A Weight Loss Journal

[ExpatAussie]

Going to keep a journal to try to help keep myself honest. Will try to cover all days except when travelling for work, for lots of reasons those days are difficult, but I'll log my weight at the start and end of each trip.

I have been fitter, stronger, and leaner in the past, as well as fatter, weaker and softer. My adult weight has been as high as 150 kg (330 pounds). It's been going up again recently and it's time for a change. I plan to cut far harder than is recommended by most, so we will see how that goes in terms of lean muscle retention. I will have work trips though, so there will be the occasional break from a major calorie deficit.

Started getting serious about losing weight around the start of the month, weighing around 125 kg (275 pounds). I started tracking everything hard a week ago. This morning I weighed 118.2 kg (260 pounds). Obviously a lot of fluid loss there, but I'm losing fat pretty fast just by hand pinching. Since strict tracking I have lost 290 g per day, a little over the 240 g per day I calculated I should lose from the calorie deficit.

I have a starting photo but given my current rep on these forums I'm going to hold it back until I have a better progress photo to balance it against. Hopefully soon.

For the last week I've been tracking my macros pretty hard. I've averaged 1050 calories per day with 136g of protein per day. I'm trying to do some cardio, sport, weights or walking every day. My lifting at the moment is just aimed at not losing muscle, and keeping things easy on my back. I do a full body session as soon as I feel sufficiently recovered, squats, bench press, rows, lunges, pulldowns, tricep extensions, curls and whatever ab work I can handle.

For nutrition I'm eating two healthy real food meals a day then using protein shakes to round out the rest. I find that when you're in a major deficit, they give you good protein but still let you lose in a predictable, steady way. My real food meals are generally a giant trough of salad with some oil free home made dressing (balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, lemon juice, garlic, nutritional yeast, onion powder, herbs, pepper) with a boiled egg and some meat protein on top, generally fish). I'm supplementing with CLA, Fish Oil, Hydroxycut pro clinical, green tea extract, vitamins, and ON Amino Energy. The whey I'm using is ON Gold Standard.

My target is to see abs next year, and regularly after that, staying under 20% body fat indefinitely. I have lots of peripheral goals around strength, muscle and fitness, but my main goal is around weight so that's what I'm going to focus on.

I'm considering taking up one of the weights programs here, a bunch look good and I'd like to try the "Growth Stimulus Training" program in particular, but my concern is that none are meant for someone in my kind of calorie deprivation, so I would stall pretty hard on the progression. If I had the expertise I'd look at making something oriented around muscle retention while losing weight hard myself.

So, on to the Journal:

Yesterday I had two large salads with salmon and 3 protein shakes. Still very sore from my last weights session. I did 30 minutes of intervals, warm up and down plus 11 one minute on one minute off cycles at 10 k/h/ 4 k/h. Also went for a medium walk, about 5 km. I stuck to my diet, consumed 1008 calories with 117g of protein. I feel sore and recovery is obviously compromised by lack of glycogen, but I also feel bigger than I did at the start of the month (muscle wise) and my slow intervals at 10 km/h need to be balanced against the fact that my first interval session, while fresh, was at 9 km/h and was tougher. I'm regaining aerobic capacity for sure.

[ExpatAussie]

Ok, today I weigh 117.8 kg (259.2 pounds). Yesterday I was a bit hungry, so I ate at the top of my range, 1140 calories, 146 g of protein, 32 g of fat and 62 g of carbs. Two big troughs of fresh salad with egg and salmon, a tin of tuna, and some whey shakes, rounded out with the usual supplements.

I was going to lift as well, but I was still not recovered well from my last session, so I did HIIT instead. Yesterday it was 30 minutes, warm up, 11 one minute sessions at 11 kph with one minute recovery, and then a cool down. I'm still very unfit but it's coming back slowly. Today I'll hit the gym and lift.

[muruku]

Good luck!

I'm supplementing with CLA, Fish Oil, Hydroxycut pro clinical, green tea extract, vitamins, and ON Amino Energy. The whey I'm using is ON Gold Standard.

Save your cash and after you're done with the current bottle, ditch the following:
CLA
Hydroxycut

As for supplements, check out the local supplement sites eg. fitlion, nutrifirst and nutritionpark.
For groceries such as nutritional yeast, check out Mustafa in Little India, they sell Bob Red Mills stuff pretty cheap. Loadsa herbs and spices too. Plus they carry quite a wide range of food stuffs.
You should also check out the online grocery site iHerb.

[ExpatAussie]

Thanks for the comments, will definitely check out Mustafa's, should have known they'd sell some stuff. I've been stocking up at GNC recently, although I hate the stores they have some pretty good deals on supps currently. fitlion was going to be my next stop, but I'll check out the other sites as well.

Do you have a recommendation for a replacement for Hydroxycut? I'm keen to keep the kilos dropping off.

[muruku]

Don't waste money on fat burners bro. Just get some caffeine tablets and maybe l-tyrosine. Can't import yohimbine into singapore.

Gnc is wayyyyyy overpriced.

[ExpatAussie]

At the moment they are doing 5lb tubs of ON gold whey for S$85, not too bad.

[ExpatAussie]

So tonight's gym session was pretty flat in the second half, I might need to go to a split workout on my current calories, recovery is a bit slow and energy is a bit low for the later stuff. Thinking about:

Lower
Upper
Rest
Lower
Upper
Rest
Rest

And repeat. Increasing reps per set each week for 4 weeks, then up the weight, and back to min reps. Will give it some more thought.

[muruku]

At the moment they are doing 5lb tubs of ON gold whey for S$85, not too bad.

bro,

Order off LAZADA. Use coupons or the credit card of the day. Use SHOPBACK.

[ExpatAussie]

Nice, thanks man.

Today I weigh 117.8 kgs (258.7 pounds). Yesterday I ate 1008 calories, but protein was a bit low, only 117g, 35.5 g of fat and 60 g of carbs. Pretty much the usual, two huge troughs of fresh salad with eggs and salmon, and some whey supplements.

Was pretty flat in the gym but still trashed everything pretty good. Already feeling significantly leaner and harder, but still a long way to go. Will be moving to an upper lower split, just to get a bit better quality in. Today I'll rest or do HIIT, let's see what my body says.

[ExpatAussie]

Another 300 g down to 117.3 kgs (258 pounds). Yesterday was a bit tough, my blood sugar got a bit low at work, future gym days I will eat a little more so the next day is not quite so tough. I ate pretty much the usual, 1128 calories with 141 g of protein. On this diet a fresh salad never tasted so great!

Did HIIT yesterday, 11 x 1 minute on, 1 minute off at 11 kph with warm up and cool down. My HR was getting to 200 during the intervals, which is a little higher than I prefer.

My BP is coming down already which is great. 81/138 last night, which is a pretty good reading for me. However, my resting HR is in the 60's which is very high for me, even out of shape it should be in the high 40's. That's an early sign of overtraining/failure to recover, so I'll be watching over the next week.

Now 19 days into pushing pretty hard, and 10 days into strict macro tracking. So far I'm very happy.

[ExpatAussie]

Small rebound up to 117.5 kgs today (258.5 pounds). Yesterday was 1140 calories with 146 g of protein, and 48 hours after gym DOMS was cranking pretty hard. I tried to do intervals at 11 kph again but ended up doing most of them at 10 kph. My HR was still spiking over 200 at 11, and I don't want to get run down. BP continues to get better, but resting HR still in the high 60s.

[ExpatAussie]

Well, the rebound is gone, 116.8 this morning (257 pounds). Yesterday was 1180 calories with 156 g of protein. Actually it was the same as the day before, nutrition wise, but after some reading I'm counting the calories and protein values for amino acids. Yesterday I played some tennis, today I'm still pretty sore from last time but I'm going to hit the gym, moving to a 2/2 split and will do upper body today.

Got myself a polar H7 HRM strap yesterday, going to start using it to track effort a bit more closely, especially for cardio.

[ExpatAussie]

This morning was 116.6 (256.5 pounds), so my weight is still tracking down pretty fast. Yesterday I ate 1188 calories with 156 g of protein. I hit the gym for my lower body workout, squats, deadlift, lunges, RDL, leg curls, calf raises, crunches and woodchops. Felt pretty buggered after it. During the woodchops my HR was around 155, so working hard. Even though I feel my progress point suits full body better, a split is a much better match with a stronger calorie restriction. The workout went for around 50 minutes, and after that not much was left in the tank. Any subsequent lifts would not have been of great quality. Now to see how the split and calorie restriction go for recovery - could be a different story.

This morning I'm playing tennis, and later today I'll hit the gym for my upper body routine.

[ExpatAussie]

Another day of good progress, 116.2 kgs (255.6 lbs) this morning. Yesterday was the second day of my 2 day split (Upper body day) and I definitely felt I needed some extra food/calories so I had some extra for 1340 calories and 195 g of protein. The split is letting me hit my muscle groups much harder through the whole workout, which is good, but also needs some care given my calorie restriction. I'll see how recovery goes (my legs are really sore today!). I also played tennis for about 45 minutes yesterday, just an easy hit.

In the last 14 days after starting without a lot of excess fluid in my system I have lost around 286 g per day. That's true in the last week as well, so it's not looking to be fluid loss. That's a little faster than I really was aiming for, the fastest I've lost before while increasing lean mass is around 220 g/day. Just inspecting my body though I seem to be putting on muscle even allowing for pump, so it looks like I'm getting a pretty good outcome. I have a work trip in less than two weeks, so that will act as a natural re-feed however good I'd like to be, so I'm not too worried about long term effects. After that trip xmas will interfere quickly as well. After that I guess I'll try another month on this kind of program, with weekly re-evaluations. But once I hit 20 kgs to go (somewhere around 103 kgs) I think I'll add another 400-500 calories a day, probably focussed on keeping protein high and adding in some more good quality fats.

[ExpatAussie]

On another thread today I offered to outline my full approach, and another poster implied I'm a shady character who would try to "sell" a forum participant on something bogus. So in case anyone is interested in my approach, here it is:

I'm aiming to stay as low in calories as feels good to me and is consistent with generally getting 140 g plus of protein per day and two large serves of fresh vegetables. Mostly that's two giant metal bowls of salad with mixed leaves, baby spinach leaves, rocket, tomatoes, capsicum, brocoli, steamed pumpkin, and some form of meat protein. I usually have a tin of tuna most days, and then I have protein shakes as required, usually 2-4 a day with Psylium (for hunger) and creatine. To stave off hunger, partly psychologically, I drink flavoured BCAAs with one serve in about a litre and a half of water, several lots per day. I'm taking Fish Oil, a multi, vitamin c, CLA, green tea extract, and caffeine.

Since starting accurate tracking I have averaged 1097 calories per day, 143 g protein, 34 g fat and 60 g carbs. I've lost 286 g of body weight per day.

[ExpatAussie]

Today I weigh 115.8 kgs (254.8 lbs). Yesterday was 1120 calories, 147 g protein. I did HIIT at 11 km/h, which is getting easier, need to go to 12 next week. My HR graph was good, normal except for the start. Not sure if that's my HR spiking oddly due to lactic acid or just bad contact with the HR strap before I get sweaty. After the first three I saw what I expected, except that, since I didn't hit 160, this was probably more medium than high intensity intervals.

[ExpatAussie]

Today I weigh 115.6 kgs (254.3 lbs). Yesterday I ate 1153 cals with 142.5 g protein. It was leg day in the gym, still pretty sore and did my program except cut lunges to 1 set, as my knees weren't loving them.

[ExpatAussie]

Still 115.6 kgs today. Yesterday was upper body, 928 calories and 103 g of protein. Lower on the protein than I would like, just didn't get a chance to get it in during the day and couldn't come at any more in the evening!

[ExpatAussie]

On a bit of a mini plateau at the moment, still weighed 115.6 today. Yesterday was 1060 calories with 132 g of protein. I did intervals, but cut the session short, since I felt very flat, so decided more of a rest day is in order.

Today is legs, but I'll play it by ear and listen to my body. If it feels like I need another rest day I'll slide legs to tomorrow.

[ExpatAussie]

Today it's 115.4 kgs (253.9 lbs) so over 22 pounds lost so far this month. A significant chunk was water weight, but still, pretty fast loss. Yesterday was leg day, did the full program but only two sets on lunges, they still aren't agreeing with my knees and I want to work them in slowly and make sure my joints are ok.

Today I'm playing tennis and this afternoon it's upper day. If anyone is interested upper body day is the following:

1. BB Bench Press, 4x6-9 then increase
2. Pendlay Rows, 4x6-9 then increase
3. Pullups, 4x6-9 then increase
4. DB Overhead Press, 4x6-9 then increase
5. Reverse Flys, 3x8-11 then increase
6. Dips, 3x8-11 then increase
7. Face Pulls, 3x8-11 then increase
8. BB Curls, 3x8-11 then increase
9. DB Flys, 3x8-11 then increase

By 6-9 then increase I mean I do 6 reps, then next workout 7, then 8, then 9, then increase the weight but drop back to 6. Start lighter than you could lift but follow the progression. My rotation is lower, upper, rest, repeat on a three day cycle. It's probably more volume than normal, but I always responded better to more volume, and I also think that (oddly) more volume is necessary with heavy caloric restriction, as you just can't push as hard without as much energy. Also, I travel for work pretty frequently and use those trips as de-loads, and so I align volume with that, more de-loads, more volume.

My lower body routine is:

1. Squats 4x6-9, increase
2. Deadlifts 4x6-9, increase
3. Lunges 4x6-9, increase
4. RDL 4x6-9, increase
5. Leg Curl 3x8-11, increase
6. Calf Raise 3x8-11, increase
7. Crunch Machine 3x8,10,12,14 increase
8. Wood chops 3x8,10,12,14 increase

On calorie restriction, any failure at all and I won't progress on that exercise, so if say curls was 3x9 in a workout and I got 9,9, and 8, I'd do the same weight for 9 the next workout. On all but the last set, any break in form I consider a miss, but on the last set if the final reps are a little off perfect form due to effort I don't consider that a miss.

For both routines for the isolation stuff I don't start heavy until the scheduled progression gets me there, I just focus on good form and involving the target muscle as intensely as possible.

Happy to hear any thoughts on balance for any of this. If I had the energy I would possibly add in a leg extension and another set for abs. I'd love to fit in incline press but I just don't see room. Also I don't have any direct back work but I feel it's getting plenty from the compound stuff.

[ExpatAussie]

This morning I weighed 114.9 kgs (252.8 lbs) Yesterday I played tennis, and did upper day in the gym. Was pretty tired afterwards so ended up eating 1297 calories with 182.5 g of protein, which I thought was a reasonable increase for a day when my body was asking for a bit extra. Today I'm scheduled for HIIT, but it will depend on how I feel. Very happy to take a full rest day if that seems required. On the other hand I get a forced rest/deload/re-feed for a week from next Friday, so it would be good to keep pushing.

This morning my blood pressure was 124/70, down from 186/104 at the start of the month. For those who think I'm cutting too fast, be aware my GP is going to be a happy man with less than 30 days to achieve a change from technically in hypertensive crisis to normal range blood pressure.

Just to put that in perspective, that is going from "If, while monitoring your blood pressure, you get a systolic reading of 180 mm Hg or higher OR a diastolic reading of 110 mm HG or higher, wait a couple of minutes and take it again. If the reading is still at or above that level, you should seek immediate emergency medical treatment for a hypertensive crisis. If you can't access the emergency medical services (EMS), have someone drive you to the hospital right away." to "your blood pressure is normal".

From: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Condit...82_Article.jsp

[ExpatAussie]

Slight weight rebound overnight, weighed 115.1 kgs (253.2 lbs). Yesterday was intervals, 11 at 11.5 km/h. Ate 1209 calories with 145.5 g of protein yesterday. Today is lower day, going to be some tough squatting!

[ExpatAussie]

Rebound continued overnight, now 115.4 kgs (253.8 lbs). The only change in my diet and program is really the type of creatine, and that seems to have kept my weight constant or increasing for 7 days. My conclusion is that Creatine HCl is ****, a waste of money. Going to go post a review to that effect!

Yesterday was legs day, did the whole routine including progression except the last two sets of lunges. They come after squats and deadlifts and really isolate my fat bodyweight on to one leg so they are extra tough at the moment. Just going to try to keep working them in at 4 x 6, minimal weight.

Feeling generally very good, very healthy.

[ExpatAussie]

Still on a plateau for weight, still thinking that my creatine absorption is continuing. This morning I weighed 115.3 kgs (253.9 lbs) and yesterday I ate 1296 cals with 159.5 g protein.

Yesterday was upper body, lifted all my progression lifts. Today is rest/HIIT, will see how I go.

[ExpatAussie]

Today I weighed 115.1 kgs (253.2 pounds). The scales are moving in the right direction again, but still not below my lowest weight. I obviously seem to still be losing fat, so my money is still on switching to effective creatine. I am adding lean muscle, but not fast enough to offset the fat loss for this long I don't think.

Yesterday was HIIT, I did intervals at 11.5. It was a little easier, definitely getting fitter, but still tough. I have one more day before I'm travelling, but I should be able to get a workout in before I fly, so two more gym sessions, lower today and upper tomorrow.

[ExpatAussie]

So I had my urine tested for reasons I won't go into, but nothing to do with my cut or exercise. Interestingly I came back as pretty high in Ketones (2+, 200-500 mg/dL) so maybe my hard cut is ketogenic.

[ExpatAussie]

Today the plateau seems to have been passed. Perhaps my water absorption from creatine has peaked. Today I weighed 114.5 kgs (251.9 lbs). Yesterday was lower body, this morning will be upper, and then I will be travelling for around 10 days, so there will be a hiatus on the hard cut and the log. Still going to try to be generally good, but likely I will miss macros, drink too much, etc.

[ExpatAussie]

Longer travel than expected. Drank and ate too much. Partly due to circumstances, but I could have been better. Had a fall, bruised my ribs, so no lifting for a bit. Supposed to travel for Xmas next week, so will be tough until the new year. Got back bloated, weight still settling. Eating to macros again.

[ExpatAussie]

I have still been keeping up my diet since I got back, and today I got to the gym and did my lower routine. It went Ok, ribs hurt but it felt awesome to do some lifting. I'll do upper day tomorrow, then Xmas travelling and eating will interfere for a week and a bit. After Xmas I'll get fully back into diet and lifting and post every day. Also joined the Jan-Mar weight loss motivation thread. I think a realistic maximum given some work travel is around 40 pounds from 153 starting a few days ago. Already a couple of pounds down, just need to not go too far off the rails during Xmas.

[ExpatAussie]

Upper day yesterday. Ribs are sore but I got through it. Been eating a few hundred calories a day extra, mainly protein. I don't think cutting as hard as possible while lifting injured is a great idea.

Weighing 248 pounds this morning. Rest day today, then Xmas.