Todd_A’s BodyBlog

A little over a week ago I decided to add morning fasted cardio into my routine each day. One reason to do fasted morning cardio is that Glycogen levels are supposedly low from sleeping all night in a fasted state, so you are not relying on freshly digested food for energy during these sessions.  

I decided to go with Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) so as to burn like 90% stored fat rather than sacrificing lean muscle mass. I got that from reading a ton of studies on the subject. It seems to he the preferred way to loose body fat and retain lean mass.

Also, I am doing a reduced calorie diet with lower carb intake, usually around the 100 grams to 175 grams range and the weekends I allow it to creep up into the 200’s.

Results are that I have lost a couple of pounds but through testing the body fat with calipers, I find that the loss in weight has been almost all fat with a small amount of lean mass, but it is really trivial because it can be accounted for in water loss.

The real test will be the rest of this week lifting - if I can maintain or gain strength on my lifts, then that will support the retained lean mass theory.  

You might be able to guess from all the posting…. I am off work today!  YAY!

I’ve taken this morning and looked back on all the information that I have logged over the last several years with nutrition, lifting, cardio, etc… and I’ve decided to, once again, make some changes.  It turns out that I have been jumping around trying out lots of different types of lifting strategies, and although the change is a good thing as far as mixing things up, I think I have lost sight of the goal somewhat. So, starting next week, I am going to get back to doing what appeared to give me the best results so far which is to not use a bunch of different lifts, but instead do the basic lifting movements with pretty normal rep ranges.  I did have pretty good results with higher reps and lower weight also, so I am thinking about combining all that into a heavy/light type of routine utilizing the basic exercises - regular old bench press, incline press, flies, skull crushers, dips, military press, Laterals, squats, calf raises, pullups, bent rowing, etc…

The only thing that I might omit would be deads, but I am up in the air on that one. I have read that deads will add some mass to your sides which will take away some of that "V" taper look, so I am thinking on that one still.

That is the plan for now.

As hard as I try to stick to my plans for nutrition, I end up screwing them up at some point, and then I let it go too far for too long.  I don’t know if it is that I am bored with the routine eating or what, but it seems to happen just when I am at the lowest body fat%.  I will either decide I am too small and need to add more mass and then end up eating some crap and justifying it telling myself that I am in a gaining phase or something…. or I will just plain screw it up by adding the wrong crap to it usually late at night.
Every time without fail I see great progress when I stick to my plan, so I know the plan is correct for my goals.
So, I know what does work, and I know what absolutely will kill the progress I have made. MY problem appears to be that I don’t have the drive, long term, to blow pass those achievements and make new better progress. And that sucks.
Well, this time I caught myself before things got too out of control, so I am starting at a point closer to where I was at best, so I hope to gain motivation from seeing additional progress.
The yo-yo thing just sucks!

I started a new diet plan at the begining of March and so far it is going great! I learned about it from a member here (wave_length) when I was reading in his journal.  He has 3 main rules for loosing fat - (1)Workout 3 times a week with weights., (2) Eat 1g protein / lb lean body mass. (3) Reduce calories to lose 1-2 lbs / week. 

The first week I was down 2 pounds and do far here in the second week I am right on track to repeat that same amount. I am going out on a limb here when I say that it has to be mostly fat because I am gaining strength on all my lifts consistently!

Now the rules themselves are not that odd, but the way this guy implements them is different from the regular shool of thinking concerning this. He makes a big protein shake and sips on it all day long, then at lunch he has a huge meal, then back to sipping the protein shake and that is it! The huge meal can be a lot of things and he usually has around 1200 calories.

I do it a little different but it is only a small variation. I make my protein shake with a few more ingredients so it does have more calories in it and my lunch is not as big at usually around 950 - 1050 calories.  I usually end up with right at 1950 - 2050 calories a day.

Here is how it all goes down:

Frist thing in the morning I start making my Protein Shake. I get the blender and I pour in 1/4 cup of skim milk, then I fill it the rest of the way up to just below the 3 cup mark.  Next I add 2 scoops of Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey (double rich chocolate flavor), 2 scoops of Muscle Milk (chocolate flavor), 2 Tablespoons of Smuckers Natural Meanut Butter (creamy), and then I throw in one medium banana.  Then I blend it until smooth. This comes to 875 Calories.  I pour this into 2 tupperware tumblers with lids. One goes in the fridge for later, and the other into a small cooler to take to work.

Next, and this is the gross part for many of you out there, I take one teaspoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Yep, thats right, one teaspoon of the stuff. I take it like caugh syrup. Then I drink most of a glass of water washing that down and I also take 2 fish oil gels and my multi-vitamin. Next, to really get that olive oil taste out of there, I chew up two Now brand chewable C-500 tablets, one at a time. This gives me some Healthy Fats and I dont’ forget my vitamins! BTW, the olive oil and the fish gels come to about 78 calories.

Next it’s off to work where after about 1.5 - 2 hours I start sipping on ym protein shake. I try to take in about half or  alittle more of that one tumbler full before lunch. I Usually try to push lunch back to about 1:00PM so I am done eating close to 2:00PM. This way it is about 3 hours before I leave and I can work out then and all that food from lunch is digested to the point where it does not bother me while lifting.

Lunch: This is where things get really interesting.  You can go out to eat or eat prepared food, whatever, but the only real thing to worry about here is getting enough protein and not going over your limit of calories. I try to about 50 grams of protein at lunch. 

Here are some examples of what I have eaten so far on this diet:

Chic-Fil-A: 1 Chic-Fil-A Sandwich, 1 side salad with 3/4 serving of Light Italian dressing, 1 order of 8 count chicken nuggets. This was in the mall location, so I walked to the Great American Cookie Company and had 1 Double Fudge Cookie! 971 Calories, 64 grams of Protein. 

 Home Made Soft Tacos: I eat 1/2 the prepared taco meat in 3 carb balance tortillas with 2 Tablespoons of Light Sour Cream and 1/2 cup of 2% cheese. I take 2 fish oil gels with this, and I have 1 serving (28 grams) of Spicy Sweet Doritos. For dessert I have a banana. 968 Calories, 72 grams of protein.

On The Border: Yummmmmm! I have 2 beef enchaladas with Queso on top and I order a bowl of Queso but I only eat half of it and I eat 1 of those servings of the chips. 1025 Calories, 52.5 grams of protein.

Today I had Hamburger Helper (Double Cheesy Quesadilla). I ate 1/2 the entire recipe! I also added 1/2 cup of 2% cheese on it and ate it with hot sauce and I had 120 grams of Black Beans with it. 1001 calories, 82 grams of protein.

I also have other foods to, but these should be a good example.

OK, after I eat and go back to work and if I feel hungry in the afternoon at all I will sip on that protein shake more, then about 5PM I get off work and on my way home I drink the rest of that protein shake that I took to work. Next I go work out - I lift for about an hour to an hour and a half (not usually that long, but some times it happens) then I do 40 minutes of LISS on the treadmil at a 140 BPM heartrate. After all that I wait about 30 minutes before getting back to my Second Tupperware Tumbler full of Protein shake - usually I will drink about half of that one fairly quick, then save the rest for a little later and I will sip on that one until I am done and I try to be finshed with ti by 8PM - 9PM.

That is my day. So far so good - I am almost 2 weeks in and jsut about 4 pounds down with increases on almost every lift every time!  I hope anyone interested in this will give it a try. It really helps if you are in the situation where you have to go out at lunch, but it is also very convenient all around!

Today was my 4th week of having a Squat Only Day in my program. So far this is working great for me. I have increased weight by 10 pounds each week.  The way it works is on Mondays I only do squats. I do 10 sets of 3 reps each. If I complete all the sets with all the reps I move the weight up that next week and go again. If I ever can’t get all the reps on all the sets then I simply keep the weight the same the next week and try again then. Sl far I hav enot had to stay at the same weight.

This programs also has me doing the following day with support exercises for the squat like leg extensions, hack squats, walking lunges, and abs and calves.  Those days are more volume at 3 sets of 8 - 12 reps.

 Todd

Hi all.  Well, last night I ended up having to wait until around 8:30PM to start my lifting. Too much going on yesterday. I have to plan things better. It was Squat Day and I was tired after about the 4th set.  I ended up only getting about 5 hours of sleep last night also. I think I am going to start lifting in the mornings again if I can figure out the eating plan and work it out. I love to start my day with lifting and I feel so much more fresh in the morning compared to after work and all the day’s stresses.

Well, I started a new program just before the first of the year. So far it feels great. Check it out here: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=265928421#post265928421

Anyway, I am planning to follow this program to pack on some mroe muscle for about 12 weeks or so, then start a cut to reveal what I have created so far.  I have been eating more and I saw about a 2 pound jump in the scale weight after a week, so I’m right no track so far!

Well, lately I have had a hard time sticking ot my nutrition plan each day. Too much temptation with the hollidays close by. Cookies and candy around the house. Bad Bad Bad.  Well, today I was succesful at sticking to my exact nutrition plan. Yay me! lol

 Also, today was "Heavy Chest and Triceps Day". Small rep sets with lots of weight (for me anyway). It was a good workout. Followed that up with some HITT Jump rope.

Christmas is only a couple of days away. I still have soem shopping to do!!!! 

Later,

Todd

I started a heavy/volume program recently and today was my second volume leg day.  I upped the intensity this time by adding more weight and I did 3 sets of 15 on Squats. I was dizzy after the first set and the other sets were rough.  I also did a long set of walking lunges then went to stiff leg dead lifts where I did another 3 sets of 15. I have heard of getting dizzy feeling from a leg workout but I guess this was my first time to push it with enough intensity to feel that way myself.  I hope that means I did a decent job lifting today.

Well, I started "bulking a few months ago but it ended up being an excuse to just eat more crap I think , more than anything else.  I tried to eat more and eat clean then I would crap out and eat some dessert with lunch thinking it was ok because I am bulking and I would not do it much.  That turned to a dessert of cookies from the Great American Cookie Company in the Mall like every day for several weeks with lunch, not to mention the crap food I ate at dinner time. The results are what you would expect. Lots of fat gain with some lean mass gains also. The problem is that the lean mass and fat are the same as when I weighed this amount before loosing everything before, so I basically gained all the fat back that I had lost before. A nice zig-zag but a real waste of my life for a period of time that I can never get back again.

So, here I go again with more knowledge from my last year’s cutting experience and mistakes.  This time I plan to take the cut slower so as to not sacrifice as much lean mass with the loss of the fat (hopefully), and if there is any chance of gaining additional lean mass in the process of cutting it would happen with this diet very close to maintenance level, so that would be a bonus.

The goal would be to get to a lower bodyfat % than I was at my lowest during 2008 which appears to be 12.81% by the Calipers and 15.5% using the electronic bodyfat/scales. I am currently at 21.3% on the scales, so that should be roughly 19.5-ish% if I checked with the scales from past experience.  In the past 2 weeks I have been as high as 21.7% but I didn’t take pics, however I might use that number as my starting point to make myself feel like I have progressed further, as I had already began to cut out the crap eating at that point and I began to up my lifting intensity and frequency in the last week or so.

We will see how it goes.

Later,

Todd