It is not just my clients that will be going through this 16 week transformation but I will be doing it as well. Over the last 2-3 weeks I have successfully gained about 25 lbs. I would say 8-10 lbs of it are water weight from the excess carb intake but it’s still weight. I have successfully lost any visible abs that I had which was ultimately the goal. Over the next 16 weeks I will be following the exact same guidelines that I give my clients. I will be updating this post periodically with my body weight, body fat, gym gains etc.
The 2-3 weeks of excessive overeating of junk food affected me in many different ways. For one my
workouts sucked when my diet wasn't on point. I thought my workouts wouldn't suffer based off what I ate but they did. Bench press basically hit a plateau and I had some of the worst leg and back days I've ever had. It was miserable. I was also affected mentally. Carbohydrates are just as addictive as heroine and I can attest to that first hand now. Its crazy that once I made the decision that I could eat whatever, whenever, how quickly on cookie turned into a box of them or one bag of candy turned into a family size bag of candy. Anyways, my goal for this 16 week transformation is basically reduction in body fat. I weighed in at 180.8 on Monday morning and this morning (Tues) I already lost 5 lbs (water weight) and I am down to 175.2. I expect to settle down to the low 170s by the end of the week and then start my slow decent. I will continue to cut for the entire 16 weeks. Before and after pictures will be taken as well as progress pics along the way. Stay tuned for updates!
Update 20130206 - Weight was 173.0 this morning. I am down 7.8 lbs in 3 days and I should be close to done with shedding the excess water weight from the stored carbohydrates. Deadlifts (335x5) today felt amazing and for some reason OHP (120x8) felt way lighter than usual. Next week I am really going to push myself on both of these exercises. DL 350x4 and OHP 135x6 are the goals I have set for myself. The weird thing is how good I feel. I am eating well below maintenance calories but I feel so much better than when I was eating in excess. My mood is better, my attitude is more positve. The food you eat has a much larger effect than one might think. Its only been 3 days and I can feel a change.
Update 20130212 - I have felt great since starting back up on my diet plan. Yesterday at the gym I hit 350x4 DL and 135x6 OHP. Both were easier than anticipated. Friday I will attempt 350x5 DL and 135x6x2. Strength gains are back on track and according to the scale I'm back on track also. On my ref day(Monday) I was down 8 lbs to 172.8 and dropped 1% BF exactly down from 12.3% to 11.3%. These first week numbers are inflated due to the water weight loss but are fairly common for clients in their first week on my program. Cravings for crappy food have died down and I am satiated with the huge meals I have been eating. At no point on this program have I ever felt like I was dieting. Example meals (these are single meals. I usually eat 2-3 meals a day. These are my first meals to break my fast so they are my largest meals of the day): WO day - 4 cups of marshmallow cereal (organic lucky charms), 2 cups fat free milk, 16oz Fat free Greek yogurt, 3 apples, 3 clementines, 110g 2% cottage cheese and 2 bananas. That's a typical lunch after my workout. Rest day - bunch of spinach, sliced tomato, 56g of mozzarella cheese and some balsamic vinegar. Omelet with 460g egg whites, whole avocado, 3 pieces of thin sliced provolone with a handful of spinach and mushrooms and about 56g of ham. The omelet weighed almost 3 lbs when completed. A massive omelet. Skipping breakfast allows me to create more flexible meals for lunch and dinner. It's on of the protocols I love the most about this program.
Update 20130219 - Life has gotten in the way of the gym for the last week or so. The good part about that is it forced me to come up with some alternatives to the normal gym routine. I have a real nice workout routine that I think works very well when travelling or when life happens and you are unable to get to the gym for a real workout. I say real workout because nothing will build your body like strength training. There is no amount of body weight exercises that allow you to achieve the strength that barbell lifting will. These are exercises that will allow you to maintain what you have during extended time away from the gym. They are not intended to replace them. I will be writing about them soon!
Update 20130305 - It's been a while since I posted an update here. Since last post a lot has happened. BW is down to 166.2 but I have only been to the gym a few times over the last 3-4 weeks. Personal things came up and as those were ending I had a vasectomy which puts me out of the gym for another week. Yesterday was my first day back and it felt good. The day before the procedure I went to the gym and was able to hit the same rep/wt that I was hitting three weeks prior which was the last week I was actuall in the gym. 0 strength loss even in a caloric deficit. With the vasectomy I will be slowly working back into the gym but I should be back to lifting heavy in the next few weeks. The biggest lesson learned here is to stick to your diet. The gym is great but the diet is where your body changes will come from. In a few weeks I went from 172.8 to 166.2 maintaining strength. The surgery will set me back more than not lifting for 2-3 weeks. On my reference day I was down to single digit body fat 9.7% and I still have a little under 3 months to go.
workouts sucked when my diet wasn't on point. I thought my workouts wouldn't suffer based off what I ate but they did. Bench press basically hit a plateau and I had some of the worst leg and back days I've ever had. It was miserable. I was also affected mentally. Carbohydrates are just as addictive as heroine and I can attest to that first hand now. Its crazy that once I made the decision that I could eat whatever, whenever, how quickly on cookie turned into a box of them or one bag of candy turned into a family size bag of candy. Anyways, my goal for this 16 week transformation is basically reduction in body fat. I weighed in at 180.8 on Monday morning and this morning (Tues) I already lost 5 lbs (water weight) and I am down to 175.2. I expect to settle down to the low 170s by the end of the week and then start my slow decent. I will continue to cut for the entire 16 weeks. Before and after pictures will be taken as well as progress pics along the way. Stay tuned for updates!
Update 20130206 - Weight was 173.0 this morning. I am down 7.8 lbs in 3 days and I should be close to done with shedding the excess water weight from the stored carbohydrates. Deadlifts (335x5) today felt amazing and for some reason OHP (120x8) felt way lighter than usual. Next week I am really going to push myself on both of these exercises. DL 350x4 and OHP 135x6 are the goals I have set for myself. The weird thing is how good I feel. I am eating well below maintenance calories but I feel so much better than when I was eating in excess. My mood is better, my attitude is more positve. The food you eat has a much larger effect than one might think. Its only been 3 days and I can feel a change.
Update 20130212 - I have felt great since starting back up on my diet plan. Yesterday at the gym I hit 350x4 DL and 135x6 OHP. Both were easier than anticipated. Friday I will attempt 350x5 DL and 135x6x2. Strength gains are back on track and according to the scale I'm back on track also. On my ref day(Monday) I was down 8 lbs to 172.8 and dropped 1% BF exactly down from 12.3% to 11.3%. These first week numbers are inflated due to the water weight loss but are fairly common for clients in their first week on my program. Cravings for crappy food have died down and I am satiated with the huge meals I have been eating. At no point on this program have I ever felt like I was dieting. Example meals (these are single meals. I usually eat 2-3 meals a day. These are my first meals to break my fast so they are my largest meals of the day): WO day - 4 cups of marshmallow cereal (organic lucky charms), 2 cups fat free milk, 16oz Fat free Greek yogurt, 3 apples, 3 clementines, 110g 2% cottage cheese and 2 bananas. That's a typical lunch after my workout. Rest day - bunch of spinach, sliced tomato, 56g of mozzarella cheese and some balsamic vinegar. Omelet with 460g egg whites, whole avocado, 3 pieces of thin sliced provolone with a handful of spinach and mushrooms and about 56g of ham. The omelet weighed almost 3 lbs when completed. A massive omelet. Skipping breakfast allows me to create more flexible meals for lunch and dinner. It's on of the protocols I love the most about this program.
Update 20130219 - Life has gotten in the way of the gym for the last week or so. The good part about that is it forced me to come up with some alternatives to the normal gym routine. I have a real nice workout routine that I think works very well when travelling or when life happens and you are unable to get to the gym for a real workout. I say real workout because nothing will build your body like strength training. There is no amount of body weight exercises that allow you to achieve the strength that barbell lifting will. These are exercises that will allow you to maintain what you have during extended time away from the gym. They are not intended to replace them. I will be writing about them soon!
Update 20130305 - It's been a while since I posted an update here. Since last post a lot has happened. BW is down to 166.2 but I have only been to the gym a few times over the last 3-4 weeks. Personal things came up and as those were ending I had a vasectomy which puts me out of the gym for another week. Yesterday was my first day back and it felt good. The day before the procedure I went to the gym and was able to hit the same rep/wt that I was hitting three weeks prior which was the last week I was actuall in the gym. 0 strength loss even in a caloric deficit. With the vasectomy I will be slowly working back into the gym but I should be back to lifting heavy in the next few weeks. The biggest lesson learned here is to stick to your diet. The gym is great but the diet is where your body changes will come from. In a few weeks I went from 172.8 to 166.2 maintaining strength. The surgery will set me back more than not lifting for 2-3 weeks. On my reference day I was down to single digit body fat 9.7% and I still have a little under 3 months to go.
