The Rise of the Zombie Neanderthal
I’ve been avoiding taking the time to write because my brain simply isn’t working as it used to. But every day that I don’t, I feel I am doing a disservice to myself and those following my experience. So I’m biting the bullet and doing this damn thing.
Last I checked in I was seriously ill. I thought I was better when I wrote my last post on Medium, but it wasn’t until even a few days after that I actually felt good enough to get after it in the gym and act like a normal person again. Stupid recovery time, man.
I started carb cycling a couple weeks ago with the intention of subtly getting myself into a lower calorie phase. There’s a lot of speculation on what carb cycling is good for and how it can be applied to fat loss and aesthetics. I considered getting into that with this post, but ultimately there’s not a whole lot of scientific evidence for any of it and no one seems to agree on the matter so I’d rather not muddy my hands. What I will say is that my application for carb cycling is much more concrete and can easily be separated from all the weird information out there. I’m not carb cycling with the intention of increasing insulin sensitivity or efficiency (which is the reason a lot of people decide to cycle. And, unfortunately, the science has yet to guarantee this is the actual result of cycling your carbs). If I am becoming more sensitive to insulin production that’s superb, but I’d rather not bank on it. Instead, I’m using a three day rotation to promote a decrease in calories while still fueling my body as optimally as I can. My three day cycle starts at 150 (day 1) then 100 (day two) and finally 50 (day 3) grams of carbs. I adjust my calories accordingly. My highest calorie days are my 150 carb ones. These days I’ll plan a decent workout as the extra carbs and calories generally give me some good energy to run on. On my moderate carb days (100g), I’ll lower my calories, but not by much. I can generally still get in a decent workout. My own theory is that a moderate carb day, combined with having just had a higher carb day, leaves me with enough fuel to still feel good in the gym. The third day (low carb) is always the hardest because it is the lowest calorie…. and because I love carbs. I try to make sure I save my easier workouts for these days as my energy is often low. Ultimately, by cycling like this I can eat lower calorie without being a zombie ALL the time.
Plot twist:
I’m still carb cycling, but now, on top of that, I’m pushing movement big time. In other words, cardio is life… Or death. However you want to look at it really…
So what’s that mean for the phase are we in now? We will call it the Zombie-Neanderthal phase.
Let me elaborate, remember how I said I wasn’t a zombie ALL the time? That was then. Now I’m moving so excessively that my body is perpetually in a zombie like state. I feel heavy (even though I’m nearly 10 pounds down from my usual weight) and coordination is out the window.
The coordination part probably has just as much to do with physical as it does with cognitive fatigue.
It wasn’t until yesterday that I’d accepted my cognitive demise. I was speaking with a woman who is no novice in the body building game. She has a competition the same day as I do and was explaining to me that it’s around this time where she starts to flat out forget things. I looked at her, confused, thinking to myself, “Nah I don’t feel that yet. I’m sharp. It’s going to take more to do me in.” Later that day I forgot two separate appointments I had scheduled days in advance. If you know me, you know I’m a planner. I’m punctual and waiting on people when they’re late is a huge pet peeve of mine. The fact that I’d spaced on two separate occasions in one day, obviously catastrophic. What was weird, though, was that I didn’t have what I’d normally call ‘mental fog.’ That feeling you get when you know you’re forgetting something but can’t seem to sort through the clouds in your head. I didn’t feel that way. I felt acute, but these events I’d forgotten just weren’t in my memory. Like they were removed and no longer accessible as opposed to shrouded by clouds. Since then I keep having those incidences of feeling sharp as a whistle only to later realize I’d forgotten a whole gang of things I told myself to remember earlier that day.
This is what the whole Neanderthal part of this phase is about. On top of forgetting things, talking too requires a new level of conscious cognitive effort. Kinda how speaking in a foreign language feels when you’re just starting to get the hang of it and decide to take on the challenge of holding a conversation with a native speaker. So. Much. Effort. I have to formulate sentences in my head before speaking because fluidity is out the window. Then, there’s the occasion that I decide to put in less effort on the assumption that the person I’m communicating with knows me well enough to understand what I’m trying to say. During these instances, I can only relate the product of my efforts to what I imagine dialogue among Neanderthal’s to look and sound like.
We’re a week out now. At this point every day is a new adventure. Coach and I have yet to plan out exactly what the coming week will look like. I’ll do my best to keep writing through the process, regardless of my mental and physical state.
