Caesium32's Log - Cycling With a Side of Lifting

[caesium32]

T-ransformation 2021 - Week 4 Summary

Daily Averages
Calories: 1907
Protein: 185g
Carbs: 137g
Fat: 67g

Calories burnt: 2611
Calorie deficit: 703

Weight: 84.91kg (-0.54kg)

Finally some weight loss. There were two days I didn’t track this week: my girlfriend’s birthday where we had takeaway food and the day after where I couldn’t muster the strength to throw away the left overs of my favourite meal so I had those for lunch. Given that, I’m pretty happy things are finally moving.

For February my girlfriend and I are in a competition with another couple we are friends with to see who can get the most steps in total. It’s mainly because both the girls are wanting to lose weight and I’m kind of sad because it means more walking and less biking but it’ll be good motivation for cardio. Girlfriend is also getting on board more with dieting so it’s a win there too.

Plan for next week is to keep food intake as it is but increase my daily calorie target by 200.

Targets for next week:
Calories: 1870
Protein: 196g
Carbs: 136g
Fats: 60g
Calories burnt: 2800

[caesium32]

01/02/21

High incline dumbbell press: 5, 19x15s

Head supported pause dumbbell row: 5, 17x15s (+3)

Close stance pause squat: 6, 9xBW

Dumbbell RDL: 5, 21x15s (+1)

Crunches: x17

Felt miles away from my PRs on the pressing and crunches but the effort was still there which is the main thing. I’m debating trying something different for a few workouts.

[caesium32]

03/02/21

High incline dumbbell press: 2x8x15s

Head supported pause dumbbell row: 2x8x15s

Close stance pause squat: 2x6xBW

Dumbbell RDL: 2x8x15s

Kind of a deload workout - just feeling a bit beaten up. I did everything as a giant set. Diet has been spot on so far this week.

[caesium32]

05/02/21

High incline dumbbell press: 5, 24x15s (+1)

Head supported pause dumbbell row: 5, 18x15s (+1)

Close stance pause squat: 6, 14xBW (+1)

Dumbbell RDL: 5, 22x15s (+1)

Crunches: 25 (+1)

This was tough but I’m very happy I managed to progress everything. I’m having a takeaway pizza tonight so I wanted to earn it somewhat. My diet has been spot on this week and I’ve been burning about 200 calories more each day than I planned so I really don’t feel bad.

[caesium32]

08/02/21

High incline dumbbell press: 5, 15x15s

Head supported pause dumbbell row: 5, 12x15s

Close stance pause squat: 6, 8xBW

Dumbbell RDL: 5, 10x15s

Took this one a bit easier but wasn’t at full strength anyway. I’m finding these workouts as boring as they are to read now. Been feeling more fired up for the gym lately and that’s made me feel worse about home workouts. Also just a bit fed up in general and lacking enthusiasm for most things, especially today, which trickled over into this.

[dagill2]

Time to shake it up a bit?

[ChongLordUno]

Keep the chin up @caesium32 my man

Lockdown is grinding the utter fuck out of us mate however the iron is what keeps us sane, builds armour and will allow us to enter the post Covid world with balls of titanium.

Keep pushing on bro. We are all here for you man

[caesium32]

T-ransformation 2021 - Week 5 Summary

Daily Averages
Calories: 1822
Protein: 209g
Carbs: 146g
Fat: 45g

Calories burnt: 2936
Calorie deficit: 1114

Average weight: 84.19kg (-0.72kg)

There were two days I didn’t track - one was when I had a takeaway pizza as a probably undeserved cheat and the other was yesterday when I had a roast dinner made for me which I couldn’t track. Yesterday I am confident I was under calories and the pizza day I didn’t eat much else that day either. The rest of the time I ate very well.

As I mentioned in the last update, my girlfriend and I are having a competition with friends to see who can do the most steps in February and so there’s been a lot of walking this week. Averaged nearly 11k steps per day which is a lot for considering I don’t go anywhere most days right now and spend most of my time sat at a desk. As a result average calories per day went up by about 300.

Both of these have meant weight loss has been really good this week. The reality is likely more than the 0.72kg lost on average and I’m down another 0.5kg from that today. For this week I’ll keep total calories the same but increase carbs and lower fats a bit just to reflect how I’ve been eating.

Targets for next week:
Calories: 1870
Protein: 196g
Carbs: 163g
Fats: 48g
Calories burnt: 2800

Five Week Comparison
Finally, in case this post wasn’t long enough, since we are about a quarter into the challenge now I’ve taken an updated physique picture and some measurements. I’ll do this at the 10 and 15 week mark too. Anyway, pictures and measurements below.

In case you can’t tell, left is before, right is now. I see some difference but not much.

Measurements from 07/02/21:
Belly (at belly button): 94cm (-5cm)
Chest (at nipples, arms down, relaxed): 101cm (-4cm)
Right arm (bent, flexed): 35cm
Right thigh (straight, flexed): 60cm
Right calf (flexed): 41cm (+1cm)

The numbers in brackets at the end are the difference between these and measurements on Christmas Day. Weight is only down about 2kg, most of that being in the last two weeks. The first three weeks weren’t great but I think I’m on track now.

[caesium32]

@dagill2 to be honest I don’t think anything I do at home is going to be enjoyable but hopefully it’s not too much longer to slog through it.

@ChongLordUno cheers mate, I’ll keep going I’m just having a bit of a down day.

[tinkertailortanker]

Good progress Caesium, looking a bit tighter - as I’m sure you know the first few weeks of a cut tend to be pretty lacklustre in terms of visual changes, especially when you’re starting out around the 20% body fat mark, but once you get past that hump it’s all smooth sailing. And extra credit for doing this all in lockdown.

[caesium32]

Cheers mate.

[caesium32]

T-ransformation 2021 - Week 6 Summary

Daily Averages
Calories: 1879
Protein: 184g
Carbs: 139g
Fat: 63g

Calories burnt: 2965
Calorie deficit: 1085

Average weight: 83.45kg (-0.74kg)

Been a bit absent around here this week but still sticking to the diet. Only one day not tracked this week which as usual was because I had a cheat meal (Chinese take out on Sunday). Training wise, other than the session I logged on Monday, I have only done a couple of sets of presses and rows. I did average 11.2k steps each day though.

I’m happy to see a decent weight loss again and without changing my calories so I’ll keep them the same this week too. I suspect calories burnt might drop a bit because walking this much can be hard when I’m busy but we will see. Last time I was sub 82kg was before I started this log and before I started lifting so that’ll be a nice milestone to pass.

One other cool thing - my resting heart rate (according to my Fitbit) has decreased from 52bpm to 47bpm. I’m guessing all the walking has improved my cardio.

Targets for next week:
Calories: 1870
Protein: 196g
Carbs: 163g
Fats: 48g
Calories burnt: 2800

[caesium32]

20/02/21

Seated dumbbell OHP: 9x15s

Dumbbell floor press: 14x15s

Overhead dumbbell extension: 10x15

Lat focused dumbbell row: 12x15s

Upper-back focussed dumbbell row: 8x15

First workout in like two weeks. Wish I had a better excuse but I’ve just been busy this week and not gotten round to it. Whenever I did have chance I was out walking for this step competition.

Anyway, changed things up a little bit and it felt good. Still not enjoying these home workouts but they’ll do the job well enough and definitely better than nothing. I have only logged the the top sets because who cares about these warm up sets.

[caesium32]

T-ransformation 2021 - Week 7 Summary

Daily Averages
Calories: 1972
Protein: 176g
Carbs: 159g
Fat: 68g

Calories burnt: 2805
Calorie deficit: 832

Average weight: 82.61kg (-0.84kg)

Ate more and walked less this week but somehow dropped more weight - nice. In reality though most of the eating came towards the end of the week and most of the weight loss at the beginning so we will see how this week goes.

The calories were on track until Saturday when my girlfriend and I had somewhat of a ‘date night’. We got a takeout Nandos which we ate in the car parked up and then I had some icecream and a big cookie after. It was a really good couple of hours driving there and being out of the house doing something kind of normal even if it was just to sit in a car and would have been worth it for 10,000 calories. Calories burnt were down simply because I had less time to get out walking, I had a super busy week. For the same reason I only got one weights session in too and whenever I did have chance to do one I was walking instead.

This week I have more flexibility with my schedule so I should be able to walk a similar amount to the week before last and hopefully burn around 2900-3000 calories per day. Diet I will keep the same still since it is obviously working. Cannot remember if I have mentioned before but even though there are carb and fat targets, I don’t really care about them at this stage. My first priority is total calories in and after that is the amount of protein. With life at the moment my diet is different every day and anything else would be too much.

Targets for next week:
Calories: 1870
Protein: 196g
Carbs: 163g
Fats: 48g
Calories burnt: 2900

[ChongLordUno]

@caesium32

The calories were on track until Saturday when my girlfriend and I had somewhat of a ‘date night’.

Marc Anthony, Julius Caesar, Samson…:

Many a strong masculine man has had his diet blown the fuck out the water by a woman

[caesium32]

26/02/21

Seated dumbbell OHP: 10x15s (PR)

Lat focused dumbbell row: 14x15s

Dumbbell floor press: 15x15s (PR)

Upper-back focussed dumbbell row: 10x15s

[caesium32]

T-ransformation 2021 - Week 8 Summary

Daily Averages
Calories: 1920
Protein: 196g
Carbs: 146g
Fat: 59g

Calories burnt: 3054
Calorie deficit: 1133

Average weight: 82.22kg (-0.39kg)

Best week so far for cardio - the nicer days and a bit more spare time helped. My girlfriend and I won the February step challenge we did and now that’s done we’ll be going on more bike rides. We are probably going to start couch to 5k too. However, I would not be surprised if my calories burnt goes down this week though without the pressure of having to get lots of steps. Only one workout again this week, still struggling to find the enthusiasm but I think it’s coming back slowly.

Diet was alright but was a little over on the calories. The weight loss was a bit less than I would like and anticipating a decrease in calories out, I’m going to decrease calories to 1714 and bring protein down to 1xBW from 1.05 too.

Realistically I’ve probably got one more drop in me, to low 1600s/high 1500s if I need it, so I’m conscious of going too low. Bare in mind, a lot of weeks I’ll have a takeout meal though and with my appetite I can easily put back 2000 calories in a meal. I try to minimise them but at this stage I also try not to miss out of things like that too much. If I stop losing weight at these calories though, all cheats will be out before I drop them any further. Finally, I’m hoping once the gyms reopen, which is hopefully on the 12th April, that my calories burnt will go up and I might even be able to increase my calories in.

Targets for next week:
Calories: 1714
Protein: 180g
Carbs: 149g
Fats: 44g
Calories burnt: 2900

[caesium32]

Some more updates:

• I have started couch to 5k with my girlfriend and did the first run today. It was pretty easy but it’ll be a nice way to get a bit better at running and get fitter.

• I weighed 81.9kg this morning which is the first time I’ve been under 82kg in the four and a bit years I’ve had this log and taken the gym somewhat seriously. I found some old weight data on MyFitnessPal recently and was 82.1kg on 29/08/16 and 82.6kg on 25/10/16. Going back even further I was around 73kg from August 2015 to January 2016, 76kg in March 2016 (when I started the gym), 79kg in May 2016 and then 82kg by the end of August 2016.

[caesium32]

02/03/21
Bike ride:

Been on a bike ride every day since Friday but so far they were all short, easy ones with my girlfriend so I haven’t been logging them. This ride today is a 7 minute PR vs when I did it the same route at what was basically my peak fitness, back in October. To PR today without much cycling practice is nice and suggests my cardio has gotten a lot better.

The coolest thing though is the difference in my heart rate - the top is from today and the bottom is from October on the same route with the same Fitbit when I went seven minutes slower.

[caesium32]

06/03/21
Bike ride:

This was pretty tough but I cheated on my diet last night with half a tub of Ben & Jerries and told myself beforehand I could only do so if I worked it off today. Average heart rate was 149 BPM and it got up to around 170 a few times.

Ramble:
As a mini update, I’ve lifted a couple of times this week but nothing worth logging. I probably won’t log weight sessions properly until the gyms open but all being well, from 12th April onwards there’s going to be PRs all over the place in here (maybe give me a week to break myself in). Finally, I did the second run of couch to 5k on Wednesday and doing the third on this evening. The first week is three runs of 8x60s jog/90s walk then obviously you do more running and less walking as the weeks progress.

Actually, now is the final thing: I noticed like 15 mins ago when I got changed that I’m looking like a normal person level of leanness now, like I wouldn’t really call myself chubby anymore. Maybe I’m just having a good day today but it’s a big personal victory for me because I think I see my body pretty negatively. This has gone from a bike ride post to word vomit now but it’s nice to get my thoughts out in writing even if no one will read them.