at the grocery store.

Diet

breakfast - 8 egg whites 1 whole egg (38gprotein/1gcarb/5gfat) 201cal
lunch - 12oz lean ground beef 2 whole cucumbers (73g/22g/30g) 650cal
dinner - 8oz chicken 2 whole cucumbers (48g/22g/9g) 361 cal

1212 calories, 159gprotein/45gcarb/44gfat = 1212 calories

Couldn't resist the lean ground beef, hurt my protein numbers but they were more than 1g/lblbm which I'm happy with. Will take Jeff's recommendations into consideration tomorrow when I'm at the store, good stuff, thanks. Decided to stop counting greens as calories/carbs so yogurt sounds like a good way to get around 50g a day.

Good progress. I'll be starting a RFL cycle in a bit here. I'm on a Paleo+ type diet but I'd like to try something a bit different just for the experience.

Calves are crazy sore today, quads/hams not nearly as much, upper body feels fine. The idea of doing the optional cardio was dismissed as soon as I stood up out of bed.

I picked up some fat-free Yogurt, the small grocery nearest my place didn't have the best selection so I just went with Strawberry Yoplait which is 19g carbs and 5g protein, I'll be able to find something better tomorrow when I go down to this other place I use on my refeed days b/c they have a lot more low-fat/fat-free options than the place nearer my house.

Adjusted diet not counting greens as carbs/cals anymore

breakfast - 8 egg whites 1 whole egg (38gprotein/1gcarb/5gfat) 201cal
lunch - 16oz chicken 2 whole cucumbers Yogurt(97g/19g/18g) 626 cal
dinner - 8oz chicken 2 whole cucumbers Yogurt(53g/19g/9g) 369 cal

188gprotein/39gcarb/32gfat = 1196calories

Good stuff, tomorrow AM (which is like noon) is going to be 2-3 meals totaling ~900 calories (and perhaps 45-60 min low/moderate cardio) then I get to do the ~30 hour carb-load til Sunday bedtime. Work-out will be 2 sets per bodypart 6-12 reps, need to re-read the Day 4 section again to make sure I understand the carb-timing and work out. For the load I'm thinking cinammon-swirl bread, wheat pasta and red sauce, lean ground meatballs, and perhaps some lowfat yogurt which Lyle pimps constantly on bodyrecomp. Reading that makes me think it's over 50g fat, but here's hoping I can figure it out. Oh ya, have some FF Milk sitting in my fridge that's about to expire, so I'll down that and a couple pieces of fruit as well.

Protein adds up from bread, pasta, milk. In my experience it's really easy to hit 1g lb/lbm or a little less or more without any meat or anything.

Ya, figured that out during shopping today, completed Day 4 work out

2x6-12 of the following

Squats (lowbar)
Leg Press
Leg Curl
Leg Extension
Seated Calf Raises
Bench Press
Seated Cable Rows
Incline Bench
Lat Pulldown
Lat Raises
Bicep Curls
Dips
Standing Calf Raises

20 sets total, 55 minutes

Had a PWO w/ 100g carb 35g protein

Plan for tonight is to down a box of spaghetti w/ red sauce, tomorrow I'll be killing a loaf of cinammon-raisin bread and 6 bagels, with some of that low-fat B&J yogurt if I can find it. Those 3 things are like 1,050g carbs, which is pretty much my number, so I'll leave a few out b/c of the shake and the yogurt.

omg I totally have to do this ***** diet. nomnomnomnomnomnom. I was having trouble figuring out what was high in carbs but had little fat or protein and wasn't coming up with much besides fruit and smoothies.

box of white pasta has 500gcarbs and only 12g fat

my tummy hurts

this diet does sound pretty interesting, might try it out after a few more months of putting on weight

also I have been reading your name as Splenda until just now, and will probably continue to do so in the future

Enjoyed my "rest" day too much, slept for 12 hours after not crashing til 4am last night. I don't see how ppl w/ real jobs do it.

I fear the bagels were somewhat of a mistake, as while they're high in carbs (50g/bagel) they are quite filling. Going to go looking for that fro-yo Lyle pimps out.

Totals so far: 596gcarb/126gprotein/37gfat = 3221 calories

need 400g carbs in the next 6 hours, shouldn't be too tough, I hope.

Pasta by itself tastes like cardboard, you have to add some fatty alfredo sauce and some meat to it for it to be good, and then you've kinda cheated on your cheat meal in that diet anyways so what's the point.

we'll have to agree to disagree, I don't mind pasta+tomato sauce, ofc I'd rather have something with more taste and some meatballs+Italian sausage, but I'll save that for my bulk cycles.

Here are the final stats for the carb-load

PWO Shake 91gcarb/42gprotein/1.5gfat (thought the ratio was wider here, ups)
14 slices cinnamon/raisin swirl bread 210/14/21 (bread has too much fat, 40% of my allotment while only 20% of my carbs, but it's so good)
2 bagels 98/16/3
10 servings Pasta 420/70/10
4 servings Sauce 52/8/12
2 servings FF Cream Cheese 4/8/0
4 servings B&J Froyo 124/16/12
4 nectarines 60/8/0

Total carb 1059
Total protein 182
Total fat 59.5
Total Calories 5500

We'll see how I look/feel tomorrow, the better bodyrecomp the better the carbload, according to Lyle. I made sure to drink more water than usual, came close to a gallon over the 30 hours. The frozen yogurt hit the spot, even though it wasn't the flavor I wanted.

Today was my Day 6, power work out time

3x5x175 Squats
---only number I'm going to track through this entire process. Want to get this in the 200s before UD2.0 is over, at 5lbs. a week I'll be there. This is the heaviest I've squatted in like 6 months due to a knee injury and the fact that I've been dieting the past ~6 weeks. Felt good, a little slow out of the bottom, will video 180 next week b/c I'm sure my form is meh at the moment

3x5 Bench
4x6 Smith Machine Calf Raises
3x6 Bent-Over Row
---thinking about subbing these out for either rack shrugs or Power Cleans
3x6 Front Squats (cleaned first rep)
---wrists hurt, which is weird b/c I'm not really holding on as the bar is positioned correctly, wtfover?
3x5 OHP (cleaned first rep)
3x6 Lat Pulldown (think I might take out row/pulldown and replace with shrug/powerclean)
3x5 Incline Bench
2x6 Barbell Curl
2x6 Close-grip Bench
3x6 Lat raises variations

Need to re-read diet section for today/tomorrow (weekend for the UD2.0 experienced) to make sure my macro breakdown is good, already had my eggs plus a bagel and 1serving PWO mix pre work-out.

So I guess I have two questions for Jeff and Lukie when they see this

1. Do you mind subbing those exercises as I outlined in my last post?

2. PWO nutrition on Day 6, today I just drank 16oz FF Milk, then about 90 minutes later took down 16oz chicken, 1 bagel, and some green veggies. Does that look alright? Jeff, this would be the time to tell me it's ok to suck down a ton of FF/Low-fat Chocolate Milk please.

I don't remember the diet or training for day 6 tbh, an I think 6/7 kcal are managed depending on goals.

Chocolate milk had to be good though. And you definitely ingested an unnecesarrily huge quantity of protein PWO there.

For me, managing fatigue in all of the workouts and really suffering and putting my all into the depletion workouts was thr most relevant aspect of the training. I think I was doing some ******ed **** though. And I got sick a couple weeks in. So just keep reevaluating how things are going

and for thr love of god, do NOT squat ever for rounds of depletion training