Fit by 60! - TomO's Pledge

Good Morning Tom :) Congrats on the measurements. Sounds like you are making great progress there. You have reminded me that I need to use measurements more often to help when the scales are stubborn :)
 
Excellent job Tom. Your diary inspires me a lot. Keep up the good work.
 
happy monday to you- - it's also poultry day today - do the chicken dance beneath the light of the moon... have a fantastic week...
 
Monday, March 19, 2007

Weight: 243.6 - up from yesterday, day #32 of Plateau #2. :mad:
BP & Pulse still great.

Calories in = 3,388 / Calories out = 2,441, for a surplus of a whopping 1,035 calories.

Yes, yesterday was a MAJOR cheat day. We went to the farmer's market with the intention of cooking a healthy meal when our friends came over. Then the smelll of the BBQ ribs wafted over us and got the better of us. So we had ribs, baked beans, cole slaw, and just to make sure the calories went over the top, chocolate cake.

My big restraint was that I didn't drink any wine, because I thought after they left, I'd go to the gym. But I never went, falling asleep on the couch instead.

Even so, I have a deficit for the month of 13,000 calories -- one would think that would translate into more than a pound and a half lost! But that doesn't appear to be the case. And this month I've really tracked everything meticulously, no cheating there at all. On top of that, I've revised my calories expended in exercise DOWN, since I started using my HR monitor exclusively for that, and it's more conservative than the machines.

I gotta say, it's getting a bit frustrating now.

Today is HIIT day. Going to do it on the elliptical this time; the stairmaster is too hairy.

I'll wait until the end of this month. Then we'll go see my son in San Francisco. If I'm still stuck after that, I'll go pleading to Coach Steve again for help!
 
M2M said:
Tom,
Your strength of perseverance is inspirational! You WILL get past this!
Click to expand...

Thanks m2m, I sure hope so! Of course I fell off the wagon pretty hard yesterday, but in the context of the whole month it was a minor blip. Funny though, when I have a surplus of 1,000 calories, it shows up the next day on the scale. When I have a deficit, the scale stays the same. NO FAIR!
 
so maybe the splurge will give a jumpstart to your body.. your numbers look good and that's what counts... as well as your general over feeling of feelinb better.. the scale is just a number..
 
TomO said:
Even so, I have a deficit for the month of 13,000 calories -- one would think that would translate into more than a pound and a half lost! But that doesn't appear to be the case. And this month I've really tracked everything meticulously, no cheating there at all. On top of that, I've revised my calories expended in exercise DOWN, since I started using my HR monitor exclusively for that, and it's more conservative than the machines.

I gotta say, it's getting a bit frustrating now.
Click to expand...

I'll say!!! Glad that you're putting so much effort into it, and that you're so healthy--maybe you should buy a new scale(?) :confused:
 
Good read on the measurements Tom. Part of your plateau, truthfully, could be some body recomposition happening... i.e. more muscle, less fat. Yes, I always say that it is impossible to have concurrently, but not true to the newbie lifter. I know you are not a newb, but a newb doesn't have to be someone just starting out. It can be someone just getting back into it. So that is a positive.

It the plateau continues much longer, we will see what we can shake up. :)
 
Steve said:
Good read on the measurements Tom. Part of your plateau, truthfully, could be some body recomposition happening... i.e. more muscle, less fat. Yes, I always say that it is impossible to have concurrently, but not true to the newbie lifter. I know you are not a newb, but a newb doesn't have to be someone just starting out. It can be someone just getting back into it. So that is a positive.

It the plateau continues much longer, we will see what we can shake up. :)
Click to expand...

OK, now I'm getting confused -- help me out here.

Here's what I thought I understood:

Repairing existing muscle and growing new muscle are two different things. Your body, even in a caloric deficit, providing it's not too severe, will use some of the calories ingested to repair existing muscle. In the process, it repairs it so it's stronger than when it started, so it can meet the challenge that caused it to break down.

In a caloric deficit, however, your body will not recruit those much needed calories to build new muscle tissue. Instead, it will recruit the energy it needs first from fat cells, and then from lean body mass (unless, of course, you've put yourself into a starvation mode).

OK, I started lifting again last November. Granted, I wasn't doing the right thing -- it was all stuff on machines, and focused on specific muscles, but I was doing weight training a minimum of twice a week. I started the program you designed about 3 or 4 weeks ago.

So here's what I really don't understand. Where is my body getting the calories to "recompose" my body structure? Why and how do I violate all the rules you've been talking about?

Man, I wish I understood this thing better. The whole concept of metabolism, fat loss, muscle growth, etc., is still like a mysterious black box to me.

I hope you can enlighten my poor, confused soul!
 
TomO said:
So here's what I really don't understand. Where is my body getting the calories to "recompose" my body structure? Why and how do I violate all the rules you've been talking about?

Man, I wish I understood this thing better. The whole concept of metabolism, fat loss, muscle growth, etc., is still like a mysterious black box to me.
Click to expand...

Oh I KNOW!!! Add a bunch of sodium in there and talk about a bum scale reading! ;)
 
Your program before probably involved to much isolation work and not enough heavy compound lifting to elicit protein synthesis. In the early stages of a properly designed resistance training schedule, recomposition is a phenomena that is very real. It does not last long, but it happens.

You are correct, eating just enough of a deficit warrants enough nutrients to ward off catabolism, and hence repair muscle tissue, provided the right things are consumed.

In the beginning though, some of the nutrient partitioning can actually create new protein synthesis.

Don't worry too much about this temporary "sweet spot" in training as it plays little of a role in your long term training.

What I always spout about not being able to gain muscle and lose fat concurrently is the golden rule for a HUGE majority of the time.

That is why I don't even like speaking of simultaneous recompositioning. It is too short term.

Also, you are running some surplus days, which can def. add to this effect.

I know you are looking for a more comlex response, but truthfully, the science isn't out there to prove that recompositioning is a possibility, at least not that I have seen. However, I know for a fact that I have first hand witnessed recompositioning happen.

I suspect a lot of it has to do with hormonal shifts.
 
geez, i can't even begin to understand half of what you guys are talking about!! :D

i just wanted to pop in and thank you for all of your kind words and encouragement! it's great to be back!
 
daiseeangel said:
geez, i can't even begin to understand half of what you guys are talking about!! :D

i just wanted to pop in and thank you for all of your kind words and encouragement! it's great to be back!
Click to expand...

YW Daise, glad to have you back. And of the 2 of us, only 1 knows what the hell he's talking about!
 
Workout Log - 3/19/2007

Straight HIIT on the Elliptical, 45 min., 680 calories

10 min. warmup, followed by
15 x 35 sec. sprints at resistance 12 and speed 245 rpm,
each one followed by 55 sec. at resistance 12 and speed 80 rpm
10 min. cooldown

Exhausting, but I felt pretty good afterward.

I'd like to work my way up to 20 sprints at 35 sec.
Then start working on the work:rest ratio, to go more from 1:2 to 1:1, to 2:1

We'll see how it goes . . .

Felt a LOT safer on the elliptical than the stairmaster.
 
Nice workout

Been exhausting myself, too. Looking foward to resting and relaxing tonight (I weight trained for an hour 6:45am to 7:45am before work--can't wait for the day to be over! ;) )
 
I think I'm getting that look my students gave me when I started explaining checks and balances to them this year. Whatever you're doing Tom it seems to be working so keep it up :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top