Okay, I’ve been lurking for a while and have put my $.02 in on a few forums, now it’s my turn. I finally decided to get off my sedentary butt and get back in shape. My goal: Lose weight over the holidays without denying myself any “pleasures.” So I desided to go with Meltdown Level 1. Opening stats: 31 y/o 6’4", 235 41" measurement at umbilicus (below belly button). Est. BF 24%, LBM 178.6, FM 56.4. The only activity up to this point had been officiating basketball a couple nights a week (not that hard).
I am following the prescribed lifts with the following exceptions: Pull downs for chins (I’ve never been strong enough, will work on that on Phase 2) and Back hyperextensions for deadlift (my lower back has been really bad). While I promised myself no diet, I have cleaned up considerably. A typical day is a protein shake with skim milk for breakfast, leftovers for midmorning (chicken & rice, steak, etc, lunch is post workout shake with orange juice, skim milk and protein powder, more leftovers late afternoon, and whatever for dinner. I always drink a lot of water, and have cut out pop for the most part, but still indulge. I also eat that late night bowl of ice cream if I feel like it. Supplements are 6 grams flax oil, 3 grams fish oil, 3 X Glucosamine/Chondroiton, Cafine/Ephidrine on lift days, and 3 X T2 pro per day (just ran out, only had a hand full)
Anyway, here is a summary of workouts and results after three weeks. Week one was a struggle, and often cut reps back to 8 or failure on last set just to get through. Could only do 8 reps for dips anyway, and not with 3 second count. Week 2 I got all of my reps for all four sets by the end of the week. Should also add that I reffed 8 games on Saturday during a tournament and felt no adverse affects. Last year 4 games would have put me down for Sunday. Week 3: Kind of tough, had to swap Tues. and Wed. adnd then cut Wed. short. Missed yesterday to stay home with my sick 10 month old, cut today short too. Stats as of 12/20/02: Still 235 lbs, 40" umbilicus, est. bf 22% LBM 183.3, FM 51.7. So three weeks in my weight is the same, and lost one inch off waist. My estimate is a gain of 5 lbs. muscle and loss of 5 lbs fat. I’ll admit that I did not intend to “diet, I’ve changed my habits. My plan is to continue Meltdown 1 for 2 more weeks (total 5), go on a strength phase for 6 weeks, then try Meltdown 2 for 4 weeks. This will take me to our spring vacation at Daytona Beach. With a much cleaner diet and possibly some better supplements My goal is to get down to 38” on waist by then.
I’ll try to update this weekly.