Next week I have to take pictures as it will be 4 weeks into this new gaining phase. A lot of things have been happening in the last 3 weeks that I didn't anticipate happening and it is keeping this process enjoyable.
The biggest change is that I am ravenous. The increase in calories has apparently turned on my furnace and it is on overdrive or something. Initially, I was mildly concerned about the increase in calories because I wondered if it was possibly too large of a jump and that I might start to gain body fat, but that does not seem to be happening, at all. In fact, I MIGHT be slightly tighter or I am just fuller and because I am fuller, my skin seems thinner. I have more vascularity, though, for sure. My quads and legs are significantly more vascular.
How it plays out is this:
I Skipload Saturday night right before bed and all day on Sunday. I am not forcing the food, but I am getting as full as I can without being uncomfortable. As I stated in a coach log a couple weeks ago, I am not hammering down carb-heavy foods all day as I have in the past while getting lean. I am getting a good amount of protein with my Skiploads now and a lot of vegetables and some fruits where in the past I have not done this. Though I still will have a carb-heavy breakfast and usually a dinner of a burger and fries, the food in between is nowhere near as heavy, opting for fruit and vegetable salads and quinoa and farro salads from Fresh Market.
I am REALLY full for Monday and Tuesday - like sick-full. By Wednesday, the fullness has dissipated quite a bit and by Thursday I am basically starting to run out of gas while training. This is a huge concern because this hasn't happened until just the last 2 weeks. When my energy and fullness is low on Fridays, it isn't as big of a deal because the Friday workout is a repeat of the muscles worked on Mondays, so I tend to do this session with a fast pace, lower weights and slightly higher reps along with more isolation. I am not at all trying to set PRs on Fridays. Still, I obviously want a productive workout.
The only thing that I believe has changed in the last 2 weeks to coincide with the drop in fullness and energy later in the week, is I have become ravenously hungry. I hypothesize that this is happening for 2 reasons:
1. my IGF levels are pretty high after supplementing these levels for about 4 months now.
2. Combine the above with the fact that I am not forcing as much carb-heavy food on my Skipload days.
It seems like an easy fix: Go back to forcing more food on the Skipload day. I am not convinced this is going to work but to check this, I loaded this last weekend for 2 full days (Sat and Sun). If I get through this week and Thursday's workout is great, I will know right away that it is likely a load issue. If this doesn't work, I then have to figure out whether to add more calories to my regular diet mid-week with more clean carbs and fats or I COULD play with my Skipload and cut it down to loading only on Sunday all day and then for 1 or 2 meals after I train on Wednesday nights in the evening. Loading on Wednesdays might hold some promise to fill me out quite a bit mid-week to sustain Thursday and Friday workouts.
First things first, I need to see how I feel on Thursday and evaluate whether the longer Skipload this last weekend benefited me or not. I will be honest, loading for 2 days when not in a deficit is concerning to me because I do not want body fat levels to go up.
Aside from this small issue, everything is going very well. PRs yesterday on legs again and lower back is holding up well as my leg strength improves, so that is promising. I do admit that the fatigue of my lower back is starting to be an issue because I get so pumped in my lower back that it is uncomfortable until the pump subsides. What I have been doing is using leg curls and leg extensions after my first compound exercise for legs, to kind of let my lower back "unpump" a bit and then going to another compound leg exercise is no problem.
I am also consistently doing glute work and I am going to make glute work a regular part of my leg sessions for this year. I have never done this and I feel it not only will help for development but also for stability to further improve stabilization of my lower back as strength continues to climb for back and leg exercises.
This next month (February) is going to be a big one. Supplementation will change a bit including a "preworkout" and I anticipate quite a jump in strength, fullness and an even better overall look. Combine that with me figuring out the diet issues and everything should be clicking quite well.