Fitday It Is!

Well, I've established an account on fitday, as planned. From this point forward I'll be using this blog as an exercise journal only and tabulating my calories on the fitday site.

Today I did chest/biceps supersets.

Chest/bicep -Supersets

flat dumbell presses/straight bar curl (five sets)
Incline bench press/incline bench dumbell curls (four sets)
Straight arm chest flies/preacher curls (three sets)

Ran 18 sixty-five yard sprints with twenty seconds break in between followed by a twenty minute moderate state intensity run.

Tomorrow I'm resting from weight training and hoping to get in two solid moderate state intensity cardio workouts as well as a highly intense ab workout.

Weekend Regime Part II

I may move my calorie counting over to fitday.com and use this fitness blog as an exercise journal. The resources there faciliate the task as well as give more pertinent data in terms of the nutrient breakdown.

The dairy in my frig is just about gone. From this point onward I'm going to focus on eating whole foods. The only exception may be some whey protein.

Meal # 1 (5:30 AM)

1 whole egg - 75
5 egg whites - 85
1/2 cup oats - 150
1/2 cup blue berries - 40

total = 350

Meal # 2 (9:15 AM)

1 whole egg - 75
5 egg whites - 85
1/2 cup oats - 150
1/2 cup blue berries - 40
2 tablespoons psyllium husk - 35

total = 385

Meal # 3 (1:00 PM)

8 oz of ground turkey (extra lean) 400
1 1/2 green beans - 100

total = 500

Meal # 4 (5:00 PM)

7 oz Salmon - 420
mixed vegetables - 120

total = 540

Meal # 6 (9:30)

1.5 scoops of protein powder - 160
1/2 banana - 60

total = 220

Daily Total = 1,995

Weekend Regime

Meal # 1 (6:00 AM)

1 whole egg - 75
5 egg whites - 85
1/2 cup oats - 150
1 scoop of whey - 100

total = 410

Meal # 2 (9:00 AM)

4 oz chicken - 180
1 table spoon EVO - 120
Large salad - 50

total = 350

11:00 - Ran 18 sprints/20 minutes steady cardio

Meal # 3 - (12:30)

5 oz chicken - 195
3 oz sweet potato - 90
1 cup of green beans - 45
1/2 banana - 45

total = 375

Meal # 4 (3:30)

1 2/4 cup of cottage cheese - 200
1/2 banana/honey - 75

total = 275

Meal # 5 (6:30)

7 oz of tuna -350
steamed vegetables - 50
EVO - 70

total = 470

Meal # 6 (9:30 PM)

5 oz of ground turkey - 195
15 walnuts - 105

total = 300

Total daily calories = 2180

Friday/Weigh-in

This morning I weighed in at 168, a rather lean 168 I might add, however.

Meal # 1 (5:30 AM)

1/2 cup oats - 150
1 whole egg - 75
5 egg whites - 85
1 cup of broccoli - 40
1/2 banana/strawberries - 75

total = 425

3 mile run with client

Meal # 2 (8:00 AM)

1 cup of low fat cottage cheese - 180
raw oats - 175
1/2 small banana 50
two teaspoons of honey - 50

total = 455

Workout - back/shoulders

Did 3 tri-sets of each:

back: pull-ups, rows, straight arm push downs
shoulders; overhead dumbell press, lateral flies, dumbell shrugs

First set of pull-ups were strong (16 reps). And shoulders were strong too. Did 70 lbs dumbells for 6 reps on my last set.

Meal # 3 (11:45 AM)

5 oz grilled chicken - 195
5 oz sweet potato - 150
2 cups broccoli - 60

total = 405

Meal # 4 (3:00 PM)

5 oz of grilled chicken - 195
1 1/2 cups green beans - 60

total = 255

1/2 hour step-master

Meal # 5 (6:00 PM)

1 bowl of beans - 200
7 oz of chicken - 300
salad/dressing - 100

total = 600

Meal # 6 (9:00 PM)

5 oz of chicken - 200
salad/dressing - 75

total = 275

Daily total = 2,415

Starting Well

Meal # 1 (6:45 AM)

5 egg whites - 85
1 whole egg - 75
1/2 cup of oats - 150
1 cup of green beans - 40
2 oz milk/3 tsp of apple sauce - 60

total - 410

Morning Workout - Chest/abs

Meal # 2 (10:00)

5 oz of grilled chicken breast - 195
4 oz of sweet potato - 95
1 cup of green beans - 40

total = 330

Afternoon workout - biceps/triceps/abs/cardio

Meal # 3 (2:00)

6 oz grilled chicken - 220
3 oz of sweet potato - 80
1 cup of beans - 40

Total = 340

Meal # 4 (5:00)

1 cup of Greek yogurt - 150
1/2 small banana - 50
2 table spoons of psyllium husk - 60
2 table spoons of flack see oil - 90
1 table spoon of honey - 60

total = 410

Meal # 5 (8:00 PM)

5 oz grilled chicken breast - 195
1 tablespoon EVO - 130
1 cup of green beans - 40

Total = 365

Meal # 6 (10:00 PM)

yogurt/cottage cheese 150
strawberries - 50

total = 200

Total daily calories = 2055

The Final Countdown Begins/Whatever it takes

This is where the rubber meets the road. No more exceptions on the diet. We're in the cutting phase and everything that I put in my mouth shall be recorded with its caloric value. Once the dairy products are exahusted from my refrigerator, I'm moving to whole foods with the exception of whey protein powder. Chicken, fish and beef shall constitute my protein intake.I'm also going to record my workouts. Blogging is going to become a daily activity like showering. The calories I eat shall also be entered on my blog as well as my cardio activity. I'll be consuming my carbs around my workouts and feeding my muscles prior and after. I'm not going to be married to any one theory. I'll follow the results wherever they lead and simply do whatever it takes.

New Training Regime

On Sunday (March 29, 2009) I started my new training regime which can be found here:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/totalbody_training

I did the following:

Squats on the Smith Machine

1st set - 185
2nd set - 225
3rd set - 285

Weight pull-ups

1st set - 6 (25 lbs)
2nd set - 5 (30 lbs)
3rd set - 5 (25 lbs)

Dumbess Press/Flat Bench

1st set - 70 lbs
2nd set - 80 lbs
3rd set - 80 lbs

Straight bar curls

1st set - 80 lbs
2nd set - 90 lbs
3rd set - 100

Shoulder Press/Straight bar

1st set - 80 lbs
2nd set - 95 lbs
3rd set - 205 lbs

Tricep Push Downs

1st set - 90 lbs
2nd set - 110 lbs
3rd set - 130

Three sets of abs.

Eating more fat and lots of protein. Feeling strong, sleeping well, body functioning overall very well. But not as lean as I like to feel. Started cardio today as well.

New Course/Learning Experience/Outside Expertise

So, my endless efforts and constant shifts in approach have proven fruitful. While they haven't brought me to my goal, they have taught me inestimable lessons.

I had cut my calories too early in the process. Taking in 1800 or so calories while at 9.3 body fat left me no where to go in terms of calorie reduction. Any added training (especially cardio) resulted in my body conserving fat. In point of fact, once I realized this and stopped dieting and exercising for a few days (this took place after 2 weeks of energy balance and intensified cardio and lowered calories - see previous posts) my body fat dropped to 8.9%. My muscles seemed to inflate as if to say they were starved.

At the behest of Marc Plano (my personal trainer and expert in fat loss) I've taken a week off from both exercise and dieting. As much as this is psychologically difficult, I trust that this course is wise in that it's given my body the opportunity to reset its thermostat. My goal now is to stack on muscle, to literally gain muscle weight and some fat weight. I'll do this by weight training three days a week and doing a minimal of cardio all while incorporating more fats and calories in general into my body. Summer is still 8-12 weeks away, so, it's really propitious that I'm not at 5-6% bodyfat since it's about 28 degrees outside and impossible for anyone to see me in such peak form.

Tomorrow I go to pick up my nutrition and exercise plan. I'm excited to learn more about my body and the process of radical fat loss. My only fear is that I'm going to stack too much muscle on my short frame.

Sensory Acuity/Ideal Weight

So, something great has come out of the energy balance of the last two weeks. I've come to realize that I'm in synch with my body, that I can actually feel if my bodyfat percentage is down, whether or not I'm in energy balance. This dawned on me this morning. A couple of weeks ago I knew intuitively that I had broken through to single digit body fat before having my BF reading taken. Both last week and this week I knew that I would not be any lower. In fact, I could tell that I'd be just a hair higher this week. Moral of the story; Know thyself! There is a spiritual awareness of your body's health, it's fitness, its leanness, etc. Also, one can tell just about how much food to eat to keep that nice tension, the buzzing of the metabolism and the burning of fat. This sensory acuity is precisely what it takes to become a master in the art of losing body fat.

I'm keeping my calories stable this week (around 2,000 more or less). I'm going to cycle my carbs every third or fourth day (i.e. refeed) and I'm upping my cardio to 40-45 minutes a day. We'll see how we're doing by Wednesday or Friday of next week. I've got a good feeling.

As of this morning I weigh 158 lbs. My ideal weight at 6% bodyfat (provided I don't lose any lean muscle, of course) would be 154 lbs. If I were to take this to the limit and attempt to reach 3% body fat, I'd way 147 lbs. I simply do not have enough muscle on my body to look good at that weight. So, I'll be content with 6% or a little below that.

Such calculations are determined using the following formula:

http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/members/240.cfm?

It's also important to keep in mind what Tom Venuto has brought out in Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle - namely, "It’s very difficult to lose more than 1.0 - 1.5 pounds per week without losing some lean body mass. Seeing the numbers makes the case for slow weight loss even more clear."

This means I'll have to inch-worm my way down in bodyfat and weight, perhaps losing no more than .5 lbs of fat a week until I'm at 154 lbs. (i.e. eight weeks of work).

Stuck in Energy Balance?

It's Friday and the scale hasn't gone down. (158.5) I've been keeping my diet flawlessly (around 2,000 calories or a bit less) and cycling my carbs every 4-5 days so as to refeed my body. I've cut down my cardio to a half hour a day. My last two bodyfat reads for two consecutive weeks were 9.3. If today I'm not lower than that, I'm going to keep my food intake the same and do more cardio. It's the moment of truth and I've decided to approach it very scientifically and dispassionately. If I don't get the results I want, I will have gotten some great information in terms of what does not work. I'll be blogging the results later in the day.

UPDATE

I was right.

Last Week Of February

Last week of February and I'm feeling super lean. I've kept to my diet about 97% percent of the time. Weight has remained pretty much the same, but the abs are totally exposed - especially in the am. We'll see.

UPDATE

Ok...the data are in. I'm officially in the single digits of body fat percentage. This morning the calipers read 9.3%. Ah...the thrill of victory!

Counterintuitive Progress

Since Monday I've upped my daily calories by about 200-300. I've also limited my cardio to only a half hour a day - most of which is low intensity. Today I hopped on the scale and weighed 160 even. I feel super muscular and my abs are really starting to appear. Even in the evening after 6 meals my abs are still visible.

Bodybuilding is often counterintuitive, I've found. You'd think doing more (as in dieting more rigorously, doing more cardio - and in some instances lifting weights more often) would get you more results. But the precise opposite is often the case.

So, I get to eat more (which not only makes my body look more muscular and leaner, but also has given me more energy and revitalized my face), exercise less and look better. It's a no-brainer.

Making Adjustments According to Results

So, I've decided that my early start at peak fitness is really propitious in that it gives me plenty of time to figure out how my body works. As Tom Venuto sagaciously suggests, the bottom line is really about your results and that according to them, one must make adjustments. It's getting the right energy balance that produces fat loss. That's the key distinction. It's not a question of simply doing more or eating less (although that is obviously the underlying principle to successful fat loss). One must also eat enough and not burn too much. Too few calories or too many burnt calories will not result in successful fat loss. (i.e. Biggest Loser)

A female bodybuilder informed me yesterday that she did not lose the last of her fat until she upped her daily calories to 2,000. The increase in calories fed her muscles. They, in turn grew and ate up the remaining fat on her body - body fat that would not go away when she was consuming 1500 calories a day.

This to me is very fascinating. It's counterintuitive, to say the least. So, what I'm going to do is up my calories by, say, 200 a day. I'm going to keep my cardio between 30-40 minutes a day. Plus, I'm going to hit my weight training very hard. Next Monday I'll have my body fat measured again and adjust my diet accordingly. I'm not concerned with "weight." I'm concerned with body fat percentage only.

Some Changes

Per Kimberly Anatra's request, I'm going to cut down my cardio a bit (half hour a day - maybe a bit more). I'm also going to eat a larger breakfast. Today I had 3/4 cup of oatmeal for breakfast instead of half a cup. The caloric value of my breakfast was 484 calories. My mid-morning meal, however, will be a scoop of protein powder (120 calories) and half a banana (70 calories) for a total of 190-200 calories.

Having skipped cardio yesterday and slept most of the night, I feel incredible this morning. Body is super lean, too even though my weight is up about a 1lbs and a half.

Room For Improvement

Well, I bit the bullet today and had my bodyfat percentage measured. Turns out I'm at 10.6% body fat (I had suspected to be about 9 or so). The good side is that I look pretty darn lean for that percentage. I'm excited to see what results will accrue when I drop another couple of percentages. I have 142 pounds of lean muscle. By adding a zero to that number and multiplying it .20 you can figure out how many calories you can eat. (Clarification coming soon) For me it comes out to about 1800 calories (although I think that might be high). Upward and onward!

Today I'm exhausted - no doubt owing to the extremely extensive cardio work and multiple egg-white based meals over the weekend. I'm skipping cardio for the first time in 7 days. My body needs a rest. My head is a little tweaked out.

Also, I'm not sure I want to lose anymore body weight. In fact, I'd like to simply concentrate on body fat percentage. This really is, at least at this point, all about body fat and not so much "weight."

I'm also going to experiment this week by doing only a half hour of cardio every day. And instead of eating 5 meals, I'm going to eat 6. My last meal will consist of cottage cheese or yogurt with raw oats. Even if my weight should go up, I'm interested in seeing what my body fat reading will be next Monday. Part of the reason I chose January 1st as my starting point (and not the spring as many do) is because I want to be able to figure this stuff out with leisure and in a spirit of cool dispassion. Also, since this is my profession, I'd love to be able to say that I did it, that I know the science of fat loss experientially. Besides, the idea of maintaining 6-8 % body fat is very tempting - if it is, in fact, possible. We shall see.

Proof in the Pudding

Exactly one month from my promise to not make any exceptions on my diet and to increase my cardio between 4-5 days to 7 days a week and the results are in. Does cheating matter? Does it really stoke the metabolism and actually facilitate fat loss? Well, I intuitively knew it didn't much like I knew that spending a whole bunch of money once or twice a week didn't do much good for your budget. But now the facts are in.

On January 1st I weighed 165.5 and today on February 1st I weighed in at 159 first thing in the morning - and 158 after doing some cardio work. That's a loss of 6 lbs. But even if we grant that some of it is water weight, it's still significant. My body is changing drastically.

Moral of the story; Everything counts. Especially calories.

Down 1/2 Lbs/Body Transformation

I'm down half a pound from last week (161.5), but my body is totally different. What I counted as "skin" on my waist line is proving to have be fat after all. My diet is fastidious and my cardio is faithful. I've upped my carbohydrates in the AM and am quite cautious in counting calories and making sure that I create a pretty serious calorie deficit everyday. I'm absolutely loving the results!

Deplezione Muscolare

Oggi non mi sento molto bene fisicamente. C'e senz' altro una deplezione di massa muscolare e una carenza di energia dovuti (almeno mi pare) al cardio e troppe poche calorie. Non mi sono ancora messo sulla bilancia. Si vedra Venerdi mattina se ho perso peso o no. Credo di dover mangiare piu carboidrati e forse piu calorie. Mantengo l'apporto calorico circa 16-1750 al giorno.

Triumph

Last night I succeeded in eating temperately at a family gathering after having done three one hour workouts during the day. The secret is feeding the body plenty of protein and fibrous carbs throughout the day and filling up on the latter in the PM meals. Body is getting lean. Energy is high. This morning's breakfast was a bit more than usual given that I felt a little hungry starting at about 2:00 AM. Going to do a long cardio today.

On Course/1 lbs a Week

I woke today weighing in at 162, thus an average weight loss of about 1lbs per week. An important distinction is found in eating my carbs after my cardio and really loading up on veggies in the evening. Body is getting lean. Abs - especially in the AM - are really starting to show.

Down 1 lbs

I weighed in today at 163 lbs. Yesterday did two hard weight-training sessions (shoulders, legs). I felt a little fatigued in the afternoon owing to my not having eaten many carbs in the morning. Sleep was fitful. This morning did back workout (16 sets) and allegedly burned 823 calories on the ellyptical in 45 minutes. Egg-white vegetable omlette gave more than sufficient energy to get through both my weight training and cardio.

Fitness Goals

January 12th, 2009

Weight 164
Body fat - uncertain (around 10 or 11%)

By april 1st I'm going to be between 6-8 percent body fat. I will retain (if not improve) upon it throughout the summer. I'm arriving at my goal by systematically creating a calorie deficit by eating less calories (1500-1700) and lots of calories in highly exertive cardio sessions. My litmus test is based on how I look. If I can stand in front of the mirror and see a six pack of abs without flexing them, I've arrived at my goal. I shall arrive at my goal by doing whatever it takes, making whatever sacrifice necessary.

I also plan to meticulously count calories and to never skip a day of exercise until arrive at my goal. Each day shall consist in a calorie deficit. If I hit a plateau, I shall simply change up my program until I bust through the wall.