Thanks for stopping by.
I am making this log as a way to have someone hold me accountable.
Goal: To get to 20% bodyfat at 20FFMI. For me it is 143lbs at 5’3. At my current composition (162lbs 30%) I have to lose around 25 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle. I also just want to feel good and be relaxed in my daily life while also being healthy.
Stats and Lifts (3/15/2026):
Height / Weight / Bodyfat Percentage: 5’3 162lbs 30% BF
Waist: 39 3/8”
Arms: 14 1/8” L. 13.75” R
Neck: 14.5 - 14.75”
BB OHP: Most done 135lbs for 2 on January 16. Had a little niggle on my left tricep which made it really hard to OHP but it’s getting better. I did 95lbs 6 85lbs 7 80lbs 6 a few days ago when I moved from 1 set to failure to 3 sets to 3RIR
N Grip Pullups: Most done 10 BW reps at 160lbs. Working sets/reps 8-7-5 (3RIR)
Single Arm Overhead Tricep Extension: Most done 17.5lbs 15. Working sets/reps 15lbs 15-11-10 (3RIR)
JM Press: Most done 105lbsx5. Working sets/reps 75lbs 7 + 65lbs 6 + 55lbs 10 (3RIR)
Incline Curl: Most done 25lbs 13. Working sets/reps 25lbs 10-8-7 (3RIR). Sometimes I have to use a 38 degree bench and sometimes I have to use a 30 degree bench so the force varies a little bit. I like the 30 degree bench more.
Pinwheel Curl: Most done 22.5lbs 10. Working sets/reps 20lbs 13-11-10 (3RIR)
Leaning Lateral Raises: 20lbs 12-15-15 (3RIR) Just changed to this from cable lateral because cable lateral messed up my left tricep (I have a skeletal thing going on I have to get checked by a doctor). Still feeling out this movement.
BB RDL - 240lbs 8. I haven’t tried doing more than one set yet because one set is working fine. I have never taken RDL to true muscular failure so idk the actual RIR. I’d say like 4-5 if we are talking actual muscular failure and not me getting fatigued.
Seated Leg Curl - 60lbs 9 + 55lbs 6 + 50lbs 5 (0RIR). I don’t know what actually counts as form breakdown on these. I go until I can’t touch the seat with my leg. I can still move the pad through like 80% of the range at this point but I don’t know how hard I’m supposed to push these
Leg Extension - Most done 150lbs 10 (0RIR).
Facepulls - 22.5lbs 19-17-17 (3RIR).
Neck Curls - 4x25 BW
I don’t bench much because my chest grows easily and I have a lot of chest fat. So I purposely keep the chest smaller so it doesn’t look ridiculous. But my best bench I can think of was 175x5 at 140lbs back in the day.
I don’t squat because I can’t go more than like a third of the way down without getting buttwink. Squats never really did much for my quads anyway and they fatigue me a lot and cause lower back soreness. RDLs cover the lower back, hamstrings and glutes, leg extensions get the quads.
History:
I have always been fat. I remember from a young age knowing I was fat and being ashamed and embarrassed of it. I was skinnyfat, though, not just regular fat like I am now. I got into lifting in 2012 when my friend brought me to the gym and I started obsessing over it. Not even 2 workouts in and I already had read a bunch of stuff about the anabolic window and stuff like that. I ended up stopping because all my friends went on to college but then someone at work called me fat (140lbs about 30%) so I did a cut eating nothing but protein powder for a few weeks and ended up at 127lbs around 25% bodyfat.
It wasn’t until 2013 when I learned about macros and stuff like that and I joined bodybuilding dot com’s forum. I did SL 5x5 for a little while (always to failure), ate everything in sight and went from 140lbs to 157lbs in a handful of months. Then I cut down to around 140lbs and then I burned out and stopped (I had body dysmorphia so I thought I was making no progress even when I was).
Basically for the past 13 years I have gotten really excited about lifting, do it really well for 2-3 months and get my muscle memory gains back and then burn out. Well I am going to change that.
I think because I have such a high insecurity about my looks, I get very neurotic about the results I am getting. But it is a net negative because ultimately I just burn out and every time I go through this cycle it just burns in the idea that I can’t do this. But I can, I just need to go against my instincts.
Gastritis:
I was under a ton of stress in 2021 and I ended up developing chronic mild gastritis. Basically my stomach lining was inflamed due to not producing enough mucosal lining to protect it from stomach acid. It was and still is the worst sensations I have ever felt.
I ended up fixing it with medication, stress relief and some dietary changes. But developing this condition taught me a lesson. I had to learn how to release the stress from my stomach and relax. I had to constantly be aware of how I was tightening my stomach and I had to release it. I got really good at this but once I got better I started to let myself go back to old habits and eventually it caught back up to me.
I just recently had a flare up which caused me to have really low blood pressure, blurry vision and a bunch of other things. If I wasn’t constantly eating, my vision would get weaker to the point where it looked like I was getting tunnel vision. Then it got to the point where any time I DID eat, I would get a crazy intense hunger pang at the top center of my stomach and food would take like 5 hours to digest and leave the stomach.
So if I didn’t eat, I had low blood pressure, weak vision and was tired. If I DID eat, I had crazy hunger pangs. There was no way I would be able to lose weight until I fixed my stomach. I figured out what food I was eating that caused the flare and I started taking DGL which is looking like it’s going to take me to even better recovery even before I developed gastritis.
Mental/Stress Stomach Tightening and Hunger Feeling:
I can do this thing where I can think of something and then my stomach tightens up and I get a hunger pang feeling at the top of my stomach. This happens basically any time I think of anything. I’m not sure why or how. I have always had this feeling even as kid. I don’t know what it could even be called but I’m sure other people have this ability.
But about a year ago I realized I was putting a lot of pressure on myself which was causing me to do this 24/7 for years. This made me think I was hungry when I actually wasn’t. I now recognize that I do it so now I can stop doing it and I am far more in control of my hunger feeling. Basically, I am good at relaxing my stomach so I am less hungry. It still happens all the time but I can instantly recognize it and relax my stomach so it goes away.
So now I have taken steps to help my stomach physically AND mentally. I have learned that for me, going to failure all the time sucks and burns me out. I have learned that it’s ok to swap out movements if I am bored of one, I just need to make it so I keep going to the gym. Now the weight loss should be a lot easier.
The Plan:
The reason I am making this log is because I need to just be objective and have someone be able to look at what I’m doing objectively and tell me if I’m messing up.
I decided since I am no longer going to failure, going to the gym actually is very easy. It’s more like a walk in the park since I am used to going to failure on everything every time I go in the gym. So now I am doing a 4 day Upper/Lower split that I made up.
Now granted, I have been recomping for 3 months going twice a week doing 1 set to failure per exercise. I have actually gained a significant amount of muscle and lost a good bit of fat. I am actually making progress recomping and I would continue making progress, but I want to just cut this fat off faster for my health and so I’m not self conscious about it. It’s getting hot again and it’s just uncomfortable being fatter.
My split:
Monday Upper:
- BB OHP 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- N Grip Pullups 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Overhead Tricep 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- JM Press 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Incline Curls 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Pinwheel Curls 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Lateral Raises 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Face Pulls 3 sets 3rir 8-12
Tuesday Lower:
- BB RDL ? sets 3rir 8-12
- Leg Curl 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Leg Extensions 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Neck Curls 4x25
Wednesday - 30-45 mins zone 2
Thursday Upper:
- BB OHP 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- N Grip Pullups 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Overhead Tricep 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- JM Press 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Incline Curls 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Pinwheel Curls 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Lateral Raises 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Face Pulls 3 sets 3rir 8-12
Friday Lower:
- BB RDL ? sets 3rir 8-12
- Leg Curl 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Leg Extensions 3 sets 3rir 8-12
- Neck Curls 4x25
Saturday Rest
Sunday 30-45 mins zone 2
Since I get bored of things fast, I will let myself just swap out movements here and there. Change pullup grip, swap BB OHP with DB or Landmine, etc.
Daily activity:
I have a sedentary job, I average 5k steps a day if I don’t dedicate time to walk, so I am going to buy a walking pad. I’m going to go for 1-2 hours on the pad a day and 5-10k steps off the pad, since walking on a treadmill burns only about 70% of what walking off the treadmill does.
Instead of always calculating “steps on mill” and “steps off mill”, I’m just going to set my base activity to 1-2 hours on the walking pad, my 2 sessions of 30-45 minutes of zone 2 cardio and lifting 4x a week. I’m going to get 5-10k steps off the treadmill no matter what (I’ve tracked my steps for years with my phone and that’s what I get). If my weight isn’t dropping as fast as I want at 2000-2100 calories then I’ll increase activity somehow.
Daily Calories:
My maintenance is around 2400-2600 at 162lbs. I’m going to go down to 2000-2100 calories (350 deficit) then the walking pad should give me another 350 cals burned.
I’m also considering trying 2 meals a day. One before working out and one after. Since eating makes me hungrier it might be good for me. I could eat an 800 calorie meal 3-4 hours before working out and then I could have 800 calorie meal after. Then I’d be at 1600 calories which is a 1000 deficit. But I’m not sure if the total energy deficit would still make me tired and lose energy for lifting (and life).
For now I’m going to stay eating regularly to see what happens.
My diet:
I mostly eat whole foods, keep saturated fat low and fiber high. I’ve been doing this for 3.5 months so far. I’ll eat chips and beef jerky but nothing with processed sugar or sugar alcohols in it. Anything sweet tasting makes me want to eat everything in sight. Not out of true hunger but just pleasure seeking. I do go out to eat and I’ll have a burger or some fried food once in a while, but nothing that is very sweet like cake or ice cream etc. I don’t drink diet sodas either. Once I have one of those things I’m drinking the whole case that day.
Stuff I’m Taking:
I have had chronic mild gastritis since 2021. I “cured” it with medication years ago but lately it’s come back a little. I am now taking Nature’s Way DGL and Garden Of Life Probiotics. The DGL has already helped me dramatically in just a week, the probiotic I just started taking today so I’m waiting to see if it helps. My main symptom is I actually get hungrier after eating due to stomach acid irritating my stomach and then food takes forever to digest (5 hours) so I’m just having to deal with this intense sharp hunger pang all day long.
I’m also taking a sublingual b12 and a multivitamin. I tried taking fish oil but it lowers my blood pressure too much so I don’t take it.
Bloodwork:
I got bloodwork done in October of 2025 because I was having symptoms of diabetes. The symptoms are gone now due to me building muscle and stop eating sugar.
October 2025 Bloodwork:
LDL - 104
HDL - 30
Triglycerides - 140
Fasting Glucose - 101
A1C - 4.7
So my bloodwork isn’t absolutely bad, but it needs some sprucing up. Since I got those results I changed my diet and I started lifting again. That’s actually the main reason I got back into the gym. I learned that building muscle lowers your fasting glucose. And that’s why I now eat a lot of soluble fiber foods, so I can lower my LDL. Triglycerides I don’t really know why they’re so high or how to fix it. I assume it’s fixed by losing fat and doing cardio.
I have to go to the doctor soon because I have some skeletal thing going on so I’m getting an xray, so I’ll do bloodwork again when I go. The skeletal thing is my left side of my body is all cockeyed. Might be minor scoliosis but it’s been like this for like 10 years so idk.
Stuff I will track in each post:
I’ll update the log each day or two and write down the previous day stats.
Calories:
Sleep Night Before:
Mood:
Energy Level:
Workout:
Thought Process:
I only weigh myself 1-2 times a week because it’s pointless for me to do it more often. I’ll stick to every Saturday I’ll post a weight and waist measurement.
I will take a rolling average each month just to see how it’s going. I’m not going to let it bother me if one week weigh in is the same as last week or higher. Two in a row would be a concern though.
Pics:
This is what I look like right now:
I am going to focus on lowering my insecurity so I can just do the work rather than obsess over every little thing.
I don’t know what else to put here. I’m going do cardio now. Thanks for reading and thanks if you watch my progress and help me do this!
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