I feel like I'm just spinnign my wheels and getting almost nowhere...I fall into a slight depression and feel like no matter what I do, I can't change. .
Again, I think you have to get a grip on reality and cut yourself some slack a bit. I think you're being much too hard on yourself quite frankly.
The realty of your situation from where I sit is that you have a lot of stuff to be pretty damn proud of IMO - for example, you wanted to drop a lot of fat and you've done just that, you do a volume ( i.e 2 back to back sessions ) of spin classes that very few people could endure and you even top it off with a swimming session that even fewer people could handle, you have shown the commitment and discipline to weight train 4 times a week, you have the informed foresight and smarts to hire trainers / nutritionists to help you reach your goals and - and based on the content of your posts - it also seems that you're a quick study on the ' academics ' behind health and fitness becoming very savvy of a lot of the science underpinnings behind health and fitness. So, I would say you have " changed " quite a bit and you're the furtherest thing from " getting almost nowhere " IMO.
Looking in the mirror and the appropriateness of an emotional reaction being triggered as a result, and again at the risk of sounding like a broken record, is really a function of your expectations and how realistic they are. You're somewhere between 11% and 15% body fat which all by itself is an admirable accomplishment from a health perspective IMO. Now, I don't know what you thought a 11% and 15% body fat level would look like or translates to in terms of what you see in the mirror....and perhaps that's the real problem here. You might even get to sub10%, sub8% etc. body fat one day and once again, look in the mirror and STILL not be happy with the body you see...who knows ( i.e ' if I could only get to 9% body fat THEN I'd have a body I'd be happy with ' ...who knows )
Everyone is different, but for me, if I was consistently at 11% and 15% body fat I'd be a happy camper ( and actually I am, cause over the past 25 years or so, Ive hovered pretty close to 13% +/- ) regardless of what I look like in the mirror ( fat wise ) and my expectations would be readily met.
I'm built husky and look like a line-backer. I keep thinking I can become svelt, lean and more "normal"...and then I look in the mirror and, in my friends term, I'm still a meatball. The ironic thing is, there are so many skinny guys who would want to have my body-type, and here's me wanting to be more like them.
You are normal.
And again, if you've got a " husky and a line-backer " physique, you've probably got a body type more in line with most bodybuilders than with a marathon runner. And, if you do have a husky and a line-backer body - it can get lean as well.
And, I think you're ' spot on ' - I think there are a heck of a lot more guys out there who'd like to have a muscular mesomorph type physique ( close to what you have now ) than some of these lean skinny guys you see. In other words, you should count your blessings BSL....sort of a ' glass half full ' view of your body than the ' glass half empty ' attitude that seems to be gripping you at the moment.
No, I don't track the actual calories on paper, but I am very obsessed with reading labels and keeping a keen sense of just how much is going in. I'm the first person to say "I bet there's more then you realize". I'dhave to call it an extremely accurate ballpark.
Seems like you've got a good handle on it.
Only reason I ask is - and as you said - is because most people tend to underestimate the amount of calories they take in and i was wondering if this might have been one area ( underestimating calories ) contributing to your rate of fat loss falling below your expectation.
Beyond that, we're on the same page. I think tracking every calorie and gram of protein, fat and carb ' on paper ' each day is fine for newbies trying to get a handle on the whole calorie issue, but I think after a few months to a year, most be people should be up to speed enough on calories so they can do what you do - simply be vigilant in making am " extremely accurate ballpark ". Tracking every calorie you eat on paper each day for the rest of your life is just a stupid long term approach toward sustaining a healthy lifestyle IMO.
. I pride myself on not leaving the gym until the clock ticks 2,000 calories burned. Takes about 3.25 hours. 1,450 in spin,550 in the tank..
Maybe I'm not following correctly , but didn't you say "
I think I'm taking-in about 2,200 to 2,800 calories per day " ?
Cause if that's the case - and you're burning about 2,000 calories on those ' spinning ' days ( as you noted above ), that almost puts you in sort of a starvation mode for the rest of those days doesn't it ?
I know you probably calculated your ' daily maintenance calories ' based on the amount of exercise and your lifestyle etc. but what are your calories per days just to sustain your basic metabolic needs - i.e what is your daily BMR ( not RMR ) ?
After spin class I've tapped heavily into my glycogen and I'm hopefully deep into burning fat.
Not sure I understand exactly what you mean by that - can you elaborate ?
Weight-training takes a big toll on the body, many trainers want you to come in fully-fueled and use the pristine sugars to fuel the muscle through weight-training, only after these sugars are depleted is some "light cardio" good to wease the fat-burn.
I suppose that is possible, but I also think you could make a pretty strong argument that 2.5 hours of pretty intense spinning takes just as big - if not more - of a toll on your body than a 1 hour FBW with weights.
As for sugars, your blood glucose ( sugars ) won't last long in terms of fueling your weight workout...in fact I think your blood glucose alone will only give you a couple of minutes worth of energy. Most of the energy to sustain your weight workouts will come from primarily muscle glycogen ( i.e sugars ) and - of course to a lesser extent - fat.
Now, as for light cardio, remember, even though light cardio may burn a higher proportion of fat ( i.e simply doing
no exercise at all yields the highest proportion btw
) more intense cardio will burn a greater volume of fat. Don't confuse the proportion of fat being burned with the volume of fat being burned. Doing cardio at lower intensities does burn a greater proportion of fat but it'll burn less fat ( i,e volume of fat ) than if you do cardio at higher intensities. As your cardo intensity goes up, the total number of calories burned for a given unit of time will also increase.
You think I'm gonna get off my bike and walk out of a room and leave 45 hotties thinking I couldn't finish what I started.
Agreed.
The '
hottie factor ' is a much under appreciated area of study in health and fitness today IMO.
For this reason alone, forget 2 classes, I could see doing 3+ classes back to back !
Gotcha.
After my spinnign class I consume 1/2 my large protein shake. It's 2 scoops of protein mix, 1 cup light soy milk and about 1.5 cups of Green Machine smoothy (banana, apple, orange, lots of green-stuff, etc)..
Sounds good ...I agree that
' some ' protein is helpful after a hard cardio session, but if it were me, I think I'd focus a bit more on the carbs vs. protein in my emphasis of post workout macro nutrient proportions...something like a 4:1 carb / protein gram ratio...but again, that's just me. Conversely, after a hard weight training session, the focus might be more on protein than carbs.
After my swim/spin I usually call my wife and We go to this Japanese/Korean fusion restuarant.
Sounds good to me.
My nutritionist says I'm a meat-popsicle and uber-prime to build muscle at ease.
Again another positive to keep in mind....most guys would ' kill ' to have that sort of genetic predisposition.
My weight often stays the same yet body-fat% calipers keep sinking deeper each month: fat goes, muscle gains.
Then you're ' golden ' !
That's exactly what you want.
I'm stupid-thick with muscle.
Again, most guys would " kill " to be " stupid-thick with muscle ' - consider yourself lucky.
. I weight-train 2x a week on my own and I have a personal trainer 2x per week as well.
Holy crap ! Weight training 4 X a week .....as well ? Kudos !
Given everything else you do, that's to be commended. Well done !
For me, I weight-train to keep a toll placed on my muscles; It's to preserve muscle.
Fair enough.
Interestingly....in spin class I notice other people can attain much higher rpm's then me!!
Frankly, I think you put way too much focus on what ' other people' are doing.
First and foremost, focus on yourself and forget about other people - turn your focus inward .....not outward.
If I try as hard as I can to spin the peddles as absolutely fast as possible, I can't come even within 35% of what other people can do.
To which I would reply...... " so what " ?
My quads are huge, my legs are like tree-trunks.
Again, good to hear ...a lot of guys would " kill ' to have legs like that.
I do fine on the trail, my friends say I have "Torque", but I can only speed-crank to about a medium pace, about 65 rpm in cadence, whereas other can slam it up to about 100 rpm cadence for very limited periods. It must be the bulk & size of my legs.
Or it may depend on ' others' ' level of aerobic or anaerobic conditioning, or their power and speed conditioning, or their lactate threshold level, or the amount of muscle glycogen they have, or their genetic makeup ( i.e the preponderance of one type of muscle fiber type vs. another )...or some combination of all these factors.
The point being, for someone like yourself who has accomplished so much to date, is capable of doing so much quality training as you now do - with all that you have going for you - I gotta tell you, from an outsider's perspective, to hear you constantly comparing and judging yourself to others is something very frustrating to read. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit IMO.
Once again, I would reply with respect to those ' others '...... " so what " ?
It's relative. 40 pounds in 5 months is incredible. It took me 10 months to lose 40 pounds my results really should be more pronounced
Sorry,but anyone who drops 40 lbs in a safe and sensible manner gets my respect and admiration.
And again, you know the reason your results aren't more ' pronounced ' - your genetics are the reason.
I get the sense you still are simply unable to accept this simple fact of life ( i.e the cards you were dealt ) - am I right ?
BOTH are baffled at how I can exercise so much, eat so righteously and not have even half the results they would expec to see.
I think you know the reason - genetics - it seems to me you just don't want to accept it.
However, if you DON'T accept it is due to genetics, then fair enough. Then, do simply something about your current training ...i.e change it up in anticipation of possibly getting some different results.
You can accept one or the other - you can't have it both ways IMO.
I'm only pulling 5.6 seconds. Still quick, still impressive...but not upto par with the numbers.
I know...I get it ....you've touched on this point over a half a dozen times now.
Seems to me, your challenge is to to decide to accept this reality as being due primarily to either genetics or primarily due to some ineffective aspect of your current training ( i.e it has nothing really to do with genetics )
Wrangell...I don't mind the slow progress.
You seem to be sending mixed messages.
Cause to me, after reading your many posts ...it really seems to me like your slow progress is actually driving you nuts. You seem very very frustrated and disheartened IMO. Am I right ?
It takes me longer and I have to work harder then most. It's tough and depressing at times...but still, I can and have hacked it.
Good man...just accept it.......it is what it is after all ...so, just ' tough it out '.
More and harder training - and NO complaining.
frustrates me is feeling like there's a gun to my head: if I don't maintain this intensity I won't have any results!!! What's worse, maybe I'll even slip backwards..
Well, if it were me, I'd get serious take a leap of faith and ' experiment ' with something different ...just to see what happens if I go outside my comfort zone. Find out - once and for all - the extent to which genetics plays a role in your results or not.
You have a real advantage in that you've got great assets ( i.e trainers, nutritionists etc. ) to draw upon. I would exploit that reality. I'd wipe the slate clean and turn my entire training - 100% - over to them on a short term trial basis ( i.e 3 - 6 months ). For example, tell them you want to drop some more fat, hold your muscle, build up to optimal conditioning for biking.... but you want to do it while having biking as a major component of your training.
For example , get a ' top flight ' ( i.e results oriented, with a proven track record ) trainer(s) for 1 hour, once a day for 5 days....and let them take control for awhile.
What is that for a top shelf trainer 5X a week ? Maybe only about $500 - $1,000 a week ? That's not really that much..
Given the time it took you to type all that, I must again thank you for your time & thoughts...
- Steve
No problem.
