starffy's Journal

I hit a plateau sometime in June where my weight would fluctuate between 174 and 172.  My bodyfat measurements didn't show much of a decrease, but I saw more definition to my muscles.  Eventually, my weight went to 170-172.  I tried many ways to break it, including eating at maintenance for a week, and going off counting for a week.  I also tried decreasing my deficit, which I continued for a while, and eventually at the beginning of October, I lost a few pounds for a few weeks.  Then I hit a plateau (almost immediately) again, this time between 167 and 170.  This lasted from the end of October until last week when I decided to increase my intake to maintenance again, and concentrate on building muscle.  I've been pushing myself pretty hard at the gym and trying to get 1g protein to lb of bodyweight.  I don't think I did yesterday, and I think I went over maintenance at the same time because of all the deserts. :-(  But one days (Thanksgiving) isn't that bad.

I think I'm going to continue this through December, simply because it's hard to eat so little during the holidays.  And it's also easier because I enjoy weight lifting so much more than cardio.  But at the same time, it's going to be somewhat depressing seeing my weight go up, and probably some of my definition go away.

Add Comment

Pounds are starting to come off at a faster rate again. :-)
Also, the top of my abs are starting to become visible again.  The bottom half is completely covered with flab, so it will be a while before I have a six pack, but I should have a four pack at a 10-15lb loss.


Add Comment

So I'm back from my road trip.  I'm pretty sure I maintained a defecit all but two days during the 7 day trip.  One of those days involved heavy drinking followed by an involuntary purging of my stomach until I was vomiting up some blood (from what they tell me).  The other day involved two buffets.  While I would normally consider this a pretty bad week for my diet, it's pretty good since I was on vacation.  Now I just have to get back into the swing of things.  I want to go to the gym now, but it's raining :-(
I will go soon.


Add Comment

So tomorrow I embark upon a trip for ~5 days in which I will not have access to a computer (at least for the most part) with an internet connection, and thus, I will have to do without calorie-count.  I hope to stay within my caloric range, but I do doubt that I will be able to.  I have purchased a book (The Complete Food Counter) as well as a small notebook and pencil to take with me so I can try to count my calories, and continue to log everything, but even with that, I will not have the freedom on the road for three days, and while I'm in kansas, I will not be in control of where we go and when.  I have packed my vitamins and some fish oil capsules to take with me.  I think I prefer to err on the side of going over instead of under.  I have worked out a lot recently, so hopefully if I go over, some of that will go towards my muscles.  And going over will at the least, help to keep my metabolism up.  Though, I will not be able to keep up the 2-3 hour meals, and that will slow it down.  I will pack some meal bars as well, but I only have a backpack to carry everything in.


Add Comment

Woke up with a severely sore throat this morning.  As the day progressed, I started sneezing and my nose is dripping.  I'm still going to log everything, but I'm going to aim for closer to maintainance for the meanwhile.


Add Comment

I was craving a burger, so I went to Grand Lux Cafe and had their burger melt with 3-4 fried, 2 slices of their wheat bread, maybe a tbsp of butter, the mustard that comes with the burger x2 since my friend didn't want his, and a couple of tbsp of ketchup.  Oh, and two large glasses of coke.  My estimated calories for the meal is 2228.  I had to substitute things and guess on quantities, so this could be off by quite a bit. 

Anyway, if I want to come in at 500 over maintanance, I can still have 1150 calories today.  With my post workout (already included the workout activity) coming in at 550 calories, that leaves me with two more meals at 300 calories a pop.  And that's six meals total.  Not bad at all if you ask me.  And I was sooooo satisfied with my burger.  I will not crave one for a while now.

I could even aim for maintanance or even a 500 defecit still, but I think it's better to go over once a week to keep my metabolism up.  I often end up with a little over a 1000 defecit during the week, so I think by doing this once a week, I avoid letting my body think it is starving.  Plus, I end up with a defecit of ~7000 per week, so I should be losing about 2lbs a week.  I'll see how it goes and adjust.  So far I've been averaging between 1 and 2 pounds a week, but my bodyfat % has gone down, and by my calculations, I should also have increased in lean body mass at the same time. =)



Add Comment