Astroguy's Astounding, Amazing, and Active Adipose Attenuation Aim

[astroguy]

Hello all, bienvenidos to my third JSF journal, though first one in over a year. A few weeks ago, I made an introduction thread where I 'splained that I wasn't new here, but I kinda really fell off the wagon, and then I ate the wagon and looked around for more. Many eons ago, around Sept. 2007, I started on a program to reduce my 170-lb frame at ~21% bf to something that didn't make me feel quite so, well, fat. I made reasonable progress over the ensuing ~10 months with my best week averaging 158.7 lbs and a minimum of 15.8% bf. Not horrible, some progress, but not great. Then I had issues breaking through a plateau, got derailed, and then got into a relationship that put me in a, "Oh, well someone finds me attractive, guess I don't have to worry about this anymore" mode.

Then I woke up one morning in April 2010, glared at my scale, and decided to step on. My eyes closed, I let it weigh me, and I stepped off. The scale turned off before I opened my eyes. I sighed, stood on it again, and saw it registered over 180 lbs. And also I noticed when I laid down in bed that the fat on my sides would crease up and make it uncomfortable.

So anyway, I blew off the virtual dust on my "Fitness" folder on my desktop and read through my pixelated notes. Starting the week of April 25, I vowed to start over and work yet again on lowering my weight, decreasing my bodyfat, and then raising my weight to something hawt. Being in Boulder, CO in the summer where half the guys go around shirtless definitely makes me feel self-conscious ... I want to get to the point where I can feel confident doing what they do.

Anyway, I gave myself 3 weeks intro, and then last week I was on a camping trip to Yellowstone. I returned, and I still want to get fitter, so I am starting a new journal on here.

My general goal for the rest of the year is to lose about 1 lb/week, with around 80% of this being fat. Hopefully that'll drop me to around 12.5% bf and I can start bulking in January.

But the nearer-term goal is just 6 weeks away -- ≤170 lbs and ≤20% bf by July 4. That should be very doable, though based on my weight today it'll mean a loss of ~1.5 lbs/week, though only 4 lbs of fat. In other words, I think I'll hit ≤20% bf before I hit 170 lbs. Since this is turning into a long post, I'll use the next one to actually post meals, exercise, macros, etc.

[astroguy]

Week 1 -- May 23-29

Average Weight Last Week*: 178.5 lbs
BF%*: 21.3% (38.1 lbs fat, 140.4 lbs lean)

*I was camping at Yellowstone most of last week. BF% was measured on the previous Thursday instead of my usual Sunday, and weight is averaged just from 2 days, Friday and Sat. May 21-22.

Short-term (cutting) goal for July 4: ≤170 lbs | ≤20.0% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150 lbs | ~12-13% bf

Stamina needed for: I'm applying for a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) for mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: It's been a LONG time since I've done exercise, so I'm starting back fairly slowly ... walking every morning (fasted LISS) up and down my street. That's about 4.38 km which I can do in 40±3 minutes (fairly fast pace).


Food this week, Monday-Wednesday ("Cutting, v. 3.4")**:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 "serving" chicken kabob: 421 | 4.5 | 36.2 | 58.2
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Thursday-Saturday ("Cutting, v. 3.4")**:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/8 cup peanuts: 109 | 9.6 | 2.8 | 5.1
• Dinner - 1 bowl hamburger soup: 471 | 12 | 40 | 50
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0 | 12.5 | 8.3
• Snack 2 - salad: 193 | 11 | 15 | 7

Sometime during week: 150 gms pop corn with butter (otherwise I'm way too low on fiber and fat).

**Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 3.4" goal is for a 1600 kcal goal based on my BMR for light activity minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average 1518 kcal/day, 43.8 gms fat, 142.4 gms carbs, and 148.2 gms protein. That'll be a 25/37/38 split.


Comments: Coming off of my burgers & fries for dinner and PB&J lunches while on my camping trip (oooo ... and mini cinnamon rolls from Costco for breakfast), this week is somewhat planned out as a "detox" week that's high in protein and low in fat for the first few days. It's also somewhat lower in average calories (~1300) for the first few days to drain off some of that excess from last week. It's probably a bit low on the calories compared to what it should be overall, especially considering that I'm doing 40 minutes of cardio every morning (planned) and so my BMR is 300 calories higher (so 1923 for - 1 lb/week instead of the 1600). But, as I said, this is kinda a "detox" week.

And, to meet my first short-term goal of being ≤170 lbs and ≤20% bf by July 4, I will need to lose MORE than 1 lb per week since I put on 2 lbs while at Yellowstone. Truth be told, I'm actually ahead of where I had originally planned to be bf%-wise when I started planning back in April. I've decided NOT to update the actual goals/%fat-loss assumptions until after it's been at least 2 months solid on this plan so I actually know what is a reasonable expectation from my body.

For now, here's the graph of my bf% and you can see that I'm ahead of where I had expected, and though my bf% flat-lined between this week (May 23 measurement vs. May 13), I had actually accounted for it going up due to my Yellowstone trip. While it didn't go down, it not going up is a good thing.

You'll also note that this goes out 2 years and encompasses different slopes and jumps (due to maintenance and bulking and cutting and breaks). That's more of a wishful projection for fun planning purposes ... the actual believable goal is through the end of this year.

[astroguy]

Well, time for a mid-week check-in. I've followed the plan I laid out fairly well for the week. I didn't walk Tuesday 'cause I woke up late and had to get to campus, and I didn't today because I woke up really late. One thing I must do is get my sleep schedule under control. That should happen out of necessity starting next week, though, since I'm teaching for a full month every day from 11-12:35 ... getting up at 11:30 isn't going to cut it anymore.

I've had to make some slight adjustments to my food plan for the week. One main one is that I've been slowly devouring the remainders of a bag of gummy bears that I had gotten as car food for my Yellowstone trip. They're almost gone and I've put them into the meal spreadsheet so they are NOT a cheat and they are being accounted for by reducing carbs from other sources.

The other main issue is that I'm headed down to the bf's on Friday afternoon through Sunday morning. He doesn't quite have the things I need for lunches, breakfasts, dinners, snacks, etc. He knows about the food plan I'm on so has planned grilled chicken breast and salad for Friday's dinner, and I told him that we could go out Saturday to an Irish pub he wants to try and that will just be my cheat meal. Big cheat meal. Otherwise, I think I'll just bring with me the peanuts, apples, and a can of tuna or two to use for my planned snacks and lunch so that I don't stray far from plan.

The weight is continuing to decrease, now being statistically significant from when I started, and I've nearly lost my "first" 5 lbs. I expect to pass that 5-lb mark next week.

Getting back to walking has been interesting. Interesting in that my lower left leg 2 out of 3 times has been killing me about half-way through the walk, forcing me to turn back 5 minutes early the first time. It's fine when I stand still, it just hurts when I walk. And then it's fine about 3 minutes later - by the time I'm done with my after-walk shower. And the one time it DIDN'T hurt I got a stitch in my side (I do walk kinda quickly). I expect both of these issues to go away after another week or so, it's just über-annoying now and is yet another piece of evidence that I'm out of shape.

[astroguy]

Well, this journal almost got derailed soon after it started. Sigh. But I have a somewhat valid excuse: This month (June 1 through July 2), I am teaching my first class ever, ASTR 1110, Introductory Astronomy, The Solar System, for Non-Majors/Minors and No Lab. The class is a full semester of time and material crammed into 1 month, 23 days of instruction (1 day at the end for the final doesn't count). Class is every day for 95 minutes, and preparing it has been, well, a lot of work. I still don't have my lectures written for this coming week since I spent all yesterday working on the homework I'll be handing out and their first quiz.

This has also forced my sleep schedule to change, and I'm attempting to cope with that. I'm still unable to fall asleep at my intended time - 11:00 - but I have to get up at 7:15. I'm so tired when I wake up that I have not been doing my walks. As a consequence (likely), my weight loss has slowed, but it's still continuing. BF% is also dropping and I'm still about 3 weeks ahead of my goal when I started in April (chart is below). Consequently, my lean mass weight is above goal, and my fat weight is below goal (where below is good).


Week 3 -- June 6-12

Average Weight Last Week: 175.2 lbs
BF% on June 6: 20.6% (36.4 lbs fat, 139.8 lbs lean)

Short-term (cutting) goal for July 4: ≤170 lbs | ≤20.0% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~13% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I applied for a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) for mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: Going to try to get back to the walking (nearly) every morning (fasted LISS) up and down my street. That's about 4.38 km which I can do in 40±3 minutes (fairly fast pace).


Food this week, Sunday ("Cutting, v. 3.4")*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz 2% milk cheddar cheese: 91 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1 bowl curried chicken with rice: 449 | 8 | 44 | 46
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Monday-Wednesday ("Cutting, v. 3.4")*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 PB&J sandwich: 378 | 15 | 30 | 37
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/8 cup peanuts: 109 | 9.6 | 2.8 | 5.1
• Dinner - 1 bowl curried chicken with rice: 449 | 8 | 44 | 46
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Thursday-Friday ("Cutting, v. 3.4")*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 PB&J sandwich: 378 | 15 | 30 | 37
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz 2% milk cheddar cheese: 91 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1 bowl Thai basil chicken: 442 | 10 | 28 | 57
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Saturday ("Cutting, v. 3.4")*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz 2% milk cheddar cheese: 91 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1 bowl Thai basil chicken: 442 | 10 | 28 | 57
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0 | 12.5 | 8.3

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 3.4" goal is for a 1600 kcal goal based on my BMR for light activity minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average 1478 kcal/day, 40.7 gms fat, 140.9 gms carbs, and 144.7 gms protein. That'll be a 24/37/38 split.


Comments: Sunday (today) is a bit of another "detox" day as I was quite bad and ordered out chicken lo mein on Friday and was still eating it on Saturday (it was a ginormous serving). The calories may seem low, but I'm trying to experiment again this week (did a bit last week) with filled chocolates and so I 'spect another hundred or two calories will be thrown in since, you know, you have to taste 'em. It'll fit fine since I'm fairly low on the fat and carbs this week, coming in at 92% of goal calories, 92% of goal fat, and 88% of goal carbs.

Also, because of this class, I'll be just plain ol' sitting around working on it even more than I normally sit during the day (though I do walk around the classroom ... does that count as exercise?).

Anyway, gotta wrap this up so I can write Tuesday's lecture on the ancient astronomers through Kepler. Well, actually go grocery shopping first and buy new sunglasses (lost mine on Friday ) and THEN I'll work on the lecture.

[astroguy]

This class is eating into my time an incredible amount. Who knew that teaching every day for a 95-minute class would require so much prep work? Not to mention grading -- yesterday I graded their first quiz ... average was about a 75%. Many will not be happy when they get it back tomorrow.

Alright, as a consequence of this course, I have not had any time for exercise. I know, I know ... that's a stupid excuse and if I were über-serious about it I could MAKE the time. I wake up too tired at 7:30 to do anything other than glare at my computer and make sure I have everything ready for class, and then when I get back to my apartment in the afternoon I am writing lectures or homework or exams until I force myself to bed around 11 or 12.

As a result of being on this schedule, consuming ~1500-1600 calories/day for 2 weeks, and seeing my weight remain steady (though bf% drop a bit), I've determined that for the moment I do have something of a baseline of my actual BMR when not exercising ... it's around 1500-1600 calories, not the 2200 that I get from the standard calculation everyone uses. Consequently, this week I'm doing an experiment where I've cut my calories an additional 200/day to see what happens. I know it's too soon to make any big conclusions, but I've already seen a 1-lb drop in weight that hadn't been coming off in the last ~1-2 weeks.


Week 4 -- June 13-19

Average Weight Last Week: 175.1 lbs
BF% on June 13: 20.4% (35.7 lbs fat, 139.4 lbs lean)

Short-term (cutting) goal for July 4: ≤170 lbs | ≤20.0% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~13% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I applied for a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) for mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: If I'm awake enough, walking.


Food this week, Sunday (Cutting Gaol, v. 3.5)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl Thai basil chicken: 442 | 10 | 28 | 57
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16

Food this week, Monday-Wednesday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 PB&J sandwich: 378 | 15 | 30 | 37
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl Thai basil chicken: 442 | 10 | 28 | 57
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast, no feta: 161 | 6 | 15 | 6

Food this week, Thursday-Friday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 PB&J sandwich: 378 | 15 | 30 | 37
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl chicken fried rice: 595 | 13 | 63 | 52
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast, no feta: 161 | 6 | 15 | 6

Food this week, Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Dinner - 1 bowl chicken fried rice: 595 | 13 | 63 | 52
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast, no feta: 161 | 6 | 15 | 6

Food this week, General:

• 1 batch popcorn for fiber and something that feels like a cheat but isn't: 921 | 45 | 112 | 16
• 4 small cookies (I was very weak while running off homework): 360 | 14 | 44 | 4

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 3.5" is for a 1400 kcal goal based on my BMR for basically no activity minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average 1411 kcal/day, 39.2 gms fat, 140.2 gms carbs, and 127.7 gms protein. That'll be a 25/39/36 split.

Comments: First, I realize this is low calories, below what most people recommend regardless. I don't plan on doing this more than a week or two. Second, I basically accomplished this reduction in calories by cutting out the second "Snack" in the afternoon (peanuts or cheddar cheese), and cutting out the glass of milk at night.

This class continues through this week, all next week, and the final is the Friday after that (July 2). Grades are due in on Monday, so I should be able to get back to normal then.

I've also finally nearly exhausted my giant 5-lb container of vanilla protein powder. The smoothies in the morning are so much less painful than protein shakes in the afternoon, so I'm actually going through about 200 gms of the stuff a week ... nearly a half-pound. At that rater, the next container'll last about 11 weeks instead of 2 years.

Oh, also about that short-term goal. I'm fairly confident I'll make the <20% bf. Will I be happy if I do that and I'm not under 170 lbs? I think so, since that means that I'm actually "ahead" of my goal in terms of a higher lean mass at the same weight. Will I be ecstatic? No. Weight isn't everything, I think bf% is more important, but at this stage it really is a nice psychological reward to see that scale read lower. I won't consider this goal reached until I actually am below 170 lbs (and with this reduced calorie intake this week, maybe next week, I may reach it), but I may revise my goals after that based on what's actually happened on the route to getting there.

[astroguy]

Yesterday I spent a fair bit of time re-doing some basic calculations and decided to re-do my basic "Cutting" templates (and by extension, my eventual templates for "Bulking" and "Maintenance") based less on weekly fluctuations and more specifically on goals based on weight loss and my actual weight. After all, BMR does change based on one's weight. The templates are v. 4.x, and they are all still based on a 25/40/35 split of fat/carbs/protein. However, I based each one on my weight in increments of 15 -- 150 lbs, 165 lbs, and 180 lbs, since BMR for those changes by very roughly 100 calories. I then, for each of those, did a 1.2x multiplier, 1.375x multiplier, and 1.55x multiplier for different activity levels. I know, if I'm bulking there's no reason for me to be at a 1.2x multiplier (little activity), but there are always going to be those weeks where you just do nothing, so I included it since I'm OCD.

For cutting, I subtracted the 4083 calories/week that 1 lb of fat is, and I also did a second set for 2x that for losing 2 lbs of fat/week. I don't think I'll be going that far quite so soon because at my current activity level of 1.2x due to this class (2 more weeks!) that would be 800 calories a day. And that's just dumb. For bulking, I did the +1814 calories/week that 1 lb protein is. Since I've never been in a bulk phase, I have no idea if that number will actually work for me, but it's a better place to start, I think, than the +3500 calories that people erroneously say is 1 lb of muscle (or even the -3500 calories that people say is 1 lb of fat). I know at the very least that I'm right about the fat, though if someone could explain why they do +3500 for bulking, let me know.

Oh, I also revised my sodium intake for each, setting the cutting at 2000 mg, maintenance at 2100 mg, and bulking at 2300 mg. Those may be revised more, though at least for the cutting I've been pretty good about averaging around 1800 sodium intake per day, so I don't see that as needing to be revised.

Alright, now for the stuff for this week. I'm actually fairly happy, as you'll see ...


Week 5 -- June 20-26

Average Weight Last Week: 174.1 lbs (-1 lb change)
BF% on June 19: 19.7% (34.2 lbs fat, 139.1 lbs lean)

Short-term (cutting) goal for July 4: ≤170 lbs | ≤20.0% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~13% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I applied for a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) for mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: If I'm awake enough, walking.


Food this week, Sunday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.7)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl chicken fried rice: 595 | 13 | 63 | 52
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16

Food this week, Monday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 PB&J sandwich: 378 | 15 | 30 | 37
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl chicken fried rice: 595 | 13 | 63 | 52
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16

Food this week, Tuesday-Friday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 PB&J sandwich: 378 | 15 | 30 | 37
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl pork(?) vindaloo: 455 | 16.2 | 24.6 | 50.3
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16

Food this week, Saturday**:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0 ...or unknown
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl pork(?) vindaloo: 455 | 16.2 | 24.6 | 50.3 ...or unknown
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

**Saturday is a local conference that I will be helping to run since I am the location contact. I'll be bringing food for breakfast, we'll all be going out to lunch, and all be going out to dinner.

"Cutting, v. 4.7" is for a 1500 kcal goal based on my BMR for basically no activity minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average 1389 kcal/day, 41.0 gms fat, 129.3 gms carbs, and 133.0 gms protein. That'll be a 26/36/38 split.

Comments: First, more about Saturday before I discuss the good news. So, making things even more complicated on Saturday is that I will be up very early to photograph a lunar eclipse (if the skies are at all cooperative). Here, in Colorado, it will set while still eclipsed, so I'll probably be up by 3 to do this. I then have to be at the conference place (on campus ... conveniently a 2-minute drive from where I'll be doing the eclipse photography) by 7:30, though I was planning on making some cinnamon rolls for early arrivers and that requires an hour of baking in the morning. I'll also be making some snack food for the conference that are not healthy, though I don't have to eat them. As stated above, we'll also be all separating for lunch and going out to eat, and there will be a celebratory dinner afterwards. I plan to count everything, I just don't know what it'll be at the moment.

Okay, and now the good news: I've reached half of my short-term goal for July 4, getting back under 20% bf. Huzzah! I'm still behind on the weight goal, now by just a pound instead of 2 as of this morning, so it's possible I may reach the 170 lbs mark by July 4. 2 weeks away, need to lose 3.3 lbs for that. Totally doable, we'll just see what happens.

Now that I'm at a somewhat more reasonable bf, I can do two things. First, I can definitely say that my goals after I hit this one will be revised. I knew that expecting 80% of the weight loss to be fat in this initial cut would be conservative, but the numbers show that over the past 9 weeks I've lost 4.6 lbs (weekly average) but 6.5 lbs of that has been fat. Yeah, so that's 141%. I've gained about 2.1 lbs of lean mass (137.2 -> 139.1 based on this morning). I don't expect that to remain constant through the next few months, but I think that it's reasonable to change my goals such that ~100% of the fat loss through mid-September is a reasonable ramp-up (I'll be on trips for the last two weeks of September). If I can do that, then by mid-September my goal bf% will be at 15.1% instead of 16.4% ... again, totally reasonable, I think, this far out.

The second thing I can do is compare to the last time I was at 19.7% bf, back when I was cutting in 2008. (Everything here will be based now on my 173.3 lb weight this morning, though eventually the weekly average will replace it and likely be lower, around 172.5 lbs.) I was last at this bf% - when I was measuring - the week of October 28, 2007, and January 6, 2008. At those times, my weekly average weight was 167.6 lbs and 165.2 lbs, respectively. That was about 1-1.5 lbs less fat, but 5-6 lbs less lean mass. I think most would agree that more lean mass is better, and hence I can say that I'm "ahead" of where I was 2.5 years ago. This means that, without bulking, I should be able to achieve a lower bf% at a higher weight during this initial cut. Again, something I think most would agree is a good thing.

And that's why I'm happy this week. I may be a pound or so behind on my weight goal, but I'm ahead on my bf%, and ahead on it from where I was last time, and that's reason to be happy.

[astroguy]

My experiment with pork vindaloo was ... interesting. I had a slightly fattier cut of pork than I planned on, so it had a little more fat, but that wasn't what I had issues with. It's a starting point, but some modifications DEFINITELY need to be made:

1. Ginger needs to be chopped smaller, not into "matchsticks."

2. Reduce chili peppers to 2 from 4.

3. Tomatoes need to be cooked more before adding the meat (that was my fault in prep). And onions cooked less.

4. Use fewer tomatoes. I'm not a huge tomato fan, and 3 was A LOT. I'm thinking of reducing to 2 or 1 (roughly half by weight?) and maybe adding aloo (potatoes) to compensate for the decreased volume. That'll mean I'll need to add salt, and probably add them later so they don't disintegrate, but I'll worry about that later.

5. More pork. I've never cooked with pork before, so I had NO idea what I was getting into. The recipe called for 1 kg, or 2 lb 4 oz about, and all I could find was either 2.1 lb or 3 lb. So I went with the smaller ... need to use more, the pork was the best part (I'm such a bad Jew ...).

6. Despite the 10 spices that I ground together to marinate the pork in with vinegar, it was surprisingly kinda tasteless. I'm thinking more fenugreek, perhaps more coriander, and I would say less cinnamon but I used 1 stick and it's hard to use, say, 3/4 of a stick.

It's edible, but definitely not my favorite dish in its straight-from-the-cookbook form.

[astroguy]

This past week was great for the first 5 days. I entered the week at 173.3 lbs and on Thursday afternoon was at 171.2 lbs ... -2.1 lbs. Unfortunately, I was starting to get headaches and was a teensy bit worried that I was losing weight too quickly (yes, I was keeping my water levels constant), so I had a small bowl of rice to "carb up" and arrest the precipitous drop. That kept me a just above 172 lbs, weighing in yesterday morning at 172.1 lbs. And yesterday was the conference I mentioned and I definitely overloaded, getting some Chinese for lunch and a burger and fries (been so long ....) for dinner. But, I made some sort of attempt to count it, and since I had planned ahead on that, only ended the week at about 2% over goal.

This week, I hope to duplicate the success of last week:

Week 6 -- June 27 - July 3

Average Weight Last Week: 172.3 lbs (-1.8 lb change)
BF% on June 27: 19.7% (33.9 lbs fat, 138.3 lbs lean) (±0.0% change)

Short-term (cutting) goal for July 4: ≤170 lbs | ≤20.0% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~13% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I applied for a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) for mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: If I'm awake enough, walking.


Food this week, Sunday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.7)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 455 | 16.2 | 24.6 | 50.3
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16

Food this week, Monday-Friday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 PB&J sandwich: 378 | 15 | 30 | 37
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl chicken fried rice: 595 | 13 | 63 | 52
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16

Food this week, Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 283 | 4.3 | 16.8 | 47.0
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Dinner - 1 bowl curried chicken with rice: 449 | 8 | 44 | 46
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.7" is for a 1500 kcal goal based on my BMR for basically no activity minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1400 kcal/day, 41.7 gms fat, 147.0 gms carbs, and 131.7 gms protein. That'll be a 21/42/37 split.

Comments: I'm still 2 weeks ahead with my bf% goal, so I'm okay with not lowering it this past week. I also didn't really expect to, considering the caloric intake yesterday and excess fat compared with what I usually eat. This week, none of that, so it should go down. I'm not entirely sure if I expect to lose 2 lbs this week. It's possible, not hugely likely. Technically, on my fitness master spreadsheet, I'm gunning for the 170 lbs as the week starting July 4 to average at 170 lbs, which is why I set the short-term goal at meeting it for July 4th as an arbitrary time during that week due to the US holiday of independence.

I noticed an unfortunate happenstance during my measuring this morning. I measure a lot of things, including my calves, flexed, and I was disappointed to notice that the circumference of my calves is going down, and it has been for the last few weeks. It's enough that it's a trend now and not a weekly fluctuation. I think it's probably due to my getting zero extra exercise. Well, this class goes for ONE more week, grades are due in on July 5, so that's when I'll be celebrating my independence day and can get back to exercising and stop eating PB&J for lunch.

Oh, and my talk at the conference went well ("Doomsday 2012: Death by the Mayans, a Pole Shift, or Galactic Alignments" <-- showing why none of this is true). People laughed at my jokes, and I got lots of questions, and I got the impression it was well received. I've been told that I'm one of the best two or three speakers at this, though my awareness of my inflated ego makes me always second- and third-guess it when people tell me that.

[astroguy]

I was bad the first few days of this week 'cause when my weight wasn't budging, staying at roughly 172.5±0.5 lbs, I didn't record it. I recorded Sunday at 172.2 lbs and then Tuesday afternoon at 172.5 lbs, and then got back to recording on Thursday when I was at 172 lbs. Then I dropped. Since Thursday, I've lost about 2.5 lbs. One may argue - probably legitimately - that the bulk of that was water weight. Especially since the last half pound took place as a before-walking and after-walking this morning and I'm sure the bulk of that is sweat (though that's a little disconcerting that I sweated out a half pound of water ...).

However, yesterday morning, Saturday, I weighed 170.0 lbs. And this morning, after walking, I was at 169.5 lbs. And my bodyfat % this week came in at roughly 19.3%. You know what that means? I actually achieved my first goal, on time!! Yep, I started April 25 at 179.2 lbs and 22.9% bf. 10 weeks later, down about 10 lbs and over 3% bf, which was the goal. Huzzah!! Oh, and last time I was at this bf% was January 20, 2008, when I weighed about 165 lbs, so again I'm 5 lbs "ahead" of that.

What a nice reward/achievement for another nice achievement: I'm done with my class! I have 14 papers left to grade, then meet with the TA tomorrow to compare grades, and then submit them to the Registrar ... and I'm done! Monday is my Independence Day. Which also means that I can get back to at least some moderate exercise (not to mention getting back to my real work and other stuff ... and get a friggin' hair cut).

And in those 10 weeks and weekly average of losing 6.6 lbs, 6.9 lbs of fat were lost, so 0.3 lbs lean were gained. My guesstimate was I would lose 80% fat and 20% lean. Obviously not the case. So, for the next "short"-term goal which ends September 12, I'm upping my guesstimate to 95% of the weight lost will be fat, 5% lean. I'm also not revising my goal lean/fat weight based on current numbers (goal fat at this point was ≤34.7 lbs, lean ≥135.3 lbs, and I'm at 32.6 and 136.9). This gives me a little more leeway in case that 95% is ambitious.

The Sept. 12 goal is to be ≤160 lbs and ≤15.5% bf. That's (yep) another 10 weeks away, so again -1 lb/week, and this time effectively ≈-0.5% bf/week. Not sure if that's quite doable, so I may need to revise it in 5 weeks, but I'm still 2 weeks ahead in the bf% so again I have a bit more leeway than it may look.

The significance of this goal is 3-fold. First, Sept. 12 isn't just 10 weeks away, it also marks the start of at least 3, possibly up to 6 weeks of fun and hell. Starting that next weekend, Sept. 18, I'm photographing my advisor's wedding, and of course the reception food will be abundant. Then I leave for a conference 3 days later in Flagstaff, AZ, where I'll be through Friday, when my parents will then join me and we'll be doing a vacation tour of the area before we fly out on Tuesday morning. The week after that I may (10% chance) be leading a field trip through southern Colorado, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico for a week (as in camping and eating out), and then 2 weeks after that I may be on that week-long Meteor Crater field camp I've been mentioning (maybe 75% chance? don't know when I'll hear back).

In addition, ~160 lbs and ~15.5% bf is the best I got to last time I tried doing this. My best weekly average was the week of May 11, 2008, when I averaged 158.7 lbs, and my best bf% was the week of July 13, 2008, when I was 15.8% (@160.3 lbs). 160±2 lbs was where I plateaued last time for 19 weeks. Yeah. 19 weeks. And then I gave up. So this Sept. 12 goal is both a paper goal in my original projection of weight and fat loss, a practical goal in that it marks when a bunch of trips start for a few weeks, and a psychological one because it will beat the lowest bf% I've been at before and match the weight at which I plateaued before, two years ago.


Week 7 -- July 4 - July 10

Average Weight Last Week: 171.3 lbs (-1.0 lb change)
BF% on July 4: 19.3% (32.6 lbs fat, 137.0 lbs lean) (-0.46% change)

Short-term (cutting) goal for Sept. 12: ≤160 lbs | ≤15.5% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~12% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I applied for a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) for mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: Cardio (walking) ~40 minutes ≥6 days.


Food this week, Sunday-Thursday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.8)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 bowl curried chicken with rice: 449 | 8 | 44 | 46
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Friday-Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 288 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1/2 lb blackened chicken breast: 288 | 6 | 2 | 53
• Dinner - 1 serving roasted potatoes and onions: 224 | 4 | 48 | 5
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, General:

• popcorn: 921 | 45 | 112 | 16

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.8" is for a 1800 kcal goal based on my BMR with a 1.375 activity multiplier minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1700 kcal/day, 46.6 gms fat, 160.9 gms carbs, and 160.3 gms protein. That'll be a 25/38/38 split.


Comments: This plan is slightly under my 1800 kcal/day goal, but I'm ramping up to it after this course. After being fairly low in calories/eating for the last few weeks, it's actually kinda hard to figure out how to boost my caloric intake while maintaining the right macros. For example, next month, in August, I'm hoping to finally have bought a bench or something so that I can start doing weights again without a gym membership. That would put me at needing 2100 kcal/day (doing a 1.55 multiplier) and, well, at the moment my attempt at that has me way under in carbs and at just the right amount for protein, coming in at 1950 kcal/day ... need to still boost that an additional 150 kcal/day and actually look for sources of decent carbs. A challenge I'm looking forward to .

One thing I've consistently noted in my sub-macros is that I'm low in fiber every week, coming in at roughly 50% of what's recommended for a male my age (38 gms/day). This week I'll be at 65% of that. I'm experimenting with boosting the wheat bran in my loaf bread I use in my sandwiches, and while I'm pushing it up there, it's still working out to increasing the amount by roughly 0.5-1.0 gm/slice ... not the +10 gm/day I "need." Not quite sure what to do here about that.

[astroguy]

I just heard today that I was accepted to the meteor crater field camp. A week of camping in northern Arizona in mid-October with what I'm sure will be a lot of hiking. For those who don't know about it, here's the Wiki link, and here's the official website (it's been redone since I last looked a few years ago).

Time to get in shape!

[astroguy]

Alright, I need to moderate my "rewards" for reaching goals. I have various short-term goals set up, as I'm sure most everyone does, and in general they are food related. Okay, they're all food related. I know that's not the healthiest thing in the world to do and studies have probably shown that it leads to obesity (got an A on your English paper? have a cookie! or let's go to dinner!), but considering that food is the most obvious restriction in re-shaping one's body, I guess it also makes sense to then relax that for a moment to reward success.

Anyway, I say that because I had planned to do a home-made pizza dinner after the success of reaching my first short-term goal on time. But it's hot out! Yesterday it was 103° here in Boulder. So instead I brought in Chinese food on Monday (July 5). But then my bf wanted to celebrate, and he wanted to take me out for ice cream, so the following Saturday I did that (July 10) because I felt guilty about doing the Chinese so I didn't tell him I'd already done that. And then, I really didn't want to cook on Sunday, and I used an excuse of, "But they have a new crust and sauce and everything!" so I ordered a medium pepperoni pizza from Dominos with the breadsticks.

Yes, I actually DID count everything. And Week 8 was woefully over-carbed/fat and under-protein as a consequence of all that food. And as a result, my weight ballooned to where it had been 2 weeks earlier and my bf% went up to 20.5%. So the idea that your bodyfat won't immediately reflect a binge is not true, I've learned.

So I spent last week back on "Cutting, v. 4.7" which is a more restrictive caloric intake, re-measured my bf% on Thursday morning, and I'm about back to where I was 2 weeks ago. When all's said and done, I lost 2 weeks of progress weight-wise and 1 week of progress bf%-wise. And on Friday I had HUGE cravings and wanted to call out for stuff, so I hid my phone and wallet.

And speaking of it being hot outside, over the last hour the temperature here has gone up 10° and it's now 82° out. I really really REALLY need to go to bed earlier so that I'm able to be conscious earlier in the morning so I can walk. After <6 hrs of sleep, my alarm woke me at 8:15 and after utilizing the lavatory and re-starting my internet connection (it apparently died at 6:45), I was going to just say eff it and go back to bed. But the temperature was "only" 73°, and remembering all those ripped bodies that I'm aspiring to duplicate, I said eff it to that and just went for my walk.

So here's a question, if anyone actually reads this: For those of you who walk/jog/run outside, how the heck do you deal with summer heat? It's so unmotivating - and I really DON'T need any less motivation - to go outside for a walk and after just 5 minutes have sweat pouring down your face. Since it was "only" 73° when I started out, the sweat didn't happen until it probably hit around 77° half-way through the walk this time, but it's still just ... well, I guess "unmotivating" is the most eloquent term I can come up with at the moment. I know the answer is probably just "suck it up," but that would be salty.

Anyway, I'm back on the horse, or wagon, or whatever, and still working towards that September 12 goal. I also signed up for the August 100-Pt Challenge. And I'm making progress towards figuring out a home gym -- at Costco today I'll be looking at foam padding and pricing that out. There have been a few deals that I almost jumped on -- apparently Saturday is THE day on Craigslist for weight stuff to be posted, and there was a REALLY good deal yesterday ($45 for bench and 130 lbs of plate weights plus bar plus 2 small ones for dumbbells). I suggested it to the bf immediately 'cause I wanted to wait to get one with a preacher curl attachment, and he contacted the guy and he'd already sold it. But yeah, I just need to get to the bank this week to get some cash and I'll probably make the purchase within the next 9 days or so.


Week 9 -- July 18 - July 24

Average Weight Last Week: 170.8 lbs (+0.8 lb change )
BF% on July 18: 19.2% (32.7 lbs fat, 137.2 lbs lean) (+0.11% change )

Short-term (cutting) goal for Sept. 12: ≤160 lbs | ≤15.5% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~12% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I'm going to a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) in mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: Cardio (walking, fasted LISS) ~40 minutes ≥6 days.


Food this week, Sunday-Thursday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.8)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 288 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 529 | 17.5 | 35 | 56.5
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Friday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - Unknown -- going out with a group after my planetarium show

Food this week, Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 serving beef & salsa mix over brown rice: 477 | 14 | 33.5 | 53
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.8" is for a 1800 kcal goal based on my BMR with a 1.375 activity multiplier minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1700 kcal/day, 48.7 gms fat, 156.4 gms carbs, and 153.3 gms protein. That'll be a 26/37/37 split.


Comments: One bf% measure went down from 19.1% to 18.7%, one up from 19.0% to 19.2%, and the other up from 20.1% to 20.3% ... I take the median of the 3 and use that as my bf% estimate, so I went up very slightly. I also measured around my neck a bit less than last week, and if I were to increase it by the 1/8" to last week's measurement, then my median bf% drops to 19.0% ... but I won't do that, but I do need to get more consistent with that measurement. This is the first increase in awhile, and it also means that I'm 0.03% above my goal ... first time above goal in this whole cut. Of course, 0.03% is well below measurement accuracy, but it's still psychologically unsettling. The likely reason is of course the binging from last weekend and the week before, and the near-zero change from the previous week (though I missed that entry out of embarrassment) is because I took my measurement on Thursday (just 3 days ago) instead of Sunday (because I measured 20.5% on Sunday and I wanted to cry ).

That just means that I need to work more on cardio this week. Actually get up early enough so I'll walk every day. And the bf will be out of town next weekend, so I have two straight weeks of just being up here, where I can control everything, and have no excuses.

I've also 2 lbs to lose this week ...

This week, every day, I'm generally under-eating by ~200 kcal because I don't know what to expect for dinner on Friday. I'm doing a planetarium show on "Doomsday 2012" and why the world won't end, and a local skeptics group I'm in will be seeing it and afterwards all going out to eat. I've roughly budgeted 1500 kcal for that meal, with 70 gms fat, 170 gms carbs, and 50 gms protein. I have no idea where we'll go, what I'll get, but I figure that my estimate is a reasonable guess for something like a burger and fries at a generic American restaurant.

[astroguy]

Okay, at Costco today they didn't have blackberries -- something I want to try instead of apples for my afternoon snack 'cause I'm low on fiber and blackberries are REALLY high in fiber. Was able to get them at the grocery, though, $4.99 for 6 oz, though the organic ones were only $2.99 for 6 oz. Fairly good (I haven't had blackberries for probably over a decade).

Also at Costco I priced out their floor pads, "Best-Step" "anti-fatigue flooring," 8 2'x2' interlocking squares for $11.99. Just searched online, and Sears is the closest at $15.99 and Amazon is about $29.99 for something equivalent. So, looks like I'll be getting 1 or 2 packs when I buy my weight set (probably later this week).

[astroguy]

Well, I did my walk this morning, that's 3 days in a row ... taking this one day at a time makes it a little easier. Also the fact it was 63° and overcast helped.

So, now I have another question this time regarding BMR, calories, etc. ... hopefully someone will respond? Narratives are hard, so I'll make out a list of the situation.

• After reading a sticky on the bodybuilding.com forum, I realized that I was using the "old" formula for calculating my BMR. The "new" one (1910s versus 1990s) showed that my actual BMR was around 100 calories lower than the old showed, which is actually more in line with what I've observed myself.
• I've been using activity level multipliers of 1.2 for no exercise, 1.375 for when I'm walking every day (40 minutes, 4.38 km) at a rate of 6.6 km/hr (4.0 mph), and I will be using the 1.55 when I finally get my weight set and do weights 3x/week and resume jogging. I then subtract about 600 calories from the BMR/day to ideally lose the 1 lb of fat/week.
• I've noticed that when I use the 1.375x, my weight doesn't seem to move. I am losing some fat based on my bf%, but it seems I'm just recomping. I would rather be losing the weight at the moment.
• The calories I calculate with the 1.375x -600/day is 1750 cal/day. A 1.2x is 1450 cal/day. Eating at 1450 cal/day doesn't seem healthy if walking every morning and ostensibly burning about 270 calories in that walk (formula I found online).

Bottom-line question: Even with this exercise, is it safe/advisable/okay/who-cares to cycle every-other-week with around 1750 cals and then 1450 cals to try to force the weight off faster?

[astroguy]

Today was a close call and required getting out the scale and measuring 14 gms of chocolate chips to keep me satiated. I had to go to the store to buy some tomatoes for a salsa tomorrow (for a ground beef dish I'm going to try to make on Saturday) since the tomatoes I bought on Sunday had gone bad. Sigh. I got to the store and I made the mistake of passing by the bakery. Mmmm. A doughnut ... 200 calories. Mini cheesecake, 220 calories. And I'm a sucker for cheap Asianesque food and walked down that aisle. Looked at a thing of ramen (I know, it sucks but I love the stuff) ... 290 calories for a cup or 380 for a package.

I've been walking EVERY day this week in the AM, which is so far 5 days in a row which - and I know this is utterly pathetic - is the best I've ever done. Using a formula I found online (I think from exrx.net), I calculate that the calories burned from my morning walks are roughly 270. In other words, any ONE of those (except the doughnut) is an entire morning walk, wasted. Remembering the sweat, stitches, blister, and sore feet and thinking, "I would just totally throw an entire morning of that away for 30 seconds of oral pleasure," made me leave them and walk to the register with just my 900 gms of roma tomatoes.

I'd say it's a small victory, but it's one that I'm at least a little proud of. It's a step in the right direction.

Also, I'm looking into some weight equipment on CL (contacted a seller today, going to check it out in the morning). Most folks on the bb forum seem to think I should just get a power rack, bench, and weights, but I haven't seen a single rack come up on CL in the ~2 weeks I've been looking, whereas these benches with weights come up several times a day. The one I'm looking at does incline/decline, locks into vertical, (also goes flat, duh), has a leg extension and preacher addition, a rack behind it that can be raised for squats, an olympic bar, clips, and 245 lbs of weight for $185.

I do need to get started on weights soon, regardless of what I buy. I'm fairly sure I'm losing muscle mass, based on the decrease in my upper arm circumference over the last few weeks. If I do get this, I just need to pick up 2 dumbbell bars, as well.

[astroguy]

Today was interesting. I totally screwed up eating-wise, but, well, here was the day:

8:00 - Woke up, went outside and walked my 40 minutes (4.38 km). Showered, weighed myself, and did bf% measurements today since I knew I was going to have my cheat meal this evening and I didn't want that to throw off my reading on Sunday.

Didn't eat, nor drink anything, I was busy with some quick work stuff and working on my planetarium show for the evening.

11:00 - Left my apartment to drive to the university to hand over some files to the asso. chair of the department 'cause one of my students was protesting her grade. Got stuck in traffic. Ate an apple in traffic and deposited the papers. Left for a noon meeting.

12:00 - In 90° heat, I bought my weight bench, squat rack, barbell, and 245 lbs of weights. Loaded that into the car. Sweat was literally dripping down my face.

12:45 - Parked as close as I could to my apartment (roughly 100 feet), and proceeded to set up my floor mats (see above posts) and then make MANY trips to/from the car, including up stairs, since my apartment is a 2nd-floor one. I was stupid and left the 45-lb plates for last. I was sweating so much that the shirt from yesterday I was using to wipe my face was literally soaking to the point that I could squeeze some liquid out of it. Still hadn't drunk anything yet (bad!).

1:15 - Finally everything was in, rushed to the shower and the cool water on my cheeks was amazing. I weighed myself out of curiosity and I had lost 1.4 lbs since I weighed myself just 4 hours earlier. That's a ----load of water to be sweating.

Afternoon - Practiced my hour-long talk twice (taking up 2 hours). Decided to eff it and made some sticky rice for a lunch/breakfast/snack (600 calories, mostly carbs) and drank about a quart of water and crystal light.

5:45 - Practiced my talk. Had a protein shake (250 calories, 8/23/69 split with 47 gms protein).

7:00 - Left for the planetarium, got in there, got set up, practiced one last transition.

7:50 - Went out of the theater to go to the bathroom. Then I saw the crowd. I was expecting maybe 50 people, hoping for 60. My previous record crowd for one of my talks (on the Apollo "Moon Hoax" claims) was 64. There were 122 tickets sold tonight, the theater holding 212 and was visibly more than half-full. Even though the ticket counters and usher does a pretty good job, I'll still say there were roughly 115-130 people there to hear my "Doomsday 2012" talk and why we won't be destroyed. I drank over a cup of water during the show.

9:30 - Joined the Denver Skeptics at a local pub for celebrations and drinks (though I don't drink alcohol). Talked around, kinda feeling like I was the groom at a wedding and making my way to each table to thank people for coming. I had my cheat meal of a burger and fries. I had budgeted 1500 calories divided into 70 gms fat, 170 gms carbs, and 50 gms protein. Last time I was there I estimated this meal at 780 cals, 20 gms fat, 75 gms carbs, and 75 gms protein. I think that was 'cause I was over for the week. I think a more realistic value is 1000 calories, and I divided that into 40 gms fat, 120 gms carbs, and 40 gms protein. More reasonable and doesn't under-estimate as much at least. Oh, and 1500 mg sodium. Okay, and yeah, I admit that I had a spoonful of someone's chocolate cake. I'm not counting that.

So yeah, all things told today, I drank 9 cups of water, which is 50% more than I normally drink (yes, this is low, I know!). I did an extra cheat meal I hadn't really planned on, though my evening cheat meal wasn't as bad as I had planned. I ended the day at about 1800 calories (roughly), just 6% over. 103% of my fat (49 gms), 160% of my sodium (3150 mg), 143% of my carbs (242 gms), and 68% of my protein (102 gms). Not horrid for a cheat day. And, I'm still coming in well for the week overall, averaging 1526 cals/day with a 24/39/36 split.

So, all-in-all, a fairly good day.

[astroguy]

If last week had to be summarized in terms of interests on this board, it would be highlighted by 2 things. First, I actually for the first time ever followed my LISS goal of walking 6 days in the morning during the week, 40±1 minutes, 4.38 km (yeah, that's a kinda fast pace). Second, I got a bunch of weight equipment off of Craigslist. I now have a bench, squat rack, olympic bar, and 245 lbs of olympic weights to put on the bar or bench. The bench has a preacher curl attachment, leg extension, locks vertical, does 2 levels of incline, flat, and then decline (total - $185). I also now have 3 sets of adjustable dumbbells. I already had one set but it only goes to 20 lbs on each. I was going to just get 4 10-lb plates, but the prices range from $1.10-1.50/lb. So we're talking up to $60. So yesterday I found two sets (4 bars) of adjustable dumbbells with 185 lbs of plates (4x25, 4x10, 6x5, 4x2.5, and 4x1.25). Consequently, I can now have 3 sets of adjustable dumbbells set to a given weight and not waste as much time changing plates around, making supersets easier.

Of course, that means that this week I start weight training. I think I'm going to go back to a book I bought a few years ago that lays out a circuit of stuff. There's a "3-week Intro" section that includes Drop Squat, Underhand-Grip Dumbbell Row, Reverse Hyperextension, Elbows-In Elevated Pushup, Side Bridge, Side Lateral Raise and Rotation for "B" days, and Barbell Lunge, Underhand-Grip Dumbbell Row, Single-Leg Bridge, Serratus Dip, Plank, Hanging Scapular Retraction on "A" days (Sun-Sat will be XAXBXAX. I'll obviously need to find one or two substitutions because I don't have things like a dip bar, but I should be able to do the jist of it.

The rest of the book lays out a 6-week plan each for muscle gain and fat loss. I'll do the fat loss next.

Otherwise, my only complaint at the moment is my weight. The goal last week was to average 168 lbs, and it was 168.7. Granted, that's still a 2.1 lb decrease from the previous week, but that's because I was way over the previous week due to stuff I mentioned here in previous entries. But then this morning, after my LISS and shower, etc., I was at 169.7 lbs, despite eating roughly 1125 calories. I was low because (a) I didn't do ANY exercise other than moving weights, and (b) I over-ate on Friday due to a planned cheat (as mentioned in my previous post).

So, yeah, WTF is up with my weight?! This week, I'm supposed to get down to 167 lbs. At least I'm back to being ahead of schedule for bf%, likely due to the 40 minutes of LISS 6 mornings last week ... and I suppose that the more important thing is bf%, but still, it's disheartening not to see that scale move.

Week 10 -- July 25 - July 31

Average Weight Last Week: 168.7 lbs (-2.1 lb change)
BF% on July 25: 18.6% (31.4 lbs fat, 137.3 lbs lean) (-0.67% change)

Short-term (cutting) goal for Sept. 12: ≤160 lbs | ≤15.5% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~12% bf

Exercise this week: Cardio (walking, fasted LISS) ~40 minutes ≥6 days. Weights 3 days, roughly 30-45 minutes each.


Food this week, Sunday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.8)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1/3 batch sticky rice (pseudo-cheat: 457 | 5.9 | 84.5 (yikes!) | 14.3
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Monday-Wednesday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 serving beef & salsa mix over brown rice: 558 | 17 | 33.4 | 65.4
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Thursday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 2 tortilla-crusted tillapia fillets: 340 | 12.0 | 24.0 | 36.0
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Friday-Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 288 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 529 | 17.5 | 35 | 56.5
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.8" is for a 1700 kcal goal based on my BMR with a 1.375 activity multiplier minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1545 kcal/day, 45.5 gms fat, 134.9 gms carbs, and 157.8 gms protein. That'll be a 26/34/40 split.


Comments: Looking prospectively at the coming week, I'm hoping it'll be another week of progress towards my broader fitness goals (how's that for politicianesque speech?). The giant blister I had on my left sole is nearly gone, thanks I think in part to my not walking yesterday, so that should be a bit easier this week. And I'm looking forward (at least at the moment) to seeing where my baseline starting point is with weights again. I started pretty weak last time but made progress each week. I'm guessing I'll start a bit higher than last time, but I doubt I'll be starting where I left off. For the record, last time I lifted weights was almost exactly 2 years ago.

I should also note that I'm keeping calories/macros the same this week, despite my adding in weights. I'm doing this for three reasons: (1) I want to go to a greater caloric deficit, (2) I want to ramp up my increase in calories to "Cutting, v. 4.9" which has a higher activity multiplier and would add 300 kcal/day, and (3) I want to monitor how my body responds to this and by changing more than one variable (cals AND exercise) I can't get as clean a measurement.

For bf% this week, I made significant progress last week (as stated above, probably due to the cardio). Hoping to do the same and stay ahead of the goal curve (image below). I can also look back at the last time I was at this bf% while cutting, and that was the week of January 27, 2008. I was at roughly 164.5 lbs. So, I have roughly 5 lbs more lean mass than last time I was at this bf%, which is a good thing.

But speaking of weight, rehashing what I said above, it's kinda annoying. I know that I should be more concerned about bf%, how much I can lift, my stamina, and what I see in the mirror, but, as I'm sure everyone else has done, making progress on the scale definitely is just as big of - if not more - a psychological boost than these other things. Will I still be happy if I end the week and next Sunday I'm at my goal of ≤18.3% bf? Yes. Will I be happier if I can get down to 167 lbs, as well? Yes.

[astroguy]

Okay, it's Wednesday and I did weights for the first time in two years on Monday and again today. DOMS are really killing me. I walked 10% slower this morning 'cause my thighs kept hurting. I guess once I finally get over them (hopefully by the weekend or so?), it's a pretty darned good reason NEVER to stop lifting.

[leftyx]

Originally Posted by astroguy

Okay, it's Wednesday and I did weights for the first time in two years on Monday and again today. DOMS are really killing me. I walked 10% slower this morning 'cause my thighs kept hurting. I guess once I finally get over them (hopefully by the weekend or so?), it's a pretty darned good reason NEVER to stop lifting.

Sorry, I didn't read your journal, but do you mean to say you've not done any weights in 2 years? I did notice your recent bodyfat chart and it's impressive. Was that all diet and cardio? I'm positive the weights will help.

[astroguy]

Originally Posted by leftyx

Sorry, I didn't read your journal, but do you mean to say you've not done any weights in 2 years? I did notice your recent bodyfat chart and it's impressive. Was that all diet and cardio? I'm positive the weights will help.

Yeah, done without weights over the last several weeks, which I know is bad. But I have a good reason! ...

(1) I worked on losing weight about 2 years ago and lost around 20 lbs and did do weights while doing so, getting down to whatever it says in my sig (around 15.5% or so?). Then I plateaued and got sick of it and stopped.

(2) This April I got sick of my fat rolls and decided to get back to this stuff. I wasn't sure I would stick with it though, since I had tried to get back on the wagon a few times over the last few years but it never lasted more than a few days.

(3) But I have been (14 weeks now, though it says 10 weeks in the log I used a 4-week intro 'cause I then went on a week-long camping trip to Yellowstone).

(4) One of the biggest issues that prevented me from sticking with it last time was making time going to the gym. Bringing clothes to work, walking to the gym, changing, then doing weights and waiting for people to move and generally feeling über-inadequate, then changing, back to my office, waiting for the bus, etc. was a huge un-motivator for something I wasn't particularly thrilled about doing in the first place.

(5) So I wanted to buy weights. But didn't want to spend the money if I wasn't going to stick with it. 12 weeks in this time I decided I was sticking with it so started looking for weights on Craigslist. Got 'em all moved in over the weekend and for $255 I now have a bench with squat rack (basically a bench press bench that raises its bar in the back) and preacher curl and leg attachment, 1 Olympic bar, 245 lbs Olympic weights, 4 dumbbell bars, and 185 lbs of standard weight plates (plus 2 more bars and an additional 30 lbs of plates I had from before).

(6) Ergo, I started weights this week.

(7) Because, in part, I'm fairly sure I'm in the regime where I'm starting to lose muscle and strength, despite what my bf% seems to be.

[leftyx]

Originally Posted by astroguy

Yeah, done without weights over the last several weeks, which I know is bad. But I have a good reason! ...

(1) I worked on losing weight about 2 years ago and lost around 20 lbs and did do weights while doing so, getting down to whatever it says in my sig (around 15.5% or so?). Then I plateaued and got sick of it and stopped.

(2) This April I got sick of my fat rolls and decided to get back to this stuff. I wasn't sure I would stick with it though, since I had tried to get back on the wagon a few times over the last few years but it never lasted more than a few days.

(3) But I have been (14 weeks now, though it says 10 weeks in the log I used a 4-week intro 'cause I then went on a week-long camping trip to Yellowstone).

(4) One of the biggest issues that prevented me from sticking with it last time was making time going to the gym. Bringing clothes to work, walking to the gym, changing, then doing weights and waiting for people to move and generally feeling über-inadequate, then changing, back to my office, waiting for the bus, etc. was a huge un-motivator for something I wasn't particularly thrilled about doing in the first place.

(5) So I wanted to buy weights. But didn't want to spend the money if I wasn't going to stick with it. 12 weeks in this time I decided I was sticking with it so started looking for weights on Craigslist. Got 'em all moved in over the weekend and for $255 I now have a bench with squat rack (basically a bench press bench that raises its bar in the back) and preacher curl and leg attachment, 1 Olympic bar, 245 lbs Olympic weights, 4 dumbbell bars, and 185 lbs of standard weight plates (plus 2 more bars and an additional 30 lbs of plates I had from before).

(6) Ergo, I started weights this week.

(7) Because, in part, I'm fairly sure I'm in the regime where I'm starting to lose muscle and strength, despite what my bf% seems to be.

That's some change! I understand the frustration of the gym. I have one in my office building that's free and it makes it easy to workout with weights. It's limited but I have little choice.
Just a queston, when you say you have 4 dumbell bars are those adjustable or single weight dumbbells?