My journal

[FITFREAK]

OK...I'm new to the board. I'm trying to lose about 15 pounds of bodyfat and gain definition. I'd like to compete someday, when I get this weight off, hopefully within the next 6-8 months. No laughing, but I'm attaching a recent photo of myself so you can see how far I need to go and follow my progress (I'm going to post a new picture every 6 wks or so). The picture was taken at 4 am, so excuse the exhausted look on my face (LOL).
Any input, advice, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Today: Chest & Cardio
Barbell flat bench press: 4/8-15 30-60#
Db incline press: 3/10-12 15-20#
Cable cross-overs: 3/10-12 25-30#

Cardio: 5 min warm-up on TM; 30 mins on TM (doing 2 walk/run intervals, and the rest hill intervals)

Eating:
8:30- apple, 1/2 c oatmeal mixed with 1.5 scoops Nitro-Tech, splenda, apple pie spice, 1 L water
10:45- 1/2 c Fiber One cereal, 3/4 c low-fat cottage cheese, 2 L water
1:30- 4 oz grilled chicken (dipped in low-fat balsamic vinegarette), 2-3 c broccoli & green beans, 2 L water
4:00- Doctor's CarbRite bar, 1 L water

[FITFREAK]

Oops, I forgot to attach the picture. Here it is:

[FITFREAK]

One more picture, this time of the front of my body

[sweetbecky]

Just curious, how much do you weigh, height and have you had your bf% tested? Our body types are somewhat similar so it might be helpful for me to follow your progress.

[missmuscle]

Applause on your efforts! Good luck to you and I look forward to reading your journal.

As a word of advice, you need to modify your diet a bit and add a few more meals as well as working on the types of carbs you are eating and the combonation of carbs fats and proteins.

[FITFREAK]

height= 5'4"-5'5 (not sure which one, I think 5'5)
weight= 144
body fat= 18% (last time tested was a little over a month ago)

Goals:
weight= 125-130
body fat= 12% (before starting a competition diet, before thinking about entering a contest)
Need to reduce my hips by 3-5", thighs by 3" each, and waist by 3"

Missmuscle: thanks for your comments. I appreciate them. Any advice/suggestions you have for me would be greatly appreciated! I can use all the help I can get! I really want to reach my goals and get in AWESOME shape. I have the dedication, desire, and will, but could use some help with my diet and training. So, let me know if you have any ideas. I'd appreciate it!

I'm going to start daily journal posts tomorrow (Monday)...I've had a bad weekend, diet-wise...PMS and too much stress this weekend!!! But will be starting fresh tomorrow toward my goals. I'm determined to do this!

[FITFREAK]

6 am- Cardio only today: 7 min warm-up on treadmill (TM) followed by 40 mins on recumbent bike (hill intervals, L 9-10)

Eating:
9:00- 1/2 c oats mixed with 1 scoop Nitro-Tech, splenda, and apple pie spice; 2 L water (suppl: 1 Tight capsule)
11:45- protein shake (1 scoop) & 1 apple, 1 L water
2:00- 4 oz chicken & 3 c broccoli and green beans, 1 L water (suppl: 1 Tight capsule)
5:00- protein shake & 1/2 apple, 1 L water
7:30- 4 strawberries, 1 L water
9:00- handful of white corn chips

[missmuscle]

Glad to hear that I wasn't the only one who had a bad diet weekend!

As for your diet, I would recommend that you eat 6-7 meals per day and include at least 1 gram of protein per pound of LEAN BODY WEIGHT- that means your muscle weight not your total body weight- you can find this out according to your body fat %.

Also, if you are lifting and doing cardio, or even just lifting you need to eat more carbs after your workout within 1 hour so add some complex carbs to your afterwokout meal. Since you are not yet dieting for a comp, you can include fruit, but a better source of "good sugars" is from maltodextrin which can be found in protein shakes.

Try to eat a all protein shake an hour before bedtime to help you feed those muscles while you sleep and make sure that you are eating enough cals and drinking at least a gallon of water a day.

Let me know how your workouts are going and I hope this helped!

[FITFREAK]

Missmuscle: Thank you for the input. I'm going to try and incorporate what you said into my plan.

Today: Arms

SS: barbell curls: 3/8-12 30-40# with db kickbacks (supinating my wrist for half the set): 3/6-12 10-15#
SS: seated db curls: 3/10 15# with pressdowns (2 sets with rope, 1 set with A bar): 3/10-12 45-55#
SS: machine preacher curls: 3/8-10 25-30# with lying one arm cross-body extensions: 3/10-12 15#
Bench dips: 1 set to failure

Cardio: 5 min warm-up on TM; 30 mins on TM (hill intervals 4-15%, 3.7-3.8 mph)

Eating:
8:50- 1/2 c oats mixed with 1 scoop Nitro-Tech, splenda, apple pie spice, 1 L water (suppl: 1 Tight capsule)
11:15- protein shake & 3 strawberries, 1 L water
1:45- large salad (lett, cukes, broccoli, green beans, celery, scallions, carrots), 1/2 sm yam, 4 oz chicken, 1 tbsp olive oil & vinegar, 1 L water (suppl: 1 Tight capsule)

[FITFREAK]

Today, I'm starting my new diet from Mike Davies (of the Fitness Factory)...I just got it Sat in the mail. It looks great, still pretty restrictive, but with a little more variety than the previous one. I'm going to give it my all, my best shot and see what happens. I figure, if I follow it to a tee for 1 month, I should see decent results considering it's basically a pre-contest diet (chicken, oats, protein powder, turkey, egg whites, green veggies, apples, tuna/orange roughy (I don't eat/like fish, so I'll have to talk to Mike about substitutions, but I'm sure it'll just be more white meat protein, potatoes/yams, flank steak, and protein pudding) and cardio sessions twice a day (4 days a week; the training schedule will be 6 days of cardio/wk with 2x day 4 days a week and weight training 5 days/wk with a 3 day on, one day off, two day on cycle).

I'm really excited about this...I just hope I can find the strength, dedication, and motivation to keep on track and stay with it for the long haul. I'll need all the support I can get, so please help me out guys!!!

Today: AM Cardio & Back
AM Cardio: 20 mins on stair climber (Mike's "Gluteus Thighumus" interval program) & 15 mins on treadmill (3.6-3.9 mph, 4-8% incline)
Back: lat pulldown (to front): 4/10-12 50-70#
bent over barbell rows: 3/10-12 40#
hammer strength iso-seated row machine: 4/10 35-40# each side
PM Cardio: will do 30 mins on recumbent bike after work

Eating:
6:50- apple, 40 oz water (1 capsule L-glutamine)
9:00- 1/2 c oats mixed with 1 scoop Nitro-Tech and splenda, 1 L water (1 Tight capsule)
11:10- protein shake, 1 L water (1 mulit-vitamin with green tea) (was supposed to have 6 egg whites and 1/2 c spinach...made this using egg substitute in microwave, but it was disgusting , so had a protein shake instead, will have extra greens at lunch to make up for the spinach)...I think I'll go buy a dozen eggs and make real egg whites tonight!
2:10- 4 oz chicken, 1/2 c oats, 2 L water (1 Tight capsule)

[FITFREAK]

OK...it's been a while since I last posted, but I intend to start journaling here on a daily basis. I just got back from the BodyRock show in VA this past weekend, which totally motivated me to want to compete. Hopefully, I'll be on that stage next July! During my trip down there, I got to meet Mike Davies of the Fitness Factory, who has been creating my diets for me for the past 2 months. I hope to have him create my training program too (once I can save up some money...gosh, training for competition can get expensive!) It was a great experience and he was so friendly. He gave me some useful tips. So, as of today, I'm going to start strictly training and dieting in hopes of entering my first competition within the next 6 months or so.

I have some photos posted at the following site: http://photos.yahoo.com/sdiorio
They are some pictures of my physique over the last few months (dates are below the pics) and of my weekend at BodyRock (FYI: there are 2 pages of photos, can click "show all" to see all of them on one page)

Any support, advice, criticism, etc. that anyone has to offer will be greatly appreciated! Here I go!!!

Today: Cardio & Shoulders (quick abs too, will of more tonight)
Cardio:
20 mins on stair climber (hill intervals, alternating every 1-3 mins between pushing with balls of feet and heels) & 20 mins on treadmill (10 mins walking @ 3.8 mph on inclines of 8-12%, 6 mins running @ 6.4 mph 0% incline, and 4 mins walking @ 3.8-3.0 mph 0% for cooldown)

Shoulders:
Supersets (SS)- overhead db press: 3/10-12 15-20# with pec deck machine facing rear to work rear delts: 3/10-12 25-30#
SS- db lateral raises: 3/10-12 10-15# (drop sets) with barbell upright rows: 3/10 30-40# (drop sets)

Abs:
hanging knee-ins: 2/15
crunches: 2/15
froggers: 1/20
reverse crunches: 1/15

Eating:
9:00 (post-workout)- 1/2 c oats mixed with 1.25 scoops Nitro-Tech & splenda, 2 L water (supplements: 1 glutamine capsule, 1 PyroClen capsule)
11:15- protein shake, apple, 1 L water (suppl: 1 multi with green tea)
2:00- salad (lettuce, cukes, broccoli, green beans, celery) with 4 oz turkey breast, 2 tbsp fat-free balsamic vinegarette dressing, 2 L water (suppl: 1 PyroClen capsule)
6:15- 4 oz grilled chicken w/1 tbsp garlic & balsamic vinegar marinade (250 mg sodium), sm ear of corn, 1 c green beans, 20 oz water
8:30- protein shake, crystal light

[FITFREAK]

Today: Back & Cardio
Cardio: (45 mins) 23 mins on elliptical (hill intervals "around the world", L 8) & 22 mins on recumbent bike (hill intervals, L 8)

Back:
one arm db rows: 3/10-12 15-25#
lat pulldowns: 3/10-12 70# (2 drop sets from 70-60#, 2 sets to front, one set to behind neck)
t-bar rows: 3/10 10-15# (super slow reps)

Eating:
9:15 (post-workout)- 1/2 c oats mixed with 1.5 scoops Nitro-Tech and splenda, 2 L water (supplements: 1 glutamine capsule & 1 PyroClen capsule)
11:30- protein shake, apple, 1 L water

[TheGreatSatan]

Mmmmmmmm.

Redhead!