Xanarios, Battle of the Bulge

Introduction
Despite the fact that I’m awfully new here, it is comforting to see such helpful support for those of us fighting their own bugles. As such, I feel inspired to tell my story and possibly start down a new road myself.

For most of my youth I was a heavy set fellow, mocked and shunned for my own weight. Typical sob story - etc., etc. - except for the fact that about two years ago I decided to change all of that. I took a radical step, read up a bit on fitness training, cut my calories and pumped up my gym time from none to a whole lot. The end result was pounds melting off, and an almost miraculous 120 pound drop over the course of about a year.

Anywho, long story short - I exist now in the parallels of an athletic build and skinny fatness. I’ve got nice shoulders and upper frame, but a beer belly and sagging arse… and I’m tired of it.

June the 24th, 2007 marks the second stage of my revolution, inspired almost entirely by this beautiful corner of the world wide web - and I would love to have some company / support along the way.

Baseline
Age: 23
Weight: 182 lb
Right Arm (flexed): 33.6 cm
Chest: 104.3 cm
Belly: 96.6
Waist: 92.2
Butt: 99.6
Right Thigh: 57.4
Right Calf: 40.6

The Plan:
08:00 AM Rise and Shine
08:30 AM PreWO
09:00 AM Workout
09:30 AM Workout
10:00 AM PostWO Drink
11:00 AM PostWO Meal (P,C)
02:00 PM Meal 1 (P,C)
05:00 PM Meal 2 (P,C)
08:00 PM Meal 3 (P,F)
11:00 PM Meal 4 (P,F)
12:00 AM Lights Out

The Diet
180g Protein
72g Fat (Split 1/3 Olive, Flax, Saturated)
3 Servings Fruit
3 Servings Veggies
1 Serving Beans
1 Serving Brassicas

Distribution / Allocation
PreWO
Protein Powder (1 scp)

PostWO (No Starchy Carbs When No HIIT)
Oatmeal (1/2 cup)
Cream of Wheat (1 tbsp)
Frozen Berries (1 cup)
Protein Powder (1 scp)

Meal 1
Tuna (1 can)
Apple (1 cup)
Tossed Salad (1 cup)

Meal 2
Egg Whites (1 cup)
Canned Pineapple (1 cup)
Spinach (1 cup)

Meal 3
Chicken Breast (3 oz)
Black Beans (1/2 cup)
Spinach (1 cup)
Olive Oil (5 tsp)

Meal 4
Chicken Breast (3 oz)
Broccoli (1 cup)
Spinach (1 cup)
Flaxseed Oil (5 tsp)

Totals
HITT Days
1848cal | 130g carbs | 189g protein | 62g fat

Regular / Off Days
1650cal | 94g carbs | 181g protein | 59g fat

I’ve even made it into a nice spreadsheet available for viewing (and more numbers / better breakdown) right here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p0XnEE_qRNLCLO0dNYOvwWg&gid=0

I’m a huge fan of oatmeal, spinach and grilled chicken breast (been eating basically nothing but that and tuna for the past two years, and I’m not about to stop - it’s all too yummy), so the distinct lack of variety isn’t going to do much to slow me down.

What bothers me, however, is how much more fatty this diet (based on recommendations made to others) is than what I am used to. On typical days, I get calories from 40% protein (140g), 40% carbohydrates (100g mostly complex and starchy foods) and 20% fat (25g). Will this be too much of a shift in diet?

On second thought, perhaps this lack of fat calories is partially responsible for my inability lose the darn’d belly.

For those interested, I plan to keep myself motivated through a series of body measurements (taken daily at first) and photos (about every 10 days). A little OCD typically goes a long way :laughs:. Also - any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow the fun begins!

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
What bothers me, however, is how much more fatty this diet (based on recommendations made to others) is than what I am used to. On typical days, I get calories from 40% protein (140g), 40% carbohydrates (100g mostly complex and starchy foods) and 20% fat (25g). Will this be too much of a shift in diet?[/quote]

Much more fatty? Man, you probably went on a fat-free diet. :frowning:

A lot of people are on a 33/33/33 diet and seem to be quite able to gain muscle and keep fat under control.
Fat in your food is usually fine (within reason), but carbs can be much more of an issue, due to the insulin response.

I would probably add some carbs to the pre-WO meal. It’s your first meal in the morning AND it’s pre-WO, so that twice the insurance that those carbs will be put to good use. And you need some carbs at that moment, otherwise you’ll lack energy for your workout.

I hope you are lifting heavy.

Carbs are fine in the morning, just like fat is fine in the evening. Looks like you figured out that every meal needs protein. Good.

Your diet provides very few calories, which indicates that you want to continue to lose fat. I dunno, based on the pictures you provided, I don’t think you have to worry about that. If I were you, I’d ramp the calories up, lift heavy shit every other day and start packing on muscle.

Here’s an article on MWA that defines the basic principles:

http://www.musclewithattitude.com/readTopicMwa.do?id=1584213

And here’s some more advanced stuff:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1615551

Good luck.

[quote]florin wrote:
Much more fatty? Man, you probably went on a fat-free diet. :frowning:

A lot of people are on a 33/33/33 diet and seem to be quite able to gain muscle and keep fat under control.
Fat in your food is usually fine (within reason), but carbs can be much more of an issue, due to the insulin response.[/quote]

It wasn’t quite fat free, but retrospectively it was just about as close as one could manage. Probably a mistake, but one that I’ve no problems trying to rectify. My reading tells me much the same - some fat here and there won’t kill me; of this I am relieved.

[quote]florin wrote:
I would probably add some carbs to the pre-WO meal. It’s your first meal in the morning AND it’s pre-WO, so that twice the insurance that those carbs will be put to good use. And you need some carbs at that moment, otherwise you’ll lack energy for your workout.[/quote]

This sounds like reasonable advice, something that I should have thought of before hand. I’ll need to put some thought into it; would maybe a fruit/veggie combo be sufficient? Or are we talking about something a bit starchier (akin to oatmeal / grains)?

[quote]florin wrote:
I hope you are lifting heavy.[/quote]

Doing my best, I haven’t done deadlifts / squats in a while (read: long time) though, so I need to start a little bit lighter until I work out the proper form again - but I have no delusions of low weight, high repetition magic-results.

[quote]florin wrote:
Carbs are fine in the morning, just like fat is fine in the evening. Looks like you figured out that every meal needs protein. Good.

Your diet provides very few calories, which indicates that you want to continue to lose fat. I dunno, based on the pictures you provided, I don’t think you have to worry about that. If I were you, I’d ramp the calories up, lift heavy shit every other day and start packing on muscle.[/quote]

I suppose that I am still a bit paranoid about fat, especially after so many years of being surrounded by it. In fact, I’m not even sure how to structure a diet around eating more… it’s about as foreign to me as things get.

My basic understanding, however, would be that I should steadily increase/decrease intake until I am comfortable with the results and to let my body adjust. To that end, ramping up say 500 calories a week in nice lean meats / veggies / fruits (etc) seems like a reasonable course of action.

Hmm… This is a new line of thought.

[quote]florin wrote:
Here’s an article on MWA that defines the basic principles:

http://www.musclewithattitude.com/readTopicMwa.do?id=1584213

And here’s some more advanced stuff:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1615551

Good luck.[/quote]

Thank you for a head-clearing response and even reading material! I really do hope that it all goes well, but the more luck I have the better things will turn out :smiles:.

Day 1 Summary
Well, it’s the tail end of the first day, followed the original outline to the T and I’m pretty sure I’m feelin’ fine.

Consumption Totals
1848cal | 130g carbs | 189g protein | 62g fat

What Florin said has struck a cord, that maybe a better route to leanness would be to more directly rebuild the muscle that I lost / never really had - and that adding more overall quality calories (keeping proportions roughly the same) would be a good idea.

I think that I’ll treat this week according to the current plan to see precisely where my weaknesses lie by day 7. Might have to do more shopping too.

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
What Florin said has struck a cord, that maybe a better route to leanness would be to more directly rebuild the muscle that I lost / never really had - and that adding more overall quality calories (keeping proportions roughly the same) would be a good idea.[/quote]

I’m gonna ditto Florin here, as I feel that adding some muscle to your frame would serve you much better than simply trying to shed some more fat (judging by your picture, I’m pretty sure a majority of the members on this site would echo this sentiment).

You seem to have a pretty good idea of what you need to be doing diet-wise (gradually ramping up calories through quality foods), definitely look into the articles on this site and don’t hesitate to ask for advice.

Congrats on your progress so far, by the way. 120 lbs is an awesome achievement.

You’ve got a solid attitude, too, man (that’s pretty rare on people looking for advice), so definitely don’t hesitate to shoot us questions.

Best of luck.

[quote]conner wrote:
I’m gonna ditto Florin here, as I feel that adding some muscle to your frame would serve you much better than simply trying to shed some more fat (judging by your picture, I’m pretty sure a majority of the members on this site would echo this sentiment).

You seem to have a pretty good idea of what you need to be doing diet-wise (gradually ramping up calories through quality foods), definitely look into the articles on this site and don’t hesitate to ask for advice.[/quote]

The two of you have, for all intents and purposes, convinced me that straight body-fat reduction isn’t going to get me as far as I would like in the long run. The picture itself isn’t the most flattering I could have taken (there’s muscle in there somewhere, of this I promise) but serves as a good reminder that there’s plenty of work that could be done.

At any rate, I added another serving of carbohydrates to my morning and introduced a scoop of protein powder to my workout-drink. It’s a small step (bringing workout day caloric intake to around 2000 cal), and but the first of many.

Like my previous posts have mentioned, I firmly believe that taking nutrition on a weekly basis (instead of a daily basis) is the most appropriate way to judge its impact on the body.

[quote]conner wrote:
Congrats on your progress so far, by the way. 120 lbs is an awesome achievement.

You’ve got a solid attitude, too, man (that’s pretty rare on people looking for advice), so definitely don’t hesitate to shoot us questions.

Best of luck.[/quote]

Thank you for the words of encouragement and a push in the right direction. Y’all know more than me in matters such as this, and I’d be an idiot if not to at least consider the advice!

Cheers!

Day 2 Summary
The second day of my new diet / lifting plan and previous deficiencies are already beginning to show. My squats and deadlifts need plenty of work - if anything but to correct by bad (hideous, to be more specific) form. Still, the split schedule I put together through the aide of this site feels like progress in the right direction.

As mentioned earlier, today included a few more carbohydrates in the morning and some intra/post-workout protein (on top of a dextrose mix).

Total Consumption
1,927cal | 189g protein | 152g carbs | 63g fat

(I’m not counting the protein or the carbohydrates in the workout/pwo drink - as a few of the proper dietary practice articles have mentioned - is this the proper way to go?)

I feel a little tired, ready for a good night’s sleep - something that has been rather rare as of late. Obviously eating healthier (fattier and more balanced on the whole) and looking forward to putting in time tomorrow to work out my next few weeks.

Testosterone Nation dangerously hardcore

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
florin wrote:
I would probably add some carbs to the pre-WO meal. It’s your first meal in the morning AND it’s pre-WO, so that twice the insurance that those carbs will be put to good use. And you need some carbs at that moment, otherwise you’ll lack energy for your workout.

This sounds like reasonable advice, something that I should have thought of before hand. I’ll need to put some thought into it; would maybe a fruit/veggie combo be sufficient? Or are we talking about something a bit starchier (akin to oatmeal / grains)?[/quote]

Pre- and post-WO are probably the only times when you can eat anything and not be “punished” for it.

The answer may surprise you - fast carbs are fine at that moment. Glucose, whatever. This is true both pre- and post-WO. Go to the T-Nation store and read about Surge. Also read the numerous pre- and post-WO nutrition articles on T-Nation.

Some people throw a scoop of whey protein in a bottle of Gatorade and sip it before (sometimes also during) training. Then, after training, get a full serving of Surge.

There are many schemes and combinations like that. The bottom line is - pre- and post-WO you need fast carbs and fast protein to stimulate muscle growth.

There’s probably some individual variations too in the way people react to this stuff.

You forget fat again. :wink:

You can probably ramp up calories a lot more, if your exercise program is good.
But anyway, looks like you’re going in the right direction. As long as you experiment and make adjustments based on the results, I don’t see what can go wrong.

I can see how making too many changes at once might be less than optimal, especially since it seems like you’re going through a major paradigm shift now. :slight_smile:

Just keep reading, there’s a lot of good stuff on this site.

[quote]florin wrote:
Pre- and post-WO are probably the only times when you can eat anything and not be “punished” for it.

The answer may surprise you - fast carbs are fine at that moment. Glucose, whatever. This is true both pre- and post-WO. Go to the T-Nation store and read about Surge. Also read the numerous pre- and post-WO nutrition articles on T-Nation.

Some people throw a scoop of whey protein in a bottle of Gatorade and sip it before (sometimes also during) training. Then, after training, get a full serving of Surge.

There are many schemes and combinations like that. The bottom line is - pre- and post-WO you need fast carbs and fast protein to stimulate muscle growth.

There’s probably some individual variations too in the way people react to this stuff.[/quote]

I’m confident that my post-workout drink would qualify as fast absorbing carbs, but I hadn’t considered something similar before hand. Interesting, aye, and logical as well. Perhaps after I get my nutritional needs “dialed in” I can see about supplementing a little bit more with Surge or something equivalent.

[quote]florin wrote:
You forget fat again. ;-)[/quote]

This will be the death of me (not quite literally, mind) - I swear I’m so unaccustomed to cooking with oils that I’ve considered simply downing a tablespoon or two alongside dinner to ensure my daily requirements.

[quote]florin wrote:
You can probably ramp up calories a lot more, if your exercise program is good.
But anyway, looks like you’re going in the right direction. As long as you experiment and make adjustments based on the results, I don’t see what can go wrong.

I can see how making too many changes at once might be less than optimal, especially since it seems like you’re going through a major paradigm shift now. :slight_smile:

Just keep reading, there’s a lot of good stuff on this site.[/quote]

More you say? Bugger, might be harder than I thought to get everything down pat. Ah well, t’is why I’m here: pretty sure this is the first time that anyone has ever told me that I might be better off thinking about things beyond just fat-loss. A refreshing train of thought, really.

Day 3 Summary
Today was an off day from lifting, at least according to the split schedule, though the diet didn’t change all too much. Took out the starchy carbs and managed to not put anything in as replacement.

Total Consumption
1,729cal | 181g protein | 116g carbs | 60g fat

Still not really sure exactly how to go about putting together a “bigger” diet, but the information available here is proving invaluable. From what I figure, my normal caloric expenditure for simply being awake should be around 2500-2750 cal. Adding on top of that work lifting / work / everything else could easily put it past 3000.

Seems, then, that the best starting point would be somewhere slightly more than 750 calories in excess of what I currently receive. A tall order, and something to sleep on.

I agree that you should add some more calories and start trying to build some muscle, it will do wonders to change your skinny-fat (self described) physique.

Try some less lean sources of protein, beef, oily fish should bump up your fat/calorie intake a bit. Beans are a good source of fibrous carbs. One of my favourites is to get 10% fat beef mince and make chilli with kidney beans and chopped tomatos.

Don’t fear fat or carbs when trying to gain, keep your food choices sensible and time your carbs around the morning and workouts and you should be able to make gains without excessive fat gain.

I don’t know what your training is like but it would be worth reading up some of the beginner routines here. Needless to say it should be based around compound movements. My personal preference is for full body or a upper/lower split.

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
This will be the death of me (not quite literally, mind) - I swear I’m so unaccustomed to cooking with oils that I’ve considered simply downing a tablespoon or two alongside dinner to ensure my daily requirements.[/quote]

Join the club, my friend. I got into the habit of that up at college and found it surprisingly convenient. Now I do it all the time.

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
Still not really sure exactly how to go about putting together a “bigger” diet, but the information available here is proving invaluable. From what I figure, my normal caloric expenditure for simply being awake should be around 2500-2750 cal. Adding on top of that work lifting / work / everything else could easily put it past 3000.

Seems, then, that the best starting point would be somewhere slightly more than 750 calories in excess of what I currently receive. A tall order, and something to sleep on.[/quote]

Eating a “bigger” diet really isn’t as difficult as a lot of posters seem to think, two suggestions:

  1. Bigger breakfast (they ain’t lying when they say it’s the most important meal of the day). Oatmeal, eggs, the works. Not only do you have to recover from 8 hours (in your case) of no food, but I find it helps with energy while working out. A single scoop of whey isn’t nearly enough in this case.

Run a search for the article “The King of Meals” for more info on how important breakfast is. Interesting stuff. In fact, reading as much from Lowery and Berardi as you can will definitely help you out in general (my two current favs here, always packing good stuff in their articles). Simply click the Authors tab (on the left), and bookmark their links.

Now, I’m not suggesting you need to drastically alter your diet in any way, but they provide tons of great, yet minor, “tweaks” here and there.

  1. Meals 1 and 2 seem a little skimpy. Does a salad and a can of tuna really take care of hunger for ya, especially after lifting? You can easily pack 375 more calories into two meals, either through upping portion sizes or a little more variety.

Eating big can seem like a chore at the beginning, but you quickly get the hang of it, and there’s definitely more than one way to skin this cat.

[quote]Stuey wrote:
I agree that you should add some more calories and start trying to build some muscle, it will do wonders to change your skinny-fat (self described) physique.[/quote]

Part of the problem (I suppose partially psychological) is this whole “skinny-fat” descriptor. The attached image, taken just earlier today, I think more accurately describes my situation than the baseline photos.

Even lightly flexed I’m comfortable with self-image… but the moment those arms go down and a neutral stance is taken up, I gain this formless - almost pathetic - look. Is this skinny fat? I dunno… but it’s not where I’d like to be.

Needless to say, it seems clear now that the correct approach against this oversight is a bit of gaining alongside a great deal of lifting.

And, if anything, it will at least be a fun experiment.

[quote]Stuey wrote:
Try some less lean sources of protein, beef, oily fish should bump up your fat/calorie intake a bit. Beans are a good source of fibrous carbs. One of my favourites is to get 10% fat beef mince and make chilli with kidney beans and chopped tomatos.[/quote]

This idea comes up alot, and definitely sounds tasty - who doesn’t love chili? Will be sure to make a nice large stock-pot of something along these lines come next week.

[quote]Stuey wrote:
I don’t know what your training is like but it would be worth reading up some of the beginner routines here. Needless to say it should be based around compound movements. My personal preference is for full body or a upper/lower split.[/quote]

Well, after a few months of a general full body schedule, I decided to switch into a 4 day split adapted from an article I ran across on this site:

Chest/Back
Legs/Lower Back
HIIT
Back/Abs
Shoulder/Triceps
Off
Off

Still trying to condition myself to the new regiment though - muscles I didn’t even know I had are sore.

[quote]conner wrote:
Join the club, my friend. I got into the habit of that up at college and found it surprisingly convenient. Now I do it all the time.[/quote]

Good to hear this isn’t as insane of an idea as I had imagined. The looks my friends were giving my, however, was almost enough to make me stick to it.

[quote]conner wrote:
Now, I’m not suggesting you need to drastically alter your diet in any way, but they provide tons of great, yet minor, “tweaks” here and there.[/quote]

Aye, there’s much work to do in order to modify the current diet plan listed. It’s weak, deficient - whatever you want to call it. Still, alot of great information and ideas have poured into my cranium as of late (thanks, mostly, to y’all) - no doubt things will look better once it is all down on paper.

[quote]conner wrote:
2. Meals 1 and 2 seem a little skimpy. Does a salad and a can of tuna really take care of hunger for ya, especially after lifting? You can easily pack 375 more calories into two meals, either through upping portion sizes or a little more variety.

Eating big can seem like a chore at the beginning, but you quickly get the hang of it, and there’s definitely more than one way to skin this cat.
[/quote]

Frankly, after about a year of slimming down and learning how to control hunger, a can of tuna and salad is a pretty sizable meal. That being said, I have no problem inhaling 5-6 pounds of fish in one sitting as long as my appetite is there.

Pretty sure a more regimented eating schedule will bring that to fruition.

Day 4 Summary
Experimented today with a different mixture and timing on my workout-consumption, taking in a much heavier load of fast carbs and protein. Not sure if I like the results or not yet.

Found myself getting hungrier and hungrier today, the meals not satisfying as much as they used to. I suppose this is a sign that my metabolism is finally beginning to pick up and do what’s good for it… or that my reserves are beginning to run dry (or both?).

Total Consumption
1,942cal | 190g protein | 153g carbs | 62g fat

Spend the rest of the afternoon going over my plan for next week, trying to take stock of what I need - both in shopping and nutritional content outright.

I ended up at this point:

270g Protein
90g fat
4 Servings Fruit
4 Servings Veggies
1 Serving Beans
1 Serving Brassicas

8:00 AM - Breakfast
Oatmeal (1/2 cup)
Cream of Wheat (2 tbsp)
Canned Pineapple (1 cup)
Protein Powder (1 scp)
Egg Whites (1/2 cup)
497cal | 69g carbs | 44g protein | 5g fat

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Workout
Dextrose + Protein Powder during/after workout
~50g sugars, 24g protein (excluded from calculations)

11:00 AM - Post Workout Meal
Oatmeal (1/2 cup)
Cream of Wheat (2 tbsp)
Frozen Berries (2 cup)
Protein Powder (1 scp)
485cal | 76g carbs | 32g protein | 6g fat

2:00 PM - Meal 1
Tuna (1 can)
Chicken Breast (3 oz)
Apple (1 cup)
Tossed Salad (1 cup)
418cal | 21g carbs | 70g protein | 4g fat

5:00 PM - Meal 2
Egg Whites (1 cup)
Chicken Breast (3 oz)
Canned Pineapple (1 cup)
Spinach (1 cup)
352cal | 23g carbs | 55g protein | 3g fat

8:00 PM - Meal 3
Beef, Sirloin (4 oz)
Black Beans (1/2 cup)
Spinach (1 cup)
Olive Oil (2 tbsp)
570cal | 21g carbs | 43g protein | 35g fat

11:00 PM - Meal 4
Chicken Breast (3 oz)
Broccoli (1 cup)
Spinach (1 cup)
Flaxseed Oil (2 tbsp)
474cal | 7g carbs | 30g protein | 35g fat

Totals
On - 2796cal | 217g carbs | 274g protein | 88g fat
Off - 2561cal | 173g carbs | 265g protein | 85g fat

Maintains roughly the same proportions as the current plan (about 33% per carb/protein/fat). I figure I can substitute in other meats / veggies as I see fit - so long as I stay within the general budget.

It looks reasonable, at least from a more naive perspective.

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
This will be the death of me (not quite literally, mind) - I swear I’m so unaccustomed to cooking with oils that I’ve considered simply downing a tablespoon or two alongside dinner to ensure my daily requirements.[/quote]

Good, but instead of that, throw it on a bunch of lettuce leaves, add balsamic vinegar, and eat it with a good chunk’o’beef for dinner.

In fact [grin] that’s exactly what I’m going to do in a few minutes.

Make sure it’s olive oil, tastes a lot better than anything else and it’s like the god of healthy foods.

Aw, man, I’m so hungry.

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
On - 2796cal[/quote]

Not bad, given that you’re 182lb, not ripped.

Keep track of your weight and your body fat percentage - get yourself a caliper and use the 7 point method perhaps once every other week. The weight might be measured more often, but I’ve found that daily measurements are more confusing than helpful. Maybe twice a week or so, see what works for you.

Once you know your weight and your body fat percentage, you can calculate the lean mass.

The total weight doesn’t matter that much, but the total weight + the fat % are very relevant together.
E.g., if the total goes up, but the % stays constant, guess what, congratulations, you’re adding lean mass (muscle).

This may help to alleviate some fixation on the body weight, which is common among people who were overweight.

Keep in mind that the caliper method is not very precise. However, if you always do it in the same way, it’s always wrong by the same amount, so it’s still very useful as it’s more important to keep track of variations than of absolute values.

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
Day 4 Summary
Totals
On - 2796cal | 217g carbs | 274g protein | 88g fat
Off - 2561cal | 173g carbs | 265g protein | 85g fat
[/quote]

Nice work.

Day 5 Summary
Decided, after waking up absolutely ravenous, that today would be as good a day as any to really start working towards that new diet. Made egg/oatmeal/whey pancakes that hit the spot.

Took some effort, mainly due to the sheer volume in the morning, to pack it all in - but I’m sure that everything will adjust accordingly.

Total Consumption
2775cal | 216g carbs | 272g protein | 88g fat

Tomorrow / Saturday are off days, alongside some celebration for my birthday - sushi in the evening, maybe a bit of cake (gotta have fun sometime, right?). Hopefully it doesn’t go too overboard so that everything can come back into place on Sunday.

Day 6-8 Summary
After a good, long celebration and general miss-eating, got back into the thick of things this morning. Had a slight reduction in estimated calories due to a busy day at work, but the general rations seemed to be maintained.

Total Consumption
2631cal | 203g carbs | 237g protein | 94g fat

Measurement, Trend[quote] (weight in pounds, size in cm)[/quote]
Date: 6-24 / 7-01
Weight: 182 / 184
Arm: 33.6 / 34.7
Chest: 104.3 / 106.6
Belly: 96.6 / 96.3
Waist: 92.2 / 92.2
Butt: 99.6 / 101.7
Thigh: 57.4 / 58.4
Calf: 40.6 / 41

So far so good, especially considering human error. Got myself some calipers to take general body composition measurements - should be an interesting experiment for tomorrow.

Day 9-13 Summary
Week started off well, sticking to my plans and ensuring that my eating / training were well coordinated. Still trying to not break anything during the lifting by working on form and properly adjusting myself to the split. Diet tanked on the 4th, as might be expected - trying to make up for it today (though more family in town and celebration over the course of the weekend will probably ruin that as well).

I hope I don’t end up damaging my entire regiment as a result of a few larger meals (there’s this growing uneasiness, paranoia really, that the new diet isn’t going to work as intended)

Total Consumption (Day 13)
2337cal | 173g carbs | 224g protein | 84g fat

Also bought a nice (read: low cost) pair of calipers to do some body-fat measurements for this Sunday. Might be a bit skewed due to holidays - but that should be easy enough to make up.

[quote]Xanarios wrote:
Day 9-13 Summary
Week started off well, sticking to my plans and ensuring that my eating / training were well coordinated. Still trying to not break anything during the lifting by working on form and properly adjusting myself to the split. Diet tanked on the 4th, as might be expected - trying to make up for it today (though more family in town and celebration over the course of the weekend will probably ruin that as well).

I hope I don’t end up damaging my entire regiment as a result of a few larger meals (there’s this growing uneasiness, paranoia really, that the new diet isn’t going to work as intended)

Total Consumption (Day 13)
2337cal | 173g carbs | 224g protein | 84g fat

Also bought a nice (read: low cost) pair of calipers to do some body-fat measurements for this Sunday. Might be a bit skewed due to holidays - but that should be easy enough to make up.[/quote]

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

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

Happy belated birthday, by the way!