Daily News Archives
June 2007
06/30/2007 - I like my new bike!
06/29/2007 - Last day of my 2007 cut; More water weight loss; 50 pounds!
06/28/2007 - Amazing water weight loss; 96% lean beef.
06/27/2007 - Beef and grapefruit starts today; Water.
06/26/2007 - Drying out!
06/25/2007 - It's been crazy around here!
06/24/2007 - Goal reached; "Peak week" diet; New AtLarge product; July "100 Challenge".
06/23/2007 - Major network outage.
06/22/2007 - Summer maintenance meal plans are up!
06/21/2007 - Another cardio bike destroyed; New bike ordered.
06/20/2007 - Loose skin.
06/19/2007 - Dietary plan tweaks for the rest of this week.
06/18/2007 - How long will my summer maintenance phase and my next bulk last?
06/17/2007 - 6.5% body fat; Waist down to 30.5 inches--my best ever!
06/16/2007 - 191.2 pounds; Muscle loss?; Final two weeks of my cut!
06/15/2007 - Summer maintenance supplement intake.
06/14/2007 - "Peak week" plans; Photo plans for the end of the month and next year.
06/13/2007 - Awesome workouts this week; Two weeks of cutting left; New home update.
06/12/2007 - Finally recovered; Cheat meal videos are up!
06/11/2007 - Cheat meal pictures are up!
06/10/2007 - JSF Cheat Meal postmortem.
06/09/2007 - Down to 6.9% body fat; Early drunken JSF Cheat Meal weekend photos.
06/08/2007 - Cheat meal tomorrow!
06/07/2007 - Down another 1.2 pounds; Temptation does not exist.
06/06/2007 - Stuck, but somewhat expected.
06/05/2007 - So hungry; JSF Cheat Meal this Saturday!
06/04/2007 - Change to my diet this week; Eating healthy/summer diet plans.
06/03/2007 - Measurement Sunday.
06/02/2007 - Last month of cutting is underway!
06/01/2007 - Monthly pictures; A couple new progress comparisons.
June 30, 2007
My new recumbent bike (Schwinn model 231) arrived yesterday evening! It was easy to assemble because the instructions are obviously written by someone who actually speaks English, all the parts and hardware are clearly labeled and the diagrams are very clear. The assembly process is divided into 14 easily digested steps. It took me about 1.5 hours to go from box to first ride.
The Schwinn 231 is (I believe) Schwinn's top of the line magnetic recumbent bike, but at just over $500.00 it's a far cry from some of the very high-end cardio equipment on the market these days. Still, even after one quick ride I can already tell that this new bike is a huge improvement over my last recumbent bike. This bike seems to hit the price/performance sweet spot.
One of the things I think I'm going to like best about the Schwinn is the resistance settings. With my old bike I had to turn a mechanical knob to increase resistance, and even at the highest setting it felt too easy. With the Schwinn all the resistance settings are performed using the computer touch pad, and those settings range from extremely easy to very, very difficult. I'm looking forward to trying some HIIT workouts by varying the computer-controlled resistance.
The seat is very comfortable and fully adjustable. The movement is smooth as silk, and totally silent. The computer seems pretty cool and the overall build quality feels very solid. A couple of nice little perks include a built-in fan, a magazine holder and a water bottle holder.
These are just my first impressions. I've not had a chance to play around with it too much yet. I know it has a built-in heart rate monitor, but I probably won't use it because I like my Polar. There are some pre-programmed workouts, and I'm pretty sure you can create and store your own. That's going to be a lot of fun to mess with.
I'll sign off for the day with a couple of pictures of the bike assembled in my home gym:
June 29, 2007
I can hardly believe it: After six months, today is the last day of my 2007 cutting phase! Tomorrow morning I'll take my monthly pictures (and probably a few extra photos), and those will all be posted on Sunday morning. I thought about taking a week off from lifting, but I don't really want to do that right now. I'm anxious to start getting my strength back up. I should have some awesome workouts now that I'll be eating more food. I think I'm going to take a vacation towards the end of July, and will probably take a week off from lifting then.
The "Peak Week" diet is working amazingly well. I'm shedding water weight like crazy, and have lost almost another pound of water overnight. I'm down to 186.4 pounds this morning--that's almost four pounds of water loss (well, a little of that weight loss was probably fat, too) since last Saturday. That's an especially impressive number considering I was feeling fairly "dry" on Saturday anyway.
Something else that's sort of interesting is that I've now lost 50 pounds since January 1, 2007. That's almost the same amount of weight that I lost during my initial transformation (which was 55 pounds), and it took about the same amount of time, too. This will be the last time I ever need to lose that much fat again. Future bulks will be slow and controlled. Putting on that much fat is pointless, counterproductive and (frankly) lazy. My diet on future bulks is going to be every bit as "clean" and natural as my cutting diet just was. I'll be eating mostly the same foods, just more of it. I plan to start my bulk on October 1, 2007.
Time to fire up the grill and make my breakfast. Have a great day!
June 28, 2007
WOW! I expected to lose some water weight yesterday (that's the whole point of the end-of-cut "Peak Week" diet), but I was still shocked when I stepped on the scale this morning: 187.2 pounds! That a little over two pounds less than yesterday's weight, which was already a 2007 cutting low. I guess I didn't expect that much water loss so quickly.
I can't say I looked any more ripped this morning than I did yesterday, but maybe a bit more vascular. My muscles still look full and are not "flat" at all, and that is a huge relief.
So, about the 96% lean ground beef I'm been eating? It's really, really good! It's a tad more dry than fatty ground beef, but I don't mind that at all. In fact, Lisa had one last night, only she had it on a bun with all the "normal" stuff on it. She said it was every bit as good as a regular burger, and didn't seem dry at all to her.
6 ounces of 96% lean ground beef contains less than 290 calories, less than 12 grams of fat, under 6 grams of saturated fat, no carbs and almost 45 grams of protein. Compare that to 6 ounces of 70% lean ground beef, which has over 450 calories, around 30 grams of fat and 12 grams of saturated fat. I know what I'll be using from now on, even for a cheat meal that calls for ground beef.
June 27, 2007
I'm amazed at how quickly I've become used to drinking a full gallon of water more than my usual 1.5 gallons per day. The first day I had to force myself to drink the full 2.5 gallons, the second day was not difficult at all and yesterday I actually wound up drinking a little more water than 2.5 gallons without even trying. Today is another 2.5 gallon day, tomorrow I'll cut back to 2 gallons, and on Friday I'll be drinking "just" 1.75 gallons of water.
Today begins the "beef and grapefruit" portion of my "Peak Week" diet. Basically every meal for the next three days will consist of 6 ounces of 96% lean ground beef and 1/2 a grapefruit. The only thing I'll be putting on the beef is ground pepper. I don't put anything on the grapefruit.
My backyard neighbors were outside this morning having their coffee while I was grilling my first burger. I'm constantly out there grilling, so maybe they didn't think anything of it, but cooking hamburgers at 7:00 AM is weird, even for me.
My scale weight this morning is identical to what it was yesterday--189.4 pounds. My abs are looking very good right now, especially first thing in the morning before drinking any water. Once I start drinking water they blur up a little, but Lisa says she can't see any blurring at all and that it's in my head. The little trouble spot bellow my belly button is actually starting to shrink, but the skin looks soft and somewhat loose. It's a little jarring considering how tight the entire abdominal area above my belly button is right now. It's like two different bodies joined together.
No workout today. Mastover said no cardio from here on out, and tomorrow there will be no leg workout. Instead, tomorrow evening I'll do a light upper body workout just enough to get some blood flowing to my muscles. No workout at all on Friday.
June 26, 2007
Massive quantities of water, 100% "clean", all-natural foods, no added salt or sweeteners... This morning I'm down to 189.4 pounds. Clearly I'm already starting to dry out, thanks to the "Peak Week" diet Mastover has me doing for the final week of my 2007 cutting phase. The results should be even more dramatic over the next few days, as this morning's first meal is the last time I'll be consuming any carbs (with the exception of grapefruit) for the rest of the week.
Because I can't use any sweeteners this week, my oats have just been plain with a little cinnamon mixed in. This is not bad at all, but a little bland. A few days ago I tried eating my oats raw, and really enjoyed them like that. They seemed more flavorful that way. This morning's first meal called for 1 cup of egg whites and 1/3 cup of oats. I just dumped the raw oats in with the egg whites and cooked them together. It was surprisingly good!
The rest of today's meals will consist of chicken, egg whites, unsalted cashews and grapefruit. After today, all my meals for the rest of the week will be 6 ounces of 96% lean ground beef and 1/2 grapefruit. On Friday some unsalted cashews are added, plus a tiny bit of protein powder with meal #1.
"Pre-contest" dieting is all new to me. I'm very anxious to see what effect it has on my physique. I'll admit that I'm a little nervous about how I'm going to look on Saturday, but I trust Mastover completely. He has a lot of experience in this area, and he's not steered me wrong yet!
June 25, 2007
The past few day have been extremely eventful around here...
- Last Thursday yet another piece of cardio equipment bit the dust, and I ordered another recumbent bike. It should be here on Thursday, and I'm really looking forward to trying it out.
- On Friday I posted my complete 2007 Summer Maintenance meal plans, along with a semi-detailed analysis. One thing that I should have made more clear is that those are my starting caloric levels. I didn't want to add more than 500 calories per day right out of the chute. I need to give my metabolism a chance to adjust, as my caloric intake right now is extremely low. If I need to raise my caloric intake at some point this summer in order to maintain, then I certainly will.
Also, I'll be eating at least one cheat meal and probably on cheat snack per week, and will probably also be allowing myself to
consume alcohol (red wine or Grey Goose) two times per week. Those calories are not included in my meal plan, but definitely still count. 
- On Friday evening and continuing through most of the day Saturday, JSF's upstream bandwidth provider suffered a complete network outage to the datacenter where the JSF servers are located. None of JSF was accessible from around 10:00 PM EDT on Friday night through 4:30 PM on Saturday afternoon. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience this caused many of you.
- Thankfully yesterday was a much better day! I have reached my goal of 6% body fat, and I posted my final week's cutting diet, which is a diet specifically designed to help me look my best for my end of cut pictures this coming weekend. Also yesterday AtLarge officially launched their newest product, a weight gainer called "MAXIMUS", and the July "100 Challenge" opened for entry (see below for details on both).
I've really been enjoying my "peak week" diet so far. It's great to have chicken again instead of cod! I normally drink 1.5 gallons of water every day, and pulling off 2.5 gallons has required a concerted effort on my part (and a million trips to the bathroom).
I can't believe my cut is winding down! After six months of strict attention to everything I put into my body, it's going to feel weird to be able to relax my diet. I'm sure I'll manage to adjust!
June 24, 2007
I've decided to make a very small departure from my normal routine this month: My monthly pictures are going still going to be posted on the first of the month (as they always are), but this month I'm going to take the photos the day before (Saturday June 30th). The reason for this minor change is because it's the end of my cut, I've reached my goal and I want to allow some extra time for additional photos.
So, with the above in mind, I started my "Peak Week" diet yesterday. As you'll notice, there is no cod to be found on this week's meal plan! It's true--I've eaten my last cod fillet for a long, long time!
Anyway, back to the "Peak Week" meal plan. The first few days involve lots of water (2.5 gallons per day), high protein and clean carbs. Things start to change on Tuesday, as fats begin to replace the carbs. By Wednesday my only carb source will be grapefruit, and my protein/fats come exclusively from 96% lean ground beef (along with some unsalted nuts on Friday). Saturday morning before my pictures I'll have some sugary carbs and very little water.
I casually slipped in something very exciting in the first paragraph: I have reached my goal! This morning my body fat reading is 6.1% (as measured using a 7-site pinch test with the FatTrack PRO Digital Body Fat Calipers from the JSF Amazon Mall). Six months of hard work, strict dieting and dedication have finally paid off. I really did it! I've lost over 45 pounds since January 1st, and dropped from around 20% body fat to 6.1% body fat. There were times when I was frustrated, but I never once lost sight of my goal. While it's been very difficult at times, this morning I feel like it was all worth it. And it's not just because of how my body looks; it's because I set a goal and busted my butt for six months to reach it and I refused to let anything stop me. It's a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. I can't thank my coach, good friend and forum member extraordinaire "Mastover" enough. He's been in my corner from day one, and his dedication to helping me reach my goal has been nothing short of astonishing. Thank you, my friend.
This morning I'm down to a new 2007 cutting low of 190.2 pounds. I expect to lose more body weight before the end of the month. Perhaps a bit more fat will be lost, but most of the weight will be water weight as I "dry out" for my pictures.
My measurements this week are pretty close to what they were last week. My waist measurement and hip measurement both decreased slightly, but not a full quarter of an inch. My waist measurement is between 30.25 and 30.5 inches, which is the absolute lowest it's been in my adult life. I think by next week when I'm "dry" for my pictures my waist will be down to just 30.25 inches.
Registration for the July 2007 "100 Challenge" is now underway! Your Official Challenge post must be made by 7:00 AM (EST) on July 1, 2007 if you plan to participate--NO EXCEPTIONS! To participate, you must be a member of the forum. If you are not a member, simply create a free account. It can take up to 24 hours for your account to be activated, so don't wait until the last minute to register! For all the details, official rules and sample entry data, just head over to the July 2007 "100 Challenge" thread on the forum. If you are ready to work hard and want to challenge yourself in a fun and competitive environment, then please take part!
Last, but definitely not least, AtLarge Nutrition has a brand new product: MAXIMUS! Check out the details in the press release immediately below...
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AtLarge Nutrition NEW PRODUCT--MAXIMUS--ON SALE NOW! MAXIMUS is not your average weight-gainer supplement. MAXIMUS is composed of some very unique ingredients which work synergistically to help you get HUGE! MAXIMUS Protein Matrix consists of ultra-filtrated whey protein concentrate, isolated casein peptides, total milk protein isolates, whey protein isolates, glutamine peptides, and instantized egg albumin to provide an optimal source of protein to fuel massive GROWTH! Microlactin is a special protein which exerts powerful ergogenic effects on the human body. Microlactin will reduce delayed onset muscular soreness, dramatically improve recovery, and help with joint pain. You can train harder and longer when using Microlactin. Inulin is a fructan which has been demonstrated to produce numerous health benefits to include enhanced immune function, enhanced absorption of specific minerals, the lowering of serum triglycerides, and in promoting nitrogen balance. Optimal health promotes optimal progress in the gym. Packed with growth promoting calories and ingredients, MAXIMUS will help you to unleash the mass-monster that dwells within! |
June 23, 2007
The upstream provider that provides bandwidth to the datacenter that hosts the JSF servers is (well, was) experiencing a major outage. This outage began on Friday night (June 22, 2007) just before 10:00 PM EDT. As I write this (Saturday at 8:00 AM), the outage continues. I am sending this update to the server via an emergency dialup line. If you are reading this, then service has finally been restored.
I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
Those of you who are participating in this month's "100 Challenge" should not deduct any points specifically due to failure to update as a result of this network outage.
4:30 PM EDT Update: We're back! Thanks very much for your patience. I'll be back tomorrow morning with my weekly measurements and body fat reading, the first few days of my end of cut "peak week" diet, a new product announcement from AtLarge and the registration details for the July 2007 "100 Challenge"!
June 22, 2007
I've completed my 2007 Summer Maintenance meal plan. I may need to make some changes once I've had a chance to evaluate my progress, but this plan is pretty much going to be what I follow from July 1, 2007 - September 30, 2007. As always, I'd like to go over the plan in detail...
First, an overview. My daily caloric intake will range from almost 2,100 calories to around 2,400 calories (not including my one scheduled cheat meal). Most of my calories each day (around 46%-55%) will come from quality protein sources, and the balance of my calories will be split fairly evenly between carbohydrates and fats. I didn't get caught up in trying to make my macros come out to some "perfect" percentage. My macros percentages vary somewhat from day to day, and it does not matter! I think way too many people get caught up in trying to make their meal plans come out to some "magical" balance of macros, and I think that's unnecessarily pedantic. I'm not saying you shouldn't have a general plan, but it doesn't have to be a gleaming work of mathematical precision.
Let's take a look at my meals...
My breakfasts this summer will be almost the same every day. Why? I love these foods, and never get sick of them! I'll be eating egg whites, oats, fruit (either grapefruit or pineapple) and a couple slices of whole grain toast. The whole grain toast is a bit of a departure for me in that it is a processed food, but I'm fine with that while I'm maintaining. The bread is a quality whole grain bread with no sugar added and not a bad choice at all.
Meal #2 is a "go to" protein/fat meal for me, and I just love it: 60g of Nitrean protein powder and a couple tablespoons of natural peanut butter.
Meal #3 will change throughout the week. Some days I'll be having a chicken breast, brown rice and broccoli, while other days I'll sort of treat myself to tuna or deli-sliced turkey breast on whole grain bread. I'll also have a handful of wholegrain pretzels and a salad with olive oil on my "sandwich" days.
A big change for me this summer is my workout time! I'll now be working out on my "lunch hour", from 2:30 until 3:30. My workouts will only last about 45 minutes, so that gives me a chance to shower before I get back to work.
Meal #4 will be the same every day, even non-workout days. This is another favorite meal of mine, and it makes for a great MRP, and also a great post-workout shake: 75g of Nitrean & half a cup of raw oats combined with water and ice in the blender. Awesome tasting, and a healthy carb/protein meal.
Meal #5 will consist of eye of round steak, brown rice and broccoli on workout days (except Friday, which is my scheduled cheat meal). Other days I'll eat things like shrimp, chicken breast or salmon along with brown rice. My veggie choice for meal #5 is always broccoli.
Meal #6 will always be the same: another Nitrean + Natural peanut butter shake. This is a great, slow-digesting pre-bedtime meal.
So, there you have it! I may allow myself a cheat "snack" (such as popcorn) every now and then, but for the most part I'll be sticking to this plan like glue. If I find that I need to make adjustments, I'll be sure to update the plan and make mention of it here.
I see that's 2 minutes before 9:00 AM--I'm out of time! Have a great day.
June 21, 2007
Yesterday I managed to destroy yet another piece of cardio equipment. I was doing my cardio, when suddenly I heard a loud "crack" from the lower left rear of the machine. The whole thing began to lean to the right. I looked down, and saw that the weld actually failed on the left side of the main rear support bar.
Over the last four years I've destroyed two exercise bikes (well, actually I've put three bikes out to pasture if you count my original bike which was already about 10 years old when I started my transformation), a stair stepper and an elliptical. This last bike, the Fitness Quest Excel 396r, lasted just shy of two years, and has about 3,400 miles on it. It was less than 300 bucks, so I guess that's a fair trade.
I've never been able to bring myself to spend two, three or even four thousand dollars on a piece of cardio equipment. I'm not sure why, because I know that commercial quality stuff will last practically forever, and at this point it's pretty clear that working out is not just a "phase" for me. Fitcore (who makes my Titan), has plans to offer a complete line of commercial-quality cardio equipment, but that probably won't be happening until sometime in 2008. Based on the quality of my Titan, I think I'm going to hold off on purchasing high-end cardio equipment until I see what Fitcore has to offer.
In the meantime, I ordered the Schwinn 231 Recumbent Bike from the JSF Amazon Mall. Here it is:
This bike is not "high-end" (it was $540.00), but is a definite step up from the cheap cardio equipment I've used in the past. Schwinn's cardio equipment is very highly reviewed, and I think this bike will last me quite some time. I'll post more thoughts on it after it arrives and I have a chance to use it.
Thankfully my broken bike is still usable--at least for now. I hope it doesn't snap completely in half before my new bike arrives!
June 20, 2007
Yesterday after my workout I did a little posing in front of the mirror with the goal of evaluating my physique as objectively as possible. I'm pretty happy with how my body looks right now (especially with a solid pump!), but I noticed that I've got some loose skin around my lower two abs that was never there before.
When I started my transformation back in 2003 I was 34 years old, and I lost about 55 pounds between January and June of that year. I had a little loose skin just above my belly button at the time (and, actually, the loose skin is still there), but it seems that this year there's a bit more. I have lost a significant amount of weight this year--45 pounds since January--but I don't remember seeing this much loose skin back in June 2003. This extra skin may very well may tighten up over the next month or two; however, as you probably already know, the older we get the less elastic our skin becomes. Fat can be burned off, muscle can be gained, but loose skin will either shrink or it won't. That's a little bit frustrating because, short of surgery, it's pretty much out of my control.
Of course the fat in the area I'm talking about was only lost in the past few weeks (it's the last to go on my body), so perhaps I just need to give the skin some more time to adjust. This does serve as yet another reminder that crazy weight gains (read: putting on too much fat) during a bulk needs to be avoided--especially at my age.
I just thought I'd mention all this because I definitely feel that I made a mistake during my last bulk by putting on so much fat. While my bulk this fall/winter will not be as dramatic as past bulks with regards to pure size and weight gains, I feel that by keeping my body fat low and focusing on slow muscle gains this will be my most successful bulk yet.
June 19, 2007
Mastover has made a couple of fairly small changes to my diet: For meal #1 and meal #6 I'll be cutting my grapefruit consumption from one whole grapefruit to one half grapefruit, and I'll also be replacing the 4 ounces of cod for those two meals with 1 cup of egg whites.
Needless to say, I'm very happy about these changes because cod for breakfast is not very enjoyable. I just ate my grapefruit and egg whites, and it felt like a cheat meal after all the cod I've been eating.
I didn't bother to create a whole new spreadsheet for these minor changes, but I did make note of them in my current food log.
These changes started today, and go through this Saturday (June 23). Starting on Sunday I'll enter the 26th and final week of my 2007 cut, and will switch to a "pre-contest" style diet for those last 7 days. I'll be posting the complete "peak week" plan sometime within the next few days.
June 18, 2007
I haven't decided how long I'm going to do my so-called "summer maintenance" phase. It's definitely going to be either two or three months, and right now I'm leaning towards the latter. I want to spend those two or three months enjoying myself and gaining strength in preparation for my 2007 fall/winter bulk. If I start my bulk on October 1st, I'll probably bulk for four months--through the end of January 2008. I'm going to be doing a much "slower" bulk this time around, and fat gains will be kept to an absolute minimum. So, if I start cutting on February 1st, I think I'll be in "summer shape" no later than the beginning of May.
Of course with a relaxed diet I'm not going to be able to maintain 6% body fat through my two or three month "summer maintenance" phase, but I don't want my body fat levels to rise any higher than 8%. The last thing I want to do is head into a bulk already needing to lose fat!
Back to the present... Any time now Mastover will be sending me the meal plan for the final 10 days of my 2007 cut. This meal plan will include the "pre-contest" diet that will get me looking my absolute best for my end-of-cut photos. There may be some special instructions with regards to sodium and water intake, and I'll discuss those and any other details when I post the meal plan later this week.
Speaking of meal plans, I'm going to start entering my summer maintenance diet into my spreadsheet today. I should also be posting that meal plan before the end of this week.
I think that's about it for this morning. Have a great day, and I'll see you tomorrow!
June 17, 2007
This morning I weighed in at 192.8 pounds, but yesterday my weight was 191.2 pounds. Mastover said to expect weird weight fluctuations at this point, and he was right. I only post my scale weight as a point of interest, and out of habit. It really doesn't mean much, if anything.
What I am excited about are my tape measurements and my body fat reading. I lost another quarter of an inch from my waist and a quarter of an inch from my hips this past week. My waist measurement is now exactly 30.5 inches, and that is the lowest waist measurement I've ever had in my adult life! The last time my waist measured 30.5 inches was all the way back in 2004 when I weighed about 170 pounds.
This morning my body fat reading is 6.5% (as measured using a 7-site pinch test with the FatTrack PRO Digital Body Fat Calipers from the JSF Amazon Mall). After a 6-month journey I'm finally standing on the doorstep of my goal. Next Sunday I'll be walking through that door...
As I mentioned last Thursday, the final week of my cut (June 24-30) will be spent doing a pre-contest style diet, which is designed to help me shed water, make my muscles look as full as possible and bring out my vascularity. Two weeks from today I'll take my monthly pictures along with some other photos for posterity. You can bet that I'll be enjoying a nice cheat meal that evening, too!
June 16, 2007
I was shocked when I stepped on the scale a few minutes ago: 191.2 pounds. I have to be sitting right around 6% body fat this morning, or very close (actual measurements will be done tomorrow). I also need to consider the very real possibility that I've lost some muscle recently. When cutting body fat to the mid-single digit range, some muscle loss is unavoidable.
I'm certainly very lean right now, and with the exception of a very small amount of ever-present fat just below my belly button I simply don't have any more fat to lose. I don't mean that there's literally no more fat anywhere else on my body (of course there is), what I mean is I'm happy with my body fat level everywhere on my body except that one last spot. The problem is, that fat is simply not going away and now I'm pretty sure that I'm starting to lose some muscle.
I'm still going to cut through the end of the month, and I do this knowing full well that I'm probably going to lose a little more muscle (and I'll still have that damned trouble spot!) Really all I have left is one more week of actual cutting, and then one week of pre-contest style preparation to finish out my 6-month cutting phase. Thanks to muscle memory I should gain back any muscle I lose pretty quickly once I start eating my maintenance diet and getting my strength back.
June 15, 2007
I'm quickly approaching the end of my 2007 cutting phase, and I've been having a lot of fun formulating my summer maintenance menus in my mind. I've not yet sat down and entered any of the data into my spreadsheet, but I'm planning to do that sometime within the next week. I'm hoping that I get it right the first time, but I may make some adjustments depending on how I respond.
I've also been putting some thought into my supplement intake for my summer maintenance program, and I've decided that my supplement regimen is going to be very basic...
Of course I'll be taking a multivitamin. I like Universal's "Animal Pak" multi, but a few months ago I tried Beverly's "Super Pak" and that's what I've been using for the past 3 months or so. I really like Beverly Nutrition's products a lot, and will continue to take their "Super Pak".
I'll also be taking an EFA oil blend supplement. I really like Udo's Choice, which is a premium blend of flax, sunflower, sesame seed and evening primrose oils, and oils from bran of rice and oats.
Of course I'll also be taking Nature Made "TripleFlex" (Glucosamine, MSM and Chrondroitin). These all-natural supplements are very important for maintaining healthy joints.
The only other supplement I'll be taking is Beverly's "Creatine Select".
Some people spend a small fortune on supplements, when what they really need to do is focus on their diet and training. A good multi, fish oil (or an oil blend) and perhaps a joint care supplement are, in my opinion, the only "must have" supplements. I'm not saying that other supplements are not useful--they can be--but diet and training are 95% of the formula.
By the way, I didn't mention protein powder because I consider that a food and not a supplement. I'll certainly be using AtLarge's awesome protein blend, "Nitrean", (probably combined with other foods such as raw oats or natural peanut butter) for at least a couple of my meals each day.
June 14, 2007
I was talking to Mastover about "peak week"--the week before my cut ends, which is June 24th - June 30th. During that week I'll be doing a couple of mild reverse carb loads, and a few days of nothing but very lean beef and grapefruit. Eye of round steak and grapefruit for every meal? That sounds like heaven to me--and not a single cod fillet in sight! The day before my pictures and the morning of my pictures I'll have fats (natural peanut butter) and carbs with no water. This is the classic beef and grapefruit "Beverly method" of pre-contest dieting. Of course I'll post the exact menu with all the foods listed in their exact amounts sometime before the 24th.
With this prep week, I should come in dry and looking my best for my July 1st pictures. I'll be sure to take some extra photos.
As for professional photos, I plan to do that but I'm going to wait until next year. Mastover feels that with another year of training I can get rid of that trouble spot that has been plaguing me, and I also want to improve my delts (especially my rear delts), traps and chest this winter. I think by next spring or summer I'll be pretty close to the physique I'm after, and a professional photo shoot will be money well-spent.
I'm down to a new 2007 cutting low of 192.8 pounds this morning! Now that the water from the 3rd annual JSF Cheat Meal is all gone, it's time to bring this 6 month cut to an end. 6%, here I come!
June 13, 2007
My workouts this week have been excellent so far! Last night's workout (chest/triceps) was every bit as good as Monday night's workout (back/biceps). Today is a cardio-only day, which is too bad because I feel like hitting the weights again. I'll just let that feeling simmer for another day, and save it for a great leg workout tomorrow.
I've only got two weeks of cutting left, and then it will be time for increased calories, a slightly relaxed diet and a focus on rebuilding my strength. I've got something like two weeks of vacation time that I need to use by early August, so that should be cool.
Unfortunately I can't really go out of town for an extended period of time because we're still trying to sell our house, and I want to keep a close watch on the construction of our new home. Actually some time off to hit the local beaches, watch movies, hang out with the dogs and workout sounds better than an extended trip anyway.
Speaking of the new house, I know I haven't updated my New House Construction Journal in awhile. That's because our new home is still in the permitting process, and I've pretty much covered all the pre-construction stuff. I'm told that they should be breaking ground any day now--perhaps even this week(!)--so there will be constant updates to the journal very soon. I decided to put my new journal in the VIP section of the forum because there is a lot of personal stuff in there that I really do not want archived by search engines (search engines can't crawl the VIP forums). If you haven't already done so, you'll need to instantly upgrade your forum membership if you want to check out the journal.
June 12, 2007
I finally feel mostly recovered from Saturday night's JSF cheat meal festivities. I'm still holding a little water, but this morning I feel rested and back to normal.
I've been surprised by how good my usual foods have tasted over the past two days. I enjoy junk food like anyone else, but I always feel terrible after eating that way. I'm not talking about feeling crappy mentally; I'm talking about a marked change in how good I feel physically. The difference is striking. Alcohol consumption amplifies the effects of unhealthy foods even more.
Last night's workout (back & biceps) was amazingly good. All those carbs I ate on Saturday night at least provided me with some fuel! It felt great to get in the gym and have tons of energy. I'm really looking forward to lifting this summer when I transition to my maintenance diet. I should have some awesome workouts!
In addition to the first set of 3rd Annual JSF Cheat Meal photos that I mentioned in yesterday's update, I also assembled all the videos into one place and posted those yesterday afternoon. You can find them all (including Phillydude's cod prank) right here.
If you were at the cheat meal and have some pictures or video that you want to share, I'm planning to put up another batch of photos. Please send them to me! Please be sure to send the original images--I'll resize them as needed.
June 11, 2007
I put a huge batch of 2007 Cheat Meal photos up last night. You can check them out here. I'll be putting up some videos, and maybe some more pictures, soon.
M@ posted a bunch of his pictures down in our vile little chat thread "The Wasteland". M@, jk0, Phillydude, IWAC and Banditfist all stayed together over the weekend and look to have had a pretty wild time. M@'s pictures chronicle their Orlando weekend, as well as the cheat meal itself. You can check those pictures out starting here (WARNING: Offensive content, upgraded membership required).
I only stayed up late and drank alcohol one night (Saturday), and I'm still recovering. I sure can't party like I could when I was younger. I went to bed last night at 8:30 and slept like the dead. I slept through the entire night, and this morning I'm still feeling a bit groggy.
Yesterday morning I was surprised to find that my weight was virtually unchanged (I expected to bloat up from the cheat meal). I think the alcohol temporarily dried me out, because now this morning I'm very bloated with about 3 pounds of water weight.
I'm off to eat now, have a great day!
June 10, 2007
We were only a group of 19, but I'm told we were as loud as a crowd of 200...
The 3rd Annual JSF Cheat meal was held last night and it was a huge success. Everyone started showing up around 7:30 PM, and the last of us departed the restaurant shortly before midnight. Four and half hours never flew by so fast! I think next year we should think about planning an entire cheat day.
It's going to take some time for everyone to get their pictures and videos to me. Once I get the media, I'll need to assemble everything into an album. I'll try to have it done and posted later today or by tomorrow morning. Flashbulbs were going off non-stop the entire evening, so there bound to be some real gems in there.
Phillydude played a clever prank on me last night (and I think there is at least one video of it, someone please send it to me): I ordered a big 18oz steak and a double order of steak fries. Needless to say, after months of nothing but cod and broccoli I was looking forward to my food more than I can describe. Our server started bring our food out, and she sat a big plate of cod and broccoli down in front of me. It took me a second to figure out what was happening, but when I looked up and saw everyone taking pictures, shooting video and laughing I realized I'd been had. Nice one, Phil! Thankfully they brought my real dinner out right behind the cod. I think Phil ate the cod for desert. It actually looked pretty good...
As for me, well, I'm very tired this morning. I didn't fall asleep until around 1:00 AM, which is later than I've been up in a long, time. I'm usually in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 each night, so this morning when the dogs woke me up at 6:00 AM I wanted to die. Lack of sleep combined with the "heavy" food and alcohol I consumed last night has left me feeling pretty crappy this morning. I know, I'm wimp when it comes to late nights and/or partying. My party days are long over, and I'm glad: I feel like death warmed over right now.
Thanks again to everyone who came--I hope you all had as much fun as Lisa and I did! It was awesome to meet everyone and hang out for awhile.
June 9, 2007
Tonight is the 3rd annual JSF Cheat Meal. I'm sure I'm going to be a bit water-logged tomorrow, so I decided to do my weekly body fat and tape measurements this morning instead of Sunday morning.
I'm down to a 2007 cutting low of 193.2 pounds. That's a little over a pound of fat loss for the week--good progress this deep into my cut.
I lost another quarter of an inch from my waist and a quarter of an inch from my thighs this past week. My waist measurement is now between 30.5 and 30.75 inches. My lowest waist measurement of all time is 30.5 inches, and that was back in 2004 when I weighed about 170 pounds. With the mass I've added to my chest, lats and shoulders, my waist and hips appear much smaller than they ever have.
The 7% body fat barrier has been breeched! This morning my body fat reading is 6.9% (as measured using a 7-site pinch test with the FatTrack PRO Digital Body Fat Calipers from the JSF Amazon Mall). Just a pound or two of fat loss to go, and I'll have reached my goal!
I'm very much look forward to meeting some of you this evening at the 3rd Annual JSF Cheat Meal! M@, jk0, Banditfist, Phillydude and IWAC arrived in Orlando yesterday and apparently wasted no time in getting the party started. They've already posted a series of drunken pictures down in our nasty little hangout, the Wasteland (WARNING: Offensive content, VIP membership required). I have a feeling this is going to be one crazy night...
June 8, 2007
Tomorrow night is the 3rd annual JSF Cheat Meal! I'm very much looking forward to a nice steak & fries dinner, but I'm mostly looking forward to hanging out with many of my JSF friends "in real life". I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures and maybe some video for those of you who can't make it this year. I'll try to have some of that posted for you on Sunday or Monday morning.
If you are interested in coming to a future JSF Cheat Meal, they are held on the second Saturday in June. Next year's gathering will be held in the Orlando area on Saturday, June 14, 2008. There's plenty to do while you are in town: we've got Disney World, Seaworld, Universal, MGM, Epcot, awesome shopping and more beaches than you can imagine: the Atlantic is a short drive to the East and the Gulf is about the same distance to the West.
Have a great Friday!
June 7, 2007
It's so funny how our bodies work. After five days at the exact same weight, this morning I woke up and am "suddenly" down 1.2 more pounds. That puts me at a new 2007 cutting low of 193.4 pounds. My mid-section looked as good as it's ever looked in the mirror this morning. I'm definitely below 7% body fat now! I think another couple of pounds of fat loss is going to put me at my goal of 6% body fat.
Speaking of body fat, I think I'm going to take this week's measurements and body fat reading on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. Saturday night is the 3rd annual JSF cheat meal, and I don't want the water I'll surely be retaining on Sunday morning to obscure this week's progress.
You'd think that at this point in my cut I'd be completely sick of cod and broccoli. Surprisingly I seem to be enjoying both of those foods more than ever. Heck, I didn't even like broccoli that much when I started this cut, and now I absolutely love it. Same for grapefruit. In fact, I used to hate grapefruit, but now it feels like I'm sneaking a desert when I eat it.
Yesterday Lisa made a big bowl of buttered popcorn for herself. Popcorn is probably my favorite snack of all time, and the smell was unbelievable. I think at this point in my cut my willpower has reached an entirely new level. It's like the possibility of making an unscheduled break in my diet doesn't even exist. I think part of it is because I know I'm so close to my goal. Just a couple more weeks, and I'll have done something I've never done before. It feels good!
June 6, 2007
My body seems to be really resisting further fat loss right now. Despite very strict adherence to my diet and training, I've been at the exact same weight for 5 days now, and I look about the same as I did a week ago. I'm pretty sure it's because I have practically no fat left on my body except for the fat in my most stubborn area (just bellow my belly button). I remember hitting this "wall" back in 2003 when I was about as lean as I am now, so I sort of expected this to happen. I think if I continue as I have been the stubborn fat will begin to come off, it's just taking a little longer than the "newer" fat to get rid of.
I'd better sign off now, it's time for my cardio and (as usual) I'm starving. The sooner I get my cardio done the sooner I can eat!
June 5, 2007
With so little fuel in my tank at this late stage of my cut, workouts and even LISS cardio sessions are becoming very difficult. It is taking every ounce of resolve I have to get in the gym and take care of business.
My weight training workouts have been fairly decent, especially once I have a few sets under my belt. Thank goodness for the endorphin rush, because I'm pretty sure that natural high is the only reason I'm able to get through my workouts. I feel pretty weak, but surprisingly I'm still moving some pretty decent weight around.
My LISS cardio sessions--which, of course, are done in a fasted state--are also not much fun right now. The entire time I'm on the bike all I can think about is how hungry I am!
Of course I'm pretty much hungry all day now. Actually "pretty much" is not very accurate: I am hungry all day--every waking second of it. I'm hungry before my meals, during my meals and after my meals. Some of the things that help me curb my appetite? I drink lots of water, chew gum and stay busy. Those things really help.
I do have a bit of a reprieve this Saturday night! This Saturday is the 3rd annual JSF cheat meal. There's no point in having a cheat meal if you're not going to cheat, and I
fully intend to indulge! I'm not going to go nuts, but I will have a big steak, french fries and a couple Grey Goose on the rocks. I'm actually looking forward to the
french fries more than anything else. Cake? Ice cream? Candy? Keep 'em... just give me a big pile of fried carbohydrates!
June 4, 2007
Mastover has made a small change to my diet for this week: each serving of cod has been reduced to just four ounces. I've updated my current food log to make note of this change. I'm already hungry most of the time, so this is going to be difficult. Thankfully my cutting phase is only a few more weeks and then I can enjoy a couple of well-earned months with a somewhat relaxed diet.
Speaking of my relaxed diet, I'll be posting my summer "maintenance" meal plans sometime before the end of June. The majority of the foods I'll be eating will be the same healthy, all-natural choices that make me feel so good: grilled chicken breasts, eye of round steak, broccoli, seafood, oats, yams, brown rice, pineapple, grapefruit, egg whites and so on.
Along with my oats and egg whites I'll probably have a slice of wholegrain bread at breakfast and maybe some 100% orange juice a few times per week. For lunch I'm thinking I'd like to have (at least a few time per week) deli-sliced turkey breast (not that packaged processed crap) on wholegrain bread with lettuce, brown mustard, fresh basil and tomato. I never tire of eye of round steak, so a great dinner for me is 6-8 ounces of eye of round, brown rice and a big salad. I'll probably have Nitrean protein shakes a couple of times each day: I can't wait to start having this simple Nitrean and oats recipe again! I also love Nitrean blended with a couple tablespoons of Natural peanut butter. I might also try my hand at making my own beef jerky. I love that stuff, and it's a great snack, but just about everything found in the stores is loaded with sugar and chemicals.
As you can see, eating healthy doesn't have to suck. All those foods I just mentioned are very tasty and healthy. Even foods like broccoli and grapefruit, which I used to hate, are delicious to me now that I've acquired a taste for them.
Of course I'll be having a couple of "cheat meals" each week, too. I may chose to have some buttered popcorn while I watch a movie, or order a pizza. I might decide I want to some BBQ or take Lisa out for some Mexican food or a big steak dinner. I'll be able to have foods like these on occasion because the rest of my diet will be very clean, I'll be lifting weights 3 times per week and doing cardio 3 or 4 times per week.
Man, this update was a bad idea--I just made myself even more hungry than I was! I'm going to sign off and go eat my cod and grapefruit. While I like
cod and I like grapefruit, I can 100% guarantee I will not be eating them together for breakfast once I finish cutting. They are not the best combo in the
world...
June 3, 2007
It's measurement Sunday, and it's been a pretty good week!
This morning I'm down to a 2007 cutting low of 194.6 pounds. That's about 1 pound of fat loss for the week, and good progress at this late stage of the cut. As I draw closer to the 6% mark, fat loss is expected to slow.
I lost a quarter of an inch from my waist and a quarter of an inch from my hips this past week. All other measurements remained the same. My waist size is just below 31 inches now, and is about the only area on my body where I'm still carrying an appreciable amount of fat. I think over the next few weeks my waist measurement will be the only measurement that will change significantly. The lowest waist measurement I ever had was 30.5 inches back in 2004. I wonder if I'll match it or beat it by the end of my cut?
This morning my body fat reading was exactly the same as it was last week: 7.4% (as measured using a 7-site pinch test with the FatTrack PRO Digital Body Fat Calipers from the JSF Amazon Mall).
I'm not concerned about the body fat reading not changing this week. If anything it just shows that my measurements are consistent. The only pinch area that was reduced was my abdominal pinch, and that was just by 1mm. Even though I lost a quarter inch from around my waist, that didn't really translate to much of a reduced caliper pinch.
Well, I'm late for my cardio so I'd better close this out. Thanks for stopping by--have a great Sunday!
June 2, 2007
This is it--the last month of my 2007 cutting phase! I'm off to a good start: this morning I woke up looking lean and feeling good. My weight is down to 194.6 pounds, and I'm looking forward to taking my measurements and body fat reading tomorrow. I think I've made some good progress this week. I still think I'm above 7% body fat, though.
There's no doubt that these last few pounds of fat are going to fight tooth and nail for their "survival". Hey, they can kick and scream all they want, they're still going down, and going down hard! I know it sounds a little weird to think of fat as a mortal enemy, but adopting that mindset puts me in a fighting mood. I don't like to lose, and anything I can do to get my competitive juices flowing is going to help me reach my goal.
Speaking of my goal, because I've decided to cut for the entire month of June I expect to be well past my goal of
6% body fat by July 1st. I wonder how close to 5% body fat I can get?
June 1, 2007
A few days ago I was feeling depressed and unsatisfied with my progress. I think lack of carbs was a major factor in why I was feeling this way. So, over the past two days I did clean refeeds. My body was hungering for quality carbs, and that's what I gave it from foods such as oats, yams, bananas and grapefruit. I now feel back on top of things mentally, I feel strong and my muscles look much fuller.
Aside from the carbs, something else that really helped me get re-focused was to sit down and take stock of what I've accomplished over the past five months. Considering where I was on January 1, 2007--236 pounds/19% body fat--I've got nothing to be ashamed of. I've been working my butt off over the past few months, and I've made excellent progress. I've dropped over 40 pounds and reduced my body fat to below 8%. Yeah, I still have a couple of muscle groups that I'm not satisfied with, and I admit that I'm frustrated by last bit of fat just bellow my belly button, but I'm doing everything in my power to correct those things and that's all I can do.
I barely recognize myself from this past January. When I looked at my January 2007 picture yesterday for the first time in about a month, I was shocked all over again! Man, no two ways about it--I got FAT over my 2006 bulking phase!
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I also went back and compared my pictures from previous summers, and I'm very happy with the improvements I've made. Looking at these pictures made me feel very good about my accomplishments; they really put things in perspective. All my muscle groups have improved, and so has my overall symmetry. I'm especially pleased with the changes I made over this past year to my upper body width, my delts, my lats and my legs.
Someone wrote to me recently and said the following:
"It seems to me that today you are only a hair 'better' (bigger, leaner, however you want to put it) than you were 2 years ago despite 2 cycles of large weight swings. It looks like you've been spinning the proverbial wheels...
This person (who, by the way, I don't know and have absolutely nothing against) then went on to run some numbers to support his point. These numbers were based purely on my body weights and (perhaps suspect) body fat measurements. I encouraged him to not pay so much attention to the numbers, but to instead judge my progress based on my actual physique.
Look at my picture from two years ago and compare it to today's photo: do you think I have I been "spinning my wheels"? Believe me, I'm my own worst critic, and I sure don't think so! I think my physique today is in a completely different class than it was two years ago.
Note: I had to use July 1st pictures for 2005 and 2006 because I was on vacation June 1st those years and did not take my usual monthly photo.
I've decided to cut through the end of June, so my July 1st picture should be my best ever. But that's nothing: this next year I'm going to work very hard on my traps, my chest and my rear delts. I'm also going to make sure I don't put on so much fat over my next bulk, and do everything I can to get my mid-section even tighter. Next June's picture is going to blow all these pictures out of the water!
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