StressMonkey’s BodyBlog

I was left a comment today asking what I thought the biggest factor was for me lowering my body fat percentage.  I wrote another body blog post about how I had drastically reduced the amount of soda that I was drinking.  I definitely think that that was a huge factor.  I did forget to mention something else, the number of times I am now eating throughout the day.

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been at this game for a while, but as a newbie it still is surprising to me.  I remember vividly the moment when I joined the gym and  my trainer told me that he wanted me to eat at least five or six meals a day.  I thought he was completely insane and I’m sure the look I gave him reflected that.

Before I started training I would eat lunch, dinner, a candy bar in the afternoon, and a midnight snack.  That’s pretty much it.  I had to drastically change how often I ate.  I eat breakfast every day now (today it was a protein shake and a banana) and try to eat a healthy snack every 2-3 hours (along with lunch and dinner).  Favorites are almonds, yogurt, bananas, grapes, turkey jerky, and protein bars.  I eat Clif Builder’s bars instead of a candy bar in the afternoon now.  They taste really good (especially the chocolate mint one) and feel more like a treat than something I am eating for protein.

Since I’m eating more than I ever have and eating so often I never expected my body fat percentage to do anything but go up.  Since my goal was (is) to gain weight that only made sense to me.  I was stunned to find the absolute opposite happen.  I gained weight while at the same time my body fat percentage dropped.  I never in a million years expected that to happen.  It’s not cardio that did it because pretty much the only cardio my trainer has me do is five to ten minutes worth to warm up before I lift.  That’s fine by me because I freaking HATE cardio.

While I’m pretty consistent with my diet I also believe that’s it’s very important to cheat.  On Saturday night when I’m out having fun I’ll eat half of a 14” pizza and have two or three Cokes (the good stuff, not that nasty diet soda) with zero guilt.

Like I said, I’m new to all this, but this is what is working for me.

I finished my workout for 9/29/07 and headed for the front office.  While I was waiting for my trainer to come in and sign me out for the session I grabbed the body fat analyzer.  Entered all the required info (height, weight, age, etc.) and held on.  I didn’t know (or really care) what it would say.  When I started training in July I was 12.8%.  When I tested it a few weeks ago I was around 8%.  I almost dropped it when I saw it said 6.9%.  Are you freaking kidding me?  I’m (cleanly) eating more than I did before I joined the gym and I’ve almost halved my body fat percentage since July.  I never expected that to happen.  The only thing I can think of is that I’ve drastically cut down on the amount of soda I was drinking.  I used to have a Coke every day and at least four on the weekend.  Now I just have two or three on the weekend and that’s it.  That’s almost motivation enough to cut it out completely.  Almost.