I've had a roaming thought in my head for a week or so. I've been giving a fair bit of though to freshening up my study of German. My friend N has been picking up the language in the last couple months, and while it's spurred me a bit, I haven't yet taken the time to really do anything about it.
The thought, to get back on point, has been about whether it would be possible to learn a language without any outside translation help. That is, simply to immerse myself in it, and pick it up through listening, reading, and so forth.
Of course, quick reflection says that yes, I've already done that. English is my mother tongue, and that was learned with no concept of anything to start me off.
So, certainly it would be possible to learn how to speak and understand a new language without any intervention from translation aids. Learning to read and write too, since those are also things I learned without guides - beyond teachers, parents and other native speakers.
Of course, a good question I need to ask myself when I am taken by these strange ideas, is "why?" Why would I take on the challenge of a new language and not use all of the available help? Making the process more difficult isn't a great way to keep up my motivation, I know that much from past experience.
And also, why a new language, when I already have only partial command of French and German? I could try to grasp a partial command of Japanese too, but what good is knowing 3 languages a bit going to do me in the real world?
They're good questions.
I think that if I want to start putting effort into language, then I really should be looking to shore up the ones I only have some grasp upon, rather than starting with something new.
Either of German or French is a good starter. French is everywhere, and readily available from stores and so forth. German is slightly more difficult to acquire, but I already have a store of unread books to start me off, plus the internet is full of anything I could want to watch.
I guess the main thing which I need is the will to start. Once I get going, I just need to keep going. No large or grand plans, just keep doing things which help.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
Still going
It's workout day today. I had to shift things around a bit because of company Christmas party stuff, but I should get to the gym today without much trouble.
I've been retooling my plans and such, and I think I have something which at least works for the upcoming year.
The key items have to do with resolving the discordant goals I have for myself. The resolution is to work on one goal at a time.
So I'm starting a new program which should run from Jan through to the end of May, and then switch plans over after that to work on the other goal.
I'm motivated again, but I do need to keep myself going by pushing myself along. I will get there, I just need to put in the work.
I've been retooling my plans and such, and I think I have something which at least works for the upcoming year.
The key items have to do with resolving the discordant goals I have for myself. The resolution is to work on one goal at a time.
So I'm starting a new program which should run from Jan through to the end of May, and then switch plans over after that to work on the other goal.
I'm motivated again, but I do need to keep myself going by pushing myself along. I will get there, I just need to put in the work.
Friday, December 14, 2012
The importance of sleep
So, I got a bit of bad sleep the last couple days. Home late from hanging out, and generally being woken a couple times a night.
So, this morning I hit the gym, and I am tired. I couldn't muster the power to get things started, much less to push through and get the workout going. Rest breaks took longer than normal, and generally I just felt like I was being squashed by weights when I should not have been.
Several times I had to convince myself to just push on, and try to get in all the sets, even if I knew I wasn't gonna hit the reps. Why? Because not doing the sets doesn't give me a break, it just stalls out my growth. I'm going to be tired sometimes, and I'm going to want to stop sometimes. But if I let myself get away with it once, I'll let myself get away with it more than once. And I don't need that kind of habit starting to form.
Consistency is what I need most of all.
So, even though the workout was a bad one, and I left feeling even more tired than when I arrived, I know that it will be worth it in the end. That by sticking to the program, I am sticking to improving myself, to making myself better.
And that's really the point.
So, this morning I hit the gym, and I am tired. I couldn't muster the power to get things started, much less to push through and get the workout going. Rest breaks took longer than normal, and generally I just felt like I was being squashed by weights when I should not have been.
Several times I had to convince myself to just push on, and try to get in all the sets, even if I knew I wasn't gonna hit the reps. Why? Because not doing the sets doesn't give me a break, it just stalls out my growth. I'm going to be tired sometimes, and I'm going to want to stop sometimes. But if I let myself get away with it once, I'll let myself get away with it more than once. And I don't need that kind of habit starting to form.
Consistency is what I need most of all.
So, even though the workout was a bad one, and I left feeling even more tired than when I arrived, I know that it will be worth it in the end. That by sticking to the program, I am sticking to improving myself, to making myself better.
And that's really the point.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Still at it
A friend of mine, Dan, invited me to do some workout thing he's been doing. It's a personal trainer thing that he's running under the auspices of a company that works primarily online.
I looked at it, but it mostly looks like a shill for their protein shakes and meal replacement things. Meal replacements never really struck me as great, since I would likely drink one, then go eat breakfast. Not really covering the points they are supposed to do.
The workouts around it are very similar (in the way they sound anyway), to those found in other mass-market exercise programs like P90X or similar. They're bodyweight focused, and use a lot of low-impact endurance/cardio to burn energy, and thus bring down weight.
There's weighted stuff with barbells and so forth, but a lot of that is upper body centered. Arms and chest, with a bit of work on the back.
I've got a couple friends who have or are doing such workouts, and they're happy with them. They work for what they're supposed to do, but it's not my thing. I'd rather throw the barbell around than do sets on sets of burpees and tuck jumps. There's a place for those things in most people's fitness goals, and really, they'd fit into mine somewhere, but they're just not for me right at this moment.
So, I've politely turned him down, but did say that he could provide encouragement to keep me heading into the gym. And thus far, he has. Which is really a good sign of the kind of motivator he could be. Even if the program isn't right for me, he's certainly a lot closer to the kind of trainer I'd want - were I looking for one.
The diet process hasn't been going the way I want, but my weight isn't really changing much. It bounces around between 185 and 188, but it's been holding relatively steady since the start of the month, so I'm unconcerned about it at the present time. Trying to retain some limits on what I eat, but I am still not strict with myself yet, so it's not really effective.
The workouts have been consistent, which is good. A regular schedule is always better for me than an ad-hoc kind of ramble. I just get more things done and better results overall.
Things are going as expected so far, which makes me happy. Just gotta keep on with the plan and I'll get there.
I looked at it, but it mostly looks like a shill for their protein shakes and meal replacement things. Meal replacements never really struck me as great, since I would likely drink one, then go eat breakfast. Not really covering the points they are supposed to do.
The workouts around it are very similar (in the way they sound anyway), to those found in other mass-market exercise programs like P90X or similar. They're bodyweight focused, and use a lot of low-impact endurance/cardio to burn energy, and thus bring down weight.
There's weighted stuff with barbells and so forth, but a lot of that is upper body centered. Arms and chest, with a bit of work on the back.
I've got a couple friends who have or are doing such workouts, and they're happy with them. They work for what they're supposed to do, but it's not my thing. I'd rather throw the barbell around than do sets on sets of burpees and tuck jumps. There's a place for those things in most people's fitness goals, and really, they'd fit into mine somewhere, but they're just not for me right at this moment.
So, I've politely turned him down, but did say that he could provide encouragement to keep me heading into the gym. And thus far, he has. Which is really a good sign of the kind of motivator he could be. Even if the program isn't right for me, he's certainly a lot closer to the kind of trainer I'd want - were I looking for one.
The diet process hasn't been going the way I want, but my weight isn't really changing much. It bounces around between 185 and 188, but it's been holding relatively steady since the start of the month, so I'm unconcerned about it at the present time. Trying to retain some limits on what I eat, but I am still not strict with myself yet, so it's not really effective.
The workouts have been consistent, which is good. A regular schedule is always better for me than an ad-hoc kind of ramble. I just get more things done and better results overall.
Things are going as expected so far, which makes me happy. Just gotta keep on with the plan and I'll get there.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Hitting a high
Today was a heavy squat day. I started with a rough plan, mostly with the goal of doing single lifts at heavy percentages of 1RM.
That turned into me working towards a new 1RM, and ultimately, a 1xbodyweight lift. This is a first for me for the squat, which is a good feeling.
Bench was the other one I worked today, which was pretty good.
One of the things I've got to work on is the mental part of lifting. Yes, 185# is heavy, but it's not unliftable. It is something I can (and did) do. But, the thought of the weight has to be pushed aside so that I can get to the business of doing the lifts.
Athalos says I need to jump it up to 200#. He's still ahead of me in all the lifts, but he's probably right. I do need to work on progression. That will come with time.
That turned into me working towards a new 1RM, and ultimately, a 1xbodyweight lift. This is a first for me for the squat, which is a good feeling.
Bench was the other one I worked today, which was pretty good.
One of the things I've got to work on is the mental part of lifting. Yes, 185# is heavy, but it's not unliftable. It is something I can (and did) do. But, the thought of the weight has to be pushed aside so that I can get to the business of doing the lifts.
Athalos says I need to jump it up to 200#. He's still ahead of me in all the lifts, but he's probably right. I do need to work on progression. That will come with time.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Keeping on Track
Workout on Monday had me determine maxes for the deadlift and OHP.
Deadlift max is 265# and OHP is 105#.
I believe I may have hefted these weights before, so I'm happy.
The Deadlift goal was 225, which I broke, and which set a new goal of 245, which I also broke, and then a new, new goal of 265, which I then broke. So, the current goal is 290. A 25 pound jump, which requires me to work pretty damn hard to reach.
The OHP goal was 90. I broke that, which set the new goal at 95. I jumped straight to 100, so I broke the goal for 95 and 100. The goal jumped to 110. I tried 105 next, being too conservative to try straight for 110. The goal sits at 110.
All around, the current goals are:
Dead: 290
Squat: 180
Bench: 155
OHP: 110
Only the squat did not have a broken goal, which I expected, since squats are my worst exercise. There's something wrong with my form, and I'm not sure what.
Workouts today see the start of the current workout plan. I was pretty happy with them, even though I know it will take some time to build to where I want to be.
Deadlift max is 265# and OHP is 105#.
I believe I may have hefted these weights before, so I'm happy.
The Deadlift goal was 225, which I broke, and which set a new goal of 245, which I also broke, and then a new, new goal of 265, which I then broke. So, the current goal is 290. A 25 pound jump, which requires me to work pretty damn hard to reach.
The OHP goal was 90. I broke that, which set the new goal at 95. I jumped straight to 100, so I broke the goal for 95 and 100. The goal jumped to 110. I tried 105 next, being too conservative to try straight for 110. The goal sits at 110.
All around, the current goals are:
Dead: 290
Squat: 180
Bench: 155
OHP: 110
Only the squat did not have a broken goal, which I expected, since squats are my worst exercise. There's something wrong with my form, and I'm not sure what.
Workouts today see the start of the current workout plan. I was pretty happy with them, even though I know it will take some time to build to where I want to be.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Training
I'm back at the training. I took November off "to work on NaNo" and then futzed around and did nothing much with the extra time, so I feel pretty stupid for stopping just when things were starting up.
So, I"m back at it.
Hit the gym yesterday and tested maxes on Squats and Bench. Squats were better than I thought, and Bench is better than expected too.
I'm starting with this set of goals:
Deadlift: 225
Squat: 180
Bench: 135
Overhead Press: 90
All in pounds, 'cause I'm just a weak guy still. I am planning to increase each goal by 10% or so each time I meet it. The Bench goal is already up to 155 from just testing maxes.
I hit 135, which notched up the goal by 13.5 (which I rounded down to 145), and then hit that one too, so I notched it up to 155 (rounding down again). That's the general intent. I'll round down to the nearest multiple of 5, as that's the lowest amount I have available at the gym to put on the bar.
Tomorrow I'll hit the gym and test Deadlift and OHP maxes. I'm hoping to break both of the initial goals there, which would be a really good boost to confidence.
On the other side of the fitness coin is my weight. I'm taking this opportunity to try, more or less, to ignore it. I'm going to try to put effort and focus into losing fat, which does imply weight loss, but I'm hoping to work hard enough on gaining and retaining muscle that the scale won't show much change.
Right now, the body fat estimate is just under 30%, which to me feels really poor, so I'm set on working to change that number. I want to cut it in half. I don't have a good estimate of how long it may take to reach there, so I'm allocating all of 2013 to it.
So, I"m back at it.
Hit the gym yesterday and tested maxes on Squats and Bench. Squats were better than I thought, and Bench is better than expected too.
I'm starting with this set of goals:
Deadlift: 225
Squat: 180
Bench: 135
Overhead Press: 90
All in pounds, 'cause I'm just a weak guy still. I am planning to increase each goal by 10% or so each time I meet it. The Bench goal is already up to 155 from just testing maxes.
I hit 135, which notched up the goal by 13.5 (which I rounded down to 145), and then hit that one too, so I notched it up to 155 (rounding down again). That's the general intent. I'll round down to the nearest multiple of 5, as that's the lowest amount I have available at the gym to put on the bar.
Tomorrow I'll hit the gym and test Deadlift and OHP maxes. I'm hoping to break both of the initial goals there, which would be a really good boost to confidence.
On the other side of the fitness coin is my weight. I'm taking this opportunity to try, more or less, to ignore it. I'm going to try to put effort and focus into losing fat, which does imply weight loss, but I'm hoping to work hard enough on gaining and retaining muscle that the scale won't show much change.
Right now, the body fat estimate is just under 30%, which to me feels really poor, so I'm set on working to change that number. I want to cut it in half. I don't have a good estimate of how long it may take to reach there, so I'm allocating all of 2013 to it.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Waterloo Festival of Animated Cinema 2012
Just finished with the WFAC (www.wfac.ca), and it was really great. I took Friday off so I could attend every available minute of festival.
I saw:
Wolf's Children
Hells
Babeldom
Tibetan Dog
Crulic: The Path to Beyond
Arrugas
Blood-C: The Last Dark
a trio of shorts(Pretend Not to See, The Spider Girl and another I don't recall the name of now)
Jensen & Jensen
A Letter to Momo
Library War: The Wings of Revolution
only a portion of Heart String Marionette
Asura
The Tragedy of Man
Strange Frame
Rainbow Firefly
The movies varied from really awesome to really strange. Most of them being above average for movies I've seen this year. I'm always impressed by the fantastic visuals and the dedication to the art. It always inspires me and makes me wish I could draw or do computer animations.
I saw:
Wolf's Children
Hells
Babeldom
Tibetan Dog
Crulic: The Path to Beyond
Arrugas
Blood-C: The Last Dark
a trio of shorts(Pretend Not to See, The Spider Girl and another I don't recall the name of now)
Jensen & Jensen
A Letter to Momo
Library War: The Wings of Revolution
only a portion of Heart String Marionette
Asura
The Tragedy of Man
Strange Frame
Rainbow Firefly
The movies varied from really awesome to really strange. Most of them being above average for movies I've seen this year. I'm always impressed by the fantastic visuals and the dedication to the art. It always inspires me and makes me wish I could draw or do computer animations.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
2013 coming up...
I haven't been blogging much. Really, this isn't much of an issue, because people really don't read this blog. Mostly just me.
So, no blogging usually means I'm too busy doing something, or busy not doing anything. This break was more of the latter.
2013 is coming up in a bit over 45 days, and I'm starting to feel the itch for planning out big and exciting things to do this year.
As I do every year (though usually closer to December's end), I review the things I set out for myself, and make new plans.
Last year, I posted just 4 things as part of the "Big, Fun, Scary" list I've put together for a couple of years now. In short, Fitness, Language, Money and Art.
Fitness, I've had some success so far, and hope to gain back some lost ground before the end of the year, so there's still a chance there.
Language, I have failed to keep on top of German, and haven't really tried to do much for any other language either.
Money is a bit of a toss up. I'm still just about as behind as I was before, but I'm making regular payments, and finally making a bit of headway on one of my debts. The rest will take me far longer.
Art. This is where I've fallen down the hardest. I've done nothing to generate original art, and my other creative outlets have been more or less stymied.
So, thus far, I'm pretty poor. Not even really 1 out of 4. My lack of success is pretty telling of where my head has been. Still, I can turn around some of this and make some good plans for next year. I really just need to get my head screwed on right, and that'll help a lot.
So, no blogging usually means I'm too busy doing something, or busy not doing anything. This break was more of the latter.
2013 is coming up in a bit over 45 days, and I'm starting to feel the itch for planning out big and exciting things to do this year.
As I do every year (though usually closer to December's end), I review the things I set out for myself, and make new plans.
Last year, I posted just 4 things as part of the "Big, Fun, Scary" list I've put together for a couple of years now. In short, Fitness, Language, Money and Art.
Fitness, I've had some success so far, and hope to gain back some lost ground before the end of the year, so there's still a chance there.
Language, I have failed to keep on top of German, and haven't really tried to do much for any other language either.
Money is a bit of a toss up. I'm still just about as behind as I was before, but I'm making regular payments, and finally making a bit of headway on one of my debts. The rest will take me far longer.
Art. This is where I've fallen down the hardest. I've done nothing to generate original art, and my other creative outlets have been more or less stymied.
So, thus far, I'm pretty poor. Not even really 1 out of 4. My lack of success is pretty telling of where my head has been. Still, I can turn around some of this and make some good plans for next year. I really just need to get my head screwed on right, and that'll help a lot.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Hunger Games and other such sport
So, I have just finished reading The Hunger Games. Not a bad novel, but not great.
The physical aspects of the novel were pretty interesting, and with my desire to get in some more conditioning work, I'm finding that a reasonable motivator.
There are a couple of actual intense sport things that someone like me could take part in. Tough Mudder, the Spartan run and Zombie runs (and other such events) are scheduled at multiple times and places over the year.
Entry is usually cheaper the earlier you book, and generally represents a commitment to participating. I'd not want to put in the cost to participate without being sure I'd be able to handle the bulk of the event. I don't need to expect it to be easy - just possible.
Preparation for an event like the Tough Mudder requires me to have a couple areas of fitness where I am very lacking. Running, for one. While not mandatory in any of the events I've seen so far, it does give you a bit of an advantage if you are doing something like a survival or zombie run. Being faster than the average enemy helps.
Climbing is another area where I'm pretty weak. I don't really have much in the way of upper body strength, especially if it comes to hauling the rest of my body up off the ground. Then there the general conditioning. The ability to keep going after running, jumping, crawling, climbing and whatever else for an hour or two or more.
Conditioning work helps with this, since building up a tolerance to the lactose in the muscles, and learning how to just keep pushing through, even if you want to stop is really where the benefits start to stack up.
I've been thinking for some time that I really should start putting some goals ahead of me for conditioning and strength training in general. Whether that's entering a lifting competition or working towards running one of these obstacle events, or simply overcoming a challenge of my own making, I really do feel like having a concrete timeline and goal would help.
I don't want to schedule in too many goals, as they start to plague my thinking and distract from focusing on the workouts. It's better for me to focus on doing one thing, than thinking about how many things I should be doing.
Still, the concept is a useful one, and I'm going to give a bit more time to thinking about how I can include it. Until then, I will probably just step up the conditioning work a little at a time. I'm still not doing much of it, but I am doing some.
The physical aspects of the novel were pretty interesting, and with my desire to get in some more conditioning work, I'm finding that a reasonable motivator.
There are a couple of actual intense sport things that someone like me could take part in. Tough Mudder, the Spartan run and Zombie runs (and other such events) are scheduled at multiple times and places over the year.
Entry is usually cheaper the earlier you book, and generally represents a commitment to participating. I'd not want to put in the cost to participate without being sure I'd be able to handle the bulk of the event. I don't need to expect it to be easy - just possible.
Preparation for an event like the Tough Mudder requires me to have a couple areas of fitness where I am very lacking. Running, for one. While not mandatory in any of the events I've seen so far, it does give you a bit of an advantage if you are doing something like a survival or zombie run. Being faster than the average enemy helps.
Climbing is another area where I'm pretty weak. I don't really have much in the way of upper body strength, especially if it comes to hauling the rest of my body up off the ground. Then there the general conditioning. The ability to keep going after running, jumping, crawling, climbing and whatever else for an hour or two or more.
Conditioning work helps with this, since building up a tolerance to the lactose in the muscles, and learning how to just keep pushing through, even if you want to stop is really where the benefits start to stack up.
I've been thinking for some time that I really should start putting some goals ahead of me for conditioning and strength training in general. Whether that's entering a lifting competition or working towards running one of these obstacle events, or simply overcoming a challenge of my own making, I really do feel like having a concrete timeline and goal would help.
I don't want to schedule in too many goals, as they start to plague my thinking and distract from focusing on the workouts. It's better for me to focus on doing one thing, than thinking about how many things I should be doing.
Still, the concept is a useful one, and I'm going to give a bit more time to thinking about how I can include it. Until then, I will probably just step up the conditioning work a little at a time. I'm still not doing much of it, but I am doing some.
Monday, October 1, 2012
End of September Stats
Stats:
Weight: 175 (0; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 99 (-1; -5)
Hips: 99 (-1; -3)
Chest: 105 (0; -6)
Thigh: 58 (-1; -3)
Calf: 35 (0; 0)
Arm: 33 (1; -1)
So, the August to September cycle is done, and here's the final point and start point for the next cycle.
The totals are pretty good all around. Down 10 pounds, and at 0 or lower for all of the measurements.
I'm wearing size 34 (and maybe could fit into smaller) jeans. About half of my work shirts are too big on me now, which means I need new ones, and also means I look pretty bad in them.
While I made the first goal, I never made any progress towards the second goal. But that's fine. I made the first goal I wanted. Admittedly, my weight loss was lower than desired, but about the range I expected.
I am still tooling up the October to December plan, so there's nothing I can say on it yet. While I'm tooling up, I'm taking on the default goal of "lose 5 pounds."
I figure that's a reasonable starting point while I figure out what else I want to do.
Weight: 175 (0; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 99 (-1; -5)
Hips: 99 (-1; -3)
Chest: 105 (0; -6)
Thigh: 58 (-1; -3)
Calf: 35 (0; 0)
Arm: 33 (1; -1)
So, the August to September cycle is done, and here's the final point and start point for the next cycle.
The totals are pretty good all around. Down 10 pounds, and at 0 or lower for all of the measurements.
I'm wearing size 34 (and maybe could fit into smaller) jeans. About half of my work shirts are too big on me now, which means I need new ones, and also means I look pretty bad in them.
While I made the first goal, I never made any progress towards the second goal. But that's fine. I made the first goal I wanted. Admittedly, my weight loss was lower than desired, but about the range I expected.
I am still tooling up the October to December plan, so there's nothing I can say on it yet. While I'm tooling up, I'm taking on the default goal of "lose 5 pounds."
I figure that's a reasonable starting point while I figure out what else I want to do.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Week 8 Stats
Here:
Weight: 175 (0; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (0; -4)
Hips: 100 (1; -2)
Chest: 105 (1; -6)
Thigh: 59 (1; -2)
Calf: 35 (-1; 0)
Arm: 32 (-0.5; -2)
No progress this week. I've fallen off the program entirely. Spinning wheels, and haven't learned how to eat yet.
Gonna get myself sorted and fix this thing.
Just 1 week to go. Got to stick it at 175 if I can.
Weight: 175 (0; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (0; -4)
Hips: 100 (1; -2)
Chest: 105 (1; -6)
Thigh: 59 (1; -2)
Calf: 35 (-1; 0)
Arm: 32 (-0.5; -2)
No progress this week. I've fallen off the program entirely. Spinning wheels, and haven't learned how to eat yet.
Gonna get myself sorted and fix this thing.
Just 1 week to go. Got to stick it at 175 if I can.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Looking back; looking ahead
With less than 2 weeks on the dockets for this cycle, I'm starting to take a look back at the things I've managed to accomplish.
I started August at 186#, and last week weighed in at 175#. That's 11 pounds down in 7 weeks, which is not quite the pace I was hoping for at the start, but does meet the first milestone.
With 2 weeks to go, there's a good chance of hitting the second milestone, provided I push myself towards it. Reaching 170# is possible, it just takes some refocusing and dedication to make it there.
After September is over, I will be starting a 3 month cycle. Oct-Dec. The goals for that cycle are settling in now, but are still changeable. I will probably make a post on it closer to the start.
Also, there are now just 103 days left in the year. I tend to start thinking about what to do with the rest of the year once things get down to 100 days. So I am doing some thinking already on what I can do and what I want to do in the time the year has left. I'll post more on that later too.
I started August at 186#, and last week weighed in at 175#. That's 11 pounds down in 7 weeks, which is not quite the pace I was hoping for at the start, but does meet the first milestone.
With 2 weeks to go, there's a good chance of hitting the second milestone, provided I push myself towards it. Reaching 170# is possible, it just takes some refocusing and dedication to make it there.
After September is over, I will be starting a 3 month cycle. Oct-Dec. The goals for that cycle are settling in now, but are still changeable. I will probably make a post on it closer to the start.
Also, there are now just 103 days left in the year. I tend to start thinking about what to do with the rest of the year once things get down to 100 days. So I am doing some thinking already on what I can do and what I want to do in the time the year has left. I'll post more on that later too.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Week 7 results
Stats:
Weight: 175 (-2; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (0; -4)
Hips: 99 (-1; -3)
Chest: 104 (0; -7)
Thigh: 58 (-1; -3)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 32.5 (0; -1.5)
Another flat week. Little change, but I did make the 2 pound shift in weight I wanted.
I ate really poorly over the weekend, and as of this morning, my weight is right back to 177#. I feel like this week will be a refocusing week, and I will need to work to get my eating, exercise and mindset back where they need to be.
I'm hopeful to reach 173 next week, and also hopeful to break through the 20% barrier and on to the next lowest branch.
Weight: 175 (-2; -10)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (0; -4)
Hips: 99 (-1; -3)
Chest: 104 (0; -7)
Thigh: 58 (-1; -3)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 32.5 (0; -1.5)
Another flat week. Little change, but I did make the 2 pound shift in weight I wanted.
I ate really poorly over the weekend, and as of this morning, my weight is right back to 177#. I feel like this week will be a refocusing week, and I will need to work to get my eating, exercise and mindset back where they need to be.
I'm hopeful to reach 173 next week, and also hopeful to break through the 20% barrier and on to the next lowest branch.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Week 6 Stats
Stats:
Weight: 177 (-2; -8)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (+1; -4)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 104 (+2; -7)
Thigh: 59 (+1; -2)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 32.5 (-0.5; -1.5)
Overall happy with the fact that my weight is coming down again. A bit bothered by everything seeming to go up in size, but I have no idea what's happening there. Most things are relatively stable, returning to where they were last week.
The lack of change in the BF% is expected, since estimates suggest it'll be another week before there's a chance of adjustment. I'm hopeful, but it does indicate there's no possibility of stopping at 175#. I'm gonna have to go lower.
Weight: 177 (-2; -8)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 100 (+1; -4)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 104 (+2; -7)
Thigh: 59 (+1; -2)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 32.5 (-0.5; -1.5)
Overall happy with the fact that my weight is coming down again. A bit bothered by everything seeming to go up in size, but I have no idea what's happening there. Most things are relatively stable, returning to where they were last week.
The lack of change in the BF% is expected, since estimates suggest it'll be another week before there's a chance of adjustment. I'm hopeful, but it does indicate there's no possibility of stopping at 175#. I'm gonna have to go lower.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Week 5 Stats
Week 5 is done:
Weight: 179 (-1; -6)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 99 (-2; -5)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 102 (-1; -9)
Thigh: 58 (-2; -3)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Weight is down, but less than the goal of 2 pounds per week. Not sure if this is adaptation to the lower food intake or what, but no matter, I nudge down the calories again. This nudge puts me at 1700/1350 per day.
There's still some movement in the Waist and Chest and Thigh areas, which should be a solid indicator of loss of fat. I don't know, though. Measuring in cm gives quicker measurement results than in inches, but the process is still slow.
Everything has moved down or stayed the same, which is encouraging to see. Means things are at least moving in the proper direction.
M suggested this weekend that I'm too concerned with the timeline of change rather than change itself. She seems to feel that pushing for changes at an expected pace misplaces the emphasis and focus.
I can agree with her on the one hand. I could do away with the timeline of changes and stick to a goal. Consistency with the diet and so forth would eventually bring me to be the same weight as my goal, though it would probably take me much longer to reach there.
Personally, putting goals to a deadline helps me stay on track. It keeps my attention and focus better than setting a "whenever" goal does. I have lots of "whenever" goals, and they don't keep progress nearly as well as the diet has today.
As usual, the scale showed a good drop today over yesterday. I feel like I should move the official weigh-in to Mondays - but then the scale changes would probably move to Tuesdays. Anyway, scale said I was 177 today, but it was close to 176. It'd be nice to hit 175 by the end of week 6, would be marginally ahead of schedule for the week, but right on time for the process as a whole.
M keeps bringing up the idea of me weighing very low numbers. Like 120 pounds and such. I know she's teasing and being silly when she's quoting something that low, but when she's quoting something closer to 155 that it's a bit more like pushing.
I know she just wants to see the roundness come off, and with the way the body fat has been steadfastly sticking about, it has got to be a little frustrating.
As for me, I could see me getting down maybe as far as 160, but I doubt I'd be aesthetic at that weight. The feeling from me is that aesthetics comes after I lose some of the weight and then put on some muscle weight in replacement. The body fat needs to come down.
That leads me into another bit. M and I had a chat about my motivations. Why am I trying to lose weight. To lose fat, is my answer. She didn't seem to think that was a good motivation if that was my only motivator. For me, it is. I know that once I lose fat, I'll be able to switch and start gaining muscle. But, until the fat is under control, the rest has to wait.
I think she was looking for something a bit more defined, or maybe something she could categorize better. I don't have any other answer, though.
Weight: 179 (-1; -6)
BF%: 20.2% (0%; -1.6%)
Waist: 99 (-2; -5)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 102 (-1; -9)
Thigh: 58 (-2; -3)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Weight is down, but less than the goal of 2 pounds per week. Not sure if this is adaptation to the lower food intake or what, but no matter, I nudge down the calories again. This nudge puts me at 1700/1350 per day.
There's still some movement in the Waist and Chest and Thigh areas, which should be a solid indicator of loss of fat. I don't know, though. Measuring in cm gives quicker measurement results than in inches, but the process is still slow.
Everything has moved down or stayed the same, which is encouraging to see. Means things are at least moving in the proper direction.
M suggested this weekend that I'm too concerned with the timeline of change rather than change itself. She seems to feel that pushing for changes at an expected pace misplaces the emphasis and focus.
I can agree with her on the one hand. I could do away with the timeline of changes and stick to a goal. Consistency with the diet and so forth would eventually bring me to be the same weight as my goal, though it would probably take me much longer to reach there.
Personally, putting goals to a deadline helps me stay on track. It keeps my attention and focus better than setting a "whenever" goal does. I have lots of "whenever" goals, and they don't keep progress nearly as well as the diet has today.
As usual, the scale showed a good drop today over yesterday. I feel like I should move the official weigh-in to Mondays - but then the scale changes would probably move to Tuesdays. Anyway, scale said I was 177 today, but it was close to 176. It'd be nice to hit 175 by the end of week 6, would be marginally ahead of schedule for the week, but right on time for the process as a whole.
M keeps bringing up the idea of me weighing very low numbers. Like 120 pounds and such. I know she's teasing and being silly when she's quoting something that low, but when she's quoting something closer to 155 that it's a bit more like pushing.
I know she just wants to see the roundness come off, and with the way the body fat has been steadfastly sticking about, it has got to be a little frustrating.
As for me, I could see me getting down maybe as far as 160, but I doubt I'd be aesthetic at that weight. The feeling from me is that aesthetics comes after I lose some of the weight and then put on some muscle weight in replacement. The body fat needs to come down.
That leads me into another bit. M and I had a chat about my motivations. Why am I trying to lose weight. To lose fat, is my answer. She didn't seem to think that was a good motivation if that was my only motivator. For me, it is. I know that once I lose fat, I'll be able to switch and start gaining muscle. But, until the fat is under control, the rest has to wait.
I think she was looking for something a bit more defined, or maybe something she could categorize better. I don't have any other answer, though.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Noticable changes
M asked me whether I noticed any change from when I was heavier to now. For me "notice" always implies the visible aspects, so I told her that I didn't notice any change.
I know I've gone from 210 down to 180 pounds, and that I've gone from 28 percent down to about 20 percent body fat. But, from where my head sits, I don't see any real changes. Both because things change so slowly that the old norm is the new norm, but also because my shape hasn't undergone any sort of radical transition.
I tend to store fat on my belly and my back, with some in the legs, and a bit (but not much) in the arms. My arms haven't changed much, my legs have started to come around (but they do that whenever I do a squat program), and my belly is still there. I can't see my back, so I don't know.
Of course, "notice" has other connotations, which aren't just visual, and I did a bit of thinking on the matter afterwards. There have been some things I notice. My clothes are loose on me. I fit into some of the smaller shirts I own. My legs have some improvement in them above the knee instead of all below the knee.
Of course, day to day, I tend to discount these and don't really notice them. But when I think about them, I can see that they are there.
I guess I'm getting better, but I'm just not quite seeing it yet.
I know I've gone from 210 down to 180 pounds, and that I've gone from 28 percent down to about 20 percent body fat. But, from where my head sits, I don't see any real changes. Both because things change so slowly that the old norm is the new norm, but also because my shape hasn't undergone any sort of radical transition.
I tend to store fat on my belly and my back, with some in the legs, and a bit (but not much) in the arms. My arms haven't changed much, my legs have started to come around (but they do that whenever I do a squat program), and my belly is still there. I can't see my back, so I don't know.
Of course, "notice" has other connotations, which aren't just visual, and I did a bit of thinking on the matter afterwards. There have been some things I notice. My clothes are loose on me. I fit into some of the smaller shirts I own. My legs have some improvement in them above the knee instead of all below the knee.
Of course, day to day, I tend to discount these and don't really notice them. But when I think about them, I can see that they are there.
I guess I'm getting better, but I'm just not quite seeing it yet.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Week 4 stats
Statistics:
Weight: 180 (-2; -5)
BF%: 20.2% (-1.6%; -1.6%)
Waist: 101 (-1; -3)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 103 (-2; -8)
Thigh: 60 (+1; -1)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Right, so here I am with the details from week 4.
Down the 2 pounds I was hoping to get last week. I had thought the 182 from last week was just a trick of the numbers, but no, it was apparently really there. So, losing down to 180 is good. I was 179 just before Sunday, but I'm happy with 180.
Body Fat has finally moved, which is encouraging to see. I did a bit of thinking on the topic which helped me mentally. I had worked out (from prior data), that I lose approximately 1 notch on the calipers for every four pounds of weight loss. So, going from 185 to 180 means I am down those 4 pounds, and I finally get my notch. I should have expected it about this time, but I guess I was hoping it would have hit earlier.
If the trend continues, I should get the next notch somewhere between 177 and 176 pounds. That would put me down to 18.6%, which I feel is a massive accomplishment, but also pretty much guarantees that I will not hit the desired 15% by 175 pounds. That's fine, I expected to have to go down to 170 anyway.
It is nice to see the other measurements have either stalled out or dropped. Only exception this time is the Thigh, which, honestly, I'm not bothered about. My legs are looking a little bit better all the time, so I don't mind if they decide to be bigger while the upper bit of me gets smaller.
Since I made my target loss for the week, I will not make any tweaks to the diet. Looking over the weekly data, I notice that I was under the daily total pretty much every day last week, so I am eating under my limits and still not feeling too bad.
There's a niggling concern about dropping my metabolism rate, but I'm hoping that putting in some cardio will help with it.
On the exercise front, I am going to add on some post-workout cardio. Not a lot, and probably not at a great intensity. Likely I will get on the stationary bike and ride that for 15 to 20 minutes. The overall goal is just to draw even harder from the fat stores I have.
With evening workouts, I'm going to have to figure out which day to replace my Wednesday workout. I can either shift everything so I do Mon, Thur, Sat, or go for back to back days Mon-Tue, or Thur-Fri. Everything else just doesn't work out as well for me. More thinking on this one.
Weight: 180 (-2; -5)
BF%: 20.2% (-1.6%; -1.6%)
Waist: 101 (-1; -3)
Hips: 100 (0; -2)
Chest: 103 (-2; -8)
Thigh: 60 (+1; -1)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Right, so here I am with the details from week 4.
Down the 2 pounds I was hoping to get last week. I had thought the 182 from last week was just a trick of the numbers, but no, it was apparently really there. So, losing down to 180 is good. I was 179 just before Sunday, but I'm happy with 180.
Body Fat has finally moved, which is encouraging to see. I did a bit of thinking on the topic which helped me mentally. I had worked out (from prior data), that I lose approximately 1 notch on the calipers for every four pounds of weight loss. So, going from 185 to 180 means I am down those 4 pounds, and I finally get my notch. I should have expected it about this time, but I guess I was hoping it would have hit earlier.
If the trend continues, I should get the next notch somewhere between 177 and 176 pounds. That would put me down to 18.6%, which I feel is a massive accomplishment, but also pretty much guarantees that I will not hit the desired 15% by 175 pounds. That's fine, I expected to have to go down to 170 anyway.
It is nice to see the other measurements have either stalled out or dropped. Only exception this time is the Thigh, which, honestly, I'm not bothered about. My legs are looking a little bit better all the time, so I don't mind if they decide to be bigger while the upper bit of me gets smaller.
Since I made my target loss for the week, I will not make any tweaks to the diet. Looking over the weekly data, I notice that I was under the daily total pretty much every day last week, so I am eating under my limits and still not feeling too bad.
There's a niggling concern about dropping my metabolism rate, but I'm hoping that putting in some cardio will help with it.
On the exercise front, I am going to add on some post-workout cardio. Not a lot, and probably not at a great intensity. Likely I will get on the stationary bike and ride that for 15 to 20 minutes. The overall goal is just to draw even harder from the fat stores I have.
With evening workouts, I'm going to have to figure out which day to replace my Wednesday workout. I can either shift everything so I do Mon, Thur, Sat, or go for back to back days Mon-Tue, or Thur-Fri. Everything else just doesn't work out as well for me. More thinking on this one.
Friday, August 24, 2012
All of this
Sometimes I wonder whether all of this effort to lose weight is really worthwhile. In those times, I have to remind myself that, yes, it is worthwhile. It will take me some time, and it will not be as easy as sitting and doing nothing, but it will be worth all the efforts.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Evening at the gym
My weight has been teasing me. UP to 181 today. Basically, on target for a 2 pound loss from the start of the week, but disappointingly far from my hope of getting down to 178 by the end of the week. If I managed to make it to there, it'd reinforce the idea that I really wasn't at 182 at the start of this week, that it was just a flux in the day to day weighing.
I'm half thinking I need to do weekly trending instead of day to day spot checking, since that would at least be something with better direction indicators - though this week would look a bit flat.
PL was at the gym when I went on Tuesday. He was on his way out, but we hadn't talked in a while, so we had a chat. He was there again today, so we had another chat. He mentioned that my waist seemed to be going down, which is certainly good to hear.
I asked him about his frequency at the gym, and he does 5 days. He asked me about what I was doing, and I try to avoid really giving an answer to such questions, as it tends to end up with me feeling like I'm doing something wrong (which certainly may be true). I told him I've only recently gotten a good grip on my diet - which I feel is true. Before the last two months or so, I wasn't really tracking anything, and I certainly wasn't putting the proper amount of effort into actually losing weight.
As the prior 16 week cycle shows, I only managed to lose 15 pounds. That's a good, slow pace, but it's not giving me the impression of someone who's got a firm grip on what they're eating. The fact that I'm aiming for between 10 to 15 in just 9 weeks means I have to put in the necessary efforts.
PL suggested that I do some cardio after my workouts. Which seems like a good idea. I have been feeling like I need to do some cardio. Bike, run, something. What I really need, though, is just to start doing it and stop thinking about it.
I'm half thinking I need to do weekly trending instead of day to day spot checking, since that would at least be something with better direction indicators - though this week would look a bit flat.
PL was at the gym when I went on Tuesday. He was on his way out, but we hadn't talked in a while, so we had a chat. He was there again today, so we had another chat. He mentioned that my waist seemed to be going down, which is certainly good to hear.
I asked him about his frequency at the gym, and he does 5 days. He asked me about what I was doing, and I try to avoid really giving an answer to such questions, as it tends to end up with me feeling like I'm doing something wrong (which certainly may be true). I told him I've only recently gotten a good grip on my diet - which I feel is true. Before the last two months or so, I wasn't really tracking anything, and I certainly wasn't putting the proper amount of effort into actually losing weight.
As the prior 16 week cycle shows, I only managed to lose 15 pounds. That's a good, slow pace, but it's not giving me the impression of someone who's got a firm grip on what they're eating. The fact that I'm aiming for between 10 to 15 in just 9 weeks means I have to put in the necessary efforts.
PL suggested that I do some cardio after my workouts. Which seems like a good idea. I have been feeling like I need to do some cardio. Bike, run, something. What I really need, though, is just to start doing it and stop thinking about it.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
179 and counting
Morning weigh-in had me at 179. Been quite a while since I've been under 180. Feels good.
Am switching over to working out in the evening after work and before eating. Went yesterday. Things were very different in the evening than in the morning. In the morning, there are usually only a few other people. I got used to not having to worry much about people there. Lots of space to do my own thing, and never have to worry about the path of my bar smacking someone who thought they could go and load their bar during my set.
The number of people at the gym in the evening is pretty high. And the Bro population seems to be very high. Bros generally don't come in the morning - there's nobody to impress with their curls there.
I try very hard not to judge others at the gym. I don't know them, I don't know their goals or limitations or if they are on a program or just making it up. There are a couple of things that make it hard for me not to judge.
One of them is strange and pointless usage of the Smith machine. Like Smith bench when you don't seem to have any issue with motion of your arms and there are benches free. Or Smith rows, as the required motion of the body to perform them is just not possible with a regular bar or dumbbell.
There's also full-body motion bicep curls. These always feel to me like the person is just pushing too much weight - though they always seem to have huge arms, so maybe there is something to just working the weight up in whatever fashion gets it done.
When I notice myself thinking these things towards others in the gym, I try to remind myself that I should really be focused on what I'm doing, and not what they are doing. I'm sure my workout looks like stupidity to everyone else too.
Am switching over to working out in the evening after work and before eating. Went yesterday. Things were very different in the evening than in the morning. In the morning, there are usually only a few other people. I got used to not having to worry much about people there. Lots of space to do my own thing, and never have to worry about the path of my bar smacking someone who thought they could go and load their bar during my set.
The number of people at the gym in the evening is pretty high. And the Bro population seems to be very high. Bros generally don't come in the morning - there's nobody to impress with their curls there.
I try very hard not to judge others at the gym. I don't know them, I don't know their goals or limitations or if they are on a program or just making it up. There are a couple of things that make it hard for me not to judge.
One of them is strange and pointless usage of the Smith machine. Like Smith bench when you don't seem to have any issue with motion of your arms and there are benches free. Or Smith rows, as the required motion of the body to perform them is just not possible with a regular bar or dumbbell.
There's also full-body motion bicep curls. These always feel to me like the person is just pushing too much weight - though they always seem to have huge arms, so maybe there is something to just working the weight up in whatever fashion gets it done.
When I notice myself thinking these things towards others in the gym, I try to remind myself that I should really be focused on what I'm doing, and not what they are doing. I'm sure my workout looks like stupidity to everyone else too.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Feeling down
Been a bit down the last couple of days. I think part of it is related to the lack of progress on the weight, the rest, I dunno.
Missed out on the gym yesterday. On Sunday my arm was paining me pretty hard, and sleeping fixed most of it, but I figured I'd hold off on hitting the gym for a day to give it more rest.
Set the alarm for today, meant to go, then just before I decided to skip. So, will hit the gym tomorrow. I do want to go, just got to get there.
M mentioned that me getting up early to go to the gym always disturbs her sleep schedule - which is pretty fragmented as my own sleep is rarely great. I tend to interact a lot if I'm dreaming, and I have been dreaming a lot over the last year.
I'm considering changing up my gym time to try to not work out in the morning, That would mean either finding a gym I can hit during the workday (unlikely), or working out after I get home but before I eat. I can't work out if I've eaten, as it upsets my stomach and makes me sluggish.
There's a window of time between when I get off work and when it would be too late to hit the gym. Since I go to bed in order to get up early, I'd need to go early. But, if I don't get up early, then I can stay up later at night and go to the gym without much trouble.
I may give it a try this week and see if it works.
Missed out on the gym yesterday. On Sunday my arm was paining me pretty hard, and sleeping fixed most of it, but I figured I'd hold off on hitting the gym for a day to give it more rest.
Set the alarm for today, meant to go, then just before I decided to skip. So, will hit the gym tomorrow. I do want to go, just got to get there.
M mentioned that me getting up early to go to the gym always disturbs her sleep schedule - which is pretty fragmented as my own sleep is rarely great. I tend to interact a lot if I'm dreaming, and I have been dreaming a lot over the last year.
I'm considering changing up my gym time to try to not work out in the morning, That would mean either finding a gym I can hit during the workday (unlikely), or working out after I get home but before I eat. I can't work out if I've eaten, as it upsets my stomach and makes me sluggish.
There's a window of time between when I get off work and when it would be too late to hit the gym. Since I go to bed in order to get up early, I'd need to go early. But, if I don't get up early, then I can stay up later at night and go to the gym without much trouble.
I may give it a try this week and see if it works.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Week 3 update
Stats:
Weight: 182 (0; -3)
BF%: 21.8%
Waist: 102 (0; -2)
Hips: 100 (-1; -2)
Chest: 105 (-1; -6)
Thigh: 59 (0; -2)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Not sure what happened here. On Saturday I was 180, and by Sunday morning (despite keeping a close reign on my food intake), I was 182 again.
This puts me with no loss for the week, and annoyed at the whole thing.
I debated myself on whether to nudge things down, as per my plan, or to assume the data was wrong and make no changes.
In the end, I decided that I cannot choose to ignore the data, because that sets a bad precedent. The data is what it is, and things can only go the way they go. So, I nudged everything down. Now down to 1750/1400 per workout/rest day.
Gonna get tough.
Weight: 182 (0; -3)
BF%: 21.8%
Waist: 102 (0; -2)
Hips: 100 (-1; -2)
Chest: 105 (-1; -6)
Thigh: 59 (0; -2)
Calf: 36 (0; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Not sure what happened here. On Saturday I was 180, and by Sunday morning (despite keeping a close reign on my food intake), I was 182 again.
This puts me with no loss for the week, and annoyed at the whole thing.
I debated myself on whether to nudge things down, as per my plan, or to assume the data was wrong and make no changes.
In the end, I decided that I cannot choose to ignore the data, because that sets a bad precedent. The data is what it is, and things can only go the way they go. So, I nudged everything down. Now down to 1750/1400 per workout/rest day.
Gonna get tough.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Things are going fine
I'm on target this week so far, as long as I don't muck it up with the weekend.
Am over calories today by a bit, and hoping that I can keep everything under control for tomorrow and get to where I want to be on Sunday morning. I figure I'll maybe go into the gym tomorrow for a bit to kick my own ass with assistance work or something.
I have been wanting to do more conditioning work, but thus far haven't done more than one evening's worth of it. I have an aversion to doing workouts in the presence of people I know. I don't know why. I suppose I look silly doing whatever it is I'm doing.
Less issues working out in the gym, but then, there's usually far fewer people there, and those few which are about are often very, very involved in themselves. They're not watching me, so I don't care. But, here at the house, yeah, people would be watching.
Keeping to the non-workout day calories has been difficult. I am finding things a bit harder than I'd like there, but I know that it's all part of the process. Got to push myself to get down to where I want to be.
I just reviewed last week's calories, and I was apparently farther down than I thought. This week, I'm riding much closer to the line on the calories day to day, so I can only hope to get down low enough on Sunday to not have to nudge things again. Nudging would probably make me rather grumpy.
Worst bit for food is that my protein shakes on the workout days are about 500 calories. Which, effectively leaves me with 1300 other calories in the day. Less than on my non-workout days. So, I actually have less that I can eat on a workout day, instead of more.
I've been thinking of cutting out the milk part of the shake, as that would at least give me some kind of break on the calorie amount.
The longer I'm on this diet, the more I feel like it isn't the right way to go about changing my body composition. I'm hoping that's simply a false belief. That I just need to keep going like I am and things will work out fine. Regardless, I've set my goals, and I do not intend to break from them. This is only the third week out of nine, so there is a lot of time left for changes to happen.
Like I've said before, if I just keep going with what I'm doing, eventually it will work it's way through to where I am trying to go.
Am over calories today by a bit, and hoping that I can keep everything under control for tomorrow and get to where I want to be on Sunday morning. I figure I'll maybe go into the gym tomorrow for a bit to kick my own ass with assistance work or something.
I have been wanting to do more conditioning work, but thus far haven't done more than one evening's worth of it. I have an aversion to doing workouts in the presence of people I know. I don't know why. I suppose I look silly doing whatever it is I'm doing.
Less issues working out in the gym, but then, there's usually far fewer people there, and those few which are about are often very, very involved in themselves. They're not watching me, so I don't care. But, here at the house, yeah, people would be watching.
Keeping to the non-workout day calories has been difficult. I am finding things a bit harder than I'd like there, but I know that it's all part of the process. Got to push myself to get down to where I want to be.
I just reviewed last week's calories, and I was apparently farther down than I thought. This week, I'm riding much closer to the line on the calories day to day, so I can only hope to get down low enough on Sunday to not have to nudge things again. Nudging would probably make me rather grumpy.
Worst bit for food is that my protein shakes on the workout days are about 500 calories. Which, effectively leaves me with 1300 other calories in the day. Less than on my non-workout days. So, I actually have less that I can eat on a workout day, instead of more.
I've been thinking of cutting out the milk part of the shake, as that would at least give me some kind of break on the calorie amount.
The longer I'm on this diet, the more I feel like it isn't the right way to go about changing my body composition. I'm hoping that's simply a false belief. That I just need to keep going like I am and things will work out fine. Regardless, I've set my goals, and I do not intend to break from them. This is only the third week out of nine, so there is a lot of time left for changes to happen.
Like I've said before, if I just keep going with what I'm doing, eventually it will work it's way through to where I am trying to go.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Something, something, something...
I've had a rumble of a thought crossing my head for a while now. The idea stems from wanting some long-term goal, but not being willing to commit to one.
There have been a couple of ideas which have come up.
One is centered around competition. Specifically, powerlifting. The idea would be to scope out a local competition slated for late spring/early summer/summer of 2013, and from now to then working on getting into competition shape.
The drawback on that is that I'm currently in a massive cut, and I'm not sure how long that will continue to be the case. To build up with powerlifting I'd need to eat a surplus, and it would feel a bit like throwing away all the effort that went into the cut in order to bulk up enough to make serious strength gains.
Of course, I'd feel like I was doing better if I knew some other people to encourage and compete against. I know Athalos would potentially join me, but nothing is ever definite.
Another is more conditioning related. Been thinking along the lines of "if you knew there was a zombie apocalypse coming, what kind of training would you be doing now?" I've been thinking something aiming for improving my overall zombie combat preparation between now and the end of the year/January. This would be covering the basics. Running, bodyweight conditioning, maybe some swimming, maybe some light combat skills.
Drawback to this is measuring the progress in everything. Running is measurable, and maybe also conditioning, but the rest is kind of floaty.
A third is working towards participation in a race of some kind. A 5K run, a sprint triathlon, a sprint cycle-swim-cycle (is that a duoathalon? biathalon?), maybe just working up the fitness to participate in a Tough Mudder or similar challenge run.
There are drawbacks to this, but far less than with the others. The major one is finding something I want to do, and something I can commit to doing.
I think the issue here is both the number of potential choices, and also my own hesitance at committing to the amount of effort involved in training for something like this.
Working up to a 5K would require me to start running, and then to continue running on a regular schedule through the rest of the year. Running outdoors in the rain or snow is not something I enjoy, and training by running a 5K on the treadmill just seems like torturing myself.
Still, learning to run would probably not be a bad thing. Learning to run would give me a serious boost to my cardio, and would give me some short-distance endurance.
There have been a couple of ideas which have come up.
One is centered around competition. Specifically, powerlifting. The idea would be to scope out a local competition slated for late spring/early summer/summer of 2013, and from now to then working on getting into competition shape.
The drawback on that is that I'm currently in a massive cut, and I'm not sure how long that will continue to be the case. To build up with powerlifting I'd need to eat a surplus, and it would feel a bit like throwing away all the effort that went into the cut in order to bulk up enough to make serious strength gains.
Of course, I'd feel like I was doing better if I knew some other people to encourage and compete against. I know Athalos would potentially join me, but nothing is ever definite.
Another is more conditioning related. Been thinking along the lines of "if you knew there was a zombie apocalypse coming, what kind of training would you be doing now?" I've been thinking something aiming for improving my overall zombie combat preparation between now and the end of the year/January. This would be covering the basics. Running, bodyweight conditioning, maybe some swimming, maybe some light combat skills.
Drawback to this is measuring the progress in everything. Running is measurable, and maybe also conditioning, but the rest is kind of floaty.
A third is working towards participation in a race of some kind. A 5K run, a sprint triathlon, a sprint cycle-swim-cycle (is that a duoathalon? biathalon?), maybe just working up the fitness to participate in a Tough Mudder or similar challenge run.
There are drawbacks to this, but far less than with the others. The major one is finding something I want to do, and something I can commit to doing.
I think the issue here is both the number of potential choices, and also my own hesitance at committing to the amount of effort involved in training for something like this.
Working up to a 5K would require me to start running, and then to continue running on a regular schedule through the rest of the year. Running outdoors in the rain or snow is not something I enjoy, and training by running a 5K on the treadmill just seems like torturing myself.
Still, learning to run would probably not be a bad thing. Learning to run would give me a serious boost to my cardio, and would give me some short-distance endurance.
Stable
Thus far this week, I've been 182, 183, and yesterday and today at 182 again.
Projections say that with Sunday as the end of the week, I should lose 1 pound after 3.5 days, so, no change expected until the 4th weighing. That's Thursday morning. So, I should be down to 181 if I'm on track. Last week it didn't show until Friday, then was there for Sunday. I'm hopeful.
I find that my current scale is very difficult to read in the mornings while I'm all blurry-eyed. That, and I'm just getting older. Been considering making a change to a digital scale, but it's a bit silly to buy a new scale when the old one is working well enough.
I've got a bit of soreness in the shoulders, back and around my knees. Most likely due to the extra conditioning work I did on Monday. Gotta find some place to fit more of that into the daily routine.
Projections say that with Sunday as the end of the week, I should lose 1 pound after 3.5 days, so, no change expected until the 4th weighing. That's Thursday morning. So, I should be down to 181 if I'm on track. Last week it didn't show until Friday, then was there for Sunday. I'm hopeful.
I find that my current scale is very difficult to read in the mornings while I'm all blurry-eyed. That, and I'm just getting older. Been considering making a change to a digital scale, but it's a bit silly to buy a new scale when the old one is working well enough.
I've got a bit of soreness in the shoulders, back and around my knees. Most likely due to the extra conditioning work I did on Monday. Gotta find some place to fit more of that into the daily routine.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Monday
Monday is my start of week flux day. I'm up to 183.
The week always seems to go like this. A weight on Sunday comes up generally as a pound higher on Monday. By Tuesday, the weight is down where it belongs, and then somewhere around Thursday there's a slight loss. On Saturday I'm down again, but by Sunday, I'm up slightly.
I'm hoping to break this pattern, as the flux doesn't really benefit me at all. I hardly even mind the change for a Monday, though, it's so frequent, but always leaves me feeling like I'm starting out the gates behind.
The week always seems to go like this. A weight on Sunday comes up generally as a pound higher on Monday. By Tuesday, the weight is down where it belongs, and then somewhere around Thursday there's a slight loss. On Saturday I'm down again, but by Sunday, I'm up slightly.
I'm hoping to break this pattern, as the flux doesn't really benefit me at all. I hardly even mind the change for a Monday, though, it's so frequent, but always leaves me feeling like I'm starting out the gates behind.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Aug 12
The stats:
Weight: 182 (-2; -3)
BF%: 21.8%
Waist: 102 (-1; -2)
Hips: 101 (-1; -1)
Chest: 106 (-1; -5)
Thigh: 59 (-2; -2)
Calf: 36 (-1; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Numbers are in pounds and centimeters. Numbers in the brackets are change from last week, and overall change.
I'm a bit surprised that I made it down to 182 - despite my post from yesterday. I didn't expect to hold the weight through to today.
I'm happy to see everything is down overall (aside from Calves - but I don't mind them). The one real sticking point is the body fat percentage. Hasn't moved yet. I'm waiting for it to shift, that will be a real sign I'm doing something right.
Weight: 182 (-2; -3)
BF%: 21.8%
Waist: 102 (-1; -2)
Hips: 101 (-1; -1)
Chest: 106 (-1; -5)
Thigh: 59 (-2; -2)
Calf: 36 (-1; +1)
Arm: 33 (0; -1)
Numbers are in pounds and centimeters. Numbers in the brackets are change from last week, and overall change.
I'm a bit surprised that I made it down to 182 - despite my post from yesterday. I didn't expect to hold the weight through to today.
I'm happy to see everything is down overall (aside from Calves - but I don't mind them). The one real sticking point is the body fat percentage. Hasn't moved yet. I'm waiting for it to shift, that will be a real sign I'm doing something right.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Ahead
Hit 182 this morning, which puts me a day ahead instead of a day behind. My body works in strange ways it seems.
There's a bit of potential for over-eating today, but I'm going to do what I can to keep on top of it. Assuming I hit 182 still tomorrow, then I'll be set for the next week's pace. No predictions, though, since I know my body to be able to shift 2 pounds in the upwards direction in the space of a day.
Will still try to get in some NEPA or light exercise today, just to start building up some conditioning.
There's a bit of potential for over-eating today, but I'm going to do what I can to keep on top of it. Assuming I hit 182 still tomorrow, then I'll be set for the next week's pace. No predictions, though, since I know my body to be able to shift 2 pounds in the upwards direction in the space of a day.
Will still try to get in some NEPA or light exercise today, just to start building up some conditioning.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Maybe just a bit behind
Down to 183 this morning. Which is about a day off of the expected schedule. So, I may be close to where I need to be. There's a chance I'll hit 182 in time for Sunday's check, but I don't know.
A bit more about faith. I have trouble believing the scale sometimes. Like this morning. I expected things to be at 184, and seeing 183 threw me. I fiddled with the scale a bit before resetting it to show me what I saw the first time. Messing about with the scale does bad things to the consistency of the measurements.
I'm still looking at doing some other work tomorrow, rather than just not doing anything in particular.
Also, I'm finding hunger to be more of an issue than normal today. Sticking to the diet, though I really wanted a muffin this morning.
M suggested that a muffin was hardly a horrible thing to want, but I know that if I make an excuse because I feel hungry, then I'm not going to see the results I want. This is only week 2, and I've got 7 more weeks after this. I may allow myself an overage day around the end of week 4 or week 5. Just to break the monotony of the diet.
A bit more about faith. I have trouble believing the scale sometimes. Like this morning. I expected things to be at 184, and seeing 183 threw me. I fiddled with the scale a bit before resetting it to show me what I saw the first time. Messing about with the scale does bad things to the consistency of the measurements.
I'm still looking at doing some other work tomorrow, rather than just not doing anything in particular.
Also, I'm finding hunger to be more of an issue than normal today. Sticking to the diet, though I really wanted a muffin this morning.
M suggested that a muffin was hardly a horrible thing to want, but I know that if I make an excuse because I feel hungry, then I'm not going to see the results I want. This is only week 2, and I've got 7 more weeks after this. I may allow myself an overage day around the end of week 4 or week 5. Just to break the monotony of the diet.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Just a blip
My weight was down to 184 again this morning, as expected. This, however, bodes poorly for the week. I should be around 183 at this point if there's much chance of hitting 182 by Sunday.
Though my diet records show me being under on each of the days, I am likely underestimating the amount of food or calories in what I'm eating. This is of course simply going to undermine my efforts to lose weight at an acceptable pace.
Today's food is turning out problematic. I planned to eat a couple of wraps for lunch, made from chicken and cheese and avocado. Surprisingly, each wrap works out to about 650 calories, which leaves me with only a couple hundred other calories for the day. This seems a difficult proposition, as a single meal is an unlikely thing, and I'm not sure what choices I can make which won't put me over by at least 200 calories on the day.
Better planning seems in order if this diet thing is going to work.
My current expectation for the end of the week is to end up around 183, again, short of my 2 pounds per week goal, but still moving in a downward direction. Another nudge is likely, bringing me to 1750/1400, which I feel is starting to push on to the bottom limit of daily food. 1400 seems drastically low - but I suppose that remains to be seen.
I am giving a lot of thought to adding on at least a couple days of cardio to try to nudge the output calories upwards as well. Likely, I will add the cardio regardless of the outcome of Sunday's weighing.
Though my diet records show me being under on each of the days, I am likely underestimating the amount of food or calories in what I'm eating. This is of course simply going to undermine my efforts to lose weight at an acceptable pace.
Today's food is turning out problematic. I planned to eat a couple of wraps for lunch, made from chicken and cheese and avocado. Surprisingly, each wrap works out to about 650 calories, which leaves me with only a couple hundred other calories for the day. This seems a difficult proposition, as a single meal is an unlikely thing, and I'm not sure what choices I can make which won't put me over by at least 200 calories on the day.
Better planning seems in order if this diet thing is going to work.
My current expectation for the end of the week is to end up around 183, again, short of my 2 pounds per week goal, but still moving in a downward direction. Another nudge is likely, bringing me to 1750/1400, which I feel is starting to push on to the bottom limit of daily food. 1400 seems drastically low - but I suppose that remains to be seen.
I am giving a lot of thought to adding on at least a couple days of cardio to try to nudge the output calories upwards as well. Likely, I will add the cardio regardless of the outcome of Sunday's weighing.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Fluctuation
So, yesterday, I post about faith, and here I find myself marginally higher in weight than I was the day before. It is things like this which test my faith that what I'm doing is working.
There are a number of reasons why my weight may be higher now than it was yesterday. Maybe I counted wrong with my calories yesterday, so I'd end up with more calories than I needed, which could push me over the limit.
All I can really do is try to keep track of things, and maybe kick up some conditioning work.
On the upside, squats felt better today - almost "pretty good" even. Still damned heavy, and I feel my form is really breaking down because of it. I did all the required reps, but I don't think I'm ready to advance on them yet.
There are a number of reasons why my weight may be higher now than it was yesterday. Maybe I counted wrong with my calories yesterday, so I'd end up with more calories than I needed, which could push me over the limit.
All I can really do is try to keep track of things, and maybe kick up some conditioning work.
On the upside, squats felt better today - almost "pretty good" even. Still damned heavy, and I feel my form is really breaking down because of it. I did all the required reps, but I don't think I'm ready to advance on them yet.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Faith
Faith in what I'm doing is one of the major areas where I fall down in my self-motivation.
I know I am eating fewer than maintenance calories. Thus, there is no way for me to actually gain weight. I may fluctuate higher than the previous day, but I am not gaining. Today the scale told me I was the same weight as yesterday. And that's fine. My scale is not very accurate, but it is consistent.
I need to have faith that eating this way, keeping track of the calories and limiting myself in order to stay within my calorie budget is ultimately going to work out.
There are a lot of areas where it feels like this may not be worth the sacrifices, but I have to keep my head up and push on. I am committed to my plan, I know it will work, and the faith in it will bear itself out with sufficient time.
I start to fold too easily.
I am on the third day of week 2, and the notch down of 50 calories per day feels more significant than I think it should. I'm not sure if this is a result of the change, or simply a mental thing. Likely mental. I'm not getting much less food. 50 calories accounts for less than half a banana's worth of food. Of course, I'm working on the compounding angle. 50 calories over 7 days is 350 calories, which is a reasonable chunk of a daily total - but not that much more off a weekly total.
Weekly, I'm going from 11,550 down to 11,200, which should be a good starting point.
I'm going to keep tracking what I eat. The plan, still is to try to hit 2 pounds per week loss. This is the goal rate. Once I achieve it, I just keep on that pace until I hit my goal weight.
Currently, I have a bit over 7.5 weeks, and 9 pounds to go. I will get there, I just need some faith and diligence.
I know I am eating fewer than maintenance calories. Thus, there is no way for me to actually gain weight. I may fluctuate higher than the previous day, but I am not gaining. Today the scale told me I was the same weight as yesterday. And that's fine. My scale is not very accurate, but it is consistent.
I need to have faith that eating this way, keeping track of the calories and limiting myself in order to stay within my calorie budget is ultimately going to work out.
There are a lot of areas where it feels like this may not be worth the sacrifices, but I have to keep my head up and push on. I am committed to my plan, I know it will work, and the faith in it will bear itself out with sufficient time.
I start to fold too easily.
I am on the third day of week 2, and the notch down of 50 calories per day feels more significant than I think it should. I'm not sure if this is a result of the change, or simply a mental thing. Likely mental. I'm not getting much less food. 50 calories accounts for less than half a banana's worth of food. Of course, I'm working on the compounding angle. 50 calories over 7 days is 350 calories, which is a reasonable chunk of a daily total - but not that much more off a weekly total.
Weekly, I'm going from 11,550 down to 11,200, which should be a good starting point.
I'm going to keep tracking what I eat. The plan, still is to try to hit 2 pounds per week loss. This is the goal rate. Once I achieve it, I just keep on that pace until I hit my goal weight.
Currently, I have a bit over 7.5 weeks, and 9 pounds to go. I will get there, I just need some faith and diligence.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Aug 5
Here's the end of week 1 (weights in pounds, measurements in centimeters):
Weight: 184 (-1)
BF%: 21.8%
Waist: 103 (-1)
Hips: 102
Chest: 107 (-4)
Thigh: 61
Calf: 37 (+2)
Arm: 33 (-1)
So, overall I'm down in size everywhere but my calves. Maybe the heavy work with them made them grow a bit?
My weight is down 1 pound, but just barely.
Were this the first week of a new diet, I would expect quite a bit more due to water weight being shed. But, since it's not, this is probably the full, actual amount of mass lost. Hopefully more fat than muscle, but there's not much way to know.
Given the low accuracy of my calipers, there's no way I can predict the ratios either, yet.
So, I'm going to nudge the per day calories down for this week, and try to keep vigilant.
Today is a scheduled rest day, but with a holiday tomorrow, I need to either move my workout to today or do a workout 2 days in a row. I think I'd rather have it today.
Weight: 184 (-1)
BF%: 21.8%
Waist: 103 (-1)
Hips: 102
Chest: 107 (-4)
Thigh: 61
Calf: 37 (+2)
Arm: 33 (-1)
So, overall I'm down in size everywhere but my calves. Maybe the heavy work with them made them grow a bit?
My weight is down 1 pound, but just barely.
Were this the first week of a new diet, I would expect quite a bit more due to water weight being shed. But, since it's not, this is probably the full, actual amount of mass lost. Hopefully more fat than muscle, but there's not much way to know.
Given the low accuracy of my calipers, there's no way I can predict the ratios either, yet.
So, I'm going to nudge the per day calories down for this week, and try to keep vigilant.
Today is a scheduled rest day, but with a holiday tomorrow, I need to either move my workout to today or do a workout 2 days in a row. I think I'd rather have it today.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Squat all the time
With the current RPT program in place, I'm following an overall program that really closely mirrors the Starting Strength program I've done so much before.
I like the SS approach. Focused on a few main lifts, using the full body, and working to build strength first. Size and mass are secondary items. Of course, the RPT swaps up the program by removing the 3x5 work weight, and putting in the pyramid progression instead.
What this all means is that I'm back to squatting every workout. I'd moved away from squatting so often to focus some effort on the deadlift and OHP - which worked, but left me lagging everywhere else.
Now, I'm working through all of the stuff I neglected. Some things are harder than others.
I like the SS approach. Focused on a few main lifts, using the full body, and working to build strength first. Size and mass are secondary items. Of course, the RPT swaps up the program by removing the 3x5 work weight, and putting in the pyramid progression instead.
What this all means is that I'm back to squatting every workout. I'd moved away from squatting so often to focus some effort on the deadlift and OHP - which worked, but left me lagging everywhere else.
Now, I'm working through all of the stuff I neglected. Some things are harder than others.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Diet and vigil
My current diet is a workout/rest day cycle. Fewer calories on rest days than on the workout days.
I have been following this plan for a while now. I've been bad in the last couple weeks about either tracking my food, or keeping within the limits I have set for myself. Given that I know that the diet is the core part of my weight loss program, falling outside the limits seems like a good way to work at failing.
My diet is not restrictive - other than calories. I can eat anything I want, whenever I want, and I don't worry too much about the overall percentages of protein to fat to carbs. I know that with some careful planning and balancing, I could probably work out a decent carb cycling process, which is supposed to have very good results. But I think I will hold on that one, as I am not in charge (usually) of the composition of meals.
My diet isn't going to be a fixed thing. I'll be looking at it every week, and reviewing in more depth at 2 and 4 week intervals, looking for places I can make a change to try to improve the diet. If I find I am loosing too fast, I'll bump up my calories, and if too slow, then I'll notch the calories down, and give some thought to throwing in either more NEPA, or perhaps a non-workout exercise set during the day. Maybe even some cardio.
Generally, the level of calories I am currently eating is pretty good. I am occasionally hungry (a good thing), but I am not starving for food. Rest days are the most difficult, as the number of calories is lower than a workout day, which means that my body is constantly adjusting to eating less or more food.
There have been some benefits to this. I have begun to find foods that I can eat which keep me full, but at the same time do not provide with massive numbers of calories. I need to work a bit more on finding more of these foods so I don't end up just eating the same thing every day.
At the moment, I am trying to gear towards a 2 pound per week rate of loss. This is on the upper end, but I believe it is sustainable. I think I'm just a bit under that pace this week, but with some extra vigil, I should be able to get there. Likely, I will be making a downward notch in the food allowance for next week. A small nudge, but hopefully enough to start to offset the balance.
After all, a 50 calorie per day deficit accounts for 350 calories per week. Effectively 10% of a pound, throwing in a bit of cardio or other NEPA should bump me to the right spot.
No shoes, no soccer
Was supposed to play in a pick-up game of soccer last night, but I forgot to pack my shoes. So, no game for me. Apparently, no game for anyone else either, as everyone else got bogged down with work.
Talked, briefly, with Athalos yesterday about his routine, my routine, our (independent) goals, and when we could arrange a workout again. His injury has slowed his progress down, but he's going to focus this month on getting back up again.
I'm not sure if I covered my goals or not, but I will now.
Aug-Sep is all about losing weight and body fat. Hopefully at the same time. The initial goal for weight is to get down to 175 pounds. That's a 10 pound drop. I should be able to do that in relatively short order, but I will have to be far more vigilant on my diet. I'll save that topic for a follow-up post.
The body fat goal is to have my calipers read 15% (14.8% estimate according to my caliper set). Right now, I'm estimated at 21.8%, and need to move down about 5 notches to get to 15%. Hopefully, this will not be something impossible. I believe I can do it.
Beyond those goals, I don't have anything else set. No workout goal, no special achievement. Just focusing on the weight for at least these next two months.
Talked, briefly, with Athalos yesterday about his routine, my routine, our (independent) goals, and when we could arrange a workout again. His injury has slowed his progress down, but he's going to focus this month on getting back up again.
I'm not sure if I covered my goals or not, but I will now.
Aug-Sep is all about losing weight and body fat. Hopefully at the same time. The initial goal for weight is to get down to 175 pounds. That's a 10 pound drop. I should be able to do that in relatively short order, but I will have to be far more vigilant on my diet. I'll save that topic for a follow-up post.
The body fat goal is to have my calipers read 15% (14.8% estimate according to my caliper set). Right now, I'm estimated at 21.8%, and need to move down about 5 notches to get to 15%. Hopefully, this will not be something impossible. I believe I can do it.
Beyond those goals, I don't have anything else set. No workout goal, no special achievement. Just focusing on the weight for at least these next two months.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Day 3
Weight back down to 185# as expected this morning. Gonna be a bit rough, as I don't have a packed lunch today, and it's just been difficult to sort dinner without resorting to a restaurant.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Aug-Sep starts
Yesterday kicked off the August-September cycle. I came in at 185#, which is relatively good. Means I am down 15 pounds over the prior 16 week cycle - slightly less than the goal of 16 pounds, but I really wasn't following the diet very well during the bulk of it.
Today, I find myself up to 187#. Which is normal for my weekly diet habits. I do fine during the week, and then Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday I muck it up and eat more than I should, so the weight trends upwards. Kinda blows out some of the work of the week, which means it is a bad habit that should be stopped.
I have decided to run an RPT program over the next 8 weeks, along with my cut. I will be monitoring my rate of weight loss, and adjusting my diet intake until I reach a consistent pace I like. I won't know until at least next Sunday where this week's pace sits.
RPT plan starts like this:
Squat will start at 125# (based on 155# max)
Bench will start at 105# (based o n135# max)
Row will start at 65# (I don't have a max for this, so I am starting it very low)
OHP will start at 85# (based on 105# max)
Deadlift will start at 215# (based on 270# max)
Thus far, the workouts are good. I've already set the Squat, Bench and Row items too low, so I'll move them up. I am planning to work 3, 4, 5 reps for the work sets for everything except Row (3, 6, 9 there), and maybe OHP (3, 5, 7 likely).
Stated goal for Aug-Sep is to reach 175# (initial goal) and 15% body fat. I'm starting with 185#, and 21.8% (estimated via calipers). My LeanGains estimator sheet predicts me reaching 8% by Oct 13... which I think is a generous estimate.
Updates will be posted as frequently as I feel like it. Probably at least weekly.
Today, I find myself up to 187#. Which is normal for my weekly diet habits. I do fine during the week, and then Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday I muck it up and eat more than I should, so the weight trends upwards. Kinda blows out some of the work of the week, which means it is a bad habit that should be stopped.
I have decided to run an RPT program over the next 8 weeks, along with my cut. I will be monitoring my rate of weight loss, and adjusting my diet intake until I reach a consistent pace I like. I won't know until at least next Sunday where this week's pace sits.
RPT plan starts like this:
Squat will start at 125# (based on 155# max)
Bench will start at 105# (based o n135# max)
Row will start at 65# (I don't have a max for this, so I am starting it very low)
OHP will start at 85# (based on 105# max)
Deadlift will start at 215# (based on 270# max)
Thus far, the workouts are good. I've already set the Squat, Bench and Row items too low, so I'll move them up. I am planning to work 3, 4, 5 reps for the work sets for everything except Row (3, 6, 9 there), and maybe OHP (3, 5, 7 likely).
Stated goal for Aug-Sep is to reach 175# (initial goal) and 15% body fat. I'm starting with 185#, and 21.8% (estimated via calipers). My LeanGains estimator sheet predicts me reaching 8% by Oct 13... which I think is a generous estimate.
Updates will be posted as frequently as I feel like it. Probably at least weekly.
Friday, July 27, 2012
It's almost time to start again
It is almost time to get started again.
I've set the 29th as the kick-off point for a 2 month diet and workout cycle. Today was the last or next to last workout for the prior cycle, which has lasted 16 weeks. I did some max effort work today, and came out unhappy.
First, unhappy that my weight was nudged up a pound over yesterday because of the sushi binge from last night. I slotted the day into "refeed" but that's hardly a good excuse. I have a lot of crisis of faith when it comes to losing weight, and most of it comes from tracking weight on a day to day basis. I know that really, I'm still 185. That the extra weight is just temporary, and likely, by Sunday I'll have 184# on the scale - assuming I don't go all weepy and eat everything today.
As for the workout, I was hoping to break some personal records today. I'd switched up the training the last three weeks, from my own program - focused on alternating light and heavy work with the core four lifts. To a three week long 5-3-1 program, doubling up on workouts to give me some feeling of actually doing something during the week.
Ultimately, I find myself weaker than when I started. Of course, I also got back onto following my drastic cut protocol. Helpful, but I'm really feeling less powerful. I know that's what happens, I just hate the reality of it.
Doesn't help my mood that I met up with a guy last night who I haven't seen in a couple months, and he's been eating and working out 6 days a week. Solid start to his arms - no legs.
On the plus side, the lady at the sushi place (where we go often enough to be on friendly terms with the owners), said I had lost weight. Feels strange.
So, with 2 months of cut coming up, I need to set it into my mind that the idea of progress has to be scrapped. I need to go with the much more realistic goal of strength retention. Work from lower maxes, and focus on lifting hard enough to maintain, without killing myself trying to find gains which aren't going to happen with a deficit.
Gains are for the Oct-Dec cycle. Until then, weight losses are the key.
I will be putting up a statistics blast on or around the 29th which will cover the starting point, and will then update each week so everything is out there for all to see. Though nobody is reading - but that's not the point.
What?
Seven months since the last post. There, I laid out the things I set for myself as goals. Simple stuff. Get fit, get a grip on the debt, learn some German and make some art.
What have I done? Not enough. I've got a grip on the debt - but there's very little progress towards paying it down.
I've started to get a real grip on the fitness thing. I've been working out regular, eating less (but not yet "better"), and I am still motivated for it.
I have a bit of a German in this year, but it's been really light. Mostly revision, and far less reading and listening than I should be doing to really build any language skill.
The art? Not really anything there either. I've been thinking I'll start writing any time now, but it seems that the writing bug leaves me until November each year. With August almost on me, I think I may give some effort towards putting down some words. I do have a bug in my ear on getting something done, just need a story to use as the outlet.
Am I back? Maybe. Probably inconsistently. I note that Athalos has started posting again - just last week. We haven't talked about it. We're just connected along the same brainwave most of the time.
At present, I know that I'm not ready to start talking about workout plans. I'd rather talk about what I've done than what I plan to do. I still make plans, but I keep them to myself now more than I used to do.
This blog covers the things I like to do, first and foremost, and I feel that I should get back to doing that. My break has been long enough. Maybe I have things I want to say again.
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