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New philosophy. New strategy. New battle log.


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The past 4-5 months I've been trying to balance too many objectives and have wound up spinning too many wheels.  I was trying to lose more weight but add more muscle, and while I made some progress, I realized I'm spinning my wheels.  As I have been deploying my Google skills I've come to the realization I'll never start packing on muscle at my current calories and I have probably been eating at a deficiency for way too long. I plan on using my battle log to keep track of regular work outs, increasing calories and whatever random bits of nerdsanity I feel like dropping in.

I have made some progress courtesy of Stronglifts (even if I was hamstringing the program by eating too few calories).  Late last year I was 215 (around the time I found Nerd Fitness and began lurking and employing some of what I read) and my most current weight was 195, more importantly I've dropped about 4% body fat and made some gains to my muscle mass.  This shirt is no longer tight around the stomach and the side trim actually falls in a straight line as opposed to a curve!  I ran with a shirt selif to avoid blinding anyone with my near translucent skin tone (I think I have negative sun cancer risk).

 

 

I have been working on my fitness goals for awhile.. so my battlelog picks up mid story (sort of like episode IV - New Hope).

Day 1:

Need to increase my calories.  Previously was eating 1,400.. for... awhile (too low).  Have read a variety of articles and all suggest I should be at least @ maintenance.  Ran calculations on several sites and my BMR averages 1875 with my TDEE 2,750, so 2,750 is my goal.  Again, read several different strategies on how to get there so I'm going to add 100-200 calories a week until I hit maintenance (adjusting along the way to make sure I don't burst) then slowly increase to eat at a surplus.

 

Ate 1,600 calories today and I won't bother listing the boring inventory of chicken, spinach and fruits.. the only interesting thing I had was the Ostrich Meat sandwich @ Cabelas when I swung by during lunch.  Ditched the bread and ate the meat, and according to the Googles it's very protein rich!

 

A friend suggested jumping rope as a warm up to lifting so I gave it a shot tonight.  I don't think I've jumped rope in 30 years, so I grabbed a lengh of rope from the work bench, cut it to an appropriate length and got to work:

 

Attempt 1:  Wacked the light.. moved to a different part of the basement where the risk of bulb explosion is reduced.

Attempt 2: Almost strangled myself and tripped simultaneously (that takes real skill).

Attempt 3: Got into a groove and manage to get going.. for a grand total of 30 seconds. Jumping rope is a lot harder than I remember, granted the last time I did it I was decades younger and not locked in a 200 pound struggle against gravity.  Gravity wins incase anyone wonders,

 

Continued on stronglifts.  Have been working on lifting seriously since March-ish and have not hit a stall yet.  Hit all my sets and reps today and increased according to plan. One thing of note is that since I have start squating and deadlifting my posture has improved dramatically.  I work in finance and most of my day is spent as a desk jockey, my seated posture is terrible but it's rapidly getting better,.

Food: Check.

Lifts: Check.

Grew beard: Check.

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First week with changes down and things are going excellent. Managed to increase all my lifts last week according to schedule and did not hit any bumps along the way. Was planning on trying to get a fourth day of either weights or cardio this weekend but lawn chores sucked up too much time, spent most of the weekend playing hunter/killer with weeds, mulching and mowing the wild forest in the back yard.

Planning on upping calories again this week. Last week's in increase saw me loose a pound, so good so far. Planning increasing another 150-200 per day this week.

My fitness pal had been pretty valuable for tracking calories. I didn't need it very much when i was slicing down, but when trying to slowly add calories back at a slow but steady rate, the tool has been extremely useful.

Upping calories again today and week 2 starts!

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No exercise today.  One of the things I struggle with is wanting to do something, every day, which won't allow a proper rest period.  Calories upped to 1,800 this week and have a significant increase to energy, no weight gain yet, so I'll continue to gradually increase over the next several weeks until I reach my TDEE.

Made a decision to invest in myself and purchased a cage to be delivered this week. With my work hours, I can only hit the gym at the busiest times and the weights are always crowded so rather than fight the crowd, I decided to start building a home gym.  I have a couple hundred pounds of olympic weights and a 7 foot bar, so purchased a cage on Amazon and will assemble in the basement.  REALLY looking forward to the convenience of being able to lift in my own house and already trying to figure out what to add next. 

Also as I ramp up in calories I seriously need to diversify my food selection.  I tend to default to a regular menu that I eat over.. and over.. and over.. and over.. (hey it's what I like) but as I start to eat even MORE of it, I'm getting thoroughly sick of oatmeal, eggs, broccoli, almonds and apples (my staples).  I decided to add cottage cheese, which I like, but always see people eating it with some sort of fancy food or fruit combination. I just spoon it into my maw and figure people are starting at the freak eating cottage cheese right out of the tub.  Need to find some recipes for cottage cheese.

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Last week was successful, both in terms of increasing all my lifts and upping calories. Increasing to 2,00 this week and so far I have managed to bump from 1,400 with zero weight gain so I'm on the right track.  Bit of a memorial day blip this weekend, diet was not terrible I managed to stick to good choices for the most part. but I did have several beers over the course of the holiday.  Not the end of the world, but time to get back on track.  The past few weeks I have been focusing solely on lifting and I feel like I'm hitting my lifts better and more focused without the mixed in cardio.

 

I had purchased a cage and assembled with only minor problems.  I got it about 3/4 of the way together and realized I had reversed to support bars in error, soooo back down it gets torn and put back together.  About 3 hours to unbox and assemble, would have gone much quicker without the assembly error.

 

Rack_zps36eaddc3.jpg

 

Just need a plate tree now and some more accessories and I'll be set for several months.  I picked up some cheap flooring to throw down (not pictured) and in hindsight I should have put that down first.. think I can work around it, will just need to pull in my brother to help shuffle this thing around.

 

So far Stronglifts is working well.  My only regret is wishing I had started earlier!

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As a side workout bonus I spent a day landscaping and planting trees (after my lifts) and it wiped me out.   Wore a pedometer out of curiosity and lawn treatment + mow is about 5.5 miles walked and it's not pleasant in muggy weather.  Is it sadistic that I'm thinking about adding regular weight plates to the handles and not using self propulsion? 

 

Lawn1_zps89b18cfb.jpg

 

Planted a few apple trees.  Probably going  to be some time before they're actually able to harvest.  Next up is blueberry and strawberry bushes.  Planting trees may not seem like a ton of work, but between digging, planting and mulching the back and shoulders are definitely feeling it.

 

Tree1_zps8f471705.jpg

 

All in all it's extra nature related exercise!

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Hit my first stall this week on squats, no problems with the first four sets, on the last set right after the third I didn't have enough left for the last 2 reps. Kept the weight the same and will re-attempt tonight! Added chins and pushs up to my weekly routine, will mix chins on deadlift days and pushups on bench press days.

So far the calorie increase is rumbling along nicely. Upping to 2,200 this week and still have no weight gain. In another 2-3 weeks I expect to finally hit a surplus and looking forward to it! It's getting tricky to find ways to fit more calories in, never thought I would be in a situation of trying to add calories. Since early May I have increased my daily calorie intake by nearly 800 calories and lost a pound over the span.

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