Xanarios, Battle of the Bulge

Nutrition
21

Day 14-18 Summary
Final hurrah for the summer occurred on 7/6 and 7/7/07, but I tried my best to keep the jubilation down to a minimum. Lots of horrifically tasty BBQ and all sorts of goodies here and there… thankfully, there’s an entire summer / fall ahead to make sure that doesn’t come back to bite me in the arse.

Got back on the full-fledge plan Sunday morning, with new statistics:

Measurements, Trend (weight in pounds, size in cm)
Date: 6-24 / 7-01 / 7-08
Weight: 182 / 184 / 185
Arm: 33.6 / 34.7 / 35.4
Chest: 104.3 / 106.6 / 107.7
Belly: 96.6 / 96.3 / 96.1
Waist: 92.2 / 92.2 / 92.1
Butt: 99.6 / 101.7 / 101.3
Thigh: 57.4 / 58.4 / 58.9
Calf: 40.6 / 41 / 41.3

Been trying to measure in the same spots, though I assume some level of human error comes into play. General trend is good - proof positive. Only major concern was too much weight gain in too short of a period, but as of the 18th morning it seems to have leveled out at around 182 (too much partying last week, no doubt).

I look forward to next Sunday, with more controlled results and my first attempt at body fat estimation.

[quote]proxy wrote:
Just having a peek at your thread and you’ve got some great advice from a few people already. The “uneasiness” you describe is perfectly normal given how far you have come!

The best way to combat this uneasiness is just to keep practicing these new habits and trust yourself. So long as you believe in your choices and understand the science behind them, I really think you will do great![/quote]

Of all the literature / forums / word of mouth information that I’ve come across, this site here probably maintains the clearest focus. All in all, I’m very appreciative of the level of understanding and quality advice that y’all have shown.

As you said, the best way to combat trepidation is to simply stick to your guns. Work’d for the weight loss, might as well give it a go towards this second phase of health (and so far, it’s been going quite well)

[quote]proxy wrote:
Happy belated birthday, by the way![/quote]

Thanks!

22

Day 19-23 Summary
Good solid week on the modified diet, with only some minor variations due to work conflicts (eating a bit early / etc). Today was a bit rough, basically ran out of steam due to yesterday’s leg day. Still, I’m quite pleased with how I’m holding up and the measurements taken. Obvious increase in strength during lifting as well, though a lot of that is probably due to a major shift in the regiment.

Measurements, Trend (weight in pounds, size in cm)
Date: 6-24 / 7-01 / 7-08 / 7-15
Weight: 182 / 184 / 185 / 184
Arm: 33.6 / 34.7 / 35.4 / 35.7
Chest: 104.3 / 106.6 / 107.7 / 108.4
Belly: 96.6 / 96.3 / 96.1 / 95.3
Waist: 92.2 / 92.2 / 92.1 / 91.8
Butt: 99.6 / 101.7 / 101.3 / 101.6
Thigh: 57.4 / 58.4 / 58.9 / 59.1
Calf: 40.6 / 41 / 41.3 / 41.2

Differentials (Current vs. Base)
Weight: +1.10%
Arm: +6.25%
Chest: +3.93%
Belly: -1.35%
Waist: -0.43%
Butt: +2.01%
Thigh: +2.96%
Calf: +1.48%

Broke out the calipers for body fat measurement, but realized that the more accurate systems require a second person (which I do not have access to). Resorted to a three point calculation, measuring each site 3 times and average to try and round off human error.

Body Fat, Trend
Date: 7-15
%: 18.6
LBM: 149.6

I suppose 18-20% body fat isn’t all that bad considering it was easily close to 40 only two years ago.

23

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
Been trying to measure in the same spots, though I assume some level of human error comes into play. General trend is good - proof positive. Only major concern was too much weight gain in too short of a period, but as of the 18th morning it seems to have leveled out at around 182 (too much partying last week, no doubt).[/quote]

Yeah.
Keep in mind, there are a lot of meaningless daily variations. Keep track of your weight daily and you’ll see what I mean. It’s just a lot of noise in the data. This is just like an engineering problem when you measure real data out in the field.
OTOH, sudden gains that don’t go back may indicate some fat gain. The muscle never grows that fast.

To gain muscle and fat is easy.
To lose muscle and fat is easy.
To gain muscle and keep fat the same is hard but doable, depending on the individual. There are articles on this site that discuss this issue.
To gain muscle and lose fat is next to impossible. It might be doable if you’re new to weight lifting and you’re reaping the low hanging fruit. But at some point the game will change and the progress will stop. You’re probably not there yet, is my uneducated guess. Just keep your eyes open, and also continue to learn.

Oh yeah, take pictures of yourself every week or so. Put them on your computer and then after a while you can “go back in time” and have one more control over your progress, in addition to the scale and the caliper. The camera can be brutally honest.