I'm a little bummed that the numbers went up instead of down, but confident that will change throughout this stage and this month.
My last Stage 1A workout (AMRAP) (Friday)
Squat: 30lb/75 reps
Push-up: BW/25 reps
Seated Row: 30lb/40reps
Step-up: 20lb/50
Prone-Jacknife: BW/30
Stage 2: Workout 1A (today 6/30)
Front Squat/Push Press: 45/10, 45/10 (these were hard!)
Step-up: 20/10, 20/10
DB one-point row: 20/10, 30/10
Static Lunge: 30/10, 30/10
Push-up: BW/10, BW/10
Plank: 60 sec, 60 sec (I was so proud I could hold it this long!!)
Cable horiz. wood chop: 30/10, 30/10
My goals are to gain strength and lean muscle, and lose fat. If I end up losing weight (which I rarely do), that would be great, but I would be really satisfied just to lose inches and have my clothes fit better. I really would love to feel confident in a bathing suit once and for all. I'm also approaching the time in my life when I'm thinking about having kids and to reach these goals now, prior to pregnancy, would be awesome!
I track my food on the dailyplate.com and have to get back doing that. April and the beginning of May I was doing great, but feel off tracking. Tracking my food and workouts will keep me honest and help me reach my goals!
One more thing... I'm training for a sprint triathlon (1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run) on July 27th. In between my lifting workouts, I'm starting brick workouts (swim/bike, bike/run)... This should be interesting...
Welcome! Your workouts look great. And a sprint tri! I think I could do the running and biking but swimming has never been easy for me. Good luck
Hi Bree - The swim is not going to be easy for me either... I'm starting to train with a swim coach for the month of July. I am praying that will do the trick and I'll be fine. I'm kind of going in thinking I know I have the endurance and if I put my mind to it, I can do it!
__________________ Jenny
Training Log Daily Plate Log
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I'm about the same height as you (my license says 5'3" but I'm probably 1/2" shy if you ask my doctor!)... I think our measurements differ (body type, whatever) but our weight is close... I'm 40 with 2 kids... Always fun to find someone in a similar place to join in the journey!
Just so everyone knows, not that anyone is reading this... but I (like many others I have been reading) am really frustrated with my progress. I started reading the Fat Loss Troubleshoot forum and am considering buying Leigh's book because I (like many others) upped my calories when I started NROL4W (not by a lot) and feel like I have gained weight. I definitely have gained strength, and have made some progress in my upper body, but once again, I'm stuck. This always happens. I make some minor changes, and some things change, and then I get frustrated...
I started swimming more this week because I am in training for my sprint triathlon, but I think the key for me is to be active at least 6 days a week and stay within the 1400-1600 calorie range.
I'm also on summer vacation (I'm a teacher) and most weeks I can dedicate every morning to the gym.
Looking at my typical day today in my Daily Plate log also showed that my ratios are off.
To get more protein, should I be having a protein shake everyday rather than just on the days I lift?
Should I ditch NROL4W all together, for now, and do Leigh's program?
I don't know... what to do, what to do...
Maybe some of the pros (Ginger, Bytsi, MissJane, KFisher, etc.) will stop by and give me some feedback.
:-(
__________________ Jenny
Training Log Daily Plate Log
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
NROL4W is not a fat loss program, so if your goal is fat loss, you might want to consider changing stuff out so that you don't have to eat so much to support your activity and you can get a decent deficit without eating a ton of food to support your activity.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Jenny, I think everyone is different. I happened to lose 20 lbs of fat doing NROL4W. I was following a very low carb diet for the first 5 months of the year while doing NROL4W. Then, I hit a plateau. So, now I have been tracking calories very closely and I have added carbs slowly back in. The weight loss has picked right back up. I have also switched to Power Training by Coach Dos. So, I have continued my lifting all along and have continued to lose fat all along. This doesn't mean it will work this way for everyone. You'll need to see if the heavy lifting and all the other exercise you do causes you to need much more food for recovery -- too much. If that happens, then you will be overeating and can gain. For me, that didn't happen, as evidenced by the scale.
Keep in mind that my weight loss during NROL4W was slow..about a lb a week, with many days that the weight didn't move at all. I just kept plugging away. Now that I've really been monitoring my calories and KNOW I am in a good deficit, the scale is moving more regularly.
I consider everything I do an experiment until I hit on what works for ME. Same goes for you. You'll have to see what works and go for it.
Hi Jenny,
I agree with Miss Jane and Paula. I had also upped my calories when doing the heavier weight lifting stuff (which I love), but my hunger was absolutely ravenous.
Unlike Miss Jane, I wasn't able to stay at a deficit while training that way, so for the time being, I have cut back on the weights a bit, upped my cardio and am eating at a pretty good caloric deficit and now I am *finally* seeing some weight loss. I have read Leigh's books and am following her "Get in, get out" attitude with the fat loss. I don't want to be trying to lose these pounds, forever.
If you can handle the deficit, with those workouts, try that. If not, you may want to at least get Leigh's books to try that.
Hope that helps.
__________________
Ginger
"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." ~ John Bingham
Jenny, I think a lot of people on this board have felt that way lately. I know I have. One of the biggest lessons I have learned by being on this forum is how important diet is. If you can train at a deficit and still have energy with NROL4W then more power to you! I am still trying to find the right balance and like you have considered buying Leigh's books. I am going to finish NROL4W and decide what to do then.
I got frustrated too - I LOVE the heavy lifts, but eating more didn't help me lose fat. I'm doing FLTS and a little NROLW (lifting 2/ week, taking lower set options whenever offered).
I always (for years) had two goals at once - big muscles and lose fat/weight - DUH it wasn't working... I need to drop the fat then I can eat more (clean) food and put on muscle... or just maintain once I lose the fat...
Diet is WAY too big a factor in this... I'm very strong, but you can't see it under my blubber...
Thank you very much for all of the positive reinforcement girls. It really helps, especially when I'm still feeling a little negative!!
I'm seriously thinking about investing in Leigh's books now. Focus on one thing at a time. It's so like me to multi-task and do a million things at once, so no wonder why my body is confused.
I'm also going to buy a scale this weekend to weigh my food. My intake is fairly accurate because I do measure a lot, but it will be interesting to see if I find any discrepancies.
Thank you again, and feel free to drop in anytime, and give me your 2 cents. :-)
__________________ Jenny
Training Log Daily Plate Log
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Elliptical 30 min. level 8, 9, 10
Swimming 30 min.
Wednesday 7/16
Biking (outdoor) 60 min.
I'm trying to focus this week and next week on cardio for triathlon training. I might try to do one lifting workout this week...
I'm also midway through Leigh's book FLTS. It's awesome and I'm learning so much! I feel re-energized because I am going to focus on fat loss through Leigh's programs.
__________________ Jenny
Training Log Daily Plate Log
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I joined this forum when I started on NROL in case I had any questions. I'm trying not to tweak the program because I have a tendency to do that and it kinda invalidates things.
But... I don't agree with Schuler and Alwyn about upping calories and upping activity to lose weight. That will work in a some instances but only when someone's metabolism has "stalled" from excessive dieting or a lot of laziness. But in most cases, if you want to lose weight, you've got to cut calories.
When you gain or lose weight, you almost always gain or lose a mixture of fat and lean mass. Weight training while you're gaining or losing weight helps to make that mixture more favorable. If you're losing, the lifting will help you lose a higher percentage fat. If you're gaining, the lifting will help you gain a higher percentage of muscle.
But you can still reach a point of diminishing returns with it. You can eat too few calories. You can do too much training. Every lifter has to learn their bodies and figure out where those points are and figure out what their bodies respond to.
Here's my stuff for last week - I focused on triathlon training.
Sunday, 7/20 - 20 min. biking, 45 min. swimming
Monday, 7/21 - 60 min. Spinning, 15 min. treadmill walk
Tuesday, 7/22 - 45 min. Swimming
Wednesday, 7/23 - Rest
Thursday, 7/24 - 30 min. swimming
Friday, 7/25 - 30 min. open water swimming
Saturday, 7/26 - Rest - went to the race expo - Sally Edwards spoke, she was awesome!
Sunday, 7/27 - TRIATHLON DAY! :-)
The Danskin Triathlon series holds triathlons for women all over the country. It was such an amazing experience and I am sure I will do another. I've always just done running races and am not the competitive type at all. Experiencing a 3 sport race was just amazing and it has definitely changed my outlook for the better! My times were good and I am really pleased with everything. I did my best and that's all I can ask.
Now that the tri is over, I'm going to incorporate lifting back in this week. I'm going to pick up with Stage 2 of NROL4W where I left off, even though I have all of Leigh's materials, and am seriously considering the OPT program. I'm going to try to finish stage 2 and then re-evaluate. I am going to focus more on maintenance lifting rather than going heavier every time, at least for now. I have one more month before school starts and we're going on vacation in the middle of next week, so I'm just going to take it one week at a time.
I do have another running race the second weekend in September - Reach the Beach Relay, 200 miles in 24 hours. This is a really fun race! It's comprised of relay teams of 12 people and each person runs 3 legs over the course of 24 hours. So I'll be running throughout August to get ready for that too.
Off to the gym to do my lifting workout!
__________________ Jenny
Training Log Daily Plate Log
What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Jenny's NROL4W Training Log
Jenny
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