Yes, there it is! That’s what I like to see—hard work. Great job!
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Thanks @SvenG!
1 Like
September 8, 2022
Weight: 231.8 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Steps: 8,513
Nutrition
Calories: 2290
Protein: 144.5
Carbs: 213
Fat: 95.5
September 9, 2022
Weight: 231.2 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Steps: 12,495
Nutrition
Calories: 2550
Protein: 153
Carbs: 170.5
Fat: 139.5
September 10, 2022
Weight: 231.4 lbs
Weights: Upper Body
Lat Pulldowns - 105x8, 135x6, 165x6, 6
Incline DB Bench Press - 65x8, 85x10, 5
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x6, 70x6, 5
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions - 50x10, 70x12, 10
HS Seated Rows - 170x8, 190x6, 210x10, 7
DB Lateral Raises - 25x10, 35x10, 8
Hammer Curls - 50x6, 60x7
Total Daily Steps: 11,357
Decent workout, not much to note. I lowered the weight on the DB shoulder press after only getting 3 reps with 75 last time, worked out ok. Hopefully won’t have to lower the weight on any other exercises any time soon. Other lifts were solid.
My weight has dropped steadily this week, but I didn’t break any new ground (I was ~231 lbs at points last week). Hopefully some more success by Monday, as I was hoping to break into the 220s this week. If not, I will see where to make adjustments (my first idea is maybe lowering calories on non-training days).
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September 11, 2022
Weight: 231.2 lbs
Weights: Lower Body
Squats - 45x10, 95x8, 135x8, 155x8, 8, 125x16 (fail, was going for 20, more on this below)
Seated Leg Curls - 115x8, 160x6, 200x8, 7
Leg Press - 360x8, 450x6, 540x10, 8
Seated Calf Raise - 140x16, 16, 10
Leg Extensions - 150x10, 200x8, 250x10, 8
Standing Calf Raise - 170x20, 230x20, 20
Total Daily Steps: 6,584
Nutrition
Calories: 2,667
Protein: 182
Carbs: 231.5
Fat: 112.5
Weird session.
On the squats, pretty disappointing performance. I was trying to go for 70% of my 1RM (225) for 4x8, then the widow maker with 125lbs (+10lbs from last time). Instead, only got 2x8 on the work sets as I knew after the second set I wasn’t going to get a full 8 next set, and didn’t want to ruin the widow maker. I then proceeded to fail at the widow maker anyway, only getting 16 reps. Felt like I couldn’t get anymore when I racked it, but then 30 seconds later I was second guessing myself, and felt like I did have another 4 in me (or at least another 2).
I spent the rest of the session thinking about that, and I think the shame helped, as I PRed for either reps or weight on all exercises after. And I didn’t skip the seated calf raises like I do most days (lol).
So overall I’d say decent day. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the rep/set scheme I chose on the work sets (4x8@70%), probably was just having trouble getting started (it was a Sunday Morning workout). I’ll keep the same scheme for next Sunday’s leg day, and keep the weight the same for the widowmakers on Wednesday.
Flopped on the steps – I notice these are harder on leg days now that I’ve made leg days more challenging. No excuses, though,
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Week 10 Summary (September 5-11)
Weight: 232.4 (-0.6 lbs)
Waist: 42.25 ‘(-0.75”)
Average Daily Steps: 10, 137 [missed 10k on 3 separate days, two were lower body days, one was the day I work in the office]
Nutrition:
Overall Average - 2553 calories, 160g protein, 211g carbs, 119g fat
Training Day Average – 2649 calories, 169g protein, 223g carbs, 120g fat
Off Day Average - 2425 calories, 148g protein, 196g carbs, 117g fat
Sleep: I don’t wear my Apple Watch to bed, so no precise measurements, but sleep could have been better. I think I probably averaged around 6 hours a night of sleep this week. The quality of sleep was not so strong either, a few nights there was a lot of tossing and turning.
Mirror/Pics: This week I saw noticeable changes in how I looked in the mirror. I looked leaner. Pics don’t show it nearly as much as the mirror, but some changes there too (I don’t post the pics, but I take them weekly). If nothing else, the mirror and the waist measurement suggest I made better progress than the 0.6lbs of weight loss suggest. My legs also look more muscular this week.
Stress (inc. Work) and Mood: Nothing to note here. I felt great for most of the week and had a relatively easy work week. It kind of makes losing only 0.6lbs even worse since this past week at work was ok (no long days), so it would’ve been a great chance to push harder on fitness. I think this week will be a bit busier at work.
Appetite: No issues here, I didn’t have any random moments where I was starving (excluding mornings). Again, given the lackluster weight loss, maybe this wasn’t so great? The first couple of weeks where I lost the most weight, I had a few moments each week where I was very hungry. More evidence I might need to lower the calories.
Workout Quality and Activity: Pretty good here. Didn’t lose much or any strength, and actually did better on some lifts, despite probably having lower calories this week (not sure as I only measured food intake on 2 days the week prior; averaged ~3350 cals per day those two days vs. 2553 this week). Missed 10k steps a few days this week, but the average was still over 10k steps a day.
Take home points/next steps:
-
Lower Calories: I obviously didn’t lower calories enough this past week to lose weight. If this was a longer term recomp rather than me trying to lose weight, I’d call this week a success, but I want to lose ~2 lbs a week. I will lower calories on off days and will aim for ~2400 calories those days (a drop of 400 calories from last week). I’ll keep the training day intake the same for now. This shouldn’t be to track and implement, as I log my nutrition including food choices in an Excel file now and can use this to tinker around with stuff to take out/add.
-
More Activity: This one Is easy enough, I need to hit the daily step goal more. I also need to try to get more than 10k on non-lifting days if I can. I’ll try and think of other creative ways to get more activity in this week. I’m trying to avoid moderate intensity cardio, and no interest in HIIT at this point unless at the very end to lose the last few lbs. But if increasing the step totals and lowering cals on non-lifting days don’t work this week, some moderate intensity cardio (probably elliptical or something like that) is on the table for next week.
-
220lbs by September’s End is Probably Not Happening: I had 2 bodyweight goals at the start of this log, one to be 200lbs by year-end (the end goal) and one to be 220lbs by end of September (mid-point goal). It’s pretty clear that with less than 3 weeks to go, reaching 220 lbs by end of September isn’t likely, even if I do everything right from this point. I attribute this mostly to my losing focus on weight loss in August (instead focusing on beating the logbook at the gym), and not watching my diet. Some blame to getting sick in the beginning of August too, but that only accounted for 1.5 weeks. Lesson learned, and I still think I can get to 200lbs by year end (would need to lose ~2lbs per week).
-
Sleep Better: Not much to add here, but closer to 8 hours interrupted per night would be best. More activity during the day will probably help with me sleeping better too. It helps to be more tired when you hit the sack.
September 12, 2022
Weight: 232.4 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 15,325
Nutrition
Calories: 1778
Protein: 160
Carbs: 96.5
Fat: 83.5
September 13, 2022
Weight: 230.8 lbs
Weights: Upper Body
HS Seated Rows - 160x8, 190x6, 220x10, 8
Incline Barbell Bench Press - 45x10, 95x8, 135x8, 185x6, 205x2
Cable Lat Pulldowns - 100x8, 130x8, 160x6, 100x15, 10
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x8, 116x6, 150x6, 5
DB Lateral Raise - 22.5x12, 35x12, 8
Cable Rope Pushdowns - 50x8, 70x8, 85x5
Cable Face Pulls - 70x12, 85x8, 6
Total Daily Steps: 16,380
Nutrition
Calories: 2115
Protein: 163.4
Carbs: 165.8
Fat: 88.7
September 14, 2022
Weight: 230.8 lbs
Weights: Lower Body
Seated Leg Curls - 120x8, 160x6, 200x8, 5
Squats - 45x10, 95x6, 135x3, 160x3, 180x3, 200x4, 125x20
Standing Calf Raises - 180x20, 240x20, 20
Leg Press - 360x8, 450x6, 540x8, 6
Leg Extensions - 150x8, 200x6, 250x10, 6
Total Daily Steps: 15,452
Nutrition
Calories: 2230
Protein: 149
Carbs: 155.5
Fat: 112.5
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September 15, 2022
Weight: 229.4 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 13,008
Nutrition
Calories: 1798
Protein: 140
Carbs: 156.5
Fat: 68
They brought in Greek food for lunch at work (I’m in the office on Thursdays) and I couldn’t find nutritional info for the restaurant, so the numbers for nutrition are more approximate today than normal. I used the nutritional info for the chicken souvlaki dinner at Jimmy the Greek (very similar to what I ate) as a proxy since it was easy to find the nutrition info there. I barely touched the rice though, so the numbers above are probably overstated on the calories and carbs, if anything.
September 16, 2022
Weight: 230.6 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 11,844
Nutrition
Calories: 1963
Protein: 87.3
Carbs: 169.2
Fat: 104.1
I had another meal at a restaurant where I couldn’t find the nutritional info, so these nutritional figures are more approximate. Same technique, I tried to find similar meals where I could find the nutritional info. The numbers here should be ok overall, though.
September 17, 2022
Weight: 228.2 lbs
Weights: Upper Body
Lat Pulldowns - 105x8, 135x6, 165x8, 6, 100x16, 10
Incline DB Bench Press - 65x6, 85x10, 7
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x6, 70x7, 6
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions - 50x8, 70x12, 12
HS Seated Rows - 160x6, 190x6, 220x8, 5
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x8, 115x6, 150x8, 6
Total Daily Steps: 15,488
Nutrition
Calories: 2388
Protein: 153
Carbs: 161.5
Fat: 125.5
I was pretty tired at the gym, but I worked around this by resting more in between sets and doing less reps on the warm up sets. Didn’t really lose strength as a result. I missed the DB lateral raises and cable face pulls but I will get those the next time.
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September 18, 2022
Weight: 228.8 lbs
Weights: Lower Body
Squats - 45x8, 95x6, 135x3, 155x8,8,8,8, 125x16
Standing Calf Raises - 190x20, 250x20, 19
Seated Leg Curls - 115x6, 160x6, 200x7, 6
Leg Extensions - 150x8, 200x8, 250x10, 8
Total Daily Steps: 17,464
Nutrition
Calories: 2323
Protein: 172
Carbs: 169
Fat: 106.5
Flopped on the widow makers again, but this time I’m not as disappointed. I got the full 20 at the same weight on Wednesday’s leg day, today it was just harder after 4x8 on squats (vs. 3x3 on Wednesday), and I came into the workout more tired than last week, probably owing to the caloric deficit I was on. I may still up the weight on these for Wednesday’s workout.
Had low energy throughout the workout so I rested a lot between sets, and skipped the leg press. I want to replace the leg press with something, as I don’t think it actually adds size to my legs, nor does it help with strength. I’ll probably go with a unilateral exercise like lunges or split squats. Too bad my gym doesn’t have a good hack squat machine.
2 Likes
Week 11 Summary (September 12-18)
Weight: 228.6 (-3.8 lbs)
Waist: 41.25 ‘(-1.0”)
Average Daily Steps: 14,994; hit the minimum 10k steps every day
Nutrition:
Overall Average - 2085 calories, 146.4g protein, 153.4g carbs, 98.4g fat
Training Day Average – 2264 calories, 159.4g protein, 163g carbs, 108.3g fat
Off Day Average - 1846 calories, 129.1g protein, 140.7g carbs, 85.2g fat
Sleep: Sleep quality was better this week than the last, and in the second half of the week, sleep quantity was better, too. I was a lot more tired physically by the end of the day last week and that helped.
Mirror/Pics: I look smaller (in a good way) in the mirror, and the pics showed it too this week. Subtle, but changes are there.
Stress (inc. Work) and Mood: Nothing to note here. Work was actually ok this week even though I was anticipating it would be busier. Of course, this means that this week will probably make up for it 
.
Appetite: I was hungry at spots this week, especially later in the week. But this was expected and there weren’t any periods of extreme hunger.
Workout Quality and Activity: The workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday were completely fine, and went great. The ones on Saturday and Sunday were good enough, but I definitely felt tired from start to end in a way I didn’t earlier in the week or last week. But, I don’t mind as the weight/fat loss justified it, and I didn’t really lose any strength, just needed to rest more between sets. I expect to lose some strength at some point in this cut, but I’d like to delay this as much as possible while still hitting my year end goal of 200 lbs BW. Did great on total daily steps, and almost averaged 15k steps a day.
Take home points/next steps:
- Maintain Calories: I ended up eating less than I planned to this week, and it worked fine. I will keep the calories and macros roughly the same for now, until weight loss stalls. From there, I will need to decide on either lowering cals (via carbs, fat) more, or whether to add in some more cardio.
- Maybe More Activity: As with the calories, I will keep the same level of activity this week as last. If my weight loss stalls, I will consider adding more activity either via more walking (maybe treadmill after lifting) or some other form of cardio. Trying to think of ideas here that aren’t HIIT or things like the elliptical/bike, maybe something like a barbell/kettlebell complex or something. I’ll be reading articles on this site to research when I get the time.
2 Likes
September 19, 2022
Weight: 228.6 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 16,622
Nutrition
Calories: 1678
Protein: 152
Carbs: 97.5
Fat: 75.5
September 20, 2022
Weight: 227.4 lbs
Weights: Upper Body
Incline Bench Press - 45x8, 95x6, 135x4, 185x2, 205x5
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x8, 70x11,7
Lat Pulldowns - 105x6, 135x5, 165x6,5, 105x12,8
DB Lateral Raises - 20x12, 30x15, 10
HS Seated Rows - 160x6, 190x6, 220x8,6
Cable Face Pulls - 70x6, 85x6,5
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x8, 115x6, 150x10,5
Total Daily Steps: 17,513
Nutrition
Calories: 2092
Protein: 153
Carbs: 177.5
Fat: 85.5
2 Likes
September 21, 2022
Weight: 227.2 lbs
Weights: Lower Body
Squats – 45x8, 95x5, 135x3, 170x5, 190x3, 210x3, 130x20
Seated Leg Curls – 115x6, 160x6, 200x6,6
Leg Extensions – 155x6, 215x6, 260x9,7
Total Daily Steps: 13,820
Nutrition
Calories: 2275
Protein: 146
Carbs: 160.5
Fat: 116.5
Cut the workout short due to lack of time (was a lunch workout), but energy was fine throughout. I did get lower reps on the leg curls, however. Overall good workout.
1 Like
September 22, 2022
Weight: 226.0 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 14,863
Nutrition
Calories: 2032
Protein: 144.5
Carbs: 188
Fat: 78
September 23, 2022
Weight: 227.0 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 15,828
Nutrition
Calories: 1832
Protein: 169
Carbs: 123.5
Fat: 73.5
September 24, 2022
Weight: 225.2 lbs
Weights: Upper Body
Incline DB Bench Press – 70x8, 90x8,5
Seated DB Shoulder Press – 55x6, 75x8,5
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions – 50x12, 70x16,14
Lat Pulldowns – 105x6, 135x6, 165x7,5, 105x13,8
DB Lateral Raise – 25x10, 35x10, 9
HS Seated Rows – 160x6, 190x6, 220x7,5
Machine Preacher Curls – 80x10, 115x6, 150x6,5
Total Daily Steps: 16,460
Nutrition
Calories: 2151
Protein: 141
Carbs: 179.5
Fat: 96.5
1 Like
September 25, 2022
Weight: 225.0 lbs
Weights: Lower Body
Squats - 45x10, 96x6, 135x3, 165x8,8,8,6
Seated Leg Curls - 115x6, 160x6, 200x6, 5
Standing Calf Raises - 200x20, 260x20,20
Total Daily Steps: 14,720
Nutrition
Calories: 2043
Protein: 163.4
Carbs: 147.8
Fat: 88.7
Super packed gym today, pretty shocking as I went on a Sunday morning to avoid the crowd. But, at least I got the squats in.
1 Like
Week 12 Summary (September 19-25)
Weight: 224.4 (-4.2 lbs)
Waist: 40.5 ‘(-0.75”)
Average Daily Steps: 15,689; hit the minimum 10k steps every day
Nutrition:
Overall Average - 2014 calories, 152.7g protein, 153.5g carbs, 87.7g fat
Training Day Average – 2140 calories, 150.9g protein, 166.3g carbs, 96.8g fat
Off Day Average - 1847 calories, 155.2g protein, 136.3g carbs, 75.7g fat
Sleep: Quality was good overall, quantity could be a bit better, same as the week before. An extra hour a night would be perfect.
Mirror/Pics: Stomach looks much smaller in the mirror compared to last week and looks only a little smaller in the pics (lol). I guess the pics are more accurate. Still, progress is there.
Stress (inc. Work) and Mood: Same as the week prior, work was surprisingly not that busy. This week we have training on Thursday and Friday is a national holiday, but the first few days should be busy as a result. No big other stresses to note.
Appetite: I got very hungry pretty much every day at least one point in the day. And before bed, was always disappointed by the small size of my dinner. But it was manageable.
Workout Quality and Activity: Workouts went well, my energy during the workouts was probably better this week than last week somehow. I did lose some strength in a couple of lifts (leg curls and lat pulldowns), but nothing too bad and it was worth it to lose the weight. I also did great on total daily steps, and averaged over 15k steps a day.
Take home points/next steps:
-
Maintain Calories: No need to change anything here as I am still losing lbs at a good pace. If my weight loss stalls, maybe I will lower calories on my off days coupled with some more activity (see next point)
-
Maintain Activity: As with the calories, I will keep the same level of activity this week as last. If my weight loss stalls, I will consider adding more activity. Hopefully I won’t have to finally add in cardio this week.
-
Lower Body: In my bastardized version of 5/3/1 that I am doing for my squats, this week is supposed to be a deload. However I won’t use the deload rep scheme, I’ll probably use 4x8 and try to up the weight a bit this week. Using 40-60% loads on 5 rep sets like on 5/3/1 deload would be too low, it would make more sense once I actually lift decent weight on the squat. It would be better for me to get more reps in. I’ll try to also take advantage of this week and next week to add in new lower body exercises, especially to replace the leg press.
2 Likes
September 26, 2022
Weight: 224.4 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 13,270
Nutrition
Calories: 1873
Protein: 176
Carbs: 106.5
Fat: 82.5
September 27, 2022
Weight: 224.0 lbs
Weights: Upper Body
Incline DB Bench Press - 70x6, 90x8,5
Seated DB Shoulder Press - 50x8,75x8,5
Incline EZ Bar Triceps Extensions - 60x8, 80x12
HS Seated Rows - 160x8, 190x6, 220x7,6
Cable Rope Pushdowns - 50x8, 70x5,5
Lat Pulldowns - 105x6, 135x6, 165x6,6, 100x12,8
Machine Preacher Curls - 85x6, 115x6, 150x6,4
Total Daily Steps: 4061 (big fail, was busy at work)
Nutrition
Calories: 1979
Protein: 146
Carbs: 176.5
Fat: 76.5
2 Likes
September 28, 2022
Weight: 224.6 lbs
Weights: Lower Body
Squats - 45x8, 95x6, 135x3, 165x8,8,7,4
Seated Leg Curls - 115x6, 160x6, 200x6,5
Leg Press - 360x6, 450x6, 540x8,6
Leg Extensions - 155x6, 210x6, 255x10,5
Total Daily Steps: 16,244
Nutrition
Calories: 2282
Protein: 162
Carbs: 144
Fat: 117.5
Disappointing performance on the squats, same weight as Sunday’s leg day, but I got less reps. Hopefully it was a one-off and not a sign the caloric deficit is now stopping me from getting stronger. Anyway, I ended up doing Leg Press today even though I want to replace that one. Felt like I needed to after the squats. Also, my weight might be stalling? It’s been 224.X lbs since Monday. I’m probably overthinking all of this, but I’ll monitor for a another few days. Maybe I will lower cals on off days by 2-300, or add 1-2 cardio days per week, or some combo of the two.
1 Like
Have you considered adding more calories and more work, rather than fewer calories and more work?
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Thanks!
This is pretty much how I want to train after my cut. Once I hit 200lbs (hopefully by year end), I want up the calories but train more as well, preferably with some kind of athletic goal or sport I pick up (like Muay Thai or boxing), just to keep things fun. My training would be more of a mix of weights, conditioning, etc.
That being said, I think I will probably keep calories the same next week, and increase the activity (meaning new workouts on Monday and Friday probably) to get the total weekly hours up. Those might be something like complexes/some other type of conditioning, or just plain old cardio. I’m hesitant to raise the calories for now. I’ll have to figure this out before Monday.
2 Likes
September 29, 2022
Weight: 224.2 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 14,487
Nutrition
Calories: 1791
Protein: 159
Carbs: 98.5
Fat: 84.5
September 30, 2022
Weight: 224.0 lbs
Weights: OFF
Total Daily Steps: 10,956
Nutrition
Calories: 2038
Protein: 134
Carbs: 178.5
Fat: 87.5
October 1, 2022
Weight: 224.0 lbs
Weights: Upper Body
HS Seated Rows - 160x8, 190x8, 220x8,8~ (bit of English on the second set)
Lat Pulldowns - 105x8, 135x6, 165x5,5, 100x12,12
Machine Preacher Curls - 80x8, 115x6, 150x10,6, 100x8,6
HS Incline Press - 120x8, 170x6, 200x7,5, 150x7
HS Shoulder Press - 120x8, 160x6, 180x8,6, 130x8
Total Daily Steps: 17,752
Nutrition
Calories: 2201
Protein: 142
Carbs: 168.5
Fat: 106.5
The gym was actually pretty packed despite going on a Saturday morning (and it was today morning the I did legs, too). I guess now that summer is over, it’s not going to be pretty empty on weekend mornings anymore. Order was off on the exercises due to the benches being occupied, then I gave up and used the Hammer Strength machines instead of waiting. On the plus side, those HS machines are amazing for feeling the muscles work; pretty much all of their machines are great. If I need to add volume to my strength days, I might through in the shoulder press or incline press for high reps at the end of my workouts in the future.
3 Likes
October 2, 2022
Weight: 223.0 lbs
Weights: Lower Body
Squats – 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 165x8,8,8,8
Leg Press – 360x6, 450x6, 540x10,8
Standing Calf Raise Machine – 210x20, 270x20,16
Seated Calf Raises – 100x12, 150x13,13
Seated Leg Curls – 115x6, 160x6, 200x8,6
Total Daily Steps: 11,508
Nutrition
Calories: 2347
Protein: 146
Carbs: 178.5
Fat: 116.5
Kind of a bounce back workout from Wednesday’s disappointing lower body day. Hit all reps on the squats, PRed on the leg press (I guess these are back in for now…), and got back to the reps I was getting a couple weeks back on the leg curls.
1 Like