KC1985's One Year Successful Body Transformation

[KC1985]

Background: I just turned 27 and currently live in New Delhi, India. My fitness levels have gone through several phases.

2001-2003: I started going to the gym when I was 15-16. I had absolutely no clue about compound exercises, nutrition basics, body fat percentages and so on. Made some gains purely because I was a beginner and since I had access to easy quick good nutrition (was still living with my parents).

2003-2007: I started following John's progress around 2004 (had a different forum name then). I had just joined college and had different priorities. Undid most of the effort I had put in the gym earlier. The awfully bad nutrition (staying away from home) made me lose all my muscle mass and I turned into a "skinny fat". By around July-August 2007, my body fat hovered around 22-23% and I weighed around 72-73 kgs.

September – November 2007: I managed to get placed in a premier software maker (Indeed, many of you would've used, loved and hated the products I've contributed to) and turned my attention to the state of my body. Over the years, by reading John's site, I had accumulated a lot of knowledge on body fat, cutting, bulking and so on. I was still living on the college campus and access to good nutrition was awfully hard. Nevertheless, I participated in a couple of 100 challenges, was very motivated and honest, and reached the fittest level in my life. During this phase, I dropped from 22% to around 13% body fat.

What worked? Very high motivation levels (had a job in hand, last year of college, nearly zero stress levels), strong focus on a clean diet and QUICK results (dropping fat)

2008: Transitioning from the campus to a job, more socializing, FREE FOOD (imagine the food served in places like Google), team events (more FREE FOOD) ensured that I quickly piled back the pounds and lost the gains that I had made. Nevertheless, I had an idea about calorie counting, gym exercises and cardio etc. and I had SEEN IT WORK, so I was reasonably confident that I could get back fit whenever I wanted to. I kept up with a clean diet and a gym routine on and off. I was fluctuating around 15%-20% body fat and around 72-75 kgs weight during this time.

March – July 2009: I read Starting Strength, got exposed to new ideas and launched into the program. I started drinking around a gallon of milk everyday (Rippetoe recommends drinking a lot of milk) and ate without paying any heed. I started doing basic lifts like Squats, Dead Lifts etc. for the first time in my life. I was increasing weight on every lift every training session. Finally, the progress stopped when I got more adventurous, stopped paying attention to form and screwed my back. I got down with a bad case of lower back pain and sciatica for a week or so.

I ballooned up to 85 kgs but also gained a lot of muscle mass and strength. This turned out to be a very dirty bulk.

What worked? Very simple program, QUICK RESULTS (increase in strength)

Rest of 2009: I did some cardio, tried to participate in a couple of 100 challenges which fizzled out, went in no particular direction.

Early 2010 – June 2012: I spent early 2010 preparing to get into an MBA school. Balancing work and prep at the same time resulted in terrible diet and no workouts. Once MBA school started – the hectic pace, the socializing over food, the tough deadlines etc. – all contributed to a BIG decline in fitness levels. I tried to again start working on my fitness in the last couple of months – even though I've increased my fitness levels, my weight, body fat etc. remain the same.


Currently: I've recently joined one of the world's best consulting companies. The work is going to be very stressful, hectic and involve a lot of travel (typically 4 days/week).

[KC1985]

With the background on my fitness phases out of the way, I'd like to figure out why I want to work on my health and fitness levels NOW.

WHY?

1. I want to look good without clothes. I hate looking in the mirror every morning and seeing so much flab. Going to the swimming pool is embarrassing. I recently took a holiday and was embarrassed enough to not take my shirt off on the beach.
2. It'll make my gf, family really happy. I'll probably get married in an year and a half or so. My gf already nags me a lot about my weight.
3. I want to see my six-pack. I've never seen my six pack in my lifetime (only faint outlines)
4. I want to actually live life. A number of things that I want to cross off my list involve some level of fitness (a) hiking (say Mt. Everest base camp) (b) back flips! (c) running marathons (d) hand stand push ups (e) 2 dozen pull ups in one go
7. I want to live longer and healthier. I don't want to die early of cardio-vascular disease that runs in my family.
8. Most importantly, I don't want to lose any more time. I don't want to have a "lost decade" like John did from 25 to 35. At 35, it'll be tougher still. NOW IS THE TIME.

[KC1985]

Goals

I'd like to put in words what my goals for the next one year are.

(a) Body Transformation goal

Currently,

29th June 2012 Body Stats

Weight: 85-86 kgs
BF%: ~30%
Biceps:
Forearms:
Chest:
Waist:
Hips:
Thighs:
Calves:

[Will take measurements once I go back home]

One year later...

29th June 2013 Body Stats

Weight: 75 kgs
BF%: 7%

(b) Strength Goals

Currently,

29th June 2012 Exercise Stats

Pull ups: 4
Push ups: 25
Running: 25 minutes, 2 miles

(Total weight without the rod; typically weight I'd lift if doing 3x5 i.e. not 1-rep max)
Bench Press: 45 kgs
Shoulder Press: 25 kgs
Squat: 60 kgs
Dead Lift: 70 kgs

One year later..

29th June 2013 Exercise Stats

Pull ups: 20
Push ups: 100
Running: 60 minutes, 8 minutes per mile

Bench Press: 80 kgs
Shoulder Press: 40 kgs
Squat: 100 kgs
Dead Lift: 120 kgs

(c) Other Goals

1. Half Marathon in February 2013
2. Closing the Captains of Crush No. 2
3. Feature as TSM July 2013.
(and more to be added)

[KC1985]

Plan

So what's the plan like? I think it's best to have an intense one year all guns blazing body transformation rather than going around in circles i.e a few months of improvement and then sliding back.

I think there are several aspects to a full body transformation - nutrition, lifting weights, cardio and mental - and I think its important to plan for all of them.


Yearly plan: I'll tweak this and expand on this as I get more feedback.

I - Cutting: July - October (~ 16 weeks)

Slow cut - 2 lbs of fat loss per week i.e. 14.5 kgs of body fat loss (Best case scenario)

II - Bulking: November - March (~ 20 weeks)

Slow controlled bulk - 1 lb of muscle gain per week i.e. 9 kgs of lean mass added (Best case scenario)

III - Wrap up & Buffer: April - June (~ 12 weeks)

Primarily cutting and buffer period


Best Practices

General:

1. Being stubborn and proud (like John is) - Sticking with the plan and not giving up!
2. The ability to say NO to friends, family - If you are clear about your priorities, if your fitness goal comes first BEFORE EVERYTHING ELSE, this shouldn't be a problem.
3. Daily check-in. 365 days. Every single day. Bad internet connectivity, being busy, being stressed etc. aren't excuses in this connected world.
4. Keep it simple, stupid - few regular foods, simple compound exercises and cardio, daily check-in.
5. 100 challenge monthly (starting now!) - subtract 1 pt for bad/missing meal, cheat snack/meal, missed workout

Nutrition:

1. Plan:

Breakfast - Oatmeal, Eggs, Fruit (depending on hotel)
Snack #1 - Fruit, Protein Powder
Lunch - Vegetables, Whole-grain (very light)
Snack #2 - Fruit, Protein Powder
Dinner - Chicken breast, Whole-grain, Soya (depending on if at home or away)

2. Clean Subway (no mayo, cheese etc.) if no other options around.
3. Protein powder always at hand whether office / client-site / hotel.
4. Sleep early. Prevents unhealthy snacking.
5. Keep water bottle alongside all the time. Keep yourself satiated with water.
6. No soda, flavored milk, cold drinks and so on. Only WATER.
7. DON'T MISS MEALS. Keep yourself satiated.
8. Stock up on cottage cheese.
9.

Challenges

Mental blocks

[leftyx]

Looked like you might not have teh best nutrition plan. You say you've dont this before so you might know you need really good nutrition. Your nutrition in your plan looks a bit hazy. Specifically lunch is specious.

Being a Google worker you seem to have to structure yourself well. Using that to build a workout plan seems good. Let's see how it goes.

Oh and welcome back.

[KC1985]

Originally Posted by leftyx

Looked like you might not have teh best nutrition plan. You say you've dont this before so you might know you need really good nutrition. Your nutrition in your plan looks a bit hazy. Specifically lunch is specious.

Being a Google worker you seem to have to structure yourself well. Using that to build a workout plan seems good. Let's see how it goes.

Oh and welcome back.

Yeah, leftyx - agreed that the nutrition part looks hazy. The thing is that as a consultant, I could be working out of different locations some in the city and some pretty remote like a mine or a factory. And controlling nutrition would be the biggest challenge then. Aside, from working out.

[KC1985]

Day 1 | 29th June 2012

Friday night - so tough day to start with.

Had some small victories:
1. Skipped beer and poker.
2. Ate apples during snacks.
3. Had a clean sub (no mayo, no cheese)

I told my friends about my plan to revamp my nutrition and focus on my fitness. Unfortunately, they aren't being very supportive. :|

Plan for today:

1. Finally, stop living out of a suitcase and move into a new place.
2. Stock up on groceries.
3. Take measurements. Do all the calculations and focus more on the nutrition bit.

[KC1985]

Day 2 | 30th June 2012

The day was spent shifting to the new rented apartment.

No exercise. Diet was ok-ish but no nutrition plan as yet. Still stocking up on groceries and cooking stuff.

Day 3 | 1st July | 98 points

Exercise: None
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Chicken legs(fried) + Sub chicken ham -1
Dinner: Cheese + Bread (unclean) -1

Comment: Day spent moving + getting groceries and cooking stuff. Still getting to know the place I've moved to. Kinda new to me. Looking for gym options and a place to buy protein powder from. Starting 100 challenge for July here.

Day 4 | 2nd July | 96 points

Exercise: None
Breakfast: Brown bread + Eggs (2)
Lunch: Chicken (clean)
Snack #1: Apple
Snack #2: Apple
Dinner: Parantha (unclean) + Eggs (2) - too many eggs in a day; wasn't keen to cook -1
Cheat snack: A few bites out of a KFC meal -1

Comment: Still settling down. Found a gym. Will be more disciplined henceforth.