Retxab's Calorie and Workout Journal

[Retxab]

I decided it's time to be more public about my tracking, so this here's my battle log thread. My main goal is weight loss, which is all about the calories. My TDEE appears to be about 2800 kcal/day, my calorie budget is 2100/day on workout days (usually MWF), 1800/day on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Saturdays are no target days - I go over to my sister's place, drink a couple of beers, and enjoy a big dinner with my nephews - but I generally end up in the 2400 to 2800 range. I use Joyapp.com to track calories.

 

My workouts are strength based, and consists of a mobility-oriented warmup (band dislocates, bodyweight squats, planks, and wall slides) followed by 45 minutes to an hour of lifting and then 10-15 minutes of stretching. As you'll see, my lifting numbers are generally fairly low. I've found that the standard beginner linear progression programs (Starting Strength, Stronglifts, etc.) aren't great for me, I stall very quickly - probably a combination of me eating at a caloric deficit and being 47 years old. So I've cobbled together a (probably terrible) program that uses a more forgiving advancement scheme and a bit of daily undulating periodization to eke out whatever strength gains I can. My priority right now is weight loss, so I'm not that worried about the low lift numbers until I hit my goal weight towards the end of this year.

 

And that is that.

[T2sarahconnor]

Nice! Are you posting a challenge this time around?

[Retxab]

Yup, just created the thread. It doesn't look like much, but it will make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs!

[Retxab]

So, Thursday May 28 calorie report:

 

1720 kcal consumed, 168g of protein. Had a weird work schedule with a split shift, so that was in two meals about 13 hours apart. Not a workout day, so 80 kcal under budget.

[Retxab]

Friday, May 29th workout report:

 

Got warmup, lifting, and stretching done. Today was a light day, I'm at the tail end of deload week. Format is sets x reps @ weight in pounds.

 

Barbell Bench Press: 1x10@45, 5x5@95

Barbell Squat (High Bar): 1x10@45, 5x5@115

Barbell Row: 1x10@45, 5x5@100

Snatch Grip High Pull: 1x10@45

Dumbell Curls: 2x12@25

 

I was trying out the high pulls with an eye towards adding them to my workout. I don't think my shoulder flexibility is good enough to do them properly yet, so for my next 8-week cycle I'm going to stick with lat pulldowns instead.

 

For purposes of tracking advancement, I should note my approximate 1rm in each of the major lifts, which I tested earlier this week:

 

Squat - 170

Bench - 140

Row - 160

OHP - 100

 

I recheck every fourth week, so far they've been going up slowly (glacially so in the case of OHP). 

[Retxab]

May 29 calorie report: 

 

2201 kcal consumed, 134g of protein. Protein a little lower than ideal, and calories a little higher than target, both due to a suboptimal breakfast. Nothing apocalyptic, just need to keep things a bit tighter in the future.

[Retxab]

Calorie report for Saturday May 30th - it's my "no limit" day, but I still keep track for posterity:

 

2560 calories, 183 g protein. Turkey burger for dinner, was delicious.

 

It amazes me that today's feast was around a thousand calories lower than my average day a year ago.

[Retxab]

May 31 calorie report:

 

1841 kcal, 148 g protein.

[Retxab]

June 1 Workout.

 

My first full-weight workout of this log. Today was reverse pyramid (RP) day for three main lifts, something new I'm trying - instead of working up to heavy weights, start with the big weight (after a warmup, of course) and then decrease for each set, adding reps. Looked like this, in reps@weight format:

 

Squat - warmup, 10@45

5@145, 7@125, 9@95, 11@75, 13@55

 

Bench - warmup, 10@45

5@115, 7@100, 9@85, 11@75, 13@60

 

Row - warmup, 10@45

5@125, 7@110, 9@95, 11@80, 13@65

 

I had RP recommended to me as a way to get higher intensity workouts while at calorie deficit, and I have to say day 1 felt great - every set after the first heavy set felt so easy. The plan is to increase by 1 rep per set each week and then do a weight bump and rep reset down the road, so we'll see how that goes. As it was, I took much less rest between sets than normal, everything just felt great all the time.

 

Other work, sets@reps(@weight where appropriate):

 

Lying Leg Raise - 1x12. This was hard, I've added it as direct core work and quite clearly I need it.

DB Curls - 2x12@25. Felt about right.

Tricep Pushdowns - 2x12@50. Was going heavier with these, but dropped the weight a couple weeks ago in response to some elbow pain. Felt easy, but I'm going to take it slow in working back up.

 

Delayed my stretching until I got home, stretching area at the gym was too busy. OK, there were only two people where normally there's room for four, but this one older lady staked out more than half the space and I didn't feel like asking her to move. 

[Retxab]

Calorie log for June 1:

 

2093 kcal, 161 g protein. Both nicely on target for a workout day.

[Retxab]

Calorie log for June 2:

 

1791 calories, 148 g protein.

[Retxab]

Calorie log for June 3:

 

2132 calories, 185 g protein.

 

Workout log:

 

Squat: 10@45, 8@65, 8@85, 8@105, 2x8@125

Ankle was bugging me after work, but held up just fine during the workout and in fact is not bugging me now. So that's a plus.

 

OHP: 10@45, 8@55, 8@60, 2x8@65

65 felt really good, so I was thinking "y'know, I should try 75." Got 4 good reps, and then suddenly the bar wouldn't go up any more. OHP, why do you vex me so? Anyhow, lesson learned: don't try to skip ahead .

 

Lat Pulldowns: 10@40, 8@60, 8@90, 8@110, 2x8@130

No issues here.

 

Chest flies: 2x12@115 - used the machine, all the DB benches seemed to be in use. I say "seemed" because half of them had people's stuff on them with nobody around, and I didn't feel like figuring out which were being held for water breaks and such versus which were just being used as storage spots.

 

Facepull: 2x12@60 - fast becoming one of my favourite exercises. My all-time favourite, of course, is OHP which is why I don't understand why OHP is being so mean to me.

 

Leg Raises: 1x13 - still rough.

 

Got all my stretches in. Whole session took almost exactly an hour, so I made good time. 

[Retxab]

Workout journal for June 5:

 

(Aim today in Bench, Squat, and Row was to do five sets of 4-5 reps each)

 

Bench - 10@45 (warmup), 5x5@115. This felt great, which surprised me a bit. 

 

Squat - 10@45, 5x5@145. Almost as good, slightly wobbly in the last two sets.

 

Row - 10@45, 5x4@125. Was taking it slow and focusing on form, which I think was why I didn't hit 5 rep sets.

 

Straight Leg Deadlift - 9@135. Aiming for 15 reps, but my grip couldn't handle any more. Probably affected by the exercise order.

 

Curls - 2x13@25. 

 

Leg Raise - 1x14. Actually better than the last couple of times.

 

Next Friday, I think I'll adjust the order to Bench - Row - Squat - SLDL. I've done 15x135 with no issues before, so I'm thinking it was just a matter of the previous sets of rows wearing me out a bit.

 

Waited until I got home for stretching, going to have to get a little less self-conscious about staking out a spot when the gym is busy. Otherwise a pretty good session, coming as it did after a tough day at work.

[Retxab]

Calories, June 7:

 

1908 kcal, 178g protein.

[Retxab]

June 8 workout, Monday means reverse pyramid style:

 

Bench: 10@45 (warmup)

8@115, 10@100, 15@85, 20@75, 20@65

 

Aim here is to add at least 1 rep a week at the highest weight, until I get to 10, then bump the weight. I think I'm going to bump the lower weights next week anyway - maybe 105/95/85/75. I was amazed at how light everything felt, but I did have a fairly serious cheat day on Saturday, so I may just have been all carbed up and ready to go. A 3 rep jump on the big set from last week is still pretty cool.

 

Squat: 10@45 (warmup)

7@145, 9@125, 11@105, 13@85, 15@65

 

Only a 2 rep jump on the big set, still everything felt good.

 

Row: I actually forgot to do the warmup - whoops.

6@125, 9@110, 12@95, 14@80, 16@65

 

Right on track here, as in the past it mostly seems to be grip that limits me. As with bench, I'll probably up the lower sets to something like 115/105/90/80.

 

Triceps 2x14@50

 

No elbow twinge at all, so I think I'm on the right track with a deload and work up through rep ranges.

 

Leg raise: 1x15

 

Felt better this time around, right up until the point where I went to get up and found I had to push off a bit to make it. So I guess core was adequately fatigued.

 

Curls 2x14@25

 

Usually these start off feeling very easy, then get hard around rep 10. Today they were moderate all the way through.

 

Also got my stretching in. So a good day.

[Retxab]

June 8 Calorie report:

 

2114 calories, 98 g protein.

[Retxab]

Calories for June 9: 1758 calories, 110 g protein.

 

Calories for June 10: 2084 calories, 161 g protein.

 

Workout for June 10:

 

Kind of "eh" today. Everything felt hard, and I skipped squats because my knee was feeling funky. Still got some lifts in:

 

OHP - 10@45, 8@55, 8@60, 9@65, 8@65

 

Squats - tried to warmup at 65, made about 4 reps before deciding my knee wasn't going to cooperate.

 

Pulldowns - 10@40, 8@60, 8@90, 8@110, 9@130, 8@130

 

The idea for both OHP and Pulldowns was to work up to my working weight, get a set of 9 or more reps, then a set of 8 or more reps. So I managed that for each of them, but no more. A far cry from Monday's overachievements, but still OK.

 

Chest Flies - 2x13@40

 

Leg Raise - 1x16

 

Facepulls - 2x13@57.5

 

Did get my stretching in, so that was good. An 'eh' session is better than no session.

[Retxab]

Calories for June 11: 1915 kcal, 120 g protein.

 

June 12: 2095 kcal, 85 g protein.

[Retxab]

Workout June 12:

 

Much better day overall, though my knee was still slightly wonky.

 

Bench - 10@45, 2x5@125, 3x4@125

 

Row - 10@45, 5x5@125. Will be bumping the weight to 135 next Friday.

 

Squat - 10@45. Felt a little off, so I skipped the working sets.

 

SLDL - 15@135

 

Curls - 2x12@25

 

Leg Raise - 15

 

Did my stretching. Still a fast workout, being light by 5 sets of squats, but c'est la vie. With luck things will be back to normal on Monday.

[Retxab]

Calories!

 

June 13 - 2614, 174 g protein

June 14 - 1841, 125 g protein

June 15 - 2208, 168 g protein

[Retxab]

And workout for June 15:

 

Bench - 10@45, 8@115, 8@105, 12@95

Squat - 10@45, 12@145, 15@125, 16@105

DB row - 7@65, 9@60, 11@55

Curls - 2x10@30

Triceps - 2x10@70

Leg Raise - 18

 

I decided to switch to 3 working sets instead of 5 for the Monday workout. At first, this seemed like a stroke of genius because bench utterly kicked my butt - I was expecting an easy 10 reps on set 1, but everything seemed hard from the start. Felt like a high gravity day. So then I went into squats - which I haven't done above warmup weight in a week due to knee issues - and destroyed my work sets. Really weird. Everything after that was more normal, I went with DB rows because there were no barbells available.

 

Also got stretching in, so a good day. And then I got home to see Canada win their group at the Women's World Cup, which was great - I have tickets to the round of 16 game here in Vancouver on Sunday, and now we know it's Canada's game, place should be crazy. Which has nothing to do with workouts or calories, but it's cool dammit.

[Retxab]

Logging catch up day. Workout from June 17 (Wednesday):

 

Overhead Press: 10@45, 12@65, 10@65. Progress at least.

 

Squat: 10@65, 12@125, 12@125. My notes say this felt really easy, so the good squat day on the 15th wasn't just a fluke.

 

Lat Pulldowns: 10@50, 4@130. Had some elbow pain when I moved up to working weight, so I cut it short at that point. I'm a little paranoid about joint injuries, given my age and job. Also skipped the scheduled chest flies and face pulls for the same reason. Good news is it felt fine on the next session.

 

Leg Raise: 20.

 

Also got my stretching in.

 

And the workout from June 19 (Friday, yesterday):

 

Bench: 10@45, 2x5@95, 3x5@125. All good, no elbow issues.

 

Squat: 10@45, 5@95, 5@135, 3x5@165. A couple of reps didn't hit quite the depth I wanted, but overall felt pretty good. Earlier this year - before a knee injury a couple of challenges ago - I'd been squatting in the 180 territory but wasn't happy with my depth. Now I'm getting back to the same range, but I feel my form's better and squat depth is more consistent. 

 

Row: 10@45, 5x5@135. Kind of a breakout session for row, I felt my form was really good, too.

 

Straight-leg Deadlift: 15@145.

 

Curls: 11@30, 10@30

 

One-arm Kettlebell swings: 3x8@16 kg. 

 

And got stretching done.

 

So, a pretty good week. I'm revamping my workouts a little bit over the next couple of weeks, to accomplish a few things:

 

- more core work, including some plank + pull dynamic stability exercises

- some explosive-type exercises (kettlebell swings and push presses for now)

- find a spot for full deadlifts, which I miss

[Retxab]

Workout log for June 22:

 

Core work: planks, 2@30s each

 

Kettlebell swings (2-handed): 10@20kg. Was planning on 2 sets of 5, but the heaviest KB at the gym felt light enough to just do all at one go. Next time, will likely do one-handed swings.

 

Bench: 10@45, 5@115, 5@135, 7@115, 13@95. First time I've done a plate for reps; was intended to be AMRAP, and I think I had another good rep or two in me at 5, but it was a fairly hefty psychological barrier to overcome so I stopped at 5. Now that I know that's doable, in my next bench session on Friday I'll see if I was right about the extra rep(s).

 

Squat: 10@45, 5@135, 5@175, 9@155, 11@135. Was working pretty hard on form and depth, and everything after the two warmup sets seemed pretty solid to me.

 

Row: 10@45, 5@115, 5@135, 8@115, 13@95. The big set (135) was a little harder than I expected, otherwise all good.

 

Step up (3 blocks): 5@40, 5@80, 7@70, 9@60. First time trying this so I took it easy. Will push it harder next time, I suspect it won't be too long until grip strength will limit me more than leg strength. At that point, I'll be switching to more reps and an offset load.

 

Curls: 2x11@30.

Tricep Pushdowns: 10@80, 6@80. Think I was just wiped out at the end, and didn't rest long enough between sets.

 

All in all, felt like a really good session, even if the extra exercises probably contributed to me feeling wiped at the end. Once I get used to the extra work, I'm sure everything will sort itself out.

[Retxab]

Workout for June 24:

 

Was in a bit of a rush today, so I cut out some of the exercises. Will try not to make a habit of that. What I did hit:

 

DB Push Press: 2x5@70.

 

Deadlift: 5@135, 5@185, 8@165, 10@145. Was nice to do full deadlifts, it's been a while. Guy around my age watched me do the last set, then told me "you lifted that like you weren't even trying, I hope to do that in a few months." Turns out he's back to the gym after 15 or 20 years of basically sedentary life. Nice guy, and a good ego boost, particularly since I was pretty sure my grip would fail if I did one more rep - my form must have held pretty well.

 

OHP: 10@45, 6@75, 7@70, 6@65. Big set great, second set OK, last set meh. 

 

DB Lunges: 10@50. Working on getting the form down, this is a new exercise for me. Will try something a bit heavier next time.

 

Lat Pulldown: 10@50, 5@150, 9@130, 13@110. Heavy set was rough, everything after that was simple.

 

Skipped: core work, curls, triceps. Did get in stretching.

 

Next time I do this workout, I think I'll move the deadlifts to the end - they wiped me out pretty good, and I think that's why the third OHP set bombed. I think changing the order will have minimal effect on the deadlifts, but might help the other lifts a bit.

[Retxab]

Workout for June 26:

 

You know what, I'm just going to take a mulligan on this one. No idea what was up, but I barely made it through my warmup sets, and all my working sets felt ridiculously heavy. So I bailed early. Did get stretching in.