When I grow up, I want to be an Alicorn

Training Training Logs
1264

Saturday 6/15
JN Essentials, W5D2

Incline Machine Press
10, 10, 9 x 85

Magnum Machine Squat (plate weight only)
10 x 45, 10 x 55, 10 x 70

SL Hip Press
8, 8 x 180, 12 x 135

Cable Row
10 x 105, 8 x 125

SL Standing Ham Curl
10, 10 x 35

Spider Curl
Dropsets
2x (12-15 x 15-10)

Hanging Leg Raise
12 x BW

10 minute walk outside

Whatever day one in this rotation lacks on intensity, day two makes up for.
Really felt like I went to the gym after this. Legs are still tired. Always amazes me how much less weight one leg can do vs two. Way less than half!

Long weekend, had five flights with students. Got a new student as well. Hours are adding up nicely. Sitting at the day job on Monday, already tired. Thatā€™s how you know it was a good weekend!

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At this point I view work as where I go to rest and recover!

Your weight is definitely coming down, nice and steady - good job. I saw 145.9 a week ago, but alas, it was just a fake-out. Eventually, though.

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Oh good, itā€™s not just me! I wasnā€™t sure if I was being a lazy millennial, but that is absolutely what I view work as. I just sit and stare at a screen all day.

I have these two. My mid-week weigh in a are always better than my ā€œofficialā€ check in day. I sure it has something to do with it usually being after day one at the gym. Maybe I should change it to Mondayā€¦

1267

Monday 6/17
JN Essentials, W6D1

DB SLRDL
2 x 10(ea leg) x 45

Dips
10, 9 x BW

DB Step up
2 x 12 x 25

Pull ups
6, 5 x BW

Cable Lat Raise
2 x (15-12) x 7

Tricep push down (machine)
2 x (15-12) x 90-70 dropset

Hip Thrust
17 x 135

10 minute, incline treadmill walk

Reps and weight continue to increase with every gym visit. Even with the low calories. Feeling pretty good about that!
Dips are getting easy, I might actually be adding weight soon. Helps that my body weight has been going down, Iā€™m sure.

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1268

Tuesday 6/18
Weigh-In

146.2, -0.6 from last week
Yay! The correct direction. I saw 144 on the scale on Sunday though. Dang water retention.

Macros:

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Steps total: 56k - getting them slowly back up. Shooting for 7k a day. Seems to be more sustainable with new day job.

9 Likes
1269

Friday 6/21
JN Essentials, W6D2

Incline Machine Press
10, 10, 10 x 85

Magnum Machine Squat (plate weight only)
10 x 45

SL Hip Press
6 x 225, 8 x 185, 12 x 135

Cable Row
10, 8 x 120

SL Standing Ham Curl
6 x 35

Spider Curl
Dropsets
2x (12-15 x 15-10)

Hanging Leg Raise
14 x BW

10 minute walk

All the leg stuff was cut short. My IT band (I think) was pissed. Kept sending shooting pain from my knee to my hip. Figured it was a good call to skip some leg stuff. Never had that issue before, kind of random.
Felt like I was selling myself short, but I always feel like I need to do more.

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Itā€™s so hard to know what to do in the moment! ā€œOh, thatā€™s an odd, painful twinge!ā€ She says as she continues to do whatever. ā€œMaybe I should stop,ā€ she thinks, ā€œbut Iā€™m right in the middle of it and everything else feels so good!ā€

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Absolutely this! ā€œOh itā€™s fine, just work through it!ā€ A few more reps. ā€œOkay, that hurts moreā€¦ā€

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I like to wait for the third sharp pain before taking anything seriously, lol.

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@EmilyQ Same here, I have to make sure itā€™s real pain, not just the discomfort of the first few reps.

Tuesday 6/25
Weigh-In

145.2, -1.0lb from last week

Macros for the week:

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Steps: 57k

Woo! Down a pound. Nice to see the scale move a bit instead of what feels like a water weight creep.
Canā€™t decide if my progress is slowing, or I am just impatient. Itā€™s likely a bit of both.

Did have a nice progress check over the weekend. I bought a bikini for the first time inā€¦ over a decade. I wasnā€™t feeling like I could pull it off. I donā€™t want to be the person at the lake that people are wishing I was wearing more clothes. Hubby took one look at me in the bikini and said, ā€œYou have a bikini bod, keep up the good work.ā€
Winning.
I also picked up two pairs of my favorite new shoes because they were 50% off. They are trail running shoes. I can neither confirm nor deny that I liked running next to the Jeep in the forest.

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Friday 6/28
JN Essentials, W7D1

Incline Machine Press
10, 9, 10 x 90

Magnum Machine Squat (plate weight only)
10 x 45, 10 x 55, 10 x 65

SL Hip Press
7, 7 x 225, 12 x 180

Cable Row
10, 9 x 120

SL Standing Ham Curl
11,10 x 35

Spider Curl
Dropsets
2x (12-15 x 15-10)

Hanging Leg Raise
14 x BW

10 minute walk

Amazing what almost a week between sessions will do. Added weight and or reps to everything. Felt spritely going in, it was awesome! Really enjoying still seeing weights go up, with the scale, albeit slowly, creeping down.
Funky schedule this week with lots of evening flights or other obligations, so the gym was mushed together at the end of the week.

Sunday 6/30
JN Essentials W7D2

DB SLRDL
2 x 10(ea leg) x 50

DB Step up
2 x 12 x 25

Pull ups
6, 5 x BW

Cable Lat Raise
2 x (15-12) x 7-3

Tricep push down (machine)
2 x (15-12) x 90-70 dropset

Hip Thrust
18,12 x 135
SS
Farmers Carries
2 x 50ft x 2x40KB

10 minute, incline treadmill walk

This day goes so quick, even with the walk itā€™s about 45 minutes. Itā€™s pretty nice to breeze through this on a chill Sunday.
I actually started to feel the RDLs at 50lbs, so that was nice. Iā€™m supporting my other leg on a bench, and that takes a ton of pressure off of my spine and doesnā€™t bother my troublesome disc at all. Nice to be doing some DL variation again. Though, switching to BB style training and not chasing bar weight through this long cut has been a mental relief.

Speaking of long cut, I have decided on my next ā€œdietā€ phase. After a bit of discussion with @QuadQueen and @T3hPwnisher I have decided that using the Deep Water food list is a great experiment, basically Ketovore. I tend to get way too complicated with recipes, which makes it too easy to sneak in calories. I spend ~4 hours on Sundays cooking. It would be great to cut that to an hour. Right now, I pick 4 new recipes and itā€™s inefficient, and makes my food more palatable than it needs to be.
I want to use the Deep Water list because it will help with accountability, my creativity in the kitchen gets me into overeating trouble. I warned hubby that I am going to be getting more basic with my food, he is on board so I can keep progress up. I couldnā€™t quite sell the Carnivore to him, and as we eat all of our meals together, itā€™s not worth making things weird there.
So rough idea is, ease into Ketovore over the next couple of weeks. I have a trip over the 4th of July, then another at the end of July for my birthday. I can keep things on list until my birthday, then Iā€™ll be eating like an arsehole for a couple of days, then right back on the band-wagon through the rest of Summer. Basically I want to cut while itā€™s warm, because I get so cold on restricted calories. Iā€™ll slowly add back in carbs and see how things go, re-find maintenance in the fall, then do a Uber-slow bulk through the winter with increased lifting volume.
Nutrition rant over.

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I read it with great interest!

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Thanks for the tag! Iā€™m excited for you. That food list in Deep Water is clutch. I made the mistake of ignoring Jonā€™s emphasis on ā€œorganic, properly raised animalsā€ and was eating Double Quarter Pounders without the bun and spoonfuls of peanut butter out of the jar thinking ā€œIā€™m CRUSHING Deep Waterā€. The simplicity is definitely the appeal of it, and itā€™s a solid operating baseline.

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It has definitely appealed to me since the first time I read the Deep Water book. Of course I will be having more of a meter on it than if I were running the program too. Mostly, not spoonfuls of peanut butter, the rest of the list is self-regulating, which is why I like it.

Iā€™ll watch out for this. I already get beef from a local farm, but I need a source for good pork and chicken. I usually use Costco, is it worth the price upgrade for Organic meats at Costco?

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I suppose it really matters regarding how much of your diet you plan to base around them, but even then, ā€œorganicā€ can really mean so little in the commercial space. You can feed animals organically raised garbage and you can feed them a more species appropriate diet with food that has GMOs. It can get a little confusing. That beef from a farm that you trust will go a long way. With eggs, Iā€™d definitely opt for pasture raised. With pork and chicken, it can get particular.

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I was thinking this was the case. Lucky for me, we have a decent amount of farm land outside of our city, I shouldnā€™t have much issue finding a good place. Itā€™s a budget thing after that. My food budget is pretty flexible, but still has itā€™s constraints of course!

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Tuesday 7/2
Weigh-In

144.2, -1.0lb from last week

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Steps: 57k

Had meal prep already done this week, still a lot of carbs. I am seeing the trend of where my extra calories come from. These macro snapshots are definitely enlightening and lead me to the Ketovore decision. Iā€™m still making progress, I just want to see if I can speed it up a bit.

I hadnā€™t seen my parents in three months, but they came up for a quick visit last week. My mom sent this text to me a couple days after:

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Awesome that itā€™s noticable!

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Tuesday 7/2
JN Essentials, W8D1

Incline Machine Press
10, 8 x 90, 10x70

Magnum Machine Squat (plate weight only)
10 x 70, 11 x 80, 12 x 90

SL Hip Press
8, 7 x 225, 12 x 180

Cable Row
9, 7 x 120

SL Standing Ham Curl
10,12 x 35

Spider Curl
Dropsets
2x (12-15 x 15-10)

Hanging Leg Raise
15 x BW

15 minute walk

Upper body didnā€™t have the weight today. High gravity day for sure, weight and reps went down on multiple things. A dip in performance isnā€™t a surprise though, everything has been steadily increasing for so long.
Legs felt good at least, and did well on the hip Press and squats.

Just the one session this week. Headed on a mountain Jeep adventure for the 4th. Going to be a good amount of activity. Iā€™ll be mostly trying to eat like an adult.
I hope you all have a fantastic Independence Day!

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Tuesday check-in
143.6, -0.6

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Steps: 53k

Surprised I am down at all from last week. I didnā€™t eat entirely like an a**hole on vacation, but there were a couple low protein/high carb days. Pretty good amount of activity, though not as much paddling as planned. Managed to get a hole in one of the inflatable kayaks.
Great trip though, slower paced than most of our Jeep trips have been. I didnā€™t take a single photo, because I left my phone in the truck or Airbnb the entire time. It was awesome.

Also, progress photo, left is the end of T-ransformation, right taken a couple days ago:

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Still seeing more abs and less love handles, only being a few pounds down.

Started Ketovore/Deep Water food list this week. Running it through Labor Day, as long as I feel good with it. With the exception of my birthday weekend. That will be full of carbs.

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Definitely seeing change! Slow and steady is winning this race!

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