I need to lose more fat! Less love on the handles.

[Safeway]

Goals:
<190 lbs by 05/01/2008.
Muscle-up by ??/??/????.

02/10/2008:
Bikes 13 miles, all road on knobbies.

02/11/2008:
Biked 17 miles, mostly single-track trail riding.

02/12/2008:
Biked 10 miles, all road on knobbies.

02/15/2008:
Biked 8 miles, all road on knobbies.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 10 x 3, 6 x 3.
Push-ups: 30 x 3, 20 x 3.

02/18/2008:
Weight: 218.0 lbs
Biked 2 miles, all road on knobbies.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 10 x 3, 6 x 3.
Push-ups: 30 x 3, 20 x 3.

Started a FitDay account.
Daily morning weight and size measurements.

Started carbohydrate and fat restricted diet.
Started Animal Pak. (1 packet/day)
Started Fish Oil. (7.2g/day)

Note: Had to cut back on cardiovascular exercise due to calorie/carbohydrate restricted diet. I don't think a 4,000 calorie daily deficit would be healthy. I am still going to try to do at least 10 miles every other day, and at least 20 miles on weekends.

02/19/2008:
Weight: 216.4 lbs
Biked 2 miles, all road on knobbies.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 10 x 3, 6 x 3.
Push-ups: 30 x 3, 20 x 3.

Note: Once my pull-ups improve to 20x3, I will start doing weighted pull-ups. Attaining 20x3 shouldn't be too difficult since I am attacking the goal from two angles. Increased strength and decreased weight. I'd like to eventually work up to body weight + 45 pounds.

02/20/2008:
Weight: 214.6 lbs
Biked 5 miles, all road on slicks.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 11 x 3, 7 x 3.
Push-ups: 35 x 3, 25 x 3.

Started ECA stack ramp. (25mg/200mg/81mg)

Note: I am going to ramp my ECA stack up over the next few days. It has been about an hour since ingesting the first stack, and I feel fine, if not a little alert. I also feel like it is a placebo effect to some extent. When I think about the 200mg caffeine, I get a little wishy-washy. That quickly fades, however, and I feel normal again. My stack will ramp to 75mg/600mg/81mg over the next week. It is important that I drop HIIT cardio training for now, and continue with LISS. I just ate two grilled chicken breasts and a salad for lunch. Very happy with my energy level thus far, and the first few days of restricted carbohydrates are the worst. I'm sure the ephedrine and caffeine have something to do with that. No more caffeinated coffee in the morning was a little weird, and I have added some fiber powder to my morning whey protein shake to stay regular.

02/21/2008:
Weight: 213.0 lbs
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 11 x 3, 7 x 3.
Push-ups: 35 x 3, 25 x 3.

Note: I have become better at swallowing pills. Animal Pak has 7 monster horse pills and 3 smaller tablets. I ingest 6 x 1200mg of fish oil. I drink a protein shake in the morning to get them down.

I couldn't sleep very well last night, even though I only had 200mg of caffeine the entire day, and that was lumped at 10:00am. I normally drink 40 oz of coffee from 8:00am to 10:00am, which probably has close to 200mg of caffeine. I was informed that a carbohydrate restricted diet can cause sleeplessness, so that might be the culprit. I hope I sleep better tonight!

 

[crt1530]

So you joined the ATOT contest back in July/August weighing 200 with the intention of getting down to 190 but ended up at 220 instead?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: crt1530
So you joined the ATOT contest back in July/August weighing 200 with the intention of getting down to 190 but ended up at 220 instead?

Ah, come on, we're not here to grill people. I agree that people should be good on their word, but sometimes plans don't pan out the way one would like them to.

Safeway, I think that going from 220 to 190 by May is possible, but you will have to eat, breathe, and sleep fitness and nutrition. It will be a very hard goal, but if you man up, you have a chance of being able to do it.

EDIT: Also, what's up with all those supplements? If you're looking to lose weight, I wouldn't really throw creatine or the NO into the mix. I would leave things simple and really just go for the goal at hand.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: crt1530
So you joined the ATOT contest back in July/August weighing 200 with the intention of getting down to 190 but ended up at 220 instead?

Ah, come on, we're not here to grill people. I agree that people should be good on their word, but sometimes plans don't pan out the way one would like them to.

Safeway, I think that going from 220 to 190 by May is possible, but you will have to eat, breathe, and sleep fitness and nutrition. It will be a very hard goal, but if you man up, you have a chance of being able to do it.

EDIT: Also, what's up with all those supplements? If you're looking to lose weight, I wouldn't really throw creatine or the NO into the mix. I would leave things simple and really just go for the goal at hand.

I will address both of the posts.

I did join the ATOT fitness contest, but I lost my motivation. I was right at 200 pounds when I joined, down from probably 235.

The supplements are for my weight lifting, which I never stopped. I am sure that I have put on pounds of muscle (and fat). I stopped all my cardio. So the +20 isn't all fat. Maybe half and half.

I am considering 45 minutes to one hour of cardio everyday. I am bad about eating clean, even though I know how important it is.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: crt1530
So you joined the ATOT contest back in July/August weighing 200 with the intention of getting down to 190 but ended up at 220 instead?

Ah, come on, we're not here to grill people. I agree that people should be good on their word, but sometimes plans don't pan out the way one would like them to.

Safeway, I think that going from 220 to 190 by May is possible, but you will have to eat, breathe, and sleep fitness and nutrition. It will be a very hard goal, but if you man up, you have a chance of being able to do it.

EDIT: Also, what's up with all those supplements? If you're looking to lose weight, I wouldn't really throw creatine or the NO into the mix. I would leave things simple and really just go for the goal at hand.

I will address both of the posts.

I did join the ATOT fitness contest, but I lost my motivation. I was right at 200 pounds when I joined, down from probably 235.

The supplements are for my weight lifting, which I never stopped. I am sure that I have put on pounds of muscle (and fat). I stopped all my cardio. So the +20 isn't all fat. Maybe half and half.

I am considering 45 minutes to one hour of cardio everyday. I am bad about eating clean, even though I know how important it is.

Ok, understandable about the supps then. If you really, really want it, you're going to have to learn to eat clean. You know everybody says losing weight is some tiny % of working out and some immense % of nutrition. It's true. You know it's important. Put it into effect. Be strict and do this. If you really want it, then it will happen. If you don't, then we won't have any sympathy

 

[skace]

"Less love on the handles" :laugh:

Goodluck.

 

[Safeway]

Update: 02/13/2008

Alright, I am in full calorie deficient mode. I have decided to bike outside, rather than on a stationary. I enjoy it more, and I feel like it is a better overall exercise. I am really focusing on cutting right now, so I have decided to cut back on heavy lifting.

I am continuing to do daily sets of push-ups, pull-ups, chin-ups, and ab workouts. I have shifted from going to the gym to staying at home. Here are the changes.

Bench press -> Dumbbell press
Tricep rope -> Overhead tricep extension
Squats -> Dumbbell weighted squats
Calf raises -> Dumbbell weighted calf jumps

Barbell or machine exercise -> Equivalent dumbbell exercise

Muscle endurance is more important for endurance and epic riding, so I am trying to do quick sets of explosive movement with minimal breaks between them.

I am also training for a 600 mile bike tour in June. I am fairly sure I could have maintained my previous activity level and been just fine on the tour, but I decided that I wanted to actually be a contender for finishing the daily sets first.

02/10/2008:
Bikes 13 miles, all road on knobbies.

02/11/2008:
Biked 17 miles, mostly single-track trail riding.

02/12/2008:
Biked 10 miles, all road on knobbies.

 

[purbeast0]

safeway take pics of your progress. that will definitely motivate you if you take a pic like once a month and actually witness your progress. it's very hard to actually see progress in yourself.

 

[teh spazz]

Working out at home? Lame.

Get to the gym and do some compound movements. Deadlifts, squats, bent over rows...exercises that require your body to repair itself throughout the week. Protip: muscle doesn't burn calories JUST when you're at the gym, but when you're at home and super sore.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: teh spazz
Working out at home? Lame.

Get to the gym and do some compound movements. Deadlifts, squats, bent over rows...exercises that require your body to repair itself throughout the week. Protip: muscle doesn't burn calories JUST when you're at the gym, but when you're at home and super sore.

I know all of this. I do dumbbell rows. I do dumbbell deadlifts.

I have 100 lb dumbbells that I do my leg exercises with.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: purbeast0
safeway take pics of your progress. that will definitely motivate you if you take a pic like once a month and actually witness your progress. it's very hard to actually see progress in yourself.

I am taking pictures. I have before pictures, and 1 week pictures. I will post them once I am in better condition, so you guys can ooh and ahh.

 

[skace]

I workout at home, if you have the will power, it is awesome. :thumbsup:

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: teh spazz
Working out at home? Lame.

Get to the gym and do some compound movements. Deadlifts, squats, bent over rows...exercises that require your body to repair itself throughout the week. Protip: muscle doesn't burn calories JUST when you're at the gym, but when you're at home and super sore.

I know all of this. I do dumbbell rows. I do dumbbell deadlifts.

I have 100 lb dumbbells that I do my leg exercises with.

Good deal. That's fine as long as you keep up some sort of challenging lifting. You wanna keep your lean muscle mass while losing the extra fat. Do you mind me asking what your weight is atm? And how is your nutrition? Balanced and healthy? Good to hear you're going through with it hard. Just keep thinking "May 1st, May 1st" whenever it hurts.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: SociallyChallenged

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: teh spazz
Working out at home? Lame.

Get to the gym and do some compound movements. Deadlifts, squats, bent over rows...exercises that require your body to repair itself throughout the week. Protip: muscle doesn't burn calories JUST when you're at the gym, but when you're at home and super sore.

I know all of this. I do dumbbell rows. I do dumbbell deadlifts.

I have 100 lb dumbbells that I do my leg exercises with.

Good deal. That's fine as long as you keep up some sort of challenging lifting. You wanna keep your lean muscle mass while losing the extra fat. Do you mind me asking what your weight is atm? And how is your nutrition? Balanced and healthy? Good to hear you're going through with it hard. Just keep thinking "May 1st, May 1st" whenever it hurts.

Getting to balanced and healthy. As for weight, I need an accurate scale. My scale is very screwy. I got on the scale this morning in my boxers, and it read like 215. I stepped off, stepped on, 215. Stepped off, stepped on, 215. I peed, and got on the scale again. It read 220! WTF? If anything, I was expecting 214.9 pounds! (It is supposedly accurate to the tenth of a pound, and has a body-fat utility.)

 

[Safeway]

Update:

02/15/2008:
Biked 8 miles, all road on knobbies.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 10 x 3, 6 x 3.
Push-ups: 30 x 3, 20 x 3.

02/18/2008:
Weight: 218.0 lbs
Biked 2 miles, all road on knobbies.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 10 x 3, 6 x 3.
Push-ups: 30 x 3, 20 x 3.

Started a FitDay account.
Daily weight and size measurements.

Started carbohydrate and fat restricted diet.
Started Animal Pak. (1 packet/day)
Started Fish Oil. (7.2g/day)

02/19/2008:
Weight: 216.4 lbs
Biked 2 miles, all road on knobbies.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 10 x 3, 6 x 3.
Push-ups: 30 x 3, 20 x 3.

02/20/2008:
Weight: 214.6 lbs
Biked 5 miles, all road on slicks.
Dumbbell exercises, various.
Pull-ups: 11 x 3, 7 x 3.
Push-ups: 35 x 3, 25 x 3.

Started ECA stack ramp-up. (25mg/200mg/81mg)

 

[Safeway]

At my current rate, I need to lose 2.46 pounds per week. That is a 4000 calorie weekly deficit. Based on my current daily calorie deficits, that is extremely possible.

Basal + Lifestyle + Exercise Calories Burned >>> Calories Consumed

 

[jiggahertz]

Originally posted by: Safeway
At my current rate, I need to lose 2.46 pounds per week. That is a 4000 calorie weekly deficit. Based on my current daily calorie deficits, that is extremely possible.

Basal + Lifestyle + Exercise Calories Burned >>> Calories Consumed

2.46 lbs/wk is a caloric deficit of 8610 cals/wk or ~1200/day.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: jiggahertz

Originally posted by: Safeway
At my current rate, I need to lose 2.46 pounds per week. That is a 4000 calorie weekly deficit. Based on my current daily calorie deficits, that is extremely possible.

Basal + Lifestyle + Exercise Calories Burned >>> Calories Consumed

2.46 lbs/wk is a caloric deficit of 8610 cals/wk or ~1200/day.

Oops, I knew that. For some reason I multiplied by 1600 calories/pound. Wishful thinking.

Regardless, I have that calorie deficit.

 

[Safeway]

FitDay puts me at a calorie deficit of 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day.

I am eating ~1,500 calories, 80% from protein. Burning ~4,000 calories.

 

[Capt Caveman]

If you're only able to ride your bike for a few miles, you're better off running instead.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
If you're only able to ride your bike for a few miles, you're better off running instead.

That is to and from the university, not a dedicated ride. When I ride, I do 15 to 20 miles. I don't think it would be a good idea to have a 4,000 calorie deficit in a day.

 

[jiggahertz]

Originally posted by: Safeway
FitDay puts me at a calorie deficit of 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day.

I am eating ~1,500 calories, 80% from protein. Burning ~4,000 calories.

If you aren't severely overweight, you really don't want to be running that high of a caloric deficit. At 2500 cals/day below maintenance you'll be dropping 5 lbs/wk, which is pretty extreme. Ideally, you'd like to be 1-2 lbs/wk. Also, as you go farther along in your cut, you will need to drop more calories to continue to loose weight. At 1500 cals currently, that doesn't leave you much room. I would track your caloric intake and weight loss to determine what the deficit you are actually running is, instead of going off of a calculator.

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: jiggahertz

Originally posted by: Safeway
FitDay puts me at a calorie deficit of 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day.

I am eating ~1,500 calories, 80% from protein. Burning ~4,000 calories.

If you aren't severely overweight, you really don't want to be running that high of a caloric deficit. At 2500 cals/day below maintenance you'll be dropping 5 lbs/wk, which is pretty extreme. Ideally, you'd like to be 1-2 lbs/wk. Also, as you go farther along in your cut, you will need to drop more calories to continue to loose weight. At 1500 cals currently, that doesn't leave you much room. I would track your caloric intake and weight loss to determine what the deficit you are actually running is, instead of going off of a calculator.

I am keeping track of my exact intake. I have a food scale and about 20 custom FitDay foods.

Calories accumulate slowly when carbs and fats are reduced/eliminated. I am eating ~250g of protein a day, but only ~20g carbs and ~20g fat.

Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories

Further, this extremely restrictive diet is short-term. Probably 2 weeks. This Saturday, I will have a lean unrefined carbohydrate reload to restore my glycogen stores, and will continue the restrictive diet on Sunday. After these two weeks are up, I will restore a normal calorie deficit, consuming 2000 to 2250 calories per day, but attempting to maintain high protein intake and low overall carbohydrate and fat intake.

 

[Safeway]

Further, I highly doubt my burned calories are as high as FitDay suggests. FitDay suggests that my basal at around 2200 calories and lifestyle around 1400 calories. I am 6'2" and (was) 218 pounds when I started. I am now 213 pounds, but most of that loss is water weight from lack of carbohydrates.

That could be reasonable, though, since I was holding my weight constant and eating 3000+ calories/day.

 

[jiggahertz]

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: jiggahertz

Originally posted by: Safeway
FitDay puts me at a calorie deficit of 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day.

I am eating ~1,500 calories, 80% from protein. Burning ~4,000 calories.

If you aren't severely overweight, you really don't want to be running that high of a caloric deficit. At 2500 cals/day below maintenance you'll be dropping 5 lbs/wk, which is pretty extreme. Ideally, you'd like to be 1-2 lbs/wk. Also, as you go farther along in your cut, you will need to drop more calories to continue to loose weight. At 1500 cals currently, that doesn't leave you much room. I would track your caloric intake and weight loss to determine what the deficit you are actually running is, instead of going off of a calculator.

I am keeping track of my exact intake. I have a food scale and about 20 custom FitDay foods.

Calories accumulate slowly when carbs and fats are reduced/eliminated. I am eating ~250g of protein a day, but only ~20g carbs and ~20g fat.

Fat: 1 gram = 9 calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories

Further, this extremely restrictive diet is short-term. Probably 2 weeks. This Saturday, I will have a lean unrefined carbohydrate reload to restore my glycogen stores, and will continue the restrictive diet on Sunday. After these two weeks are up, I will restore a normal calorie deficit, consuming 2000 to 2250 calories per day, but attempting to maintain high protein intake and low overall carbohydrate and fat intake.

Are you going for a PSMF or UD2.0 diet?