Some odd things going on at this early stage.

Usually, when I am dragging ass I am flat as hell.  Even without carbs and not Skiploading last weekend (or this coming weekend), I am remarkably full - or at least relatively full in that I anticipated being much flatter than I actually am.

Training poundages did take a hit because I am not loading, but nothing too bad.  I would say that I am not necessarily down in strength as much as the same weights feel much heavier.  It's that feeling when you get under the bar and feel like it won't move very many times but you can just keep going, grinding out slow rep after slow rep.

I have also found that pumps aren't that bad ... but only after I get well into my workout.  Usually, I can hit the first 2 or 3 working sets for each body part and be pretty pumped.  Now, I have to get halfway through a body part before the pump is maxed and then ride it out as long as I can.

Volume is up, as well.  I am taking advantage of the change in my workout split and wanting to deplete more so I upped the volume.  I would guess the increase to be roughly 25%, give or take.

I am curious as to how I am going to look after I finally load the weekend after next.  I am trying hard to not look that far down the pike but I find myself wondering. 

I am right around 216 at this point and though I am not "shredded" or "ripped",  I think I am as full - if not fuller - than I have been at this weight in the past.  I am definitely a bit leaner, as well.  And keep in mind that I have done no cardio to this point.  Outside of training, I am incredibly sedentary.

One of the main things I have seen with this keto approach is that there really can't be an argument for "calories in vs. calories out" because that camp is just plain wrong based on my results from keto (I knew this, anyway, but I am just saying that my results prove it).  I say this because at this caloric intake I would not be getting leaner with carbs in my diet, daily.  I have proven this time and time again in the past and at my age, my metabolism is certainly not getting BETTER.  It is almost certainly getting worse.  The days are gone of eating 300g of carbs per day and having to increase them due to dropping weight too quickly.  This happened during my prep in 2004 as I was just going over old logs a couple of days ago.

I think the only thing I am not a big fan of right now is training on the weekends.  I just don't enjoy it until I am actually there.  I would much rather train during the week, like I have done for the last several preps, and use the weekends to train only when I absolutely need to, due to scheduling issues during the week with my kid's functions, sports, etc..

At the same time that I don't like training on the weekends, I have to admit that it keeps me much more focused on my training and the goals I have in front of me.  I basically look at each week as if there are no Saturdays and Sundays.  This last Tuesday I thought it was Wednesday because my brain was equating Sunday with the first day of the week due to that being my first workout of my rotation after having Saturday as a rest day.

This weekend I will train both Saturday and Sunday and this works out quite well because the following Sunday I am off for a rest day and I can Skipload for the first time in about 3 weeks.  From there, I will decide if I am going to stay on this rotation and train through the weekends or if I will stay with the same rotation but schedule Saturdays and Sundays off moving forward.  I am on the fence right now.  However, if everything continues to go as it is going now as far as progress and feeling good, I won't fix what ain't broke and I will stay with the same schedule.