Build Me - An Ongoing Journey

Friday 1/9/08
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Weight: 147.0lb – -1.5lb
Body Fat: 7.8% – +0.7%
Lean Mass: 135.53lb – -2.43lb
Fat Weight: 11.47lb – +0.93lb

Diet:
6:45am:
1/3 cup 1% Fat Low Sodium Cottage Cheese (Hot Salsa)
8:00am:
1 small-medium Pear
1 medium-large Apple
1/2 cup Oats
1 large “pan sized” Egg Beater Omelet with Ham, Pepper, Onion (Mustard)
11:15am [Post-Workout]:
1/3 cup 1% Fat Whipped Cottage Cheese (Hot Salsa)
1:00pm:
1 small plate Lettuce Salad (Low Fat Raspberry Vinaigrette)
3 Jumbo ****tail Shrimp (****tail Sauce)
1 Virgin Bloody Mary
1 plate Baked Scrod [cooked with Butter and Oil] with Broccoli, Breadcrumbs, Tomato
a few bites Pita Bread with Lobster and Broccoli
6:30pm:
6-7 Almonds
1/2 cup 1% Fat Whipped Cottage Cheese (Hot Salsa)
1 small Apple
10 Baby Cut Carrots
3 Pickles
7:30pm:
1 small plate Thai Seafood Salad
1 tiny cup Chicken Soup
1 plate Chicken Breast stuffed with Seafood Mix, Rice, Thai Curry
3 small-medium Shrimp
1 piece Tofu [lightly fried]
9:45pm:
1 handful Walnuts
5-7 tiny spoonfuls 1% Fat Whipped Cottage Cheese
8-10 Baby Cut Carrots

That was my diet.



The Day:

Well, no good thing lasts forever. Looks like my numbers rebounded from their epic succession. As usual it is trends I must look for not daily changes. I made sure not to give in to the hype of the last few days’ results. It was a good thing too or I would have been extremely disappointed with today, which I am not. I’ll probably give it a good one to two weeks before I make any predictions of success or failure. Until then though, it’s always fun to guess :p.

My diet today started fairly normal. Breakfast was the usual, and so was my post-workout. But around lunch time everything got chaotic. I was out doing things the entire today so fittingly had to have lunch out as well. It was really good seafood, but simply not enough. By the time I got home a little after 6 I was famished. I knew dinner was coming soon so I just had a quick snack to hold me through. Dinner was out as well and like lunch was tasty but not filling. Nearing my pushups and sit-ups workout I felt myself getting quite hungry, more so than usual. I just had to eat again, especially now that I should be bulking (albeit slowly and cleanly). And so the day ended with cottage cheese definitely showing its versatility in my meals.

Along with my diet, my cardio today was on a similar note, a little chaotic. My run went fine, but afterwards I noticed an interesting difference at my gym. It seems they replaced the entire line of my favorite ellipticals with these new “full motion” machines that are supposed to be able to do stairs, ellipticals, sprinting, anything. I figured I would try it out for my 20 minute period and see how it goes. The machine sucked. The concept is good, but the execution was extremely poor and the entire movement felt awkward. After 3-4 minutes I had enough and had to switch to one of the crapier elliptical left (though even these were better than the new machines brought in). The elliptical that I used said I burned near 300 calories in 20 minutes, but I don’t believe it. That’s 50 more calories than normal, and if anything it felt slightly easier. The nice part about the time was that with the switching of equipment I probably ended up burning a little more calories than normal. I also walked a fair amount while I was out and about which I’m sure added to my “calories out” as well. The day of exercise, as it usually does, ended today with my pushups and sit-ups.

It was not a good day for one of these body weight movements. My pushups caused my muscles to fail twice on two different sets. First on the 2nd set when I was on my very last rep I simply couldn’t push through it. The second time I failed it was on the last set and I was just on the switch to the upward motion on the 20th set when I noticed all my strength was sapped. I’m not sure what caused this change. My only guess was I was leaning slightly more forward and over my chest more today probably causing more stress on the muscle and therefore more difficult. I was also focusing more on my form by creating a straight as a board back and making sure to go all the way down through every rep. Like I’ve been saying though, for lifting failure is good. It lets me know my limits and in this case I think I will be sticking with the 30 rep change. Even though I failed it still feels right.

It was a good day for the other. I blew through all my sit-ups, even going to a 33rd rep for the last one without even noticing it. Why is it that one of these nightly exercises is always easy and the other always hard? Why can’t I see improvements in both? For one night, is that really too much to ask?


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #36.
 
Good luck. I can't read your entries as they are to detailed, but please keep it up.
 
Saturday 1/10/09
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Weight: 148.5 – +1.5lb
Body Fat: 7.6% – -0.2%
Lean Mass: 137.21lb – +1.68lb
Fat Weight: 11.29lb – -0.18lb

Diet:
8:00am:
1 medium Apple
1 medium Pear
1/2 cup Oats
1 large “pan sized” Egg Beater Omelet with Ham, Pepper, Onion (Mustard)
11:15am [Post-Yoga]:
1/4 cup 1% Fat Whipped Cottage Cheese (Hot Salsa)
2 Pickles
5-7 Almonds
1:30pm:
1 small-medium Apple
20 Baby Cut Carrots
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Low Fat Greek Yogurt Dressing)
2 slices Whole Wheat “Vermont Bread” with a little Ham, lots of Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
1 Low Calorie Wrap with a little Turkey, Ham, Pepper (Hot Salsa)
4:00pm:
2-3 spoonfuls 1% Fat Whipped Cottage Cheese
1/2 cup 2% Fat Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon Honey Toasted Wheat Germ
5-7 Almonds
6:00pm:
1 bowl Spicy Chicken Soup
1 plate Tuna Steak Salad with 1 big Tuna Steak, Greens, Guacamole (Salsa and Tomato Dressing)
1 small plate Brown Rice and Black Beans [around 1 cup or more cooked]

That was my diet.



The Day:

Today is my last day at home. Tomorrow I am off on the train back to college. I’m excited, very excited. And yet, sad. I’m sure those feelings are self explanatory when you’ve had the experience of winter break as a first year college student.

I ate a decent amount today. But, I am slightly scared that I overate during dinner because of the full feeling afterwards that was a little too strong. I’m probably just making a fuss over nothing though.

With my dieting my weight and body fat seems to be following a good path. I think some more definition is actually showing in my abs even though my weight is going up. Tomorrow you would normally see a picture of what I’m talking about, but this Sunday will be an exception. I am leaving early in the morning and will not have time to take that photo. Instead, expect an updated progress shot on the day after, Monday (my first day of classes no doubt). Hopefully we will finally see what the title entails: progress.

If you noticed, or maybe you didn’t, my diet mentioned a new item. Today I did yoga. I know it is a Saturday, meaning a rest day, but I really wanted to try out this place that my mother recommended and it was now or never since I’m leaving within 24 hours. It was well worth it. The 90 minute period was intense enough to secrete sweat beads. At the same time, it relaxed and calmed me. An interesting combination to experience! If you’ve been following my entries for awhile now you may have heard hints that I did Tae Kwon Do during my first semester as a college freshman. I have made the decision to the drop it for the simple reason that I found myself just not enjoying the experience. Now that I had a taste of yoga, I think I have found a replacement.

I’m off to bed now. Next time I write, it won’t be from this chair I’m sitting on now nor from the desk my wrists are laying on. It will be most likely from a train. And then, most likely from a dorm. But, until then, goodnight.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #37.
 
Sunday 1/11/09
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Weight: 150.5lb – +2.0lb
Body Fat: 7.9% – +0.3%
Lean Mass: 138.61lb – +1.4lb
Fat Weight: 11.89lb – +0.6lb

Diet:
5:45am:
1 medium Apple
1 medium Pear
1/2 cup Oats
1 large “pan sized” Egg Beater Omelet with Ham, Pepper, Onion (Mustard)
9:00am:
1 medium-large Apple
9:45am:
1 Deli Sandwich with 2 slices Rye Bread, Chicken Breast, Roasted Peppers (Mustard)
1 extra large Pickle
1:30pm:
1 6in Whole Wheat Sub with Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickle, Onion, Olive, Hot Pepper (Mustard)
1 small Apple
1:55pm:
1/2 medium bag Beef Jerky
5:30pm:
1 bowl Tomato Soup
1 bowl Chinese Chicken and Cashers with Chinese Vegetables, Tofu (Chile Sauce)
1 bowl Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
8:00pm:
1/2 medium bag Beef Jerky
[Meal Time]:
[food]

That was my diet.



The Day:

Today was my last travel day for awhile. The effects are shown in my diet, which is all over the place. I think I did a fairly good job with the options available to me. My only concern was over dinner which had chicken that may have been too fattening. It is just one dish though and I doubt it will make much a difference in the long term (however I do worry about tomorrow’s numbers).

With tomorrow comes an open door to the new. I charted out my schedule for the next few months of my college life and it seems that lots of my workouts will have to shift around. Sadly this causes weight lifting to occur in the evening around 5:30pm. Maybe once I experience how my daily life plays out over the next few days I will find another time slot to squeeze it into, but for now that is the best I could do. I will keep you updated on how these new workout times work including the changes for cardio, which also have had to have their usual morning times moved. The one good thing out of all of this is that I do plan on doing yoga now in the mornings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ll be dropping Tae Kwon Do as I mentioned earlier so I shouldn’t be over stressing myself by adding yoga to my physical life. It really is tough to predict all these changes in advance, so instead of continuing along this train of thought and over obsessing about planning I’ll just end it here with the note in mind that I will log all of the events as they happen in the future.

Regardless of it being a travel day, and a moving in day, and a homesick day, I did attempt to find my new maximums. I mentioned, if you caught it, that it was a homesick day. I’ve never felt so miserable. That may be an exaggeration, but this feeling now is truly terrible. I hate it. I have this lump in my throat that I cannot dislodge. I don’t know what to do. I just hope some sleep will make it pass. Even with this dreadful sickness I did do my pushups and sit-ups. My pushups went well, I did 55 of them. Normally I would write that with an exclamation mark, but everything has been numbed by this overwhelming sense of longing, longing for home. After the pushups came the sit-ups, which, if you saw the tiny detail, I “attempted”. I say this because though I did them successfully I only completed 35. There is a good reason for this poor number though. I could not find a decent location in my dorm room to plant my feet. At home I would use my bed frame which prevented my feet from popping up. In my dorm I see nothing suitable. I’ll have to figure out some way to make this work. I’m sure I’ll find something. Meanwhile I won’t record this 35 number as really it s a fluke since so much of my effort was focused on maintaining foot posture which caused me to slow down my reps. Overall, even the pushups are semi-irrelevant because I will not be changing my reps for them. 30 for pushups, 32 for sit-ups, remains the proper number. I know this from feeling.

OK, I’m done for tonight. I hope I feel better in the morning. Goodnight.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #38.
 
As promised, here are my latest progress shots. The one of me flexing is particularly revealing as it seems I definitely have built some mass. It is tough to tell though because I only have one other flexing reference picture which may or may not have been ideal when I took it. For this reason I'm not going to jump to any conclusions. Besides, it seems my relaxed pose still remains unchanged. I should note that though I feel fatter (from my weight gain) it does not seem to show in these shots. From the mirror though I feel like it is going straight to my face; hence why you don't see it. Just thought that it was something that should be noted if you are to take in a full consideration of the word "progress". And so, here are the photos:
 
Monday 1/12/09
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Weight: 151.2 – +0.7lb
Body Fat: 7.7% – -0.2%
Lean Mass: 139.56 – +0.95lb
Fat Weight: 11.64lb– -0.25lb

Diet:
7:15am:
8 Egg White Omelet with Ham, Onion, Pepper (Mustard)
2 small bowls Oatmeal
1 small Pear
1 medium Apple
9:45am [Post-Workout]:
1 big slice Whole Wheat Bread with 2 Egg Whites, Ham, Onion
11:00am:
1 small Pear
12:00pm:
1 small Pear
2 Egg Whites
1:30pm:
1 bowl Chicken Soup
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cottage Cheese, Cucumber, Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
1 medium Apple
2 egg Whites
1 small bowl Whole Wheat Pasta with Marinara Sauce
3:00pm:
1 bowl Turkey Soup
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
1 small slice Rye Bread with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion (Mustard)
6:45pm:
1 bowl Turkey Soup
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar)
1 piece White Meat Roasted Chicken
1 small cup Broccoli and Tofu (Chinese Sauce, Soy Sauce, Chile Sauce)
1 bowl Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Onion (Salsa)

That was my diet.



The Day:

Today was an iffy day. It started with a screwed up breakfast. I decided to try and eat earlier at this dining hall that is further away from my dorm, but opens at 7:00am instead of 7:30am. The place, which is ironically supposed to be the better of the two, sucked. Because of this I ended up eating two small breakfasts as I ate the meager meal at the ****ty eatery while waiting for the better place to open up so I could finish off eating there. A little bit after the disappointment, I decided to do my lifting.

Before I dive into that, I should let you know that this may be the last time I lift in the mornings for awhile. My schedule seems to be pushing me towards lifting in the evenings. I’m thinking around 5:30pm so that I can make my post-workout meal my dinner. That should workout well. We’ll see how it goes next Thursday. My other routines have taken similar changes with tomorrow’s cardio routine being also at 5:30pm while Wednesday’s will be in the morning at around 8:30am and Friday’s even earlier at 7:30am. I’ll also be adding on that yoga class I was talking about. It occurs Tuesday’s and Thursday’s at 7:15am to 8:15am. If you noticed this, since the good dining hall doesn’t open till 7:30am, this means I won’t be able to eat a proper meal before starting my workout. For me this isn’t good. Some people can exercise fasted, I can’t. To solve this dilemma I’m thinking of having a small snack, maybe an Apple and some kind of protein (I have yet to think of a good one that I can take from the dining halls to store overnight in my fridge), early in the mornings around 6:30am. Hopefully this light meal will hold me over until I eat my proper breakfast. OK, now onto the lifting.

All I can say is that I became spoiled at my local gym. Now that I’m back here, the place feels like a dump. I tried to get out of my mind, but I really feel like my focus was effected and thereby my lifting was effected. I can say happily that I didn’t forget to squat the proper 145 pounds this time. I did them all, but I feel like I wasn’t quite going low enough for some reason. I never had that problem before, but next time I’ll have to make sure I do it completely proper. After the deadlifts that went normal, I tried to increase my bench another 5 pounds, but it didn’t take. I did the first set OK, but wasn’t confident enough I could continue. I took off the added weight and went back to 115 pounds. I’ll have to keep at it before I increase; maybe another week? After that, I did the shoulder presses, and failed. Again this week I was unable to complete all sets and all reps with 25 pounds. It is clear to me now that I will have to deload back to 20 pounds and weight it out a little bit longer. I am going to stick with the 25 pound change for my bent-over rows though as I was able to pump out the proper amounts for the movement. The 25 pounds for that exercise is perfect. I then moved on to the 40 pound assisted chin-ups. They were incredibly difficult at 40 pounds. I think the design of the machine (making my stand on my feet instead of kneel on my legs) made the entire movement more exercise so the jump from 50 to 40 pounds was harder than it should have been. Regardless I did complete every rep, albeit barely and with less than perfect form. Even with that downside, I will be sticking with the 40 pounds. I can take it. As for the dips, I couldn’t find a 10 pound weight as I predicted so instead I just took the pin out but still used the offset bars to help me. This seemed to be around the right difficulty. I did try to do it without any assistance, but quickly realized I’m not quite there yet. And then came the finisher movements.

After my pushups (which went fairly normal if not slightly hard – I barely completed the last rep) was my abs. The machine I used for my knee raises sucked. My arms kept slipping which really took the focus of my abs. My hands kept sliding around too, forcing me to reposition myself numerous times. It sucked. I don’t know what to do though as there is only one of those pieces of equipment. I’ll just have to deal with it.

Like my workout, my diet today also had a touch of chaos. I wasn’t sure how I was to go about eating with my class schedule which provided only a 1 hour break from 10:00am all the way to 5:30pm. Because of this I just tried to eat whenever possible, grabbing snacks from the dining halls to eat later and all. Hopefully within a few more trial days, a more routine schedule will be set. Using google calendar I already feel like I have developed a workout dieting routine. We’ll see how it goes over the oncoming weeks.

I have a few more things I would like to say, but this has been a long entry and I’m getting tired. If I have time I’ll have a follow up post, or maybe append it to tomorrow’s entry, or maybe I’ll forget it. Either way, night is calling. Goodnight.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #39.
 
Tuesday 1/13/09
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Weight: 152.2lb – +1.0lb
Body Fat: 8.4% – +0.7%
Lean Mass: 139.42lb – -0.15lb
Fat Weight: 12.78lb – +1.14lb

Diet:
6:30am:
1 medium Apple
9:30am:
1 small-medium Apple
1 small Pear
4 Egg Whites with Ham (Mustard)
1 bowl Oatmeal
12:00pm:
1 slice Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion (Mustard)
1 bowl Beans, Corn, Rice, and Tofu
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Chicken Vegetable Soup
1 small-medium Apple
4:00pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese, Canned Tuna (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Chicken Vegetable Soup
7:15pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 plate Meatloaf, a little Flank Steak [thin slices], Okra and Tomatoes, and Broccoli

That was my diet.



The Day:

It was a slightly better day than yesterday, but still not great. It started with the numbers this morning. I knew it was coming. I predicted it earlier. I said it myself that these things are cyclical, that the sign of all positives inevitably will lead to a negative. Today was that negative. My weight shot up at a faster rate than it should have. This would have been awesome if my body fat didn’t shoot up even faster. I’m not sure of the cause. My best guess is I simply didn’t properly estimate the diet from yesterday. Really this is no surprise since my diet was in fact quite chaotic and inheritably very hard to quantify. Today’s diet was slightly more in check as I had a nicer, more manageable schedule. I hope to see a nice rebound on the scales tomorrow.

Quickly after the morning routine of stepping on the scale I was supposed to be doing yoga. This never happened. I found out, after further inquiry while at the gym, that yoga does not in fact start until the week of the 26th. What a disappointment!

Even without yoga I decided to stick to my schedule just to see if I could handle what I theoretically planned out. I could, but I didn’t like it. First of all I simply get way too hungry in the mornings for a snack to hold me over. I need a meal. The problem with a meal is that I then have to workout, be it yoga or something else, soon afterwards. This cannot work. Through much confliction I have now realized the sad truth; I simply cannot fit yoga in my schedule. It breaks apart my mornings in too many ways. Another contributing factor is that it destroys my morning routine in that it doesn’t allow me to have one. I would have to rush to yoga at 7:15am which gets rid of my one stress free period of my days. I don’t want to get rid of this tiny pleasure that I have come to realize it’s enormous worth. Now without yoga, my schedule got a complete makeover.

I started by getting rid of all those early morning snacks and instead substituting back in the standard breakfast at 7:30am (except Friday’s were it is forced to be 7:00am at the crappy dining hall). I can do this now because I no longer have yoga conflicting. The really nice part about this change is that it enables me to move all my workouts back into the morning, further completing the idea of a nice stress releasing morning routine. Lastly, and this is not due to yoga but instead a personal choice, I got rid of many of my various eating times and attempted a more fixed 3 meal a day program. This is because the dining halls offer too limited of a selection during off hours that it becomes hard to eat healthy. Also the constant eating, as I noticed today, began to suck up too much of my time that I really have to begin to devote to classwork. The only exception to this 3 meals a day is on Mondays and Thursdays since I have an odd schedule that does not allow for lunch. Conveniently these days are also my lifting days so it works out that I can actually implement a post-workout meal this time without it being a hassle as I need to eat before the no-lunch period of classes begins. At this time I will also probably figure out a way to snack on something during the long stretch until dinner. Overall I am happy with all these changes and now feel more relaxed about my upcoming days.

The rest of my day went fairly normal. My diet was more in check this time, and should with a more fitting schedule, be even more so in the future. I switched my salad dressing to a slightly more caloric olive oil variety as it was suggested to me that I wasn’t taking in enough healthy fats. I agreed. Before I knew it, it became my time to run. As I predicted, and as it was again mentioned to me, I wasn’t in the mood. It was late in the day and all the added exercise from walking the campus was not a great incentive. I pushed through that mental block and ran anyway. My legs were feeling weak for the first 5 minutes or so, but afterwards the run seemed pretty normal. I wasn’t able to get my ideal elliptical next, so had to suffice by using a worse one. It worked out OK, but I don’t think I pushed myself hard enough on it. I ended up burning a little over 240 calories in the 20 minutes. None of the treadmills were open to finish my gym routine (another thing about going in the evening, it’s packed!). I ended up being able to hop on a good elliptical, which was now open, for 3-4 minutes while waiting for someone to get off the treadmills. In this way I made up for the less intensive workout during the 20 minutes on the elliptical by burning more calories in total than I normally do. As always, the day ended with my pushups and sit-ups.

Both exercises went fairly well. I completed all reps of the pushups, but I think my form was seriously compromised for portions of it. I’ll have to keep a close eye on that. I’d rather fail early than complete all the reps with improper motion. My friend was watching over me as I did the movements and gave me a few pointers to improve my posture. One is that I was sagging my lower back on the decline. Two was that I was bobbing my head on the up and down motions. I will work to fix both of these issues. The sit-ups were also decently successful. I was able to get my friend to hold my feet down which helped a lot in getting real sit-ups completed. I did all reps of them on all sets. The difficulty was perfect as I barely completed the last set, on the brink of failure just as I should be. The only annoying thing about the sit-ups was that my tailbone quickly started to hurt. My floor in the dorms is harder than the plush carpet of my bedroom at home. To compensate I’m thinking of putting a towel or something soft underneath me. That should solve it. Regardless, in the end, I was satisfied.

And that was the day. A lot changed today. Hopefully it is all for the better. We will see.




That was the day.





This concludes Entry #40.
 
Wednesday 1/14/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 149.7 – -2.5lb
Body Fat: 7.6% – -0.8%
Lean Mass: 138.32lb – -1.15lb
Fat Weight: 11.38lb – -1.4lb

Diet:
7:45am:
1 small-medium Apple
1 small Pear
1 “plate sized” Egg White Omelet with Ham (Mustard)
1 bowl Oatmeal
12:15pm:
1 small-medium Apple
1 bowl 5 Bean Soup [thin]
1 bowl Chicken, Tofu, Grilled Vegetables (Soy Sauce, Chile Sauce)
1 slice Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Black Beans, Garbanzo Beans, Cucumber, Pepper (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
3:10pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Garbanzo Beans, Cottage Cheese, Cucumber, Pepper (Light Low Calorie Italian Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Black Bean Soup [thin with lots of black beans]
5:45pm:
1 plate Rice with Vegetables, Lentils with Vegetables, Chicken with Vegetables, Peas and Onions
1/2 bowl Turkey Noodle Soup [lots of turkey, little noodles]
1 bowl Deli Turkey, Hummus, Lettuce, Tomato, Tunafish [with mayo]
1 bowl Lettuce Salad, Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese, Tunafish [without mayo] (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette, Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)

That was my diet.



The Day:

Today was a slow change for the better. I can feel it. I am again adapting to college life, and this “uncomfortableness” that has accompanied me since the transition is starting to fade. It brings a smile to my face that I am beginning to become my old self, not this moody grouch of the last few days.

My workout today was a little easier than normal. I was back to using my school’s elliptical machines and was not sure what RPMs I should be doing the HIIT on. I ended up settling on 60-65rpm rests and 80-85 sprints. I realized a little past midway that this was a fairly conservative estimate. I could in fact go harder. It was still a decent workout though and I did feel like I pushed myself at least somewhat. I ended up burning something like 346 calories, but, as always, that doesn’t mean much.

The rest of my day was occupied by schoolwork. With my deserving mood change I became much more motivated and efficient today to get things done. And so that is exactly what I did. Along the way I did my best to keep myself full and eat decently on my clean bulk. I think I did a pretty good job, though I’m iffy about the hummus decision for my last meal. I think I ate a little too much of it; in the future I’m just going to skip it as it is way too easy to go overboard with that tasty goodness.

This night was not “as always”. First of all I failed on my last set of my pushups around my 24th or 25th rep. I further worked on my form, getting rid of all slouching and most of the head bobbing. This is what most likely lead to the failure. I believe it is a good thing then that I failed early as it shows that my form did improve as my movement became harder to perform. I really have to be careful with these pushups and the variance of performance from having good form to bad is very large. I have to focus 100% of my attention on perfecting the movement, only then can I begin to care about reps. And until then, I will be sticking with the 30 reps and most likely pushing myself to failure before completion. I know that now, so I can deal with it when it happens. It won’t be a problem; it will be a solution, an improvement to look forward to. The real change for tonight though was the lack of sit-ups. I bruised my tailbone yesterday night when I performed them on the dry rug of my dorm. Now it is a sharp pain as I sit myself up. I feel like this pain would override any performance. I don’t think I’d even be able to complete 5 before it became unbearable. And of course I don’t want to injure myself further. I am annoyed that I will have to take a break from this exercise as it was something I really liked to see improvements on, and was seeing improvements on. But, I know that in the future I will come back to it. Once all is healed, I will come back and blow away my former self in execution. I can feel it.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #41.
 
Thursday 1/15/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 151.8lb – +2.1lb
Body Fat: 8.1% – +0.5%
Lean Mass: 139.50lb – +1.18lb
Fat Weight: 12.30lb – +0.92lb

Diet:
7:45am:
2 small Apples
1 bowl Oatmeal
5 Egg White Omelet with Ham (Mustard)
9:40am [Post-Workout]:
2 slices Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with 3 Egg Whites, Ham, Onion, Hot Pepper (Mustard)
12:00pm:
1 small Apple
1:30pm:
1 small plate Whole Grain Penne Pasta, Broccoli, Tofu (Marinara Sauce)
1 bowl Chicken Tomato Soup with Tofu
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese (Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)
3:00pm:
1 small Apple
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Hot Pepper, Turkey (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
5:45pm:
1 plate with 1 Couscous Vegetarian Burger and Asparagus
1 bowl very little Chinese Stir-Fried Beef, Deli Turkey, Tofu, Cucumber, Pepper, Hot Pepper
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Hot Pepper, Cottage Cheese (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Spicy Chicken Tomato Soup

That was my diet.



The Day:

Things are definitely changing for the better. I am becoming more and more determined, like I used to be. It’s all coming back and I love it.

I went into my lifting routine this morning with all the willpower I could muscle. I was motivated to perform. And that I did. Every exercise seemed easier for me because of this mental lust for improvements. By easier I do not mean that the burn was non-existent. My muscles were responding with their same struggles and failures, but I pushed my mind through that. Every movement went great. The weight amounts were perfect for what I needed and I’m happy I found that equilibrium between ability and failure. The best example of this is seen during my chin-ups and pull-ups. I have never felt such a near failure feeling while actually not failing. I barely barely completed the last of every set. Every rep was a struggle and I longed for it. One change that I would like to make though is for Thursdays to insert my dips in between the pull-ups and chin-ups exercises. Doing chin-ups right after the pull-ups is making me fatigue slightly early. I think I can push myself further by giving those similar muscles a rest and doing dips meanwhile. I’ll make that slight alteration next Thursday. After my main compound lifts I moved onto my finishers, the abs and knuckle pushups.

I worked further on my pushup form today and again made sure not to slouch my lower back. I really strived for that straight as a board back. Even with this added on focus I performed admirably. In fact the reps seemed easier than normal as I completed every one without failure (which is a 50-50 chance it seems these days for the knuckle pushups). I am very satisfied with this accomplishment of form and ability. My plan was to go on to the bicycle kicks today for abs, but, as you learned about yesterday, I was concerned over my tailbone pain. I lied back and put my feet up to test it out and everything seemed alright. It was. Luckily in that position with my legs raised and kicking back and forth the pressure was taken off of my tailbone. I was glad because I wasn’t in the mood to struggle with the finicky captain’s chair I talked about during my last lifting entry. After completing the first 30 seconds of movement I felt like I wasn’t feeling it enough. For the next two sets I really focused on clenching those ab muscles to do their work and move my body from side to side. I also focused on keeping myself up off the ground for the entirety of the motion. Both of these additions greatly enhanced my workout. On the last 15 seconds of the last set my abs were literally dead. I could barely hold my shoulders off the ground. It felt so good to end the day that way. Like I said, what a great workout.

The rest of my day went on a similarly good note. I think I am getting back into the groove and classes and am really grateful for that. I know I said that last time, but I want to reiterate it because of how true it is and how good it feels. Anyway, back to the day. My diet was in check as well. I had that long string of classes today with little to no breaks, but managed to squeeze in quick meals and snacks here and there which I believe added up to what would consist of a normal lunch for me if not more. I also was able to include a post-workout meal which I found quite satisfactory in taste and quickness to make. It, or some near combination of it, will probably become part of my standard lifting routine. I like routines, there a nice way to relax when dealing with the chaos of the rest of the day. I am happy on how these new ones are shaping out.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #42.
 
Friday 1/16/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 152.2 – +0.4lb
Body Fat: 8.3% – +0.2%
Lean Mass: 139.57lb– +0.07lb
Fat Weight: 12.63lb– +0.33lb

Diet:
7:15am:
2 small Apples
1 very small Apple
1 bowl Oatmeal [more than usual]
5 Egg White Omelet with Ham, Pepper (Mustard)
9:30am:
1 very small Apple
1 small Apple
1 small plate with 3 Egg Whites, Ham (Mustard)
12:15pm:
1 bowl Seafood Soup [thin]
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Garbanzo Beans (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 plate with 1 Black Bean Burger (some kind of Sweet Sauce), Steamed Vegetables, Deli Turkey
1 slice Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
2:45pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Garbanzo Beans, Black Beans, Cottage Cheese, Deli Turkey (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
5:45pm:
1 bowl Seafood Soup [thin]
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Deli Turkey (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 plate with 1 small piece Jerk Chicken Breast, Green Peas, Ratatouille, Three Bean Stew

That was my diet.



The Day:

Today was another good day. It being the last day of classes, and having my classes end by noon, automatically makes it a good day. But there was more to it than just that.

This morning I was forced to eat at the lesser of the dining halls as it opens at 7:00am, a half an hour earlier than the better of the two. I say I was forced to eat here because my first class of the day was at 9:00am and, me liking to work out in the mornings, wanted to get my running and cardio session in after breakfast and before class. The only way to do this was to start the workout at 8:00am. Since it was cardio I needed some kind of decent break between eating and stressing my body. A half an hour was the best I could afford myself by eating the early breakfast, but hey its better than eating at 7:30am and then hopping on the treadmill minutes afterward.

So anyway, after eating the breakfast (which really wasn’t that different from normal), I took my small break and then was off to the gym. My workout began as normal (though I was feeling a littly grogy from still waking up and from eating not too long ago and from the sub zero temperature outside). As I was running and trying to get myself to zone out to my music the time ended up flying by. And I mean really flying by. Before I knew it I was at the 10 minute mark and was almost done. And yet before looking I figured I was at 8 minutes at best and didn’t think I would have any trouble of completing the mile and a half. If you follow my logic, you would see how I thought when I noticed the timer saying I was already at 10 minutes. I had all this energy still! And for this reason I kept going.

I didn’t stop until 2 miles. My first 2 mile run since middle school! And I did it in 14:36. I am truly impressed with myself. I am improving and these are my hard earned results. It could have just been a good day, but I hope to see this 2 mile run become my new standard as did the mile and a half. I figure after it, maybe I’ll try scooting back down to 1 mile and increasing the speed until I build back up to 2 miles. That sounds like a good plan to me. I’m pumped to see myself get better and better.

After the run I moved onto the elliptical. As with the HIIT I wasn’t sure what goals to strive for. I ended up doing the 5 minute increasing interval for RPM s starting at 60-65 and ending at 75-80. This turned out to be fairly tough so I found it satisfactory. In total the machine said I burned 246 calories. As I always say I know that number is meaningless in reality, but since I will be using this machine consistently for the next few months it does become another statistic to keep track of.

Normally this would be the end of my talk on the gym as I usually don’t need to mention my last 10 minutes on the treadmill. This time I do. They didn’t exist. It turns out that I couldn’t fit in those last 10 minutes because before I knew it somehow it became time to get to class. I’ll have to rethink my schedule slightly on how I’m going to be able to fit in the entirety of my session in the allotted time. I’ll figure it out. I wasn’t to be deterred from this breaking of routine though. With diligence I made sure that I finished up to what equates as my typical Friday at the gym. Much later in the day, at around 6:30pm, I hopped back onto that treadmill to complete those 10 minutes at 6% incline moving at 4mph. I figured I would do my pushups and attempt again my sit-ups at this time too. Turns out I wasn’t much in the mood. See, those two movements have become routine as well and like my other habits it seems I can only get pumped for the pushups and sit-ups at night in my room. Besides, they help wake me up if I’m feeling lethargic in the latter hours (which does happen from time to time).

So, speaking of pushups and sit-ups, I might as well jump to them now (notice how I no longer say “attempt” before sit-ups!). The pushups went well, actually better than just well. I completed all of them this time with what I believed to be good form with no slouching and this time a focus on no head bobbing as well. It felt good to do them right. If I keep this up I may find myself increasing the reps on the oncoming week. I’m definitely curious to see what my new max is with this ideal form (and hopefully this is the ideal form this time).

If you’ve been following my journal entries you would know that I hurt my tailbone a little while ago doing sit-ups. It still hasen’t fully recovered, but it is getting better. I decided to do the sit-ups tonight regardless. The real sharp pain doesn’t occur until the last 10% of the upward movement. So, in a sense, I shorted my full movement slightly (very slightly) and was able to get the same burn in my abs without too much pain. I also, by going slower, was able to use a tiny lip at the bottom of my wall unit to keep my feet planted. When attempting my maximum (as I did last week with the lip) I don’t think it will work out too well, but since my weekday reps don’t need to be done at an abnormally fast pace, it works out well enough. Regardless of these minor inconveniences, the inadequacy of the wallunit lip and the tailbone pain, I am happy I can still perform to the best of my abilities. It is nice to know that I have that kind of determination to not be hindered by such obstacles.

This has been a long entry and there really isn’t much reason for me to go dragging on. My diet seems to be working its magic as I’m gaining weight and muscle at a pace that seems appropriate. I have upped my fats, healthy fats that is, slightly over these past few days, but I fear that I may have gone slightly too far in the increasing. Only time and a close monitoring of the scale will tell. And that I will do, as I always do. I am the owner of my body. And it feels good to change it. Change it for the better.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #43.
 
Saturday 1/17/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 150.6– -1.6lb
Body Fat: 8.1% – -0.2%
Lean Mass: 138.40lb – -1.17lb
Fat Weight: 12.20lb – -0.43lb

Diet:
9:15am:
1 small-medium Apple
1 medium Apple
1 bowl Oatmeal [slightly more than usual]
5 Egg White Omelet with Ham [slightly more than usual] (Mustard)
12:15pm:
1 medium Apple
2 slices Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey [much more than usual], Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Garbanzo Beans [more than usual] (Light Low Calorie Italian Dressing, a little Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Beef Lentil Soup [thin broth, lots of beef and lentils]
2:45pm:
1 small Apple
1 bowl Hearty Tomato Soup
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Deli Turkey (Light Low Calorie Italian Dressing)
5:45pm:
1 bowl Beef Lentil Soup [thin broth, lots and lots of beef and lentils]
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Broccoli (Light Chinese Sauce, Soy Sauce, Chile Sauce)
1 plate Vegetable Stew, Green Beans, Acorn Squash, Steak Roast

That was my diet.



The Day:

This may be the first entry where I have literally nothing to report. I will just say these few brief sentences. First of all, today is a rest day, and rest I did. I barely even walked much today except to go out of my dorm to eat. This isn’t because I take my Saturday rest so seriously that I refuse to do work (hell, last week I did yoga on Saturday), but more because of the gelid cold. Negative five degrees is not the best walking weather. Speaking of walking to the eat, I thing my diet today was fairly good. I woke up later today so it wasn’t a huge issue that the dining halls didn’t open till 9:00am. I did get pretty hungry, but I know that it’s not like all my muscle is going to wither away for not eating an hour late. And so that was the day. Like I said, not much to report.

I’m about to finish watching a movie now and then will be heading off to bed. Tomorrow morning I will be taking progress pictures, so I’m excited for that. Maybe we’ll finally see some results? These days I don’t have my hopes up, but hey - ya never know.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #44.
 
Got some new progress shots today! OK, there's really no reason for the exclamation mark. I look still pretty much the same. Personally I think I've gotten slightly slightly bigger. I can't tell if it's more muscular or more fatter though. From the numbers on the scale, probably a little of both. Meanwhile my second flexing shot looks better. I don't think that tells much though because in reality I think it looks better because I've become better at flexing for the photo, not because I actually have more muscle to show. I mean it's without a doubt that I have gotten stronger, my lifting numbers show that, but as for building size: I honestly don't see much. But hey, I'm not an expert, maybe I'm missing something. After looking at the photos below, let me know, what do you see?






Also, one last thing... I believe I am getting slightly sick with some kind of sore throat/cold. I hope it isn't too bad, but it may be affecting my "look" of the photos. I really don't know, but just thought I should mention it as it is another factor to take into consideration.
 
Sunday 1/18/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 151.0lb – +0.4lb
Body Fat: 8.1% – +0.0%
Lean Mass: 138.77lb – +0.37lb
Fat Weight: 12.23lb – +0.03lb

Diet:
9:15am:
2 small Apples
1 small-medium Apple
1 bowl Oatmeal
5 Egg White Omelet with Ham [a little more than usual], Onion (Mustard)
12:15pm:
1 small Apple
1/2 bowl Oatmeal
1 slice Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
1 small cup Vegetable Bean Stew with Tofu
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Hot Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
1 bowl Chicken Rice Creole Soup
2:40pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Hot Pepper, Cottage Cheese, Tunafish [with Mayo] (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Hot Pepper, Deli Turkey (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
1 bowl Chicken Rice Creole Soup
5:45pm:
1 plate Wild Race, Bean Stew, 2 large slices Honey Glazed Ham
1 bowl Chicken Rice Creole Soup with Tofu
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Hot Pepper, Deli Turkey (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)

That was my diet.



The Day:

Like yesterday, there isn’t a lot to report back to. Every front of my overall fitness plan seems to be going well. My only concern is that I have had some feelings of malaise recently that started with a stirring in my throat last night. Throughout the day I also had an ear problem probably related to the above. I’ve been popping vitamin c Echinacea pills all day. I’m attacking this possible cold head on. I will destroy it before it has any chance of developing past infancy. So far so good, as this sickness didn’t stop me from my Sunday routine.

I did my pushup maximum test around 10 minutes ago and improved my new record by 6 pushups. I am liking these reliable weekly increases. It’s been a little over a month now and I’ve gone from 46 to 60 REAL pushups. I know that’s most likely newbie gains, but I don’t care. I’m happy with them regardless of the reasons. The fact is I can now do a lot more pushups than I used to, and that’s a good feeling. I tried to test my new maximum for my sit-ups but there were way too many factors that hindered the exam. First, my tailbone is still giving me trouble. For this reason along I only went to the up position 90% of the way, and the full down position only 90% as well. In total meaning I was only doing around an 80% sit-up. I also was using a pillow to position my pelvis over (to ease the pressure on my tailbone). This I believed gave me a handicap as it helped the way it curved my body helped the rhythm of the sit-up. Just for the sake of it, I did get a measurement and hit 50 sit-ups. Yes this would be a new record, but I can hardly count it as such. Taking that into account, I will not be changing my reps nor adding 50 to my performance chart. Not until I completely heal will I be able to truly gauge my new self. Meanwhile, I’ll keep doing what I can: working those abs.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #45.
 
Monday 1/19/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 152.8lb – +1.8lb
Body Fat: 8.2% – +0.1%
Lean Mass: 140.27lb – +1.5lb
Fat Weight: 12.53lb – +0.3lb

Diet:
9:15am:
2 small-medium Apples
1 bowl Oatmeal [more than usual]
5 Egg White Omelet with Ham (Mustard, Ketchup, Hot Sauce)
11:25am [Post-Workout]:
1 medium-large slice 12 Grain Bread [with HFCS] with 3 Egg Whites, Ham, Onion, Hot Pepper (Mustard)
1:15pm:
2 small Apples
1 bowl Chinese Wild Rice Soup
1 bowl Vegetable Mix and French Dipped Hot Roast Beef
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
2 slices Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
3:15pm:
1 bowl Chicken Soup with Tofu
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Hot Pepper, Cottage Cheese, Tunafish [with Mayo], Deli Turkey (Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)
6:00pm:
2 bowls Chicken Soup [extra Chicken]
1 plate with 1 piece Roast Chicken Breast, 1 Stuffed Bell Pepper with Couscous
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Broccoli with Tofu (Soy Sauce, Chile Sauce)

That was my diet.



The Day:

Today started with a bang. I upped my intake in the morning with a very decently overflowing portion of oatmeal. But it wasn’t for nothing. I had a great pump at the gym to follow it up.

I got angry at the barbell. I was breathing fire before I started the squat already my pulse was increasing. I felt the blood pulse throughout my muscles. I was ready for some serious muscle tearing lifting. And that is exactly how I performed. I focused all my strength on every single movement. This focus continued throughout the entire hour. As for raw numbers, everything felt hard so I don’t think any increased are in order. Every lift was about the perfect weight. As always though, for that day, there were a few slight variances.

First I deloaded with my shoulder presses back to 20 pounds. At 25 I was failing way too early for myself to be even near completion. Lifting 20 pounds again actually seemed quite easy now that I shocked my muscles with the more intense 25’s. I decreased my speed and forced myself to make the 20 pounds become a harder workout than they were worth. I hope that within a week or two I will be able to move back up to the 25’s this time with success.

I went through my chin-ups today at 40 pounds. The low offset has been giving me some difficulty. I don’t want to say it’s too hard as I can complete all reps. I just have to say that this lift seems almost impossible at the weight. I actually surprise by myself that I do complete the movements successfully. But, hey, that’s not a problem! I’m happy I found a weight that so perfectly is suited for my abilities. I won’t be changing this, but I just thought I should mention it as the lift really does stand out from the rest.

Immediately following the chin-ups I executed the dips. They have been steadily improving, and this day saw the same trend. I experimented without using the offset bar at all (which has been set with no weight plates). My dangling legs kept hitting the bar making a zero assist option very difficult to perform. For this reason I moved back to using the handicap just so I could complete the dips with the right form. Next time though I think I will use a normal set of dip bars and get rid of the offset machine for that exercise entirely. I can’t wait!

As always my day at the gym ended with my classic finishers: pushups and abs. Like last time I was able to do all 10 reps of knuckle pushups for each set, totaling 3 sets in the end. This feeling of completion always makes me happy as it seems this is one of my more finicky exercises. I then went on to do knee raises on the captain’s chair. I secured some added cloth and padding to the arm rests so that I could fix the issue I have previously been experiencing at my crappy school’s gym equipment. This time my arms no longer slipped and I was able to narrow all my attention on squeezing that six-pack. It was great.

My diet today scared me a little. I really felt like I overate (if that’s possible on a bulk!). I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing for my goals. Only the numbers of the future will tell. Regardless, I don’t want to experience this “stuffed” feeling, so I won’t be doing it again. I think I can eat a lot, at least I have been, without feeling overly full. The weird part about today is it was the dinner that made me get this feeling and yet all I had extra was one bowl of soup, hardly a filling entrée. But hey, the body doesn’t lie. Next time I’ll listen to it.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #46.
 
Tuesday 1/20/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 153.8lb – +1.0lb
Body Fat: 9.3% – +1.1%
Lean Mass: 139.50lb – -0.77lb
Fat Weight: 14.30lb – +1.77lb

Diet:
7:45am:
1 bowl of 3 scoopfuls Oatmeal
1 small-medium Apple
1 medium Apple
5 Egg White Omelet with Ham (Mustard)
12:00pm:
2 small Apples
1 bowl Kasha with Grilled Vegetables and Tofu
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Vegetable Barley Soup with Tofu
2 slices Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato (Mustard)
5:45pm:
1 plate Vegetable Barley Stew with a little Tofu, 2-3 pieces Acorn Squash, 2-3 large slices Turkey London Broil [white meat], 1 small slice Turkey London Broil [dark meat]
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese (Light Olive Oil Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Roasted Vegetables with Tofu, Deli Turkey
1 bowl Vegetable Barley Soup

That was my diet.



The Day:

My numbers today were not so satisfactory. I pray that it is just a fluke from what is now definitely true, my yesterday splurge. Until I am able to verify the results with future reports I will try to put this out of my mind. In the end though, it is not a huge deal. I mean, even if I do gain the fat I know that I will be stopping my bulk at 10% or 160lb regardless; meaning at some point I will be that fat (it’s just now I’m getting there faster than I should with less muscle). With that said, let’s not pay mind to the extra baggage over my muscles right now and move on with the rest of the day. Know this: when it’s all said and done I will be shredded.

I am really not getting organized here. I again had to cut my workout 10 minutes short today, missing my 10 minute cool down on the treadmill. This annoys me. I can balance it out though by happily reporting that I did 2 miles again for running. I hit an even better time of 14:33 this time. I am very proud of this accomplishment since I’ve been semi-sick recently with a mild-cold/sour throat thing going on. The run was tough though, especially because I forced myself to control my breathing only through my nose. It was well worth it as I had a nice big grin on my face afterwards. I also did complete the elliptical workout at my normal intensity (65rpm to 80rpm increasing by 5 every 5 minutes). It said I burned an impressive 278 calories in 20 minutes; I’m guessing this is because of my higher weight. Speaking of calories, I believe it was 227.8, or something around there, for my running. That’s nearly 100 calories more than my 1.5 mile run so for this reason in a way it makes up for me missing the 10 minute 4mph walk which usually burns 80 or so. Regardless, I am still disappointed that I missed it. Maybe I’ll make up for it later today: we’ll see. Meanwhile, I’ll work on figuring out some consistent way to make sure I get my full workout in.

While this has been going on I have been getting sicker and sicker. I pray that this day is the worst of the days. I am lucky that during my workouts it seems the affects dissipate to near non-existence. I did a fair amount of walking today and honestly feel exhausted from it. I think it was the tough workout, the 2 mile run that I’m now pushing for, combined with the weakness derived from being sick that did it. Despite all this, I decided to complete my routine later at night and do the 10 minute 4mph 6% incline walk. The usual cool-down felt exhausting and left me winded, but I was happy afterwards that I continued my streak of undefeated routine. Meanwhile the sickness drove onward. I almost didn’t do the pushups and sit-ups. But notice I said almost. Nothing can stop me.

I performed all my pushups, though I do admit that I was fearful of failing early because of my lethargy from sickness. I think my form became slightly comprised to say I successfully pushed through the sets. I am OK with this: I did my best with the bad hand dealt to me today and that is all I can ask for. There is some good news to go along with all this ill talk. My tailbone is now fully recovered and I was able I’d say to do 95-100% full sit-ups. My foot did keep sliding out of the lip of my dresser, which brought me to an interesting conclusion. I think if I wear my non-running sneakers (of which I was wearing because today is a run day) my feet don’t slide out. Tomorrow I’ll be testing if my hypothesis is true enough to be theory. Until then, goodnight.




That was the day.





This concludes Entry #47.
 
Wednesday 1/21/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 153.2lb – -0.6lb
Body Fat: 9.0% – -0.3%
Lean Mass: 139.41lb – -0.09lb
Fat Weight: 13.79lb – -0.51lb

Diet:
7:45am:
1 small-medium Apple
1 medium Apple
1 bowl Oatmeal [3+ scoopfuls]
5 Egg White Omelet with Deli Ham (Mustard)
12:20pm:
2 small Apples
1 bowl Turkey Rice Soup
1 bowl Vegetables, Refried Beans, Deli Ham, Lettuce, Tomato, Salsa, Jalapeno, Onion
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)
2 slices medium-large 12 Grain Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion (Mustard)
3:10pm:
1 bowl Turkey Rice Soup [extra Turkey and Rice]
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese (Light Red Wine Vinaigrette)
6:00pm:
1 bowl Turkey Rice Soup [extra Turkey and Rice]
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Tunafish [with Mayo], Deli Turkey (light Red Wine Vinaigrette)
1/2 bowl Green Beans, Bean Stew, Yellow Squash / Zucchini
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Flank Steak (Salsa)
1 bowl Cauliflower [cooked with Oyster Sauce] and Deli Turkey

That was my diet.



The Day:

I woke up again this early morning to some disappointing numbers. They have dropped down a little from yesterday’s high, but the fact that remains that my body fat took a fairly sever jump. Why this is I still have no idea. Maybe it is because I’m sick. Maybe it’s real. The only way to tell is to wait longer, be patient, and eventually the truth of these reports will reveal themselves.

I had a good workout today as my sickness began to subside. I was able to stay in the 85-90rpm range on the elliptical. I’m not sure what attributed to this new feat, but I feel like the experience was slightly easier than normal. Maybe the elliptical I was using had a lower default resistance? It seems that the RPI ellipticals suffer from inconsistency even amongst the same models. Regardless I am happy that I did this achievement and even more satisfied that it netted me a nice 355 calories. I did have time as well to actually do my 10 minute walk afterwards; I’m looking forward to not having to do that at night again.

I felt like I did a fairly good job with my diet today. I ate as many times as I could and kept my proportions in check to make sure that I was eating definitely with a bulking manner but at the same time not stuffing myself like I did a few nights ago. I hope to keep this balance in the future, but as always school seems to make that quite hard. I’ll do my best. I always do.

It is odd though, still talking about my diet here, that around an hour before sleep and therefore an hour before my pushups and sit-ups, I began to feel the stirrings of hunger. Is this a sign that I did not eat enough? I definitely felt like I ate all I could have for dinner, but, maybe not? I’ll have to keep a close eye on such feelings as sometimes they deceive, and sometimes they tell truths. Feelings are a dangerous thing I find; instead, best to go by the numbers. Numbers don’t lie and it won’t be long, a few days, before we see if this hunger was falsified.

And so, while a bit hungry (dining halls were closed even if I did want to try and cure it), I ended the day with my pushups and sit-ups. I definitely feel like I have overcome the worst of my sickness as I had more energy this night to perform my routine. I even excelled at my pushups making them seem surprisingly easy. I’ll wait till Friday to make a judgment on this, but I just may be increasing the reps for next week. That would be nice, to be able to push myself to another limit. My sit-ups on the other hand are still having issues. Worst of all is that the issues aren’t actually related to muscle failure. I talked about yesterday using different shoes perhaps to solve my feet plantation problem. Well, it didn’t work. During the entire movement of up and down I felt the burn more in my legs than anywhere else as they struggled to keep my feet grounded. I have one last pairs of shoes to try before I really have to consider a completely different means to solve this dilemma. Like the pushups, Friday will give us more clarity.

Tomorrow is a lifting day. I’m excited to hit the weights again. Goodnight.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #48.
 
Thursday 1/22/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 155.4lb – +2.2lb
Body Fat: 9.2% – +0.2%
Lean Mass: 141.10lb – +1.70lb
Fat Weight: 14.30lb – +0.51lb

Diet:
7:40am:
2 medium Apples
1 bowl Oatmeal [3+ scoopfuls]
5 Egg White Omelet with Ham[slightly more than usual] (Mustard)
9:40am:
2 slices Whole Wheat Bread [with HFCS] with 3 Egg Whites, Deli Ham (Mustard)
11:50am:
1 medium Apple
1:40pm:
1 bowl Vegetable Chili, Couscous, Yellow Squash, Tofu (Marinara Sauce)
1 bowl Chicken Tomato Soup [extra Chicken]
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese (Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)
3:00pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)
1 cup Deli Turkey
1 bowl Beef Vegetable Soup with Tofu
5:45pm:
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Onion, Deli Turkey, Tunafish [with Mayo] (Light Red Wine Vinaigrette, Low Calorie Light Italian Vinaigrette)
1 plate 3 medium pieces Roast Beef, Garbanzo Beans and Couscous, Brussels Sprouts
1 bowl Beef Vegetable Soup
1 bowl Vegetable Minestrone Soup

That was my diet.



The Day:

My weight really spiked today. But, it doesn’t matter! My body fat changed so little in relation that apparently I am showing significant muscle mass gains. It’ll probably equalize to some other level, a most likely lower level, tomorrow but for now I will relish this new weight gain.

My lifting today went perfectly. I hit every lift with everything I had in me. I even was able to do the dips with ZERO assistance, a goal I set for myself on Monday. I’ve gone a long way to reach that accomplishment and it feels great to do each and every 5 reps for each and every 3 sets. I have nothing else to say really, it was just a great lifting hour.

There was a gap where I got hungry between my post-workout meal and my snack and my late lunch. But, there was nothing I could have done about it. I had class, and that’s that. Besides this one flaw my diet was like my workout: perfect, and unlike my workout, tasty!

And so the day comes to an end. I’m feeling fairly exhausted right now because of my workout, my hellish day of classes (I have yet to get used to my Monday and Thursday schedule of straight schoolwork). My cold has also began to focus purely on my nose which has become irritating to say the least. I thought it was over, but it appears resilient. It’s mind over matter like all things though and I will combat this with the same intensity that I use against the barbell. Wish me luck and goodnight.


That was the day.





This concludes Entry #49.
 
Friday 1/23/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 155.8lb – +0.4lb
Body Fat: 9.4% – +0.2%
Lean Mass: 141.15lb – +0.05lb
Fat Weight: 14.65lb – +0.35lb

Diet:
7:15am:
2 medium Apples
1 bowl Oatmeal [over the top]
5 Egg White Omelet with Deli Ham, Pepper, Onion (Mustard)
12:00pm:
1 medium Apple
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
1 bowl Hearty Tomato Soup with Beans
2 medium-large slices 12 Grain Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Onion, Tomato (Mustard)
4-5 Pickle Spears
3:15pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Low Calorie Light Italian Dressing)
1 cup Deli Turkey
1 bowl Hearty Tomato Soup with Beans and Tofu
5:45pm:
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Cottage Cheese (Light Red Wine Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Broccoli, Tofu (Light Thin Chinese/Oyster Sauce, Soy Sauce, Chile Sauce)
1 bowl Hearty Tomato Soup with Beans
1 cup Mixed Raw Vegetables (Light Citrus Vinaigrette)
1 plate 2 large fillets Catfish, a little Rice, a little Mixed Vegetables

That was my diet.



The Day:

Today was a rollercoaster. The ride started with the ring of my alarm clock. I woke up feeling like ****. My cold had moved its entire company to the battlefield of my nose. I could only breathe through one nostril and I was weak. But, I was determined.

I stuck to my schedule and had an early morning breakfast, skipping my coffee, so that I could fit in my routine before classes at 9:00am. To compensate for last Friday’s tardiness I made sure to leave early enough and therefore left at 7:45am for the gym. I was concerned about this being too close to breakfast time (I finished around 7:30am), but put this out of my mind.

At the gym I started stretching and getting myself pumped up for the run in front of me. I bought a new Chinese rip-off iPod shuffle that I was excited to try so that gave me even more incentive. Of course, none of my nasal problems went away during this whole time and even with all that I had going for me to get the run done, this sickness seemed to not be deterred. The worst part of it all was that I really thought yesterday was the finality. I thought it would be good things from then on out. I was wrong.

As I walked into the cardio area I was confronted with the ultimate problem, one that know determination, no mind over matter or anything of the sort, could overcome. All the treadmills were occupied, taken! Nothing I could do! And the seconds were ticking. I couldn’t be late to my recitation because of a quiz planned during the hour block. After waiting it out a few short minutes, I had to make a choice. I admit I made the decision partly based on my sickness, but I try not to think of that influencing me. The fact is, I had to leave. I couldn’t get my workout in if I wanted to ace this quiz at the same time. And so, that ended the morning attempt.

But, the day was still young! For the rest of the morning I felt still fairly lethargic and weak. It wasn’t until after lunch that I began to think that I could actually do this day at the gym. In reality, I would have gone to the gym even if I didn’t think I could do it. I would have pushed myself to the edge regardless. But, the fact that I did think I would be able to perform was a nice bonus.

At 1:30pm, a good hour and a half after eating, I walked back to the gym. I felt good. I bought some Vaseline for my nose earlier, and it seemed that my symptoms were dissipating. Like the morning, I went through my stretching, went through talking myself up, warming my muscles, getting pumped. Now I was ready. Or so I thought.

The treadmill was a disaster. I used a slightly different model today. That shouldn’t matter I would think, but it’s worth mentioning as you never know what factors contribute to a horrible 14 and a half minutes. The first sign of distress occurred within minutes. I was running and my iPod rip-off started skipping, started shutting off, started disaster. This problem didn’t stop until the treadmill stopped. I stopped the treadmill, clipped it to my shorts. I stopped the treadmill, clipped it to my collar. I put it in my pocket. I put it on the little treadmill cubbyhole. Nothing solved the issue. Finally I decided to stop this on and off running and just restart from the beginning, music skipping and all.

I had run before without decent music, so I don’t take that as a contributor to what was to come. Instead, I take only one valid explanation: my sickness, my cold, my congestion. Despite what good feelings I had going in, the feelings during the motion were of no such type. I was breathing through my mouth within minutes. I was sweating profusely at the same time. Both of these conditions of the body were abnormal to me. Worst yet, it wasn’t even a mile on the machine. I wasn’t even half way done!

I still can’t believe it. I made it. I somehow made it. The amount of willfulness that I exemplified must have been uncanny. But, I made it. I finished my 2 miles exhausted, out of breath, sneezing, coughing, weezing, nearly collapsing. But, I finished.

What was next to come? Well, after taking a nice drink from the water fountain, it seemed my old morning dilemma took a sly vengeance. All the ellipticals were taken! Luckily, I now had the one weapon that was missing from the morning’s trials: time. I waited it out. At first I figured I would go on the treadmill at my standard 4mph 6% incline until a proper machine opened up. I quickly found I couldn’t handle that though, not in my current condition of exhaustion. I instead dialed in at 3mph, but didn’t spend much time. Less than 2 minutes later a women got off the elliptical 2nd from the left. I took it.

I knew before getting on that this was the faulty piece of equipment, the most inconsistent of the lineup. This one was magnitudes harder in resistance than any other. I tried to do my standard routine regardless. I couldn’t. I simply could not keep my legs moving at 65rpm with the level of pressure the machine gave back. I went on for as long as I could. Luckily, I didn’t have to see how long that would be. 3 minutes later other women got off another elliptical. I was all too happy to transfer over.

By now I was really sneezing my brains out. I made sure to use tons of antibacterial spray on everything I touched. I didn’t want to be that guy. But all of this snot, this disgusting liquid, was hampering my 20 minutes of up down back forth motion. I did my best, pushed myself through my own body’s responses, and finished it with nearly the same level of intensity and performance I normally dish out. I burned 273 calories if that’s any measurement.

I was ready to fall down now into a nice slumber. But, my routine was calling me. I had to finish. And that I did. I did my full 10 minutes on the treadmill at 6% incline going my full 4mph. Normally this is my cool down, but it didn’t feel like it. It felt like ****. I was so happy when that timer hit zero. I think that was the first smile of my workout, the only smile of my workout.

And so the gym day ended. I stretched out, got changed, and left the building.

The rest of the day went by on the normal. I ate as I normally eat and walked as I normally walked. I did some schoolwork and etcetera. Then came my pushups and sit-ups. I was in a particularly good mood (while being sick mind you!) at around 7:00pm so decided to do my nightly exercise then. This is to hedge against the future, and quite possible chance, that I am feeling like a piece of **** later at night (when cold symptoms tend to fluster). My pushups went by fairly well as I pumped out each and every one. I mentioned last time of possibly considering increasing the reps. I’ve thought about it some and don’t think I’m quite ready. I don’t want to be failing every night or else the fear of failure will break me down to not wanting to go at it at all (I’m that type of person – all or nothing). So for now, it stays at 30. My sit-ups similiarly will be staying where they are, but for a different reason. They are still on the harder side of a perfect workout. What I mean by this is that I failed tonight. On the last set I hit 21 and couldn’t bring myself up. The good news is that it means I’m pushing myself beyond my bounds. The bad news is, well I failed after many days of not failing on this exercise. I’m not sure what to attribute it to. Maybe it’s my increased weight which is making it harder to curl up my upper body. Possibley, quite possibly, it’s just me being weak from sickness. Or it could be that I am not used to doing full sit-ups since I for the last weak I’ve been doing these 90% variety because of my tailbone (which is now no longer an issue – it healed!). Oh, one last thing I should mention regarding sit-ups. I said last Wednesday that I would be trying out these other shoes to see if they make a difference in holding my feet down. The verdict is in. They do! They did an excellent job of keeping my lower body exactly where it should be. Now that all the hindering factors are gone, the tailbone, the feet, it should all be clear roads of progress ahead.

OK I’m done. What a long entry! I hope you enjoyed my story. The sad thing is I didn’t even exaggerate. Everything felt as bad as it sounds: actually probably worse. The lingering of the experience was already fading as soon as I left that fitness building. Anyway, I’m off to go see a violin concerto. Good night.



That was the day.





This concludes Entry #50.
 
Saturday 1/24/09
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weight: 151.6lb – -4.2lb
Body Fat: 8.4% – -1.0%
Lean Mass: 138.87lb – -2.28lb
Fat Weight: 12.73lb – -1.92lb

Diet:
8:10am:
2 small-medium Apples
9:15am:
1 medium Apple
1 small Apple
1 bowl Oatmeal [over the top]
5 Egg White Omelet with Deli Ham (Mustard)
12:10pm:
1 small-medium Apple
2 medium-large slices 12 Grain Bread [with HFCS] with Deli Turkey, Lettuce, Onion, Tomato (Mustard)
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Deli Ham (Light Red Wine Vinaigrette)
1 bowl Turkey Noodle Soup [extra Turkey and Noodles]
4-5 spears Pickles
2:40pm:
1 large bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper, Garbanzo Beans, Cottage Cheese, Deli Ham (Light Red Wine Vinaigrette)
1 cup Pasta Salad (Light Clear Dressing)
1 bowl Turkey Noodle Soup [extra Turkey and Noodles]
5:55pm:
1 plate with 3 Turkey Cutlets [breaded], Vegetable Chili, Broccoli
1 bowl Turkey Noodle Soup [mostly broth]
1 bowl Chinese Pepper Steak with Mixed Vegetables [mostly vegetables]
1 bowl Lettuce Salad with Cucumber, Pepper (Light Red Wine Vinaigrette)
1 cup Pasta Salad [mostly vegetables] (Light Clear Dressing)
1 cup Deli Turkey

That was my diet.



The Day:

Ah, the signs of well being! I am feeling much much better today. I woke up energized. Oh, I love this feeling of clarity. It almost makes sickness worth it just for that amazing relief when it is all over. I still have some small lingering symptoms, but now I truly believe the core of it is gone with. It’s great.

I also woke up this morning to a surprise in the numbers. I’m not sure what attributed to this sudden drop in weight and body fat. I do have two guesses though. One is it could be that while being sick I was retaining lots of water for whatever reason. Now that my cold has broken, my body may have equalized back to its equilibrium. This is possible; we’ll know in the next few days if I am truly around 152 instead of 155. Another possible explanation is because I took a giant crap this morning before taking my weight. I always go to the bathroom before measuring, but normally it’s just number 1. That inconsistency could have caused some discrepancy in the results. Again, we’ll find out tomorrow where I really stand on the scale.

I walked around doing errands for a bit today. That was my own real movement. It was a pretty average college Saturday. I felt like I ate often and in decent portions for a bulk. I may have gone overboard on the dinner; I’m not sure. As always feelings themselves are tough to tell, and even when you can tell, the consequences are inconsistent with the feeling. So yes, I felt over fed, but that doesn’t mean much. Hey: I’m on a bulk anyway. It’s better to eat more than eat less, right?

I’m just going to end this by saying how damn happy I am that I’m disease free. Goodnight. And this night, will be that: a good night.




That was the day.





This concludes Entry #51.
 
No, I didn't forget :D. I got some new progress pictures today! Yes, I'm excited. Not much can be seen from my relaxed shot, except maybe some fat gain. But! My flexing shot, in my view, seems to show a definite increase in muscular mass. It could just be what I want to see though. I'll let you guys be true judge. So let me know what you think. Here they are:
 
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