Blackjack's Gettin' Shredded - The Berardi Way

[Blackjack]

I'm going to attempt to stick to the Getting Shredded Diet written by John Berardi over at T-nation. Started this morning, I'm planning on doing it for a couple weeks and see how things go. Then I'll decide if I want to continue. It's a pretty extreme and strict diet and I've never done one before. I'm really looking forward to the challenge and committment as well as the fat loss.

I've done just a clean eating thing in the past and always seem to get stuck at 12%. My goal is to get to 10% and maybe continue the diet (if it works) to get to 8%.

Starting Statistics:
Weight - 214.5lbs (BTW - I'm 6'-4" tall)
BF% - 12.9% (I question the accuracy of this due to the cheap calipers I have - may go shopping for some better ones)
Waist - 36.5"
Abs - 37.25"
Chest - 42"

I've taken some photos and will post them later.

Per my calculations, daily caloric intake will be between 1900 and 2300 kcal. Divided evenly over 4-meals. Macro breakdown will be as follows:

Protein - 40-50g per meal
Carb - 15-20g per meal
Fat - 30-35g per meal

All carb will be from vegetables. All protein will be whole food sources. Fat should be equal saturated, mono, poly fats.

Supplements: Greens Plus (1 serving per day), BCAA 5g 4 x's per day, Creatine 2.5g 4 x's per day, multi-Vitamin (GNC Mega Mens' Sport), Fish Caps 6-10g per day. I have a few Hot-Rox around to use as needed to help with appetite suppression &/or energy. I've also bought some Spike in lieu of Power Drive - sounds like they have similar effects and have wanted to try Spike - again will use as needed.

I will do a re-feed every 7-days but not go overboard. Maybe just a couple cheat meals on that day, but nothing too dramatic.

I've tried to plan out a number of meals based on the ranges above and am having trouble. Need to expand my food choices to make this easier. The meals are similar to what I've been eating in the past. However, there are two fewer of them. This is going to be the challenge as I see it. Going 4-hours without eating. So any strategies you all have used in the past would be appreciated. (Note to BFG - I know, ice cold water, thanks )

I'm taking a few days off from working out due the fact that I haven't had a rest/recovery week in quite a while and thought this would be a good time to do that. I'll discuss my workouts and other issues in a later post. I'll log my meals and any measurements taken along the way here, including some progress photos I've taken and will have taken. I will also log any hunger related hallucinations as well.

Thanks for reading!
Ted

[Steve-O-68]

Sounds intesnse man! Good luck! I look forward to following the hallucinations... :p

[Blackjack]

Meal 1: 6:45 am

I screwed up the macro ratios with some apple juice I had to take the Greens Plus - I just can't get that stuff down in water. Need to get some Crystal Light or something no calorie...anyway

4 whole eggs
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 c Sugar Snap Peas
8oz of Apple Juice w/Greens +, 5g Creatine
Multi, 3 Fish Caps
*Note: My BCAA is suppose to be here tomorrow. Will get back to workouts on Wed, so that will work out ok.

Meal 2: 11:30 am

4oz sliced turkey
2oz sliced cheese
2c broccoli
1/4c almonds

==>Got pretty hungry about 9 so I popped a couple of Hot-Rox (Walmart version). Don't know if they suppressed appetite. But they do provide a lot of energy so I can work better and get my mind off food. Meal 2 was suppose to be at 11 but I had someone in my office so I had to wait - was still pretty hungry. Heading to Walmart at lunch to try and find a food scale. May grab a diet soda to help get me through to my next feeding at 3...will see.

No hallucinations...however, when I had my turkey I ate the turkey, bag and all - how many carbs are in ziploc???

Oh...lots of ice cold water - 64oz with another 5g of Creatine so far. Will shoot for 64oz before I leave today.

Thought of the day...self-imposed physical torture builds character...right?

[BFG]

hmmm sounds interesting shall have to go read up on this article as sounds like totrure to me all good

yep what doesnt kill us makes us stronger

[Blackjack]

So, I'm a bit disappointed in myself after totaling everything up for today. I won't go into the details on each meal from here on, but I will try and list the totals for the day.

Day One:

Protein - 166g (target 159-194g )
Carb - 87g (target 58-71g )
Fat - 93g (target 118-144 )

Need more fat and less carbs. Will eliminate the apple juice from this a.m. Will use Crystal Light instead to take Greens. Need to get more fat in diet. May just get some flax oil or EVOO and take a spoonful. Maybe another serving of sunflower seeds or peanuts or something.

Oh well, I'm new at this so there is some room for improvement. Need to plan better.

[Blackjack]

I have to add a Metabolic Drive Protein Shake to yesterday's intake. I was hungry before bed and couldn't go to bed hungry. So need to add 20g P, 3g C, & 2g F. So, I'm still ok I think.

Didn't sleep all that well due to some stomach discomfort - those pre-bed protein shakes don't do much for me. Hopefully, my body will adapt to this lower amount of calories within a couple days and start feeding off the fat for energy. That's what's suppose to happen...right?

Anyway, back into the gym tomorrow a.m. My workout will depend on what happens at the doctor this a.m. I've been dealing with some shoulder issues and am going to see an ortho this morning. X-rays, MRI show tendonitis, eval by PT and GP say torn labrum. The ortho will be the tie-breaker. If he says tendonitis, I'll ask him to give me a cortisone shot. We'll see.

I think I did a much better job of planning my meals for today so I should be in the right zone for macros. The hunger isn't bad at work. If I can keep myself busy, I'm ok. Someone brought doughnuts & sweet rolls in for their b-day today...It's taking every ounce of committment to stay out of those right now. Just keep chugging the ice water.

[djhaycock]

I haven't read the diet article you are trying, but if you are allowed to have salads that would be a good place to get some additional fat in your diet.

Have a nice manly salad with a Balsamic Vinagrette, has a good amount of fat from mono and poly sources. I prefer Newman's Own since there is nothing hydrogenated or high fructose corn syrup. So, if this fits in the scheme of the diet, I'd try it out to help your macros.

[Blackjack]

OK, so I went to see an ortho today to look at my shoulder. He reviewed my MRI, X-Ray and the notes from the PT and agreed with the rotator cuff tendonitis. He gave me a cortisone shot in the Bursa (sp?) and I guess we'll wait and see.

So for working out, I'm going to do a short, intense TT workout. I'll probably start with the Original TT (again) but will only do 6 total sets plus warm-up. Hopefully, that will give me 10-15mins to do some shoulder rehab exercises. If I was to say that the TT workouts lacked anything, I guess it would be that - not enough pre-hab type of work. I don't think the workouts are good to do back-to-back continously. I think to have to take some time every now and again to strengthen the individual body parts to prevent injury. An example...leg extensions. Generally, frowed upon as a single joint exercise that isn't that efficient. Craig would never call for them in a TT workout. However, it is a great exercise for strengthening and stablilzing your knees. So you need to do them every now and again.

Today, hunger is a pretty serious issue. I tried the SPIKE with little or no effect. Maybe Hot-Rox does do a better job of supressing my appetite. Maybe it's because I took two Hot-Rox and only one SPIKE. I don't have the sweats and the shakes like I tend to get with the Hot-Rox however. I'll experiment further. I seem to be hungry even right after I eat. I agree, I do need more fats...those will also hopefully help me stay fuller longer. I've got some olive oil to put on my veggies for meal 3 today and ate some dry-roasted peanuts with meal 2.

Still struggling with hunger pains. Hopefully, sipping diet soda will help.

Should I be counting my fish oil caps in my fat intake? Not sure.

[Kevin Larrabee]

Originally Posted by Blackjack

OK, so I went to see an ortho today to look at my shoulder. He reviewed my MRI, X-Ray and the notes from the PT and agreed with the rotator cuff tendonitis. He gave me a cortisone shot in the Bursa (sp?) and I guess we'll wait and see.

So for working out, I'm going to do a short, intense TT workout. I'll probably start with the Original TT (again) but will only do 6 total sets plus warm-up. Hopefully, that will give me 10-15mins to do some shoulder rehab exercises. If I was to say that the TT workouts lacked anything, I guess it would be that - not enough pre-hab type of work. I don't think the workouts are good to do back-to-back continously. I think to have to take some time every now and again to strengthen the individual body parts to prevent injury. An example...leg extensions. Generally, frowed upon as a single joint exercise that isn't that efficient. Craig would never call for them in a TT workout. However, it is a great exercise for strengthening and stablilzing your knees. So you need to do them every now and again.

Today, hunger is a pretty serious issue. I tried the SPIKE with little or no effect. Maybe Hot-Rox does do a better job of supressing my appetite. Maybe it's because I took two Hot-Rox and only one SPIKE. I don't have the sweats and the shakes like I tend to get with the Hot-Rox however. I'll experiment further. I seem to be hungry even right after I eat. I agree, I do need more fats...those will also hopefully help me stay fuller longer. I've got some olive oil to put on my veggies for meal 3 today and ate some dry-roasted peanuts with meal 2.

Still struggling with hunger pains. Hopefully, sipping diet soda will help.

Should I be counting my fish oil caps in my fat intake? Not sure.

Bursa- Sack of fluid in the shoulder socket, thank you anatomy 1 and 2.

[Kevin Larrabee]

Originally Posted by Blackjack

An example...leg extensions. Generally, frowed upon as a single joint exercise that isn't that efficient. Craig would never call for them in a TT workout. However, it is a great exercise for strengthening and stablilzing your knees. So you need to do them every now and again.

Alwyn will kick you ass if you do those. Not good for the knees. Risk/Reward ratio is too shitty.

[Kevin Larrabee]

Originally Posted by Blackjack

Should I be counting my fish oil caps in my fat intake? Not sure.

Yes, and maybe you should get some sugar free Jello to help the sweat tooth.

[RacerBill]

Good luck with the diet! I read the whole article and it seems like a solid but tough plan. Can't wait to see your results.

Take care of the shoulder and don't overdo it.

[galya]

Blackjack, how's your water intake?
You should be drinking a lot.
I hope the supplements do something for you, I am going minimalistic as usual.
Hunger is a normal part of any diet, don't stress. Get shredded feels extreme now, but just think how uncomfortable that is for your body and how much it has to adjust (lose fat that is).
Also, peanut butter and sour cream are great fat choices. You can use sour cream to mix your tuna with, it's great. You get fuller on less calories with cottage cheese, chicken breasts, egg whites and more green veggies. Crystal Light sounds like help with the greens, juice is an absolute no-no. I have some issues with mixing a healthy product like greens with something artifical like crystal light, maybe look for a stevia alternative (like make a shake with strawberries, greens and stevia + some water instead of using CL)
If you post your menu I will make sure I check it out Don't waste your calories on nuts unless you really have to (like me, I was working in front of a huge bowl of cashews all day yesterday so I just replaced a meal with them, but that doesn't make me successful, only human)
Looking forward to your progess, you guys lose fat so fast!

[milkman21]

I'm going to watch your results carefully, as I'm really curious about this diet plan. Good luck!

[Blackjack]

Thanks for all the input!

Last night was very tough but I've discovered I'm dealing with an old issue that for some reason this diet has brought back. I have a hiadal (sp?) hernia which means that my stomach bulges through the "valve" at the top of my stomach that keeps acid out of my esophagus. When this kicks up, I get extreme pain every time my stomach is empty...which is a lot with this diet. You can feel better as soon as you eat something and it progressively gets worse as your stomach empties. The pain was so intense yesterday when I got home from work I almost didn't want to eat, but I knew it was the only thing that was going to make it better.

So I ended up eating dinner that was within the diet but then had a MD shake a couple hours later. I thought I would be ok, but then it woke me up at 11pm and I had to eat something else - so I had a glass of 2% & a couple slices of cheese. This is as bad as it has been in the past...it'll wake me up out of a dead sleep. It's like my gut is on fire!!

So I picked up some Prilosec this a.m. and will take that for the prescribed 14 days and that has worked well in the past. This issue crops up every 6-9 months or so but I usually react well to the meds. The wierd thing is that it usually follows some event like puking due to the flu or something. But this diet may have triggered it this time.

That being said...

Back into the gym today. Felt good after taking three days off. Did the original TT workout and I know I've said this before, but this is an incredible workout. I mean, you look at it on paper, and it doesn't seem difficult. But you end up huffing and puffing and sweating all over the place. Doing 4 exercises! Ballantyne knows his stuff, that's for sure.

RDL + DB Bench Press (3X8)
Rev Lunch + 1-arm Shoulder Press (3X12)

That's it! See what I mean?! Get the weights up to where you can finish the set without it being easy and rest 60 seconds between sets. Trust me...it's not easy. You can practically feel your metabolism go up after this workout...no kidding. And I did it in less than 40-min (including my warmup).

So as for the diet, I'm going to focus more on the daily totals and not necessarily the meal totals. So I will most likely eat half the meals every couple of hours to help keep food in my stomach longer. But hopefully, by the end of the day, the totals will be in line.

Galya, I'd love for you to take a look at my menu and provide comment! I do eat the nuts in smaller portions because the fiber helps me stay full. My body is not used to this few of calories and keeping busy helps me keep my mind off food. I sit at a desk all day so it is not ideal. Today will be tough - I have a 4-hour meeting/training session to sit through so...

I have deviated from the diet this morning in that I drank a protein shake with gatorade around my workout. Berardi wants all protein from whole foods and no sugar. But when you workout at 5:30am, getting carbs/protein quickly into my system is really needed. May eliminate the gatorade next week if things don't happen as quickly as they should. But protein/carb-wise I'm still within the limits, somewhat.

I make a shake with 16oz of gatorade, 1scoop whey, serving of Greens Plus, creatine. Drink half before and half after workout. Also took fish oil, multi and hot rox for energy. No BCAA since the whey already has 5g. About an hour after the workout, I made another shake with a scoop of whey, creatine and BCAA in Crystal Light. BTW, got my ON BCAA yesterday...not too impressed. Doesn't disolve that well and makes whatever you're drinking it in taste funny. But that's probably common to BCAA, no matter the brand. The pills that Biotest has are sounding like a good idea at this point.

I'll log in the rest of my food later...this post is long enough.

P.S. Out of curiousity I got on the scale this a.m. and am under 210lbs for the first time in close to a year. I weighed in at 214lbs a few days ago. There probably just some normal fluctuation in there, but I'm sure a couple of pounds of fat are gone as well. It's not water weight, because I've been drinking like a fish to try and keep my stomach full (about 1.5gallons per day or so).