It has reminded to how far I have come, and frankly I was a little shocked when i saw it!

Holy moly - I think this is about as much of a cut phase as I need. I feel like a weedy lightweight! That’s 2.1kg (4.6lb) loss in 7 weeks = 300grams/ week, a nice slow loss and I don’t feel like I have sacrificed too much muscle. My lifts have been increasing the whole time - until this last week my energy has dwindled somewhat…sooooo….

Bulk Phase #2 begins FRIDAY!

I have timed this well -  my Step Sister’s wedding is that day and I was reluctant to bulk prior to this - lest i not fit into my stunning wedding outfit! That wedding cake better f*$Cking RUN!!
I learnt alot from my first bulk - I think it was a little bit too much of a calorie increase too fast, so this one will be a nice steady one. I will begin by upping my calories by 200 then see how i fair in a few weeks. Sitting pretty at 1800 cal at the moment
Let’s just hope I don’t use this as an excuse to eat 200 cals more of almond/brazil/cashew butter, cos i could go nuts on that stuff.

Oh yeah, i’m ending my creatine cycle too and will re-start in 2 weeks

Constant learning process - I love it!

Now… how the f.. do i top this next week?

Live and learn!

I will go back to bicycling the day after legs, much easier on the butt/ legs.  It’s a shame though because the stepmill gets my heart rate above 80% easily and other cardio machines don’t even come close.

It’s frustrating to be pedalling at 120rpm or running at speed and have your heart rate sitting at ~70%!!

I mix up my cardio between rowing, cycling, jogging/ running, stepmill, walking on an incline and occassionally HIIT sprints. Most of these sessions are interval based on a 1:1 or 1: 0.5 work to rest period
…. How bloody hard must a girl work to get her heart-rate up?! I absolutely cannot pedal, run or row any faster, and with a safe resistance - and the heart rate is not often above 80% HRM.

Any suggestions would be great

Is my body just ultra-conditioned to cardio? Or is there a different approach I should be taking to shock the body?

I am both surprised and impressed at how fast my body is responding. I am mindful of losing too fast so will continue to monitor LBM for muscle loss %.
I’m on 1800 cal with a 40carb/ 35pro/ 25 fat macro break-up.
It aims for 50g fat intake, which is MUCH more than I have previously taken in (way low - around 20-30g on a good day..that would explain my resultant ammonorea!) and i’m finding it hard to use varied sources of healthy fats to add up to that number, so it’s actually around 40g at the moment, but slowly building.

I’m using avocado, nuts, flaxseed oil and almond/brazil nut/cashew butter to increase my fat intake. LOVE the ‘ABC’ butter.. omg I could eat this all day.

My energy is way up! and my calorie cutting doesn’t seem to have affected my lifting, so all is well

Feeling alot less ‘full’ all the time, due to the smaller portions, and i’m pretty hungry alot. Is that a good thing? It just feels wrong to be hungry only 1.5 hours after i last ate.. with another hour or so to go until the next meal!

Tried sumo squats yesterday as i’m in a bit of a rut with my BB squats - stuck at 75kgs. I did one set of sumo’s @50kgs to test out and i felt very stable and it actually felt much more natural than a standard squat..! I will definately include these from now on, just to change it up a bit.

I havn’t had a true rest day in a week and i’m really feeling it. Tomorrow I will kick my feet up in a spa full of fragrant oils and salts:)
Saturday was Back day: my Deadlift technique is getting better each time, i’m only lifting 32kgs (plus bar) until I am confident to go heavy.
Today is Chest/ Shoulders.

For the last week or so I have gone back to counting calories/ tracking macros. I plan my food a day ahead and make sure it all adds up to 1800cal, 20-30% fat/30-40% pro/40% carbs. I have to say something:

I’m sick of it already.

Counting calories, tracking food, calculating etc etc etc is something I have done for weight loss for a very long time - up until the start of this year. I stopped all of this because it became too controlling in my life.

I am feeling this creep in to my life again, and I have only been tracking for 1 week!!! How do you all do it?! I would love to hear how people manage their day to day food choices, and if they count calories - then how do you do it with out obsessing over it all?

It was very ‘freeing’ to not count calories and be so rigid over my food for the last 5 months. I would love to find a balance between this and tracking my food that will still allow me to lean up nicely

I understand that what you eat/how much you eat affects 80% of the way your physique turns out. I hate to think all this hard work in the gym is going down the toilet because I am doing something wrong with my food intake, be it portion size or whatever.

However, I am doing a 4k run event (recreational) on Sunday and had to change my routine this week. It’s not a ‘huge’ run, but I havn’t jogged regularly over 10-15mins for about 2 months so it’s going to stress the legs a bit
Am I happy about having Hammies on Wednesday, then Quads on Friday.. no… it’s certainly not ideal as I have some DOMS still from Wednesday. My other option was to do quads tomorrow but I wanted atleast a day between quads and the run, so those are the cards dealt and I will do my best with it! I most likely won’t increase any weights, just do maintenance.

Activity:
Quads + Calves
Cardio: Low - medium intensity 30mins

My abs are feeling it today too, I did 70kg cable crunches last night and they are a’flame!

Being that the weather is getting so cold, last night I experimented with a hot drink to have before bed.
I came up with:

Hot Choc Soy Peanut (AKA Hot Peachoy!)
1/2 TBSP Nat Peanut butter
Tsp Cocoa powder (just cocoa, no sugar mixed stuff)
250ml Vitasoy ‘Heart’ soy milk

.. heated up in the microwave until steaming hot. It was pretty nice, though slightly bland (lack of sugar will do that!). But it was a good choice to get some protein and good fats in before bed, without amping myself up on sugar that is not needed.

Now the recipe is over and done with - here is today’s food:

6.30am
Scoop Horleys Sculpt PP
60g Rolled Oats
1/2 Small banana
20g Sultana/raisen/apricot dried mix
Fish oil caps, multi, glucosomine, green’s powder
(426cal, 28.3g pro, 56.8g carb, 7.3g fat)

8 am
Soy Latte

10.30am
2 x Mountain Bread (oat)
5 x Egg Whites
cinnamon
1c Broccoli
Peppermint Tea
(245cal, 25.g8 pro, 31.7g carb, 1.6g fat)
1pm
100g Tuna (springwater packed)
1/2c Brown Rice
1c Broccoli
Long Machiatto
‘ViG’
(259cal, 29.8g pro, 31.7g carb, 1.6g fat)
2.30pm (Work out)

4.30pm (PWO)
Scoop Dymatize Elite Whey cafe mocha
BCAA’S
Creatine
Apple
(161 cal, 21.5g pro, 19.1g carb, 0.5g fat)
7.30pm
Bowl home-made vegetable soup (veges/water - no stock)
100g Chicken breast
50g Rolled Oats
10ml Flaxseed Oil
(476 cal, 38.5g pro, 36,9g carb, 18.1g fat)
10.30pm
5 x  Egg Whites
Cinnamon
Flaked Almonds/ Brazil Nuts
100ml Vitasoy ‘Heart’ milk
(233cal, 23.6g pro, 6.1g carb, 13.4g fat)
___________
Total 1798 cal
167.4g Protein
183.5g Carbs
41.8g Fat

38P/41C/21F

Any comments on my food choices/ break down?
Keep in mind that this is my first week of cutting down portion sizes/ reducing intake a bit and starting to count calories again, so I can cut that little fat layer that I gained while on my ‘healthy bulk’ over the last few months

I will be monitoring my energy levels and workout intensity, and doing weekly weight/ measurements also.

Tomorrow: Back + Spinning (low intensity - mainly to loosen the legs for Sundays run)

Love my intense legs workouts, and today is hamstrings. I am working in the 20 rep range for 4 sets each exercise and I am totally rooted by the time I am done! I will do 20 - 30mins low intensity spinning afterwards to get the junk out of my muscles and assist recovery.

Meal 1 (7am)
60 Rolled Oats
1/2 Banana, mashed
20g Raw nuts/seeds
25g Horley Sculpt PP
Small light soy latte
Cal 426, Pro 30g, Carb 57g, Fat 7.3g
Meal 2 (11am)
150g Jalna Fat-Free Yoghurt
3 Feijoa’s (it’s a guava!)
Green Tea
Cal 100, Pro 1g0, Carb 16g, Fat 1g
Meal 3 (1pm)
100g Chicken Breast
1/2c Brown Rice
1c Broccoli
Small light soy latte
Cal 350, Pro 38g, Carb 36g, Fat 6g
Meal 4 (4pm - pre w/o)
2 Mountain Bread Oat wraps
5 Egg whites with cinnamon
Small Orange
ViG
Cal 289, Pro 24g, Carb 44.8g, Fat 2g

Meal 5 (7.30pm post w/o)
BCAA’
Creatine
25g Dymatize Elite Whey
Apple
Cal 172, Pro 25g, Carb 20g, Fat 2g
Meal 6 (9pm)
130g Tuna
1/2c Brown Rice
1c Vegetables
15ml Flaxseed oil
Cal 423, Pro 38g, Carb 33g, Fat 16g
Meal 7 (11pm)
3 Egg Whites
1 Whole Egg
Cal 131, Pro 18g, Carb 1g, Fat 6g

Total: Cal 1888, Pro 173.4g, Carb 209g, Fat 37.8g  (% = P37/C45/F18)

Have I got my pre & post workout meals in order? Hrmmm.. I’m going with the low gi Mountain wraps/ egg whites/ orange beforehand for the sustained release - and the PP and apple after for high gi. I have been trying to nail the pre/post workout meals for awhile: need something easy to stomach pre, and something not too heavy post. I usually work out straight after work.

I will post my workout tonight

Feedback would be appreciated…

When I say ‘pudgy’ I don’t mean i’m HUGE, it’s just an all over layer that I am not comfortable with. Having said that, the bulk has been totally worth it as it has given me an opportunity to regain some muscle while also learning about nutrition and how my body responds to certain things

I have not been counting calories, as a change to having done that for so long, I have just been keeping a food journal and making sure i get a good serve of protein/ complex carbs/ good fats with most meals.

I will go back and calculate a few random typical days of food to get an average daily intake, then - 300 calories as a starting point and draw up a weeks worth of daily menus for variety. I will weigh myself every Tuesday.

Training wise, I plan to continue to lift 5 days, with cardio remaining at 30mins 4-5 days/week. If things don’t go as expected after adjusting my intake, then I will look at increasing cardio
I am both excited and nervous to be entering this next phase!

My goal is to gain muscle, with minimal fat gain, and to maintain a good cardio fitness.
I will post my stats below, could someone please provide feedback with the approx calories and macro breakdown I should be aiming for?

Me:

Female

59.5kgs (131lbs)
161cms tall (5"4)

17.8% Body fat

Activity Level:

Sedentry desk job full time (8hrs day/ 5days week)

Weights: Weights (30-45mins/session) x 3days/week. Plus x1 full body personal training session (30mins)/week
Cardio: Cycling (1×1hr high intensity intervals, 1×1.5hr moderate intensity, 2×2hr moderate intensity /week)

Jogging 3 x 35mins (some random sprints thrown in occassionally)/ week

I wear a heart rate monitor during all of my exercise activity and lately I have been burning on average 2500 - 3000 calories/ week during my exercise.

..that should be plenty of information.

So, being that my goal is to gain mass, given my current calorie expenditure - what should my calorie intake and macro breakdown be??

I have a clean diet, so I am not so concerned about fat gain, but I would like to get my macros right also so i know my body is getting the right amount of what it needs based on what i do!

Thank you in advance..

K2BL

(PS I have used a few online calculators and the result is wide and varied!!)