azotus

Be sure to visit the gym at the times you would actually be going during the school year. The atmosphere at noon may be different than the atmosphere at 5pm. Lots of gyms have problems with peak hour crowding, so be aware of what you are getting into.

Your HIIT work includes some bodyweight exercises that will cut into your recovery from your lifts. If you cut out the burpees, bicep work, chin ups, etc. And focus on running cardio or sprints, I think it will improve both your running performance and your lifts. The program in general is pretty high activity. You may inadvertantly develop a very high caloric deficit and feel like crap. I would recommend tracking your intake and adjusting it to a sustainable level if needed.

Week 2 update: Only 2 workouts this week, but I worked to failure. I realized that all my sub maximal sets probably weren't doing enough to build strength. I was sore again all week, not a terrible thing. I was very close to 3x15 push ups. On the weight loss front, currently 168... But let's take a step back and explain how I got there... So, this entire week, I was holding steady at 172, with almost no daily fluctuations. I wasn't too concerned, but if I kept stalling, I'd eat less. This weekend, I ate very little, as I just wasn't hungry. So today, after consuming nothing but coffee, I thought it would be a capital idea to mow the lawn. With my manual push mower. In summer heat. I somehow got through it, but I could feel my body was running on absolute empty. I weighed myself, and surprisingly, I was down to 168, probably mostly due to water loss. I took my usual post-mow shower, and I started to feel pretty woozy. I stumbled out into the bedroom, and lied down. Nausea kicked in, and I went back to the bathroom, where tunnel vision started to set in and I found myself on the floor shouting for my wife to bring me some sugar (lol phrasing). A few tablespoons brought me back to full consciousness and avoided an embarrassing hospital visit. So, long story short: there are limitations on what the body can do. I'm going to start keeping my routine even on the weekends to avoid the lack of food and activity that seems to hit me pretty hard. I also have to start listening to my body more. It can handle more intense exercise when there's enough food, and it needs food every day throughout the day.

Fat, carbohydrates, and proteins all have different calories per gram. One source I got says: Fat: 9 cal/g Protein: 4cal/g Carbs: 4cal/g So, total calories per above: Fat: 9x86: 774 39% Carbs: 4x122: 448 23% Protein: 4x182: 728 38% Total: 1960 Some rounding in there, but you get the idea. Biologically, this makes sense, as fat is a way to store energy, because it has a much higher energy density than the other molecules. TLDR; the percentages are based on the caloric amounts of the macronutrients, not their weight

The intake part of calorie counting can be as exact as you want it to be, measuring food precisely and using good values for nutrients is very possible. Expenditure, however is a huge grey area. You can use online calculators to estimate how much you burn by existing, walking, or doing other exercise, but there can be large margins of error there. The calorie burn on treadmills, for example, is notoriously inaccurate. So, understanding your measurement limitations is important. If you aren't losing weight after a few weeks, even though you're honestly meeting your calculated deficit, then your calculated deficit may be wrong. Also, water and gastrointestinal weight can confound your measurements as well. Actual progress should trump your calculations in deciding how to adjust

Found you back, plank sister! I had an issue with my planks where I was letting my shoulders sag, and it has been irritating my shoulder badly. I didn't respect the plank enough to worry about form, but it is apparently important. Good luck!

Well, my response is cheating a bit, but if you have some kind of rope (I imagine it may already be part of your backpack kit), you can make much more of the world pull-able. Imagine a super primitive TRX or gymnastic rings without the rings. You could tie ropes to trees without perfect "pull up bar branches". The angles might not always be perfect, but it's better than nothing, and rope is easy to pack and handy to have for any situation.

How's the first week going? Have you been able to patch together a workout strategy yet? The forum is always full of advice!

If you are trying to lose weight and are in a caloric deficit, your body is going to react to that change, regardless of the quality of food you eat. The fatigue and hunger will be the worst when you first start out, and may improve the longer you go with a deficit. The key to maintaining a deficit is to pick a level that is tolerable to you. If you are minus 1000 calories per day and always feel like crap, that might be too aggressive. If minus 300 feels like nothing, you can stick with that. Exercise recovery and sleep deprivation will also put tolls on your body, so you might not be able to deal with a large deficit as well as someone who doesn't exercise and gets excellent sleep. As Dradis said above, the best way to get a handle on your caloric intake is by tracking. The more data you have, the easier it will be to dial in on a program that works for you. Additionally, keep a journal with notes on your energy and how much you slept and your activity. You can use that alongside your food tracking to see patterns over time.

Depending on where you were with your gym exercises, you might be able to move up to harder exercises. Like bacon hunter said, bodyweight squats get easy quickly. If you find that you are able to do 10+ reps of any other exercises (or very long holds of isometric exercises like planks), you should move up to the next exercise in the progression. The start bodyweight routines above are solid starting points, but be sure to tailor each exercise to your level of ability

I make a pseudo guacamole like 2 times per week. It's great to put on an omelette, or better yet, just take the bacon and dip it in the guacamole!

Depending on your goals, there's lots of gradual replacements or changes you can do. The more effort you put into changing, the greater the results will be. After I stopped eating an extra bagel or pastry every morning, and by cutting out chips and fries at lunch, I lost almost 10 pounds and my weight settled there. Because I wanted to lose more, I had to make some more changes. I started replacing carb heavy foods with protein and fat, and I lost some more weight and then stalled. Now, I had to calculate calories I don't do it every day, I just use a few sample days to get an idea. If I stall again, that's the next step. I eat very few carbs, and only eat treats and the like for one weekend meal. My point: there are many different levels of change, and you don't need to go all the way at once. If I went right from eating junk all the time to a very restrictive diet and full calorie counting, I probably would have given up because that's a lot of change all at once. Changes that you can live with long term are the only ones that will really make a difference.

Don't worry about "bulking up", especially if you're not in a caloric surplus. I'm going to make an assumption based on your name that you are female. Not that there's anything wrong with looking bulky, but even nerd fitness hero Spezzy who deadlifts insane amount of weight after years of training has a build that most people would call "athletic". Lifting heavy or doing intense body weight work will build that lean muscle fiber that give people a "toned" look. Steve has a bit of an article about this, actually http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/04/19/5-fitness-buzzwords/

You can also incorporate some pike push ups to get ready for handstand training. I'm adding them into my routine starting today for that very purpose, and I thought I'd spread the news. I'm also at about 3 pull ups too. I mix chin ups, neutral grip and regular pulls in my workout. I've heard that it helps avoid tendonitis, but I do it because my back gives out way before my biceps, and I don't want to steal their thunder. Here's to continued progress!

Try a series of 6 week challenges on the boards here. 6 weeks is a nice sweet spot that's enough time to see big changes, but still short enough to require immediate action. Having an epic quest is great, but you need to break it down to appreciate your progress. You might have to save Hyrule from Gannon, but there are individual triforce pieces, elemental stones, and sage seals to help you mark your progress along the way