Okay, it is time for some change. :) I have been focusing on some priorities that haven't included my physique. It hasn't been neglected, mind you - I've still been training - but the fat has crept on. It is time to cut it for the summer. Now, unlike many who are uncertain of what/why/how, I always know when I make the decision to cut, I will make it. I have done this before. The journal is an additional method to create accountability. However, what I'm curious about is what would be the most interesting to watch. I always like being creative with my cutting and trying out new methods, and documenting them, to demonstrate that in the end you really can cut numerous ways at it is more making the decision and applying constant action that creates results, than this ratio or that ratio. So, few questions I'd love to see the answers to before I kick in my plan on Sunday:

1. What type of nutrition plan are you most interested in seeing?
(a) consuming what I feel like (I eat mainly healthy foods anyway)
(b) high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate (Atkin's or South Beach-style but with healthy foods)
(c) vegetarian
(d) vegan

2. Which route would you be most interested in seeing:
(a) setting a pre-defined calorie schedule, and following it, i.e. I will eat x calories this week and y that week, etc
(b) using software like DietPower to budget my calories and using that as a guide
(c) eating based on "hunger signals" and not really counting calories

3. Any specific weight training program you are most interested in? (I enjoy experimenting with new training styles - holistic mega-sets, chaos progression, HST, you name it, I'll try it)

4. For cardio, do you want to see an example of cutting with minimal cardio, or moderate cardio, or HIIT, or a combination, etc?

Once I get some feedback I'll post back with the plan. Oh, does it make sense to post my weight and pictures daily, or would weekly be better? (Don't tell my wife I suggested daily - coz guess who's gonna be snapping them).

This should be interesting, too, with 3 weeks left on the full time job, there will be my fair share of scheduling fun (working full time, writing a book, working a part time business, tracking the program) so that will be a great test of time management skills!

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

(I am flying to LA the end of May, so it will be nice to be ripped when I walk on the beach out there ... )

Jeremy

BTW, I should say what I'm half a mind to do. I'm very curious to try to go 100% vegan for the 8 weeks, and simply manipulate my exercise, i.e. progressively increase it, to cut, keeping cardio constant and moderate (maybe increasing a few minutes a week) but increasing the volume of my weight training. That is what my idea is, but I'm all ears for others.

:tucool:

BTW, I should say what I'm half a mind to do. I'm very curious to try to go 100% vegan for the 8 weeks, and simply manipulate my exercise, i.e. progressively increase it, to cut, keeping cardio constant and moderate (maybe increasing a few minutes a week) but increasing the volume of my weight training. That is what my idea is, but I'm all ears for others.

My personal opinion is that vegan is a little strict- okay, a lot strict- for many of us. While you could probably accomplish your goals, I wouldn't be motivated to follow that route. Don't know about others. In asking what others would like to see, I'd think people would like to see something that they'd feel comfortable following. For me that'd be something more along the lines of "eat what you want when you're hungry" :D

As for weight training and cardio, I've no personal preference unless you want to tailor your own personal workouts to a 158lb woman :)

As for pix, how long are you planning to do this cut? I'd be interested in seeing weekly or perhaps monthly updates, depending on how long you do it for.

hiya jeremey, i will definitely stayed tuned in your journal

here are my preferences
b)high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate (Atkin's or South Beach-style but with healthy foods)
(b) using software like DietPower to budget my calories and using that as a guide

for training type, i don't know much about the ones u mentioned to pick.

i would like to see cutting with minimal cardio

for pix, i think bi monthly would be good

i picked all these because i am biased :) because that's probably how i will try to attack cutting. thanks for considering our feedback - GOOD LUCK with any method you use to pursue your goal.

Okay, looking at my calendar, today is 3/26 and I'll start on Sunday or 3/28 (I always like making self-promises on the same day I go to church - seems to make them a little more binding for me, lol).

So, I fly to LA on 5/19 ... that gives me exactly 8 weeks or two months.

:)

I agree with Andi - Vegan is going to fun when I do it, but if I'm going to post here where a lot of people will read it, that is more restrictive than most will follow so what will anyone benefit from it? So I'm scratching vegan from the list. :) I will say that if I go higher protein, I'm going to be getting a lot of that protein from plants because I am just not a huge fan of flesh meat. Okay, keep the great ideas coming!

Jeremy

Okay, I decided what I'm going to do. Had some ice cream last night, whoah, talk about damage control (I usually avoid dairy) - bloated up to 210 pounds! WHEW! Anyway, the method I'm going to use is to track my goal in DietPower but be flexible with meals. In other words, I'm not shooting for any specific macronutrient ratios, or special high protein, low protein, this or that. Instead, I just fired up DietPower and set my goal weight for 190 by May 19th. That is an average loss of 2.69 pounds per day. I will budget my calories based on the recommendations by DietPower, and then add exercise as needed if my calories drop too low. I will more than likely end up with about half my bodyweight in protein, 200 - 300 grams of carbs, and the rest healthy fats.

I'm getting the family ready for church right now, but when I come back, I'll post my beginning stats (i.e. tape measurements, etc). I usually don't check my body fat - instead, I measure the skinfolds at my umbilicus (next to my belly button) and suprailiac (over my hip). I know these need to be 10mm or less for me to be where I want to be. They are probably well over 20mm right now ... so this should be fun!

Will post later!

Jeremy

Instead, I just fired up DietPower and set my goal weight for 190 by May 19th. That is an average loss of 2.69 pounds per day.

Wow, that is setting some super high goals, what do you think? :p

hehe, i noticed that too :) 2.69 per day over 8 weeks, he's going to be 150lb lighter!

I knew he was dedicated, but....


:D

LOL!!!

Okay, per WEEK but man sometimes it feels like per day, doesn't it?

I have everything set. DietPower will track my goals, 2.69 pounds per week, eating what I am comfortable with and not focused on any specific ratios, etc. Here is the exercise plan:

Each morning (5 days / week) I will set the treadmill at maximum incline and walk for 30 minutes, increasing this 5 minutes per week until I am walking for 45 minutes, then I increase the speed.

Mon, Wed, Fri - compound weight training. Mon is dead-lift/back day, Wed is bench/shoulder (upper body pushing), and Fri is squat/legs. I am going to do more instinctive training - in other words, no real progressive plan, just the compound movements hard and heavy and adding auxiliary movements as I see fit.

Tue, Thu - interval training, BFL-style. To start with, I'll do 5mph, 6mph, 7mph, and 8mph segments. I'll gradually increase these until I am doing 8, 9, 10, and 11 mph segments. Nice, fast, 20 minutes.

Saturday/Sunday - outdoors. No real schedule - I will do SOMETHING whether it is hiking, jogging, etc, but outdoors activities unless it rains and then scheduled cardio.

That's pretty much the plan.

Now, I'm keeping a journal on my website - does it make sense to cut and paste it here, or should I just link to that? There's just two things:

1. Linking out of course gives the impression of trying to draw others to my site, which I am fine just pasting the journal here, but

2. I do use my nutraceuticals (multi, etc) as well as software that I am involved in affiliate programs with, so if I post here, I'm assuming just editing out the affiliate links but keeping the product names in place is fine with everyone? Let me know - again, this is John's house and is a great community, so let me know the best way to share without stepping on toes.

Thanks all - when I receive some feedback on points 1 and 2 I'll paste the first day's entry!

-J

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and set up shop for my journal at my site ... this is the link, and I have posted the first two days:

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=18

Jeremy

I will be sure to answer your survery tomorrow...

:)

Had to share this picture here ... my daughter and wife hiked with me to the top of Kennesaw Mountain on Sunday (my gal did it all by herself - 2 miles round trip and climbs an elevation of over 1,000 feet) - this is at the top with a view to Atlanta in the background!

Jeremy

1. What type of nutrition plan are you most interested in seeing?
(a) consuming what I feel like (I eat mainly healthy foods anyway)
(b) high protein, high fat, low carbohydrate (Atkin's or South Beach-style but with healthy foods)
(c) vegetarian
(d) vegan

I personally would like to see (a) as that is something I would like to do and I know I would never go vegetarian. However, if this is something you've already tried, go for the vegan.

By the way, what is the difference between vegan and vegetarian?


2. Which route would you be most interested in seeing:
(a) setting a pre-defined calorie schedule, and following it, i.e. I will eat x calories this week and y that week, etc
(b) using software like DietPower to budget my calories and using that as a guide
(c) eating based on "hunger signals" and not really counting calories

Well, again (c) would be nice, but I don't want you to try something that is unrealistic. If not (c), (a) would be my 2nd choice as I've seen the whole DietPower thing in action.


3. Any specific weight training program you are most interested in? (I enjoy experimenting with new training styles - holistic mega-sets, chaos progression, HST, you name it, I'll try it)

Anything but Max-OT. I would probably like to see HST as I keep hearing about it but haven't seen anyone as a result of it.


4. For cardio, do you want to see an example of cutting with minimal cardio, or moderate cardio, or HIIT, or a combination, etc?

I actually have no clue what I'd prefer. I guess using minimal cardio would be nice but if you combine that with my other preferences of eating as you please, just keeping it healthy, I don't know if cutting up by May would be realistic? What do you think?

Thanks for all of the feedback!!! Here is what I am doing ...

1. Eating pretty much what I want, but keeping the calories within the guidelines ("budget") set by DietPower. I eat more vegetarian - some days you'll see no meat at all - but others I might have a few steaks and chicken breasts. I listen to my body and I cannot do non-stop high protein intake - I get burnt out, but having the occassional eggs and then a nice cut of chicken breast, bison, or steak is always appreciated.

Vegetarian means no flesh meat. Sometimes it can include fish, sometimes not. Eggs and milk are definitely fine for vegetarian.

Vegan means nothing from animals. This excludes milk (from cows) and eggs (from chickens) and focuses exclusively on plants as the source of nutrition. There are intriguing arguments for this, but I think the healthiest solution is vegan with occassional meats. Two critical nutrients - B12 and iron - are not as readily available in an exclusive, plant-based diet (iron exists but not in optimal form). They can be supplemented, but the synthetic forms are not only not as bioavailable, but the iron can be toxic. On the other hand, a good slab of red meat can provide enough B12 to prevent deficiency for SEVERAL YEARS as well as non-toxic iron. This is why I think you can minimize the risk from overconsumption of red meats by only eating them occassionally, rather than having an either/or mentality and totally eliminating them.

Historically, many cultures thrived on many vegetarian diets (milk and heavy cream has always been a major staple for most civilizations) and would reserve meats for special religious ceremonies and festivals.

2. I am doing the DietPower budget. This is what I am most comfortable with and see consistent results. Once I reach my goal weight, I typically use the hunger-signals to maintain, but I've decided to do the DP thing now.

Here is the main drawback with (a) - the risk of losing muscle mass. While some people complain that budgeting calories with DietPower puts calories too low, for me, it allows me to each as much as possible while still dropping fat. In other words, if my metabolism and physical activity allow me to consume 2400 calories, then that is what I will consume. With a ramping program, I might ramp from 2200 to 2000 down to 1600, when in fact while I am < 2000 I don't need to be because I could be losing at higher calories - and this then runs the risk of losing lean muscle mass. Ramping is a GREAT strategy if you don't have software to track your metabolism, but I think knowing your budget allows more optimal distribution of calories.

3. I am stepping completely out of my comfort zone here with the weight training. I will be doing 3 sessions per week. Monday is upper body pull (involving some hips, as I include deads on this day), Wednesday is upper body push, and Friday is legs and abs. I will be training "instinctively" meaning walking through exercises, etc, and going based on my level of exertion and perceived strength - this is the first time I will be doing something like this for a prolonged period but I've always wanted to try it.

4. Here's what I'll do with cardio - in the mornings I am doing 30 minutes of walking at an incline, low impact, not much to it - no real benefit from fat burning (it will burn some fat, granted) but more to allow me to consume more calories. Tue/Thu I'll do progessive HIIT and then Saturday is an "open day" i.e. hiking or running or whatever the weather permits.

The key here is that I have cut with no cardio and I love the muscle definition but hate the feeling of being winded and not having that endurance. I love having endurance, so I am getting more focused on athletic/total health fitness rather than bodybuilding-specific. My "vanity" phase is fairly over and I'm more concerned with functional, lasting strength and ability than just the "feel good" of having muscles. However, wanting muscles is fine - in fact, check this out:

This guy EXEMPLIFIES what a natural athlete can do by applying science, consistent effort, and persistence. He is incredible - his competitions are all drug-tested, natural comps, the physique you see is what happens when a biochemist creates a scientific program for himself and follows it to a T:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne30.htm

At any rate, here is my journal so far - you can see what I've been eating and my first few days of training, as well as a huge kick in the ass from an old friend of mine for letting my physique slip ...

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=18

Jeremy

4. Here's what I'll do with cardio - in the mornings I am doing 30 minutes of walking at an incline, low impact, not much to it - no real benefit from fat burning (it will burn some fat, granted) but more to allow me to consume more calories.

I was led to believe from everything I've read that a workout like that (~70% maxHR) is the optimal way for burning fat. They say that I think it's 60%-70% MaxHR is the "Fat burning zone" and 70%-80% is the Cardiovascular Zone. I was just curious on your thoughts here because I have pretty much been doing 45-60mins ~70-75% maxHR exclusively 4 times per week (the other 3 days I do 30 mins post lifting) but want to make sure I am not "wasting" my time if HIIT is more efficient for burning the fat (which is my ONLY goal at the moment).

People seem to worry a lot about fat burning zones. I worry more about calories. You burn the most fat when you are doing nothing - that is when the largest percentage of calories come from fat. As you perform more intense activity, the main fuel shifts from fat to carbohydrate and protein (in very intense activity, up to 20% of energy requirements come from protein).

The difference is so slight, people tend to take it so far.

For example, when you are doing moderate cardio, you might burn 60% of your calories from fat. When you are doing intense cardio, this might shift to "only" 45% calories.

Let's compare workouts. I can do 20 minutes of HIIT and burn a good 450 calories. So that is 450 x 0.45 = 202 calories from fat

Or I might walk uphill for 30 minutes and burn a good 430 calories. So tha is 430 x 0.6 = 258 calories.

So I basically spent 10 minutes more to burn a whopping 50 calories more from fat.

Here's the catch, however .... with the HIIT I increase my metabolism for 24 hours. With the lower intensity, I don't. Since the rest of the day I might burn 70% of my calories from fat or more, it seems that the HIIT is going to benefit my fat burning in the long run!

But why even worry about this? Move more, eat less. The rest is really trying to get too lost in the details.

The reason I do uphill walking is because it is lower impact than most cardio. If I weight trained every day I would fry my central nervous system and possibly lose muscle. If I did too much HIIT, the same thing. So instead of focusing on calories burned from fat, instead I do a mix of HIIT and weight training, then add the low intensity cardio just to burn calories PERIOD. I'm less concerned with whether my 400 calories is from fat or what, instead I know that if I add 400 calories to my budget, I can consume 400 more calories, so I choose to create that extra buffer through low intensity cardio.

I hope this makes sense! Here is my first week progress (the spike on the graph was after a splurge meal)

Jeremy

Nice work so far.

You're only eating 1500 calories/day?

EDIT: Nevermind, I saw your day by day journal and now I see what you are doing.

I have to admit i often think i/we should worry less about when to do cardio and what type is best etc and just look at cals burnt, becuase at the end of the day if your body needs X and you're giving it X-400 you're going to burn fat.

Jeremy, any update? Hows progress on your project to drop a few pounds before the Western? Status please!