Alright, I thought it's time I get serious about cutting so that I can lose the weight I've wanted to for nearly the last decade. And get in shape for a trip to Hawaii in November (see http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=39124 ).

Since journals seem to have helped other people and since I've tried keeping my own journal and logs but it got to the point where they weren't motivating me anymore, I thought I'd start a public one and hope that it may keep me motivated to keep cutting.

So, I guess "Day 1, Sunday, September 16, 2007:"

11:00: Woke Up - 169 lbs, 17.1% bf.
12:00: One slice banana bread. (184 calories)
13:00: Salad. (199 calories)
18:30: One cup honeydew melon balls (64 calories). Two servings baked pasta with roasted vegetables and sausage (778 calories). Two cups Crystal Light (10 calories). Multi-vitamin.
19:00-19:45: Walked 1.7 miles (2.76 km) for 24 minutes (4.3 mph / 6.9 kph - burned 170-265 calories). 20 pushups, 20 situps, 15 reps @ 15 lb bicep curls.
20:00-21:00: 2 cups Crystal Light (10 calories).
23:00: Bed - 172.5 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1245. (22% fat, 63% carb, 15% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~225.
Net Calories: 1020.

Alright, Day 2, Monday, September 17, 2007:

I totally meant to walk this morning. But I think the gods are against me - it was cold and raining. I also weighed a half pound more than yesterday morning (which I know is totally within normal fluctuations, but it's still annoying). So I got depressed and went back to bed.

I also started craving Kim's, even though I packed a lunch. I'm thinking of trying to use it as a reward (like if I lose the 2 lbs I want this week, then I'll reward myself next week with getting it for lunch), but that means that I can't get it this week even though I planned to do so on Wednesday. I think this will be one of the first tests for my resolve to lose this weight - whether or not I give in on Wednesday. I think a possible way to beat the craving is to pack lunch the night before so I don't have an excuse of "not enough time" to make it Wednesday morning and hence go out. (For those reading this, Kim's is a ridiculously cheap Vietnamese place about 1/2 mile from the building I work in on campus, and for $4.30 I can get a very large serving of tofu lo mein ... I've grown addicted to it.)

For the evening exercises, I did the pushups until failure (20, which is way below my initial goal in January for this month), rested 30 sec, and could barely do another 10. I suppose one of these initial goals is to be able to do 2 reps of 20 pushups without dying. The situps were okay, but instead of my abs hurting, it was more the posterior external oblique. I need to make sure I'm doing them right. As for the bicep curls, I was barely able to do the second set to completion. I think tomorrow I'll try doing 3 sets at 10 instead of 2 at 15.

Otherwise, nothing new really but the schedule:

7:45: Woke Up - 169.5 lbs.
8:30-9:00: Went back to sleep.
9:45: One slice banana bread. (184 calories)
12:30: PB&J. (295 calories)
15:00: Apple. (72 calories)
Afternoon: Two.5 cups Crystal Light (13 calories).
18:30: Two servings baked pasta with roasted vegetables and sausage (778 calories). Multi-vitamin.
19:00-19:35: Walked 1.7 miles (2.76 km) for 24 minutes (4.3 mph / 6.9 kph - burned 170-265 calories). 20 pushups and 10 pushups, 30-sec break between. 2x20 situps, 30-sec break between. 2 sets 15 reps each @ 15 lb bicep curls.
20:00-21:00: 2 cups Crystal Light (10 calories).
22:30: Bed - 172 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1352. (25% fat, 60% carb, 15% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~225.
Net Calories: 1125.

Good luck astroguy. If you are like me, it will take some time to learn to tweak your diet and to figure out the best way to keep yourself motivated. I just recently started tracking my calories and found it shocking how much my calorie intake would fluctuate (from 1100 calories to 2600 depending on the day). I have now been hitting 1600 per day and seem to be losing 1 lb per week so far, while still hitting gains in the gym after 4 months of lifting (so not noob gains any more).

I personally don't eat much pasta any more :( I do still eat a lot of fats (nuts, pork, even french fries). So my diet has a long way to go - hopefully you have better luck than I do :)

Thanks, lblake. I just took some photos of myself (front and profile) to use as the baseline/comparison ... I never quite realized just how darn ugly I really am. :doh: The gut, man boobs, red creases due to sitting and slouching all day ... wow. I was considering posting them before I took them, but now I think I'll quietly tuck them away and not look at them. Or possibly print one out and put on the refrigerator as motivation.

Regardless, I'm hoping that with this online journal/log/thing and the photographs that I finally can keep myself motivated. Here's hoping. :gl:

Day 3, Tuesday, September 18, 2007:

I actually walked this morning. Huzzah! But, during the last ~1/3 mile, I got a stitch in my side and had to slow down (though I somehow managed to still come in at 1.7 miles in 24 minutes). I guess I should try to stretch a bit before walking from now on.

My arms were also incredibly sore today, though I'm assuming that's not a bad thing, just an indication of them not being used to this.

I decided to switch out my evening drink with 2 cups of skim milk to add on more protein (based on what the next two posts stated). I also lowered the pushups to 2x15 which I was able to do, so I'll use that as a base. And I switched from situps to crunches and also lowered the number in an attempt to do them correctly, and though the ache was initially in my abdominals, it migrated back to the posterior exterior obliques ... I'm wondering if I'm just incredibly weak in that area and this will go away. I also lowered the number of reps for the bicep curls so that I wasn't straining at the end of the second set and so doing them wrong.


8:45: Woke up - 169 lbs.
9:15-9:40: Walked 1.7 miles (2.76 km) for 24 minutes (4.3 mph / 6.9 kph - burned 170-265 calories).
10:30: One slice banana bread (184 calories) and 1 cup OJ (110 calories).
13:30: PB&J (298 calories).
Afternoon: 2.5 cups Crystal Light.
18:00: Two servings baked pasta with roasted vegetables and sausage (778 calories). Multi-vitamin.
18:45-19:20: Walked 1.7 miles (2.76 km) for 24 minutes (4.3 mph / 6.9 kph - burned 170-265 calories). 2x15 pushups, 30-sec break between. 2x15 crunches, 30-sec break between. 2 sets 10 reps each @ 15 lb bicep curls.
20:30: 2 cups skim milk (160 calories).
23:30: Bed - 170 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1527. (22% fat, 60% carb, 18% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~450.
Net Calories: 1075.

I'd seriously reconsider your current plan. With the very small amount of calories (and protein) you're consuming, along with no strength training (weights) your metabolism will eventually get to the point where you will begin burning lean muscle, which you already might be doing. The end result will be weight loss, yes, but you'll only wind up a smaller version of your present self since the shift towards burning lean mass will be greater than burning fat...... Not good.

Hopefully my assessment is totally wrong. Good luck.

I'd seriously reconsider your current plan. With the very small amount of calories (and protein) you're consuming, along with no strength training (weights) your metabolism will eventually get to the point where you will begin burning lean muscle, which you already might be doing. The end result will be weight loss, yes, but you'll only wind up a smaller version of your present self since the shift towards burning lean mass will be greater than burning fat...... Not good.

Hopefully my assessment is totally wrong. Good luck.


Mmmm... yeah, I agree gree. You need to lift and do some cardio, not only is that going to speed things up, but you won't kill muscle like Mastover said. Plus... you get to eat more :) , since you have to times your BMR by the activity level. Just be careful, undereating is a silent assasin. It kills progress and lean mass.

Do you have a workout that you've been following? Post that if you have it but just left it out. If I read things correctly you're in college? You mentioned campus anyway, go to the gym there, should be free. Also don't let daily weight fluctuations mess with your head, but you seem to know that :)

Good luck, keep us posted.

Mmmm... yeah, I agree. You need to lift and do some cardio, not only is that going to speed things up, but you won't kill muscle like Mastover said. Plus... you get to eat more :) , since you have to times your BMR by the activity level. Just be careful, undereating is a silent assasin. It kills progress and lean mass.

Do you have a workout that you've been following? Post that if you have it but just left it out. If I read things correctly you're in college? You mentioned campus anyway, go to the gym there, should be free.

Okay, to be honest, I've been trying to avoid gyms. Psychologically, I just have issues with 'em. Especially because I am also partly afraid of hurting myself due to having no real idea on what I'm doing.

That being said, I'm a graduate student, and part of my semester fees goes towards access to the gym on campus, which seems huge: http://www.colorado.edu/rec-center/facilities/index.html . And they're pretty much open all the time. And it looks like they offer intro seminars. So I really have no excuse other than laziness and fear of what may happen. :o And the inconvenience of needing to drive the 8 minutes to campus to use the facilities in the evening.

And with that being said, I'm not entirely certain I made clear what exercises I was doing in my posts. I'm attempting to walk 3.4 miles a day (2x1.7) which I jog for brief parts (with the goal of eventually jogging/running the whole route, though that will take a significant amoutn of time to work up to). I walk pretty fast (~4.3 mph) so my heart rate definitely gets up there. After the evening walk, I'm doing some very basic free weight stuff (with dumbbells I have) with the idea of increasing the amount on a near-daily basis until I get to a decent level.

So, despite what I think I already know your answer will be, will this be enough at the moment, or should I be looking into these intro seminars for perhaps next week?

I also realize that I'll be losing muscle in the cutting, but I thought it would just be a typical ~25% of the weight loss would be muscle.

Okay, to be honest, I've been trying to avoid gyms. Psychologically, I just have issues with 'em. Especially because I am also partly afraid of hurting myself due to having no real idea on what I'm doing.

That being said, I'm a graduate student, and part of my semester fees goes towards access to the gym on campus, which seems huge: http://www.colorado.edu/rec-center/facilities/index.html . And they're pretty much open all the time. And it looks like they offer intro seminars. So I really have no excuse other than laziness and fear of what may happen. :o And the inconvenience of needing to drive the 8 minutes to campus to use the facilities in the evening.

And with that being said, I'm not entirely certain I made clear what exercises I was doing in my posts. I'm attempting to walk 3.4 miles a day (2x1.7) which I jog for brief parts (with the goal of eventually jogging/running the whole route, though that will take a significant amoutn of time to work up to). I walk pretty fast (~4.3 mph) so my heart rate definitely gets up there. After the evening walk, I'm doing some very basic free weight stuff (with dumbbells I have) with the idea of increasing the amount on a near-daily basis until I get to a decent level.

So, despite what I think I already know your answer will be, will this be enough at the moment, or should I be looking into these intro seminars for perhaps next week?

I also realize that I'll be losing muscle in the cutting, but I thought it would just be a typical ~25% of the weight loss would be muscle.


I'd look into the intro seminars just for giggles, if you're paying for it already hey... why not. As far as starting out slowly that's a good idea, that's what I did too. Heck at first I just did pushups / situps in the AM. Read about that here::

http://virtualadrian.com/?cat=3&paged=4

That's all I did for 30 days just to form a habit. Small one, but it still taught me discipline. Posting my progress / doings to my blog really helped, which is what this journal will do for you. Now my habit is working out for 1.25hrs four days a week ( was 5 but I overtrained lifting that many days / week ). If the seminars are only a couple of nights go for it. Eight minutes is not that bad of a drive, and on a rainy day you can just use the treadmill.

The other thing is not to be scared of the gym, or the people there. When I first started going there I saw a lot of gym rats / muscle heads ( or whatever other stereotype ) and assumed they were ignorant bastards that hated newbies. Not the case! They turned out to be really nice guys that busted ass as much as I did, and also knew as much and more often than not more than I do about nutrition / exercise. And the best part is that if you go there consistently you get to know them and you have new friends... one's you never thought you'd have.

Inevitably there will be a douchebag there, but they exist in all situations ... LOL ... not just at the gym. My advice is don't bust yourself up too bad if you miss a meal or skip a beat, just don't make a habit of it. Then just go to the seminars and see what's going down. If you don't like it don't go back and do like a home gym thing. John doesn't have a gym membership. :D My drive to the gym is like 5 minutes, I have a kickboxing class that is a 30 minute drive... drive time aside, a trip to the gym ... for me anyway... is relaxing.

Day 4 - Sept. 19, 2007 (Wednesday)

I got out of bed earlier and walked earlier this morning so I could be in for a FedEx package. I liked it - it felt good to be up earlier and actually active and getting stuff done, but it was cold! I also started to get another stitch in my side but deep breathing fixed it before it became an issue. My Aunt says that I should slow down a bit, that I'll still burn the same amount of calories if I walk the same distance, and that should cure the stitches.

I also did my first cheat today. It was incredibly mild - a handfull of microwave popcorn from the department office since they just did a new bag when I was in there - but I know that if you rationalize away the little things, rationalizing away the big things becomes easier, so I'm still a little mad at myself for this. And, the reason that I had the extra half serving of the dinner is that I wanted to finish it off so I could get it out of my 'fridge.

I also updated my weekly nutrition log last night to break down totals and percentages and macronutrients on a daily basis as well as the weekly basis (weekly was what it was doing before) so I can be slightly more accountable daily as opposed to just "oh, I have all week to get more protein."

In addition, I need to start to drink more. Mainly, I'm feeling thirstier during the day, and then there is another thing (that I won't put in here) that indicates I'm lacking enough water in my diet now. I think this is a good thing, since before I never felt the need to drink more than 4 cups of liquid a day.

I'm also going to be posting two new threads, one asking about net calories due to exercise vs. taking it into account in your BMR (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=39171), and the other asking for critiques of my dinner plans (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=39172) (though I don't think I'm going to like the feedback).

I added tricep kickbacks to the arm exercises this evening. I also switched the others (pushups, crunches, bicep curls) to 3 sets each instead of 2, though I had to lower the number of pushups and crunches to 10 each to be able to do 3 sets. I think I'll do the pushups and crunches daily regardless of what other stuff I do, since they're good general exercises. I'm also going to try to increase the number of reps in each set (I'm going to keep the sets at 3) by one or so every week. We'll see if that actually happens.

8:15 - Woke up - 168.5 lbs.
8:40-9:05 - Walked 1.7 miles (2.76 km) for 24 minutes (4.3 mph / 6.9 kph - burned 170-265 calories).
9:45: One slice banana bread (184 calories) and 1 cup OJ (110 calories).
12:30: PB&J (298 calories).
Afternoon: 2.5 cups Crystal Light.
17:30: Two servings baked pasta with roasted vegetables and sausage (778 calories). Multi-vitamin.
18:45-19:30: Walked 1.7 miles (2.76 km) for 27 minutes (3.8 mph / 6.1 kph - burned 170-265 calories). 3x10 pushups, 30-sec break between. 3x10 crunches, 30-sec break between. 3 sets 10 reps each @ 15 lb bicep curls. 3 sets 5 reps each @ 15 lb tricep curls.
21:00: 0.5 serving baked pasta with roasted vegetables and sausage (195 calories). 2 cups water.
00:00: Bed - 172 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1562. (24% fat, 61% carb, 15% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~450.
Net Calories: 1100.

virtualadrian -

That's what I'm trying to do - restart slowly. But it is a restart (granted, after stopping a year ago), and I have a pseudo deadline looming ahead of me in about 6 weeks. So I'd like to ramp up the routine within maybe 2-3 weeks at the longest, and it sounds like hitting the gym - if nothing else - is worth looking into. But I need to plan out a workout schedule (I'm going to look at others' routines and some of the stickies here) and some specific goals so that I don't just get to the gym's weight room and look around at all that metal with my mouth slack and have no idea what to do.

And that's what Judge Judy is for right now! Good background while I try to plan some of this stuff out.

My quickest fat loss came at 1900 clean calories / day and 30 minutes of cardio prelift. So, I'd run for 10 minutes ( on and off if needed, don't kill yourself lol ), then I'd switch to an exercise bike. I'd bike at like level 7 or 8 for 10 minutes, and knock it down to 1 or 2 for 3 minutes, then bump back up for the remaining 7 or 8. I wasn't going for a near death experience :) . Then I would lift for 1 hour, machines only. ( I now am bulking and do freeweight only ) The only thing I'd be carefull on if I were you is the intake. If you go too low you'll plateau. However, if your current intake is yielding results, don't fix what is not broken. Most people told me I was nuts for doing cardio b4 I lift, however at that point in time I was not trying to gain weight. I wanted to cut. I do virtually no cardio right now, and if I do it's very low intensity since I have a biz of a time gaining.

Anyway, if you do hit a plateau later on like when you get to that last five just think about upping intake as one of the ways to fix that. Sounds like I'm beating a dead horse, I know, but I underate during my cut and I stopped losing weight. :eek:

EDIT:: If you go to those seminars, let us know how it went.

The only thing I'd be carefull on if I were you is the intake. If you go too low you'll plateau. However, if your current intake is yielding results, don't fix what is not broken.

I don't think I'm in danger of getting into "starvation" mode, though I've also heard that it doesn't actually set in for a good few weeks. Regardless, I'm definitely still eating 'til I'm full ... and tonight I ate past that. :doh:

Day 5 - September 20, 2007 - Thursday

Okay, the forum decided to delete what I'd written. The short version is that I think I backtracked, though I have a good reason (of course).

I walked 2.2 miles this morning instead of the 1.7 in preparation for getting up to 3 for the full 45 minutes of cardio starting Sunday or Monday. But I didn't do anything tonight because I had just gotten my iPod Touch pre-order and its screen was much better than the one I'd bought last week, so I was busy loading on test cases and then going to the Apple store to get a full refund.

But I also had two servings of dinner even though I was already full after one. I think it was out of habit and just because I liked the taste, but this isn't a good precedent on only the fifth day.

I'm also getting frustrated with my scale, even though I know that it's perfectly reasonable that I'm not seeing any results yet. But I weigh what I did on Sunday. Regardless, I'm going to pick up a new one tomorrow night because I'm sick of this one saying 171 lbs after calibration, I wait for it to go off then calibrate again and it says 169.5 lbs. Ridiculous.

8:30 - Wake up - 169 lbs. :(
9:00-9:30 - Walked 2.2 miles (3.5 km) in 34 minutes (3.9 mph (6.2 kph)). Burned ~225 calories.
9:45 - 1 cup water.
10:15 - 1 slice banana bread (184 calories).
12:30 - PB&J (355 calories) *this is different than before because I had made a mistake with the caloric amount in the PB
3:30 - Apple (70 calories)
Afternoon - Drank 2.5 cups Crystal Light.
6:15 - 2 servings chili (840 calories). Multivitamin. 2 cups water.
11:30 - Bed - 171 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1451. (20% fat, 55% carb, 25% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~225.
Net Calories: 1225.

I don't think I'm in danger of getting into "starvation" mode, though I've also heard that it doesn't actually set in for a good few weeks. Regardless, I'm definitely still eating 'til I'm full ... and tonight I ate past that. :doh:

Use of the term Starvation Mode is overreaching most of the time you see it used (which I don't think adrian was implying). Most of the time people are talking about simply setting yourself up for a less than optimally performing metabolism which is much more common. This still makes fat oxidation harder than it needs to be, and depending on the degree to which one ends up working against their bodies natural fat burning capabilities, much much harder than it needs to be. Simplest way to test the waters is to start out eating as much as you can while still inducing fat loss. Where you go from there in an attempt to speed things along is up to you.

Judging things by how full you feel can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. It really just depends.

I'd get over the fear of going to your campus gym. Your body and results will thank you for it.

Use of the term Starvation Mode is overreaching most of the time you see it used (which I don't think adrian was implying). Most of the time people are talking about simply setting yourself up for a less than optimally performing metabolism which is much more common. This still makes fax oxidation harder than it needs to be, and depending on the degree to which one ends up working against their bodies natural fat burning capabilities, much much harder than it needs to be. Simplest way to test the waters is to start out eating as much as you can while still inducing fat loss. Where you go from there in an attempt to speed things along is up to you.

Judging things by how full you feel can be your best friend or your worst nightmare. It really just depends.

I'd get over the fear of going to your campus gym. Your body and results will thank you for it.


(1) I'm down to <1500 calories and still not having any loss. Granted it's been less than a week, but I don't think it's a sign that I'm eating too much. Perhaps my body hasn't figured out yet that it needs to start to tap its reserves (vast though they are).

(2) How can "judging things by how full you feel ... be your ... worst nightmare?" I figured it was a good thing - if you feel full, stop eating!

(3) Yeah ... I'm still going to see what I can do with free weights at the moment, though.

Day 6 - September 21, 2007 - Friday

Still no loss. But no gain, either, so I guess that's something to be thankful for.

I went shopping and thought I'd try some protein bars to use for my mid-afternoon snack. Of course, I read several threads on this site after I bought them and found the wonderfully mixed reviews. I bought five different ones across 3 different brands, so I figured I'd at least see if I liked any of them for future reference, and decide what to do 'bout 'em at the end of the week.

I also very slightly cheated (again). While at Costco, they had a large cheese sampler out on display with the usual free samples. I had a few very tiny pieces. And what a horrible time to start a diet - their chocolate display was 2 aisles long. :drool: :cry:

I also did what the plan was and only had one bowl of chili for dinner, and I ate slightly slower and felt full afterwards. I ate the second around 9:45 though I only felt a bit hungry. I guess this is part of the training the body to eat more meals a day.

8:30 - Wake up - 169 lbs.
9:00-9:30 - Walked 2.2 miles (3.5 km) in 34 minutes (3.9 mph (6.2 kph)). Burned ~225 calories.
9:45 - 1 cup water.
10:15 - 1 slice banana bread (184 calories).
12:30 - PB&J (355 calories)
15:30 - missed snack because of a meeting
Afternoon - Drank 2.5 cups Crystal Light.
17:30 - Half cup of honeydew melon balls (32 calories).
18:15 - 1 serving chili (421 calories). Multivitamin.
21:45 - 1 serving chili (421 calories). 2 cups water.
00:15 - Bed - 171 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1412. (21% fat, 51% carb, 27% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~225.
Net Calories: 1190.

Day 7 - September 22, 2007 - Saturday -- END WEEK 1 --

I walked even farther today because I figured an extra 10 minutes would lead to more fat burning than carbs since I'd already spent 30 minutes working up to that state, so it'd be worth it. But it was really hot! Also, this took me nearly to the end of the street, so I don't see extending the walk any more for awhile. I'd like to work up to jogging it (though I'll just walk it for the next week).

Also, more evidence I need a new scale: I woke up and my weight was 169. I finished walking / pushups / crunches and my weight was 168.5. I got out of the shower and my weight was 167.5. I obviously went with the lowest (:D), but it's fluctuations are weird.

Also, because I finished the morning stuff late, I forewent the banana bread that had been in my plan for breakfast and just drank the milk with lunch. I guess that would lose me a point if I were in the 100-pt challenge.

10:30 - Wake up - 167.5 lbs.
10:45-11:30 - Walked 2.73 miles (4.4 km) in 42 minutes (4.0 mph (6.4 kph)). Burned ~270 calories. 3x10 pushups, 3x10 crunches.
12:30 - 1 serving chili (421 calories). 1 cup skim milk (80 calories). 2 cups Crystal Light.
15:00 - 1 protein bar (140 calories). Horrible aftertaste.
18:00 - Salad (199 calories). 2 cups water.
19:30-20:20 - Workout shoulders and arms (see below). Burned ~330 calories.
21:30 - Tuna with Miracle Whip (253 calories). 1 cup water.
23:30 - Bed - 170.0 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1162. (21% fat, 38% carb, 41% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~600.
Net Calories: 560.


The shoulder and arm workout took much longer than the 30 minutes I thought. I rested 30 seconds between each set and a few minutes between each exercise (to figure out what the next one would be and to change the weights if necessary). This was really a "let's see what happens" thing, and what happened is that I discovered my right arm is much weaker than my left and my arms feel like putty now as I write this.

Shoulder Press (Anterior Deltoid) - 3x10 (10 lbs) - last set was horrible.
Upright Row (Lateral Deltoid) - 3x10 (10 lbs) - weight can probably be increased.
Rear Delt. Row (Posterior Deltoid) - 3x10 (10 lbs) - weight needs to be increased.
Tricep Extensions (Tricep Brachii) - 3x10 (10 lbs) - first set was simple, last set difficult.
Curls (Biceps Brachii) - 3x10 (15 lbs) - first and second set were simple, third was harder.
Concentration Curl (brachialis) - 3x10 (15 lbs) - first set simple, last set sucked (very difficult).
Hammer Curl (Brachioradialis) - 3x10 (15 lbs) - sets felt fairly easy and can probably increase weight.
Wrist Curl (Wrist Flexors) - 3x10 (10 lbs) - seemed easy enough.
Reverse Wrist Curl (Wrist Extensors) - 3x10 (7.5 lbs) - much more difficult.


--== WEEK 1 RUN-DOWN ==--

WEIGHT
Start: 169 lbs (17.1% bodyfat)
End: 167.5 lbs
Average and Standard Deviation: 168.786 ± 0.636
Comments: Not sure if the end weight is "accurate," but it's what was on the scale this morning. If it is accurate, then I guess I am on my way to losing the ~1.5 lbs/week I want to to lose 10 lbs by Hawaii (Nov. 3).

FOOD
Total Calories: 9891 (1413 daily average)
Macronutrient Percentage Contribution: 23% fat, 55% carbs, 22% protein
Comments: Definitely eating at a deficit, eating only at specified times, and learning to control my portion size.

CARDIO
Distance: 17.4 miles (28.0 km)
Time: 254 minutes
Comments: Over the course of the last 7 days, I went from nothing to doing a 4.4 km walk. For me, that's incredibly impressive.

WEIGHTS
Change from Previous Week: N/A
Time: 50 minutes
Comments: Granted I just started today, so I'm not sure what to put here. I've planned out three days for weights a week, with Monday (back and chest) being the only day that I'll need to go to the gym to use their equipment. Wednesday (legs) and Saturday (shoulders and arms) can be done in my apartment with free weights.

START OF WEEK 2

Day 8 - September 23, 2007 - Sunday

Perhaps it's a fluke in the measurement, but my hips (at least the way I measure them) lost 1/3" of girth over the week, moving my body fat down to 16.6% with a loss of 1.1 lbs of fat and a gain of 0.1 lbs of lean muscle, at least according to the average weight I plugged in for this week of 168 lbs since I don't necessarily trust yesterday's starting weight of 167.5 lbs, despite it being duplicated today.

I didn't do the pushups/crunches this morning after my walk because I was still sore from yesterday's arm/shoulder workout and I didn't want to fall flat on my face.

I've also run into a "problem," though I don't know if it's really a problem: I don't feel hungry enough to eat something that I had planned for today (a cup of pineapple). I'll either eat it late tonight, or I'll just pass it on to tomorrow.

In addition, I'm also encountering the "problem" that Crystal Light is now tasting ridiculously sweet to me, probably because I've been drinking water half the time instead, which I never did before. This I know is not a bad thing, for if I can ween myself from it, then I'll (a) save money at the grocery store, and (b) be putting less artificial sweetener and colors and flavoring in my body.


10:30: Woke up - 167.5 lbs - 16.6% bodyfat.
10:45-11:30: Walked 2.73 miles (4.4 km) in 42 minutes (4.0 mph (6.4 kph)). Burned ~270 calories.
12:00-12:30: 1 slice banana bread (184 calories). Salad (199 calories). 1 cup skim milk (80 calories). 2 cups crystal light (over next few hours).
15:45: 1 apple (72 calories).
19:00: 1 bowl Mexican rice (400 calories, 34% from protein). 2 cups Crystal Light.
21:30: 1 bowl Mexican rice (400 calories). 1 cup water.
23:45: Bed. 170.5 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1395. (17% fat, 58% carb, 25% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~270.
Net Calories: 1125.

I'll start with a :cry: and now explain: My bodyfat percentages are apparently all wrong. I just registered at bodybuilding.com and watched their video on how to measure the forearm, and I was measuring it just below the elbow, NOT in the middle, and my bodyfat shot up to 21.0% because of that. ARGH.

So I went online and found two other methods (without calipers) of calculating body fat. One is the simple one that only relies upon waist and weight, while the other is the Navy one that goes by neck, waist, and height. The former says 24.8% while the latter 21.8%.

I plan on taking the median of all three measurements, so that's 21.8% bodyfat at the moment.

So crap. Basically that means that Ihave around 8 more pounds of fat on me than I thought. Which means that my goal to get to 8% body fat isn't 153 lbs, but 144 (at present muscle mass). What a lovely thought before I go to bed. But, I guess it's also even more motivation to actually work out while in the process of cutting in a small attempt of gaining some lean muscle mass in the process (even though I know that cutting and bulking are generally mutually exclusive).

10:30: Woke up - 167.5 lbs - 16.6% bodyfat.
10:45-11:30: Walked 2.73 miles (4.4 km) in 42 minutes (4.0 mph (6.4 kph)). Burned ~270 calories.
12:00-12:30: 1 slice banana bread (184 calories). Salad (199 calories). 1 cup skim milk (80 calories). 2 cups crystal light (over next few hours).
15:45: 1 apple (72 calories).
19:00: 1 bowl Mexican rice (400 calories, 34% from protein). 2 cups Crystal Light.
21:30: 1 bowl Mexican rice (400 calories). 1 cup water.
23:45: Bed. 170.5 lbs.

Calorie Intake: 1395. (17% fat, 58% carb, 25% protein)
Calorie Expenditure: ~270.
Net Calories: 1125.
Hi Astroguy. :)

My friend, I would seriously reconsider this diet plan. Unless there is something in that Mexican Rice that you have not listed, I see "skim milk" as your only decent source of protein here, and it's not exactly a high protein drink either.

Where is the chicken? Fish? Turkey? Lean beef? :) The overall calories are, IMO, way too low, and you can fix this issue simply by adding some complete protein sources to your diet. How about adding egg whites to meal 1? Lean chicken/turkey/fish/beef to the Mexican rice? How about adding another meal before bed like a small portion of cottage cheese with some almonds or peanut butter? How about more veggies (one salad a day isn't enough IMHO)? Broccoli or green beans would probably be great in the rice.

I think that Mastover's advice above was right on, and I am really afraid that even if you meet your bodyweight goals that you will be unhappy with what you see in the mirror.

Of course, this is just my opinion. I am just trying to look out for you but I wish you luck in whatever you do. :tu:

FWIW, I am really glad to see that you've decided to start lifting weights. This will be very important, so good decision there. :)

My friend, I would seriously reconsider this diet plan. Unless there is something in that Mexican Rice that you have not listed, I see "skim milk" as your only decent source of protein here, and it's not exactly a high protein drink either.

Where is the chicken? Fish? Turkey? Lean beef? :) The overall calories are, IMO, way too low, and you can fix this issue simply by adding some complete protein sources to your diet. How about adding egg whites to meal 1? Lean chicken/turkey/fish/beef to the Mexican rice? How about adding another meal before bed like a small portion of cottage cheese with some almonds or peanut butter? How about more veggies (one salad a day isn't enough IMHO)? Broccoli or green beans would probably be great in the rice.

Please see this post (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showpost.php?p=528771&postcount=4), which contains details on the food. My Mexican rice isn't what you'd get as a side dish at a restaurant, but it has 2 lbs of chicken in it (1/4 lb per serving). I also insure that I get at least 3 servings of vegetables and 2 of fruit per day on average over the course of a week.

Also, a slight problem with much of the food advice on this site is that I'm an incredibly picky eater - don't like eggs, nuts, cottage cheese, nor most meats (ground beef, turkey, chicken, and canned tuna are the main exceptions).

As to the calories, I agree they do seem a tad low, but it's in-line with the losing 1 lb fat a week by cutting 500 calories out of your BMR (BMR before multiplying by activity level). My base BMR is 1802 calories a day.


FWIW, I am really glad to see that you've decided to start lifting weights. This will be very important, so good decision there. :)

Yeah. Bad-me keeps saying that it's too hard and I shouldn't even try and the weights will be heavy and the gym scary, but good-me is saying that it's the only way I'll actually start to look the way I want to. :bb:

Hey, just dropped in to say hello. You're looking seriously motivated to make some changes. Good luck!

As to the calories, I agree they do seem a tad low, but it's in-line with the losing 1 lb fat a week by cutting 500 calories out of your BMR (BMR before multiplying by activity level). My base BMR is 1802 calories a day.

If you eat 500 calories below BMR you'll lose more than one pound per week, especially if you're adding cardio on top of it. To lose one pound per week you need to eat 500 calories per day below your total energy expenditure: BMR + activity level (including your additional exercise). Check out Marcus' sticky for an example of how to calculate calorie requirements: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222

If you want to lose one pound per week, as you said, you should calculate your BMR, times it by your activity level (including the weight work and cardio you've started doing) and then subtract 500 calories per day from the resulting number. If you're aiming to do more than that, well, ok - but that's not what your posts suggest. As is, I think your calories are way too low for a 1 pound/week weight loss.

Hey, just dropped in to say hello. You're looking seriously motivated to make some changes. Good luck!

Thanks!


If you eat 500 calories below BMR you'll lose more than one pound per week, especially if you're adding cardio on top of it. To lose one pound per week you need to eat 500 calories per day below your total energy expenditure: BMR + activity level (including your additional exercise). Check out Marcus' sticky for an example of how to calculate calorie requirements: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=1222

If you want to lose one pound per week, as you said, you should calculate your BMR, times it by your activity level (including the weight work and cardio you've started doing) and then subtract 500 calories per day from the resulting number. If you're aiming to do more than that, well, ok - but that's not what your posts suggest. As is, I think your calories are way too low for a 1 pound/week weight loss.

Sorry, it was late and I couldn't sleep and I didn't say exactly what I meant. I'm looking to lose at least 1 lb a week (pursuant with the idea of losing 10 lbs by November 3, so around 1.5 lbs a week), so I'm trying to eat between 500 and 1000 calories below my total BMR, which is 2477 calories (with "lightly active" as my activity level at the moment, until I actually see results). So, I'm kinda aiming for around 1400-1500 calories per day this week (last week I was just starting to exercise so I had my activity level at 1.2 (sedentary) so my scaled BMR was 2177 calories). But there's a fair amount of slop room (because recipies always vary, no onion is the same weight as another onion, etc.), so I'm trying to err on the conservative side.

Thought I'd post a slight revision of "My Plan" in order to try to keep everything in one place.


Monday through Friday:
8:15-9:00 - CARDIO - LISS (fast walking ~2.2 miles in 45 min.)
Drink 1-2 cups water after this.
9:30 - MEAL 1 - Breakfast (~300 calories)
12:30 - MEAL 2 - Lunch (~300 calories)
3:30 - MEAL 3 - Snack (~100 calories)
6:00 - MEAL 4 - Dinner (~450 calories)
(6:30-7:30, WEIGHT TRAINING / CARDIO see below)
9:00 - MEAL 5 - "Ninesies" (~450 calories)

Mon - 6:30-7:30 - Rippetoe Workout [A, B]***
Tue - 6:30-7:30 - LISS (fast walking or tredmill)
Wed - 6:30-7:30 - Rippetoe Workout ***
Thu - 6:30-7:30 - LISS (fast walking or tredmill)
Fri - Free day!
Sat - 6:30-7:30 - Rippetoe Workout [A, B]***
Sun - Free day!


For the food and morning LISS on Sat/Sun, basically the same thing except move it forward an hour or two.

I would also like to work in daily pushups and crunches because even though I hate them, they're something I think I should do and want to be able to do a lot of. But I'm not sure when's a good time to work them in (maybe after morning walk?).

At the moment, I'm looking at doing the weight stuff in my apartment with a set of free weights, but I'm going to look into using the gym on campus (soon) if you all think this is a reasonable plan.


[b]SPECIFIC FOODS (with the numbers indicating different options):

Breakfast 1 * - Slice banana bread (29:66:5, 185 calories)
Breakfast 2 - Cheerios with skim milk (8:70:22, 230 calories)
Breakfast 3 - Bagel (0:78:22, 110 calories)
Breakfast Drink 1 - Cup water
Breakfast Drink 2 - Cup skim milk (0:57:43 , 80 calories)
Breakfast Drink 3 - Cup OJ (0:93:7, 110 calories)

Lunch 1 - PB&J (reduced carbs PB, multi-grain bread) (41:45:15, 295 calories)
Lunch 2 ** - Tofu lo mein (25:60:15, 1000 calories)
Lunch 3 - Salad (home-made low-fat dressing) (43:40:17, 200 calories)

Snack - Apple, banana, or other fruit

Dinner 1 - Blackened chicken (only chicken in a bit of oil with spices) (30:5:66) with 53 gms protein in 1/2-lb serving.
Dinner 2 - Chicken-Broccoli Stir Fry (chicken, broccoli, soy sauce, and a little oil) (31:15:54) with 58 gms protein in a 1-bowl serving.
Dinner 3 - Chili (diced tomatoes, kidney and black beans, peppers, garlic, onions, and 99% fat free ground turkey) (11:53:36) with 42 gms protein in a 1-bowl serving.
Dinner 4 - Fried Rice (2 lbs chicken to 1.5 cups rice, eggs, peas, carrots, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, and a little peanut oil) (14:49:37) with 39 gms protein in a 1-bowl serving.
Dinner 5 - Mexican Rice (2 lbs chicken to 2 cups rice, crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, celery, corn, a little oil) (9:57:34) with 32 gms protein in a 1-bowl serving.
Dinner 6 - Hamburger Soup (1 lb 96% fat free ground beef, diced tomatoes, 1 cup pasta, kidney beans) (15:49:36) with 23 gms protein in a 1-bowl serving.

"Ninesies" - Second serving of Dinner.


* I only make banana bread about once a month, so these happen maybe 25% of the time.
** I only get this once a week at the most, and if I do, it will also be used for the afternoon snack.
*** Per this thread (http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=998224), I will be alternating the A and B workouts, starting with XAXBXXAX and the next week doing XBXAXXBX, etc.

Day 9 - September 24, 2007 - Monday

Alright, I over-reacted a tad last night with the whole bodyfat thing. First off, I took the measurements after a full day of eating. Second, it didn't actually change the amount of fat in my body, it just made it more realistic. It still sucks, though. Regardless, it's more like 20.9% bodyfat.

Today was not a clean day with eating, though it was planned to not be a clean day. I got my "reward lunch" at Kim's so that was probably an extra 700 calories above what I'd normally eat with lunch.

But, I didn't walk this morning (it was pouring). Sigh. I think I'm going to scale down the "Ninesies" plan for tonight and have carrots and the pineapple from yesterday instead of a second helping of the Mex. rice.


8:00: Wake up - 169.5 lbs.
9:30: Slice banana bread (184 calories). 1 cup water.
12:30: Tofu lo mein (~1000 calories (guess)).
Afternoon: 2.5 cups Crystal Light.

--== END WEEK 2 ==--
Day 14 - September 29, 2007 - Saturday

Alright, I've decided that daily updates are a pain in the butt. So, I'm switching to weekly. Though today I joined the October 100-pt challenge, but at least the updates will be smaller.

Anyway, this was a bad week. I only walked three mornings instead of 7 for a total of 12.32 km (7.64 miles) in 114 minutes (6.48 kph or 4.02 mph). For PM stuff, I attempted to weight lift on Monday but that debacle is best left to a fading memory and not enshrined on the internet for all time. And I tried running on Tuesday evening, but again that was horrid (and that's on some post on this site). I tried to go lift weights on Thursday but all the parking lots on campus were closed due to some alumni/president's reception. :mad: And I slept through when I was going to do it today. So yeah, I've been pretty bad this week.

Food-wise, I had one cheat (ate at PF Chang's before seeing the musical Spamalot with my mom's cousin).


--== WEEK 2 RUN-DOWN ==--

WEIGHT
Start: 167.5 lbs (20.9% bodyfat)
End: 168.5 lbs
Average and Standard Deviation: 168.8 ± 0.8
Comments: I think I've learned through this that my rest metabolism with normal daily activity is somewhere around 1500 calories. Above that and I gain weight. Below that and I lose weight. So much for the 2162 value. :mad:

FOOD :eat:
Total Calories: 10198 (1457 daily average)
Macronutrient Percentage Contribution: 19% fat, 55% carbs, 26% protein
Comments: See comment above under "WEIGHT." Also, I went up in protein this week fairly significantly, I think. I had an average of 94.4 gms of protein per day, so slightly more than 1 gm for ever 2 lbs of body weight, but since I'm not trying to bulk, I think that's okay.

CARDIO
Walking Distance: 7.64 miles (12.32 km)
Walking Time: 114 minutes (4.02 mph)
Run/Jog Distance: 1.74 miles (2.8 km)
Run/Jog Time: 22 minutes (4.75 mph)
Comments: I'm going to be starting (tomorrow) the plan here (http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml) for getting up to a steady-state run/jog ability over the course of the next two months.

WEIGHTS :bb:
Time: N/A
Comments: I'd rather not comment here at the moment ... too depressing. :bang:

--== WEEK 3 GOALS ==--

Food - 1200-1300 calories per day on average. At least 25% of calories from protein.

AM LISS etc. - Walk every morning. 3x12 pushups and crunches after walking.

PM Weights and Running - Weight lift on MWF. Run on STRS.

Weight - 165 lbs. Not sure if this is possible, but we'll see. :dreamy:

--== WEEK 3 GOALS ==--

Food - 1200-1300 calories per day on average. At least 25% of calories from protein.

AM LISS etc. - Walk every morning. 3x12 pushups and crunches after walking.

PM Weights and Running - Weight lift on MWF. Run on STRS.

Weight - 165 lbs. Not sure if this is possible, but we'll see. :dreamy:

That much activity on 1200-1300 calories? Seriously?

That much activity on 1200-1300 calories? Seriously?

We'll see. If I start to feel sick or notice a huge weight drop and muscle fatigue, I'll up it. But I believe that my BMR is several hundred calories below the calculation that's often quoted because if I eat at 2100 cal/day with my usual 1.2x activity level, I seem to gain a tad. And last week at a few hundred below that (1500 cal/day) with walking, I stayed at the same weight.

So I want to lose ~1.5 lb/week at the moment, which means -750 of the BMR per day, and 40 minutes of walking and 20 minutes of running is about 600 calories, which doesn't make up for that -750 deficit.

So that's how I came up with the 1200-1300 cal/day number.

But I believe that my BMR is several hundred calories below the calculation that's often quoted because if I eat at 2100 cal/day with my usual 1.2x activity level, I seem to gain a tad. And last week at a few hundred below that (1500 cal/day) with walking, I stayed at the same weight.
Well, to be honest last week you may have stayed a few hundred below at 1500 cal/day average, but:

1) Your macro ratios need to be tweaked dramatically. "19% fat, 55% carbs, 26% protein" -- I would, at the least, jack protein up to 35-40%, and you can play with the carb and fat numbers some.

2) Your food choices are still not very good. You don't need me to tell you this. I know that in the back of your head somewhere you know that a diet of banana bread and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is not exactly top notch. :)

3) Your weightlifting consisted of one day of an attempt, which you said did not work out very well.

4) Your cardio work was not very intense nor was it very frequent. If you are having difficulty finding time or energy or patience with the long walks (I can relate!), try a shorter duration but higher intensity style. Find a set of stairs and run up and down them fast, rest, repeat for about 10-15 minutes. Or sprint on the track or in the neighborhood.

So, with so many issues that have yet to be resolved, how do you know exactly what your BMR or required calories are? You just happened to gain a few pounds last week, but what were they? Muscle? Fat? Water? General fluctuations? I can fluctuate 5 pounds in a day no problem depending on what I eat and what my activity is like on that particular day.

I can't say for sure what happened last week. It sounds to me like your body is confused and holding on to the fat, but who knows. What I do know is that you need a solid plan. You need to ditch a lot of the foods in your master food list, and start introducing more clean, unprocessed foods into your diet. You need to put together a real weightlifting and cardio routine and stick to it. You need to eat more, a lot more.

What I fear will happen is you'll drop weight eventually, but you'll take off your shirt and look in the mirror and feel depressed even more than before. You won't see an athletic, defined physique, but instead you'll see a smaller version of your former self, now with loose skin, soft arms, and less muscle than before.

Anyone can lose weight. That's easy. Starve yourself. ;) But a real transformation takes dedication and work. What sounds better, starting out as a pear and ending up as a smaller, softer pear? Or starting out as a pear, and ending up with a v-taper and a more muscular physique?

Worst case scenario, and this is not a bad scenario at all actually, just hire a personal trainer. If things are confusing and you don't know what to do, and can't figure it out on your own, and have specific food requirements, find a good trainer who will work with you on your routine and diet, and help you devise a diet plan incorporating foods you like. There's nothing wrong with this. I've been training for over 15 years and I still work with a professional trainer every now and then when I need help.

As I said before I wish you luck in whatever you do. I hope I'm wrong about everything. But I really feel like you need to change your plan of attack. Just trying to help! I'll shut up now though. :)

In all seriousness, good luck astroguy. :)

I really do appreciate the "reality check" that you're giving me, and I'm addressing your comments below. Some of them I agree with completely, others I'm taking a "wait and see" approach ...

1) Your macro ratios need to be tweaked dramatically. "19% fat, 55% carbs, 26% protein" -- I would, at the least, jack protein up to 35-40%, and you can play with the carb and fat numbers some.

And I am working on changing this. This week I'm bumping them to a projected 24:43:33. The aim is, as you suggested, somewhere around 35% protein but also 25% fat (good fat - nuts, olive oil, etc.). It's just taking me some time to figure out the diet adjustments.

It's also a problem because I'm going out of town for 5 days next week and 4 days the week after that, so I'm trying to plan on packing stuff like peanuts in separate serving bags and my no-fat high-protein bagels for the trip so I'm less tempted to pig out at restaurants.


2) Your food choices are still not very good. You don't need me to tell you this. I know that in the back of your head somewhere you know that a diet of banana bread and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is not exactly top notch. :)

I agree with parts of this. I know banana bread wasn't good (it wasn't horrible, either), but I ate it because I baked a loaf a few days before I decided to do this and I didn't want to just throw it out.

The PB&J I also know isn't great, but I don't think it's bad, either. I use whole- and multi-grain bread and low-fat peanut butter (I haven't yet brought myself to buy the natural peanut butter because it looks gross with the oil sitting at the top ... and also because I don't want to just throw this stuff out). Though the jelly is basically sugar, I don't think it's a bad choice for a once-a-day thing.


3) Your weightlifting consisted of one day of an attempt, which you said did not work out very well.

4) Your cardio work was not very intense nor was it very frequent. If you are having difficulty finding time or energy or patience with the long walks (I can relate!), try a shorter duration but higher intensity style. Find a set of stairs and run up and down them fast, rest, repeat for about 10-15 minutes. Or sprint on the track or in the neighborhood.

Agreed on 3, working on 4. My cardio goal is every morning to walk 40 minutes (this is only limited by my sleep schedule, which I think I've finally gotten under control) and "run" for 20 minutes in the PM the days after weights. Last week was a "fluke" because of rain, weather, and not being able to pry myself out of bed until 10 because I couldn't fall asleep until after 2. However, this doesn't affect (what I understand as) the BMR as I'll get to below.


So, with so many issues that have yet to be resolved, how do you know exactly what your BMR or required calories are? You just happened to gain a few pounds last week, but what were they? Muscle? Fat? Water? General fluctuations? I can fluctuate 5 pounds in a day no problem depending on what I eat and what my activity is like on that particular day.

I'll address the BMR below. As for the other questions, it appears from my measurements that while I didn't really lose weight, I did lose fat. My % bodyfat shot down to 20.0% from 20.9% whch means I lost 1.5 lbs of fat and gained 1.1 lbs of muscle. While I don't completely trust that (even though I used three different techniques to measure bodyfat), it is partly reassuring. I don't think it's liquid because I'm trying to make sure I keep a consistent level of water intake every day. And I will admit that the weight change is well within a normal fluctuation. It was just frustrating that it didn't go DOWN.


What I do know is that you need a solid plan. You need to ditch a lot of the foods in your master food list, and start introducing more clean, unprocessed foods into your diet. You need to put together a real weightlifting and cardio routine and stick to it.

I believe I do have a solid plan that's in a state of flux as I figure out how my body responds. That's the problem - I've never done something quite this "intense" with monitoring food and exercise, and so I don't know exactly what my body needs nor how it will react. What I do know for certain is that my metabolism is below average, and I've known this for a long time.

I'm working on the foods. Dinners are fairly good and I think your only objections would be to me using white rice in two of the six that are now on the rotation. Lunches, the only "processed" parts now are the peanut butter I use and the jelly. Weekends are generally a serving of the dinner or canned tuna. Breakfasts are different, with at the moment being whole-wheat bagels with water, milk, or OJ (much more rare, only if I'm lacking enough fruit for the week). And snacks are now peanuts, apples, and/or carrots. I'm testing out different protein bars to see if there's any I like, and I may add them from time-to-time.

My workout plan is more solid than the food. As I said above, it's AM fasted walking for 40 minutes with pushups and crunches after 6-7 days/week. PM 3 days/week are weights following a specific plan that I got from a book and posted here before. Days after weights are attempts at running for 20 minutes, which at the moment means working up to it by alternating walking and jogging (which I've also posted on the board and that was the advice given).

The catch is that I've been trying to do this "intense" version for about 3 weeks now and learning specifics as I go, and so this is the first week where the weights have been added.


As for the BMR, here is my understanding: I used the whole (66+13.7*WEIGHT*0.45359237+5*'HEIGHT-6.8*AGE)*1.2 formula and get around 2150 calories. 1.2 activity level because that is my activity level during normal daily routines. I'm an astronomy grad student so I sit in front of a computer all day.

If I want to lose 1-2 lbs/week, then I need to cut this by 500-1000 calories/day, which gives me 1150-1650 calories/day.

Over the past two weeks, I averaged 1400-1500 calories/day and sorta/maybe/kinda lost weight but not really. This was with comparatively more exercise than I had gotten before.

Consequently, I thought I should lower this by a few more hundred/day to around 1300 (which is what I'll average at the end of this week). So this is a drop of, let's say 200 calories/day from the previous week.

Now, walking at ~4 mph for 40 minutes a morning uses about 270 calories (according to exrx.net's formula). Running for 20 minutes at ~6 mph average uses about 325 calories (according to exrx.net's formula), and 45 minutes of weights is 300 calories. Add these up and it's 270*6+325*3+300*3= ~3500 calories/week expended in exercise, or 500 calories/day.

Add that to the 150 calorie deficit is 650 net calories less than the last two weeks, which means I should lose around 1 pound plus the sorta/maybe/kinda pounds per week.

I'll admit, this does seem to me now to be on the low end of the caloric intake, but I don't see a mistake in my math. Is there a mistake in my assumptions? :confused:

Anyone that comes on here and posts in the Fitness Journals I want to see succeed. This goes without saying. With that said I have to agree with Fast. Your diet needs improvement (jelly, banana bread, very, very low calories) this is not "eating clean".

The hefty amount of cardio is also digging into whatever muscle you may have. Especially the fasted variety.

At this point, I would neither cut nor bulk. There is no reason for either one since you have not 1) sufficient muscle mass to warrant a cut (fat loss) 2) too high a body fat level to warrant a bulk.

Your solution is quite easy actually.

~Eat and train with the intention of building muscle. The higher concentration of new lean tissue will offset any issues with adiposity. Your body will begin to redistribute and recomp. It wouldn't surprise me at all (I see it all the time) for you to add 10 lbs of muscle and drop 5%-8% bodyfat simultaneously. Your metabolic rate will soar. As of now, it is rapidly declining.

However the low calorie, excess cardio approach is not the route to take at this juncture.

Good luck. :)

The hefty amount of cardio is also digging into whatever muscle you may have. Especially the fasted variety.

At this point, I would neither cut nor bulk. There is no reason for either one since you have not 1) sufficient muscle mass to warrant a cut (fat loss) 2) too high a body fat level to warrant a bulk.

Your solution is quite easy actually.

Eat and train with the intention of building muscle. The higher concentration of new lean tissue will offset any issues with adiposity. Your body will begin to redistribute and recomp. It wouldn't surprise me at all (I see it all the time) for you to add 10 lbs of muscle and drop 5%-8% bodyfat simultaneously. Your metabolic rate will soar. As of now, it is rapidly declining.

So would you recommend eating at 1500 calories (the 1 lb/week deficit from the general BMR), or eating at BMR with that approach? Eating more calories would let me eat more peanuts (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showpost.php?p=531979&postcount=40)!

Also, I guess I didn't specify well enough above, but the banana bread is out. It was that one loaf that I didn't want to throw out. Quit harping on the banana bread! ;)

So would you recommend eating at 1500 calories (the 1 lb/week deficit from the general BMR), or eating at BMR with that approach? Eating more calories would let me eat more peanuts (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showpost.php?p=531979&postcount=40)!

Also, I guess I didn't specify well enough above, but the banana bread is out. It was that one loaf that I didn't want to throw out. Quit harping on the banana bread! ;)

I believe he is recommending eating at BMR (But cleanly!) and concentrate more on the strength gains to improve your overall metabolism. While the scale may not go down (or may even go up a bit), overall you should see some pretty good changes in overall composition that you may like more then just getting skinnier. This will also give you more room to manuever later on when it comes time to actually cut calories to burn off whatever fat may be left.

...
I believe I do have a solid plan that's in a state of flux as I figure out how my body responds. That's the problem - I've never done something quite this "intense" with monitoring food and exercise, and so I don't know exactly what my body needs nor how it will react. What I do know for certain is that my metabolism is below average, and I've known this for a long time.


You said it yourself in bold. If you've never approached strength training with any intensity, you don't know how your body will react, nor do you know your caloric needs or metabolic potential. If you've always been sedetary, you can't compare your metabolism then to what it could potentially develop into with a different plan. Starting out low calorie, and constantly shifting things around to an even lower amount (all while expenditure from exercise and necessary recovery appears to be on the rise) is an approach that's worth questioning.

...
I'll admit, this does seem to me now to be on the low end of the caloric intake, but I don't see a mistake in my math. Is there a mistake in my assumptions? :confused:

The term BMR appears to be getting thrown around in this thread in place of TDEE (which would include BMR + calories expended through daily activity/exercise), but that's really beside the point. The biggest mistake you're making is simply trying to do way too much math without a set period of consistency. You can't breakdown an individual's needs into a simple formula. There are too many variables and moving targets.

Just for the sake of conversation, here's a couple things worth pointing out. And yes, I'm making the same mistake by using math. :)

-- Your 2150 daily calorie needs estimate (which doesn't factor in any exercise): The example of subtracting 1000 calories to start out is terrible. That would be a 46.5% reduction. That's wayyy too much.

-- Add your (very) hypothetical exercise expenditure data: 2150 + 500 = 2650. Now compare that to your proposed 1300 calorie daily needs. That's less than 50% of what your body potentially needs just to maintain, and a higher percentage deficit compared to the above, but WITH the activity and recovery demands of strength training and cardio . As exercise is increasing, calorie needs are decreasing ???

You said it yourself in bold. If you've never approached strength training with any intensity, you don't know how your body will react, nor do you know your caloric needs or metabolic potential. If you've always been sedetary, you can't compare your metabolism then to what it could potentially develop into with a different plan. Starting out low calorie, and constantly shifting things around to an even lower amount (all while expenditure from exercise and necessary recovery appears to be on the rise) is an approach that's worth questioning.

The term BMR appears to be getting thrown around in this thread in place of TDEE (which would include BMR + calories expended through daily activity/exercise), but that's really beside the point. The biggest mistake you're making is simply trying to do way too much math without a set period of consistency. You can't breakdown an individual's needs into a simple formula. There are too many variables and moving targets.

Just for the sake of conversation, here's a couple things worth pointing out. And yes, I'm making the same mistake by using math. :)

-- Your 2150 daily calorie needs estimate (which doesn't factor in any exercise): The example of subtracting 1000 calories to start out is terrible. That would be a 46.5% reduction. That's wayyy too much.

-- Add your (very) hypothetical exercise expenditure data: 2150 + 500 = 2650. Now compare that to your proposed 1300 calorie daily needs. That's less than 50% of what your body potentially needs just to maintain, and a higher percentage deficit compared to the above, but WITH the activity and recovery demands of strength training and cardio . As exercise is increasing, calorie needs are decreasing ???


Fair enough. I've been coming to the same conclusion over the last few hours since I originally wrote my response. Better to keep things at a constant, "safe," level and see what happens as I up the exercise after a few weeks. I guess this is just contrary to the initial goal that got me re-posting here of losing 10 lbs before November 3. But I think I'm over that if it means actuall getting into a regimen where I get more fit, etc.

So here's what I'll do: It's a bit late this week to get up to 2000 calories/day. So I'll stick with trying to get to 1500. One problem with this is that I have gotten to where I'm full with what I'm eating - one bowl at dinner is now enough, which is great in the long run. So I'll attempt to get 300-400 calories per each of my 5 eating times.

But, I'm going to have to change my diet even more to do that and maintain ~35% of my calories from protein and ~25-30% from fat. That's going to take some time to figure out for me because of my innate pickiness.

Another monkey wrench is that next week I'll be gone for 5 days and not able to monitor calories. The week after I'll be gone 4 days. Two weeks here where I'll be working more on this and trying to maintain a fixed calorie level (I'll shoot for 1750-2000 cal/day ... any more will be hard for me unless I buy a bag of Doritos, which even I know doesn't qualify as "eating clean"). But then I'll be on a 9-day trip, back for a week, and then yet another 5-day trip over Thanksgiving (though I'll be with my parents and cooking all the meals except for T-day dinner, so I should be able to monitor this week pretty well except for T-day which will be a cheat).

I think I chose the wrong time to try to start this. :nope:


Sigh. Alright, to summarize:

Morning Cardio - Fasted LISS for 40 minutes (walking ~4 mph). 6-7 days/week.
Evening Weights - ~45 minutes weight lifting per the "preparatory" phase outlined in the Men's Fitness - Total Body Plan book I got. 3 days/week.
Evening Cardio - ~20 minutes attempting to run (as stated above, working up to it) the day after weights. 3 days/week.
Note - When I can ... darn trips.

Food, This Week - Work up to 1500 cal/day to be consistent with past two weeks.
Food, When Home - This is about 3 full weeks and 2 partial weeks until the last week of November. Attempt to get 1750-2000 (about) cal/day at 25-30% fat, 30-35% protein, balance carbs (35-45%). No more than ~2250 cal/day (though this is WAY more than I've eaten in a long time).
Food, When Away - Who the heck knows. Attempt to eat clean, bringing bagels and peanuts to try to keep some 'semblance of normalcy.

So by the last week of November, I should at the very least have a decent idea of how my body is reacting to this brave new world of attempted fitness and can re-assess calorie intake. How does that plan sound? :read:

A "Brief" Update: A month later and three trips (1 week in Florida, 4 days in Arizona, 9 days in Hawaii) later and leaving for one week in Ohio in 2 days for family and Thanksgiving. And I have my Master's thesis defense on Dec. 20 and I'm starting to panic about that.

Exercise in pretty much any regard has been on a hold. And it probably will stay that way until Dec. 21.

Nutrition has been good, eating generally 5x a day, except when not possible on these trips, especially the field trip to Hawaii. But I'm also maintaining the eating of smaller meals, generally no more than ~400-500 calories, as opposed to what I used to do.

The Hawaii trip really got me re-clued into the fact that I need to get in shape and lose the weight. First off, there were 4 beach excursions. I wore a shirt 3 times and didn't go the 4th time, claiming (as one of the girls did) that I didn't want my back to get sunburned. I felt ridiculous, though, but I was too embarrassed to take my shirt off in front of 9 girls and my advisor.

But then there were the hikes. 7 days of 1-4 hikes that were 1-4 miles each. I was panting, sweating like crazy, and I felt as though I couldn't enjoy it or learn as much as I was supposed to be learning because I was gasping for air like a fish out of water.

And one day we were climbing a cinder cone where half was missing. Basically, it was a mountain of gravel that had been spat out of a small volcano where the gravel was in the center and the volcano had reasonably strong rock sides. It was maybe 100 ft tall. We were supposed to climb up the gravel. But it was at the angle of repose, which means that if it were any steeper it would fall down, spreading out until the slopes are again at the angle of repose or less. So this meant that in climbing it, you're going to slip. But for me, it was really pathetic, with one step up and 2 slides down. Eventually, one of the girls sat on a rock at the top, and another grabbed her arm, and stretched out her foot to me, which I grabbed and was pulled up that way. :o

Weight-wise, I'm actually maintaining around 166-168 despite these trips (there was a spike after Hawaii to 174 but that went down by ~2 lbs/day for awhile). This next week is going to be hard because:

Monday - Dinner with high school friends at Skyline (local chili) which has over 1000 calories in a serving.
Tuesday - I'm cooking pizza for dinner for a college friend (it was her choice and she chose pizza) and my family.
Wednesday - Out to dinner.
Thursday - Thanksgiving. 'Nuff said.
Friday - Making my baked pasta with sausage and roasted vegetables for my family and some relatives.

But also when I'm home there is an EXCELLENT ice cream company (Graeter's). Last time I was home in May for about 8 days I think I went through 2-3 pints of it. I CANNOT control myself around it, but it's something I only get when I'm home, and I don't think I'll actually be home again until Thanksgiving '08.

Sigh. So I don't think I'm sliding backwards, I'm at least keeping up with some of the changes I've been trying to make, but I don't see myself going at this full-swing again until just before Christmas ... and even though I'm not Christian, it's probably not the best of times to re-start a weight-loss regimen. :bang: