From Fit to Fat to Fit Again- My Great Experiment

[Kaiser]

Good luck. I'm a firm believer in HIIT, but I think anything to shake things up is a good move. Intervals just seem to be the most time efficient way to burn fat, not to mention that aerobic benefits you get and how those transfer over to everyday living.

Today is my first crank-up in routines as I am not progressing along as I had in the past. I am adding intervals after my resistance session.

[gardener]

Kaiser, You're inspiring me! Since July, I'm up 10 pounds, mostly in the waist. I bought some new jeans at LL Bean. My wife commented that I had 6 pair in the closet already. I didn't reply, yes, but 3 are 34" and 3 are 35", and the new ones are 36" (and I'm wearing them low--it would take 38" to fit at waist level).

I can't claim that the added girth is the product of not lifting (I'm still at it) or of cycling (my balance is crappy, and despite what they say, people CAN forget how to ride a bike). It's eating. The carb load accelerates 2 weeks before Halloween, when Hershey bars take up brief residence in the pantry.

And now the really dangerous time begins. (I've been through this before, 10+ pounds July to November and another 7 by New Year's.) My wife is a supeb baker and she makes over 30 different kinds of cookies, half traditional German sorts, half southern American (sand tarts and so on). The smell of sugar ? It's like a tom cat with a nearby female in heat. It's hormonal, almost as insistent as horniness.

So I've started on Atkins. It's not the best way ro go, but it's the only way that has half a chance in the sugarplum and fruitcake cookie season.

Good luck--and hope your Thanksgiving was great. It's an intense time for me. Thursday was Thanksgiving. Friday our two sons and their families were with us to celebrate both sons' birthdays. Yesterday was our 46th wedding anniversary. Next comes Christmas, then New Years, and then my birthday--one of those that ends in a zero. (Well, it's 70!)

I note yours falls right before T'giving this year and some years on it. I'd prefer July to January, but then I'd be someone else. Cheers!

[Kaiser]

Thank you Professor. If I can inspire you, that's a reversal from the usual, and an honor for me.

I can empathize with the holiday weight gain. It happened every year without fail for me until I left the corporate world and didn't have to attend many calorie rich social business events.

Congratulations on your 46th! Quite an accomplishment and something to be admired. I'm 30 years behind you on that score, and I'll be happily surprised if we make it that far alive and still happy. [img]smile.gif[/img]

On Atkins, if you find that too hard, you might consider South Beach. Everyone I know who has done it has seen incredible results. The upside is that you know after 2 weeks you can start adding carbohydrates back in, and that provides some peace of mind that it can be done.

[Kaiser]

Monday, November 29th

Resistance Training
BOM, Intermediate Weeks 1-3, C. It was one of those days of serendipity - I went to lift at the busiest 5-7PM time frame, and every time I needed a bench or DB, it was right there. It showed in my lifting too, because everything flowed and I only hit failure once (not that I was aiming for it) and held flawless form. I've got one more week of this prep phase, which conditions the connnective tissue and smaller muscles for the load in the phases ahead.

HIIT
On the elliptical trainer (LifeFitness brand)
5 mins warm up at level 2
6 intervals, 20 secs per interval at resistance Level 15 @ >100 rpm
60-90 sec rests at Level 2

HR would go down nicely to <150 bpm in the rest periods and shoot up to 172 at the end of the interval -a bit low for me - need to crank it up a little more. But I was shooting for 6 to 8 total intervals and only got in 6 before I couldn't go at 100% anymore. The elliptical works well for me - not as intense as running outdoors, but probably the second best for making me hurt.

Diet
Basal: 2,400 kcals
Exercise: 311 kcals
Food: 1,958 kcals
Deficit: 753 kcals

35%C/29%P/36%F of which 8% of total was saturated.

I need to drink more water. I think that may be the key that I am missing. The only craving I have that I miss is binging on chocolate - I would like to taste a little dark chocolate, but I fear that would set me off and so it is better not to. I added a morning peppermint tea today, in addition to my usual afternoon white or green tea. I was pleasantly surprised to see John/John (Berardi and Johnka) extolling the virtues of green tea in their new book . Way to go guys!

[Kaiser]

I'm pissed off this morning - 15 days later and my weight and fat percentage are back where they were at the beginning. Given my past history, I should've lost between 2-3 lbs. and 1.5% BF.

To paraphrase Bruce Hornsby, "there's gonna be some changes made."

More to come.

[Kaiser]

Here's the gym I currently go to, mainly for it being open 24 hours and having a great climbing wall with 22 top rope stations and 5 self-belays. Plus they have sushi at their cafe!

And here's their first-class magazine (Adam and JP, please take note).

[cappuccino]

So Kaiser, what's up your sleeve?

This is a great sign:

The only craving I have that I miss is binging on chocolate - I would like to taste a little dark chocolate, but I fear that would set me off and so it is better not to.

I found strong coffee did wonders for my chocolate cravings...gave me a nice little fix with little calories...although it's not exactly the best choice.

[Kaiser]

Here's what I'm going to do:
-add my fruits back in. That's going to jack my carbs up past 200 (where they have been staying under) but get me my bioflavanoids and other good micronutrients, as well as fiber. I'll try to keep the fruits out of my dinner meal though. I'm also going to add back in complex grains (one or two servings) like whole wheat.

This goes against everything Adam said in his diet recommendations, but it is what has worked for me in the past and what is sustainable.

-more water - suck it down till I'm heading to the loo every two hours. Last night I woke up twice to go to the bathroom. Pee clear means you're in the clear, right?

-kick in one additional HIIT session per week. That'll make 2 spin classes and 2 interval sessions per week, in addition to lifting 3x/week. One or two of the HIIT will be on the same days as lifting, so I'll still get my one to two days of full rest/week.

If that doesn't do somthing in the next 7-10 days, I have more ammo to try. I am still surprised at this lack of loss - it's never happened before, even when I've been cutting only a few pounds. Like I intoned above, I'm not happy.

C, I'm not a caffeine guy (funny for someone who is possibly going to sell the product we discussed, huh?). I get a cup or two of green or white or herbal tea when I am good, but that's about it. I hear you on coffee not being the best choice - although I do so love those Frappucinos (not your 'sister'/alter ego, but the Starbuck's drinks; but you're alright too [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) which we have stocked in the media room fridge along with Hershey's bars and all manner of soda pop (I haven't imbibed since Sept though).

[Kaiser]

Tuesday, November 30th

Aerobic/Anaerobic Intervals
Spin class; unfortunately an 'endurance' class where we only did 3 sets of intervals (one set of 5@ 10 secs, one set of 6 at 20 secs, and one set of 6 at 30 secs). Interestingly, the instructor told us at the beginning that the class was not a competition, and what happens but it seems to become one. Or maybe it was because there were 70% guys in the class, at least half of whom were outdoor riders judging by the gear and the legs they had.

Diet
Basal: 2,400 kcals
Exercise: 537 kcals
Food: 1,960 kcals
Deficit: 977 kcals

42%C/28%P/29%F of which 6% of total was saturated.

Another issue I may have is with basal calories. Fitday has me at 2,601 without exercise, which I've taken down to 2,400 based on past experience, which is extensive. But perhaps my metabolism has slowed down as I've aged, and the real number is 2,200. However, my deficits have all been pretty good, so even overestimating my basal expenditure by 200 kcals will still leave me in deficit. Failing all else, one of the tricks up my sleeve will be to treat myself to a basal metabolic evaluation (where they hook you up to an oxygen mask like thingy) to get a very precise reading. The cost is around $200, but maybe my wife will give me a gift. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[OldGuy]

This article was on MSNBC a while back. Shows 2 methods of get your RMR tested, one only costs about $50. I'm thinking of getting this done myself.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5834219/

[DKing]

Originally posted by Kaiser:
Here's the gym I currently go to, mainly for it being open 24 hours and having a great climbing wall with 22 top rope stations and 5 self-belays. Plus they have sushi at their cafe!

And here's their first-class magazine (Adam and JP, please take note).

Does your lifetime have leather couches and big screen TV's in the locker rooms? A couple of the ones around my area have that. I thought it was totally idiotic.

Danny

[Kaiser]

Yeah, it's very cool. They have it in the waiting area in the lobby, but also in the locker rooms. Guys watch the stock ticker or sports. I used it to watch sports center once while waiting for someone.

But there's a requirement to watch the TV: you need to have chest hair! (OK, just kidding, don't get into a tizzy).

Do you go to Lifetime as well as Gold's? Where do you workout besides at home?

[DKing]

Some of those Lifetimes are just nuts. I haven't ever had a membership there myself but have worked out at a couple in my area. They all were built around the same time and were giving free two week passes out all the time so me and all my friends would go get them to use the courts and weights and stuff together back in high school.

Right now I work at Golds so I get a membership, we also have the campus gym which I hear is getting renovated to actually not suck, and I train at a couple guys home gyms on the weekends for strongman stuff. Lots of options for me and I don't pay anything for any of them .

When I am at home with my mom I was paying about $20 a month for a small locally owned place with kickass equipment.

Danny

[Kaiser]

Wednesday, December 1st- holy crap, it's already December!

Resistance Training
BOM, Intermediate Weeks 1-3, A. Ian King likes to design his workout in 3 week phases. In essense, he micro-cycles even within a specific phase because he only believes in going to failure once every 3 to 4 weeks. He asks that you go easier in the first week, almost to failure in the second, and all out/to failure in the third. It's the third week for me. I hit it hard today and it felt GOOD! The muscles feel tired, as they did last night when I went to bed after the spin class. I remember this feeling...the feeling I associate with health.

HIIT - Tabata Protocol
Didn't have a lot of time so I tried Tabata. Ouch. Double Ouch. Hurl.

On the elliptical trainer (LifeFitness brand)
5 mins warm up at level 2
6 intervals, 15 secs per interval at resistance Level 15 @ >90 rpm
15 secs rests at Level 2
Only 2 min cooldown on elliptical. Had no energy for anymore and I blew off stretching because I was tired. Not too smart.

I was surprised I was able to get 6 intervals in. I thought maybe 4. Although I didn't do the traditional protocol of 20 on 10 off. I left it all there though because I couldn't have done another one.

HR would go down nicely to only 160 bpm in the rest period which tells me it was indeed what I like to call Vomit Inducing Interval Training.

Diet
Basal: 2,400 kcals
Exercise: 226 kcals
Food: ~2,066 kcals
Deficit: 560 kcals

45%C/18%P/38%F of which 7% of total was saturated.

My family brought home Quizno's for dinner and I can't find a nutritional chart for them anywhere on the web, so the food number may be off somewhat.

Good news! This morning the scale dropped me down 2 lbs - I don't know why though.
Bad News. The BIE BF% level stayed the same.

Other good news. I was talking to a trainer between lifting and Tabata and we were talking about lifting and diet. She commented that I obviously knew a lot and why wasn't I a trainer. I stated that I would be if I could make some money at it, but realized I should've kept my mouth shut since that was her full-time profession. Sometimes I'd like to slap myself for speaking from the heart instead of the head.

To answer your e-mail C, now I'm having fun! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh, one more thing: Chicks Dig Danny King. Just wanted to make sure everyone knows that. (boy am I in a frisky mood tonight!)

[cappuccino]

Yea Kaiser!

Nothing like feeling fit and being fed to make you have fun!!

How'd you know I'd be waiting for the update?? Your log is like a soap opera to me. I'm always curious to know what happens in the next episode [img]smile.gif[/img] You should be a writer to supplement your training income.

Did you actually hurl or just feel like it?

What's the E in BIE? I've always thought it was BIA for bioelectrical impedance Analysis

[Kaiser]

C, you mentioned at the end of your note that 'hope you have fun' or something to that effect. And I did. Thanks for your hoping! It worked! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Typo-that's supposed to read BEI - bio-electrical impedance. That's what I've always referred to it as - I could be wrong.

I didn't hurl and have only done so once recently (when I set out to run the mile in under 6 mins for the first time in a quarter century a few years back. I did it - but went and had a little upchuck right after finishing. 200 meter repeats are no problem, but a fast (for me) mile is tough). In the bootcamp class I used to take for 3 years with my compadres at my old gym (we were great friends and like family - that probably had a lot to do with my being in the best shape of my life and looking forward to going to the gym), we would have someone vomit at least once a month or two. Usually the college or HS kids who came in and thought they could try the class because it looked like 'fun'. My high point in the 3 years was the day I beat a 17 year old lean boy in three 40 yard dashes, and one 400 meter. I still remember the look on the kid's face when after pacing him the first 200 meters, I took off and he cried 'Oh shit!' because he didn't have that gear left in him. The other high point was sprinting step for step with a 23 year old who just got called up to play for DC United (an MLS soccer team). That made this (then) 35 year old feel pretty young. Glory days, they'll pass you by, glory days, in the wink of a young girl's eye.

Well, thanks for reading. Can you tell I'm pumped?