I started lifting weights about two months ago. My goal was to maintain my weight while trying to get over an issue with compulsive exercise. I've been an obsessive runner for two years, and kept having to run more and more to maintain my weight. I was hoping weight lifting could be a more efficient form of exercise that would allow me to maintain my weight without spending two hours a day running.
When I started lifting, I already liked my body. I didn't want to change anything, just maintain - just more efficiently. This has been a real struggle for me. Now I realize that if I build muscle I'm going to get bigger. (Duh.) If I don't want that to happen I have to cut, too. I've really struggled with this and am just sort of going with the flow now. I like seeing my new muscles, but I don't like my pants not fitting.
I am following NRL4W, but I fell on my ass on some ice a week and a half ago and bruised my tailbone. As it's painful to deadlift my dog's poop off the sidewalk right now, I've had to come up with the best gimped-out version of an Alwyn Cosgrove workout that I can. Basically, I can't pick stuff up off the ground. Lower body work not involving weights or jarring seems fine - I can squat without weight, but not lunge (if that makes sense). Hopefully I won't have to do this for much longer and can start Stage 2 like a normal person.
Yesterday's workout:
Cardio at lunch - 20 minutes HIIT on treadmill/elliptical (treadmill until my ass starting hurting, then I finished up on the elliptical); 25 minutes steady-state on elliptical
And then I literally scraped myself up off the floor.
Food:
I eat a lot. Yesterday I clocked in at 2,650 calories (47%C/29%P/24%F), but I'm freaking hungry all the time. I tend to stare psychotically at the clock and count down the minutes until I can eat again.
7:30am - Morningstar fake sausage pattie, cottage cheese
10am - Fage 0% Yogurt, cup of mixed fruit (grapes, strawberries, pineapple)
1:30pm - Salad w/lots of veggies, a half egg and some tofu, whole wheat tortilla and 2 fake meat deli slices, cottage cheese, orange
4:00pm - Tuna cup, carrots and hummus, pear
6:30pm - half banana and Myloplex Lite shake (pre- and during-workout)
7:30pm - exact same thing (post-workout)
8:00pm - peanut butter and jelly sandwich on an English muffin, balance bar, couple of walnuts
10:30pm - apple, zone bar
1:30am (woke up starving, could not get back to sleep without food) - Atkins bar, cottage cheese, grapes and blueberries, tbsp of peanut butter
Clearly I need to work on the later part of the day. I don't know what to do about the nighttime eating thing; this never really happened until I started lifting. I generally only make it through one or two nights a week without having to get up and eat something. (And I'm already on Rozerum for an unrelated problem.)
I'm working on gradually adopting the Precision Nutrition 7 habits. I've got the eating every 2-3 hours down, and protein at every meal. I just got more or less on board with starchy carbs only post-workout, and now I'm working on veggies every meal. After this I will try to drop most processed foods (good-bye, Zone bars).
Progress:
I'm using a couple of things to monitor progress (or lack thereof) - currently waist measurement, Omron, and calipers. I do these every day to track trends. The scale still scares me, but I just realized that I need to weigh myself to get an accurate Omron measurement. (The Omron has been dropping but I realized I'm not factoring in any possible weight increases in water/lean mass/fat/whatever in it. I feel puffy and huge today so the drop didn't make sense to me.) Perhaps I can bring myself to weigh in one of these mornings.
Today -
Age - 30
Height - 5'3.5"
Weight - 135 I think
Waist - 29
Omron - 22.5%
Calipers - 10mm (whatever that is, I just don't want it to go up)
Last night I finally got up the courage to weigh myself. Bad. Very bad. Even I can't convince myself that the ten pounds I've gained in the past two months are all muscle. Time to go on a goddamned diet. God, I feel like an idiot.
Yesterday's exercise:
30 minutes interval training on treadmill (not HIIT, but I wouldn't call it low intensity, either) - this sucked. My ass really hurt (tailbone issue) and my calves were tight.
20 minutes on bike, the last 4 minutes of which were 12/8 Tabatas intervals
Yesterday's food:
7:30am - Fake sausage pattie, 1/2 cup cottage cheese
10am - Greek yogurt, mixed blueberries and grapes, carrots
1:30pm - Spinach salad, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, small apple, whole wheat tortilla and 2 fake deli slices
4:30pm - Tuna cup, broccoli and cauliflower and hummus, medium apple
8pm - Egg/egg white omlette with spinach and mushrooms, 1/2 cube TJ's baked tofu, frozen banana, tbsp peanut butter
9:30pm - Zone bar
No night eating as I had just had the horrible experience of weighing myself and perferred to stay awake and starve.
you should give Adam's Diet a try. Its a great way to not really diet or count calories and im not the only one who has had results that include fat loss while being able to slowly add muscle.
Yes, stop being so hard on yourself! Your body is going through a lot of changes right now, and it might take some time to iron everything out. You're hungry because you're doing A LOT of (new) lifting, with an every-other-day session of intervals. That's not bad, just... different.
I'm (becoming) a reformed cardio-queen (and I do a sport that requires a lot of cardio!), and experience has shown me that more lifting / less cardio is more effective at changing my body comp.-- for the better. Be patient.
Finally, I broke my tailbone a few years ago; it was awful! Sorry you're in so much pain... can you ice, or sit on a donut?
I'm walking 60 miles for a breast cancer cure, September 11-13, 2009! Please support my walk and help me raise funds for cancer research by donating to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer 3-Day: http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/...nal&fr_id=1300
Morning - about 5.5 miles on the treadmill, 10 minutes of which were HIIT. (Did the warmup/HIIT/cool-down/sit on ass for 5 minutes/steady-state combo)
Afternoon - weights with personal trainer
Step-ups (6 inserts on the Reebok step) 15/20 15/20 (my ass hurt more than my leg did, perhaps not the best exercise for the tailbone impaired)
Incline flys 10/8 10/8
Twisting Shoulder Press (don't know official name) 20/8 20/8
Upright flys 10/7 10/7
Tricep dips (straight leg - hate!) 10/BW 10/BW
Bicep curls (I know, I know, her idea) 10/Bar 10/Bar
Assisted Chin-Ups 10/88 10/88 (88 is the assisted weight? So really about 50 pounds)
Long-arm crunch 10/BW 10/BW (trainer showed me how to do these properly - much harder)
Back curls
Plank
Food:
7:30am - Fake veggie sausage pattie, hardboiled egg
10:30am - Greek yogurt, grapes and blueberries, baby carrots
1:30pm - Salad, TJ's baked tofu
5pm - Post workout shake (Myloplex Lite), red pepper and hummus, cottage cheese
8pm - Baked salmon with roasted cherry tomatoes, 1/2 cup lentils, brussels sprouts, apple and 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
1517 cals (40% C/35%P/25% F)
I started 20-hour intermittent fast at 8:26pm. (Read about this on Skwigg and decided to give it a try.) I am planning on having a small meal at 4:30pm before I leave work. I cannot believe how non-homicidal I am. It's 11am and I'm slightly hungry, but overall I feel fine and have a ton of energy. I guess we'll see how the next 5 hours go before I call it a success. Today's a rest day, so I don't have to do anything except sit at my desk anyway. Then I will have normal food tonight and tomorrow and hopefully have enough energy for HIIT and lifting. We'll see. Just an experiment.
Yes, stop being so hard on yourself! Your body is going through a lot of changes right now, and it might take some time to iron everything out. You're hungry because you're doing A LOT of (new) lifting, with an every-other-day session of intervals. That's not bad, just... different.
I'm (becoming) a reformed cardio-queen (and I do a sport that requires a lot of cardio!), and experience has shown me that more lifting / less cardio is more effective at changing my body comp.-- for the better. Be patient.
Finally, I broke my tailbone a few years ago; it was awful! Sorry you're in so much pain... can you ice, or sit on a donut?
Thanks Kate! I really appreciate the support. I'm becoming a reformed cardio queen too. I'll try to be patient.
I think I got lucky in that it's just bruised - I can't imagine breaking it!! I usually ice it at night. It gets better every day - once again, just have to be patient!
Yesterday's intermittent fast experiment went remarkably well. I won't say it was easy, because I was hungry all afternoon, but I'm hungry EVERY afternoon, so whatevs. I was in a great mood and was the most productive I've been at work in a long time. I had plenty of energy, didn't get the shakes or anything, and was able to walk around the city no problem.
I went back to eating normally when the 20 hours was over and wasn't ravenous and stuffing my face as feared. A couple of things I noticed - one, that I got extremely cold after eating that first meal as all my blood went to go digest it. Must make sure to be someplace warm for the first meal after a fast. Also, my HIIT/steady state run this morning was pretty normal. I skipped my pre-run Gu, which maybe wasn't the best choice given the fast, but I wasn't lacking in energy. Finally, other than the apple I had pre-bed, it was a pretty low-carb day for me. I was surprised how good it felt. I would like to give the TNT diet a try, but being vegetarian + fish would be quite a challenge, I think. For now I think I will stick with Precision Nutrition.
Yesterday's Exercise:
Rest day
Yesterday's Food:
4:30pm - Spinach salad, 1/2 TJ's baked tofu, hardboiled egg
8:30pm - Stuffed orange roughy, leftover lentils and brussels sprouts
10:30pm - Cottage cheese, apple, tbsp walnuts (I forgot the veggies! Crap, that makes it a 10% meal)
1001 calories (36% C/30% P/34% F)
Progress:
Age:30
Height: 5'3.5"
Weight: 139.8 (I'm sure the four pounds I lost in the past two days are all water, but I'm not denying it's reassuring to see the 130s again)
Omron: 24.1%
Waist: 28.5
Calipers: 10mm
So, when I started this weight lifting biznass, I had no goal other than to get over my little compulsive exercise problem. Now, things have been pretty good. I've had the help of meds and therapy and I've managed to break free of the obsessive part of it. I like exercise again, and am having a lot of fun with weight training.
But now I have a goal! Like everyone else already had. So, as previously noted, I've gained some weight since I started eating more and stopped exercising 3 hours a day, every day. That was probably inevitable, but if possible, I'd like to fit into my pants again. Also, I tested out some deadlifts a bit last night after I finished lifting, and I think my tailbone issue is finally to the point where I can ditch my Gimped-Out Workouts(TM) and go back to the book.
In seven weeks, I'm running a half-marathon and then going on vacation for a week. (The half-marathon is actually part of the vacation. Yes, I know the crazy.) I'm planning on switching to NROL and doing Fat Loss II and III in those seven weeks and hopefully getting in bikini-style shape for vacay. Then I will take that vacation week off to recover. For food, I'm planning on doing Precision Nutrition and experimenting with the intermittent fasts. We'll see how it goes.
Yesterday's exercise:
Cardio (am):
5.5 miles on the treadmill, 10 of which was HIIT intervals.
Weights (afternoon):
This would be Gimped-Out Workout A:
A1 - Front Squat/Push Press 30 (dumbbells)/15 Bar/15 Bar/15
B1 - Pushups 12/BW 12/BW 13/BW (to failure, then dropped to knees for 12 more)
B2 - Cable Rows 12/70 12/70 12/75
C1 - Bulgarian Split Squat 15/BW 17/BW 23/BW
C2 - Horizontal Wood Chop 15/4 plates 15/4 10/5
D1 - Prone Dumbbell Snatch 10/8 10/8 10/10 (pretty shitty form at the end, there)
D2 - Prone Jacknifes - 17/BW 17/BW 17/BW
Food:
7:30am - Apple, 2 veggie breakfast sausages, hardboiled egg
11am - Greek yogurt, grapes and blueberries, carrot sticks
2pm - Salad, TJ's baked tofu, hardboiled egg
4:30pm (post-workout) - Myoplex Lite Shake, carrot sticks, salmon cup
7:30pm - Halibut, couscous, roasted broccoli, 2 glasses of red wine, chocolate protein bar (10% meal due to wine and couscous)
10:30pm - Apple, cottage cheese, handful of broccoli, 2 tbsp walnuts
2:30am - Chocolate protein bar (forgot the veggies! crap! 10% meal)
2635 calories (32% P/30% C/31% F/7% booze)
That's a lot, but I was pretty active. In addition to the cardio and weights, I ended up walking about 3 miles around the city running errands and stuff.
Progress:
Age: 30
Height: 5'3.5"
Weight: 139.2
Waist: 29
Omron: 24.3% (I'm assuming since this is going up, this means I've lost all water, which obviously is what I'd expect)
Calipers: 10mm
Yesterday's exercise:
Was supposed to run 7 miles, but ran 8.5 and walked another one and a half (half-marathon training). I was watching the movie Zodiac while I ran and was trying to finish it. That movie? Is really long. And sort of boring.
Yesterday's food:
7am - GU pre- and during-run (I don't count this in the calories total, cost of doing business)
10:00am - Apple, omlette with broccoli, onions, and garlic, veggie breakfast pattie, Atkins bar
1pm - Greek yogurt, ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins, though tragically, I had to use dried cranberries instead), couple of deli slices and a baby bell (cheese)
4:30pm - Mediterranean Salad (cucumbers and tomatoes in olive oil), chocolate soy milk protein shake, JP's peanut butter cookie
7:30pm - Dinner at a Greek restaurant. Small serving of saganaki (v. small), some beets, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cooked string beans, and fish. Took half of it home. Oh, and a glass of red wine. (10% meal. That's my last one of the week. Thank god it's Saturday!)
1732 cals (32% P/21% C/41% F/6% booze)
After the dinner out, I tried another IF experiment. This one did not go so well. Around 1:30 today, I started to get the shakes and had to quit. I have a couple of theories about this, but will go into that tomorrow.
Didn't weigh myself first thing this morning, so I won't report it. Waist 28.5.
So, yeah. The fasting yesterday did not go so well. I woke up starving at about 5am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up around 6. (ON A SUNDAY.) I watched some TV and played around on my computer and then realized that holy shit! We had sprung forward at it was really 7 am! Only 9.5 hours to go!
Yeah. So, not a promising start. At 1:30 I started to get the shakes and I called things off. Not worth it. I'm not sure why I had such a different experience from last time, though I suspect running 9 miles and then eating low-carb for the rest of that day, followed by a fast, might have had something to do with it. Methinks my muscles were totally empty at the end of the run (I hit the "wall" and had run out of GU), and then I didn't really refill them, and then I tried to fast, which is, obviously, no carb. I've heard that your body can be pretty unhappy the first couple of days of a low-carb diet, which is essentially what I gave it.
On the other hand, so much of fasting is mental. Being at home versus being at work I think made a big difference. I won't be trying this at home again for awhile.
Anyway, I rebounded and had a good start to the Fat Loss II program.
Yesterday's exercise:
Fat Loss II, Workout A/1
A1 - Front squat (using dumbbells, struggled with grip) 12/30 12/30 12/30
A2 - One point dumbbell row (sub for wide-grip cable pull, no cable machine) 12/20 (10#e) 12/25 12/30
B1 - Supine leg curl 12/BW 12/BW 12/BW
B2 - Dumbbell press (sub for barbell, no barbell) 12/30 (15#e) 10/30&2/25 10/30&4/25
So freaking excited to be able to play with my kettleball! I got it the day before I busted my tailbone.
Food:
1:30pm - Spinach salad, Greek yogurt, apple, Atkins bar
4:30pm - Leftover fish and string beans from Saturday night, string cheese, carrots
5:30-6:30pm - Pre-, during- and post-workout shakes (A strawberry Myoplex - yum!, some protein powder mixed with water - blah, and an apple)
9-11pm (grazing) - Roasted eggplant and zucchini with a tomato and fake meat sauce, string cheese, baby bell, tbsp of cashews, Pure Protein bar, handful of blueberries
1764 cals (39% P/41% C/20% F)
Isn't it sort of wrong that on fasting days, I eat the same as a lot of women do normally?
Progress:
Weight: 138.6
Omron: 24.4% (I did this five or six times and got readings from 24.0-24.5%. I decided to just report the first one.)
Waist: 27.75 (hells yeah, bitches)
Calipers: 10mm (I'm thinking this will never change. Also, I don't know what I'm doing.)
Exercise:
20 minutes (attempt) HIIT on elliptical (tried hard; was not feeling it)
3 Tabatas exercises (rowing, squats, bike) back to back, no rest except set up - this was fun!
Food:
7:30am - Fake veggie sausage, hardboiled egg
10:30am - Greek yogurt, cup of mixed fruit, carrots
1:30pm - Spinach salad, cottage cheese, hardboiled egg
4:30pm - Broccoli and hummus, can of tuna
8:30pm - Lemon and dill salmon, roasted eggplant and zucchini with a tomato and fake meat sauce, soy chocolate protein shake
10:30pm - Leftover beets, string cheese, baby bell, tbsp of cashews, apple
1:30am (ugh! could not sleep) - baby bell, disgusting handful of broccoli, can of tuna
I kicked my own ass yesterday. Seriously I think the best weight workout I've had since starting. Fun!
Two other things to report - first, this morning I tried on a skirt that I had decided would be considered obscene if worn by me to work, as it had gotten a bit tight. Maybe I'm smoking crack, but it seems looser. I would now reclassify it as Probably Wouldn't Get Me Fired If Everything Else in My Closet Had Cat Pee On It And I Had To Wear It To Work. Hopefully it will be wearable soon and I can move back into maintenance mode. All I'm looking for is to fit back into my clothes.
Second, I am in the middle of my third fasting attempt. This one is going as well as the first one did. Much better to do this at work! I'll starting eating again around 4:30 or 5. Today is a rest day, which is good, especially after yesterday.
Exercise:
AM - 5 miles on treadmill: warmup, 10 minutes of craptastic HIIT, 4 minutes of craptastic jump roping, 5 minutes sitting on ass, then some actually pretty good lower-intensity intervals
PM - Weight training!
Fat Loss II, Workout B
A1 - Snatch-grip deadlift 12/65 12/65 12/65 (try for 70 next time)
A2 - Pushups 12/BW 12/BW 14/BW & 10 more on knees (Working on getting the form better before attempting a T)
(This B superset was by far the hardest I've ever done)
B1 - Bulgarian Split Squat w/ Overhead Press 12/8s 12/5s 12/5s
B2 - Assisted Chin-Ups 12/16 plate (88lbs assist) 12/16 12/16
C1 - Romanian Deadlift/Bent Over Row (fun!) 12/55 12/60 12/60
C2 - Lower-body Russian Twist 12/BW 12/BW 12/BW
Then, just for kicks, I attempted the BW matrix (24 squats/24 alt lunges/24 jumping lunges/24 jump squats) from NROL4W. Holy fuck. I clocked in at 4 minutes 20 seconds and hobbled out of the gym. I had planned to do it twice, but no freaking way.
So yesterday was another IF experiment. It went pretty well, though it was harder than I remembered the first one being. Probably because I expected the first one to totally suck donkey balls. When it didn't, I may have inflated my expectations for this time. Expectations have been set firmly to SUCK for next week even though it's really not that bad. (I have to say it is a little bit fun. A mini-challenge.)
Usually on days I lift, I get up at 5:30am and run - do HIIT and steady state. Then I lift in the afternoon. This morning I let myself sleep in because I haven't gotten a decent night of sleep all week (I fall asleep fine and then wake up around 4am, never to fall back to sleep) but today I slept right through until 7am. HIIT will still be there tomorrow.
Yesterday's Exercise -
Rest day
Yesterday's Food -
5pm - Spinach salad, hardboiled egg, 1/2 TJ's tofu
8pm - Stuffed orange roughy, sauteed zucchini/mushroom/chickpea mixture, 5 strawberries, 1/2 Atkins bar
10pm - Grapes, Myoplex bar, 3 baby carrots
Made it through the night - not even hungry!!! Woot!
I am wearing pants to work today that had become tight before. They still aren't where they used to be, but at least I can wear them. I'm trying to figure out about how much more weight to lose. Back in the day (i.e., before I started lifting in January and eating everything I could get my hands on because I was starving all the time), I weighed between 130-134, rarely fluctuating beyond that. I know that I've put on some muscle, because I've gotten stronger in my workouts, so the old 130-134 isn't the same as it would be now and I don't feel the need to get back down there, if my clothes fit. I think I'll reassess how shit is fitting when I hit 135.
I'm new to all this, so take it with a grain of salt. You say:
"When I started lifting, I already liked my body. I didn't want to change anything, just maintain - just more efficiently. This has been a real struggle for me. Now I realize that if I build muscle I'm going to get bigger. (Duh.) If I don't want that to happen I have to cut, too. I've really struggled with this and am just sort of going with the flow now. I like seeing my new muscles, but I don't like my pants not fitting."
I'm guessing your maintenance diet should be about 2400 Calories the way you're working (You're working hard, good job). If you want to gain muscle, maybe 2700 to 2800 or so. To lose weight, about 2000.
Running 8.5 miles on 1700 Calories is too little food. 1063 is too little, even for a rest day. You're going up and down in food quantity, and your body doesn't know what to expect, so it's going to store fat. I would suggest you pick a caloric intake level and maintain it for a while. I'm pretty sure NROL4W describes how you'll likely gain some weight when you first begin the program, but then your body ups the metabolism and the weight will come back off. You don't have lots of fat to lose. You don't need a starvation diet to accomplish your goals.
Thanks, Brent. I really appreciate your support, and I agree with you. Reading your post made me step back a little and decide to chill out a bit.
You're absolutely right about running 10 miles on 1700ish calories not being enough. (I did have 2 GUs while running that I didn't count, which ups that to 1900, but still.) That was dumb and I should've eaten more. I struggle with being greedy for weight loss and not eating as little as my appetite lets me get away with.
I have been trying to get in 2000 calories a day on non-lifting days, 2200 on lifting days, while also experimenting with intermittent fasting. (It's endorsed by both Skwigg and Craig Ballantyne, so I feel comfortable that it's not a crackpot thing.) Since I tried fasting twice last week, and the fast spans two days (though it's only 20 hours), the numbers of four of the days are low, if that makes any sense. Going forward, I'm only going to try one 20-hour fast a week, on a rest day. If I feel my energy falling off or I stop making strength gains, it will be the first thing to go.
Anyway, I hope that makes sense. Thanks again for reading and for your input!
Then I attempted 1RM assisted chin-up to see exactly how far away I am for being able to do a BW one. I need a 70 lb assist. Booty.
Followed by 12 minutes of Tabatas (rowing/squats/bike)
Food:
7:30am - Fake veggie sausage, cottage cheese
11am - Greek yogurt, grapes/strawberries/blueberrie s, carrots
2pm - Spinach salad, 1/2 TJ's baked tofu, cottage cheese
5pm - Myoplex Lite shake, tuna cup, red pepper and hummus
6pm - Pure Protein bar
9pm - Lemon & Dill Salmon, leftover zucchini/mushroom/chickpea mixture, apple, 1/2 pint red raspberry sorbet, Atkins bar
2026 cals (34% P/43% C/23% F)
Progress -
Weight: 139.4 (whatever, I really needed the sorbet carb-fest)
Omron: 24.2%
Waist: 28.5
Calipers: 10 (incidentally, I believe this translates to 21.something? Which is consistent with what I've heard about the Omron being 3-4% high)
Exercise -
4 miles on treadmill (really crappy HIIT session/steady state)
Then I got irritated with it and did a 16 minute Tabatas circuit with no rest between exercises (except the normal Tabatas 20/10 or 12/8 rest) - cone hops, squats, jumping jacks, with a final, killer treadmill circuit. (I set it at 10.5mph and sprinted for 12 seconds, then would jump off and heave with my legs on the sides for 8 seconds, then jump back on.)
I really like Tabatas. And running has been annoying me lately. Maybe I'm just getting tired of it. That does not bode well for my half-marathon training, alas.
Food -
Awesome until happy hour!
7:30am - Apple, fake veggie sausage, cottage cheese
10:30am - Greek yogurt, carrots, raspberries and strawberries
1:30pm - Spinach salad, 1/2 baked tofu
4:30pm - Cottage cheese, red pepper and hummus
5:30pm-10pm (aka happy hour) - 5 beers, red pepper hummus with pita and roasted vegetables, salad (w/tomatoes, asparagus, and an egg), minestrone soup, piece of bread - hmm I think that's a 10% meal
1:30am - Tuna cup, apple, Atkins bar
Actually, I guess I managed a pretty decent dinner given that we were at a bar. Except for the 5 beers.
2502 cals (21% P/36% C/26% F/17% booze)
Didn't weigh myself this morning, and that is perhaps a good thing.
Saturday's workout:
About two miles outside, alternating sprint intervals with walking. (Finally some decent weather!)
Fat Loss II, Workout B
A1 - Deadlifts 12/60 12/60 12/65 - (Worked out at home, these are harder with dumbbells than the oly bar, I discovered. I did the 65 with one 30 and one 35, switched hands halfway through)
A2 - Pushups 12/BW 12/BW 14.5 (hee hee)/BW & 8 on knees
Food -
7:30am - Apple, fake veggie sausage, cottage cheese, baby bell
11am - Egg white omlette w/ spinach and mushrooms, baby bell
2pm - Fake chicken cutlet, steamed broccoli, Atkins bar
5pm - Myloplex shake, zone bar
8:30pm - Oh geez. Dinner at TRU. I had a "peeky toe crab" appetizer, scottish salmon entree, and banana peanut butter crepes for dessert.
Not counting! I'm counting dinner as 2 10% meals, which is what i had left for the week.
Yesterday:
Sick. Was supposed to run 10 miles for half-marathon training, but it wasn't going to happen. Barely got off the couch. Fasted until 4:30, not too hard.
4:30pm - Spinach salad, 1/3 bagel (husband made it), baby bell
7:30pm - Fake chicken cutlet, steamed broccoli, chocolate soy protein shake, Atkins bar
10pm - Carrots, apple, Myoplex bar
3:30am - Apple
Still not feeling entirely on top of my game yesterday, but managed to cobble together a decent workout.
Exercise -
AM - 4 miles on treadmill, including HIIT sprints. I've noticed I have the best luck setting the incline at 6.0 and upping the speed to 8.2, then by .1 every 15 seconds for 1 minute (so I would end at 8.5)
PM - Weights!
Fat Loss II, Workout A
A1 - Front Squat 10/40 10/40 10/40 +5#ea (Increased over previous dumbbell weight, but not over barbell weight. Dumbbells are so much harder!)
A2 - One-point dumbbell row 10/40 10/40 10/40 +5#ea
B1 - Supine hamstring leg press 15/BW 15/BW 15/BW + 3 reps (I'm not sure how to make these harder? I just did more)
B2 - DB Press 9/17.5&2/15 8/17.5&3/15 7/17.5&3/15 +2.5#ea, sort of
Tuesday -
30 minutes SS on elliptical
4 minutes bike tabatas, 5 minutes steady, 4 more minutes tabatas
Hobbled to locker room
Wednesday -
AM - Shittiest treadmill session in my recent history. I just had no energy. After a mile and a half of walking mixed with half-hearted running, I gave up (I never give up ) and read OK! magazine on the couch with my dogs while eating an apple. Not my finest half hour.
PM - Weights.
Fat Loss II, Workout B
A1 - Snatch-grip deadlifts 10/70 10/75 10/75
A2 - Pushups 10/BW 10/BW 10/BW (&12 on knees)
almost to a 90 degree angle!
B1 - BSS 10/8 10/8 10/8
The arms KILL me on the second leg. I think it's because you sorta rest when you switch legs, but not really?
B2 - Assisted Chin-up 10/82a 10/82a 7/82a & 3/88a
C1 - Romanian Deadlift/Bent over Row 9/70 7/70 & 7/65 10/65
C2 - Lower Body Russian Twist 10/BW 10/BW 10/BW
Two run throughs of the body weight matrix in NROL4W:
(24 squats/12 alt lunges/12 jumping alt lunges/24 jump squats)
Torture. Forgot my iPod, so I couldn't time myself. Also, I decided it would be a good idea for me to only jump out of the lunge and then step into them. Because otherwise I guarantee I will manage to somehow fall and destroy a knee.
Today -
Redeemed myself on treadmill. Did a 3.5 mile tempo run.
Then did cardio drills:
30 sec cone hops
30 sec burpee jacks (hate!)
30 sec squats
30 sec jumping jacks
30 sec rest
x 10
Couple of thoughts, in no particular order:
Regarding the shitty run. I have been trying to cut carbs down, because it seems like everyone that does manages to lose weight. But I seem to be realizing that I can't cut carbs as far as I'd like and be a successful runner, so I have to choose. I decided for my mental health that it would be better to focus on what my body can DO over how it LOOKS. Lately I've been way more focused on fat loss than half-marathon training, though I have the same "goal date" for both. This needs to change. So last night I ate a buttload of carbs before bed (well, hopefully not an actual buttload, it consisted of a banana in a Myoplex Lite protein shake) and set an actual goal for my run this morning - completing a 3 mile tempo run. Today the run went very well, and I'm making a point to set goals for future runs that are not just "burn calories."
Also. I've noticed a lot of fear in my workouts lately. I have no idea where this is coming from. I'm afraid I'll fall off the treadmill while sprinting (which is why I did cardio drills today instead of my usual HIIT sprints). I was afraid I'd fall off the assisted chin-up machine yesterday because my hands were sweaty. I was afraid I'd drop the bar during the RDL. This sucks; it makes me give up where before I would have kept going. I've never been hesitant while working out before and am not sure what's going on.
Finally, I've decided to stop logging food here, I already do on fitday.
Progress:
Weight: 141
Omron: 24.1%
Waist: 29
Oddly, I'm not as pissed about these numbers as I should be. The thing is - I used to average about 10 pounds less than this number, but my clothes are not THAT far off. And it seems like they're getting better. And I can sort of see my abs. Anyway. I'm just going to stick with the plan until the end of April and then reassess.
I went to Portland over the Easter holiday to spend time with a good friend. We had a really good time and it was nice to get away. My M.O. for the weekend was to just try not to go crazy and eat a normal amount of food. I got nowhere near enough protein, but I got back on track as soon as I got home and was in control over my food again.
So I read somewhere that losing fat is like peeling an onion, it comes off in sheets. This weekend I sort of had the feeling that a sheet was suddenly ripped off. I had been feeling puffy and big at the end of last week (thank you constipation), and now I feel great (thank you, H2GO). It was totally an overnight thing.
Also, I went shopping with a friend and tried on a pair of pants. Pre-weight lifting, back in January, I was a 4/6. Due to my, um, inadvertent bulk, I was praying when I put on a pair of 6s at Ann Taylor that they would fit. They were huge, and I ended up buying a 4. I got a skirt in a 4, too. And I FEEL good. I like how I look naked. Okay, TMI.
So, life is good. I still am up between 5-7 pounds, but I guess I'm wondering whether or not that really matters. For now I'm planning on finishing my cut - exactly one month from today to go. Then vacation and some serious summer clothes shopping, and eating maintenance! Whatever that is.
Yesterday's exercise -
Was an Eat Stop Eat day, so I took it easy. 30 minutes SS elliptical, 10 minutes on bike (including a set of Tabatas intervals)
Today's exercise -
AM - ran 3 miles (intervals, not HIIT though. Tough run)
Then drills:
Cone hops - 30 secs
Burpee jacks - 30 secs
Squats - 30 secs
Jumping jacks - 30 secs
Rest - 30 secs
x10
PM - Weights
Fat Loss II, Workout B
Wide-grip Deadlift 8/80 8/80 8/80 + 5 lbs
Push-up 8/BW 8/T's 8/T's - first T pushups!
Nothing too exciting going on here. Still feeling good.
Yesterday -
Lunch - HIIT on bike (5 min warmup/1 (x4) min sprint/2 (x3) min recovery/5 min cooldown) for a 20 minute bike ride - I really like HIIT on the bike! Probably because I'm not afraid I'm going to fall off of it.
Followed by 10 minutes SS on elliptical. I alternated between going forward w/arms, going backwards, and going forward no hands.
After work - Yoga class. I used to go once a week, but haven't since I started lifting b/c of time and fear of overtraining. I was all thinking it was going to be easy because I am so incredibly buff now but it wasn't so much. Though it was easiER. Also, at least I didn't fall on my head while attempting a handstand like I did the last time I went to yoga class.
Today -
I overslept this morning and didn't get my cardio in. Felt bad about it, but got over it and did half of it after weights today.
Fat Loss II, Workout A (Last A workout!)
Front Squat 8/60 8/60 8/60 + 5 lbs over last barbell weight
One-Point Dumbell Row 8/25 8/20 10/20 (gym does not have 22.5 dumbbells, and the 25s made me fall multiple times)
Dynamic Lunge 8/20 8/20 8/25 + 5lbs
Upper body Russian Twist 8/BW 8/BW 8/BW
The balls at the gym are bigger (har har) and this exercise is much harder for me than at home
Followed by running intervals of 1 min jog/1 min run/1 min walk x5
2 min jog/2 min run/1 min walk x2
5 mins at a 5.0 incline for a 30 minute run
I had a great weekend! It was my birthday yesterday and I think I did a decent job of having fun while keeping it real, diet-wise. On Friday I went out to celebrate with my friends and had a piece of birthday cake, one slice of pizza, about 4000 beers and a shot called a "Rocky Mountain Bearfucker." Saturday I had a little frozen yogurt, and yesterday my only off-diet thing was a Dunkin' Donuts Glazed Fritter, but I had just run 5 miles and walked 3, so it was totally post-workout refueling! LOL
In other news, the husband got me a pull-up bar for my birthday! Now I just need some resistance bands.
Anyway! Workouts:
Friday - Rest day
Saturday - Weights!
Fat Loss II, Workout B (Last one!)
A1 - Deadlifts 8/70 8/70 8/70 (why is this so much harder with dumbbells?!? I guess b/c of how the weight is distributed)
A2 - Pushups 8/T's 8/T's 8/T's
B1 - BSS w/ overhead press 8/10s 8/10s 8/10s oh my God I hate the second leg so much
B2 - Pullover 8/22.5 8/22.5 7.5(lol)/22.5
C1 - Romanian Deadlift/Bent over Row - 8/25 8/25 8/25
C2 - Lower Body Russian Twist 8/BW 8/BW 8/BW form is getting much better
Did the BW matrix from NROL4W, 3:30 and 3:21.
Sunday - Ran an 8K race with my husband. We also had to walk 3 miles to/from the race and the car.
AM - Ran 4 miles (tempo run) on treadmill, followed by cardio drills:
Cone hops - 30 sec
Burpee jacks - 30 sec
Squats - 30 sec
Jumping jacks - 30 sec
Rest - 30 sec
x 7.5 (was planning on 10, but iPod - that had the 30 sec thing timed w/ music - died)
PM - Weights with trainer. Staving off the start of Fat Loss III, lol.
Decline Bench Press 10/20s 10/20s
Reverse Flys 10/3s 10/3s
Assisted Chin-ups 10/76a 10/76a
Lunges 15/20 15/25
Bicep Curls 8/12s & 2/10s 10/12s
Tricep Dips 10/BW 10/BW (Legs horizontal)
Core series - Back Extension/Boats/Flutter kick x2
Jacknifes w/ extension 10/BW 11/BW
Core series - One leg up/Bicycle/Side Plank/Front Plank/Side Plank x1
Thoughts - this was a great training session. She pushed me really hard, and I was drenched in sweat at the end - we went through the exercises as a circuit with little rest between exercises.
Food has been really good lately. I think I've gotten into a groove. It also helps that I've pretty much reached the initial goal I set to fit back into my pants, and I have an end date for the cut - April 24th will be the last day. (My half marathon is on the 26th and I will have to carb load on the 25th to get ready.) Here is my menu for yesterday:
7:30am - Hardboiled egg, cottage cheese, fake veggie sausage pattie
11am - Greek yogurt, cup of mixed blueberries, grapes, and blackberries, some baby carrots
2pm - Salad, hardboiled egg, cottage cheese
5pm - PWO shake
7pm - Red pepper and hummus while cooking
8pm - Florida fish chowder, apple and peanut butter
10pm - Protein shake
3:30am - 2 small apples
Yesterday's exercise -
20 minutes HIIT on bike (5 min warmup/1 min fast x4/2 min recovery x3/5 minutes cooldown)
10 minutes steady state on elliptical
Today's -
Fat Loss III, Workout A
Giant superset, no rest until the end of each set (then 60 secs)
Deadlifts 10/80 10/80 10/70 10/65 (my form is sucking ass at the end of these, need to keep the weight lower for awhile)
Explosive Pushups 10 10 10 10
Bulgarian Split Squats 10/15s 10/15s 10/15s 10/15s
2-point Dumbbell Row 10/25 10/25 10/25 10/15 (someone took my 25 and I was about to pass out anyway)
Giant superset, no rest until the end of each set (then 60 secs)
Deadlifts off box (hate!) 20/oly 20/oly 20/oly 20/oly
Dumbbell Bench Press 20/10s 20/10s 20/10s 20/10s
Walking lunge with side twist 20/10s 20/15s 20/15s 20/15s (no idea if I'm doing these right and OMFG am so happy that each leg counts as a rep!)
Seated Row 20/50 20/50 20/50 20/50
Hanging Leg Raise 10 10
Treadmill - 1 min walk (hobble, more like) @ 3.0/1 min jog @ 5.0/1 min run @ 6.0 x3
5 minute walk @ 3.0 up a 5% incline
Marty's Training Log
) and read OK! magazine on the couch with my dogs while eating an apple. Not my finest half hour.
Linear Mode
