Still eating junk, and no more supplements

Although I have switched to leaning phase, I still have the very bad habit of eating unhealthy food. I eat anything and everything. I should be more disciplined but it never seems to happen anyway. Most recently I have eaten at least 3 chicken sandwiches with fries. Add to it 3 more desserts and 2 cokes. And a marathon of greasy indian food such as chicken and egg biriyani and you get a bunch of unnecessary calories. It is not even like I have a sweet tooth or something. I just like to eat what I can get. This does not mean I am not eating anything healthy at all. I do eat cottage cheese 5 times a week and yogurt or oatmeals once in a while. I wonder if I keep eating junk like this then if I will ever be able to acheive 7% body fat. I decided to continue the junk as long as I am losing fat.

One more important change is that I stopped taking supplements of any kind. Yay! That is a big acheivement. No more protien shakes for me. I really question the use of the supplements in helping me gain muscle. I am gaining as much muscle without them as when I was taking the supplements. It feels great to not be forcing chemicals into my body. Eat natural food and be happy. I decided to not take any supplements unless I cannot get anything good to eat.

Filed under: food, junk, supplements

Changes to diet and exercise: January – March 2010

Now that I am in the leaning phase I made some changes to my diet. Instead of force feeding myself with a lot of food every 2 or 3 hours, I relaxed it to “eat when hungry” mode. I don’t force myself to eat every few hours whether I feel hungry or not. I eat when I start feeling a bit hungry. This means I still have to keep food stocked all the time so I can eat at the first indication of hunger. I try and keep each eating session to a modest 400 calories or less so I don’t strain my body into digesting a lot at a time and it also helps me feel hungry in 3 or 4 hours. So far this new regimen is working well. I am slowly reaching my goal of losing 3 lbs of fat in 3 months. Still have to do something about gaining muscle though.

I also switched to a more relaxed 2 workout sessions per week. Each session involves a full body workout with more emphasis on chest and triceps. In general this is what I do

• Day 1: Monday
• Decline Bench Press (Chest and Triceps)
• Squats (Legs)
• Rows (Back and Biceps)
• Dips (Chest and Triceps)

• Day 2: Thursday
  
• Bench Press (Chest and Triceps)
• Deadlifts (Legs and Lower Back)
  
• Pull-ups (Upper Back and Biceps)
• Push-ups (Chest and Triceps)
  

These exercises help me keep the muscle while I am losing fat. Notice that I do not have any shoulder exercises. I sometimes do it on one of the days when I feel like, but I should really add it permanently. Or at least do just Shoulders and Traps on another day.

Filed under: calories, diet, exercises, fat loss, musle gain

Staying with a slower tempo but switching to 3×5

I have been doing all my workouts with a slow tempo for a while now. I like it. It puts more strain on my muscles for longer and I have a lot more control. I don’t lose energy all of a sudden in the middle of a rep especially on my bench press, because it is the most dangerous exercise to do without a spotter. Losing energy in the middle of a rep means you just have to let the barbell drop on your chest and roll it off your stomach. In that process you will most likely hurt your shoulder.

On the other hand doing slow reps means you have to reduce the weight to be able to do the same number of reps and sets as you would do with power lifts. When I first started doing slow reps I wanted to do it for a month or so and go back to power lifts. But once I started doing the slow ones I felt so good about the immense control I am getting and the good form I am able to maintain I decided to go with it as long as I cannot increase my weights for 4 weeks straight. Then I will switch to power lifts again.

Now to fix the problem of not being able to lift the same amount of weights as power lifts I decided to reduce the number of reps per set. Instead of my usual 8 to 10 reps, I switched to 5 reps per set. The total number of sets still remains the same at 3. With this change I am able to continue to increase my lifts slowly. My decline bench press is back to 115 lbs, which is where I was when I did power lifts.

My deadlifts and squats are still a far cry from my power lifts but I am getting there very slowly. I am having a much better form especially with squats, because when I used to do quick lifts I found that I did not go all the way down. So I was actually doing partial squats! No wonder I was able to increase the weight so quickly. I always had good form with dead lift but with the slower tempo my grip is giving away before my legs do. I don’t want to use wrist straps because I want my grip to improves as I increase my weights.

Here are the latest stats on some important exercises

• Squats: 165 lbs (5, 4, 3)
• Deadlift: 175 lbs (5, 5, 5)
• Dips: Body Weight + 15 lbs (5, 5, 4)
• Bench Press: 115 lbs (5, 4, 3)
• Rows: 90 lbs (5, 4, 3)
• Pull-ups: Body Weight (10, 7, 5)
• Push-ups: Body Weight (36, 19, 11)

You will notice that I am not following the slow tempo and low reps for pull-ups and push-ups. For push-ups I want to continue doing fast, max reps for every set. I am hoping to reach my goal of doing 50 push-ups in 1 set. As for pull-ups I will switch over to slow tempo, fewer reps starting from next week. Also I am trying to put more effort on gaining more tricep muscle.

Filed under: 3x5, control, power lift, tempo

The Numbers: January 2010

I was so busy this month that I did not know when the month started and ended! Time just flew. As I mentioned in my previous blog this quarter I am trying to get rid of some of the fat that I gained during my bulking phase from October to December 2009. The goal was to lose 1 lb of fat while gaining 1 lb of muscle during the same time. Basically replace fat with muscle pound per pound.

Here are the raw numbers for the month of January

• Weight: 124.26 lbs
  
• Fat %: 10.99%
• Fat: 13.66 lbs
• Lean mass: 110.60 lbs
• Weight change: -1.34 lbs
• Fat % change: 1.51%
• Fat change: -2.04 lbs
  
• Muscle change: 0.7 lbs

The program did not go as planned. I lost 2 lbs of fat which is great! But on the flip side I was able to gain only 0.7 lbs of muscle instead of the planned 1 lb. The main reason is that I got very busy at work and could not give enough attention to my diet. I ate only when I felt hungry. However I did not miss a single workout during that very busy month.

I have to be more careful from next month. Eat a bit more yet be slightly below my daily calorific requirements so I can continue to lose fat.

Filed under: exercise, fat, lean mass, muscle, numbers, reps, stats, weigh

Weight and Muscle Goals: January – March 2010

It is already 3 weeks into the new quarter and I did not yet write my goals. I have it in my mind. it is just that I did not put it down on paper yet. So for the next 3 months my goal is to gain 3 lbs of fat while maintaining the same weight. It simply means I will have to convert 3 lbs of fat into muscle! Here are the raw numbers

January 1, 2010: Baseline
Weight: 125.6 lbs
Fat %: 12.5%
Fat: 15.7 lbs
Lean Mass: 109.9 lbs

Note that I am using the caliper measurement for fat. I don’t think I can rely on the omron body fat monitor. I will still keep track of the fat numbers from omron fat monitor daily but I probably will not use them in any calculations. Since I cannot take the caliper measurement everyday I will use the fat % number that is closest to a particular date I am refering to.

March 31, 2010: Goal
Weight: 125.6 lbs
Fat %: 10.11%
Fat: 12.7 lbs
Lean Mass: 112.9 lbs

Change in 3 months
Weight: 0
Fat %: 2.39 %
Fat: -3 lbs
Muscle: 3 lbs

I will try and not lose more fat at the expense of muscle. So it will be ok if I don’t lose the 3 lbs of fat, but I definitely do want to gain the 3 lbs of muscle. We will see how that goes…

Filed under: body fat, goals, muscle gain, weight gain

The real muscle and fat gain: October – December 2009

I was having trouble believing the fat numbers using my omron fat monitor, so I analyzed my numbers using the measurements taken with the body fat calipers. There is a world of difference. These numbers are more believable. Makes me think if I should just stop checking fat % using omoron body fat analyzer. It will be an expensive body weight scale then.

I take fat caliper measurements every weekend only. As a result I cannot show the pretty graphs that I usually have in my posts because there will only be 4 data points per month. Anyway here are the numbers again but with body fat calipers.

October 1, 2009 Stats

• Weight: 118.51 lbs
• Fat %: 8.74%
• Fat: 10.64 lbs
• Lean Mass: 108.15 lbs

December 31, 2009 Stats

• Weight: 126 lbs
• Fat %: 11.6%
• Fat: 14.62 lbs
• Lean Mass: 111.38 lbs

Change in 3 months

• Weight: 7.49 lbs
• Fat %: 2.86%
• Fat: 4.26 lbs
• Lean Mass: 3.23 lbs

Those are much better numbers. When I set the goals I wanted to gain 3.75 lbs of muscle while limiting the fat gain to 3.25 lbs. I came close to that goal. I gained about 3.23 lbs of muscle and 4.26 lbs of fat. In retrospect I should have been careful with my fat gain, but overall I did good. Not as bad as my previous analysis led me to believe

Filed under: Uncategorized

Before and After Pics: Sep 2009 – Dec 2009

Another transformation picture session. In three months I gained a lot of weight and a lot of fat too. Sorry the after picture isn’t clear.

Date: 26 September 2009 – Weight: 117.5 lbs – Fat: 10.34%

Date: 26 December 2009 – Weight: 126 lbs – Fat: 15%

I see some changes. Not a lot. I gained some fat that is very visible in the after shot and some muscle too. I can still see the ab definition ever so slightly. Overall I am not very satisfied with the amount of change I see in 3 months. I hoped I would have more muscle and look a lot bigger. Oh well I have to remember that I am an ectomorph and every little helps.

Filed under: before after pictures, fat, lean, muscle

The Graphs: December 2009

Here are the weight and fat graphs for December 2009.

Body Weight Graph

Since I reached my goal of 125 lbs for the end of december I tried to maintain the same weight while I tried to reduce the fat. So I started eating the right number of calories that I need. As can be seen from the graph I was maintaining my weight for a while but then it started dipping for no apparent reason. I increased my calories a bit and it stared going up quickly. It is quite hard to keep track of the exact amount of food to eat.

Body Fat % Graph

While I maintained the same weight I started to see an increase in body fat. I was not sure why that would be the case. Am I losing muscle so quickly? A small increase in weight causes the fat to shoot up quickly while a stable weight still increases it slowly. The only option left to loose fat is to loose weight? I don’t like the idea at all. I am also doubting the fat monitor. It tends read the fat changes a while after the weight has changed. So if I increase my weight today it will be a few days before I see the increase in fat. Same goes when I loose weight. I think it may have something to do with the way I store water in my body. Have to investigate.

Filed under: body fat, graph, muscle, muscle loss, weight

The Numbers: December 2009

Time for some numbers now that december 2009 has come to an end. Not just the month, but the year and decade as well have come to an end. In december again I have gained a lot of fat while I gained very little weight. The reason mainly is because I reduced the amount of calories to a more “maintain weight” level.

Body weight and fat gain for the month of December, 2009

• Weight: 126.00 lbs
  
• Fat %: 15.51%
  
• Lean mass: 106.46 lbs
  
• Weight gain: 1.46 lbs
  
• Fat % gain: 1.48%
  
• Lean mass gain: -0.61 lbs

It is indeed strange that I have lost muscle. Unfortunately since I am doing slow tempo reps I am using lower weights so I cannot be sure if I really lost muscle or it is just an error in the body fat analyzer. I have a theory that my body fat analyzer has a lag in noticing the fat% change. When I gain weight I usually don’t see a quick gain in fat. It comes after a few days of the weight increase. So I am assuming I will see the fat reduction will come a little later after the weight has remained constant for a while. Only time will tell.

Ever since I started using a slower tempo I am unable to lift a lot of weight for the same number of reps that I used to do. Here are the latest numbers.

Exercises

• Squats: 150 lbs, 9 reps
• Deadlift: 185 lbs, 8 reps
• Bench Press: 100 lbs, 7 reps
• Pull-ups: 120 lbs, 9 reps
  
• Overhead Press: 70 lbs, 6 reps
  

All the weights have gone down, but I am getting a better pump. I would like to continue this on for a few more weeks and then I will switch to strength training. That is it for this post. Not a lot of improvements but I am closer to my target than when I started three months ago.

Filed under: exercise, fat, lean mass, muscle, numbers, reps, stats, weight

Can’t be hungry. Can’t be full.

Before I go into the gym I have to make sure that I am neither hungry nor too full. I am not sure if that is how everyone feels but this requirement of delicate balance between too full and too hungry is causing trouble to me.

There have been times when I went to gym when I am too full and it scares me that I might throw up especially when I do squats or deadlifts. Another problem is cramps for more movement involved exercises. Yet another problem with being too full is that I will not be able to eat much after the workout (the ectomorph problem of getting too full too quickly).

And then there are times when I go to gym feeling hungry like today. Something urgent came up at work and I was 45 minutes late to gym than usual. I started feeling hungry as I stepped into the gym. It is a weird time that I can neither have a snack nor a full lunch. But in retrospect I should have had a snack even if it means I will have to reduce the big lunch after workout. As I started working out I felt weak and dizzy. At one point I felt I will blackout right after a heavy squat.

Lesson for the day: I just have to make sure I do not miss the gym time and if I do I should snack a bit. May be some fruit juice or some other quickly digestible substances and wait 30 to 60 minutes before hitting the gym. Cannot drink coffee and go to the gym. For some reason it makes me more nauseous and I feel more dehydrated.

Some related links

• http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/f/emptystomach.htm
• http://www.healthline.com/blogs/diet_nutrition/2007/11/eat-before-exercise.html
• http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KGB/is_1_5/ai_n6097710/
• http://www.truthaboutabs.com/pre-workout-energy-drinks.html

Filed under: dizzy, full, hungry, snack