Urgan Shows Up, Does the Thing

[Urgan]

 

8-25-2016

Press button for liquid

 

Recovery

Food!

Calories - 2,385

Protein - 123

Sugar - 26 (Sesame Chicken Thighs, Dark Chocolate Truffle x 2)

Leftovers day today, nothing exciting to report here. The calories are higher than average because late night snacks were required to quiet my stomach before bed, lol.

 

Mobility!

Hips: 11/12

Upper Back Yoga: 7/8

While waiting on access to the mat to do ukemi practice, I hit some upper back stretching. In the evening, I did some work on my shoulders and neck a la lacrosse ball. The knee seemed to appreciate my use of the knee sleeve. Late at night when I took it off, it was as if I hadn't squatted today, no quad tension.

 

Sleep!

8:30, Out of bed: 20/24

 

Lifting

Squat - 45 1x5

            110 1x3

            140 1x1

            167 4x3

BP -    NA

OHP - 45 1x5

           51 4x4

DL -    NA

PC -   45 1x3

          60 3x3

As mentioned above, I ended up wearing a knee sleeve on my left leg because I feel my form is deteriorating a bit at this weight and it put stress there on Tuesday, so here we are. Nothing serious, just a precaution. I’m 95% sure I'm deloading my squat for at least one week pending an answer on the job front. Stress is real.

 

Aikido

Standing F./B. Rolls: 11/12

Bokken Suburi: 7/8

Ukemi Undo: 4/4

Shikko: 4/4

Side Breakfalls: 4/4

Dojo Days: N

I tackled front and back rolls, ukemi undo, shikko, AND side breakfalls today. Talk about a change of pace.

 

Not much happened outside of the gym, really. Some laundry, some dishes, much lazing around. Blah. Boring day.

[ixaera]

3 minutes ago, Urgan said:

pending an answer on the job front. Stress is real.

 

 

agggggggggggghhhhhhh

GOOD LUCK

[Urgan]

8-26-2016

The longer you stare at it...

 

Recovery

Food!

Calories - 2,313

Protein - 136

Sugar - 47 (Kit Kat Big Kat)

So I a little on the wild side and indulged my sugar Needs a bit, STILL sub-50, half of what I’d set for myself at the beginning of this month….average sugar for the month is 59….yup, I’m gonna say this macro has improved immensely.

 

Also, I may need a burrito intervention, just sayin’....

 

Mobility!

Hips: 11/12

Upper Back Yoga: 7/8

-

 

Sleep!

8:30, Out of bed: 21/24

 

Lifting

-

 

Aikido

Standing F./B. Rolls: 11/12

Bokken Suburi: 7/8

Ukemi Undo: 4/4

Shikko: 4/4

Side Breakfalls: 4/4

Dojo Days: N

-

 

Oh wow guys, I did a big lot of nothing today because #headache decided it was gonna jam out over one eyeball and not let up until  late in the evening. Fortunately, I had all the cushion set up going into the weekend, meaning doing nothing today was NBD. I mean, I got groceries and planned food for next week, but that’s it.

 

So since I don’t have a lot to talk about today, let’s talk about my weight. And sodium. And stress. As in, I don’t know which it is, but my weight is dropping. Calories haven’t changed, as you can see I’ve been reporting them like a good person and they average at this point in the week to 2,296 thus far. Here’s the graph of the last 90 days to show how consistent I’ve been:

 

 

I weighed in this morning (8/27) at 113.0 lbs. Sodium has done Weird Things due to not being tracked…

 

 

...and my weight has danced both sides of 115 until very recently.

 

 

I’m not eliminating stress as a compounding factor that’s set me up for a deficit since around 8/10-8/11. My training hasn’t been spectacular happy funtiems for going on two weeks now--meaning from 8/14 on it’s trended toward a slog. Same time my weight plateaued and began trending downward. Also worthy of note: I’ve been cleaning up my food choices a bit (except for the burritos…) during this time as well. So what I’m reaching for to fill the gaps is changing and I’ve been trying to keep sodium under 3000 just to see what will happen--not a particularly tight leash on purpose. It may be that stress hit me a bit for 1lb or so over the last week and a half and I’ve flushed the rest out over the last few days, in which case I’ve little cause for concern. Taking opinions on what you guys see here.

 

Points of interest: 8/12 was the presentation, the following week was Waiting, and 8/24 was the Final Interview.

I’m thinking, either way, I need to increase my food by a minimum of 100 calories to halt this downtrend--it needs to stop at SOME point, preferably around 114. Gonna broom looking at sodium until I know what next month is gonna look like (aka, if I've got a job or not...) to keep my focus on where it belongs. Combined with a deload week, this should do the job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has been Overthinking With Urgan.

[Urgan]

For all that bleeding, I just squatted a double at 185lbs. So yeah. 113lbs of Still Kicking. 

[Sam Ashen]

10 hours ago, Urgan said:

This has been Overthinking With Urgan.

 

But holy crap you have me beat in the consistency department!

 

7 hours ago, Urgan said:

For all that bleeding, I just squatted a double at 185lbs. So yeah. 113lbs of Still Kicking. 

 

Yay!  It will be another week yet before I have squat doubles up to full speed, but it looks like you still have me beat even in the squat to weight department!

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, Sam Ashen said:

But holy crap you have me beat in the consistency department!

 

Draw me a line and I can toe it. If this weight trend continues another couple days I will be forced to increase my calories or I'll blow away in a stiff breeze. 

 

3 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

Yay!  It will be another week yet before I have squat doubles up to full speed, but it looks like you still have me beat even in the squat to weight department!

 

With my weight dropping and the bar somehow still going up, it's like burning the Wilks candle at both ends. Good up to a point, yeah? You've been doing all kind of 5x5+ stuff, that's living in a very different land than triples and doubles. I'm sure you have plenty of gas in the tank for some PRs. 

[Alanna]

20 hours ago, Urgan said:

For all that bleeding, I just squatted a double at 185lbs. So yeah. 113lbs of Still Kicking. 

 

23 hours ago, Urgan said:

I’m not eliminating stress as a compounding factor that’s set me up for a deficit since around 8/10-8/11. My training hasn’t been spectacular happy funtiems for going on two weeks now--meaning from 8/14 on it’s trended toward a slog. Same time my weight plateaued and began trending downward. Also worthy of note: I’ve been cleaning up my food choices a bit (except for the burritos…) during this time as well. So what I’m reaching for to fill the gaps is changing and I’ve been trying to keep sodium under 3000 just to see what will happen--not a particularly tight leash on purpose. It may be that stress hit me a bit for 1lb or so over the last week and a half and I’ve flushed the rest out over the last few days, in which case I’ve little cause for concern. Taking opinions on what you guys see here.

 

To further complicate matters: sex hormones (I'm thinking progesterone and estrogen in particular) can also influence water retention. You probably already know whether to expect monthly weight variations as a result of fluctuations in these hormones, but stress could throw this off too (in particular, by lowering progesterone, but I'm not sure how long you have to be stressed for this to happen).

 

Anyway, more fuel for overthinking? Hope you hear back about the job soon.

[Urgan]

24 minutes ago, Alanna said:

 

 

30 minutes ago, Alanna said:

To further complicate matters: sex hormones (I'm thinking progesterone and estrogen in particular) can also influence water retention. You probably already know whether to expect monthly weight variations as a result of fluctuations in these hormones, but stress could throw this off too (in particular, by lowering progesterone, but I'm not sure how long you have to be stressed for this to happen).

 

Biology does like its monkey wrenches...

 

30 minutes ago, Alanna said:

Anyway, more fuel for overthinking? Hope you hear back about the job soon.

 

Supposed to hear back ~sometime~ next week...probably Friday...

[Urgan]

 

8-27-2016

Singles? LOL

 

Recovery

Food!

Calories - 2,496

Protein - 137

Sugar - 61 (22oz smoothie, Dark Chocolate Truffle x 2)

So I may have celebrated my lifts a little bit…..on the plus side, the fries were very hot and very fresh, on the minus side, my stomach wasn’t terribly impressed. Oh well. For once it fit my macros Perfectly.

 

Mobility!

Hips: 11/12

Upper Back Yoga: 7/8

-

 

Sleep!

8:30, Out of bed: 21/24

Missed it by 10 minutes.

 

Lifting

Squat - 45 1x5

            120 1x3

            155 1x1

            185 2x2--PR+2.5!!

BP -    45 1x5

          60 1x3

          70 1x1

          84 3x3

OHP - NA

DL -    NA

PC -   NA

Chins - 1x5--PR!!

            1x3

...I’ll take it? I had every intent of doing five singles on squats (if that…), but that first rep surprised me how easy it was, soooooo of course I went for the second one. Second set was harder, but I care not. Bench was entirely too challenging for as low a weight as it is. Bah. Arms, y u so weak?

 

That’s what I thought after benching. Before the chin rep PR.

 

 

Aikido

Standing F./B. Rolls: 11/12

Bokken Suburi: 7/8

Ukemi Undo: 4/4

Shikko: 4/4

Side Breakfalls: 4/4

Dojo Days: N

No ukemi today because I was So Done after lifting....

 

Another brick in the wall...one more day~ Fun fact: today I weighed in at the same weight as my last session of SS, when I squatted 169.5 for a single and it was like moving the very earth itself. TM has granted me 15lbs of progress thus far and I now can squat with a 25lb plate beside that 45. A minor milestone, to be sure, but one I’d been looking forward to. 15 lbs more until the big 2-0-0. And from there, a mere 25-26lbs before a 2xBW squat and the day when I can finally call myself strong.

[ixaera]

58 minutes ago, Urgan said:

Arms, y u so weak?

 

STILL AHEAD OF ME! (I'm catchin up fast though you betta watch out)

 

But seriously, big grats on that squat PR!

[Urgan]

1 minute ago, ixaera said:

STILL AHEAD OF ME! (I'm catchin up fast though you betta watch out)

 

There are 14 year old girls with better upper body strength than me, so that's not exactly the highest of bars for you to clear, lol.

 

2 minutes ago, ixaera said:

But seriously, big grats on that squat PR!

 

Thanks~ My squat is catching up to my deadlift slowly but surely. Maybe my deadlift will get inspired to get off its ass and move sometime soon maybe?? 

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

In my opinion:

Stress + more stress + changes in eating = weight fluctuations

 

 

[Urgan]

2 minutes ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

In my opinion:

Stress + more stress + changes in eating = weight fluctuations

 

The math doesn't lie. Let me tell you a little story I just remembered. About a decade ago, my mom was under the kind of stress that all the other teachers were on medications for (badly behaving kids they were not permitted to discipline by any means really + unsupportive command structure in the public school system that seemed like their real job was to hamstring the teachers rather than give them the means to help students learn--this was no joke stress I'm talking about) when she did some grade school teaching for a couple years, and she had to change her wardrobe because she lost so much weight, so that is a thing we do....

 

I'm going to give it a week of eating a smidge higher than 2,200 without making any changes to MFP and see if things don't stabilize again as a week-long recovery effort. It came at a good time, because here we are the end of this month. Spoiler: I weighed in at 114.2 this morning, so at least it didn't go down again, lol. I do feel like I'm leaner, i.e., that I flushed out a bunch of water, even though the measurements really don't back up that feeling. Is that crazy? 

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

2 minutes ago, Urgan said:

 

The math doesn't lie. Let me tell you a little story I just remembered. About a decade ago, my mom was under the kind of stress that all the other teachers were on medications for (badly behaving kids they were not permitted to discipline by any means really + unsupportive command structure in the public school system that seemed like their real job was to hamstring the teachers rather than give them the means to help students learn--this was no joke stress I'm talking about) when she did some grade school teaching for a couple years, and she had to change her wardrobe because she lost so much weight, so that is a thing we do....

 

I'm going to give it a week of eating a smidge higher than 2,200 without making any changes to MFP and see if things don't stabilize again as a week-long recovery effort. It came at a good time, because here we are the end of this month. Spoiler: I weighed in at 114.2 this morning, so at least it didn't go down again, lol. I do feel like I'm leaner, i.e., that I flushed out a bunch of water, even though the measurements really don't back up that feeling. Is that crazy? 

 

Nope.  I often feel like that from eating clean after a while of eating like a jerk. 

 

I am currently in a charter school, but taught public school for 10.6 years.  The stress was absolutely insane.  I look back and can't believe that I was there for as long as I was.  The entire institution of public education is falling apart.  Teachers care, so they slap a happy face on it and keep doing what they love, but every year adds another layer of red tape, irrational rules mandated by politicians, or more students with serious issues and fewer people to help.  It's crazy pants.  When you say that your mom lost weight from the stress, I am not even a little bit surprised. 

[Urgan]

3 minutes ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

Nope.  I often feel like that from eating clean after a while of eating like a jerk. 

 

...well then. Maybe I should make this a thing, then, huh?

 

3 minutes ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

 

  Hide contents

I am currently in a charter school, but taught public school for 10.6 years.  The stress was absolutely insane.  I look back and can't believe that I was there for as long as I was.  The entire institution of public education is falling apart.  Teachers care, so they slap a happy face on it and keep doing what they love, but every year adds another layer of red tape, irrational rules mandated by politicians, or more students with serious issues and fewer people to help.  It's crazy pants.  When you say that your mom lost weight from the stress, I am not even a little bit surprised. 

 

 

Any other institution, and it'd be considered a hostile work environment and grounds for all kinds of fines, firings, and a CYA marathon.  

 

I salute your intestinal fortitude, your drive to help kids with those kind of odds stacked against both you and them, and am glad you've found a better place to channel your energies where you get the support you need and deserve.

[Alanna]

5 hours ago, Urgan said:

Another brick in the wall...one more day~ Fun fact: today I weighed in at the same weight as my last session of SS, when I squatted 169.5 for a single and it was like moving the very earth itself. TM has granted me 15lbs of progress thus far and I now can squat with a 25lb plate beside that 45. A minor milestone, to be sure, but one I’d been looking forward to. 15 lbs more until the big 2-0-0. And from there, a mere 25-26lbs before a 2xBW squat and the day when I can finally call myself strong.

 

Not to mention that 2x bw will also get you double big plates!

 

And I don't think you need to wait to call yourself strong ;).

 

Out of curiosity, are you interested in competing at some point? It's totally not necessary, of course (this is coming from the person who has only done a push pull and isn't competing anytime soon ).

[Urgan]

33 minutes ago, Alanna said:

Not to mention that 2x bw will also get you double big plates!

 

And I don't think you need to wait to call yourself strong ;).

 

Lol, there is that, too. 2 sets of 45s and change.

 

That's the bar I've set for myself. It's pretty high, but that's the point, right? Nobody argues with 2xBW. 

 

37 minutes ago, Alanna said:

Out of curiosity, are you interested in competing at some point? It's totally not necessary, of course (this is coming from the person who has only done a push pull and isn't competing anytime soon ).

 

I've given it thought, as I am now, strength and size wise, I'd probably get mashed at any meet I could go to. I'm not sure if I'm one of those people who'd get more motivated by the mashing experience or just feel destroyed. That or just have a heart attack from pure terror before I even weigh in, lol. That's always a possibility...

[Alanna]

9 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I've given it thought, as I am now, strength and size wise, I'd probably get mashed at any meet I could go to. I'm not sure if I'm one of those people who'd get more motivated by the mashing experience or just feel destroyed. That or just have a heart attack from pure terror before I even weigh in, lol. That's always a possibility...

 

Definitely no need to do it if it's more stress than it's worth. As far as size goes -- that's why there are weight classes and Wilks, no?

 

I anticipate getting cremed once I do start competing again, but it would be more about setting personal PRs and testing what I can do in a meet setting. I understand that's not everyone's mindset, though.

 

10 minutes ago, Urgan said:

That's the bar I've set for myself. It's pretty high, but that's the point, right? Nobody argues with 2xBW.

 

There's a bar(bell) pun here somewhere...

[Sam Ashen]

8 minutes ago, Urgan said:

I've given it thought, as I am now, strength and size wise, I'd probably get mashed at any meet I could go to. I'm not sure if I'm one of those people who'd get more motivated by the mashing experience or just feel destroyed. That or just have a heart attack from pure terror before I even weigh in, lol. That's always a possibility...

 

A 535 pound total gets you to 300 Wilks and that is a milestone I am trying to hit at CNF.  I don't remember how strong the field was when I was competing.  I can dig up the results if you want.

 

MM has a good bit of competition experience and should be able to tell you how well you will fit in, so to speak.  You two are pretty close, in terms of Wilks.

 

13 minutes ago, Urgan said:

That's the bar I've set for myself. It's pretty high, but that's the point, right? Nobody argues with 2xBW. 

 

This still feels quite far away for me.  That would be four plates and a bit of weight management for me.

[Urgan]

58 minutes ago, Alanna said:

Definitely no need to do it if it's more stress than it's worth. As far as size goes -- that's why there are weight classes and Wilks, no?

 

I anticipate getting cremed once I do start competing again, but it would be more about setting personal PRs and testing what I can do in a meet setting. I understand that's not everyone's mindset, though.

 

53 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

A 535 pound total gets you to 300 Wilks and that is a milestone I am trying to hit at CNF.  I don't remember how strong the field was when I was competing.  I can dig up the results if you want.

 

MM has a good bit of competition experience and should be able to tell you how well you will fit in, so to speak.  You two are pretty close, in terms of Wilks.

 

I figure there are smaller lifters who can put up fierce totals, I can think of one or two who come to mind... Using it for milestones is a good use of the meet experience, not sure if I could separate out my personal progress with everyone else's score, though. I can manage it in the gym, but the meet is kinda competition-centric.

 

1 hour ago, Alanna said:

There's a bar(bell) pun here somewhere...

 

I'm sure you can find it, lol.

 

55 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

This still feels quite far away for me.  That would be four plates and a bit of weight management for me.

 

It's a personal goal of mine, I don't measure other people by that yardstick. Fair, no, but life isn't.

[Sam Ashen]

13 hours ago, Urgan said:

I figure there are smaller lifters who can put up fierce totals, I can think of one or two who come to mind...

 

I just looked up my meet results again.  There was one girl in the 52 kg (115 pound) class who put up a 112.5 kg squat, 67.5 kg bench press, and a 145 kg deadlift.  (248 / 149 / 320 pounds)

 

From what I remember, you are only a couple of milestones away from the squat number.

 

14 hours ago, Urgan said:

but the meet is kinda competition-centric.

 

The real competition is between you and gravity.

 

I also think it takes one or two meets to get used to all those cues.

 

PL is such a silly game it belongs in the Olympics!

[miss_marissa]

Nice Squat PR!!!

 

I also appeased my inner burrito monster this weekend.

[Sam Ashen]

I forgot to say:  There was a field of 23 girls at my PL meet.

3 scored over 400 Wilks.

6 scored between 300 and 400 Wilks.

14 scored less than 300 Wilks.

 

So that might give you a better idea of where you fit in.

 

SS told me the real competition is between you and gravity and everybody will be cheering for you.

[shaar]

19 hours ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

In my opinion:

Stress + more stress + changes in eating = weight fluctuations

 

 

 

Just dropping in to second this.  And third, fourth, fifth.

 

Even if you don't always feel it physically a little bit of low-grade stress over a period of time can really nail you.  Add in a few higher stress days to the fun and yeah, weight fluctuations FTL.

 

And now I want a burrito too!

 

 

 

[Urgan]

1 hour ago, Sam Ashen said:

I just looked up my meet results again.  There was one girl in the 52 kg (115 pound) class who put up a 112.5 kg squat, 67.5 kg bench press, and a 145 kg deadlift.  (248 / 149 / 320 pounds)

 

From what I remember, you are only a couple of milestones away from the squat number.

 

50 minutes ago, Sam Ashen said:

I forgot to say:  There was a field of 23 girls at my PL meet.

3 scored over 400 Wilks.

6 scored between 300 and 400 Wilks.

14 scored less than 300 Wilks.

 

So that might give you a better idea of where you fit in.

 

SS told me the real competition is between you and gravity and everybody will be cheering for you.

 

Lol, I would be destroyed. I am still in sub-300 land. 

 

1 hour ago, miss_marissa said:

Nice Squat PR!!!

 

Thanks~ It was a rather sizable surprise...

 

7 minutes ago, shaarawy said:

Just dropping in to second this.  And third, fourth, fifth.

 

Even if you don't always feel it physically a little bit of low-grade stress over a period of time can really nail you.  Add in a few higher stress days to the fun and yeah, weight fluctuations FTL.

 

Yeah, it really suppressed my Volume Day game with a heaping helping of weakness, so...hopefully beyond that now.

 

1 hour ago, miss_marissa said:

I also appeased my inner burrito monster this weekend.

 

8 minutes ago, shaarawy said:

And now I want a burrito too!