The Best Laid Scheme

I've planned it out for 20 weeks, but the last four get kind of hairy because xmas and new year's fall right on weeks 17 and 18. Diet isn't a problem, but the gym is going to be closed. If I get through that, then I have two weeks to do some crazy lo-carb no-carb shredding thing because I will look so freakin' awesome by then, right =)?

Diet:

• start off with 2 weeks of fibrous veggie/protein/fat because I CAN. I'm not restricting veggies by color or anything because radishes and cauliflower are fibrous and tasty. The main thing here is to stuff in as many veg as possible and get used to eating a variety.
  
  
• Then I'll take two weeks to ease out and move into a standard carb tapering kind of diet and see how that goes. The main thing will be to keep my calories up and not be too extremely restrictive with the carbs so in case I need to tweak I'll have somewhere to go. I'll probably play with carb and calorie cycling as well.
  
  
• I'll take a cheat day every two weeks, the point being to re-feed and remind myself of the different things I could be eating and get some ideas for healthy revisions. When there's a social event during the two weeks I'll cut it down to a half day.
  
  
• The main focus points will be to eat lots of veg, keep the calories up, and eat a variety of foods (no buying 12# sacks at the price club). Supps will stay the same.
  
  
• I'm going to lighten up and get some emergency meals to carry around. I think a commercial protein bar is better than a huge mochaccino and a bagel.
  

Exercise

• I'm going to do 5 week cycles: 4 weeks of lifting/hiit and four days of active rest where I'll sleep in, go to the gym and do anything but lifting/hiit for 45 min and go to TKD as usual. I'm hoping this will prevent overreaching and burnout and keep me hankering for the weights.
  
  
• There are bizillions of different programs out there and none will do me any good if I get bored and sick. The main thing is to wreck myself and be happy (maybe someday I'll develop the attention span to go through a 16 week program).
  
  
• Again, I think variety is key so I'll mix in a few super-heavy machine days, plyometrics, etc. On ice-storm or -40 days I will lift at home.
  
  
• On weeks when the gym is only open for a few days I'll prioritize weights over HIIT and go outside and hike or ski for the other days.

Goals:

• 1) be compliant and consistent 2) evaluate regularly 3) tweak as needed
  
• I'm not setting any weight/BF goals because then I start extrapolating, graphing and getting upset at my lack of progress. Maybe as a treat I can graph AFTER it's all done =)
  
• evaluation will be scale, tape, Omron, comparison jeans, monthly pix, compliance charts. Apparently the Omron reads high so I'm not going to freak when it says I'm 30%BF, it's just a number and I'm going to watch it go down.
• also - not be a social outcast. If people can travel and be compliant, I can figure out some way to not have to avoid gatherings.

Should it all aft gang agley brush it off and get back on the wagon. If I get sick I will rest and eat so I can get back in the gym sooner. Injury isn't a problem because I'm good at working around those.

And finally: NO DIET SODA! I mean, it's pointless, expensive, unhealthy and banning it will add focus to these 20 weeks. I think Stevia-sweetened cold green tea will be a nice substitute.