Shiggy, I’m with Chris Merrow on the caliper and BF% thing. Don’t worry about it for the time being. Test yourself once a month. Just settle into your new eating patterns, working out and tracking your food.
Remember that what we’re trying to do is put some muscle/LBM on you while scale weight stays the same or drops slowly.
The really cool thing is that since you just started back into working out again, you get the gift of “newbie gains.” LBM gains will come more quickly than they will for someone who’s been working out continuously.
And let me give you an imaginary example. John Doe weighs 220 pounds and is 25% BF. He has 165 pounds of LBM and 55 of BF. Let’s say that he works out like a fiend, optimizes his PWO nutrition and does all the right things. He doesn’t lose any scale weight, but puts on 11 pounds of muscle over 3 months. John Doe still weighs 220 pounds, but now he’s 20% BF. He has 176 pounds of muscle and 44 pounds of BF. John is looking leaner and had to drop to a smaller pant size because muscle takes up less volume/space than fat which takes up more volume/space. Fat is “fluffy.”
So the moral of the story is that there’s more than one way to drop your BF%. You can lose scale weight while maintaining LBM, or you can put on muscle while maintaining scale weight. The best of both worlds, of course, is hitting it from both directions simultaneously. (wink)
Excellent. Thanks, guys. I’ll keep going on for now and pay close attention to the scale as well as how clothes are feeling and how I’m looking, and I’ll take a couple of test readings each week for practice and to see if I’m getting more consistency.
I’m really happy about this because I went through a few days where I felt like I was fighting the flu, so I cut a few cardio sessions out in order to make sure I didn’t get sick as well as to try to save energy to still get the weights in. It worked…workouts were full of energy and stronger than last week. I’m also happy about this because eating clean usually goes out the window when I feel sick…not this time. I’m also happy with the progress in general…if I can keep up with a pound or two loss each week for the next several weeks, I’ll be content with that.
I’m going to take your advice (TT and Chris) and only concern myself with bf% once a month, so I will get new numbers two weeks from now and change the diet based on the new numbers at that time. I am still testing it every week, but I’m not concerning myself with adjusting the numbers every week…I’m just doing it for practice and to look for trends. I did three tests with the FatTrack today, the first was at 25%, and the next two were in the 22% range…I may make myself rely on the handheld one when I post new # in two weeks…the # are higher and makes me feel like I should make myself assume the higher numbers are the correct ones. The good thing about the handheld is that even though it still fluctates within a whole percent, it is going down every week: first it was over 29%, last week it was in the 28’s, and this week was in the 27’s…I may be able to use my fat tracking devices as a guide and not worry if they’re completely accurate, unless/until I start running into roadblocks and feel I need to make sure it’s not doing more harm than good.
I would also warn you to make sure you dont shed the weigth to much faster than you are, unless you dont mind losing to more than optimal amounts of LBM.
Thanks Phill…that’s exactly what I want to do, slow and steady while maintaining, even gaining a bit of LBM, which is what I’m doing now. When I look at the bigger picture, this pace isn’t slow…if I can keep this rate up I’ll be doing pretty good by late spring.
By the way, I just saw your old posts and pics…GREAT transformation and definitely motivational for myself. “Wow” barely puts it into perspective…
Shiggy, that is just so cool!!! You are just tearing it up, dude!
And what’s really neat is that you made the progress you did during the holidays when most of the nation put on a good 10 pounds or so. While pretty much everyone else was waiting for the first of the year to start their transformation/diet, you have yours in full swing.
Oops, I forgot. I was asked what DEXA was by someone.
DEXA stands for Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry. The test takes 6 minutes and is as accurate as hydrostatic weighing. Like hydrostatic weighing (getting dunked in a tank), it is considered to be highly accurate; the gold standard.
DEXA is used to test bone density, but it can also be used to test a person’s BF, LBM and BF%. What I like is that it tells me how much LBM (and FM) I have in my left arm compared to my right arm, same with my head (which I don’t care about), my trunk and my left and right legs.
I was lucky enough that I found a doc that just bought the machine and was looking for some creative ways to generate revenue with it (so as to get a return on his investment). He charges me $50 for the test, and does not charge an office visit. He wasn’t even my doc the first few times I took the test. I believe the normal price is more like $125.
Great article, Terry. What a transformation in such a short time. Also shows me that doing Berardi’s low-rep high intensity workout is a great choice. How can you not burn a ton of calories while doing “The Exercise?”
I think things will go much better for me this year. Last year, I was all over the place like a yo-yo. My first week, I would lose six or seven pounds, the second week, maybe a pound or two, and then the third week I would often gain a pound or two back! I think this added to the frustration and thus cheating and giving up for a few weeks, causing me to gain even more weight than where I was at when I started the last phase. I’d rather see constant progress every week (or almost every week) than go up and down like crazy!
Thanks TT for giving me the info on DEXA. I was able to find a lot of info by doing a google search. Hopefully I can find someone in my area that has it.
Good Luck Shiggy! Stay consistent with your training and nutrition and the results will come!
Terry, Phill, or anyone…I’m having great workouts, but I’m feeling very beat again this weekend, and took this morning’s workout off to recover. I had a thought…since I am struggling finding an accurate bf% right now, do you think the soreness may be a sign of me needing to up my protein intake? I’ve been floating around 230g/day. I was thinking maybe I should push it up to 240g and see if that helps. What do you guys think?
Shiggy, at 1.5g of protein per pound of LBM, you’re getting all the protein you need and maybe even some extra. You could even get by on 1.25g down to maybe even 1g x LBM. So the answer doesn’t lie in the amount of protein you’re getting. The problem and the answer probably lie in your workout.
Is it a case of being sore or not having the energy or desire to work out? How’s your sleep, by the way? Are you getting enough? What workout are you doing again? How many days? How long is your workout?
Last question, if the workouts are strong, but you’re just dragging this weekend, do you think it’s a low-level cold/bug your body is trying to fight off?
Don’t be afraid to take a nap or sleep in when you get the chance, especially if you need it.
Befor changing your protein, seeing as you are getting the wieght loss results you wantd, I would check a couple other items First.
Your intake of carbs. Not so much the amount, but the timing. Make sure you are spreading you intake of impact carbs throughout the day. A few grams with each meal instead of all at once. This will help you from getting flat.
You had mentioned you thought you were getting ill. Are you sure you arent coming down with a little something.
Are you getting in your refeed. Although I react very well to being glycogen depleted during diets, as with all other aspects of diet/training individuals react differently. Your refeed is your friend. More on this later.
Intake of MCT’s can be very helpfull for energy when low carbing. Search for MCT for more info. It can give you the same energy effect as ingesting carbs, without messing with your diet. Try a tablespoon or so of coconut oil in your post w/o meal for a good energy boost.
Ok. This is something you will want to do a great deal of looking into befor making any changes, I dont want to get you all confused leading to adjust a good thing in a premature manner. What TT and you have laid out has seemed to be working great, right. But, it may be possible you need more than one refeed. Possibly an additional clean carb up meal. Nothing like your all out refeed/overfeed, but a more moderate refeed of clean carb source one additional evening of the week.
Hope that helped.
Make sure you check out the MCT’s. They work wonders for me, and have a plethora of benefits for your type of diet aside from the energy factor.
Thanks for getting back to me guys. TT, I’m doing Berardi’s workout in #286. What may be going on is that this is just about ten notches higher than anything I’ve done for a workout before. I was normally doing a Mon/Wed/Fri workout, sometimes a fourth day. This workout is four intense days, and two additional days of one 5x5 set for six total days. On top of that, all the compound oly moves, like the snatch, clean, push press, etc. are also completely new to me, and are extremely involved compared to my years of isolation exercises.
Another aspect is some of these muscles being neglected for years. For example, my hams are still etxtremely sore from the workout I did on Friday. Maybe I just need to ride it out until these muscles get more developed. Berardi talks about overtraining and gives examples where he cut out a couple of workouts and reduced the weights on some…maybe I just need to pay attention to all that. I haven’t felt like I was fighting an illness since last weekend, and even then, it was exhaustion that I felt…maybe it wasn’t being sick, just tired/overtrained.
…and thinking about what you said TT, I just realized I’m not getting enough sleep. I’m still trying to get my sleeping patterns on track. I’m sleeping 6-7 hours a night, and not the 8 I need. I just got my new supply of 5-HTP so I’ll be getting back on that with your dosing suggestions and try to make proper sleep a priority this week.
Shiggy, let me address the sleep thing. And hopefully Phill will chime in on the topic and share his personal experiences.
When you step up the workouts a notch, especially when you’re dieting, your body requires more sleep. If you’re having trouble sleeping, I would recommend two things instead of increasing your 5-HTP.
Melatonin will help regulate your sleep cycle and will help you get to sleep. Some people require an extremely small dosage. Other people require more. Try purchasing 1mg melatonin tablets/capsules. It’s a pretty cheap supp, so cost shouldn’t be a factor. Take 1mg one hour before bed. If you don’t get sleepy, take another 1mg one hour later. Keep taking 1mg up to 6 total for the evening, though it really shouldn’t take that much. Most people take about 3mg per evening. If you wake up groggy the next morning, reduce the dosage in 1mg increments.
Sleep is so important to health, to recovery, for mental alertness and for our ability to function in general. It’s important for your immune system. It’s important if your goal is to put on muscle. We need to get this part of things working for you.
Option #2 is an amino acid called L-Theanine. I’ll let Phill stop by and tell you his story with that supp. L-Theanine is a kick-butt supp, very good at helping people to get to sleep, very good in helping people to manage stress. There are NO down sides, and you don’t have to worry about taking too much. Melatonin is cheaper than L-Theanine, so I would try the melatonin first.
I’m going to go and check out your workout and reply to that post in a bit.
Shiggy. I will give you the very short version here.
I have had sleeping problems for about a year. Not being able to sleep more than an average of 5 hrs. a setting, and much of that being interupted by numerous wakings. The most I have slept @ one time since sometime befor last June has been six hrs, and that has been twice.
I have tried all the supps. you could think of. Melatonin @ doses from 1-10Grams, valerian, teas, etc. NADA.
Although most people I know of as TT said do have great luck with the melatonin.
Anyhow 2 nights ago I took L-theanine @ the advice of TT. (Thanks again ) Well I slept for six hrs that night. I was impressed.
Then last night I repeated the use and slept like a pup. I did wake up a couple times, but that was do to the fact I didnt want to wet the bed. It was a refeed day so I was loaded with water. On my second visit to the bathroom I went ahead and popped 1 more L-theanine just to make sure. Anyway. In the end I slept just short of 8 hrs. That is a huge feet for me as of late.
So if you dont react to the other stuff, I suggest you give L-theanine a go.
Also with the melatonin, you really should cycle on and off of it so you dont permanently reduce your bodies ability to produce it naturally.
Meatonin to get to sleep, and valerian to stay asleep has been a god send to 99% I have suggested it to. Then every few days just the valerian with no melatonin.
I’m thinking sleep is a huge issue and primarily if not totally responsible for the soreness. I tend to average 6-7 hours of sleep, and I think I need 8, if not more. What happens a lot of times is that I’ll have a lazy/useless Sunday, like today, where I’ll lounge around,take a nap, basically not do much because my body wants to catch itself up on rest in order to prepare itself for another busy week. Some Sundays are worse than others, in which I’m lounging/snoozing all day until about 6 or 7 at night. This has been a pattern for a few years now.
I have L-theanine already…I will start that at night. I think if I can get an extra hour or so every other night of the week, I won’t feel like I can’t get out of bed on Sundays anymore. Hope you can keep getting your newfound sleep, Phill…
) Well I slept for six hrs that night. I was impressed.