My NROL Experience

[RacerBill]

Nice... musicology humor!

Glad to hear the weight's coming off!

[stingo]

Tougher, shorter class - seemed good though, as we've not done anything like that for a while. Heart rates 80%+ and over but for a rest in the middle.

[stingo]

Weighed in again today - and came in at 230... I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I'd guess with the long plateau that I'd be losing water weight again. Still, I'm not concerned with the number so much as the direction the numbers are going. I can't help but think that re-calibrating the food plan helped a lot because after months and months of 236-240, I'm now down at 230 within a week.

I actually put what I ate into fitday yesterday and came out with 1600 calories. Now, I was taking pains to be sure that my serving sizes were spot on, which tells me I was eating the right foods before, but the serving sizes swelled to the point where I felt comfortable (i.e. maintenance mode rather than weight loss). But now I find I'll have to get more calories to bring it up to a more respectable 2000-2200.

[L'ilJ]

oops

[L'ilJ]

Originally Posted by stingo

Weighed in again today - and came in at 230... I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I'd guess with the long plateau that I'd be losing water weight again. Still, I'm not concerned with the number so much as the direction the numbers are going. I can't help but think that re-calibrating the food plan helped a lot because after months and months of 236-240, I'm now down at 230 within a week.

I actually put what I ate into fitday yesterday and came out with 1600 calories. Now, I was taking pains to be sure that my serving sizes were spot on, which tells me I was eating the right foods before, but the serving sizes swelled to the point where I felt comfortable (i.e. maintenance mode rather than weight loss). But now I find I'll have to get more calories to bring it up to a more respectable 2000-2200.

Wow! That's good news! I would say that 1600 is too low for you...especially since you're doing such a demanding program as FL3. It will eventually catch up with you. You may want to consider eating 2000-2200 calories on the majority of your days with a little more on the days you do a FL3 workout. Do you do a post-workout shake/drink on the days you do FL3? On off days you can drop your calories a bit. Basically, match your calories to your activity level. That way you're keeping your body guessing while making sure you have adequate nutrition for recovery on extra demanding sesssions. Good luck to you!

[stingo]

Yes, I agree 1600 is too low for me - is why I'm selectively adding in other foods to bring it up to 2200. Since it was just spinning yesterday I'm sure I didn't feel it as much as I would have if I tried that on an FL3 day. Granted I'll most likely be over in cals today since Friday is typically my cheat meal day (beer + naughty foods) but up till that point I'll track to see how I do. Thanks for the encouragement Jill, I appreciate it.

[stingo]

60 seconds rest between giant sets, no rest between exercises

Deadlift 2x12@130, 1x11@130, 1x10@130
Explosive Pushup 4x12
Bulgarian Split Squat 4x12
Two Point Dumbbell Row 4x12@50

Deadlift off box 2x20@40
Dumbbell Bench Press 2x20@50
Walking Lunge w/Side Bend 2x20@40
Cable Seated Rows 2x20@160

Hanging Knee Raise 2x10

Notes:

Definitely near my limit for the deadlifts - adding that 1 more rep over A4 was really hard.

Explosive pushups - it wasn't pretty, esp in the 3rd set, but.. 4x12!!!!!

Bulgarian split squat - I really have to stop putting my hand on stuff to balance, it's too easy a crutch.

Dumbbell rows - doing 50 again just felt right. Next time I'll try 55.

Deadlift off box - changed the platform to use the same steps I use in the step ups, also added some weight.

Bench Press - it's hard to believe that I'm doing 2 sets of 20 at a weight I'd be lucky to do 1x8 for.

Walking lunges w/side bend - still need to work on form for these, but balance is less of an issue.

Cable seated rows - I might keep the weight the same next time and make the reps slower to make it more challenging.

Hanging knee raises - these are actually getting a little better - not as much swinging which is good.

Overall - I thought it was a good workout - some nice gains in both form and weight. For whatever reason I felt like I was running out of gas midway through the 1st giant set, but managed to recover through using small rests between exercises (including times I HAD to sit down as I was too lightheaded to do anything else).

[missjane]

Wow! What a workout FLIII is.....no wonder you are losing weight!!! Great job!

[RacerBill]

Good job. FL3 is absolutely killer. But you sure don't need me to tell you that!

Originally Posted by stingo

For whatever reason I felt like I was running out of gas midway through the 1st giant set, but managed to recover through using small rests between exercises (including times I HAD to sit down as I was too lightheaded to do anything else).

Wise decision, I think. Don't try to move weight if you're dizzy or lightheaded. I don't think catching a few breaths will affect the results.

[tkinsley]

Originally Posted by stingo

I'm planning on having them done once I finish Fat Loss III.

Yesterday's kitchen adventure was curried pork tenderloin. A quick and delicious weekday meal. I've never made pork tenderloin before but I will after this experience. Readers of this log know I like curry with just about anything. This dish was no exception. I kind of cheated a bit and had a slice of whole wheat bread as the carb (since I'm not having pb on wwb as my last snack anymore I have to use it up somehow). Steamed broccoli was the order of the day - I think I'm getting the hang of it, to where it's crunchy but not raw, and this batch looked really nice when I plated it.

I had to step on the scale today - I won't say what the number was, but it was lower than 235!

I didn't lose JACK when I was doing FLI or II, if that's any consolation. I DID get a little more round to the booty, though--so I'm sure you're adding a little muscle. Definitely you should track circumferences as well as weight just to have more than one data point to look at. Of course, this can turn into a lot of numbers if you get all keeerazy like some of us (who, me? LOL) tend to do.

KEep up the good work!

Tina

[lance02]

Your workout continue to look really good Stingo. You've really done a great job on all the FL workouts!

[Espi]

Stingo, the more I read about your difficulty losing weight and now seeing you
- eat 1600 when tracking (perhaps more to about 2000-2400 when not tracking)
- do very challenging NROL workouts
- do spinning classes

this sounds like overkill. You're putting tremendous stress on the body and it responds by lowering its' metabolism. I'm too lazy to go back to the last page but I read something about your HR not going up and you more or less contentedly said that it was a good sign as your body is getting more efficient.
RIGHT! Spot on!

That's a good thing for an endurance athlete who's looking only at performance.
But it's absolutely the worst thing for someone looking at weight loss and better body recomposition.

I'd urge you to take a step back after you're done with FL3 and NOT repeat any of the FL routines like some other peeps seem to do forever. Instead, do the strength program and recover from all that stress you've put on the body.

Dieting to take off weight is already stress enough. All you actually need is a good strength program with less volume plus some HIIT-style cardio or WL . FL3 burnt me out quickly, and metabolism even dropped. Now I'm back to my own old strength-based program I do much better and metabolism went up.

The next step was to just include a few sets of 'cardio' lifting like complexes, those exercises from FL2+3. Not all of them, just a few.

Try that and see what happens! Plus eat MORE not less! I'm positive your metabolism will catch up again and fat loss will become easier!

[UConnJulie]

I agree that your calories need to be higher ... the lightheadedness is a big sign for that!!! But the workouts look good ... just add more calories ... glad that the scale is dropping again ... good for you!!

[LWilson212]

Yes, I agree 1600 is too low for me - is why I'm selectively adding in other foods to bring it up to 2200. Since it was just spinning yesterday I'm sure I didn't feel it as much as I would have if I tried that on an FL3 day. Granted I'll most likely be over in cals today since Friday is typically my cheat meal day (beer + naughty foods) but up till that point I'll track to see how I do. Thanks for the encouragement Jill, I appreciate it.

I love how you classify beer and naughty foods as two separate things! :-)

Your workouts look great. 2 sets of 20 dumbbell bench presses with 50 lbs! Wow! I am excited for you that you lost a couple pounds. I know how frustrating it can be.

Keep up the good work.

Leah

[stingo]

Just to clear up a possible misunderstanding - when I was tracking, it was to see what following exact portion sizes and eliminating "unnecessary" foods would do to my calorie intake. The interesting thing is when I dropped the calories, I started dropping weight - after months and months and months of being nearly the same weight. I'm still experimenting though so will see what happens if I go back to the way I was eating before (or higher) and see what that does.

Espi, yes - I'd not planned on doing Fat Loss again for a while. I was thinking Strength I or Hypertrophy I. I'm going to finish out Fat Loss III then take a week (possibly two) off because I do feel burnt out even now with a week of Fat Loss III to go.

Julie, the scale started dropping once I started limiting my caloric intake. Whether that's a healthy solution in the long term is another story, but the point is that altering the nutrition was what got the scale to move. I'd be really interested to see what would happen if I went up to say 2600-2800 calories to see what would happen then.

Leah, but of course - beer is good, and hardly naughty. Thanks for the encouragement, I appreciate it. Whereabouts in PA are you? Northeastern PA here.

[RobLL]

While our 'experts' recommend dropping only some 500 calories below maintainance for the most part, I think they also see going lower from time to time. So long as you are working out hard you will not likely lose muscle.