Consistency. It's not a pizza topping.

Decided to take a night off from the usual weekend festivities. Yeah, I'm a real badass in my old age. I like to stay home on Friday nights and read about fitness. It's finally warming up a little here, so I'm considering taking a walk in this balmy -10 degree weather. :p

Gonna do some "light" (I insist it's leisurely, rws!) cycling in a bit. The girlfriend insisted on coming over to hang out, then decided she wanted to repot (is that what it's called?) all my plants, since I was (and will be again in a second, just taking a little break) too engrossed in NROL to pay attention to her. It's quite hilarious to watch her go about it. Don't anyone tell her I said so, but I'm anticipating a whole lot of casualties over the next couple of days. :D Err, I mean, my poor plantses! :(
 
02/02/08

90 mins stationary cycling, 30.0 miles, 1237 calories

I'm becoming increasingly certain that my calorie numbers can't possibly be right (for the cycling, anyway). I mean, if I was working that hard, I'd be tired afterwards; I'm no superman. But I rarely am. And my heart rate has yet to exceed 110 bpm at that pace. In fact, the only time that it did was when I was watching her do some yoga for a while. I think you can guess why. :D And it's getting easier every day. The only reason I'm not going at a higher pace is because I'm convinced it'll cause an "interference" effect. The whole activity is really just to make up for what is otherwise a lot of sitting around.

Anyway, I hopped off the bike and she said she sees lines on my stomach, calves and arms that weren't there a little while ago. That's neat. Maybe I should just let other people be the judges of whether or not I'm progressing. Also, I swear I've got more peak and firmness in my biceps than I did. And, at the very least, I need to keep reminding myself that I feel lighter, faster, stronger, and more happy in general. I'm also horny all the time, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing. :p So, why should a number on a scale make me obsess over whether what I'm doing is "best"? **** that ****. Right? Right.

In short, all is well. Except for the fact that I'm sitting in the dark because I can't figure out where the eff the replacement light bulbs went. :bncry:
 
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You should probably get that checked out. I'm pondering filling this place with fluorescent lighting, but it's already "pretty creepy" in here, supposedly. :p

209.4 again this morning.
 
about all that conversation about gaining weight in defecits...

I have experienced much of the same things when I was cutting. It seems like on the days where I do the most cardio, and therefore create the biggest defecit... I end up gaining a pound or two in the morning.

I think this is all just water weight playing tricks on us really...(I drink a hell of a lot more water when I am doing jumping jacks for three hours..)

I know that when I cut next time I am only going to do it for 10 days max, then go back into a surplus period, and just keep following something like that.

For me, the only way to lose a good amount of fat is to shock my body when my metabolism is high.

If I would have kept continuing with my current keto cut, it would have been much like the last time I tried... I consistenly lost .3 pounds of fat every two weeks..... those are terrible results in my opinion and not even worth cutting for them.

From what I have read, other ways to break plateaus are to just take a week off from the diet or cycle calories throughout the week (2500 one day, 1800 one day, 2100 one day etc.)

For me, it just seems like my body adapts to the defecit so quickly and the weight loss stops.

EDIT: Hey, did you try taking your temp. in the morning?

EDIT AGAIN: Also, I just went to my fitday account and 1.5 hours of leisurly bicycling is only 350 calories for a 160 pound dude (myself) how are you calculating your bicycling calories? Are you putting it into the calculator that you are bicycling at 20 MPH for 1.5 hours? Or another way?
 
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realworksuks said:
For me, it just seems like my body adapts to the defecit so quickly and the weight loss stops.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this seems to be the case for me, as well, but only when I'm weight training. When I'm not and I'm at all active, it's very hard for me not to lose weight. At least it has been in the past. As recently as last summer.

realworksuks said:
EDIT: Hey, did you try taking your temp. in the morning?
Click to expand...

Naw, haven't done that yet, but thanks for reminding me. It will be helpful to know whether my metabolism is high and/or I'm overtraining (gonna take my heart rate as well). But, like I said, I have tons of energy, and I don't get hungry until it's time for my next meal, so I really don't think I'm undereating.

realworksuks said:
EDIT AGAIN: Also, I just went to my fitday account and 1.5 hours of leisurly bicycling is only 350 calories for a 160 pound dude (myself) how are you calculating your bicycling calories? Are you putting it into the calculator that you are bicycling at 20 MPH for 1.5 hours? Or another way?
Click to expand...

Afaik, fitday's calorie expenditure calculations are very wrong. They're sort of infamous for it.

What I did was I created algorithm based on taking the cal/lb/min values of most of the decent sources I could find, for each mph, finding the mean, then taking the average of that value and what my bike is reporting (which is modified for my weight and height, and the two values are usually pretty close). I think you might be right about my bike exaggerating the speed, but that is an 80-90 rpm pace at half the max resistance, so I don't think it's overstating things that dramatically. I'll have to go give it a run at the gym sometime and see what that equipment says. I suspect it'll be nearly the same, because I remember easily burning in excess of 1000 calories in a session, back in the day. Supposedly. -_-

I'm going to try and find a good heart rate monitor wrist watch (that maybe includes a pedometer function), which should come in pretty handy, I think.

For now I'm just eating a lot of salt, to see if it has anything to do with sodium deficiency.
 
I want you to know that whenever someone brings up consistency I tell them it ain't no pizza topping. Actually it goes more like this:

"I'd like it to be a little more consistent."
"Hey, that ain't no pizza topping, you know!"
"What?"
"Consistency...."

And sometimes like this:

"Man, I'm tired."
"Hey! Consistency ain't no pizza topping!"
"Why do you keep saying that?"
 
kittyhartman26 said:
I want you to know that whenever someone brings up consistency I tell them it ain't no pizza topping. Actually it goes more like this:

"I'd like it to be a little more consistent."
"Hey, that ain't no pizza topping, you know!"
"What?"
"Consistency...."

And sometimes like this:

"Man, I'm tired."
"Hey! Consistency ain't no pizza topping!"
"Why do you keep saying that?"
Click to expand...

Hahahaha. Fantastic. :D In return I shall tell you the story of how it came to be.

My girlfriend, she has a strong European accent, so she says consistency kinda like "kahn-seas-ten-say". (I severely exaggerate it when parroting it back at her, of course). So, I'm yammering on about my fitness and nutrition stuff that I'm about to start, and she's like, "Well, I think you just need more consistency, but you never listen to me so whatever." I says, "Consistency (pronounced the way she does), is that, like, a pizza topping?" and add something about being hungry. And she says no and gives me her usual pathetic attempt at a withering glare. And I proceed to laugh uproariously like I am the funniest thing since Black Bush.

And then [Focus] said, "Let there be journal title!" And it was good.
 
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hahahaha

I like that!

and then Focus said- Let there be a journal title! irreverance is a strong suit of mine too.

respectfully irreverant,
FF
 
[Focus] said:
Yeah, this seems to be the case for me, as well, but only when I'm weight training. When I'm not and I'm at all active, it's very hard for me not to lose weight. At least it has been in the past. As recently as last summer.
Click to expand...

That's really weird... why do you think that is?

[Focus] said:
Naw, haven't done that yet, but thanks for reminding me.
Click to expand...

no problem!

[Focus] said:
Afaik, fitday's calorie expenditure calculations are very wrong. They're sort of infamous for it.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that.... I have been going off of those... probably stupid of me... can you tell me better sites to look for calorie expenditure??
 
02/02/08

90 mins, 30.0 miles, 1244 calories

Gonna have to start increasing my pace on the bike soon. I feel like it's too easy even for a leisurely pace. I read NROL the other day (in one sitting, haha - my work fails at being work) and afaik I'm pretty close to what Alwyn recommends, except the thing about taking those breaks when you're starting out. Had I been following NROL, after tomorrow I would need to take a week off from weights before starting up again. I dunnoes aboot that. It's tempting, though, because I respect Alwyn's opinion, and I think dropping the weights and just doing cardio for a week will show me some scale numbers, but... I don't really wanna. I'm just getting into it, and having fun. Also, time pressures, with regard to the contest. :p I'll have to think about it.

realworksuks said:
I didn't know that.... I have been going off of those... probably stupid of me... can you tell me better sites to look for calorie expenditure??
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Sure thing, boss, but I just noticed this is taking way too long. I'll hook you up with the list I took my numbers from later. Got it here somewhere. Or maybe even the spreadsheet I made a while back, if I can find it. But, sadly, even the "best" numbers are poor estimates at best. It's very individual, as I've discovered for myself. That's why I'm monitoring everything so carefully now. You should see all the charts! Anyway, hope your night's going well. ^_^ And everyone else, too. :)
 
kittyhartman26 said:
I love it! Where is she from? I mean, from where is she? Ah yes, grammar.
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She's Romanian. I have a thing for gypsy girls. I don't know why. They're just very exotic... maybe they remind me of toffee, which I also have a thing for. Who knows. :D Or, maybe, gypsy girls have a thing for me. Can't imagine why that would be, either.

(Disclaimer: she's not really a gypsy. She actually becomes quite indignant when I call her one. Something about lowlife scavengers. But she's not here, is she. :p)
 
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After reading NROL I realize several things:

1) Afaict, my current workout is significantly more difficult than fat loss I (but still, I think I prefer it)

2) My strict supersets are probably inefficient, and somewhat excessive at this point

3) I'm "warming up" with too much weight and too many reps [I was pretty much aware of this]

4) [I definitely knew this] The bicep curls have got to go, or at least get dropped down to the end. Same with the CG Bench.
Click to expand...

So, starting in 30 mins or so, I'm going to change from exercise, exercise, 60s rest to Cosgrove's "supersets with full rest" which will look like exercise, 60s rest, exercise, 60s rest.

I should really cut the curls, but I'm going to put them on the end instead, with the close-grip bench. That means my session will now look like:

SLDL
BO Row
DB Squat
BP
RDL
MP
CG BP
Bicep Curls
Click to expand...

Really, I should just leave those two off the end, but yeah. Anyway, I think this will have the net effect of making things more difficult, but also more effective.

Gonna bump all first set weight up to second (work) set weight. Not gonna bother warming up for anything less than 100 lbs. If weight >= 100 < 150, I will do a single warm up of 5 reps at 50 lbs.

Tempting to change the RDL's to lunges, but lunges makes me throw up when they come directly after DL's and Squats. I think I'll incorporate lunges and either DL or Squats next cycle, then whatever else, rotating out a lower body exercise each time.

Also, I was reading what Alwyn was saying about the psych-out factor of lifting the weight off the rack yourself when benching, and I totally know what he's talking about, but I'm not sure that there's much I can do about it for the time being.

I want to try doing the dynamic warm-up from TNT, but I'm pretty sure it will wreck me and gimp the rest of my workout. Maybe I'll wait until I'm fit enough to do all that without noticing a serious strain (not that I've even tried it to know for sure, haha).

And uh, yeah. I'm feelin' long, strong, and down to get my freak **** on. :D Just gotta whip up some new sheets real quick.
 
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I decided I'd also add an extra work set, aiming for 15-12-(10-8)'ish for reps, with the caveat that I have to take the recommended week off between Feb 10-17. Alright, then. Time to get strong. :SaiyanSmilie_anim:
 
02/03/2008

Today's weight training:
[Number coloring: Improvement | Decline | No Change | Δ] [Rest standardized to 60s between any two exercises]

Sumo Deadlift x15 @ 80 (+30) lbs
Bent-Over Row x15 @ 50 (+10) lbs
Sumo Deadlift x15 (-20) @ 80 (-20) lbs
Bent-Over Row x15 @ 50 (+10) lbs
(+Set)Sumo Deadlift x15 @ 80 lbs
(+Set)Bent-Over Row x15 @ 50 lbs

Dumbbell Squat x15 @ 110 (+60) lbs
Bench Press x15 @ 85 (+20) lbs
Dumbbell Squat x13 (-5) @ 110 lbs
Bench Press x16 @ 85 lbs
(+Set)Dumbbell Squat x10 @ 110 lbs
(+Set)Bench Press x11 @ 85 lbs

Straight-Legged Deadlift x15 @ 130 (+80) lbs
Military Press x11 (-4) @ 40 (+20) lbs
Straight-Legged Deadlift x14 (-1) @ 130 lbs
Military Press x8 (-2) @ 40 lbs
(+Set)Straight-Legged Deadlift x12 @ 130 lbs
(+Set)Military Press x8 @ 40 lbs

Total time: 55.0 (+14.5) mins​

Thoughts:
Well, that was interesting. I wussed out on the Sumo Deadlifts and the BO Rows. Could’ve handled more weight on both, though with the rows it’s more what my legs can keep me standing up for than what I can pull. Should see some big greens on them next session.

Overall, I think Alwyn’s changes made for a much better workout. I didn’t have anything left for cg bench or curls at the end, so I didn’t bother. May not look like it, but just finishing off that last set of MPs was nearly torturous. If you go by my color coding it looks like I actually decreased in strength on a number of exercises, but my total output was significantly higher. And I’m looking forward to some serious green on Tuesday.

All in all, ‘s good. Felt real strong, and was. The amount of rest I was allowing myself earlier, that was ****ty. It was cardio compared to this. Actually felt some of the lifts where I was supposed to.
​

Edit: 90 mins stationary cycling, 28.7 miles, 1214 calories
 
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Oh, right.

90 mins stationary cycling, 28.7 miles, 1214 calories

Went half on my WO nutrition and really felt it later while cycling. Hopefully my suffering will translate to fat loss. :p
 
02/04/08

90 mins stationary cycling, 30.7 miles, 1256 calories

Did something a lil different. I was feeling real energetic so I let myself "run" just a little near the end. After 85 mins at a 19 mph pace I cranked the resistance and rpm's to what would have been a "100%" effort 30s sprint 8 months ago. And here's the thing, rather than barely being able to do it for 30s, as I was then (this was about a month and a half into my training at the time) I was able to do it for a full 150s (2 and a half minutes) without feeling it like HIIT. Dunno what's up with that, but, uh, **** yeah. :D

Then I waxed poetic, quoted some Keats, and referenced something I wrote a while ago about the "runner's high". Hope everyone's havin' a gooder.
 
209.0 today. So that's down a bit from yesterday, and I've managed to post a 0.6 lb gain for Week 1 of the contest. Alright! :rolleyes:

We'll see what the measurements have to say later. Weight training in a bit. Gotta pop over to Purolator first and pick up some stuff that shouldn't have even been sent. -_-
 
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