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Hey guys, Posted in the introductions yesterday and someone suggested I take the post and make it a challenge, however after reading the challenge rules I feel that it would be more in place here! This will not be a daily log for me though, I may well update it every week, however the main reason is to keep track of my monthly progress pics, measurments and reviews! I was always a bit vague with my goals in the past, and to be perfectly honest I’m not entirely sure how to set realistic goals at the minute. Previously, I based them on the weight I was lifting, always striving to lift something heavier, however I don’t even know my starting weights for all exercises at the minute and it’s probably going to take a few weeks to get there. So setting short term goals, and even some long term goals, is going to be something I will be looking towards doing very soon. Saying that however, my goal at the minute is to attend the gym, and get back into the habit of cooking and preparing meals. My girlfriend and I did a monster shop at the weekend, filling the fridge with nothing but healthy ingredients, a rough meal plan will let us know what we’re having to eat on a daily basis and the ability to throw together shakes and homemade protein bars will mean that I’ve never short on calories! I’m going to take my goals on a week-by-week basis, like I said just starting the habit up again. This week I plan to: Take a lunch to work every day this week. Go to the gym on Wednesday and Friday. Go for a hike on Saturday. Obviously I’m doing more than this, but I also know the negative effect setting too many or unrealistic goals can have. I took my measurements and progress pics yesterday and they are as follows: Gut (belly button to belly button) - 33 inches Chest - 39 inches Arms - 13 inches Legs - 19 inches I’m looking to put a little bit of size on (through beginner gains) so hoping to see these increase over the next few months. DIET My diet is going to consist of a lot of whole foods along with supplementation. The majority of my meals will be home cooked using fresh ingredients, I will have some things from a packet purely for convenience but the ingredients of these will be closely monitored. I’ll be looking to have a diet high in protein (1g+ per lb of bodyweight), moderate carbohydrates (200g and below) and moderate to high fat intake (around 70 – 90g). Once I get it up and running on MyFitnessPal I will post up some macros. A sample day of eating will go along the lines of: Breakfast Shugart Shake (Whey, Peanut Butter, Banana, Almond Milk) 550 cal Lunch Chicken and rice 400 cal Pre-Workout Homemade protein bar (essentially oats, honey and whey in bar form) 300 cal Post Workout Whey shake 100 cal Dinner Chicken and white carbs (potatoes, rice etc) 450 cal Pre-bed snack Cashew Nuts 300 cal I will be looking to eat somewhere between 2100 - 2200 calories per day, I know this may seem quite low but I know from past experiences that this is roughly my maintenance window. On my rest days I will sub out the protein bar for nuts and the white carbs in dinner for something a little lower on the glycaemic index. I’m allowing myself one cheat meal per week, in fact an entire night off on a Friday. I know that this will obviously effect my overall progress, but I also know that this is paramount to my mental health (overprotective, I warned you!). But I’m not dumb, and any chance I can to take this in moderation, or skip over it entirely, I will. At the same time, I want to be able to enjoy a night out with my friends should the need arise. WORKOUTS As for the gym itself? I’m going to be doing a lot of big the big lifts, focusing mostly on compounds with some isolations that I enjoy (It’s got to be fun, right?!). I like to use progressive overload, constantly increasing the weight on the bar, however the rep range will be 8 – 10, which is quite high for this technique as it’s usually utilized to gain strength quickly. I’ll be doing 3 full-body workouts per week and I’m still in the process of working out the specifics, however it will look something like this? Cavehill is around 1 and a half hours hike. I mentioned earlier that I’m not overly fussed on the program I’m doing or the diet that I’m eating, I just want to get back into the habit of working out, eating well, tracking my macros, hydrating and just generally being awesome again. However I do believe that what I have in place at the minute will give me a solid base to work from and I will revise it in 3 months’ time and make changes as required. Well thank you for reading, that is me and that is what I plan to do. I hope to be active on the forums and I look forward to meeting you all Andy