Another Day Another Pump

Training Training Logs
1

Another Day Another Pump

I’m pretty fat right now. And despite the title of this log, which I lifted from a Sam Sulek video from last week, this log is mostly about losing weight. I just like to lift, most of my training will still be lifting, and I couldn’t think of a clever weight-loss related title.

Background
I lost a ton of weight from 2022-2023, going down from 252 at the start of 2022 to around 188 at the lowest. I kept the weight off for most of 2024, but later last year and this year, I’ve put a lot of weight back on, and am now normally weigh in the 220s. For the last couple months, I have attempted to get my weight going in the right direction but have failed repeatedly. I’m pretty consistent in hitting the gym to lift weights, it’s diet and cardio where I have failed.

Hoping a log here will provide some accountability for me, both by forcing me to publicly track progress, and by me contributing to the community here and following other logs.

That’s basically the gist of this log, but more background and details below on my current state, and training, plan going forward, etc.

Quick Stats
Age: 34
Weight: 227.6 lbs (July 21)
Waist: 39.25"

Goal: Get my weight back below 200lbs. This, I think can be done by end of October if I am consistent, and without too much stress. I think end of September is possible too, and would be nice because I turn 35 then, and would love to reach that milestone in a non-chubby state. Then I want to get to 185lbs by December 31st. This will set me up to focus on more fun performance goals related to strength and endurance in 2026.

How I’ll Track Progress

  • Weight - daily
  • Waist measurement - weekly, measured at navel – this is to get an idea of the “quality” of weight loss: fat loss should be accompanied by a shrinking waist.
  • Photos - weekly, not shared – another way to track quality of weight loss, but might be easier to see progress in later weeks when I’m leaner. I expect the first few weeks the pics might look very similar.

Training:

  • Weights: My current split is (1) Chest, Shoulders, Biceps, (2) Back, Triceps, (3) Legs, repeated twice in a week, with one rest day on either Wed/Thurs/Fri depending on schedule. I’ll probably keep it this way for now. I’ll be happy if I maintain most of my strength.
  • Cardio: I don’t do any right now, but will be adding this in the form of incline treadmill walking, and exercise bike. To start, will aim for at least 30 mins, 4x a week, preferably on non-leg days.

Nutrition: To start with, will try to average under 2400 calories a day, and get an average of 180g protein per day. As time progresses, might need to increase protein and lower calories, although hoping to avoid the latter by just increasing cardio.

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July 21, 2025

Weight: 227.6lbs

Training - Legs
Seated Leg Curls - 140x8, 190x6, 245x9,4
Adductor Machine - 150x10, 200x10, 255x10, 305x10
Leg Press - 180x8, 220x6, 360x6, 450x5, 540x5,5
Leg Extensions - 150x8, 200x8, 250x6, 225x6
Standing Calf Raises - 300x10, 400x6, 380x6, 360x6
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x10, 110x10 - was waiting for a squat rack/platform to open up
RDLs - 135x8, 185x6, 225x6, 275x5,5

Nutrition:
1868 cal
188.8g P
135.8g C
61.9g F

  • pretty average gym session. Had a rep left in the tank on some exercises, and went light on the RDLs compared to what I can do, but otherwise numbers were good.
  • I ate only clean foods, and it was actually hard to get closer to 2400 calories like I was planning to? Last time I lost weight I still snuck in a chocolate bar or similar snack in once a day on average, or had a sort of dirty meal like a burger without fries or tacos, etc., so maybe that’s why I surprised to the downside yesterday. I actually ate clean.
  • Don’t really want to eat sub 2000 cals yet, but not going to force myself to eat more if I don’t want to as I wasn’t hungry yesterday either. I’m sure the hunger will kick in soon though
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Are you wanting only to lose weight – to see the scale number drop – or are you wanting to lose body fat? Big difference.

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Thanks for the feedback!

Definitely the latter, but I think at my current level of leanness, scale weight loss and fat loss will track together pretty easily, especially with the kind of training/diet I’m doing.

I’ll be regularly taking waist measurements and progress pics which should give me an idea if my weight loss is the good kind (fat loss) or not.

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5

July 22, 2025

Weight: 225.6 lbs

Strength Training - Back, Triceps
Cable Single Arm Pulldowns (Warm Up) - 30x6, 60x6
Cable Parallel Grip Pulldowns - 60x8, 85x6, 115x10,6
Cable OH Triceps Extensions - 20x10, 30x12, 25x13
Hammer Strength ISO Row - 180x10, 270x10, 300x10,9,6
Machine Triceps Extensions - 65x10, 95x10, 125x10

Cardio - Incline Treadmill Walking
Duration: 40 mins
Incline: 6.0
Speed: 4km/hr

Nutrition
2170 cal
182.3 P
173.4 C
81.6 F

  • decent volume on my weight session, although slightly less volume than I have done on Back/Tri day in the last few weeks. I am going for lower volume (but higher quality sets) on my lifting now, as I get nagging join pain, especially in my wrists and elbows, which I think is related to too much lifting volume. Might eventually tweak my split, but for now slowly lowering the volume via sets to make things better.
  • cardio was super easy, just there to burn extra cals. I’m tracking things like incline/resistance level, speed, and duration as I’ll need to increase these as my cardio ability improved to burn the same amount of calories
  • food intake was nearly identical to the day prior, except for a bit more carbs at breakfast.

Today (Wed July 23) ended up being an off day, so might double up on Friday and update this log for Wed and Thurs.

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Updates for Wednesday and Thursday below:

July 23, 2025

Weight: 224.8lbs

Training: Off Day

Nutrition
2428 cal
161.5 P
185.9 C
116.8 F

Off day training, and I took my dad on a day trip so eating was not perfect, but somehow total calories were in line, and macros were sort of ok. I had to use ChatGPT for one meal but I checked its logic and it made sense – better than I would have done on my own trying to estimate.

July 24, 2025

Weight: 224.4

Strength Training: Chest, Shoulders, Biceps
Cable Face Away Curls - 12.5x1-, 22.5x10, 17.5x8
Cable Reverse Flyes - 17.5x10, 25x12,8
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x10, 110x10, 140x8, 125x10
Cable Crossbody Lateral Raises - 12.5x10, 17x5x15,10, 12.5x13
Machine Chest Press - 135x10, 185x10, 175x7, 150x7
Machine Incline Chest Press - 110x10, 140x10, 190x8, 170x? (forgot to write it down)

Cardio: Incline Treadmill Walk
Duration: 30 mins
Incline: 6.0
Speed: 4km/hr

  • Kind of a bad workout at the beginning - both my wrists and my right hand were in pain, I have some recurring issue there which has been on and off for the last few weeks. Elbows aren’t too good either but they were fine this time.
  • Order of the exercises was a bit weird but it was peak hours and I had to get in where stuff was free
  • Going to try to work around the joint pain by going for higher reps, probably more machine stuff like I did today.
  • I usually do Incline DB bench press, seated DB shoulder press, and straight bar curls on Chest/Shoulders/Biceps day, all for 6-10 rep sets, but will probably replace those with higher reps and machine/cable stuff. I did higher reps on some of the exercises this workout, and some of these exercises were new to me.
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In for the follow.

My one tidbit from a Registered Dietitian/Diabetes Educator of 21 years plus lifelong lifter(competitive and non-competitive). And this is advice I hand out to my patients whether they want to hear it or not: you have to stop thinking of nutrition in black and white terms of either “on point” or "failing ". It is a spectrum of accumulative effects over a lifetime.

Sure, we can make acute, dramatic changes (positive or negative) but when we are talking broader things like weight and metabolic health…you have to steadily and repeatedly make changes that will become habit.

Clearly identify areas that you must be willing to flat out change. People PAY to come see me then whine when I say the daily latte has to go. You can’t “save” some of those calories on healthful food if that damn drink is 500 calories and your maintenance need is 1500. It won’t work.

Chip away at that low hanging fruit first. Keep nutrition basic: hit protein target then just don’t eat processed food as the rest.

Our societal problem with metabolic disorders boils down to excessive carbohydrates AND fat. Just plain surplus more oftan than not. Stop (not you, this is me lecturing my colleagues) the overcomplicated nonsense!

But you also have to find foods that are more conducive to good health. Foods you like and can eat sustainably. Not this “on point” or “train wreck” pattern.

I know this is standard advice: because it works. But the long haul is the long haul. Short cuts…mmmm.

If it makes you feel better, I look and feel in at close to my best at 44, but I’m also a recovering alcoholic. I did damage, I know it. I’ve been down that dark road. Food is often our way to manage. Alcohol became mine despite my education, degrees, training, life long athlete, blah, blah, boo hoo.

Look under the hood a bit. You’ve been "successful " in your terms. Why are you back in the same boat now?

Sure, “overnutrition” gets the body fat, which you obviously don’t like. Why? Why is this happening?

Get in that sack of anxiety meat between your ears. Dig around.

Ok. Done. Apologies if that was out of line. Keep at it.

2 Likes
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@sirdanoman Thanks for the follow and really appreciate the feedback.

Completely agree, I think my long run success comes down to replacing bad habits with good ones (or as you put it, identifying areas that I am willing to flat out change and doing it). Last time I lost a ton of weight, I’d say the big habits I had developed that got the weight off and then kept it off were:

  • eating more protein and fibre in my meals – led to being full more often and easier, and made it easier to avoid snacks
  • getting a consistent 10k steps per day
  • hitting them gym at least 5 days a week to lift weights
  • tracking macros, or at the very least, tracking what I ate and my weight daily
  • in the last part of my previous weight loss journey, I was consistently doing other cardio (primarily bike sessions) at least 3x a week.

Of the above, I stopped getting 10k steps a day, I stopped doing cardio consistently, and became less consistent on tracking food intake (which eventually led to overeating). The other habits listed I never lost, thankfully.

Getting those lost habits back along with some new ones (like bulk cooking healthy meals more – so far so good in week one) are absolutely a part of this, even if I don’t track them the way I would my sets, reps, and macros, I will focus on this as well.

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July 25, 2025

Weight: 223.2 lbs

Strength Training - Leg Day
Leg Extensions - 150x10, 200x10, 250x8,6
Kneeling Leg Curls - 50x10, 70x10, 100x9
Leg Press - 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x8,6
Standing Calf Raise Machine - 300x8, 360x11

Nutrition
2193 cal
200.5 P
153.3 C
84.5 F

  • Short leg day as I had to get the workout in before work, and got to the gym later than I should have.
  • Leg extensions before leg presses felt great even though I had to use less weight on the Leg Press, will probably do that again
  • considering modifying my lifting split a bit so that it is 7 days a week but more spread out in terms of volume.
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July 26, 2025

Weight: 222.4lbs

Strength Training - Chest, Arms
Machine Chest Flies - 70x10, 100x10, 130x10, 145x10,6, 130x8
HS Incline Chest Press - 100x10, 140x10, 180x6, 160x6
Cable Face Away Curls - 12.5x10, 22.5x10,9
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x10, 110x10, 130x8,6
Cable OH Triceps Extensions - 17.5x10, 30x10, 25x18
Cable EZ Bar Curls - 35x10, 50x10, 60x10
Machine Chest Press - 100x10, 140x8, 170x6, 150x6

Nutrition
2281 cal
205.2 P
117.5 C
109.6 F

  • Not very strong on a lot of my lifts but workout felt great.
  • got elbow pain on the Cable OH Triceps Extensions on the 30 set, so cut that set short. Lowered to 25 lbs for the next set and got 18 and got a great pump.
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July 27, 2025

Weight: 222.0 lbs

Strength Training - Back, Rear Delts
Cable 1 Arm Pulldowns (warm up) - 25x8, 45x6
Parallel Grip Cable Pulldowns - 70x10, 100x10, 140x10, 160x8, 140x10,8
Hammer Strength Iso Rows - 180x10, 270x10, 320x10,8
Hammer Strength Iso High Row - 180x10, 250x8, 230x8,6
Chest Supported Rows - 45x10, 90x7,6
Cable Reverse Flyes - 15x10, 20x8

Nutrition
2332 cal
216.1 P
147.7 C
97.6 F

  • had a big drop off in energy after the HS Iso rows, and it showed with the weights on the next few exercises.
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Week 1 Summary: July 21 - July 27

Weight: 222.0 lbs (-5.6 lbs from last week)
Waist: 38.25 (-1.0’')
Pics (not posted): Look slightly smaller around the waist if I look closely, but honestly they look pretty similar. I am still at a high enough body fat where the changes week to week won’t look drastic, even if down ~5lbs

  • slightly better first week than normal, but the other times I have dieted down week one was always 4.Xlbs down, so this is still pretty normal
  • My expectations for weeks two onward are that they won’t be as good as this week, but would love 2lbs down for the next few weeks if possible.
  • same for waist measurement, 1’’ in a week is a lot, don’t expect that going forward.
  • Training went well, although I definitely started to feel weaker/more tired at the second half of my workouts on Sat/Sun, which I attribute to lower calories/carbs than normal. They are still good workouts but if they get materially worse, might adjust so I have more carbs.
  • need to do cardio more often and make that a habit, but I guess this week it wasn’t needed.
  • Nutrition was overall pretty good. Other than Wednesday, I did a good job staying under 2400 cals and over 180g protein per day/
  • I have done a good job of meal prepping (including for week two), and had an easier time tracking my nutrition thanks to using an app this time (instead of Excel + manual work), and some help from ChatGPT on one meal I ate at a restaurant where I couldn’t find the macros online.
  • felt a bit more tired in general on Sat/Sun as well, but I expect this to some degree given my caloric deficit. My sleep could have been better too.
1 Like
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July 28, 2025

Weight: 222.0 lbs

Strength Training - Quads, Calves
Leg Extensions - 150x10, 200x10, 240x10,7
Leg Press - 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x6,5
Hack Squats - 90x10, 140x8,6
Standing Calf Raise Machine - 300x10, 350x10, 8

Nutrition
2285 cal
190.6 P
161.8 C
94.8 F

  • still getting used to doing leg extensions first. My quads are already tired by the time I do leg press
  • tried hack squats for the first time in many months, between that and doing leg extensions and leg presses right before, my second warm up set became the main sets lol.
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July 29, 2025

Weight: 221.2 lbs

Strength Training - Hamstrings, Calves
Standing Calf Raise Machine - 300x10, 400x10
Seated Leg Curls - 140x10, 195x10, 245x7, 225x7
Romanian Deadlifts - 95x8, 135x8, 185x8, 225x8, 275x8, 295x8,5
Kneeling Leg Curls - 50x10, 75x10, 90x7, 80x7

Cardio: Incline Treadmill Walk
Duration: 35 min
Incline: 6.0
Speed 4.2 km/hr

Nutrition
1973 cal
204.9 P
123.7 C
72.5 F

  • nothing to comment on this time. Average day all around.
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Updating for the last few days – sorry haven’t been consistent in logging.

In short, all 4 days solid training wise, 2 days solid nutrition wise and 2 not so good days. Will debrief more in the weekly summary.

July 30, 2025

Weight: 220.6 lbs

Strength Training - Chest, Arms
EZ Bar Curls - 40x10, 60x10, 80x10,8
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x10, 110x10, 140x9,7
Machine Chest Flies - 95x10, 125x10, 155x10,7
Machine Chest Press - 115x10, 145x10, 175x6, 160x6
Machine Incline Chest Press - 130x10, 160x6, 130x6
Cable Overhead Triceps Extensions - 17x5x10, 27x5x10,9

Cardio: Incline Treadmill Walk
Duration: 35 min
Incline: 6.0
Speed 4.2 km/hr

Nutrition
2378 cal
206.2 P
204.9 C
84.8 F

July 31, 2025

Weight: 220.4 lbs

Strength Training - Off

Nutrition
2995 cal
214.0 P
256.6 C
125.5 F

August 1, 2025

Weight: 220.8 lbs

Strength Training - Legs, Condensed
Kneeling Leg Curls -
Leg Extensions - 150x10, 200x10, 240x10,7
Leg Press - 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x10,8

Cardio: Incline Treadmill Walk
Duration: 40 min
Incline: 6.0
Speed 4.3 km/hr

Nutrition
2526 cal
190.4 P
206.8 C
102.9 F

August 2, 2025

Weight: 221.6 lbs

Strength Training - Chest, Shoulders, Biceps
HS High Incline Press - 90x10, 140x10, 180x6, 160x7,5
Cable Rope Curls - 80x10, 65x7, 57.5x10
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x10, 110x10, 130x10,6
Cable Reverse Flies - 15x10, 25x10,6
Machine Chest Flies - 100x10, 130x10, 160x12,9, 150x?
Machine Chest Press - 100x10, 130x10, 160x6, 145x7
Cable Crossbody Lateral Raises - 12.5x10, 17.5x10,7

Nutrition
1954 cal
199.1 P
126.7 C
69.6 F

August 3, 2025

Weight: 220.2 lbs

Strength Training - Back, Triceps
Single Arm Cable Pulldowns (Warm Up) - 40x10,10
Parallel Grip Cable Pulldowns - 70x10, 100x10, 130x10, 160x8,6
Hammer Strength ISO Row - 180x10, 270x10, 300x10,9,8
Cable Overhead Triceps Extensions - 15x10, 25x20,15,12
Hammer Strength ISO High Row - 140x10, 240x8,6
Cable EZ Bar Pushdowns - 40x10, 60x15,13,10

Nutrition
2195 cal
201.6 P
145.4 C
86.8 F

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Week 2 Summary: July 28 - August 3

Weight: 219.8 lbs (-2.2 lbs from last week)
Waist: 38.0 (-0.25’‘)
Pics (not posted): Pics look pretty similar compared to the week prior, but a bit more of a difference when comparing to 2 weeks ago. As said earlier, not expecting a huge difference week to week at my current level of bodyfat. In the mirror I can notice the improvement a lot more than in the pics. I am surprised that my waist only dropped 0.25’’ to be honest.

  • I botched my nutrition for a couple of days last week on Thursday and Friday. Friday wasn’t that bad but Thursday was. At its core, the same thing happened both days to throw me off. We were pretty busy at work to close out the month, and then suddenly on Thursday afternoon I wasn’t as busy, and then it got tempting to eat off plan. Same thing happened Friday as it wasn’t busy, but I cut it short that time.
  • I think without the set back, I would have lost more weight this week, but 2.2 lbs is ok.
  • Strength training was consistent as always. I’m trying to higher rep sets on some exercises as I think my joints like that more, so I’ll need to lower the weight more on some of my exercises.
  • Cardio was better, but need to get the frequency higher on this
  • optimistic for this week, I did decent despite falling off track a couple days, so a consistent full week should yield even better results.
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August 4, 2025

Weight: 219.8 lbs

Strength Training - Quads, Calves
Standing Calf Raise Machine - 300x10, 350x12,8
Leg Extensions - 150x10, 200x10, 250x10,6
Leg Press - 180x10, 270x10, 360x10, 450x10,6
Adductor Machine - 150x10, 200x10, 250x10, 300x10,9

Nutrition
2234 cal
222.2 P
151.3 C
80.4 F

  • short but sweet quad day. Have a love-hate relationship with the leg extensions right before leg press. Despite using a full plate per side less than I used to, the leg presses are brutal now.
  • hopefully as I get used to it, I can add hack squats or smith squats or something (with decent weight – I did hacks last week but could not load it up much). I kind of felt dead after the leg press and just went with the adductor machine instead. As soon as I sat in the car after leaving the gym I felt like I could have done one more exercise.
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No clue what is happening but the reply box looks different and there is a ton of spacing between lines – hope this entry is easy enough on the eyes.

August 5, 2025

Weight: 218.8 lbs

Strength Training - Hamstrings, Calves

RDLs - 95x10, 135x10, 185x10, 225x8, 275x6, 295x8,6

Kneeling Leg Curls - 50x10, 75x10, 1000x6, 90x6

Seated Leg Curls - 120x10, 170x10, 200x6, 180x8

Standing Calf Raise Machine - 300x10, 360x10,8

Nutrition

2267 cal

179.5 P

188 C

86.5 F

  • another short and sweet leg day. felt good, I like these a lot.
  • my nutrition might not be perfectly accurate as I ate out for lunch, and had to use comparable foods I could find nutrition info for online for it
  • I also relied way too much on protein powder for my protein yesterday. Not something I need to avoid, but I would like to get most of my protein from real food.
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Messed up and didn’t update this for a few days again. Uploading the last 3 days’ entries below. Overall good workouts, and nutrition was good. Friday wasn’t ideal, but I think as long as the rest of my week is ok, might allow myself some forgiveness on Friday evenings (within reason – don’t want to cancel out the rest of the week of course).

August 6, 2025

Weight: 219.0 lbs

Strength Training – Chest, Shoulders, Biceps

Machine Chest Flies – 105x10, 135x10, 165x11,7, 150x7

Cable Reverse Flies – 17.5x10, 25x12,8

Cable Crossbody Lateral Raises – 12.5x10, 17.5x10, 15x11

Machine Chest Press – 100x10, 135x10, 170x7, 160x7

Seated Free Motion Incline Flies – L3x10, L5x8,5 (the weights don’t show)

Free Motion Lean Away Cable Curls – L4x10, L6x10, L8x8, L7x6

Nutrition: 2267 cal; 179.5 P; 188 C; 86.5 F

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August 7, 2025

Weight: 218.2 lbs

Strength Training – Back, Triceps

Cable EZ Bar Pushdowns – 40x12, 60x12, 75x12,10

Mag Grip Lat Pulldowns – 70x12, 100x10, 130x10, 160x7, 150x7

Cable Overhead Triceps Extensions – 17.5x10, 27.5x18,10, 25x12

Chest Supported Rows – 45x10, 90x10, 135x6, 115x8

Machine Seated Rows – 120x10, 180x10, 240x5, 210x8

Nutrition: 2063 cal; 217.4 P; 122.2 C; 75.5 F

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August 8, 2025

Weight: 218.6 lbs

Strength Training – Legs

Leg Extensions – 155x10, 205x10, 255x10,7

Leg Press – 190x10, 280x10, 370x10, 460x9,6

Seated Leg Curls – 145x10, 195x10, 245x6, 235x5

Standing Calf Raise Machine – 300x10, 360x9,6

Cardio – Incline Treadmill Walk

Duration: 30 min

Incline: 6.0

Speed: 4.2km/hr

Nutrition: 1984 cal; 184.5 P; 131.0 C; 79 F

1 Like
20

Nice body part split ! I do the same split, but different order: Chest, Delts, Bi’s / Legs, Calves, Abs/ Back, Tri’s. I run in it three non-consecutive days a week, or if I’m very well recuperated 2 on, 1 off, 1 on, 1 off (with rest days after Legs and Back days). I would set as an initial goal a 10% drop in weight over 6 months. NEAT is key (10K + steps a day), upping your protein intake, eating more fibrous carbs, and setting a caloric deficit you can stick to and still have enough in the tank to train hard. Best of luck. Plateaus along the way to be expected, but you’ll get there.

1 Like