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This is my fifth run with The Blueprint, so I'm to the point of being very comfortable with the famine/fast phase and the subsequent "gold mine" that follows, to preface my comments and notations.

My thoughts going into this particular cycle is to optimize detox/fasting effects in the famine phase via a raw foods diet.

The following is a general outline and observations, not a detailed training log.

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Saturday 3/28: Blow off day/night. Consumed super high protein all day, more or less to "burn myself out" on it, which tricks one into seeing the famine as a nice change of pace (at least until day three!).

9:30a Breakfast: Three organic eggs for breakfast, sunny side up, spouted grain high protein toast w/ honey and hot Bigelow mint tea. Multi-Life, Alkaplex, Probiotic Pearl supplements.

1p'ish Lunch: Half a chicken from the local charity drive, plus the chips, slaw and all. Sweet tea (sadly not Luzianne, thus not the best).

4pm: 4 scoops MASS PRO Amino, 1 Kre-Anabolyn, 1 Multi-Life.

4:20pm: Bike ride. About 45 minutes, pushing it hard, although that was not my intention going into it. Vitamin D absorption from mother nature.

No other training performed today (last free weight session was Friday night and purposely limited).

7:30: Massive seafood dinner at Papa Deaux with Angie. Four courses, seriously. She eats like a bird and commented, "where do you put it all and not weigh 300 pounds?"... I just smile and say, "remember, I do Yoga same as you". Two Manhattan's to "prep" catabolism", lol. Jazz club after (her choice, I'd suggested Blind Willies for Blues). Two tall black coffee's there, again to kick start catabolism secondary because Sunday brings the start of the famine.

Sunday 3/28: We want catabolism, right? Just for a week... Arrive home wee hours, and decide to stay up and continue to listen to Coast to Coast AM until it's finish at 5am. Wanted to make a breakfast of many eggs, but resisted. Then, sleep until-

10:45a: Juiced two small granny smith apples, two celery stalks, two carrots w/ stalks. Skipped all usual supplements on purpose. Huge amounts of house cleaning, and then outdoor chores following until late afternoon when my son arrived back home.

6:30p: Spinach Pasta w/ artichokes. Heavy EVO, capers, fresh basil and all the trimmings... basically, my "goodbye" to heavy carbs for a few days. Stayed up until past 1a working on business.

Monday 3/30: Awake 6:10a. Juiced fruits/veggies same as above, and again skipping the usual supplement handful outside of Ultimate Omega.

6:45a: Power Yoga as my son gets ready for school. This is the Dallas Page "YRG" style with lots of isometrics. It's demanding, and I pushed it.

1p: Huge self prepared organic salad at Jason's Deli. A half pound of veggies, seriously. A single hard boiled egg as a swan song to protein...

5:30: Bike ride. I put in an hour, solid. None of the usual supplements before or after. In fact, two shots of Van Winkle after.

8:40p: Roasted beats in EVO and rosemary, liter of water, and early to bed.

Tuesday 4:15a: Early to rise! All manner of business work/prep, plus domestic. A set of pull ups to absolute failure outside on the bar around 6am. YRG workout at 7am, nothing special. Veg/fruit juicing after returning from my sons school at 8:15.

Long day of business work follows, especially demanding. 5:30p, an hour of biking. I skipped lunch totally, not so much by design, but then again sort of...

6:45: My massive salad. Mixed greens, broc and bean sprouts, EVO, lime juice, salt/pepper, red bell pepper, good dash of hot pepper, raw goat cheese... water. No supps.

Wednesday 4/1: Up early again, but starting to seriously feel the lack of protein... Juiced vegs/fruit around 9am, the usual mix. I skipped lunch, tired and uninspired. Wanting to nap and leaving all office work to Ashley PM. Errands consumed my day. Bank, post office, print shop, accountant, my daughters, grocery, etc. "Dead" of energy at 4p and called Rob to comment the same, expecting to totally fail lifting tonight.

6:30p: TJ arrives way early wanting to talk training/diet/supps, and I hardly feel like it but oblige. He goes on up to the weight room 30 later and I hear him lifting his ass off, after I begged off to "eat". I have the same old Carol Alt loaded raw salad 7:30ish... Mark arrives at 8:20, as TJ and I are again talking training/diet/supps (he's training for MMA)... I plead that I'm "famine" and not to dis me for falling short tonight. They call me a puss anyway, lol.

8:30: Holy cow... I'm up in bar weight, reps and even adding extra sets. This isn't "supposed" to happen and is most unusual for a famine phase, but I'm taking it and chalking it up to perfect timing of eating raw foods pre-workout until further notice.

Thursday 4/2: Upon awakening, some residual muscle soreness was apparent and I felt quite "wrung out", which was a good sign to me. I was a bit "worried" by the gym increases the night before, but I'm hitting catabolism right on time, nonetheless. Breakfast of the usual vegg/fruit juicing and multi-life/probiotic pearl. Ultimate Omega taken alone mid morning.

1p: A bowl of Amy's organic tomato soup and mineral water, plus Multi-Life and Alkaplex caps. Energy level is in the dirt, kaput.

4:30p: YRG workout. It went better than I expected given my lack of energy, until the final 15 minutes. I was toast by then.

7:30: Huge raw salad of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, sprouts, liberal amounts of my seed blend (flax/sesame/pumpkin/sunflower), EVO, salt/pepper and Bragg apple cider vinegar. I was very tempted to add one hard boiled egg to ease on out of the famine/fast stage, but resisted. This comes tomorrow, I reminded myself, and stayed the course.

10ish: A small bowl of popcorn while watching wrestling on Spike, then to bed at 11. I was feeling extremely weak physically and wishing I could sleep in, but it's prohibited as my son has school first AM Friday...

This is great. 5th run with The Blueprint and it sounds like you've hit on something that works (at least for your physiology) with the raw foods.

Brainsquirt's journal piqued my interest tonight where he spoke of the "almost high feeling" of euphoria he's experiencing in day 3. I know we've both noted that too but interesting he made the connection with his Warrior style diet/near fast. It truly is an incredible experience if you've never been through it before.

Best of luck this go around. And another wrinkle for Blueprint users to note: Try raw foods during at least one Blueprint cycle, at least in the Famine phase. 5 days isn't very long to food shop/experiment and as we're seeing here, the upside with raw foods might just pleasantly surprise you.

Friday 4/3, 6am: Awoke dry as the Sahara and quite disoriented. I drank a quart of water right away. I'm totally there, right on schedule. It's always day 5 when I "know" - which in a way was technically yesterday since I basically started famine on Sunday - but for some it comes to full realization by day 4. I'm sick of juicing at this point for the week, but do so anyway and guzzle it to be done with it. Multi-Life, probiotic pearl and mint tea follow.

8:45: Planning mentally to hit the weights one last time at 10am, doing very high reps to force out any last bit before easing out of the famine. My first taste of protein will be a sushi tuna roll at Tokyo Rocks mid afternoon, I've decided, and a bowl of miso soup there. As with the final hard boiled egg on Monday, I've found it's best for a number of reasons to not be too drastic when cutting/adding the protein. Tonight, before bed I'll have my first Adaptogen N caps in a week and Saturday is when I'll go full bore with very high protein coupled with Kre-Anabolyn, etc.

I did not utilize caffeinated tea to prop up energy levels during this famine phase as I have in the past. No doubt, I remained calmer and "handled" the rough spots better because of it. It does help ones energy, but also gives a definite increase to an irritated state of mind, at least for me. It could be argued that it adds an additional "positive" stress factor, I suppose, but it's not best for me. Overall, I have an especially good vibe about this run and what's to come... more later!

Friday 4/3, 1:30p: One Kre-Anabolyn cap, twenty minutes later miso soup and 9 pieces Sashimi (tuna, salmon, yellow fin) and one spicy tuna sushi roll.

By the way, I essentially agree with Rob on cheap canned tuna being a lousy protein source for muscle building. Same for most cooked fish, re his comments in BP. However, I politely disagree, and strongly, in regards to sashimi grade raw fish, I must say.

2:30p: All is right with the world.

7p: Kre-Anabolyn, followed by two Chicken breasts and a small side of pasta. Quart of water.

No training today, to bed 10ish (I forgot to take my Adaptogen N dosage).

Saturday 4/4, 7:30a: Two scoops MASS PRO Amino, one Kre-Anabolyn.

8:15a: Two organic eggs sunny side up, Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted high protein bread toasted w/ honey. Two scoops MASS PRO Whey in water w/ heavy cream. 2 Multi-Life, 2 Alkaplex, 1 Probiotic Peal.

10a: Begin work on a new shop/shed I'm building for lawn mower, sports equip. , etc. storage. 12x12 w/ 8 ft. side shed, from the ground up. Clearing the lot with chainsaw, lots of heavy lifting ahead all day... a real workout, for sure.

Sounds like that first day of protein was mighty yummy..

And yes I can see your point on Sushi vs canned tuna. I'll have to try it though, to properly comment...

Quick update, but no time to detail things out...

I had my first free weight workout Tuesday 4/7, and everything was solid but not spectacular as I had worked all day with a hammer in my hand and lugging lumber up a ladder on the shop project.

Thursday, second free weight workout of the week and I was in prime. BIG jumps in weight used and reps. Very strong, and taking next to no time in between sets. I pushed the other guys to quit slacking off and "get with it"...

Saturday, a bike ride, and the leg and wind power was in full force. It was an amazing, high on life (and endorphins) ride. An hour on a StairMaster in no way compares.

Just to wrap this one up, I both lowered bodyfat % and gained a good 6 pounds of muscle on this run.

Life and business responsibilities became such that I could not update the journal as I'd wished for the duration this go around, but I'm stronger, leaner and more muscular - once again - for having The Blueprint in my training arsenal.

I'll clear this one out and come back in a few weeks and hopefully have the free time to devote to more proper journal updates.

Good luck to all.

Nice run John. Hear it all the time.... even when life gets in the way people gain 5+ easy lbs of lean muscle. It almost feels like you can do some major things wrong and still gain. Such is the power of the system. Glad it worked out for you (again).