Week: 6 (Strength)
First week back from reading week. You can definitely see that my mid section has increased a thin layer of fat on top. Trying to catch up on cardio, ease off drinking and get my diet back. Still in strength phase, getting stronger but not leaner :(

I was watching this show on SLICE network called X-WEIGHTED. The nutritionist came to one of the fat girls house and checked her fridge, found a shit load of "DIET" drinks and threw them out. Apparently aspartame kills your metabolism (aside from the 100000000 other negative side effects).
This was kind of a wake up call for me, because during reading week my momskers bought a 2-4 of Diet coke and I pretty much finished the whole box.
I admit I have a soft spot for "DIET" drinks because it's like a way of obtaining the pleasure without trade-offs. However I feel that this is one of the main reasons why I gained a lot of fat during the reading week and its time to throw that habit out the window.

"The fact that aspartame fattens people is generally well known. We have all seen the post cards and comics that depict an overweight person with a Diet Coke in one hand while reaching for a bowl of corn chips with the other hand. The reason aspartame so strikingly stimulates the appetite is it provides over half of its content in a form of a phenylalanine isolate.


The amino acid phenylalanine outcompetes all the other at enzyme sites in the body. This suppresses the formation of dopamine from tyrosine and the formation of serotonin from tryptophan. The serotonin is the neurotransmitter that reports carbohydrate metabolism. When your serotonin levels are not allowed to raise as they normally do when you eat carbohydrates you crave more and more food. The dopamine is the neurotransmitter that lets you feel satisfied, so when you use aspartame you have unsatisfiable cravings. The aspartame also poisons your metabolism so you cannot burn calories." ---> http://www.rense.com/general3/asper.htm