Astrostu's Astounding, Amazing, and Active Adipose Attenuation Aim

[astrostu]

Note: I started this over at the JSF forums (link!) a few weeks ago and don't want to copy all the history from that over here. So I'm just starting with today ...

Alright, I need to moderate my "rewards" for reaching goals. I have various short-term goals set up, as I'm sure most everyone does, and in general they are food related. Okay, they're all food related. I know that's not the healthiest thing in the world to do and studies have probably shown that it leads to obesity (got an A on your English paper? have a cookie! or let's go to dinner!), but considering that food is the most obvious restriction in re-shaping one's body, I guess it also makes sense to then relax that for a moment to reward success.

Anyway, I say that because I had planned to do a home-made pizza dinner after the success of reaching my first short-term goal on time. But it's hot out! Yesterday it was 103° here in Boulder. So instead I brought in Chinese food on Monday (July 5). But then my bf wanted to celebrate, and he wanted to take me out for ice cream, so the following Saturday I did that (July 10) because I felt guilty about doing the Chinese so I didn't tell him I'd already done that. And then, I really didn't want to cook on Sunday, and I used an excuse of, "But they have a new crust and sauce and everything!" so I ordered a medium pepperoni pizza from Dominos with the breadsticks. [Take a look at the next post for an older one from JSF to explain the first goal I met.]

Yes, I actually DID count everything. And Week 8 was woefully over-carbed/fat and under-protein as a consequence of all that food. And as a result, my weight ballooned to where it had been 2 weeks earlier and my bf% went up to 20.5%. So the idea that your bodyfat won't immediately reflect a binge is not true, I've learned.

So I spent last week back on "Cutting, v. 4.7" which is a more restrictive caloric intake, re-measured my bf% on Thursday morning, and I'm about back to where I was 2 weeks ago. When all's said and done, I lost 2 weeks of progress weight-wise and 1 week of progress bf%-wise. And on Friday I had HUGE cravings and wanted to call out for stuff, so I hid my phone and wallet.

And speaking of it being hot outside, over the last hour the temperature here has gone up 10° and it's now 82° out. I really really REALLY need to go to bed earlier so that I'm able to be conscious earlier in the morning so I can walk. After <6 hrs of sleep, my alarm woke me at 8:15 and after utilizing the lavatory and re-starting my internet connection (it apparently died at 6:45), I was going to just say eff it and go back to bed. But the temperature was "only" 73°, and remembering all those ripped bodies that I'm aspiring to duplicate, I said eff it to that and just went for my walk.

So here's a question, if anyone actually reads this: For those of you who walk/jog/run outside, how the heck do you deal with summer heat? It's so unmotivating - and I really DON'T need any less motivation - to go outside for a walk and after just 5 minutes have sweat pouring down your face. Since it was "only" 73° when I started out, the sweat didn't happen until it probably hit around 77° half-way through the walk this time, but it's still just ... well, I guess "unmotivating" is the most eloquent term I can come up with at the moment. I know the answer is probably just "suck it up," but that would be salty.

Anyway, I'm back on the horse, or wagon, or whatever, and still working towards that September 12 goal. I also signed up for the August 100-Pt Challenge. And I'm making progress towards figuring out a home gym -- at Costco today I'll be looking at foam padding and pricing that out. There have been a few deals that I almost jumped on -- apparently Saturday is THE day on Craigslist for weight stuff to be posted, and there was a REALLY good deal yesterday ($45 for bench and 130 lbs of plate weights plus bar plus 2 small ones for dumbbells). I suggested it to the bf immediately 'cause I wanted to wait to get one with a preacher curl attachment, and he contacted the guy and he'd already sold it. But yeah, I just need to get to the bank this week to get some cash and I'll probably make the purchase within the next 9 days or so.


Week 9 -- July 18 - July 24

Average Weight Last Week: 170.8 lbs (+0.8 lb change )
BF% on July 18: 19.2% (32.7 lbs fat, 137.2 lbs lean) (+0.11% change )

Short-term (cutting) goal for Sept. 12: ≤160 lbs | ≤15.5% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~12% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I'm going to a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) in mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: Cardio (walking, fasted LISS) ~40 minutes ≥6 days.


Food this week, Sunday-Thursday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.8)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 288 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 529 | 17.5 | 35 | 56.5
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Friday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - Unknown -- going out with a group after my planetarium show

Food this week, Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 serving beef & salsa mix over brown rice: 477 | 14 | 33.5 | 53
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.8" is for a 1800 kcal goal based on my BMR with a 1.375 activity multiplier minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1700 kcal/day, 48.7 gms fat, 156.4 gms carbs, and 153.3 gms protein. That'll be a 26/37/37 split.


Comments: One bf% measure went down from 19.1% to 18.7%, one up from 19.0% to 19.2%, and the other up from 20.1% to 20.3% ... I take the median of the 3 and use that as my bf% estimate, so I went up very slightly. I also measured around my neck a bit less than last week, and if I were to increase it by the 1/8" to last week's measurement, then my median bf% drops to 19.0% ... but I won't do that, but I do need to get more consistent with that measurement. This is the first increase in awhile, and it also means that I'm 0.03% above my goal ... first time above goal in this whole cut. Of course, 0.03% is well below measurement accuracy, but it's still psychologically unsettling. The likely reason is of course the binging from last weekend and the week before, and the near-zero change from the previous week (though I missed that entry out of embarrassment) is because I took my measurement on Thursday (just 3 days ago) instead of Sunday (because I measured 20.5% on Sunday and I wanted to cry).

That just means that I need to work more on cardio this week. Actually get up early enough so I'll walk every day. And the bf will be out of town next weekend, so I have two straight weeks of just being up here, where I can control everything, and have no excuses.

I've also 2 lbs to lose this week ...

This week, every day, I'm generally under-eating by ~200 kcal because I don't know what to expect for dinner on Friday. I'm doing a planetarium show on "Doomsday 2012" and why the world won't end, and a local skeptics group I'm in will be seeing it and afterwards all going out to eat. I've roughly budgeted 1500 kcal for that meal, with 70 gms fat, 170 gms carbs, and 50 gms protein. I have no idea where we'll go, what I'll get, but I figure that my estimate is a reasonable guess for something like a burger and fries at a generic American restaurant.

[astrostu]

[This is a post from two weeks ago on the JSF thread I mentioned. I wanted to include it here to give context for the discussion above about meeting my first goal of ≤170 lbs and ≤20% bf by July 4.]

I was bad the first few days of this week 'cause when my weight wasn't budging, staying at roughly 172.5±0.5 lbs, I didn't record it. I recorded Sunday at 172.2 lbs and then Tuesday afternoon at 172.5 lbs, and then got back to recording on Thursday when I was at 172 lbs. Then I dropped. Since Thursday, I've lost about 2.5 lbs. One may argue - probably legitimately - that the bulk of that was water weight. Especially since the last half pound took place as a before-walking and after-walking this morning and I'm sure the bulk of that is sweat (though that's a little disconcerting that I sweated out a half pound of water ...).

However, yesterday morning, Saturday, I weighed 170.0 lbs. And this morning, after walking, I was at 169.5 lbs. And my bodyfat % this week came in at roughly 19.3%. You know what that means? I actually achieved my first goal, on time!! Yep, I started April 25 at 179.2 lbs and 22.9% bf. 10 weeks later, down about 10 lbs and over 3% bf, which was the goal. Huzzah!! Oh, and last time I was at this bf% was January 20, 2008, when I weighed about 165 lbs, so again I'm 5 lbs "ahead" of that.

What a nice reward/achievement for another nice achievement: I'm done with my class! I have 14 papers left to grade, then meet with the TA tomorrow to compare grades, and then submit them to the Registrar ... and I'm done! Monday is my Independence Day. Which also means that I can get back to at least some moderate exercise (not to mention getting back to my real work and other stuff ... and get a friggin' hair cut).

And in those 10 weeks and weekly average of losing 6.6 lbs, 6.9 lbs of fat were lost, so 0.3 lbs lean were gained. My guesstimate was I would lose 80% fat and 20% lean. Obviously not the case. So, for the next "short"-term goal which ends September 12, I'm upping my guesstimate to 95% of the weight lost will be fat, 5% lean. I'm also not revising my goal lean/fat weight based on current numbers (goal fat at this point was ≤34.7 lbs, lean ≥135.3 lbs, and I'm at 32.6 and 136.9). This gives me a little more leeway in case that 95% is ambitious.

The Sept. 12 goal is to be ≤160 lbs and ≤15.5% bf. That's (yep) another 10 weeks away, so again -1 lb/week, and this time effectively ≈-0.5% bf/week. Not sure if that's quite doable, so I may need to revise it in 5 weeks, but I'm still 2 weeks ahead in the bf% so again I have a bit more leeway than it may look.

The significance of this goal is 3-fold. First, Sept. 12 isn't just 10 weeks away, it also marks the start of at least 3, possibly up to 6 weeks of fun and hell. Starting that next weekend, Sept. 18, I'm photographing my advisor's wedding, and of course the reception food will be abundant. Then I leave for a conference 3 days later in Flagstaff, AZ, where I'll be through Friday, when my parents will then join me and we'll be doing a vacation tour of the area before we fly out on Tuesday morning. The week after that I may (10% chance) be leading a field trip through southern Colorado, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico for a week (as in camping and eating out), and then 2 weeks after that I may be on that week-long Meteor Crater field camp I've been mentioning (maybe 75% chance? don't know when I'll hear back).

In addition, ~160 lbs and ~15.5% bf is the best I got to last time I tried doing this. My best weekly average was the week of May 11, 2008, when I averaged 158.7 lbs, and my best bf% was the week of July 13, 2008, when I was 15.8% (@160.3 lbs). 160±2 lbs was where I plateaued last time for 19 weeks. Yeah. 19 weeks. And then I gave up. So this Sept. 12 goal is both a paper goal in my original projection of weight and fat loss, a practical goal in that it marks when a bunch of trips start for a few weeks, and a psychological one because it will beat the lowest bf% I've been at before and match the weight at which I plateaued before, two years ago.


Week 7 -- July 4 - July 10

Average Weight Last Week: 171.3 lbs (-1.0 lb change)
BF% on July 4: 19.3% (32.6 lbs fat, 137.0 lbs lean) (-0.46% change)

Short-term (cutting) goal for Sept. 12: ≤160 lbs | ≤15.5% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~12% bf

Stamina goal needed for: I applied for a Crater Field Camp at Meteor Crater (Arizona) for mid-October that will be camping for a week and hiking into and out of the crater. NOT an easy task even for someone in decent shape.

Exercise this week: Cardio (walking) ~40 minutes ≥6 days.


Food this week, Sunday-Thursday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.8)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 bowl curried chicken with rice: 449 | 8 | 44 | 46
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Friday-Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 217 | 1.7 | 27.9 | 25.6
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 285 | 4.3 | 16.6 | 47.3
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 288 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1/2 lb blackened chicken breast: 288 | 6 | 2 | 53
• Dinner - 1 serving roasted potatoes and onions: 224 | 4 | 48 | 5
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, General:

• popcorn: 921 | 45 | 112 | 16

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.8" is for a 1800 kcal goal based on my BMR with a 1.375 activity multiplier minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1700 kcal/day, 46.6 gms fat, 160.9 gms carbs, and 160.3 gms protein. That'll be a 25/38/38 split.


Comments: This plan is slightly under my 1800 kcal/day goal, but I'm ramping up to it after this course. After being fairly low in calories/eating for the last few weeks, it's actually kinda hard to figure out how to boost my caloric intake while maintaining the right macros. For example, next month, in August, I'm hoping to finally have bought a bench or something so that I can start doing weights again without a gym membership. That would put me at needing 2100 kcal/day (doing a 1.55 multiplier) and, well, at the moment my attempt at that has me way under in carbs and at just the right amount for protein, coming in at 1950 kcal/day ... need to still boost that an additional 150 kcal/day and actually look for sources of decent carbs. A challenge I'm looking forward to .

One thing I've consistently noted in my sub-macros is that I'm low in fiber every week, coming in at roughly 50% of what's recommended for a male my age (38 gms/day). This week I'll be at 65% of that. I'm experimenting with boosting the wheat bran in my loaf bread I use in my sandwiches, and while I'm pushing it up there, it's still working out to increasing the amount by roughly 0.5-1.0 gm/slice ... not the +10 gm/day I "need." Not quite sure what to do here about that.

[RippedChic]

sounds like youve got a great plan set up! good luck!

[astrostu]

Okay, at Costco today they didn't have blackberries -- something I want to try instead of apples for my afternoon snack 'cause I'm low on fiber and blackberries are REALLY high in fiber. Was able to get them at the grocery, though, $4.99 for 6 oz, though the organic ones were only $2.99 for 6 oz. Fairly good (I haven't had blackberries for probably over a decade).

Also at Costco I priced out their floor pads, "Best-Step" "anti-fatigue flooring," 8 2'x2' interlocking squares for $11.99. Just searched online, and Sears is the closest at $15.99 and Amazon is about $29.99 for something equivalent. So, looks like I'll be getting 1 or 2 packs when I buy my weight set (probably later this week).

And RippedChic, thanks for being the first to reply!

[astrostu]

Thought I'd post a bit of background and context: Many eons ago, around Sept. 2007, I started on a program to reduce my 170-lb frame at ~21% bf to something that didn't make me feel quite so, well, fat. I made reasonable progress over the ensuing ~10 months with my best week averaging 158.7 lbs and a minimum of 15.8% bf. Not horrible, some progress, but not great. Then I had issues breaking through a plateau, got derailed, and then got into a relationship that put me in a, "Oh, well someone finds me attractive, guess I don't have to worry about this anymore" mode.

Then I woke up one morning in April 2010, glared at my scale, and decided to step on. My eyes closed, I let it weigh me, and I stepped off. The scale turned off before I opened my eyes. I sighed, stood on it again, and saw it registered over 180 lbs. And also I noticed when I laid down in bed that the fat on my sides would crease up and make it uncomfortable.

So anyway, I blew off the virtual dust on my "Fitness" folder on my desktop and read through my pixelated notes. Starting the week of April 25, I vowed to start over and work yet again on lowering my weight, decreasing my bodyfat, and then raising my weight to something hawt. Being in Boulder, CO in the summer where half the guys go around shirtless definitely makes me feel self-conscious ... I want to get to the point where I can feel confident doing what they do.

Anyway, I gave myself 3 weeks intro, and then I was on a camping trip to Yellowstone. I returned, and I still want to get fitter, so here'goes ...

My general goal for the rest of the year is to lose about 1 lb/week, with around 80%-90% of this being fat. Hopefully that'll drop me to around 12.5% bf and I can start bulking in January.

[astrostu]

And some information on my current short-term goal:

In the 10 weeks to my first goals (≤170 lbs, ≤20% bf by July 4) and weekly average of losing 6.6 lbs, 6.9 lbs of fat were lost, so 0.3 lbs lean were gained. My guesstimate was I would lose 80% fat and 20% lean. Obviously not the case. So, for the next "short"-term goal which ends September 12, I'm upping my guesstimate to 95% of the weight lost will be fat, 5% lean. I'm also not revising my goal lean/fat weight based on current numbers (goal fat at this point was ≤34.7 lbs, lean ≥135.3 lbs, and I'm at 32.6 and 136.9). This gives me a little more leeway in case that 95% is ambitious.

The Sept. 12 goal is to be ≤160 lbs and ≤15.5% bf. That's (yep) another 10 weeks away, so again -1 lb/week, and this time effectively ≈-0.5% bf/week. Not sure if that's quite doable, so I may need to revise it in 5 weeks.

The significance of this goal is 3-fold. First, Sept. 12 isn't just 10 weeks away, it also marks the start of at least 3, possibly up to 6 weeks of fun and hell. Starting that next weekend, Sept. 18, I'm photographing my advisor's wedding, and of course the reception food will be abundant. Then I leave for a conference 3 days later in Flagstaff, AZ, where I'll be through Friday, when my parents will then join me and we'll be doing a vacation tour of the area before we fly out on Tuesday morning. The week after that I may (10% chance) be leading a field trip through southern Colorado, northern Arizona, and northern New Mexico for a week (as in camping and eating out), and then 2 weeks after that I will be on that week-long Meteor Crater field camp.

In addition, ~160 lbs and ~15.5% bf is the best I got to last time I tried doing this. My best weekly average was the week of May 11, 2008, when I averaged 158.7 lbs, and my best bf% was the week of July 13, 2008, when I was 15.8% (@160.3 lbs). 160±2 lbs was where I plateaued last time for 19 weeks. Yeah. 19 weeks. And then I gave up. So this Sept. 12 goal is both a paper goal in my original projection of weight and fat loss, a practical goal in that it marks when a bunch of trips start for a few weeks, and a psychological one because it will beat the lowest bf% I've been at before and match the weight at which I plateaued before, two years ago.

[csb5731]

So here's a question, if anyone actually reads this: For those of you who walk/jog/run outside, how the heck do you deal with summer heat? It's so unmotivating - and I really DON'T need any less motivation - to go outside for a walk and after just 5 minutes have sweat pouring down your face. Since it was "only" 73° when I started out, the sweat didn't happen until it probably hit around 77° half-way through the walk this time, but it's still just ... well, I guess "unmotivating" is the most eloquent term I can come up with at the moment. I know the answer is probably just "suck it up," but that would be salty.

I live in the Pacific NW, where the sun tends to be elusive. When it hits, it can be quite a shock, and I find it a little bit like eating at KFC or tequila-time: it always sounds better prospectively, vs. during/after the fact. Nonetheless, it's a shame to waste the nice days, and we've recently had some days well up into the 90's.

What works for me is NOT wearing any cotton whatsoever when I exercise outdoors in the heat (I like hiking/climbing). I wear light-weight poly-shirts, either loose-fit or compression, depending on my modesty levels and/or likelihood of an audience (I hate to be “that guy”). The compression-variety do work very well for wicking/staying dry, however. Same thing with shorts and underwear. Cotton underwear really sucks when you sweat, cause you'll be wet until you can change. I often find good deals on non-Underarmor brands of poly attire at chain sporting good stores and occasionally Target.

I always carry a liter of water or dilute Gatorade with me (or more, if I am bringing a pack).

I don't find sweat de-motivating at all while exercising (different story if I'm working inside at my desk or trying to sleep), as long as I am not sopping wet in the crotch or feet (NOCOTTONNOCOTTONNOCOTTON). Face sweat? That's why I got (short) sleeves or the front of my wicking shirt.

[astrostu]

Thanks, csb. I think, though, I may be allergic to exercise sweat. Not all sweat, just exercise sweat. This morning I got lucky -- it was 70° at 8:30 because it was pretty overcast, so I made it 2/3 of the way without sweating (temperature was up to 76° by the time I finished. And I so wear cotton briefs and sleeveless shirt ... maybe that's part of the problem? I wear briefs when walking to avoid the chaffing or riding up (had a HORRIBLE experience with boxers during a 3-hour hike in Arizona a few years back ... don't want to get into specifics). I wear the sleeveless so that I don't get the giant splotches of wet at the pits. But yeah, I do glance around to make sure no cars are coming and then just use the front of my shirt when it gets bad.

[astrostu]

Well, I did my walk this morning, that's 3 days in a row ... taking this one day at a time makes it a little easier. Also the fact it was 63° and overcast helped.

So, now I have another question this time regarding BMR, calories, etc. Narratives are hard, so I'll make out a list of the situation.

• After reading a sticky on the bodybuilding.com forum, I realized that I was using the "old" formula for calculating my BMR. The "new" one (1910s versus 1990s) showed that my actual BMR was around 100 calories lower than the old showed, which is actually more in line with what I've observed myself.
• I've been using activity level multipliers of 1.2 for no exercise, 1.375 for when I'm walking every day (40 minutes, 4.38 km) at a rate of 6.6 km/hr (4.0 mph), and I will be using the 1.55 when I finally get my weight set and do weights 3x/week and resume jogging. I then subtract about 600 calories from the BMR/day to ideally lose the 1 lb of fat/week.
• I've noticed that when I use the 1.375x, my weight doesn't seem to move. I am losing some fat based on my bf%, but it seems I'm just recomping. I would rather be losing the weight at the moment.
• The calories I calculate with the 1.375x -600/day is 1750 cal/day. A 1.2x is 1450 cal/day. Eating at 1450 cal/day doesn't seem healthy if walking every morning and ostensibly burning about 270 calories in that walk (formula I found online).

Bottom-line question: Even with this exercise, is it safe/advisable/okay/who-cares to cycle every-other-week with around 1750 cals and then 1450 cals to try to force the weight off faster?

[astrostu]

Today was a close call and required getting out the scale and measuring 14 gms of chocolate chips to keep me satiated. I had to go to the store to buy some tomatoes for a salsa tomorrow (for a ground beef dish I'm going to try to make on Saturday) since the tomatoes I bought on Sunday had gone bad. Sigh. I got to the store and I made the mistake of passing by the bakery. Mmmm. A doughnut ... 200 calories. Mini cheesecake, 220 calories. And I'm a sucker for cheap Asianesque food and walked down that aisle. Looked at a thing of ramen (I know, it sucks but I love the stuff) ... 290 calories for a cup or 380 for a package.

I've been walking EVERY day this week in the AM, which is so far 5 days in a row which - and I know this is utterly pathetic - is the best I've ever done. Using a formula I found online (I think from exrx.net), I calculate that the calories burned from my morning walks are roughly 270. In other words, any ONE of those (except the doughnut) is an entire morning walk, wasted. Remembering the sweat, stitches, blister, and sore feet and thinking, "I would just totally throw an entire morning of that away for 30 seconds of oral pleasure," made me leave them and walk to the register with just my 900 gms of roma tomatoes.

I'd say it's a small victory, but it's one that I'm at least a little proud of. It's a step in the right direction.

Also, I'm looking into some weight equipment on CL (contacted a seller today, going to check it out in the morning). Most folks on the bb forum seem to think I should just get a power rack, bench, and weights, but I haven't seen a single rack come up on CL in the ~2 weeks I've been looking, whereas these benches with weights come up several times a day. The one I'm looking at does incline/decline, locks into vertical, (also goes flat, duh), has a leg extension and preacher addition, a rack behind it that can be raised for squats, an olympic bar, clips, and 245 lbs of weight for $185.

I do need to get started on weights soon, regardless of what I buy. I'm fairly sure I'm losing muscle mass, based on the decrease in my upper arm circumference over the last few weeks. If I do get this, I just need to pick up 2 dumbbell bars, as well.

[astrostu]

Today was interesting. I totally screwed up eating-wise, but, well, here was the day:

8:00 - Woke up, went outside and walked my 40 minutes (4.38 km). Showered, weighed myself, and did bf% measurements today since I knew I was going to have my cheat meal this evening and I didn't want that to throw off my reading on Sunday.

Didn't eat, nor drink anything, I was busy with some quick work stuff and working on my planetarium show for the evening.

11:00 - Left my apartment to drive to the university to hand over some files to the asso. chair of the department 'cause one of my students was protesting her grade. Got stuck in traffic. Ate an apple in traffic and deposited the papers. Left for a noon meeting.

12:00 - In 90° heat, I bought my weight bench, squat rack, barbell, and 245 lbs of weights. Loaded that into the car. Sweat was literally dripping down my face.

12:45 - Parked as close as I could to my apartment (roughly 100 feet), and proceeded to set up my floor mats (see above posts) and then make MANY trips to/from the car, including up stairs, since my apartment is a 2nd-floor one. I was stupid and left the 45-lb plates for last. I was sweating so much that the shirt from yesterday I was using to wipe my face was literally soaking to the point that I could squeeze some liquid out of it. Still hadn't drunk anything yet (bad!).

1:15 - Finally everything was in, rushed to the shower and the cool water on my cheeks was amazing. I weighed myself out of curiosity and I had lost 1.4 lbs since I weighed myself just 4 hours earlier. That's a ----load of water to be sweating.

Afternoon - Practiced my hour-long talk twice (taking up 2 hours). Decided to eff it and made some sticky rice for a lunch/breakfast/snack (600 calories, mostly carbs) and drank about a quart of water and crystal light.

5:45 - Practiced my talk. Had a protein shake (250 calories, 8/23/69 split with 47 gms protein).

7:00 - Left for the planetarium, got in there, got set up, practiced one last transition.

7:50 - Went out of the theater to go to the bathroom. Then I saw the crowd. I was expecting maybe 50 people, hoping for 60. My previous record crowd for one of my talks (on the Apollo "Moon Hoax" claims) was 64. There were 122 tickets sold tonight, the theater holding 212 and was visibly more than half-full. Even though the ticket counters and usher does a pretty good job, I'll still say there were roughly 115-130 people there to hear my "Doomsday 2012" talk and why we won't be destroyed. I drank over a cup of water during the show.

9:30 - Joined the Denver Skeptics at a local pub for celebrations and drinks (though I don't drink alcohol). Talked around, kinda feeling like I was the groom at a wedding and making my way to each table to thank people for coming. I had my cheat meal of a burger and fries. I had budgeted 1500 calories divided into 70 gms fat, 170 gms carbs, and 50 gms protein. Last time I was there I estimated this meal at 780 cals, 20 gms fat, 75 gms carbs, and 75 gms protein. I think that was 'cause I was over for the week. I think a more realistic value is 1000 calories, and I divided that into 40 gms fat, 120 gms carbs, and 40 gms protein. More reasonable and doesn't under-estimate as much at least. Oh, and 1500 mg sodium. Okay, and yeah, I admit that I had a spoonful of someone's chocolate cake. I'm not counting that.

So yeah, all things told today, I drank 9 cups of water, which is 50% more than I normally drink (yes, this is low, I know!). I did an extra cheat meal I hadn't really planned on, though my evening cheat meal wasn't as bad as I had planned. I ended the day at about 1800 calories (roughly), just 6% over. 103% of my fat (49 gms), 160% of my sodium (3150 mg), 143% of my carbs (242 gms), and 68% of my protein (102 gms). Not horrid for a cheat day. And, I'm still coming in well for the week overall, averaging 1526 cals/day with a 24/39/36 split.

So, all-in-all, a fairly good day.

[astrostu]

If last week had to be summarized in terms of interests on this board, it would be highlighted by 2 things. First, I actually for the first time ever followed my LISS goal of walking 6 days in the morning during the week, 40±1 minutes, 4.38 km (yeah, that's a kinda fast pace). Second, I got a bunch of weight equipment off of Craigslist. I now have a bench, squat rack, olympic bar, and 245 lbs of olympic weights to put on the bar or bench. The bench has a preacher curl attachment, leg extension, locks vertical, does 2 levels of incline, flat, and then decline (total - $185). I also now have 3 sets of adjustable dumbbells. I already had one set but it only goes to 20 lbs on each. I was going to just get 4 10-lb plates, but the prices range from $1.10-1.50/lb. So we're talking up to $60. So yesterday I found two sets (4 bars) of adjustable dumbbells with 185 lbs of plates (4x25, 4x10, 6x5, 4x2.5, and 4x1.25). Consequently, I can now have 3 sets of adjustable dumbbells set to a given weight and not waste as much time changing plates around, making supersets easier.

Of course, that means that this week I start weight training. I think I'm going to go back to a book I bought a few years ago that lays out a circuit of stuff. There's a "3-week Intro" section that includes Drop Squat, Underhand-Grip Dumbbell Row, Reverse Hyperextension, Elbows-In Elevated Pushup, Side Bridge, Side Lateral Raise and Rotation for "B" days, and Barbell Lunge, Underhand-Grip Dumbbell Row, Single-Leg Bridge, Serratus Dip, Plank, Hanging Scapular Retraction on "A" days (Sun-Sat will be XAXBXAX. I'll obviously need to find one or two substitutions because I don't have things like a dip bar, but I should be able to do the jist of it.

The rest of the book lays out a 6-week plan each for muscle gain and fat loss. I'll do the fat loss next.

Otherwise, my only complaint at the moment is my weight. The goal last week was to average 168 lbs, and it was 168.7. Granted, that's still a 2.1 lb decrease from the previous week, but that's because I was way over the previous week due to stuff I mentioned here in previous entries. But then this morning, after my LISS and shower, etc., I was at 169.7 lbs, despite eating roughly 1125 calories. I was low because (a) I didn't do ANY exercise other than moving weights, and (b) I over-ate on Friday due to a planned cheat (as mentioned in my previous post).

So, yeah, WTF is up with my weight?! This week, I'm supposed to get down to 167 lbs. At least I'm back to being ahead of schedule for bf%, likely due to the 40 minutes of LISS 6 mornings last week ... and I suppose that the more important thing is bf%, but still, it's disheartening not to see that scale move.

Week 10 -- July 25 - July 31

Average Weight Last Week: 168.7 lbs (-2.1 lb change)
BF% on July 25: 18.6% (31.4 lbs fat, 137.3 lbs lean) (-0.67% change)

Short-term (cutting) goal for Sept. 12: ≤160 lbs | ≤15.5% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~12% bf

Exercise this week: Cardio (walking, fasted LISS) ~40 minutes ≥6 days. Weights 3 days, roughly 30-45 minutes each.


Food this week, Sunday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.8)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1/3 batch sticky rice (pseudo-cheat: 457 | 5.9 | 84.5 (yikes!) | 14.3
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Monday-Wednesday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 serving beef & salsa mix over brown rice: 558 | 17 | 33.4 | 65.4
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Thursday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 2 tortilla-crusted tillapia fillets: 340 | 12.0 | 24.0 | 36.0
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Friday-Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 288 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 529 | 17.5 | 35 | 56.5
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.8" is for a 1700 kcal goal based on my BMR with a 1.375 activity multiplier minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1545 kcal/day, 45.5 gms fat, 134.9 gms carbs, and 157.8 gms protein. That'll be a 26/34/40 split.


Comments: Looking prospectively at the coming week, I'm hoping it'll be another week of progress towards my broader fitness goals (how's that for politicianesque speech?). The giant blister I had on my left sole is nearly gone, thanks I think in part to my not walking yesterday, so that should be a bit easier this week. And I'm looking forward (at least at the moment) to seeing where my baseline starting point is with weights again. I started pretty weak last time but made progress each week. I'm guessing I'll start a bit higher than last time, but I doubt I'll be starting where I left off. For the record, last time I lifted weights was almost exactly 2 years ago.

I should also note that I'm keeping calories/macros the same this week, despite my adding in weights. I'm doing this for three reasons: (1) I want to go to a greater caloric deficit, (2) I want to ramp up my increase in calories to "Cutting, v. 4.9" which has a higher activity multiplier and would add 300 kcal/day, and (3) I want to monitor how my body responds to this and by changing more than one variable (cals AND exercise) I can't get as clean a measurement.

For bf% this week, I made significant progress last week (as stated above, probably due to the cardio). Hoping to do the same and stay ahead of the goal curve (image below). I can also look back at the last time I was at this bf% while cutting, and that was the week of January 27, 2008. I was at roughly 164.5 lbs. So, I have roughly 5 lbs more lean mass than last time I was at this bf%, which is a good thing.

But speaking of weight, rehashing what I said above, it's kinda annoying. I know that I should be more concerned about bf%, how much I can lift, my stamina, and what I see in the mirror, but, as I'm sure everyone else has done, making progress on the scale definitely is just as big of - if not more - a psychological boost than these other things. Will I still be happy if I end the week and next Sunday I'm at my goal of ≤18.3% bf? Yes. Will I be happier if I can get down to 167 lbs, as well? Yes.

[astrostu]

Okay, it's Wednesday and I did weights for the first time in two years on Monday and again today. DOMS are really killing me. I walked 10% slower this morning 'cause my thighs kept hurting. I guess once I finally get over them (hopefully by the weekend or so?), it's a pretty darned good reason NEVER to stop lifting.

[astrostu]

Well, today I was with my boyfriend and we went to the Renaissance Festival. I was trying to show him I could "have fun" and not count / keep track of everything, so I treated today as a cheat and a refeed. Despite keeping my calories at roughly 1600 this week even though I started weights, my weight actually WENT UP this week, and it's been suggested that my body has simply grown accustomed to the lower calories. So today was a cheat with starting with my normal protein smoothie for breakfast, but then having a doughnut (200 cals), a chicken teriyaki sandwich for lunch and then sharing a side of fries, a 20-oz diet cola, (I was good and didn't do funnel cake or ice cream ), and then we went out for chinese for dinner where I had Szechwan chicken. I would VERY roughly guesstimate 1500-2000 calories today, but most of it carbs, then fat, then protein.

But I did walk this morning! And I was walking ALL day (well, a good 6 hours of it) and it was all on a hill, some of it quite steep.

Next week we get back to being clean and ZERO cheats (that means no handful of unplanned blueberries, etc.) to see WTF is going on with why I'm not losing weight at my level of activity.

[astrostu]

Last week was a week of hell in terms of muscle soreness, AKA, "DOMS." Über-sucky. But, I started weights, and I did weights 3x last week, as planned. Walked 5x. And walked ALL day on Saturday at the Renaissance Festival (haven't been to one in over 10 years).

My complaint at the moment is that my bf% and weight are not moving. I will admit to a refeed on Saturday where I downed quite a bit of calories, many of them carbs and fat. I did so for reasons described in my posting yesterday. And, as stated above, the plan was for a 100% clean week this week.

Until today, when two things popped up. First, I got an e-mail saying that there was a person visiting and asking if I could arrange a dinner meetup and be point-person for it. I asked for A LOT more details since they were incredibly sparse ("need some help setting up a meetup with Pamela Gay Wednesday night? In Boulder? Need a location, a reservation, and a person to be there."). At the moment, I've assumed that if I'm doing this, and if I'm right in what's being asked, I'll make a reservation for Old Chicago. After looking through their menu and nutrition information, I've planned a burger for that night, which is actually healthier than their salads (go figure). And even if I eat the fries, I'll still be right at my calories for the day if I just cut out my evening salad and afternoon cheese.

And then I remembered that it's my weekend to head down to my boyfriend's place, so that means Friday evening and all day Saturday will be under his control in terms of food. I keep frozen chicken breasts, lightly breaded, down there in his freezer so I've planned those for lunch, asked him to grill chicken breasts for dinner on Saturday, and Friday he's doing tacos so I've tried to plan for that. I'll be bringing down my breakfast smoothie and afternoon snack (apple, peanuts or cheese), and I should be okay, but still, this week won't be nearly as perfectly planned / clean as I'd hoped.

Oh, and Thursday evening I will be at a coin club meeting, but I can just resist temptation and NOT have a cookie.

I really wanted to do it "perfectly" so that I could get an accurate gauge on how I'm responding at a set calories/macros to weights and cardio. It was suggested by poster 789 (different board) that the first week or so of weights I could actually expect to see a weight gain because of water retention or extra glycogen or something, so this week, being the second, would be a good test.


Anyway, normally I go through a daily calendar. It's complicated this week, so we'll see how it works out:

Week 11 -- August 1 - August 7

Average Weight Last Week: 169.0 lbs (+0.3 lb change )
BF% on August 1: 18.6% (31.4 lbs fat, 137.6 lbs lean) (±0.0% change )

Short-term (cutting) goal for Sept. 12: ≤160 lbs | ≤15.5% bf
Longer-term (cutting) goal for end of 2010: ~150-155 lbs | ~12% bf

Exercise this week: Cardio (walking, fasted LISS) ~40 minutes ≥6 days. Weights 3 days, roughly 40-60 minutes each, including warm-up.


Food this week, Sunday (Cutting Goal, v. 4.8)*:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 529 | 17.5 | 35 | 56.5
• Snack - 195 gms blackberries: 84 | 1.0 | 19.9 | 2.7
• Snack - 1/2 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 46 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 3.4
• Snack - 1/2 oz Wensleydale and blueberry cheese: 55 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 3.0
• Dinner - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack 2 - tortilla pizza: 138 | 5.2 | 14.7 | 8.3
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Monday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 529 | 17.5 | 35 | 56.5
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Snack - 1/4 cup peanuts: 219 | 19.2 | 5.6 | 10.2
• Dinner - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Tuesday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 bowl pork vindaloo: 529 | 17.5 | 35 | 56.5
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Snack - 1/2 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 46 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 3.4
• Snack - 1/2 oz Wensleydale and blueberry cheese: 55 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 3.0
• Dinner - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack 2 - tortilla pizza: 138 | 5.2 | 14.7 | 8.3
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Wednesday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Dinner - Old Chicago - Burger: 632 | 32 | 41 | 45
• Dinner - Old Chicago - Fries: 320 | 11 | 48 | 7
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Thursday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 serving beef & salsa mix over brown rice: 558 | 17 | 33.4 | 65.4
• Snack - 125 gms blackberries: 54 | 0.6 | 12.8 | 1.8
• Snack - 1/2 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 46 | 3.0 | 0.3 | 3.4
• Snack - 1/2 oz Wensleydale and blueberry cheese: 55 | 4.0 | 1.5 | 3.0
• Dinner - 1 turkey breast sandwich: 281 | 4.1 | 16.3 | 47.1
• Snack 2 - tortilla pizza: 138 | 5.2 | 14.7 | 8.3
• Snack 2 - salad with 1.5 oz turkey breast: 236 | 12 | 16 | 16
• Snack 2 - 1 cup skim milk: 80 | 0.0 | 12.5 | 8.3

Food this week, Friday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 1 serving beef & salsa mix over brown rice: 558 | 17 | 33.4 | 65.4
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1/8 cup peanuts: 109 | 9.6 | 2.8 | 5.1
• Dinner - tacos ... guesses: ~750 | ~24 | ~75 | ~55

Food this week,Saturday:

• Breakfast - 1 smoothie: 226 | 1.8 | 30.2 | 25.7
• Lunch - 8 oz Tyson breaded chicken breast: 400 | 16 | 22 | 42
• Snack - 1 apple: 83 | 0.3 | 22.1 | 0.4
• Snack - 1 oz part-skim cheddar cheese: 91 | 6.1 | 0.5 | 6.9
• Dinner - chicken breast (0.8 lbs last time) with seasoning ... guesses: ~400 | ~4 | ~5 | ~85

*Presented as calories | gms fat | gms carbs | gms protein.

"Cutting, v. 4.8" is for a 1700 kcal goal based on my BMR with a 1.375 activity multiplier minus 1 lb fat per week, with a ratio of 25/40/35 fat/carb/protein.

With that plan, I'll average ~1550 kcal/day, 46 gms fat, 130 gms carbs, and 160 gms protein. That'll be a 26/33/41 split.


Comment 1: My carbs are low, despite the tortillas in dinner on Friday and the burger and fries on Wednesday. I'm almost starting to wonder whether I need to up my carbs to be closer to my idealized goal?

Comment 2: I "created" (or, "got back to") something new/old last week and I'm going to continue it this week to get some extra carbs and a little extra protein. It's a "tortilla pizza" where I went out and found low-carb tortillas, I made my mom's pizza sauce recipe, and I got a packet of turkey pepperoni which I love. When put together and nuked or baked a bit, 1 of these "tortilla pizza"s has 140 calories, about 5 g fat, 450 mg sodium, 15 g carbs, and 8 g protein. I'm actually considering finding higher-carb tortillas so that I can boost my carbs based on Comment 1 above.

Comment 3: I've switched on the menu, though I've been switching for the past week or so, my lunch and dinner. Typically, I have a sandwich for lunch that's roughly 280 calories, and then dinner is 450-550. Based on when I'm actually active (later in the day, but before dinner with weights), I think it makes more sense to switch these to have more calories mid-day and then a shot of 300 calories that's 64% protein (my sandwich) later in the day, sometimes directly after weights. It probably won't change much, but any extra 1% effect would be nice right now.

Comments 4: Despite all the different foods that I've mixed and matched throughout the week, every day comes in at 1550-1650 calories except for Saturday, which at the moment is at ~1200 since I don't know exactly what we'll be eating or when. Nor do I think I'll be walking on Saturday morning.

[astrostu]

Hi guys, I'm still here, still alive, still working on this ... I just haven't had any time to do a large weekend update like usual. I found out about 2 weeks ago I need to work about 50 hrs/week for the next ~8 months if I want to graduate on time, so I'm really struggling to figure out how to fit that in with everything else. Here's hoping!

[astrostu]

Alright guys, I'm back, or will be back in about 1-2 weeks. I have an embarrassing confession to make, and that's that when I moved to Colorado for grad school in 2005, I didn't go to the dentist. I had no dental insurance and hated going, etc. This year, I finally got insurance on my school health plan, though it's crap and only covers $750 worth of anything and it cost me $412.20. And my "year" is August-August. So, I went for an intro exam 2 weeks ago, after I got back from Thanksgiving, and mentioned the only issue I knew of was that a back molar was hurting and I thought it might be chipped.

Turns out that a cavity had formed in the back, about at gum level, and it weakened the tooth so the back ~quarter basically fell off at some point. Yeah. So the options were a "$125 extraction" of that and one above it due to the way I bite, or a root canal and crown that would be 3 visits and $1000 minimum. I'm getting the extraction on Tuesday. So it's going to be a liquid diet for me for the rest of the week. I got sugar-free snack packs, sugar-free jell-o, and vanilla ice cream. And I still have protein powder so there's some nutrition.

When I'm recovered, I hope to finally get back to this. I've been relatively good, cheating somewhat, and haven't really gotten worse than I was when I left off ... 3 months ago.

[astrostu]

Okay, now I'm really back. I finally graduated (Ph.D. in geophysics through the astronomy department - I consider myself an "astro/geophysicist"), and I have two 50%-time jobs. But I think everyone realizes that 5 months at 70-80 hrs/week leading up to the Ph.D. means I'm going to be slacking somewhat on work stuff while I recoup. So, time to get back to this.

Fortunately(?) I've just lost a year. When I started up again 3 weeks ago, I was literally at almost the exact same weight and bf% I was when I started last May. In the last 4 weeks, I lost 2 lbs (had a week trip where I was fed nothing but crappy "Chinese" food in small-town Illinois, plus my birthday, plus no cardio/weights). This week starts an 8-week targeted goal of cutting down to about 165ish lbs at which point I should be at around 16.5% bf. Seems like an arbitrary goal, but I just realized I'll be going back home for my 10-year high school reunion. So, yeah ...

Motivation-wise, I feel like I'm at around a 6/10 right now. I'm just really starting back on this and so I don't have results to really show for it. Results always help. My motivation is based at the moment really on three things: (1) I broke up with my now ex a few weeks ago so I'm back on the prowl and want cobblestones to impress a mate (2) I feel like a fat f--- when I sit and my stomach rolls in on itself or I lie down in bed and the fat on my sides creases, and (3) that HS reunion in 8 weeks (weekend of July 16/17).

To try to lose weight as healthfully and rapidly as is reasonable and doable, I'm going to spend the next 8 weeks doing a 2/2/2/2-week cycling of loss. The first two weeks (this and next) are for -1 lb/week, while the next two are -2 lb/week. The basis for the loss will be caloric deficits which, with a 1.55x multiplier on the BMR, has me at 2 Mcal for the next two weeks per day, and then 1.5 Mcal for the two weeks after. However, this week I'm just ramping up the cardio, so I'm using the 1.375x multiplier and eating at ~1.7 Mcal/day. Next week will be ramping up the weights.

Since I've read that cardio is what's really best for weight loss, I'm trying to walk up and down my street every morning (4.35 km round-trip - measured with a GPS this time), and biking in the PM just around the area (LOTS of bike trails in Boulder, CO). I bought a trail GPS (Garmin 60CSx) last Black Friday at 50% off on Amazon, so I clip that to my bike and just go and so I know distance, speed, and time. And I don't get lost . I took it out for the first time in a year two weeks ago and biked 9.3 km and was depressed at how out of shape I am. I biked last night and this evening and I am still depressed at how out of shape I am. A 28-year-old should not feel pain in their legs nor be out of breath biking on a relatively flat surface going ~15-16 km/hr (9-10 mph). It's just not right.

So, that's the plan. IF I can stick with this and actually reach my goal for my reunion (and the week-long conference on the other side of the country the day after), then I have a continued cut following the same switching for the following 9 weeks until another conference the last week of September. That would put me at roughly 150 lbs and 10% bf which would be amazing but I somehow doubt I'll quite make that (as in, the last three times I've tried, I never got below 15.5% bf). Though at some point this summer I want to take a trip back up to the Grand Tetons and lower Yellowstone for at least 3 days, but that shouldn't affect this too much. I actually will probably do that in mid-June before it gets too hot and too crowded, but I'll have to see how work's going. I actually earn vacation time now that I'm not a grad student.

Anyway, those are my ramblings for the moment. I'm trying not to jinx myself by updating everything (incl. my signature) at the moment, and just ease back into this with a drive of showing up XX person at the reunion. We'll see what happens.

[astrostu]

And now it looks like I'll be taking my road trip June 3-7 (5 days). There are three options food-wise: (1) Do what I want, I'm on vacation; (2) be smart and don't bring 5 lbs of chocolate; or (3) plan ahead with apples, PB&J, peanuts, and [some sort of] high-protein food that doesn't need to be refrigerated.

These areas I'm going (lower Yellowstone, Grand Tetons) do not have places for food. I will not have a cooler, I will likely not be doing any fires.

Just 4 weeks in and 2 weeks into the "serious" cut, it feels silly to crap out for 5 days camping ... but I don't necessarily want food to be a sticking point that gets in the way of enjoying the trip.

[astrostu]

Just got back from a 45-minute, 12.4-km bike ride. Didn't have to stop at all this time to catch my breath (the first half is downhill, second half is uphill). And of course seeing the guys playing basketball, running, or walking with their shirts off (damn you Boulder!) helps the motivation. I calculate ~360 calories burned.

[astrostu]

Went to Costco and the grocery store today with my camera in-hand. So much faster than writing everything down. I also bought a small, 3-oz bag of teriyaki beef jerky from the grocery store for $5.50 to see if it was edible to me. Yes.

So, my options for other things to eat on this trip. Nutrition is calories | gms fat | mg sodium | gms carbs | gms protein

• Pacific Gold Teriyaki Beef Jerky (1 oz) - 70 | 1 | 530 | 6 | 11 - $13 for 1 lb
• Pacific Gold Steakhouse Beef Jerky (1 oz) - 70 | 1 | 610 | 6 | 11 - $13 for 1 lb
• Pacific Gold Original Beef Jerky (1 oz) - 70 | 1 | 530 | 7 | 11 - $13 for 1 lb
• Pure Protein Chocolate Deluxe 1.76 oz bars - 180 | 4.5 | 75 | 17 | 20 - $18 for 18
• Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter 1.76 oz bars - 200 | 6 | 200 | 16 | 20 - $18 for 18
• Pure Protein Chewey Chocolate Chip 1.76 oz bars - 200 | 5 | 170 | 18 | 20 - $18 for 18
• Premier Nutrition High Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar 2.5 oz bars - 280 | 7 | 420 | 23 | 30 - $20 for 24
• Premier Nutrition High Protein Double Chocolate Crunch Bar 2.5 oz bars - 270 | 6 | 330 | 26 | 30 - $20 for 24
• Premier Nutrition High Protein Yogurt Peanut Crunch Bar 2.5 oz bars - 290 | 8 | 410 | 24 | 30 - $20 for 24
• Chocolate Mint Cliff Bar (2.4 oz bars) - 270 | 8 | 230 | 31 | 20 - $16.20 for a box of 12 from the grocery
• 5-oz can chicken - 150 | 3.8 | 475 | 0 | 30 - $1.69/can
• Stagg Dynamite Hot Chili with Beans (1 cup, 2 per can) - 340 | 17 | 800 | 30 | 17 - $2.69/can
• Stagg Silverado Beef Chili with Beans (1 cup, 2 per can) - 260 | 8 | 860 | 30 | 17 - $2.69/can
• Stagg Turkey Ranchero Chili with Beans (1 cup, 2 per can) - 250 | 5 | 790 | 32 | 19 - $2.69/can

I'm thinking jerky, the turkey chili ... considering the protein bars?

[astrostu]

Today was good for cardio, and "good" for weights. I biked a different route this afternoon but still somehow managed to do the exact same 12.38 km distance I did last time. I did it in about a minute less, though, for whatever that's worth. And then, I wanted to go biking again.

But I needed to do weights. It was getting late (~7:30PM) and I was considering putting weights off until tomorrow. But, I'm only in town for 5 more days, (leave Friday for trip -- see above), so I wouldn't be able to do a full 3 day weight rotation if I put it off. Not a great way to start out doing weights again. So I sucked it up. I biked for around 20 minutes (6.00 km) and then did weights for the first time in 9 months. I think I'm definitely going to have DOMS tomorrow. It was kinda pathetic. For example, last August, I left off squatting 115 lbs (yeah, not good at all compared to a lot of you, but I was making progress). Today, I had to bring it down to 75 lbs so I could just get the bar over my head onto my traps. Absolutely ridiculous. And my rear lateral rises with 10 lbs each resulted in triceps seizing up ever the second rep each time.

But, it's a start. Let's hope I f---ing stick with it this time.

[astrostu]

Not the best day. Yes, yesterday I biked a new record 15.65 km in one go (taking about 56 minutes), I ate well and I did weights despite not wanting to. And I got a lot of work done - figuring out how to fit this in with getting work done is a major issue I need to deal with.

And today I thought I did well in the AM, doing my walk. Only it took 2 minutes longer than normal, which was odd. I chalked it up to being sore from the weights and all the biking.

Then I went to to the grocery and Costco in order to get my final things for my road trip on Friday. And I was bad -- I got a bag of Doritos. I feel bad even typing it. I figure I don't have to bring them. I don't have to eat them. I can leave them on the counter. I can return them to the store. Or, I can bring them, count them, go a bit over on sodium and fat and carbs, but know that I'll be hiking ~8 miles on Saturday and Sunday plus I'm on vacation and even WITH the Doritos, I'd be averaging 1650-1700 kcal/day. But, I feel like I slipped by buying them.

And then, I didn't do anything this afternoon. It's a weights off day, so I should've biked. But I was sore. Yes, that's how I justified it. I know, "no pain, no gain." I justified it by saying that I'm sore, therefore, since I need to NOT be sore Friday onward, I wasn't going to bike. So I slipped again.

Not the best day.

[astrostu]

I spent 5 days away and got back last night. I've spent the day kinda vegging out. The soreness from the previous week is pretty much gone.

On my trip, I spent the first day (Saturday) hiking over 13 miles. The other days were significantly less . I also ate a pretty darn steady diet of 1700 kcal/day and had upped my drinking to 8 cups/day. I ended up losing some weight - possibly water weight, or possibly the weight loss that should have happened the last week or two finally catching up.

The plan was today to jump into my routine through next Saturday (18th) at 1400 kcal/day to lose 2 lbs/week before relaxing back to -1 lb/week for 2 weeks. But I needed to catch up on sleep. I needed to go grocery shopping. I still need to unpack and clean. And so I also decided to treat today as something of a break and refeed, though I've kept my calories under 2000 I've been more lax in what I'm eating.

[astrostu]

I reached a minor goal/milestone today, though it wasn't officially on my goals list: During my biking today for cardio for about 50 minutes, I was able to, over the course of that time, maintain an average speed of ≥17.5 km/hr. In the past, I haven't gone below 15 on average, but the highest I've done on 30+ -minute rides is about 16.8-17.0 kph. My actual first written goal for cycling is to be on a sustained ride of 20+ minutes at ≥20 kph. I have a ways to go for that, but this was a nice thing to reach.

[astrostu]

After not losing quite as much weight in the last 10 days as I'd hoped, I spent yesterday with my ex and went out to dinner -- I got steamed dumplings and Szechuan chicken. I budgeted 1500 calories for it. Then went to DQ and got a small Blizzard. In that one meal and dessert, I had more calories than I had the entire previous day.33 (I'm on a big cut this week at 1400 kcal). So today I "did good" and really wasn't hungry much -- stuck to around 600 kcal and am still not hungry. Tomorrow I'll get back to my regularly scheduled meal plan.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out a new weight lifting routine. I don't really like the one I'm using. And yes, I've looked at the Rippetoe 5x5 stuff and I have to say I don't really like it. So I've tried to create a back/biceps, chest/triceps, legs/shoulders split 3-day work out based on some stickies here and elsewhere. I've gotten some feedback on it and modified it a bit per the feedback, but my biggest issue now is that it's taking me maybe 25 minutes to do whereas before I spent ~45 minutes lifting.

Meanwhile, another guy suggested I ditch the splits and simply do parts on M/W/F (same exercises). I like that idea because it's less fatigue on the joints/muscles, but it would require A LOT of weights resetting time which I had tried to design the new workout to avoid. But it would also take me closer to 45 minutes. An alternative is just doing more sets or a few more reps with the one I have, or add a 5th exercise instead of just 4.

I think in the end though, at this point, it's simply important that I'm doing weights. And we're talking about differences at the few-percent level rather than making dramatic differences. I'm just trying to keep what I have, get the n00b gains, and cut fat.

[astrostu]

I reached one of my fitness goals today -- actually two since I bypassed one in getting to the other. I did my first attempt at HIIT cycling today, biking 5 minutes as a warmup and then booking it as fast as I could for 30 seconds, then a relatively slow but still substantive 90 seconds, and I repeated that 30/90 for a total of 20 minutes (so 10 cycles). I had turned around a bit late so it took me 37 minutes total, meaning the last 12 minutes were a cooldown where I still maintained some intensity.

What that boils down to in terms of goals is that, because I was going as fast as I could, I kept my average throughout the round-trip at above 20 kph (20.6 kph to be more precise). The two goals were biking 20+ minutes at 20+ kph that I had hoped to hit by August 2011, and then biking 30+ minutes at 20+ kph that I hadn't set a date for. So, two done today.

Now, I had planned as a reward for these to celebrate with a bag of tortilla chips and home-made salsa. Instead, I think my celebration will be working towards the next endurance mini-goal of 45+ minutes at 20+ kph, or possibly shooting for the next level mini-goal of 15+ minutes at 25+ kph.

[astrostu]

On the heels of yesterday's success, and since today is leg/shoulder day for weights, I was going to take it easy with cardio. I got up late and had to be in early to work so didn't walk, but when I got back I went out and biked. 8 minutes in, I crashed into a tree that was lying across the path (saw it 10' out and braked like crazy but the tree still was what stopped me). But I continued on with some cuts on my shoulder and cheek and managed my final endurance goal at 20+ kph of going a sustained round-trip for 45+ minutes at that average speed.

Next one is 15+ minutes at 25+ kph round-trip, but I don't expect to hit that any time soon.

Still feels pretty good to have met three goals in two days when just three weeks ago I was panting to stay at 15 kph over 15 minutes. Granted, I was sweating like crazy yesterday and today, but still. I had the same "reward" scheduled of tortilla chips and salsa but again I think I'm going to skip it and just work towards my broader weight loss, strength, and endurance goals.

[astrostu]

Hmm. My calories burned for my biking weren't making sense -- they were really high. So I went to try to find other formulae and came across four - yes, four - different ones that all gave different results (we're not talking about a few kcal, more like differences of 20%!).

I chose the middle one and the one that made sense (one had me burning less as I went faster). Applied it to all of my previous calculations and they went down by about 30-50%. So instead of burning 1500 kcal this week so far biking, it's closer to 800. Sigh. But, I'd rather be more accurate than over-inflate!

[astrostu]

The weight is finally starting to come off, and it's about @#$! time. Two weeks ago through yesterday, I was eating at -1200 kcal in order to try to lose 2 lbs/week. The first week, I lost an average of a quarter pound. But in the last few days, it's slid off and I'm down 2.5 lbs from last Sunday. Yes, many may say "it's water weight," and while some of it likely is, I don't think most of it is because I've been keeping my water intake fairly constant and I also double-check the color of my urine to make sure that I am not dehydrating myself with all the bicycling I'm doing (yes, sounds "gross" but I'm sure some of YOU do it too ...).

The bodyfat is also down, where last week it was 19.5% with a 1% spread across my three measures whereas today it's 18.8% with only 0.1% difference between the three techniques. That's impressive since that's the best agreement I've ever seen between them.

I'm still above where I wanted to be at this point, but it's only by a week for weight and a few days for bf.

This week will be interesting because I'll be eating a lot more. The idea is to cycle 2 weeks at -600 kcal and 2 weeks at -1200 kcal (then repeat) to (a) keep the body guessing so it doesn't settle into a routine, and (b) accelerate the weight loss so I keep seeing results and don't get unmotivated.

That's important at the moment because I'm now 4 weeks out as of two days ago to my first goal of <17% bf and ≤165 lbs for my high school reunion. And I need to remember to buy plane tickets.

So this week instead of shooting for 1400kcal/day, I'll be aiming for about 1900-2000. That scares me a bit because, in making my menu for the week, that's a lot more food. But, I'll try it for two weeks and if it is too much food, then I'll lower the calories. I need to remember that I've spent two decades being fat. Getting a week or three behind on my goals is not that big a deal and should not be too unmotivating -- I need to stick with this with the idea I'm in it for the long haul this time, and there is not some quick fix to years of eating too much and moving too little.