Thanksgoal

I’m setting a goal for Thanksgiving.

I was mulling over my dieting strategy throughout my fast today, trying to decide at what point in my strength-gain quest I should chase after fat loss once again. It got annoyingly abstract as I do not really know what to expect as far as strength gains. I said, initially, that when I could do eight bodyweight chin-ups, then I would be strong enough to consider strength-retention a worthwhile effort while dieting. I’m not that strong now, why bother maintaining strength if I can regain what I’ve got in four weeks anyway?

So I stopped for a moment and decided to look at the “after this, then that” part, then-that-being fat loss. It was my decision that I would initiate the resumption of the fat loss goal by introducing a slight, 10% deficit, while building my present lifts not to a greater weight, but simply to the ceiling of the rep range (or maybe one more) of the present weight. If I lost strength on lifts much to the point of hitting the floor of the range or necessitating less weight used, I’d do a refeed and hope I wouldn’t miss a lift on the next workout in the cycle. Two missed lifts would immediately result in a diet break (it’s possible to lose reps for lack of focus, which is common for me on a deficit, so I would allow myself a small margin for this type of error.)

I determined that I’d pick a key lift for each workout (except B2) to monitor, just to keep sane. Less than 2 x 6 on Bench for A1, less than 2 x 3 on Deadlift for B1, and Chins (I presently cannot even do any, and I was planning to build up to at least eight before cutting, but the floor would be 1 x 6.)

But then I looked at how much weight I have to lose right now.

My body weight ceiling is 170lbs. At last check I was 169 (165.5lbs after sauna) and that’s dangerously close to where I don’t want to be. I could foresee a lot of “mini-fix” weeks to drop a pound in the likely event of lean gains. That’s a lot of back-and-forth and, ultimately, probably good for composition-revision purposes… but not that predictable and thusly not that interesting to me.

So I decided to look at how much I have to lose. It will have to be revised somewhat on Monday, as today (Friday) I’m fasting, and the weekend will be decidedly low-carb and may result in below-maintenance eating as well. Will I lose fat? Probably not. But I’m going to try and get as dry a weight measure post-workout (that means sauna) to truly understand where I’m starting from. However, I’m in a fast-induced-frenzy of productivity and so I’m planning it out with what I’ve got.

May 18th: 169lbs. @ 17%; 28.73lbs. fat, 140.27lbs. lean.

I decided on phase-length of dieting on two points: the fact that I don’t trust myself to last through six weeks of dieting as I get leaner, and Independence Day overlap. Fireworks Day isn’t a huge holiday in casual-binge world, but it is a day that I’d be comfortable feasting on if the opportunity arises. I’d rather not risk a nervous breakdown weighing risk vs. reward and just eat some goddamn barbecue.

Phases are thusly: four weeks of dieting, two weeks of eating at (new) maintenance. With 26 weeks to play with (May 24 – November 24) I am going to shoot for 14lbs. of fat loss. While this initially sounds like 14lbs. / 26 weeks (and so about a half a pound a week), it is important to note that there are only 18 weeks of specific dieting. That brings me to about 0.78lbs. per week of dieting, not accounting for any kickass magical losses during my diet breaks.

Lifting goals will slow, of course. I’m going to remain with my benchmark idea stated earlier, in that I won’t worry so much if I CANNOT INCREASE weight, but I will be concerned if I lose reps.

A1 Bench Press: 2 x 6 @ 80lbs.
B1 Deadlift: 2 x 3 @ 135lbs.
Any workout except B2, Pulldown: 1 x 6 @ 105lbs.

However, that being the GOAL isn’t going to be my marker for diet FAILURE. For me there are three levels: GREAT SUCCESS (getting or surpassing what I want), SUCCESS (doing well), and FAIL (fucking up.)

GREAT SUCCESS, as I’ve just delineated, will be 14+lbs. of fat loss with no strength loss.

SUCCESS, however, is a bit less. Striking a balance between losing weight and not feeling like a subhuman puddle usually means about a half a pound of weight loss per week. Therefore, success will be set at a minimum of 9lbs. of fat loss. Strength loss on bench is acceptable, but not on anything else.

FAIL is anything less than that and/or becoming an even weaker pathetic bitch. Or gaining fat, which I guess is EPIC FAIL, but I don’t really consider my options for failure in great detail anyhow. I prefer spending my time on success.

According to that, my end stats should look something like:

GREAT SUCCESS: 155lbs. @ 9.5% fat

SUCCESS: 160lbs. @ 12.3% fat

FAIL: gross.

I’ll express my specific dieting APPROACH in another post. This is just to outline the goal and time frame.

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Playing Catch-Up

Wow, I’m absent-minded.

Here are my last two workouts. It turned out better this way because now I can see, on paper, how radically shifted my mood is without a steady-stream of caffeine, hah.

Workout for April 12, 2010

Pulldown

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 45 x 5
3. 65 x 5
4. 85 x 3
5. 105 x 2
6. 125 x 4
7. 110 x 5
8. 105 x 6

I got one more rep each work set than I had planned for. I was happy.

Incline Press

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 45 x 5
3. 60 x 5
4. 75 x 3
5. 105 x 2
6. 120 x 6 (one still in the tank)
7. 90 x 10 (more possible, energy levels sinking though)

Lateral Raise

1. 40lbs. x 4
2. 55 x 3
3. 75 x 5 (staying this weight, it was hard!)
4. 70 x 4 (wanted 6, but I was cooked!)

Body Weight: 163lbs.
Body Fat Percentage: 17.3%

Condition: B-

Got adequate rest the night prior, I believe. My belly felt ‘full’ and my face looked flabby, so I’m sure I’d overdone it on the carbs. Must have stored quite a bit as glycogen for my LBM to have been boosted so much.

I took the usual-dosage 25/200 ephedrine/caffeine about an hour and a half before I began my workout. No yohimbine this day. I was on my last few days-worth of the stuff and I wanted to save it for days I’d be doing cardio. I was anticipating an hour-long bike ride the day after this training session to visit with Ashley (wound up taking it and then getting a ride to her place… at least I wasn’t craving food when I was with her. My stomach made some pretty embarrassing noises, however…)

I skipped deadlifts. Forgot my shoes. Was wearing my usual trashy tennies, and I THOUGHT I was going to be doing ALL THIS CYCLING that never happened.

The workout, in total, was about an hour in length.

Workout for April 17, 2010

Today sucked.

Lat Pulldown

1. 45lbs. x 10 (I tend to over-rest on my warm-ups, so I gave myself a reason to…)
2. 65 x 5
3. 85 x 3
4. 105 x 2
5. 125 x 5 (STAY! SOOO HARD. I don’t think I did a very good job of activating my lats.)
6. 110 x 6 (STAY. AGAIN. WOW.)
7. 105 x 7 (I’m starting to not care about my workout at this set. Exes are polluting my mind.)

Incline Press

1. 45lbs. x 5
2. 45 x 5
3. 60 x 5
4. 75 x 3
5. 105 x 2
6. 120 x 4

I just did not have the energy to finish that set nor that exercise. I am going to increase the weight on the top set here, however, because those four that I could manage were easy. I just literally did not have the fuel to keep on truckin’ through the set. I caught my breath, tried to do a five-rep test for deadlifts but after doing a hanging-set with an empty bar, I had to call it quits for the day.

Deadlift

1. 45lbs. x 5

:(

Body Weight: 164lbs.
Body Fat %: 15.5% (WTF?)

Condition: C.

I was rushing out the door this morning. No pre-workout meal or supps of any kind. Just raw out of bed. Pretty suck… I thought my fat reading was going to be massive as well. I’ve been noticing this slight double chin (IN MY MIIIIIND…) and my belly looks just as gross as ever.

I should start taking pictures again. Looking at my shit every day is clearly numbing me to any observable changes.

Or maybe it’s because I’m just as fat as last Spring.

Probably.

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The Daily Plate

[Warning: The below is one of those STATEMENT type posts. I try to only write posts for things that I HAVE ALREADY DONE rather than WISHAN, AN HOPEN. This post is an example of the latter/fail.]

I made this for deviantArt when I was a teenager.

You know, it’s really time to stop fucking around.

My diet is crap.

I’m so carb-loaded right now it hurts. Seriously. Nevermind the disgusting bloated look that comes from moderate constipation and carb-load powers combined. My muscles themselves feel overstuffed.

I might managed to knock out a set of chins at LBM tomorrow, lol.

I really want to do a depletion workout tomorrow to prep for tat-support tomorrow (hangings with the gal frand y’know.) But I’m also fuck-awesomely strong right now and I’d like to abuse it before I get into some kind of protein-sparing modified fast of insanity.

Which I full intend to do, starting Thursday, just in case she decides to make a pizza while I’m over. That happened last time. I feel like such a douchebag refusing to eat free pizza, so, JUST IN CASE, I’m saving the crash diet for Thursday.

What I’m probably going to do is the strength workout, rest a bit, depletion workout with lessened/eliminated volume on the body parts already hit.

WHICH REMINDS ME: I’m dropping deadlifts.

Yeah that’s right. I said it. (Please kill me.)

I just know that as soon as I deplete I’m going to be weaker than all hell and I just will not have the form necessary to feel good about myself deadlifting. Wavering deadlift performance has been the single most destructive factor to my dieting efforts, I’m sad to report. It’s my favorite life, but I just cannot be risking my back (literally) deciding between dieting and RAWR. RAWR always wins, but it’s not getting me any closer to my goals other than keeping my posture sexy.

My back is still a little sore from fucking up that ONE REP not too long ago. I was sick, granted, but that’s pretty much how glycogen depletion feels to me. Fucking sick.

Starting today, though, I’m back to legitimately recording my intake. I’ve been writing it down on paper for a long time since I’ve abandoned Windows (and by extension, FitDay) but I’ve not been tracking numbers and is really just a testament to how lax I can really be. I KNOW I’ve been eating to much, no foggy iffy memory about it. I’m fucking up, I’m not losing fat, and I’m only marginally stronger. This amounts to FAIL.

So I’ve signed up at the daily plate.

Today I don’t really care. I’m keeping myself loaded so tomorrow I can put up the biggest numbers on my three most important lifts to me (Pulldown, Incline Press, Lateral Raise) and then keep them there as I lose my artificial benefit. As much as I love carbs, this bloat is disgusting. I feel like a panda. I’m 165-170lbs. right now and I’m really hoping that a lot of that is water weight.

But I’m not retarded, either.

So I’m going to spend two days making sure I can get my calories in order, and then from Thursday on begin stripping carbs. Quicker the better, but I’m hoping by Monday of next week to be on a PSMF cycle and jogging my way to some relief from pandabelly.

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