kenckar’s BodyBlog

OK. since my last post in June, I ramped up my workouts, started eating more, leveled off my weight, and now I have hardly worked out in 10 days. I know it’s good to take a break from working out periodically, so that’s ok, I just need to find the motivation to go back now.

I have continued to eat pretty clean even tough I have not worked out much. My VO2 max has declined a bit. Yesterday it tested at 39. While I was on the PSMF I backed way off on my aerobic work. I think it’s time to start up again.

We went to see the Giants lose to the Cubs last night, followed by fireworks sponsored by Chevron (my company). The evening was fun. I ate too many greasy garlic fries and got a bout of gout this morning. Damn.

OK. Back to clean eating and as soon as the gout wears off, hit the workouts a bit harder.

I was 200.0 this morning on the scale. I had been hovering between 200 and 201 for the last week and finally hit it. Phew. I’m going to take a little break from the diet now (a few weeks) and then back to it. At my lower weight and bodyfat, I am thinking that over the next several months, instead of 1 lb per week, something more like 2/3 lb per week is more appropriate. I would like to hit 180 by the end of the year. That’s 20 lbs in 30 weeks.

Tonight my wife and I are going to celebrate and I get a cheat meal.

OK, so last week I started on Lyle McDonald’s Rapid Fat Loss Diet. It seems like a sound approach to quickly peel off some fat. Basically, it is a relatively high protein low carb, low fat diet. The goal is to maximize negative delta E, while at the same time not burning up your muscles. Go to http://www.bodyrecomposition.com if you want more info.

By Saturday morning, I had lost about 3 lbs and was down to 205. Sweet!

Unfortunately, it was parents weekend at my stepson’s frat. There was wine tasting along the central coast of california, then a bbq scheduled for Saturday night. I spit most of the wine out after tasting and was doing great, until they sucked me into a drinking game at the frat.

The damn dam burst. I drank way to much. The GOOD news is that most of the calories came out before morning. I was supposed to do a carb up over the weekend, but that was ridiculous.

Anyway, I’m back on track and looking forward to a few more weeks of the PSMF (protein sparing modified fast).

This morning I ran a 5k run around Lake Merritt in Oakland. It was the annual Aztec Run (http://www.aztecrun.org).

It’’s not very bodybuiding of me, but it was nice to do that. I haven’t been timed running since I was 17 years old. My wind was good, but my hip flexors were really tired by the end. I usually do elliptical machines for my cardio, and those use a lot of momentum to pull up the legs, rather than the flexors.

Anyway, I finished in about 33 minutes. It is a good change-up from my routine.

I think I had restricted carbs a little too much for a while. Your body really wants to use carbs (+/- 50-100 g per day) for brain function. You don’t *need* that, but it can help prevent the breakdown of your LBM (muscle). So I am being a little looser on that front.

Still losing weight while keeping my lifts the same or better.

In the sweet spot.

Tony

My weight is still dropping about 1 lb per week. I am a little concerned though. My chest exercises yesterday dropped a bit. Not a lot, but enough to concern me.

Friday was a pretty hard day in the gym, and I did all my cardio before weights, so maybe I was feeling the effects of that.

I’ll modify and see if that changes my results. I am continuing on the lower carb path.

Legs today.

Sweetness.

I was traveling to a meeting last week. Every night restaurant opportunities; every day, there were nasty snacks (cheesecake, yogurt and chocolate covered pretzels) and carb filled meals available.

I did my best to resist that stuff and while not 100% successful, ended up the week a pound lighter than I started. I also got in two decent workouts while I was there.

Good stuff.

I’m traveling this week with a group from work and that is always tough. I want to go out and have a few beers and enjoy the festivities, but discipline rules.

I worked out at the hotel gym tonight, which was not well equipped, but good enough. I’ll rest tomorrow, then work out again on Thursday. Good for me.

Weighed in at 211.8 today. After last week’s disaster it feels good. I am back to focusing on reduced carbs, plenty of protein.

I have decided that squats are god’s exercise. It does a lot of good.

This was not a good week form a workout and diet standpoint. I had four days of meetings, plus dinners, etc., plus the dog had an operation and I had to do a lot to help him.
The meals with the meetings were pretty good, but the snacks were a disaster–popcorn, candy bars, cookies, cake.  The good news is that if my glycogen was depleted, it isn’t anymore.

The bad news is that it gave me about 4 pounds of puffy water weight. It will come off quickly too,  it’s just a bit annoying.

With all this going on, I haven’t worked out since Monday. OK, time to get going again.