The ascetic Christmas of Cziffra
I always had the dream of spending Christmas Eve and New Years Eve alone and silent. Frugal dinner and a book. Some incense and Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the background.
I don't see the point of people gathering around an insanely huge meal just because they're supposed to. I've witnessed too many Christmas dinners in which family members that I rarely saw or spoke to regularly popped in and the conversation spinned around those who were not present. And the whole thing used to end up as a pure mess, with people arguing all over the place. I'm talking about my own experiences here. I'm aware that many of you love the atmosphere and are looking forward to share those moments with your loves ones, but in my case, my family has been disintegrating slowly over the years and I remember my last few Christmas holidays as sad events.
So... I told my dad that this year I have reserved the Christmas holidays to myself. He will travel to England around mid December to spend a few days with me and then he will go back to Spain to spend the holidays with my grandfather. Me, I'll be chilling out and enjoying the days of rest.
But there is more...
I've been stuck at 150 lbs for the last month or so. I don't want to further reduce my calories to lose those last 5 lbs of fat that would take me to ~8%. I know a number of things that would break the plateau, though. For example, introducing Tabata intervals... That'd work wonders. Or, increase my calories to maintenance over a period of a few weeks, get my metabolism on fire and try to cut again. Or, switching my macros around, decrease carb intake (which is around 40% at the moment) and/or change my PWO protocol (slow digesting carbs instead of dextrose). The possibilities are endless.
But I want to make these Christmas really memorable. And, therefore, I'm gonna go HARDCORE. By hardcore I mean I'll be following the Velocity Diet (Part I, Part II). Why?, you might ask. And that's a very good question. I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone, here. On one hand, that will make my Christmas really ascetic. I enjoy challenging my willpower to the limit every now and then. It keeps me clean, it keeps me honest, I get to know myself better. On the other hand, I'm curious as the results of such an extreme approach. People swear that you don't lose muscle on this diet and I'm rather sceptical about that. What I'm sure of is that I'll lose some fat, that's unquestionable.
Why risking my hard-earned muscle with this experiment? Well, because experiments, when properly designed, bring out knowledge, regardless their results. A word of caution, here. The V-Diet is designed for 4 weeks. I'll be doing it for only 10 days. In that way, I won't lose that much muscle in case the whole thing goes terribly wrong. Plus, I don't have that much fat to lose to begin with. I will be taking the exact supplements suggested in the links, so I can get rid of as many hidden variables as possible during the experiment. They're a bit pricey, but, hey, the grocery bill goes literally to the bin.
On top of that, my 10 days of asceticism (23rd of December to 2nd of January) will consist of weight training, working on the planche and the handstand, reading (finally) The Lord of the Rings and tons and tons of physics papers and books on quantum transport. Mobile phone will be off. I'll try not to speak more than three sentences loudly over this period. Grunting while lifting doesn't count as sentences.
Now it's time to train my legs.
I don't see the point of people gathering around an insanely huge meal just because they're supposed to. I've witnessed too many Christmas dinners in which family members that I rarely saw or spoke to regularly popped in and the conversation spinned around those who were not present. And the whole thing used to end up as a pure mess, with people arguing all over the place. I'm talking about my own experiences here. I'm aware that many of you love the atmosphere and are looking forward to share those moments with your loves ones, but in my case, my family has been disintegrating slowly over the years and I remember my last few Christmas holidays as sad events.
So... I told my dad that this year I have reserved the Christmas holidays to myself. He will travel to England around mid December to spend a few days with me and then he will go back to Spain to spend the holidays with my grandfather. Me, I'll be chilling out and enjoying the days of rest.
But there is more...
I've been stuck at 150 lbs for the last month or so. I don't want to further reduce my calories to lose those last 5 lbs of fat that would take me to ~8%. I know a number of things that would break the plateau, though. For example, introducing Tabata intervals... That'd work wonders. Or, increase my calories to maintenance over a period of a few weeks, get my metabolism on fire and try to cut again. Or, switching my macros around, decrease carb intake (which is around 40% at the moment) and/or change my PWO protocol (slow digesting carbs instead of dextrose). The possibilities are endless.
But I want to make these Christmas really memorable. And, therefore, I'm gonna go HARDCORE. By hardcore I mean I'll be following the Velocity Diet (Part I, Part II). Why?, you might ask. And that's a very good question. I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone, here. On one hand, that will make my Christmas really ascetic. I enjoy challenging my willpower to the limit every now and then. It keeps me clean, it keeps me honest, I get to know myself better. On the other hand, I'm curious as the results of such an extreme approach. People swear that you don't lose muscle on this diet and I'm rather sceptical about that. What I'm sure of is that I'll lose some fat, that's unquestionable.
Why risking my hard-earned muscle with this experiment? Well, because experiments, when properly designed, bring out knowledge, regardless their results. A word of caution, here. The V-Diet is designed for 4 weeks. I'll be doing it for only 10 days. In that way, I won't lose that much muscle in case the whole thing goes terribly wrong. Plus, I don't have that much fat to lose to begin with. I will be taking the exact supplements suggested in the links, so I can get rid of as many hidden variables as possible during the experiment. They're a bit pricey, but, hey, the grocery bill goes literally to the bin.
On top of that, my 10 days of asceticism (23rd of December to 2nd of January) will consist of weight training, working on the planche and the handstand, reading (finally) The Lord of the Rings and tons and tons of physics papers and books on quantum transport. Mobile phone will be off. I'll try not to speak more than three sentences loudly over this period. Grunting while lifting doesn't count as sentences.
Now it's time to train my legs.
Comentario:
Once I had a Christmass like that... I didn't like them but maybe because I was forced on them... I hope you enjoy them!
:).
:).