My training plans are for 12 workouts and depending on what day of the cycle they start, culminate at around day 22 of the cycle, when I'm strongest. So I try to hit my maxes then. It's pretty logical that after starting another cycle again with lower weights, you're not going to be your best.
And precisely because of the way I plan them, the start traditionally is in the period when I am not at my strongest. Knowing this can even reinforce that feeling.
Other than that .. I was feeling off all day, probably due to not drinking enough water the day before when I was away from home and then having a glass of Bailey's at night dehydrated me even more.
Also been eating foods that I know I shouldn't but got re-addicted to, viz. cheese, dairy , peanut butter. All these foods are slight allergens for me and while indulging in them once in a while isn't harmful, continuous exposure like I especially did with the cheeses, isn't a smart idea.
Ah well..today TOM arrived (not Tom
) and it's the first day of my new cut/maintenance cycle that is probably going to last like.. forevah. Sixteen days of cutting in the follicular phase for when appetite is down and then somewhere in between 7 and 12 days of mini-bulking to regain the lost LBM.
Apart from the fact that I don't like to lose strenght or LBM and hence only want to cut 2 weeks at the time, there's also the phenomenon of aging. As soon as I start on a cut, my cycles shorten to just 22-23 days. No fun. I've observed there seems to be a minimum calorie intake for every single day (a high averages somehow doesn't count) or else TOM comes early. Increasing calories will likewise lengthen the cycle to a more normal length.
Alas, even this time, with ass-high calories, it was only 26 days.
Oh, Karen, I use aspartame powder mostly, sometimes real maple syrup on a high kcal day and since about a week, I'm not using anything at all. For my raspberry coconut omelettes, that's really easy. The apple ones can be good on their own too, so I should just wean myself off the übersweet tasting foods. But you can't make me stop using aspartame in that 1 huge mug of coffee!!