This Time Imperfect.

AthalaRanger said:
The thing is, I'm still at a high body fat (around 20 %, I believe) even though my scale weight is relatively low.

Okay, but gaining muscle mass lowers body fat % without losing fat.

Sorry Q. I know I can be stubborn as a mule sometimes. :biggrinjester:

Stubborness is an asset and it's helped you so far.

But having said that, I don't really plan on extending this for too long. I originally planned two months (ends on August) and if I reach my goal before that I'll stop before that as well. I really should be done by that point. After that, I will slooooowly (no point on getting fat again) focus on adding muscle.

I WILL follow that advice, just ... Not quite yet. I'm almoooost there, but not quite yet.

That sounds like a reasonable plan. Awesome! I'll be quiet now. :D

1h 10 min of cardio done today. I've completed another hour of cardio for today. Again it was only low impact stuff, and not as intense as other times.
You don't need intensity if you are doing 130 minutes of cardio. Nice work!
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Responses in bold.
 
Quercus said:
Okay, but gaining muscle mass lowers body fat % without losing fat.
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Oh... It does. I always try to account for everything but actually managed to completely miss that one. :willy_nilly:
:biggrinjester:

That's good news, since It means I don't have to go as low as I thought. Assuming I have around 128 - 130 Lbs of LBM (Not sure, with the scales you never really know), going to 60 Kg (132 lbs) [My first number as a reference for how low I thought I'd need to go] would leave me with way too little fat. At 65 Kg (143 lbs) would be a good place to start, and then I can focus on gaining muscle mass.

That sounds better and a bit more reasonable. :)

--

Week 2 is here! I was tempted to weigh myself today, but it's better than I didn't since it's too soon and I need to wait till Tuesday.

--Objectives for Saturday, June 28;

Hold a forearm plank for 1 minute.
Do 15 slow-motion push ups in a row.
Weight 70 Kg.

Reach 15 hours of cardio: 5h 45min out of 15 hours done.
300 slow-motion push ups: 75 out of 300 done.
Minutes on a plank: 4 min out of 60 min done.

** Weekly challenge #1: Devote 20 min every day to practice jumping rope. (total of 3/7 done.) -- I've failed this one. Next week I'll do 2 challenges!

** Weekly challenge #2:

A) This week, choose 4 different exercise videos you would like to try. They must be at least 15 min long and they do not count towards the cardio requirement. (0 out of 4 videos done)

B) For what's left of the week*, everyday, Wake up at 5:45 Am and get your hour of cardio done from 6:00 to 7:00 Am. (0 out of 6 days done)

* I didn't think of the challenges until today, so I lost one day.
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1h 15 min of cardio done for today. I did it all in one session and didn't want to look at the clock (had a timer set) since that would get me discouraged. The first part (No idea of how long) was moderate - low intensity. At the second I picked up the pace and was sweating pretty hard. I'm glad it's over!
:sifone:

--Objectives for Saturday, June 28;

Hold a forearm plank for 1 minute.
Do 15 slow-motion push ups in a row.
Weight 70 Kg.

Reach 15 hours of cardio: 7 hours out of 15 done. -- 1 hour 15 min done today.
300 slow-motion push ups: 75 out of 300 done.
Minutes on a plank: 4 min out of 60 min done.

** Weekly challenge #1: Devote 20 min every day to practice jumping rope. (total of 3/7 done.) -- I've failed this one. Next week I'll do 2 challenges!

** Weekly challenge #2:

A) This week, choose 4 different exercise videos you would like to try. They must be at least 15 min long and they do not count towards the cardio requirement. (0 out of 4 videos done)

B) For what's left of the week, everyday, Wake up at 5:45 Am and get your hour of cardio done from 6:00 to 7:00 Am. (0 out of 6 days done)
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I've walked an extra 8.000 steps today! It's a good thing to track, since the only thing that limits how much you can do is time. You don't get tired from it.
 
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Man, every time I convince myself more and more that it's extremely easy to get distracted. It's very easy to get comfortable. To be truly motivated, truly focused requires you to be on the lookout for such distractions, to never lose sight of the idea that got you started on the first place.

I found this video. It's a very touching one.



There's still so much more I could do to advance on my goals (Weight-loss and others) but that I don't do. But you either get too comfortable or too distracted and you don't even get to realize that. If you're not aware you don't even get to realize it. That there's is still so much more you can do to get whatever it is you want.

When I first sat down and wrote my list of goals, it wasn't about getting to an specific number. the objective of that list was to ensure that I pushed myself and did everything I possibly could. The goal wasn't the number, the goal was the effort I was going to put in order to reach that number.

I forgot that.

It had become a matter of 'Doing X amount', and I quote myself here, "and be done with it". "Being done" with anything was never my intention in the first place. It had become a task, instead of what I wanted it to be; A conscious reminder that I had to do everything I could possibly do. That I had to push myself, not get comfortable.

This is just a reflection I'm sharing, more than anything. You need to be mindful of the distractions. You need to be aware of them.. Never lose sight of the ideal that got you going.
 
"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
~John Lennon
Don't forget to enjoy your life Athala xoxo Cate​
 
Cate said:
Don't forget to enjoy your life Athala xoxo Cate
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I won't Cate. But I will do so in the process of working towards whatever it is I want. Otherwise what I get is the illusion of happiness, not true happiness.

--

The scale likes being an idiot from time to time. 74.6 Kg today. It doesn't matter. I have a sense of purpose now! A bad weight-in is not gonna stop me.

Main training session was done from 6:10 Am to 7:10 Am. It was 1 hour of cardio. I also did a yoga video (I do not count this as cardio).

1.000 steps done so far. I'll do 12.000 today!

Edit: 5.000 steps so far! This is actually harder than I thought, but I still have plenty of time to get to 12.000.

--Objectives for Saturday, June 28;

Hold a forearm plank for 1 minute.
Do 15 slow-motion push ups in a row.
Weight 70 Kg.

Reach 15 hours of cardio: 8 hours out of 15 done. -- 1 hour done today (so far).
300 slow-motion push ups: 75 out of 300 done.
Minutes on a plank: 4 min out of 60 min done.

** Weekly challenge #1: Devote 20 min every day to practice jumping rope. (total of 3/7 done.) -- I've failed this one. Next week I'll do 2 challenges!

** Weekly challenge #2:

A) This week, choose 4 different exercise videos you would like to try. They must be at least 15 min long and they do not count towards the cardio requirement. (1 out of 4 videos done)

B) For what's left of the week, everyday, Wake up at 5:45 Am and get your hour of cardio done from 6:00 to 7:00 Am. (1 out of 6 days done)
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Well, I will say I did some damage yesterday. Extra activity = extra hunger = not the smartest way to go about it. Nothing is really hurt other than my ego a little bit (hahaha).

I don't really beat myself anymore when I fail like this. There's a quote I like...

"What is defeat? Nothing but education; nothing but the first step to something better"

But this means I need to re-evaluate my approach so I don't make the same mistake again. The PSMF was great, but it can get pretty tough over time. I guess I contributed on burning myself out extra-fast too.

The goal is still there; change body composition. I know more about fat loss than anything, so I will have to research this in order to come up with a new plan. I'll will not be cutting too many calories this time, so I assume* it would be something around 1800 - 2000.

This is just a little set-back, but I'm far from being done. :patriot:
 
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[Disclaimer: Don't take any of this as a definite. I'm still in the process of figuring out what I will do and once I do that, I will probably have to make adjustments as well]

So this is what I'm thinking so far:

Intake: I first need to evaluate if I can stay at 2000 Kcal and maintain my weight (don't gain). If I do, great! If I don't, I might have to try 1800. Either way, the intake is pretty much going to stay static all along. I don't intend to play much with it.

Staples:
Cardio 20 min x 6 days.
4000 steps x 6 days.

Training: I'm thinking on either;

- Working full-body on Mon/Wed/Fri and doing 8 min of HIIT on Tue/Thu/Sat.

- Or a Lower/Upper body split done on Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri while doing HIIT on Wed/Sat.

- OR, I could do HIIT (different exercises) on Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri and a longer cardio session on Wed/Sat.

I really don't know. I'm more inclined towards one of the first two. But on either case, I'll be taking Sunday off.

I'm really trying to leave some room to expand on the training when I need it. So, for instance, I can always increase Cardio / number of steps / HIIT and have plenty of room to do so.

I will say: I'm clueless about training, so this might actually take some trial-and-error.
 
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Took me a couple of days to get back into schedule, but I'm back at it.

I managed to stick to 2000 Kcal yesterday, and got some training done as well. Today It should be easier.

Finally, after reading a bit more, I'm going with resistance training x3 / week and HIIT x2 / week, plus 1 day of active rest (for yoga, stuff like that).
I will be doing 20 min of cardio x6 times / week too.

That is the basic idea. I've left plenty of room to add extra training when / If I need to. Now I only need patience. If I manage to do that, I'll be fine.
 
Well, I'm doing relatively okay.

This is kind of ironic, but a 2000 Kcal diet is proving to be actually harder than eating 900 Kcal. Who would have thought. :willy_nilly:

Alright, so I've kept to my training schedule. In regards of diet... Well, I did some damage yesterday :blush5: but I managed to stick to 2000 Kcal other days.

I will have to get serious about this and put some rules on place.

The first thing I will have to is to adopt IF. This breakfast thing and teasing myself with food in the morning just isn't working for me.

Another thing is that 80 % of my calories (1600) are going to come from solid, unrefined stuff. I'm drinking way too many cals (I don't drink soda or other crap but I can go through +500 Kcal on [skim] milk easily :biggrinjester:) and I will also need to drink a lot more water than I'm currently doing.

So that should help me not blowing my diet again. Now I will need to try and burn 2500 extra (not counting my planned training) Kcal via exercise this week to do some damage control. I could do it by diet, but I want my intake to remain the same until I really need to change it.

No going backwards or jumping to another program this time. I'm really just going back to square 1 by doing that. I will just stick to this and make the necessary adjustments to make it work.
 
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Hi there :) Drinking 500 kcal of skim milk??? That´s like a liter and a half! I stand in awe, even as a child I only ever drank the white stuff when I absolutely had to and then I´d keep my breath so as not to have to taste it. Fresh from the cow or bought in the supermarket, I just thought (and think) it disgusting. On the other hand: I can drink water like a champ :D

I think you´re new plan sounds both healthy and manageable, it may take some getting used to but you´ll get there!
 
LaMaria said:
I think you´re new plan sounds both healthy and manageable, it may take some getting used to but you´ll get there!
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Thanks LaMaria. I'll just need to do some tweaking and REALLY work on my consistency. If I fail this time, I will fail forward! :D

--

Alright, yet another day of cheating (Damn me!). My only consolation is that today wasn't as bad as the others.

I've done a grand total of 4 cheats so far. I'm going to have to add 1 hour of cardio every day for a while to make up for that. I will also need to take measures to prevent this.

Oh, but I'll get there. If you never quit there is no failure! Only setbacks!


--

I got 30 min of (very) light cardio today and tried some supersetting. I don't have access to a gym neither do I have any weights, so I'm limited to calisthenics / bodyweight only. First exercise > switch to second exercise > repeat until I finish the 3 sets.

Push ups 3 x 12 (done from my knees with a slow tempo. Can't do 12 on my toes)
Squats 3 x 12

Bench dips 3 x 8
Sumo deadlifts 3 x 12. Since I don't have any weights, this is just the motion of the deadlift. Still, works for me!

Crunches (feet are at 90 degrees) 3 x 18
Lunges (12 per leg) 3 x 24.

Diamond push ups. 3 x 8
Side planks (30 secs each side) 2 x 30 secs.

Well this is just my attempt at putting together a calisthenics routine. Had to play with the tempo a bit to get the most out of 12 reps but I still got a good workout. Supersetting did help with intensity which is what I wanted.

My biggest problem with bodyweight is coming up with something to target the lats (back). You can't really target it without bars. Ideally I would be doing pull ups, but I don't have a pull up bar and even then I couldn't do a single one to save my life :blush5:.

I might need to look for calisthenic routines to see if I can switch to one or improve my own.
 
If you have sturdy doors you may try "let me ins" (holding on to the grip of an (open) door while putting your feet forward just a little bit on each side of the door, then rowing). The parks here often have pull up bars too, or at least racks you can use as such, which more bars to put your feet on for a little help as long as you can´t do the real thing. Also: don´t "punish" yourself with cardio for your cheats. First: sports should´t be a punishment. Second: if you decided to change your plan you may not want to deviate it so quickly. Third: 4 days of halfway decent cardio will get you to your goal ONE day earlier. Is that really worth beating yourself up for?
 
Also: don´t "punish" yourself with cardio for your cheats. First: sports should´t be a punishment
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That's a pretty good point LaMaria. :)

Though I no longer use exercise as a punishment (I possibly did this at some point. Now I look cardio as a means-to-an-end), I tend towards overreaching, especially when I need to compensate for stuff.

So, for instance, if I 'Think I can handle' 20 min of jump rope, I will proceed to set me up to do 40 on that day. :biggrinjester:

That can very well create a negative association (that I don't wanna have) with exercise.

So, yes, that's a pretty good point. Thanks for you comment. :) I will keep that in mind.

--

Finished today at 1566 calories. I did not have enough meat around so my protein intake was a bit lower than I'd like. Then again, I didn't actually make an effort to eat less (so this is great) and it'll probably help a bit with the damage done other days.

162g of carbs = 648.
108g of protien = 432
54g of fat = 486

I think what works best for me is having 1-2 small meals with some meat and salad during the day and saving the bulk of calories for the night. It's a bit easier than doing IF and it doesn't contribute too many calories (500 at most) so I still get to have the bulk of them at night.

It was a pretty cold day today. Skipped exercise, but overall it was a pretty decent day. Didn't blow my diet this time. Yay me!
 
I've done some more strength training today.

Managed to complete the first 2 supersets but I was kind of tired for the third. I was slacking a bit after that, so I'm calling it a day as far as strength training goes. I may do some cardio later.

Push ups 3 x 12.
Squats 3 x 12.

Bench Dips 3 x 5.
Sumo Deadlifts 3 x 12.

Crunches 3 x 18.
(Skipped doing lunges today).

Diamond Push ups 1 x 8.
(I got this far only)
 
Finished today at 1816 calories. Went a bit overboard with protein but compensated by lowering fat intake.

154g of carbs = 616 Kcal.
210g of protein = 840 Kcal.
40g of fat = 360 Kcal.

Got 30 min of walking for today but I didn't do cardio. Wasn't really a bad day. Not an exceptional one either, but I'm okay with that. I just really need to stop slacking on my cardio! Now that I've got my eating relatively under control, I will focus on that.
 
Thanks GGR!

I'm determined to keep my training up, so I can only go forward from this point. :biggrinjester:
--

My throat hasn't been feeling very well the last 2 days and seem to be slightly worse today. It is probably a sign I'm getting sick. Couldn't say if it's good or bad, since when I do get sick I usually fall immediately. It has been an annoyance up until this point but I do hope it doesn't get worse.

So I got 30 min of walking in for today, and also a yoga class. I still have some time left for today, but my calories should be in check as well.

Still no cardio. I need to do 10 min. Doesn't really need to be intense but I need to do the 10 min before the day ends.
 
Finished today at 1958 calories.

167g of carbs = 668 Kcal
174g of protein = 696 Kcal
66g of fat = 594 Kcal.

Got my 10 min of cardio for today as well. Not much else to say really. I only hope I don't get sick!
 
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