Tenacious DM and the Log of Destiny - JP Fitness Forums

DirtyMartini · 02-03-2008, 04:23 PM

So... I've read NR4W and lurked here for a couple of weeks at least and have discovered that there are a couple of things about me:

- I don't know nearly as much about nutrition as I thought I did
- Holy crap, my calories are too low for what I'm doing and I'm sabotaging myself

So after going back & forth for a couple of days on whether I should do a log (do I create a thread that's ALL ABOUT ME!! or do I just kinda read through what others are posting and cower in their impressive achievements), I decided to go ahead.

About me:
Moved out to KC in July '07 from Portland OR and love it out here (as an ex-vegetarian, I have learned the joys of KC BBQ). I'm 32, 5'6", and have struggled with my weight pretty much since puberty. Went through high school around 165-170, college around 175 with a drop to 135 and back up to ~185 at graduation...

At my max, I weighed 215. That was around Christmas of 2001. Over the next couple of years I lost a bunch of weight (cardio + weight machines at the gym) and got down to about 155... I've maintained a 148 - 160 weight since then and am now around 150. I ran two half-marathons in 2007 and loved it. But I'm not as strong as I'd like to be.

I love beer and I miss it (I used to have about 2 per day and today I'm having my first beer of the year, and drink #5 of the year). I love Belgian and craft beer and still miss the taste of it. I don't even care about the alcohol. If only I could get a "Beer Zero" that tasted like a Rogue Juniper Ale or a Stone Arrogant Bastard, I'd be set. I've been subbing Crystal Light in my evenings instead. Not the same, but it's something to drink. But, my health and strength is more important to me than a beer so... here I am.

Stuff I'm excited about:
Well, that's related to the forum anyway.

I bought a Sports Nutrition book that seems to agree with NR4W and explains in depth stuff I've never really understood or had a chance to learn. Things like glycogen storage and ATP/ADP and what sodium & potassium do to water with your muscle cells, etc. It's pretty interesting.

In ummm (counting...) 4 NR4W workouts, I can visually see a difference in my arms, pecs, and shoulders. I can't wait to see what happens in June. I keep telling myself I should take a before picture... Last summer, I was in decent shape and bought (and wore!!) a bikini for the first time. I have had 2 dreams about wearing that bikini since starting NR4W. I wonder what's on my mind.

Workouts:
My boyfriend turned me on to NR4W and I've been a convert. At home, we have power blocks and TODAY just bought an olympic weight set. Squats just with the bar are SO much easier! I immediately felt a difference in how much more limited my right side (which frequently tries to dominate) was in comparison to my left. And how much more weight I could lift.

After Christmas, I weighed in at 155 and am now at 150.6 (and 2% BF lighter) after a month of cycling (indoor) and my-own-program weight lifting. I started NR4W recently and do my lifting on MWF, with cycle intervals on TRSa. Sundays off. Tomorrow I do Stage 1 A3.

Purpose:
I have two purposes in maintaining a log:

Track my nutrition. Right now, I take in about 1500 calories a day and get full doing so. It seems like so much food going more than that, and I feel "wrong" eating when I'm not hungry. So I have to figure out ways to up my caloric intake, especially since I'm working out 6 days a week. I get pretty good ratios on the macros, though, and my protein tends to be around 125g per day. I could probably up that a bit. I would love any input in this arena. I get bored with food quickly... for example, eating cottage cheese every day for a snack gets tiring after a week or so.
Track my progress. I feel pretty good when I look back and see something I've written that looks like "wow I ran 2 miles today without stopping!" when I can run 10 miles without stopping. I keep paper logs of my workouts but those don't track the context or mood or emotions of the day/workout.

As usual, I'm being extremely verbose so I'll stop here.

amy

DirtyMartini · 02-03-2008, 04:29 PM

Duh, my goals

Currently, my scale says I'm 32.5% body fat which I'm not sure I believe. But, let's go by my scale since it's at least consistent between my weekly weigh-ins. I'd like to get down to maybe 135 pounds ish, and about 20-22% body fat.

I think I can do that in 6 months.

NorthernWisco · 02-03-2008, 04:37 PM

Good luck with your goals!!!!!

DirtyMartini · 02-04-2008, 06:23 AM

I set almost all PRs today, yay!

Workout: Phase I, A3
Squats: 2x12 @ 45lbs (PR!)
Pushups: 2x10 @ 25% angle or so. I completely suck at pushups so I'm looking forward to being able to do these from the floor! (I could at one time...)
Bent-over rows: 2x12 @ 50lbs (25lbs each hand and a PR!)
Step-ups: 2x12 @ 40lbs (20lbs each hand and a PR!)
Prone Jackknife: 2x10... my first set felt kind of easy so I should have done an alteration to it (someone linked to one where you basically put your butt up in the air with toes on the ball). Come the 2nd set, not so easy.

As RedWifey would put it, I felt vomitastic after my workout. bleh! I mean, YAY!

Am now having half of John Berardi's recipe for blueberry oatmeal which brings in about 350 calories so far today.

DirtyMartini · 02-04-2008, 06:25 AM

Oh! Another goal I have is to be able to squat my bodyweight by the end of the year. So I'm thinking, if I'm down to 135 and pretty strong (which I will be!), I should be able to squat an oly bar with 2 45lb weights.

Lost Dog · 02-04-2008, 07:48 AM

What's the book?

I'm right there with you on the beer. Usually, the time to drink a beer or two is a time when I'd interfere with a workout or something else fun, so I just pass. I love beer for the taste.

I struggled with my weight all my life, until 5 years ago. Something clicked and here I am. Weights and eating right are the tools for me, trying to stay happy is the way for me. Hand in hand.

I like the log name...

Mahler · 02-04-2008, 08:03 AM

Welcome aboard and good luck in achieving your goals.

LWilson212 · 02-04-2008, 08:52 AM

Welcome to the forum! I grew up in Portland Or as well although I've lived in Pittsburgh for around ten years now. And we're about the same age.

I was attracted to your log by the title. My boyfriend loves Tenacious D. He was really excited that they even have a song on guitar hero.

Good luck with your workouts. Definitely take before pictures and tape measurements because Alwyn's workouts will change your body.

DirtyMartini · 02-04-2008, 04:48 PM

Yeah, I need to get a body tape measure, and we've talked about getting some calipers (the BF is also working out, but waiting until our power rack comes before he starts NROL).

LD, the book is "The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition" by Anita Bean. It's British but there isn't much in there that is different or foreign (she does mention kilojoules but sticks to kcal).

I'm at about 1150 calories today so far and already had dinner. Maaaaaaaan. I had the oatmeal for breakfast, almonds for a snack, chicken breast + ww roll + salad for lunch, plum for a snack (small, I know), and a big bowl of chicken black bean soup for dinner. I told myself I'd strive for 2000 cals on my lifting days and today was a lifting day so I have 850 calories to go. *cry* I think I'll make myself a protein smoothie or something for my evening snack. I've already had 109g of protein today though...

... for someone with ~30% body fat and 150 pounds, how much protein should I be getting? If I go by body weight, 150g - but I assume my fat doesn't need protein, so shouldn't I be getting about 100g (since 100# of my body weight is non-fat)?

This whole "eating healthy" thing has really made it hard to get my calories in. Beer and pub fries and potato chips would be really helpful in this arena if they weren't so damn bad for me.

DirtyMartini · 02-04-2008, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LWilson212

I was attracted to your log by the title. My boyfriend loves Tenacious D. He was really excited that they even have a song on guitar hero.

That's awesome. Jack Black cracks me up and I wish there was more Tenacious D stuff out there... Can't get enough of the D.

Lost Dog · 02-04-2008, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirtyMartini

... for someone with ~30% body fat and 150 pounds, how much protein should I be getting? If I go by body weight, 150g - but I assume my fat doesn't need protein, so shouldn't I be getting about 100g (since 100# of my body weight is non-fat)?

I don't think there's any magic number that's perfect. 100 to 136g of protein all will work. That's about 144 calories of slop calories to pull from elsewhere. "Empty" carbs would be my choice. For me, anyway, I'd rather have 144 calories of chicken or something and skip a portion of bread. But, it shouldn't make or break you, either way.

DirtyMartini · 02-06-2008, 06:27 PM

So yesterday I had 1570 calories and tonight I'm up to 1544 before my evening snack. Getting better...
My breakdown for today so far looks like...
Fat 23.45%
Carbs 44.93%
Protein 31.62%

Probably need to up the fat....?

Yesterday I did HIIT on the bike - 20 minutes total - 3 minute warmup, 30s @ 90%, 90s rest.

I did P1 B3 today and upped my weights for every single exercise. Yay!

deadlifts - 2x12 @ 65lbs
shoulder press - 2x12 @ 15e
pullover (instead of the lat pulldown) - 2 x 12 @ 10e (even a week ago, I was dying at 5lbs in each hand, so yay!)
lunges - 2x12 @ 15e (I really want to improve this by quite a bit - 15lb dumbbells seems so... puny!)
swiss ball crunches 2x10

Slowly but surely... and all PRs (well, minus the crunches)

LisaS · 02-06-2008, 06:35 PM

how is "shoulder press" different than "overhead DB press" in your log? or do you mean pullovers?

DirtyMartini · 02-06-2008, 06:57 PM

oops! thank you. fixed it

DirtyMartini · 02-07-2008, 05:59 AM

my intervals sucked this morning! After my 1st interval I couldn't catch my breath & got all dizzy... I calmed down after about 2 minutes & did the rest of my workout a little less "high intensity" than I normally do, and cut my time by 5 minutes. So disappointing, but I've been tired lately and I didn't want to over-do it.

Weighed in this morning (thursday ritual). .2 pounds less but half a % less body fat (.8 pounds of fat) so I guess that's a good thing. Sometimes I feel like I'll never get rid of this little lump of belly fat (who, me, impatient?!!).

AnnetteW · 02-07-2008, 06:51 AM

I wanted to say hi as I'm also from KC. I live in Roeland Park and workout at the Golds Gym off of I35 and Shawnee Mission Pkwy. I'm sure you know where it is.

Sounds like you are workout out at home though.

I'm enjoying NROL4W myself. Good luck with your workouts.

Lost Dog · 02-07-2008, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DirtyMartini

Weighed in this morning (thursday ritual). .2 pounds less but half a % less body fat (.8 pounds of fat) so I guess that's a good thing. Sometimes I feel like I'll never get rid of this little lump of belly fat (who, me, impatient?!!).

I feel that way all the time. It's been about 5 years of losing weight, over here.

My advice is to not let yourself get too frustrated and to set long term goals that allow you to have short term breaks. You might want to take a dieting break and work on strength or endurance events, for instance. Guys want to get bigger, but not all women want that.

It's been something of a roller coaster over the past three years, in particular. All in all, I'm heavier now (185 vs 160) than three years back, yet I'm a lot leaner than I was three years ago, too.