Transforming the Buddha Belly from Literal to Figurative

Who am I?

I am a Buddhist in training, nerd, a fighter and most importantly, uber dork. =D

I just happen to love weightlifting. Not just for pushing the body and setting PR’s but for all of the life lesson’s learned along the way.

This log will chronicle my thoughts and journey through the Iron Game.

Here I go and welcome to my journey.

Stats:
F, 5’6, wt:169.6
Bucket Squat: 250 (knee wraps & belt), Bench 130, DL 290 (Belt)

Long term goal: 1k total (belt & wraps) Yeah… it’ll be a while. That’s why it’s a long term goal.
5-6 Month goal: May 19 PL comp: Sq 300 (bucket), DL 315, Bench 175 (belt/wraps) Lofty yes, but I rather over than under shoot
Miscellaneous goals: 12 pullups, 5 Handstand pushups, fix left rhomboid tightness and be competitive volleyball player playing a Men’s net oh yes… wear a bikini for the first.time.ever.

Some of these goals are competing but if push comes to shove, the May 19th meet always comes first.

kthxbai!

“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.”

  • Buddha

The beginning of the training log journey:

Let’s see the before, or the now…

Oh damn… I think I will have to do a round 2 after my meet. -_-’ I look just like my role model, Kirby, the only bulimic superhero. I look all puffilicous and phatilicious.

I started (yday) Lyle McD’s Rapid Fat Loss Handbook (RFL) as a cat 2 and will continue for 2 weeks.

Reasons:

  1. losing weight sucks.
    1b. losing weight slowly sucks more
  2. I want to compete in the 165 and with so many goals, getting it out of the way is the way to go.
  3. It will help sexify me for bikini season
  4. I can focus on rehabbing me shoulders and hips (ART for left glute, PT for partially torn r. labrum. Damn volleyball)

Since I did not start this log yday, this is a recap from what I learned day 1:

  1. Walking briskly with only 900 cals in me was tough. The real workouts are gonna sux
  2. Must add chia seeds. I foresee bad things happening when I make my daily offering to the porcelain Godess
  3. Dieting is not that bad. Not doing what I say is way more painful than any eating/exercise protocol will ever be. I failed to follow through many diets because I thought it was too “hard” But if I have to deal with being a coward or sucking it up, sucking it up will always win. With that option, dieting is becoming, dare I say it, kind of easy. =/

Truthfully, this diet is really way more than looking better or competing at a lighter weight. It really is a way to break my pattern running away. I am committed to FOLLOWING through with ANY goal I have no matter how daunting. I have been half assing my weight loss attempts since I was 10. That’s 15 years and that’s pretty shitty.

Despite all this… “I’m Sexy and I Know It” (ok, I had to post it. too funny) LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It - YouTube

Day 3. Squishy Squishy

Wt. 169.4. That’s what I have to show for it. W/e, I do notice a difference in my body and after limbo’ing /-10 (170-180) for the past 3 years, I know that I usually can drop 5-6 overnight. I have my reason for why it seems slow for now despite only eating 900 cal or less but I’ll wait until the program is done before I give my assessment. I am unusually squishy today and constantly thirsty. I will use the squishy to embody Bruce Lee and “Move like water”. kiiiiiiya!

Oh yes… the tension workout (aka move heavy shit) (always sans gear (belt/wraps))
SQ 1x2x200 (it flew and I never did it b4. so… HIGHLIGHT!), 2x6/7X185
Dips 2x2 (first time doing it in a while… feels… not bad), 2x8
Hamstring Curls 2x2/3x120, 2x8/6x90/80
Pull ups 2x1, lat pull dn 1x6x100

Was suppose to do max 1 set of each rep scheme but kinda got carried away until I remembered at the end. D’oh! >.< meh…

Day 2 notes:
Hunger hunger oh my!!!

My new mantra: hunger is fatassness leaving the body… repeat 100x holding off and eating my last meal at 9 instead of 7 or 8 was the smartest thing I did. Who knew steam tilapia and kale would be soo delish.

Fat free cheese is gross… and expensive! (I am a cheese diva) I gotta un-diva-fy myself for 2 weeks.

Aretha Franklin in my head: “But I have standards!!!” Me: “shush fatty”

Tis all for now. Have a fab day everyone.

The middle of day 5. or near the end. =D

Morning weight in: a whopping 168.4. w00t! so it is a 1.2# deficit in 4 days. boogernuts. I hope swooshes come soon. Regardless, I am happy that I am losing wt but the expectation threw me off a bit. Still, I will shoot for 158-162. Just maybe it will take a bit longer.

As for lifting, my next heavy day is tomorrow and I can’t wait to deadlift… and to refeed. Wait… did I just say that? I hate deadlifting. Maybe I am excited about the carb load. Lemon curd & ricotta cheese, ice cold milk and cereal… Get in my belly!

BUT, I am excited about dl’ing with straps (less CNS intensive so to speak) and beltless. Since I never did 2-3 dl without a belt, no matter what I lift tomorrow will be a PR. The mark is set @245 for 2. Time to get my sniper rifle. oh yes… OK so maybe I an excited about both.

Will type something more introspective tmw. Now I have to run to the natural food store and pick up some herbal voodoo, ma hung, aka ephedrine to expedite results! Hopefully the store will have it. Asked and GNC/Vitamin Shoppe and the employees looked like I was asking for crack. Please… I know where to get me some if I ever want it. OOPS… TMI =O

Oh yes… If anyone is in NYC on Sunday and sees this fool… That’s me after the carb up =D I am part English after all. :wink:

Wooo first

Looks like your in this to win this. Very detailed and well thought out. Overall 10/10 start.

I just created my first log here. Its kind of New Years themed out but what greater reason could there be? Maybe we can help keep each other interested and motivated in the best ways we can.

Regardless looks good so far, keep it up no matter what!

Thanks Mitchelha! I’ll def keep my eye out on you too. :wink:

First thing’s first: HAPPY FREAKING NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Bringing in positive vibes and LASTING happiness!

Back to the program:
Day 6: Woosh…

After taking the EC stack (ephedrine/caffiene 20mg/100mg) and peeing like a race horse, my morning weigh in: 167.4. Pretty sweet.
The highlight of my NYE was the scheduled 5hr refeed. It was glorious. While I was shopping for food, I couldn’t help but drool. But I ate too much… a little uncomfortable but the stares and the food was so worth it.

The refeed, all homemade:
Sweet potato with pla tu (mackeral) chili paste
French Toast w/ ham topped with ricotta cheese and lemon curd. (ok not the curd or the cheese… but I only had 5 hours!)
Red Curry Chicken w/ veg and udon noodles
cucumber and long bean salad
rice pudding with FF greek yogurt, a whole orange and 1cu strawberries
4 steamed corn fritters (thai style) with sweet chili sauce
With 5 mins left to spare, Aloe Kiwi juice with coconut milk

And I still under ate carbs. MY friends were amazed that will so much food, I didn’t eat enough. One of them was a big dude too!
Next time, more condensed liquids.

The workout before the feast was tough. In hindsight, I should have done it in between the refeed like the book suggested.

Push Press:1x2x100 New exercise so didn’t expect much from it. It was good for the shoulder tho. The eccentric portion really worked the stability of my right shoulder. (I will go a bit lighter after RFL)
Deadlift: 3x1x225, 1x4x185.** (straps were a pain… I will learn to use them after RFL)
Bench 1x2x115, 1x8x95 pretty hard… could not pause.
Weighted decline cruches 2x8x25#

**Being this carb depleted showed in my dl. My butt kept shooting up in the air so I kept it lower wt. The good new I found a potentially new training buddy. This dude is so humble and his DL is FLAWLESS and has been training for abt 1yr. He learned from Youtube Vids and a one time critique from a PL’er. So jelly… I have been doing it for months and it’s still awkward. BUT, I can help him squat. His squat is like my dl, it’s safe but inefficient.

NYE was amazing. And being sober has it’s benefits. I saw my first BF ever and we had a heart to heart. (awwww) He said some really unexpected encouraging things to me and I don’t think I would have cherished them more if I was buzzed. And without further ado… my resolution. This year’s will be about redemption and moving forward. I didn’t realize how many regrets I had over the years and how they were really eating me alive and taking a toll on me. WHY? Because I know I am better than that. Time for my ideal self merge with my real self.

  1. Follow through on ALL the things I never complete (or what I can remember)
  2. Make amends for what I’ve done wrong to others and heal some severed relationships (whether it’s my fault or not; #2 goes both ways. I am on a quest to banish my own anger and disappointment from other’s too)
  3. Live the motto: Once I say it, I must do it. (i am gonna be a bit selective with what I promise now. lol)

All in all, I see this year to be a very challenging (but if a commit and never back down) and rewarding year. Unless… the Mayans are right. Then we fucked!


Quick update:

Wt:170.2 BOO! It’s only been 2 days after my carb coma so I didn’t expect much else tho. LOL. But in other news, I look a ton better. This is my weekly progress pics.

**NOTE: I was dieting lower carb 2 weeks prior starting RFL so I was relatively carb depleted and held less weight. I guess this means that I actually started out 2-3# heavier that my starting wt of 169.4. And since I am planning to maintain a moderate carb diet when I get to my goal weight I am excited to see how I look weighing 160 with that extra glycogen and water in me. =D

Banging workout. People still say banging right?

Workout:
Squats 1x205x3, 1x185x6. (almost got stuck. My core was really pushing it.) It’s nice to have a powerful ass
Pull ups 1x2 (singles), lat pull dn 1x100x8 w/ 2 sec pause at the bottom
Hamstring Curls 1x120x2, 1x100x8
Dips 1x3 (super easy!)

Circuit: (depletion) 2 sets
1a. Leg press: 2x25 oh… the burn
1b. 1 arm row 1x20#x15
2a. Push ups 2x10
2b. hamstring curls w/ stability ball 2x15

Other plus… after 2 days of mental torture, the need to gorge is diminishing. Thanks God to sugar free jello and 33g of FF cream cheese. Yes… I measured. Sheesh… before I was adamant about never counting calories but look where that got me. Things will balance out in time tho. I rather not measure out my tablespoon servings anymore. I is freak.

Weigh in tomorrow!

WT: 166.4 Again no “rapid” weight loss. But visually is a whole other story. I see changes to my body day to day and that’s keeping me motivated. I MIGHT push it another week if I can hold off doing SS. I am so excited to try low bar squatting. More relavent to raw PL’ing than the high bar, no? BUT I must get below 165 first… sooo freaking close!

Workout yday: metabolic
1a. low bar squats (trying this out) 2x95
1b. pushups 1x15,1x13
2a. BB military press barx12
2b. 1 leg squats 2x15
3a. straight arm pull dn/kayak row 2x10x40#
3b. Bicep curls 2x8x35 plate
4a. High pull 2x15
4b. Farmers walk 35# DB
5a. walkouts 2x5
5b. overhead/ reg squat 2x20
6 hanging leg raise 2x10…

I think I exhausted the muscle glycogen in my bod… too bad… b/c I just decided yday to stop the diet. I did say 2 weeks of RFL and I did it. =) going to go on a normal diet with exercise. I do miss working out. I didn’t like how lazy I became on RFL… I just didn’t want to move and just walking to the market for an hour got me light headed. I will post pics tmw. I realized that I am going to weigh more than expected but that’s ok because it is only glycogen and water. I will make sure I am under maintenance cal.

Workout:

Dips: 4sx3r (progressed by starting from the bottom of the mvmnt)
Pull ups 2x1
lat pull dn 1x100x5
Foam roll!!!

Felt pretty good.

Current focus: Maintain strength, lose 5 more # of fat, improve body alignment (laterally tilted pelvis, and slightly kyphotic shoulder that causes my L rhomboid to feel uncomfortable)

Skills: Hand stand push ups, improve body wt movements (dips, pistols, pullups etc…) and hit a volleyball like “a man” or how I use to before I got injured. Got some programming to do!

Workout:
Deadlift 1x215x3, 1x185x6
Push Press 1x95x2
bench 1x125x3, 1x75x25failure
inverted row 3x6
incline pushups (pt exercise for rhomboids) 2x10

Sweet, got wt down to 161. =DD happy dance now, the first day of SS. Let’s see if I have any potential newb gains. Does being new to low bar squatting count? =P

Squat 145
Bench 85
DL 175
Dips 2x2 (shoulder felt unusally unstable so i chilled.)

Surprisingly, felt kinda tired. Until next time.

Squat 150
SOHP 65
PC 85

Whew… got out in time after a fight over a squat rack… dunno if it is a good or bad thing. lol

squat 155
Bench 90
DL 195… oops… think i went up more than planned. meh.

Volleyball, my mannish hits are coming back. Yay. Women’s net, but gotta start somewhere… giving it a couple more weeks for consistency.

Sq:165 super easy!! greasing teh grooves baby!
SOHP: 70 (REALLY hard… considering teh last WO was 65… but then… there was teh break and my warmup was prob on the short side. 3rd set was easier tho… hmmm)
PC: 90# soo ugly… need to video tape. I did some of the cleans in phases… and I think I chest bumped one of the reps… don’t ask. But by sets 4 and 5 it was super smooth and easy.

Ok I did not disappear… I have been logging my progress on the starting strength forum but just to keep this alive, I will update here periodically.

current workout as of Wed:
Squat: 235x5, 2setx3reps (will deload)
Bench: 120x3x5
PC: 105 (reset from 115) 5x3

Today:
Squat: 205, either 3x5 or 5x3, waiting on what people on the SS forum say. Supposedly sets of 3 work very well for women given their ability to activate their cns.
SOHP: 72.5x5
Deads 265x5