got the new plan figured out. the goal is to drop another 5 lbs and get below 220. nutrition is going to stay about the same, except i'm going to slightly increase calories to 2500. 50 to 65 grams of fat, 200-225 carbs, sugars below 50, and 275-300 protein. for supplements, i'm going to stop taking NO because it still doesnt seem to do anything for me. i am going to start adding additional creatine (5 grams) to my pre and post workout drinks. cardio stays split (light in AM empty stomach, heavy PM post lifting). for weights, i'll lower the reps to between 7 and 9 as a compromise between size and strength. switching to 4 days on 1 off, to get more rest days. also, putting legs between chest and back. doing chest, then back, then legs was tough last month.

chest, shoulders
legs, calves, abs
back, traps
tris, bis, forearms
off


when this month finishes i'll just work on body composition for at least a month. the goal will be to maintain 220 lbs while continuing to lose fat and adding muscle. right now i'm guessing that i'll have to add 250 to 500 calories. most of the additional calories will probably come from carbs. figure my weight will go up some from the body re-storing glycogen/water. had to have lost some muscle mass too ... so that'll come back. will also cut down on jogging, and replace with elliptical, to get my leg strength to build back up. bigger leg muscle will burn more calories on the next weight loss cycle. weights should probably go back up to higher reps for size and i'll have more energy for that type of workout.

body weight hit 224, so i made this months goal to get below 225. that comes to about 15 lbs in 2 months (7 lbs the first week, and then 1 lb/week). did not initially state the weight goal this month because i did not think i would meet it. last months routine added calories (250-500 more) and reduced cardio (30 minutes max), so i thought my weight would stabilize. i'm assuming weight loss continued because i worked on nutrition. those changes compelled me to eat more (good) fat, eat more protein, cut sugars to below 50 grams/day, and mainly reduce carbohydrates (with occasional cheat days). so even though i was eating more calories, i was getting more energy out of those calories and disrupting the fat burning process less. granted my energy level is down slightly, but i dont feel like my body ever slipped into fat conservation mode. strength is still up, although i ended the month failing early on some sets. i actually think that my body did better with muscle maintenance when i was training for strength the 1st month vs training for size the 2nd month. so maybe i should stick to lower reps when i'm on a caloric deficit and do higher reps when i'm feeding the machine ...

visibly leaner this month. upper belly is gone and the lower belly is reducing. er, um ... love handles don't seem to be budging. that's where i store fat first, and since i mostly store fat in my belly ... suck. need to do more twisting exercises to get them to at least firm up some. the good news is that my upper body is showing more definition especially in arms and shoulders. legs are showing more definition from all the cardio.

uncertain about the calipers, but 21% is still my max reading and i only managed that once on the 1st day. i'm consistently measuring below 20%. that seems low to me, so i've been pinching more aggressively. chest comes in at 10, thigh is 10-15, and belly is 20-25. i'm assuming my chest and thigh measurements will remain mostly constant since i dont store fat there in the 1st place. lower abs should continue to thin up, so the belly measurement has the potential to drop quite a bit. unless i'm totally measuring wrong, i might already be in the upper range of 'normal' weight. of course i've still got some belly, so my body type skews the entire process. anyway, i need get a trainer from the gym to show me proper caliper usage.

now i get a couple days off from working out to recover and load up on carbs. need to figure out the plan for next month.

sort of stuck at 226. my weight loss pattern has been to drop a pound, add it back on the next day, lose that pound again the next day, and then stay at the lower weight for a couple days before dropping again. but right now i keep bouncing back and forth between 226 and 227. anyway, i've got about a week left to get below 225 ... so it'll be close. going to keep food intake the same and increase cardio by about 10 minutes.

measurements are decreasing. waist is slowly dropping although there arent many visible changes in my belly. right now my upper abs have mostly thinned out, and i'm stuck with lower and side belly fat ... ugly. in the past, my upper abs go, then lower, and finally obliques. upper body is visibly thinning down and my arms have dropped below 17 1/2 ... lame, must work on that next month.

picked up some AccuFitness calipers for self-measurement. i need to take them to the gym with me and have a trainer help me out, to make sure i'm using them right. been trying myself and the results vary quite a bit. at least the highest i've measured myself is 21%. compared to BMI which puts me at 31%, and the body part measurement estimates that put me at 21-24%. the problem i have with these tests is they dont seem to take into account body type. anyway, my caliper measurements are about 10 and lower for chest and thigh, and 20+ for belly ... because thats where i mostly store fat.

liftings been good, at least i'm recovering faster after 12 rep workouts. energy is slightly down, so i'm looking forward to having a couple days off soon. strength might still be increasing on some lifts. i'm estimating my decline max might be 385 now. but most of my gains have been in shoulders and traps, they are noticably adding size.

basing my diet off of the estimate that i need 3000 calories per day with a split of 20% fat, 40% carbs, 40% protein. if that's the case, then i need about 66 grams of fat, 300 carbs, 300 protein to maintain my current weight. but for weight loss, i need a caloric deficit. a deficit of 500 calories a day, would be about 1 lb a week, because there are 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat. the caloric deficit should come from reducing starchy carbs. so i'm shooting for 55 to 66 grams of fat, 200 to 225 carbs, 300 protein. its counter-intuitive, but i'm having to supplement extra fats, but there's the risk if you dont get enough fats, then your body goes into fat conservation mode. instead, we want to train the body to burn off the fat, by reducing carb dependence. by keeping protien high, and lifting, the hope is that muscle will be preserved. also keeping sugars below 50 grams because it interferes with fat loss. mostly off all artificial sweeteners too. its also counter-intuitive, but almost none of the foods i'm eating are marketed as 'low fat'. had to get rid of most of those because they had too much sugar. instead, if there's a 'high protein' option for a food, then that's what i get.

the mods i've made is to vary my foods, which in turn will vary my fat/carb/protein split. e.g. i might go one day keeping fats at 55 grams, then bump it up to 66 the next day. except protein, i keep it at 300 grams. for carbs, i've added 'cheat days' where i increase them up to 300 grams. the concept is that this confuses the body about how many carbs it will get, so it wont become efficient at running on low carbs. instead i want it to inefficiently burn through the carbs on low-carb days and then have it to turn to the stored fat. this should also keep me from dropping too much energy and feeling run down. the final change has been to eat carbs and protein together. this does something to the effect of helping protein uptake when carbs spike your insulin level. another change i might do is to replace some starchy carbs with more fibrous carbs.

the hardest part of the diet has been cutting fruit. when i switch back to bulking up, fruit is going to rock! switching to 0 calorie liquids was tough at first, but green tea and cold-brewed coffee have made up for that loss. counting calories is annoying, but its actually allowed me to eat more than i would think i should. in the past, i've always hit a wall in the 1st month because my energy levels would dip too much. probably because i wasnt getting enough fat/carbs, and too much sugar, so my body would go into fat conservation mode. 'no alcohol' sucks ... there needs to be a protein-based alcoholic drink :) but alcohol pretty much screws everything up : empty calories (i.e. no nutrients), stops fat burning process, dehydrates, causes bad food decisions ... crap!

never liked coffee pre-starbucks. got hooked by their desert drinks until i realized how many calories they had. so i switched to iced coffee (e.g. skinny lattes or plain ol iced coffee). the problem is i didnt really like the taste of plain iced coffee and their skinny lattes still have 90+ calories (that adds up). abot a month ago, i tried cold brewing coffee. the cold brew process is interesting because it reduces the acid. it also generates a coffee concentrate that you mix with water, so you can control how much 'coffee/caffeine' you get with each glass. plus you can freeze the concentrate into ice cubes and just get 1 or 2 at a time ... so i only brew about once a month. the acid reduction is noticable from the 1st glass, the cold brewed coffee is smooth. i like it so much that i dont have to add any cream or sweeteners, so it stays at 0 calories! the real tell is i tried plain (unsweetened) iced coffee from starbucks after a month on cold brew, and had to throw it out because the acid taste was overpowering. was more concerned about calories, but its certainly saves money too. the toddy system payed for itself in less than a month.

was confused about how much fat i should be getting. for grams, i was getting 10%, and that seemed right to me ... but the articles i'd been reading were saying 20%! finally figured out that the articles were talking calories. so the mismatch is because fat grams are 9 calories, while protein/carb grams are 4 calories. the bodybuilding article which most closely matches my diet recommended 40% carbs, 40% protein, 20% fat (calories) [there's actually a grams calulator at the link, i just totally missed it]. after the grams conversion, that becomes 45% carbs, 45% protein, 10% fat. i'm pretty consistent with 10% fat, but my protein/carb split is more like 40%/50%. since i'm on a caloric deficit, i think i'm supposed to keep it that way; and then balance them out when i go back to bulking up.

have reduced sugars to below (10%). this involved cutting out fruit entirely, and replacing a post workout drink that was 37 grams of sugar for one with 10 grams. my other big sugar fix is from skim milk (10 grams) with cereal. since cutting back on sugar, i actually noticed the sugar taste in milk for the first time. even some of the high protein cereals have too much sugar, so i'll have to eat more oatmeal (with water).

weight is down to 227. even though i've added more calories and reduced cardio, from last month, i've still been losing 1lb a week. my current guess is that my daily caloric use is 3000. at least that coincides with being a 500 calorie deficit. waist size seems to have dropped rapidly in just the last couple weeks. lower abs are starting to firm up too. also trying to figure out bodyfat percentage. BMI has me at 31% (obese), which is bogus. the body measurement estimates have me at 21-24%. i'm going to try calipers, but they dont work so well on me since my body type mostly stores belly fat (i.e. chest and thigh measurements will be low).

i follow the 'many small meals a day' plan. so i'm pretty much eating all day to keep the metabolism going. right now i'm eating to lose fat while maintaining muscle. a typical day looks like :

morning protein (35 grams blend), ceral (protein and fiber with skim milk) or oatmeal, 1/2 cup egg whites, veggie snack or fruit, lunch (mainly carbs and protein), afternoon protein (35 grams blend), pre-workout snack, pre-workout drink, post-workout drink, post workout protein (35 grams whey), tuna or chicken, more veggies, cottage cheese or yogurt (light), before bed protein (35 grams casein), middle-of-night protein (35 grams blend). i'll also snack on almonds and grilled chicken strips throughout the day.

ends up being 2500 calories. around 50 grams fat, 225-250 carbs (75-100 sugar), 275-300 protein. main fat sources are almonds, natural peanut butter, and lean meats. the goal is to keep it at 50 or slightly above. plus i supplement (good) fat with CLA and Flax oil. sugars are mostly from the post workout drink and fruit. going to switch post workout drinks to drop sugar intake to 50 grams and see how my body reacts to that. if energy drops, then i'll up the good carbs. need to find more food choices that are higher carb with low sugar. its been more difficult for me to find low-sugar products than low-fat. didnt realize how many low fat products had so much sugar. i don't follow 'calories-are-calories' so i try to get most carbs earlier in the day. try to get protein any chance i can ... wish the stores i shopped at had protein bread. for liquid, its all water. protein mixed with water, green tea, iced coffee (no cream or sweeteners), and more water. comes to 24+ cups a day.

finished the first set of the new workout routine. its brutal, because my body hasnt figured out how to train for size. actually, the training part isnt the problem, its the healing ... i'm freakin sore. when strength training, i rarely get sore. at least i'm getting a little better at working out with higher reps, because i can do reps until strengh failure. previously, i would have to stop because of lactic acid buildup. so the workouts were good ... i'm just feeling half-sick from being sore.

its basically training one body part a week. that's a big change, because that doesnt work for me when strength training. but i need to give it a chance for size training. that also means i cant half ass any of the workouts. thats difficult because size training takes more mental concentration to keep form in check, slow the tempo, perform more sets (per bodypart), perform more reps, and rest for less time. for strength, i could always lose some mental control and bully my way through a set if necessary. at least being sore is a good sign that i got something out of it

body weight has leveled off at 229. although, i did have to cheat last weekend after some serious cravings for pizza and ice cream. that's off limits for the rest of the month. had to re-evaluate what i've been eating, and i'm gradually swapping out certain foods for something with a lower glycemic index. still haven't figured out carbs, because there are times when i feel really flat during the day. but the pre-workout snack has come through for powering the workouts. sleep is still a problem, because i keep waking up in the middle of the night craving protein, even though i've been eating more protein than i was last month. i need an IV protein drip ...

this is what my supplement routine looks like. the hard part is trying to find a time to take Nitrix (NO) on an empty stomach. especially since i believe in eating 'many small meals' to keep the metabolism up. its also difficult to get enough protein. recommendations vary from .75 to 2 times your bodyweight. this has me drinking 150 grams (around 750 calories).

wake - nitrix (on an empty stomach)
wake+30 - protein drink, animal pak, flex pak
(breakfast)
before lunch - protein drink
(lunch)
early afternoon - nitrix
afternoon - protein drink
(pre workout snack)
pre workout - Nano Vapor drink
post workout - CellTech drink
post workout+30 - whey protein drink
(dinner)
night - nitrix
before bed - zma, casein protein drink
middle of the night - protein drink

figured out the routine for this next month. this round is about body composition. eating stays low fat except a pre-workout snack is now mandatory. for supplements, i'll drink an additional 50 to 100 grams of protein each day (that'll be 250 to 500 calories). and although NO hasn't really worked for me before, i'm going to try BSN Nitrix. cardio stays split (light AM, heavy PM post lifting). lifting changes significantly. strength is out and i'll go back to 10 to 12 reps for size. 5 days on, 1 off (push/pull/legs/push/pull/off)

chest
back
legs
shoulders, triceps
lats, biceps
off