From Fit to Fat to Fit Again- My Great Experiment

[Kaiser]

No C. I'm coughing up a storm. I had a friend call me with bad news of her life and health, then had a bad class, then didn't feel like working out at all. I'm feeling burned out and have had a little trouble getting up in the mornings which is so NOT me - I think it has to do with this dry hacking cough I've had for 7 days now which gets me up at night.

I've decided to take tomorrow off and spend the morning with my kids (get to finally see my almost 4 year old in his gymnastics class!) and then work out after lunch. Plus Saturday is all booked so I want to have a little time to do what I want to do. Maybe a little selfish time will get me motivated - I've been burning the midnight oil way too much lately.

BTW, I ate one whole sleeve of thin mints Girl Scout cookies today. Tasted great too - no regrets at all.

PS: No comments because I thought you weren't reading anymore C. But you may have caught the guys' comments about YOU here (look under the picture) Pretty good company you're in.

[cappuccino]

Hey kaiser, yucky that you're still coughing. That's always uncomfortable.

Have fun in gymnastics, maybe you could show them a few tricks. [img]smile.gif[/img] And enjoy your afternoon workout, that's always nice!

Of course I'm still reading, I've just been trying to get to bed earlier these days, and you're quite the late poster. Then I end up reading in the morning when I'm pressed for time.

[ninja]

Kaiser, you're slipping. No regrets about a WHOLE SLEEVE??? Oh, how I long for the days of the Kaiser who freaked over every excess calorie that entered his mouth. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Kaiser]

Nope N. They're freakin' GS cookies! Manna from heaven, here on earth!

C, I was the only dad among about 15 moms there watching our little ones through a window. The moms were chatting it up with me while I watched my son. Had a great morning with my little guy - we went shopping afterwards (for my manta ray, which you can read about in the Training forum, and for some food). I've been so busy lately, I haven't had a lot of time to spend with them, so it was perfect. Now I need to go exercise, but that damn cough is making me feel like crap. Going out with a few other couples tonight for movie and a dessert and I am not motivated at all to go lift.

Oh, you're still reading. I'm honored and I'll try to make it more dramatic although my life is pretty boring.

[cappuccino]

The sleeve of mint GS cookies was pretty dramatic. Although I think I'm used to that by now and barely even react to it anymore.

For a change you could write something related to actually working out drama! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

(just giving you a hard time...hope you get to feeling better) [img]smile.gif[/img]

Well did you go ahead and go use your new toy? I saw one in JP's place before and thought it looked uncomfortable. Let us know how it works for you!

[cappuccino]

Kaiser...why didn't you tell us about your bike ride in here????

[Kaiser]

Was going to cut and paste here C... didn't get around to it during the day when I was able to put up a couple of posts before getting pulled back to work.

I've been lax in logging my workouts the last few days, so here's a big 'Supersized' helping. Don't forget the Coke.

Saturday, Mach 5

The All-In One Combo Report - aka The Number 5
After one planned day off and one day of feeling blah, got back to lifting. TBOM, Weeks 11-13, Workout B. Bench Presses and Bent over BB Rows. Went up nicely in both.

Met with my riding buddies for a breakfast get-together to plan our upcoming group riding season. Ended up mostly just catching up with each other though.

Yesterday night we went out to a movie with a couple of other couples ('Bride and Prejudice, if you care to know) and then came back and ate organic blue corn chips, salsa, and cake. No exactly clean eating. Today we had yet another dinner suare (sp?) - a charity event - and I ate poorly again (one very big, very tasty piece of chocolate cake was served for dessert and I was the only one at our table of 10 who finished it).

I'm gonna gain weight, I know it.

PS: Aishwariya Rai looks pretty pretty in the movie.


Sunday, March 6th

Combo Meal #7
See my report dated March 7th here. Sorry 'bout that C!

No food report either, except that I ate a lot while watching TiVO'd episodes of 'Alias' (one of only 3 TV shows I watch AT ALL).

Blah - I'm gonna gain weight, I know it.

PS: Jennifer Garner looks pretty pretty in the show.


Monday, March 7th

Aerobic/Anaerobic
Spin class with Dave. He is now a USA Cycling Instructor, which is cool. That means he knows about training for outdoor cycling. He is planning on doing a lot of classes to get us ready for the upcoming outdoor season, and today we worked on extended LT training and of course, Stomps at the end.

Max HR = 184 (don't know why it stayed so low - felt like I was going to pass out at one point and I tried to get it to 195)
Average HR for the hour = 150
Kcals burned = 836 only.

Diet
RMR 1,480
Exercise 836
Diet 1,788
Deficit 528

30%P / 44%C / 26%F of which only 5% of total was saturated.

Comments
-I gained weight. Scale jumped back up to 177.5 lbs - a gain of 4 lbs over my lowest level - and it shows in my belly fat too. This being sick thing has really mucked me up.

-I felt strong riding today even with the hard ride yesterday. I'm getting efficient at cycling.

-My friend Cappy (whom I've never met) did phenomenally great in her 5K race this weekend and I am ridiculously proud for someone I've never met. Great job C!!

-My friend (and everyone's favorite forum picture girl) Becka has had a string of bad luck lately. Smile B - it's gonna get better quickly and don't worry - that karma WILL come back and balance things out.

-My wife wants a resistance program, and per what I know Cappy would say, I've gone to Craig to purchase one.

[ninja]

Is it grammatically correct to say 'pretty pretty?' [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Keep on trucking K, I've screwed up along the food line this last week too, but I don't think the scale reflects it.

[cappuccino]

Welcome back Kaiser! Glad to see there were some workouts to catch-up on.

Who's prettier, Jennifer Garner or the most beautiful woman in the world, Aishwariya Rai?

So are you going to work on getting those pounds back off?? I'm sure it won't take long. Pretty impressive to be able to eat the whole chocolate cake. I need to give you my molten chocolate cake recipe. Easy and sinful!!

Are you going to switch to much more outdoor cycling this spring?

Thanks for being proud of me. [img]redface.gif[/img] Sorry to hear Becka has been having a string of bad luck. You should send her back here for some pic-me-up comments from the guys.

Cool that you're wife will be doing TT. Which one did you get?

[Kaiser]

Well, they are pretty pretty. [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks for the encouragement Nick.

Originally posted by cappuccino:
Who's prettier, Jennifer Garner or the most beautiful woman in the world, Aishwariya Rai?

You know, I have this thing for Indian women , but in this case, Jennifer Garner - it's the fitness and physicality thing, I think.

So are you going to work on getting those pounds back off?? I'm sure it won't take long. Pretty impressive to be able to eat the whole chocolate cake. I need to give you my molten chocolate cake recipe. Easy and sinful!!

Actually, I was going to just get fat again. [img]tongue.gif[/img] I'll pass on any more chocolate things. I need to get it into gear. I always say that, but I think I've just made the mental leap to do it 6 days/week.

Are you going to switch to much more outdoor cycling this spring?

Oh yeah, although it may not happen until May in a serious way due to weather constraints. The time change in April will help because I can then ride in the evenings on weekedays.

Cool that you're wife will be doing TT. Which one did you get?

Probably not TT - I'm leaning towards one of Craig's pre-packaged programs in his books to start her out. Then maybe something else. I still have to check with her though. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kaiser]

Tuesday, March 8th

Resistance
I skipped one last workout in the microphase weeks 11-13 (chins and deads) because it would totally throw off my well-planned schedule through the end of the month. The new microphase has all leg work on one day, and I need to make that day far enough away from the spinning classes, which means it has to be on Friday or Saturday. Since it is the middle of three workouts, that means I had to do the first one today to be able to spin tomorrow and lift legs on Friday while keeping this microcycle in sequence. If all of that is too convoluted to follow, just get that I skipped on lifting session.

This microcycle has it broken into push, legs, and pull days. Today was pull day: pullups, chinups, lat pulldowns and bent over barbell rows, finished up with some BB preacher curls. One the wide-grip pullups, I did the requisite six in the first work set, but then only did three of six in the second. That's gonna get fixed real soon. Lack of mental toughness. Needless to say, my biceps had what Arnold called 'the almighty pump' at the end of the workout, and I'm glad I wore my Drifit Pro compression top.

Finished up with control ab work (I realized now that I never mention the ab work, yet it is part of every workout) and then saw a rare jumprope left out and tried to do rapid jumping HIIT style - but after one 60 second set, and one 30 second set, and one 20 second set, I started catching the rope on the back of my foot.... bad rhythm plus a too long rope that I couldn't get adjusted caused me to abandon my quest. But I still love the looks I get when people see the rope whirring like a boxer (not that I can do anything impressive like it - just go really fast). I hope someone will leave one out again for my next workout.

Diet
RMR 1,480
Exercise 464
Food 1,564
Deficit 380

30% P / 39% C / 31%F of which 8% of total was saturated. Not bad overall.

[cappuccino]

Sounds like you have a plan and not going to sit around and get fat again. Had to ask though just to make sure! It's fun trying to work everything around so you can get your favorite days in. Will you drop spin for outdoors when come may? Or do both??

I always get nervous when people are swinging that jumprope around in the gym. Seems like somone's gonna get whacked. [img]smile.gif[/img]

You should check out his new one that's geared towards women called "the simple way to lose weight". It's geared more to a beginner, but the workouts advance plus there's lots of good reading about nutrition.

[Kaiser]

Yes, when I go outdoors, I generally don't come back in unless I am forced to. I hate being a gym rat.

Yes, the program I purchased was 'The simple way to lose weight.' Craig is way too helpful to his clients and even those who just purchase his virtual books. He knows the power of networking though, and I hope it pays off for him. Oh, and Craig just adores you as a client C. [img]smile.gif[/img]


Wednesday, March 9th

Executive Summary
90 min spin class, average HR 147, total kcals burned 1300+, max heart rate in the lower 170s. Lot of endurance work. Didn't eat well today - had out of office meetings all day so had chips for lunch (!) and then ate some Oreos (well, more like 6 or 7 ). On the positive, I am sure I was in deficit because of the spinning.

My legs are tired and I'm goin' to sleep.

[cappuccino]

I'm the right there with you on outdoor days. Although when it gets really hot in the summer, I'm happy to be a gym rat. What I'd really like to do while you're here is an introduction to trail riding.....

Cool that you got that program. Yeah I don't know how he keeps all of his clients straight, especially me since I like lots of attention and especially exercise pics with him in it.

We're having an office pizza party today..year end incentive celebration. $Yummy$ I'll bring a side of veggies though.

[Kaiser]

Pizza.... mmmmmmm.


Thursday, March 10th

Ate well, but didn't log. Tried to run on the treadmill today. Some obeservations:
-if they take a fitness test on a bike I'm golden. If on a treadmill, I'm toast.
-my VMOs (inner quad muscle) are sore after running from being underused in cycling and no running. Bad. Bad.
-I used to be a runner. I do remember that.

So, I just felt like running. Wanted to run a quick mile (7:30 pace, 1% incline). Did a 5 minute warm-up at a 12 minute pace. Heart rate never went over 150 (for reference, my max is around 197 and I go anaerobic at approximately 163-167). So I shut the treadmill down, restarted at 8 mph and went to it. After about 2 mins, I weas feeling OK, but my HR was at 172. I have to work REALLY hard on a bike to keep it at that level. Adaptation exemplified. So I notched the speed down to get me HR down...and again...and again. Eventually, I was running at 6.7 and my HR was still in the upper 160s. So after exactly 1/2 mile and 4:05 minutes, I slowed it down to a walk for 3 mins (got the idea from Capp's 3 min intervals). My HR plummeted pretty quickly - the sign of strength. Then I ramped it up again to 8 mph, but this time my HR shot up to 180 within less than a minute. So I slowed it down again and ran past the 1 mile marker at 9:44. Considering I had walked 3 whole minutes, that's not bad, but I'm concerned about the fact that I am so out of shape for running - I felt it in my legs (OK, I'll admit I spun yesterday for 90 mins as well).

Still though, it's evident that I am a long way off from my 8 minute pace in the 8K. Yet another measure where I have fallen far.

[ninja]

Wow. That is some amazing adaptation. I have tried the bike for cardio/HIIT, but I never feel that my heart rate gets up high enough. My quads either go nuts when I have the resistance too high, or when it's too easy I can't break a sweat. Any ideas? It would be nice to do the bike once every two weeks or so.