My UD2 experience...

[Spliff]

...and I'm quite pleased


For those unaware, UD2 is an 8 week diet and training routine devised by the gawd Lyle McDonald as an attempt to shed bodyfat white maintaining or gaining muscle. This diet stood out to me because my squat was after last years cut.

The week looked like:

Monday: 50% maintenance calories, depletion workout, cardio optional
Tuesday: 50% maintenance calories, depletion workout, cardio optional
Wednesday: 50% maintenance calories, cardio optional
Thursday morning: 75% of Mon-Wed's calories, cardio optional
Thursday evening: "Tension" workout, begin carb-load
Friday: continue carb-load
Saturday: Diet variable, power workout
Sunday: Diet variable


Results:

I didn't take before pics for the purpose of comparing with after pics, so they're not the most ideal poses. Regardless...


Comparison shots:

Spoiler

Randoms shots:

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before last carb load, woke up like

lol

Comments in next post (image limit)...

 

[Spliff]

Comments...

-Weight fluctuation was wild throughout the week. I'd drop down to 178 and up to 190... this was during my last week! Lol. Atleast I know how to manipulate my appearance in a short timeframe now.



-Depletion workouts are a miserable experience. This is echoed throughout the entire internet, but you have no idea til you live through it.



-Workouts can be long as fukk if you dilly dally in the slightest. Depletion-wo lasted 1hr45m or more. Power workouts were 2 hours WITH antagonist supersets. Perhaps there are ways to make this shorter but fukk it I had nothin but free time.



-Depletion workouts helped me see what machines/exercises worked best for me. It doesn't matter how you lift, as long as the targeted muscle is under tension for a specific amount of time. I tested out a lot of different equipment and pretty much found my staples. This will be a huge help in the long run.



-Eating 1200 calories or lower was easier than I thought. This could have been due to the "magic" of intermittent fasting, or simply a by product of low carb keto. Either way, I'll definitely be implementing these type of deficits next Leangains cut.



-Mood swings, oh the mood swings. Mon = happy. Tues = crabby. Wed = pissed off easily. Thursday AM = . Friday-Sunday: . Is this what a woman's cycle feels like?



-The most helpful supplements/food products that got me through the low cal days seamlessly were EC, Glutamine, Magnesium, Zinc, and Lite Salt sprinkled on everything. I felt "it" the next day if I skimped on any of these.



-Megadosing vitamin C and glutamine at the onset of a cold really does work. Knocked out a normal 6 week cold in 4 days during my 3rd week.



-The immense carb load was fun. Usually ate between 1100-1200g carbs from white pasta, white bagels, smarties, frosted flakes, and sugar free strawberry jam. I'd take a shot of apple cider vinegar if hunger became a problem. I also took 20-25g creatine throughout



-The result of the carb/creatine load left me feeling like goku after Kaoikenx3: muscles filled out and felt like I could lift a bus. They call this "glycogen supercompensation," where your muscles store way more glycogen than normal due to being glycogen depleted half the week. This results in surprising strength in the weight room.



That's all I can think of atm. Feel free to ask questions.

Overall, this is easily the most effective diet I've ever been on. Honestly, I should've waited til I was a little lower in bodyfat to start for some really remarkable results.

Would I do it again? Not unless I'm entering a competition, or have to stunt on nikkas in a short time frame. The routine is STRICT. No way would I want to go through this with a 9-5, and family (atleast mine) can't go without trynna fukk everything up. But that's just me. If anybody has enough free time and willing to do as the book says I'd definitely recommend it.


Taking two week diet break, then I'm going to Leangains the way it started before it had to get watered down for the masses. Interesting what you can find when you do some digging.

 

[Houston911]

 

[krackdagawd]

Looking thick, solid and tight


I wouldn't put myself through that but props to you breh

 

[MMS]

 

[vert]

was your intent to lose 8-10lbs or a few % bf? was there a specific reason you felt this was better than more traditional diets? it seems kind of torturous if you're only out to lose one pound a week so thats why im curious.

so you kept your strength or increased it on all your lifts?

did you get at least 1g protein per lb of lbm daily?

 

[krackdagawd]

I'm going to send you a pm with a few lean gains questions, going to try it to see if it's easier to hit 8% that way.

 

[jadillac]

What u do for abs?

 

[Spliff]

was your intent to lose 8-10lbs or a few % bf? was there a specific reason you felt this was better than more traditional diets? it seems kind of torturous if you're only out to lose one pound a week so thats why im curious.

so you kept your strength or increased it on all your lifts?

did you get at least 1g protein per lb of lbm daily?

My intent was to lose a substantial amount of weight while retaining muscle. The book claimed the potential to GAIN muscle while losing fat, but I didn't prioritize that aspect initially. I just didn't want my squat to go to shyt again. Many people have marveled at the results. It helps I hold the author in high regard, also. I had nothing but free time so I decided to dive in and try a time tested method. Some of the physiological aspects of this diet are pretty interesting. Experiencing them would only help me understand myself in the long run. For instance, now I know what a proper refeed should feed like vs. a sloppy one and that training fasted off days of 900-1200 calories doesn't hinder performance to a great degree.

My strength mostly increased.

There wasn't one day where I didn't have atleast 1g/lb lean mass. Think I averaged 200-220g protein, even during the carb load. But I hit these number even when I don't diet.

The only thing I felt torturous was leg presses on depletion days. I'll never get used to that burn. Wednesday was rough mentally due to being short tempered. Staying productive easily helped. I prolly coulda popped a 5-HTP to handle it, but I wasn't sure if that would negate the the ephedrine to some degree.

The weekends are actually more lenient than I might've let on. I've been to multiple parties and have eaten WAY over maintenance on a couple Sundays when it's supposed to be +10% at most. I just made sure Mon-Friday was dialed in to the T.

I'm going to send you a pm with a few lean gains questions, going to try it to see if it's easier to hit 8% that way.

No doubt.

There was some disgruntled trainee that just recently leaked all Martins consulting information.

LeanGains Exposed

Has download links to his personal faq, progression, and a spreadsheet.

Haven't read the files yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it really is just rehashed information he posted on Lyle's forums years ago. Either way,

What u do for abs?

When I do abs, it's weighted crunches on a physioball.

 

[HookersandIceCream]

 

[vert]

could you elaborate a little on what a depletion workout is? is it just the fact you're doing a lot of volume when you aren't getting a lot of carb intake to replenish it?

were you following your own workout regiment? u mentioned leg presses being tough, and i was just wondering if that was an exercise you always did

i was curious about this diet because i lost like 15lbs in a fast time period(too fast) but i lost a fair amount of strength in some lifts so i know i lost a fair amount of muscle. i am a natural ectomorph, so its easy for me to lose weight or get lean, so i wasn't really counting calories and i lost a fair amount of fat but my bench has gone down like 10% for working sets. i HATE losing strength especially if i'm not in a detrained state. i think i've gotten better at understanding how to diet and actually monitor my intake and my lifts aren't going down anymore and some of them are still increasing as i try to get below 10%bf.

props on your results. you def don't look any smaller at 182 and at some angles you look bigger.

 

[MMS]

depletion workouts are heavy hypertrophy laden days just before the carb up, if im not mistaken

 

[hawaii]

impressive.. was already thinking about doing it.. just might in a few weeks

 

[andre patton]

can you post links to the entire workout as well as the full details of the diet?

how many week were in between 190lbs and 182lbs? how tall are you? you were perfect (no homo) at 190lbs its amazing you actually managed to perfect perfect.

 

[-G$-]

can you post links to the entire workout as well as the full details of the diet?

this.

i'm moreso interested in your workout plan than what you actually ate but i'd love to see both.

major props to you for following thru w it though, it sounds more grueling than anything i'd have the liberty to take on given my life and commitments. i'm part in awe , part jealous , part curious , part coming to terms that i'll never look like that .

looking great breh.