Gut-Bustin’ 101

Had my bodyfat tested by a friend who’s a personal trainer yesterday, and came in higher than I expected: 22.3%. That’s a pisser! I was thinking maybe around 19-20% max. But it’s incentive to  take another look at what I’m eating and work on those ratios (am I eating enough? Gotta figure that out too). We actually filmed the bodyfat test - kinda of a running video blog of the whole bodybuilding journey here. Just gotta get up some nerve to post it!

I’m in the middle of a Recovery Week after 3 months of getting back into exercise. I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished so far: over 2 inches off the waist, and it looks like some muscle and strength gains as well. My overall weight has stayed pretty close to 155.

Taking time this week to plan out my strategy for the next 3 months: more attention to my food intake -  especially nutrient ratios, going a little heavier in the workouts, and upping cardio to 5-6 days consistently. Might add in one or two additional supplements - EFA pills for sure, and *might* experiment with some creatine, but that all depends on how fat the wallet is. These days it’s been leaning out faster than I am!

Found a great article here on Bodybuilding.com (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/anabolic_nutrition_diet_plan.htm) that suggests a carb cycling plan for losing fat while retaining/gaining muscle. I’m trying this out for the next 1-2 weeks to see what kind of results I get from it. I’m on my second day of low-carb eating, and found I have to modify it a bit because extremely low carbs do all kinds of wack things to my brain. But I got through the day yesterday with a total of about 38g carbs, going for about the same or less today. Thurs I’ll do a high-carb day (5.5 days in a row of low carbs seems too much for me right now). Getting bodyfat tested this Saturday and taking measurements, so we’ll see how it turns out for the week.

Glad to say I hit my goal last week of dropping 1/8-1/4" off my waist - went from 33-3/4" to 33-9/16", a drop of 3/16" or just over 1/8". Wish it could go faster, but if I keep it up a little at a time, I should hit my waist goal of 32" by the end of the year.

Added more veggies to the meals, drank about a gallon of water a day, tried a few new P90X workouts, and did 4 days of cardio.

Hurt my right elbow area on chest day - might’ve been using too much weight on the twisted dumbbell flyes and it feels like an aching tendon when I move it a certain way. Gonna try to ease up on that arm this week and use lighter weights. This is Week 12 of my "Intro Phase" of getting back into training, so I’ve got a full week off of workouts coming up Aug 31st, which’ll hopefully help the arm recover more quickly.

I’ve scheduled a bodyfat test with a trainer next weekend, so I’ll post those results when they’re ready. My guess is I’ll come in at around 20-21% bodyfat - the trainer uses a 7-point measurement calculation that I think is way more accurate than my little plastic Accumeasures! I’m also gonna pick his brain on modifying my nutrition plan for optimal fat loss.

The pic below is from 8/19/2009 - I’m seeing a little more muscle, but DAMN that belly fat is taking forever to disappear!
Have a great week everybody!

Well, I dropped about a half pound last week, probably muscle cuz I don’t think I ate enough. Wasn’t prepped with my food like I usually am, and didn’t drink enough water. Hit the cardio and workouts just fine though. This week, I’m gonna add more veggies to the mix, get my gallon of water in each day as best I can, and focus even more on intense workouts and HIIT cardio. I’ll check back in at the end of the month with more results - hope everyone has an awesome, healthy week!

Checkin’ in real quick with end-of-the-month results…

Since June 1, 2009, I’ve been able to drop my waist measurement from 36" back down to 34"  as of 7/31, so that’s got me doin’ the Happy Dance! Bodyfat is just under 20%, but I’m doing the measurements myself with one of those Accu-measure things, and the charts don’t really have detailed numbers so I can only say for sure that I’m between 17.8 and 19.6 - which kinda blows. Gotta get an official measurement done soon.

My weight has dropped a couple pounds, but I’m not that concerned about my weight - it the Waist-from-Hell that i’m focused on, and those bodyfat numbers.

Nutrition’s been really clean except for a few cheats here and there - but that 16oz. T-Bone was DAMN tasty last night!

After two months of alternating basic upper-lower body workouts (and tossing in a few of the P90X routines just to test the waters), I think I’ll continue on that path for the rest of August. But I’m also gonna add in lots more of the P90X stuff to shake it up. I’ve done their leg workouts several times now, so I’m getting used to that craziness!

Updated pix… gotta get on it and post a few of those sometime this week too.

August is a tough month - two birthdays comin’ up (including mine) plus a few BBQ’s, so I’ll have to be extra disciplined.

That’s it for now - I’ll check back in a month with updated results, and until then grab more inspiration from everybody on Bodyspace!