From Fit to Fat to Fit Again- My Great Experiment

[Kaiser]

Sunday, December 12th

No workout today - legs shot. Went for a 40 minute walk in gale like winds here today (gusts up to 60 mph).

Didn't log food today. Probably not good because I overate.

[cappuccino]

Kaiiiiseeer,

This short post concerns me...

Do you think your overeating is your body saying "help! what are you doing to me, I'm not used to all this activity, feed me carbs, feed me protein, I need a fix to get back to the levels I used to maintain???". Besides if you're kicking your butt in spin+bootcamp, you might need a little more cals than you think.

It's not where you want to be, but you're still 10x better off than you were, and probably are overeating LESS than before. Loosen up and let yourself adjust to the new you.

Sorry if I'm overreacting....but I've held back on the last couple of posts when you said the same thing.

Besides, did you you give yourself credit for these calories???

Made an omelette for me and my wife (kids stayed at my parents last night ...

[Kaiser]

C, thanks for your concern and honesty - no need to apologize for it. Either it'll turn out you were right to be concerned, or it'll not be a big deal. Once I get my RMR determined, we'll find out.

I really don't think I am undereating. If I was, I'd have started out losing weight with a bang. It didn't happen. I''ve actually analyzed my eating data and will post something hopefully tomorrow with some guesses as to what is out of whack. One of the guesses has to do with my RMR being around 2000 kcals... if so, that would explain a lot.

I'm definitely getting enough protein...I'm eating more protein than before.

Yeah, I'll adjust to not being perfect. [img]smile.gif[/img] But I tend to demand a lot of myself (if you couldn't guess from our extra-forum exchanges).

Credit for THAT kcal burn? No, my wife gives me credit for that one! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Again, thanks for being my cyber-conscience and sounding board. I do appreciate it a lot. I have no doubt that if we meet, we'd get along pretty well.

[Kaiser]

Alrighteee! Getting my RMR tested on Wednesday morning. The lady who does it seems pretty cool - she is a strength and conditioning coach for Loyola University, and she is a CSCS. We already talked a lot on the phone, and I'm sure it will continue with the testing.

Here's my numbers for the days logged.
-Since Nov 15th, 18 days logged, 8 days not logged (4 of which were the Thanksgiving day weekend)
-Average exercise expenditure for days logged: 385
-RMR at 2,400
-Average total expenditure at 2,785 kcals/day
-Average food intake: 2,182 kcals
-Average Deficit: 604 kcals/day

-Average Macro%: 35%C/26%P/39%F of which 8% ot total is saturated.


OK, at these numbers, I should be losing my 1 to 1-1/2 lbs of fat a week. It ain't happening. So, here are some what-ifs:

-My overall calculated deficit for the 18 days was 10,865 kcals - even IF I overate on the days I didn't log, I would've had to eat an extra 1,358 kcals per day on top of my normal 2400 kcal number to wipe out the deficit. I never eat this much - so this is most likely not the cause of my failure to date.
-IF I overestimated RMR by 400 kcals, my average deficit would be 204 kcals. Still, that should put me at some loss, not none as has happened.
-IF I overestimated my exercise expenditure by 15%, that would only put my deficit down to 546 kcals/day.
-IF I underestimated my food intake by 10% (very unlikely given that I weigh to the gram and input everything), then my deficit would be 495/day. Should still see loss.
-I would have to have all of the above factors to have a wash (deficit of only 37 kcals).... hard to believe I would've messed up that much since I have done this type of measuring many times before with no problem.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Will be interesting to see what the RMR turns out to be.

[cappuccino]

Yea! Pumped up Kaiser!!

So would your tested RMR only be your current RMR or should it be representative of a normal day? I think that's pretty cool and would be interested in testing mine as well.

Credit for THAT kcal burn? No, my wife gives me credit for that one!

Then how come YOU'RE the one that made breakfast?? LOL, just kidding [img]smile.gif[/img]

Again, thanks for being my cyber-conscience and sounding board. I do appreciate it a lot. I have no doubt that if we meet, we'd get along pretty well.

yep! I agree. I'd hide your cocoa puffs and you'd make me puke & pass out doing sprints on a track. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kaiser]

Originally posted by cappuccino:
So would your tested RMR only be your current RMR or should it be representative of a normal day? I think that's pretty cool and would be interested in testing mine as well.

There are a whole lot of guidelines that they give you to follow so it is representative of your normal (such as no caffeine, no food, no exercise, no nicotine - all for at least 4 hours prior to the test).

]yep! I agree. I'd hide your cocoa puffs and you'd make me puke & pass out doing sprints on a track. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Isn't that what you're looking for in a man? When it comes to food, especially chocolate, hiding will not stop me from finding it. Sad, but true. But the real funny part would be dressing a passed out Capp in a big chicken costume and leaving you laying on the track with a note that said "I thought I could make it across the street."

[Kaiser]

Monday, December 13th


Resistance Training
BOM, Intermediate Weeks 4-6 B. Legs and Lower Back. Finally got to the first leg day here. Squats in sets of 20! My VMOs got tired -again. Low weights (embarassingly low, actually), but I finished strong and my form was pretty good. I simlutaneously love and hate legs. If I could, I'd do them twice a week. Of course, with all the spin classes, that would be major overkill.


HIIT
Leg day? HIIT? Are you kidding?


Diet
Basal: 2,400 kcals (????)
Exercise: 283 kcals
Food: 2,120 kcals
Deficit: 563 kcals

31%C/27%P/42%F of which 10% of total was saturated.


Mindless Monologues
-gonna get my BMR tested on Wednesday.

-legs - maybe I like doing them because I have big thighs and glutes. Maybe that's why I like cycling - self selection. Chicken or egg?

-Watched Supersize Me again with my wife. What an amazing movie.

-I was asked again to teach management and marketing classes at a local university. I think I'm going to say yes. I enjoy teaching. The class they are asking about is on Tues and Thursday early evenings, so I'm going to have to rearrange my workout schedule come January. You need help when you hesitate answering a job offer for something you love because it is going to screw up your current workout schedule.

[cappuccino]

Neato on the teaching assginment. That sounds like fun and obviously something you like doing.

You need help when you hesitate answering a job offer for something you love because it is going to screw up your current workout schedule.

Nah, that's a sign of getting your mind in the right place

Can't wait to hear about your BMR test.

20 rep or sets of squats?? I think I've read someone talking about those. Either way, ouchy. I bet you're barely walking out of there!

[Kaiser]

Tuesday, December 14th


Aerobic/Anaerobic Intervals
Spin class; thought I'd be tired since my legs were sore from leg day. But I felt strong and even outsrpinted the fast cadence babe, who was sitting next to me. After class, the instructor said I looked strong.


Diet
Basal: 2,400 kcals (????)
Exercise: 538 kcals
Food: 2,148 kcals
Deficit: 780 kcals

29%C/23%P/48%F of which 9% of total was saturated.


Tittilating Tomes
-RMR testing tomorrow morning - here's the info.

-here's my changes in one month. Disappointing, to say the least, and the changes are well within the range of measuring variability:

Weight Loss: 1.5 lbs
Fat Loss: 0.5% BF
Lean Weight: decrease of 0.19 lbs.
Fat Weight: decrease of 1.31 lbs.
Waist: decrease of 0.875 inches
Right Arm: increase of 0.313 inches (I am left handed, FYI)
Left Thigh: increase of 0.375 inches
Left Calf: decrease of 0.438 inches
Chest: no change

I really hope I get something out of the RMR testing.

[Kaiser]

Originally posted by cappuccino:
Neato on the teaching assginment. That sounds like fun and obviously something you like doing.

Thanks C.

20 rep or sets of squats?? I think I've read someone talking about those. Either way, ouchy. I bet you're barely walking out of there!

It was 2 work set of 20 reps each. Preceded by two warm up sets of 10 each. Not top much, but I did feel it this morning, especially in the adductors.

[cappuccino]

Nearly an inch from your waist seems like great progress, no? What were your expectations for the others? Increase arms/thighs/calf...assuming it's muscle? or were you expecting a decrease?

[Kaiser]

Not sure. It could be tighter ab muscles and better posture. Certainly, it's not reflected on the Tanita or the calipers.

I think the changes in the size of the muscles is just variability. It's too small to say with certainty, although I do believe my arms are getting a bit larger.

I would be happy with staying the same and stripping the fat. Really, if I could lose the fat, I think the muscularity would pop back pretty quickly. Then I would need to work hard to get in shape like JP and Johnka (something I would have to work VERY hard to do). I just want to lose the fat and would be willing to lose some LBM to do it.

BTW, the calf was a decrease. Kinda bummed about that -that is where I am pretty puny (my upper arms are bigger than my calves!).

[Kaiser]

HOLY FREAKING CRAP. MY RMR IS 1,480! I HAD PLUGGED IN 2,400!! NO WONDER I WASN'T HITTING MY GOALS!!!

[Kaiser]

PLAN REVISION 1
from last week:

Originally posted by Kaiser:
Here's my numbers for the days logged.
-Since Nov 15th, 18 days logged, 8 days not logged (4 of which were the Thanksgiving day weekend)
-Average exercise expenditure for days logged: 385
-RMR at 2,400
-Average total expenditure at 2,785 kcals/day
-Average food intake: 2,182 kcals
-Average Deficit: 604 kcals/day

-Average Macro%: 35%C/26%P/39%F of which 8% ot total is saturated.


OK, at these numbers, I should be losing my 1 to 1-1/2 lbs of fat a week. It ain't happening. So, here are some what-ifs:

-My overall calculated deficit for the 18 days was 10,865 kcals - even IF I overate on the days I didn't log, I would've had to eat an extra 1,358 kcals per day on top of my normal 2400 kcal number to wipe out the deficit. I never eat this much - so this is most likely not the cause of my failure to date.
-IF I overestimated RMR by 400 kcals, my average deficit would be 204 kcals. Still, that should put me at some loss, not none as has happened.
-IF I overestimated my exercise expenditure by 15%, that would only put my deficit down to 546 kcals/day.
-IF I underestimated my food intake by 10% (very unlikely given that I weigh to the gram and input everything), then my deficit would be 495/day. Should still see loss.
-I would have to have all of the above factors to have a wash (deficit of only 37 kcals).... hard to believe I would've messed up that much since I have done this type of measuring many times before with no problem.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. Will be interesting to see what the RMR turns out to be.

A Second Look
Well, we can see that my RMR was grossly overestimated, even though I had taken down the Fitday estimate by 300 kcals. Looking at the actual RMR numbers plugged in:

-Average exercise expenditure for days logged: 385
-RMR at 1,480
-Average total expenditure at 1,865 kcals/day
-Average food intake: 2,182 kcals
-Average SURPLUS: 317 kcals/day

No since I haven't gained weight or fat, my average must have been pretty much in balance, not in surplus as indicated above. The CSCS who did my RMR testing thought that my exercise expenditure numbers were underestimating a little bit, so I can bump them up by about 25% to get a number closer to zero for the previous period.


So Now What?
New eating plan. Instead of 2,000 kcals/day consumed, it'll be 1,500 kcals per day. Am a little freaked out by a number that low, because I had always heard that you are approaching a starvation mode near that number, but based upon my test and exercise level, when I plug in the numbers to my spreadhseet for the last month, if I had been eating at that level, I'd still only have around a 370 kcal/day deficit, on average.

Here's how I'm planning to do it:
Breakfast: 350 kcals
Snack 1: 150
Lunch: 400
Snack2/PWO (if applicable): 200
Dinner: 400
TOTAL INTAKE: 1,500 kcals/day average

I'm also shifting some of my kcals - from before, you can see my macronutrient breakdown. Apparenltly, my protein numbers are right on as far as grams...I will need to transfer some fat kcals to carb kcals to get back in line with a 30/40/30 breakdown.

That's the new plan.


Other notes:
-she said it isn't uncommon to have that low of a RMR. Rates are very individual and all over the board. Also, since I worked at so much endurance work and dropped the intense workouts over the last 7 months, I'm guessing I may have actually lowered my RMR a bunch.

-no wonder I haven't felt very hungry in the last month, whereas before when I went into deficit and lost 1 lb/week, I was always a little hungry throughout the day. Looks like I'll be going back to that feeling.

-I'm kind of irritated that I wasted a month of time. But I'll consider it a 'breaking in' or conditioning period, both for lifting as well as calorie cutback.

[Bill2380]

Kaiser,

I've read most of your log and find that I'm pretty much an older, slightly less in shape version of you. I've started BOM one week ago after doing four months of Turbulence Training. I too have gained a few pounds in my rest week and the first week of BOM. Your post encouraged me to start a fitday log again. At 6'2" 225 lbs I should be able to eat 2500 cals a day and still loose 1 lb per week. Seems kinda too good to be true. I'm sticking to the BOM workout for at least another few months, hell I've got $35 invested, and adding HIIT at least 4 times a week. I'm curious about your feelings on the BOM workouts. Leg day really made me sore, but the other workouts seem fairly easy so far. Maybe it's still a matter of adjusting up the weights. The slow tempo is still hard to get used to also. Good luck with your program. Thanks for posting.