rdf803’s BodyBlog

Wrote this a while back–didn’t accomplish what I wanted to so I’m restating these goals with new deadlines!

This weekend I sat down and wrote out my workouts from now until the end of December.  I wrote down all of my goals, too, so that when I am wanting to skip a workout or eat something I oughtn’t, I will look at those and remind myself of why I need to stay on track.  Just for further accountability, I will put them on here.  These are my current goals and the time frame in which I am aiming to accomplish them: 

• reduce weight back to 133 and BF% back to 18.8% without muscle loss–March 2008
• get fitness photos taken–April 2008
• be able to do an unassisted pull-up–July 2008
• do a one-arm push-up–July 2008
• have a pronounced V-taper–April 2008
• compete in my first figure competition–April 2008–UNCHANGED
• get my NSCA certification–June 2008–UNCHANGED

The timelines are fairly stringent and don’t allow for a lot of fooling around.  I will have to push myself if I want to reach those.  There is one other goal that I did not list on here, but I have it written down in my planner and when I accomplish that one, I will write about it on here; just don’t wanna do it beforehand.

I am an addict.  My drug of choice–food.

So if you heard a loud scream and a thud this afternoon and didn’t know what it was, it was me getting my body fat tested.  It was 22%!  Yikes!  Now, granted, I realized that it was going to be higher because I hadn’t been very careful with my diet while I was trying to put on some muscle, so I fully expected it to be back in the twenties.  However, I still did not like hearing that number!  I’d worked so hard to get it down to 18.8%!  But here’s the good news:  I’ve put on about three our four pounds of muscle in the past six weeks!  Also, I did get my body fat tested mid-afternoon instead of in the morning, and I did have quite a few more carbs than normal today, and it was done by someone else than the guy who normally does it.  So who knows…but I had an opportunity to get it done, and those opportunities don’t come often, so I had to jump on it.  Gives me a little extra fire under my feet for the coming weeks.  So here is my current motivation:  I have a friend graduating from officer training school in five weeks.  I want to look great for that.  Also, I will be wearing mess dress (a military tuxedo), that will show any extra bulge.  I am also aiming to have some fitness pics done in December, so despite a bad diet today, I don’t have much room for error during the coming weeks.  I have designated three cheat days between now and the end of the year, so somewhere within me I have to find the motivation to stick to my diet and workouts.  K, that’s it for now!  Later!

Okay, so it’s my first day back in the cutting phase and it sucks.  I don’t think it will continue to be that way, but I’m HUNGRY!  Not even for lack of food, because I’m still eating about the same, it just feels like less since I know I can’t have food anytime I want it.  I had some craisins a little while ago, which aren’t really on my food list, but they satisfied me and will help me make it through the afternoon.  I have 10-15 lbs. of fat to lose by the end of the year, but with muscle gain it may end up only being 8-10 lbs. of actual weight loss.  No biggie.  I don’t think it will take as long this time as it did last time; just gotta make sure I don’t skip any cardio sessions, because I know for me that is the key to success.  So back to twice a day cardio sessions, and four days per week of lifting.  I am actually looking forward to it this time around; not looking forward to being worn out, but looking forward to the results!  I’ll try to blog more often…it’s just as good for me as it is for anyone else.

I decided yesterday on my long drive back to Oklahoma City that I have built enough muscle to start cutting again.  I am by no means where I ultimately want to be, but I’ve read that endomorphs can gain muscle and lose fat simultaneously, so I’m going to try and see.  I really believe that will work for me, especially since I’ve put on quite a bit of size over the last six weeks or so.  I felt like my diet was pretty sloppy, which I guess is fairly typical in a bulking phase, but I didn’t like it.  I didn’t like how it made me feel or look.  So I’m hitting the fat loss again and I’ll see where it takes me.   So back to high protein, lower carbs, and lower fat.  I’ll post my diet soon if anyone wants to see it.  Just let me know.

So I’ve been lifting pretty heavy and eating reasonably but not counting calories or doing as much cardio as I was when I was cutting fat.  I’ve decided to pack on as much muscle as I can between now and the end of the year…I don’t know what that will equate to in terms of inches or pounds, but I don’t want to worry myself to death, so I’m just focusing on eating plenty of calories (but not TOO many), getting the right nutrients at the right times to build muscle, and trying to keep my fat gain to a minimum.  I’ve been hanging out in the upper 130’s for the past several weeks, which is almost out of my comfort level.  When I hit 140 or 141, usually on the weekends, I tighten up the diet for a while ’til the weight comes back down, then proceed as usual. 

It’s been a fascinating journey to learn how my body reacts to different kinds of foods and different exercises.  I’d never really tuned in to that before, and the more I learn, the more I want to learn!  It does get really frustrating, though, because I still don’t know my body well enough to know how quickly I’ll gain the muscle I want, or how to know when I’ve gained enough, and at what point to start cutting fat and start contest prep.  I guess as long as I am progressing in the amount of weight I can lift, I will just continue that.  I’m certain there will be a point when I’m no longer advancing the amount of weight I lift each week.  I don’t look forward to that day, but then again, I can’t wait to get there! 

My husband has been so wonderful and supportive through all this.  He continues to ride that fine line of supporting me without seeming pushy.  He encourages me when I’m making gains, and gives me an honest opinion whenever I ask him for one (and NEVER when I don’t!). 

Guess that’s it for now…just wanted to think through writing for a while.

So I haven’t blogged in a while.  Last month, around the middle of August, I decided to scrap the fat loss efforts for a while and focus on building some muscle mass.  I have been learning a lot more about my body type (endomorph), and realized that was the best course of action for me right now.  I’d lost enough body fat and thought it would probably be detrimental to my muscle-gaining efforts if I was to continue losing fat.  Also, I was pretty bored with my diet after eating the EXACT same foods for three consecutive months and was ready for a little break.  So I took some time off from everything, still ate the same foods for the most part but also let myself have some dark chocolate, some red meat, and some other things that hadn’t been on my diet.  I also slacked on my workouts a bit, mainly cardio, just so I’d feel rested and motivated again.  I was still lifting to avoid muscle loss. 

When I was ready to hit it hard again, I started lifting HEAVY.  It felt wonderful to know I was putting heart and soul into my workouts and not feeling drained from my restrictive diet.  I am still limiting my carbs to earlier in the day, sticking with meat and veggies in the evenings.  I have noticed a lot of gains already, and it’s not even been very long. 

Keeping a weightlifting log has helped a lot, too.  Why wasn’t I doing this before!?  WHAT WAS I THINKING?  Before I started that I didn’t really know what I had been doing the week before, so I was wasting a lot of time and effort on trying to figure out how heavy to lift.  Now, I just take a look and see where I was for my previous workout, up the weight a bit, and go for it!  It’s MUCH better that way.  I also have realized that for me, working each muscle group TWICE a week is best.  I still give myself plenty of time to recover between workouts, but that has really helped me a lot.  My original program had me only working each muscle group once a week, which is great for most people, but endomorphs tend to recover faster and our muscles grow fairly easily, so working them twice a week has felt great and I’ve had great results.  When/If I get to a point where I feel like I’m overtraining, I just take a week off, then hit it again the following week!  I love it!  It’s really exciting to start figuring out what works best for my body.  I know I still have a lot to learn, and as my body changes, I’ll just have that much more learning to do, but for right now, I think I’m on the right track.  So as of right now, this is my program:

• Mon–a.m.  30 min. cardio   p.m.–heavy upper body workout, 30 min. cardio
• Tue– a.m.  30 min. cardio   p.m.–heavy lower body workout
• Wed–a.m.  30 min. cardio   p.m.–30 min. cardio
• Thu– a.m.  30 min. cardio   p.m.–light upper body workout
• Fri–   a.m.  30 min. cardio   p.m.–light lower body workout, 30 min. cardio
• Sat–makeup day (anything I didn’t hit hard enough during the week, and 30 min. cardio)
• Sun–rest

So yes, I’m doing more cardio that most would recommend during a muscle-building phase.  HOWEVER, for us endos, it’s a necessary evil.  I gain WAY too much fat otherwise.  I make sure to have plenty of protein before those cardio sessions so I’m not burning muscle.  It’s the best way I’ve found to build without gaining too much fat.   

I’m looking forward to seeing my progress over the next several weeks.  I’m a little nervous about my next set of progress pics (that I’ll probably take this week or maybe this weekend) because I have gained weight, and some of it’s fat, but I know my overall shape is changing so I will just have to focus on that.  So I won’t look as trim, but I’m hoping to start seeing more balance between my upper half and lower half.  Thanks to everyone for their continued encouragement!  It helps me tremendously.