Keep me Honest!

Vegeta

So I started low carbing on monday (upped the fats and protein) as I want to shift a little flab and show some of the muscle i have recently put on.

I want this to be a food and program diary to keep me honest so that in 2 or 3 months when I look back I can hold my hand up and say yeah i did try hard. I don't want to go through a rough diet and have nothing to show for it.

Weighing in at 90kg and aiming for 3000 calories from decent fats and protein

So yesterday food wise was

breakfast: 4 boiled eggs + 30g whey shake + 2 tablespoons of grape seed oil + multivitamin

Second breakfast: Tina of tuna with 60 grams of peanut butter

lunch: picked the chicken out of a chicken dish at work, 5-6 pieces of brocoli. 30g shake to make up for crap protein source in canteen and 2 tablespoons of grape seed oil

tea break: tin of tuna and 60 grams of peanut butter

dinner: fresh Fillet of smoked haddock (with pepper n garlic) and 2 table spoons of walnut oil

pre bed meal was scrambled eggs (2 yellow + 4 whites) and shake.

So food wise I did miss out on a dose of fats so there is an area to improve

depadz

curious - when eating healthily should the rda fat 'rule' not still be more or less observered? You have ~100g of fat there just from the peanut butter alone. I know they are good fats you are taking in, but fats nonetheless..

Vegeta

Injured myself friday the 12th doing 100kg rack pulls was disgusted as the weight was easily managble with a mixed grip and was going to add more (20kg) for the next set. It was on the 8th rep leaving the bar down, felt the burn right between the blades.

So last night was the first session back since hurting the back. I am doing a total body program 3-4 tiems a week. Left out squats last night as I am a pussy

Chin Ups (my shame) 3 2 2 2 2

Bench

17kg (bar)xwarm up sp quite a few

37kgx8

57kgx8

59.5kgx8

59.5kgx8

47kg x 12

Military Press Generally a poor exercise for me (even if I haven't benched)

17kg x warm up

27kg x8

27kg x8

27kg x6 (fail, well more like it would have turned into a push press)

17kgx 12

Bent over barbell Rows

as 17kg was on the bar I warmed up with this

37kg x 8

67kg x8

67kgx8 (form started to get sloppy)

47kg x10 (could have been 12)

Reverse Barbell Curl

Had never done these before but saw Malteaser doing them and said I'd give them a try and they are awesome. Could do piss all weight but they were really good for an isolation exercise

think it was 17kgx12

17kgx10

17kg x8

Will definitely work these in more often

Finished with the plank for 60 seconds

Decent workout but was too much of a sissy to squat. Would have benched a few more reps if I had a spotter.

As my diet had feck all fibre I bought milled flax seeds and will be replacing some oils with them.

Any input appreciated

walt0r

Cmon Da Banner!"!!£!$!$!$!$!!

Vegeta

walt0r wrote: »

Cmon Da Banner!"!!£!$!$!$!$!!

Hell yeah

So last night I went for a 30 min jog which killed me cos I am so out of shape

Will post diet from yesterday in a while when i get the chance here at work

ali.c

Vegeta wrote: »

As my diet had feck all fibre I bought milled flax seeds and will be replacing some oils with them.

Any input appreciated

Phylussuim (sp) husks are a fibre supplement which may be worth checking out.

Vegeta

So yesterdays food (bit of a mess as I stayed in the girlfriends and had to rush the preparation)

Breakfast: Boiled chicken breast + 30g whey shake + 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil

Second Breakfast: Boiled chicken breast with 60 grams peanut butter

Lunch: Went to the lads from college house so had chicken breast + 30g whey shake + 2 desertspoons of milled flax seeds

Tea: Boiled chicken breast (can you see a trend here, usually vary it more but as I said stayed in the girlfriends and was stuck) 60 grams of peanut butter

Dinner, post jog: little fillet steak thing my mam bought me cooked in George Foreman which was really nice actually + 30g whey shake. No fats as I had just run

Went to the lads house for poker then (came second) and had a big whey (75g) + milled flax shake (66g) at about 22.10

Not great but considering the day in it

celestial

It could be that you don't have enough energy to give the weights your all during your workout. You might benefit from adding some wholegrain carbs to your diet, eating them shortly before your workout (you will burn the off anyway). You could have a banana with a couple slices of wholegrain bread with peanut butter, for example. Works well for me.

Vegeta

Just want to point out to people I am purposefully avoiding carbs to force my body to use fat as an energy source. So while I appreciate the posts and advice (I am relatively new to diet and lifting etc so keep it coming its all good) I am avoiding the carbs on purpose.

I have to say that I am now 5 days into this and I am wondering why I was eating so much carbs in the first place. The only drawback is I do not like the food i am currently eating but this will improve with time as I find my favourites

g'em

Don't worry, you're doing just fine

It's very, very hard to get it right from the very beginning. You'll tweak and make adjustments as you go along, and tbh the more you get wrong, the more you learn about how your body responds to things. Keep it up!!

Vegeta

g'em wrote: »

Don't worry, you're doing just fine

It's very, very hard to get it right from the very beginning. You'll tweak and make adjustments as you go along, and tbh the more you get wrong, the more you learn about how your body responds to things. Keep it up!!

Cheers g'em and thanks a million for all your help with this. Its really great to have someone to ask about the little things.

What I am really looking forward to is when our shed extension is finished. Moving all the weights out there and buying even more gear.

The brother is home from Cork this evening so will have a spotter for tonights weights session

ali.c

i am low carbing too (<30g a day) so ill be keeping an eye on your journal to nick ideas and what not. That supplement i mentioned earlier is actually psyllium husks fibre. Now according to what i have read it doesnt count towards your carb count. Some info on it here, if your interested. http://www.t-nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1711706

Good Luck!!

Vegeta

ali.c wrote: »

i am low carbing too (<30g a day) so ill be keeping an eye on your journal to nick ideas and what not. That supplement i mentioned earlier is actually psyllium husks fibre. Now according to what i have read it doesnt count towards your carb count. Some info on it here, if your interested. http://www.t-nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1711706

Good Luck!!

Thanks for that, I am finding it tough to get the fibre in but still ahem regular at the moment anyway

Firday 19th
Breakfast: Had 4 boiled eggs +30g whey shake, cant remember if i had fats here or not

Second breakfast. Missed this due to a meeting in work

Lunch: Chicken breast in curry sauce, few forks of mixed veg and 30g whey shake. 2 tablespoons grape seed oil

Tea: Tin of tuna (in brine) + 60g peanut butter

Dinner: Tin of tuna + 60g peanut butter (usually eat this at 10am but had meeting)

Post weights: boiled chicken breat and 30g whey shake

before bed had whey shake and 2 table spoons of grape seed oil

Saturday 20th: disaster day

Breakfast: 6 scrambled eggs (3 white + 3 full) + 30 g whey shake

Lunch: Large chicken breast from a tesco cooked chicken + 30 grams of peanuts

Dinner: Other breast from cooked chicken and more peanuts

Pre bed: Had large shake, some milled flax and nuts



Sunday 21st
Breakfast: Honestly cant remember what I had to eat here as I was up early for fishing. I know it wasn't carb based but it was more than likely a shake and some eggs but just cant remember

Lunch: Chicken in a frineds house, shake and some nuts again

Dinner: 2 smoked Coley fillets and more nuts

Post weights: Whey shake

went to girlfriends place and had nothing before bed


Some big lessons learned this weekend, have to organise meals more effectively for the weekend. its easy to do at the office as its very structured found it harder at home and need to address this

Will look at exercise diary tonight and post workouts and reps etc. Going for 30 min jog after work

Vegeta

Vegeta wrote: »

Will look at exercise diary tonight and post workouts and reps etc. Going for 30 min jog after work

Forgot to put in exercises for friday and Sunday but will do it tonight instead

Did go for jog last night and even though it was only my second time I covered the same distance faster.

Food for October 22nd Stayed in girlfriends

Breakfast: 6 eggs (3 whites + 3 whole) + 30g shake + peanuts

Second Breakfast: Tin of tuna with some peanut butter (don't know exact amount but it was less than normal due to the tuna being in sunflower oil

Lunch: 2 slices of bacon (only ate the lean parts) + 30 g whey shake and some peanuts

Tea: Tin of tuna with peanut butter, see second breakfast

home then and went for a run.

Dinner: Sirloin Steak, only ate the lean bits but avoided fats after run

pre bed: 57g whey shake and more peanuts

Its obvious I am struggling with the fats both taste and variety wise. I love peanuts but they have about 10% carbs so this could be ruining me. I need to sort this over the next few days

Weights night tonight and its squats time. Will be interested to see what I can manage tonight. I always get a sick feeling in my stomach before squatting, even nervous now typing about it, that sound stupid to anyone else?

g'em

Vegeta wrote: »

Weights night tonight and its squats time. Will be interested to see what I can manage tonight. I always get a sick feeling in my stomach before squatting, even nervous now typing about it, that sound stupid to anyone else?

I love that feeling I get it pretty much at every session now that I'm in a strength cycle.

For your good fats: avocadoes, cheeses, lots of milled flax and oils. Don't be afraid to eat ALL the bacon, the saturated fats aren't completely evil as long as you're getting your good fats in too.

Where are your veg? You need at least *some*. Where green fibrous veggies are concerned you don't acutually need to count the fibre content as carbs at all - so broccoli for example has around 5g carbs per cup, but 3g of that are fibre so the 'net' carbs is only 2g.

You can add oils to veg (I love walnut and sesame oil on veg) and they're *vital* to keep your digestive system ticking over smoothly.

Vegeta

Yeah I have decided to re-crunch my numbers tomorrow and do a little revision of my diet to improve fat/fibre (inclusing from veg).

Also g'em while i have your attention what is the best method for tracking progress would you think. Mirror, calipers or something else. Obviously I am only a week and a day in so I am not going to notice huge visual changes. Although I used to bloat like a blimp and now I don't. I have lost a kg or so (which I hope is fat but I'm sure there's glycogen gone too)

g'em

Vegeta wrote: »

Also g'em while i have your attention what is the best method for tracking progress would you think. Mirror, calipers or something else.

A combination of them all tbh! No one measurement will give you the best picture so try and keep on top of them all so that you can see emerging changes. When I did a very severe cut this time last year I kept really, really detailed progress numbers, and so at the end I was able to look at the overall pattern of change and not just one thing in isolation.

Vegeta

g'em wrote: »

A combination of them all tbh! No one measurement will give you the best picture so try and keep on top of them all so that you can see emerging changes. When I did a very severe cut this time last year I kept really, really detailed progress numbers, and so at the end I was able to look at the overall pattern of change and not just one thing in isolation:

Thanks a mill for the info

on an unrelated topic delete the extra http:// at the start of the link above and the one in your sig for nutritionX

g'em

Vegeta wrote: »

on an unrelated topic delete the extra http:// at the start of the link above and the one in your sig for nutritionX

aye, just figured that bit out... seriously, MAJOR blonde day today Let's see if this works now:



There we go. So yeah, it's a combination of all the measurements that make a difference; if I had only my bf % and not my weight I wouldn't have known that I lost fat but gained muscle. Likewise some of my measurements don't correlate with the weight lost.

All you need is an excel template and it's SO much fun watching the numbers change!!

Vegeta

Its measuring time

If anyone comes into my room to see me semi naked with a measuring tape I'll never live it down

"Yeah sure, you were measuring your bi-ceps"

g'em

Vegeta wrote: »

If anyone comes into my room to see me semi naked with a measuring tape I'll never live it down

"Yeah sure, you were measuring your bi-ceps"

On the last day of my cut I spent the afternoon poncing around my sitting room in just my undies with Dragan, t-ha and JayRoc watching me get my photo taken... the things we do for aesthetics

I used the Accu-Measure FatTrack Digital Callipers, and they came with a great measuring tape - very handy and super-easy to use.

Vegeta

Chins neutral grip at medium width 3 4 4 3 2

Incline db bench

7.5kg x 10 (warm up)

~22kg (its 20kg plus db bar) x 9

~22kg x 9

~22kg x 7

7.5kg x failure

Fat Man Rows Was really bad at these

Did 3 sets of around 12 reps

Bent Over BB Rows

47kg x 8 x 2

Miliatry Press

17 x 10 (warm up)

27kg x 8 x 3

Finished with 60 second plank x 2

Vegeta

Chins 4 2 3 3 3

Military Press

17kg x 10 (warm up)

30kg x 8 x 3

27kg x 8

Flat db bench

7.5kg x 10 (warm up)

~22kg x 8 x 3

7.5kg x 12

Reverse BB curl

17kg x 12 x 3

Close Frip Bench

22kg x 12

32kg x 12 x 2

Vegeta

Squats

60kg x 8 (warm up)

80kg x 8 x 3

60kg x 8

Chins 3 3 4 4 3.5(nearly made 4 on the last one)

Military press

17kg x 8 (warm up)

32kg x 8 x 2

32kg x 6

29kg x 6

BB flat benching

17kg x 10 (warm up)

37kg x 8

59.5kg x 8

59.5kg x 7

57kg x 5

37kg x 15 with wide grip

Reverse BB curl

17kg x 8

19.5kg x 8 x 2

17kg x 8

BB Curls

17kg x 12



Was a bit let down by the squats but form was good and it felt damn heavy. I have done 97kg x 5 x 3 in the recently. I have even done 90kg x 8 x 3 but last night the 80kg just felt heavy. Just got to man up and keep squatting

Bench was also a big let down was doing 59.5kg x 8 x 3 alone 2 weeks ago but struggled last night.

Ah will just keep it in my mind and hope to improve it next week

Vegeta

Ok haven't posted in here in a week due to taking time off work (got to love long weekends) but I have kept up the weights, cardio and diet

On friday my workout was smashing concrete and knocking walls with a sledgehammer in our old shed for 2 hours, that was some laugh. Bit different but really enjoyed it

back at work so will start filling this in again

Can definitely pinch less body fat now. No measurements yet other than weight, which is down. Visually I look a little leaner though so I think this is going in the right direction anyway

I have to buy some equipment off Mick though as the heaviest set of dumbells I have is 22kg and I need heavier for benching. Will look at his site today

Vegeta

Squats
60x8

90x8x2

80x8

Bent Over BB rows

17x12 (warm up)

60 x 8 x 2 (felt my form was crap using arms too much so dropped weight)

47kg x 12

47kg x 12

Flat Bench Used too light a weight here. Was going for 4 sets of 12 reps but could have done it with more weight. If going for 4 sets of 12 again need to up weight

47kg x 12 x 4 with a progressively wider grip each set

Mil Press Was a bit knackered at this stage

22kg x 10 x 3 times with very strict slow form


Hammer Curls

~10kg x 12 x 3


It was an ok session but felt a little tired during it. Happy to squat the 90kg again. Legs are still a bit stiff 2 days later

Vegeta

Went for a 20 minute jog at a medium pace with the old man.

Went jogging with him for the first time last week and he hammered me. Very humbling experience

g'em

How are you finding your appetite/ energy levels/ general well-being at the moment?

Vegeta

g'em wrote: »

How are you finding your appetite/ energy levels/ general well-being at the moment?

Fine to be honest, still feel very even throughout the day. Never get any lows like i did on carbs. Digestion and other "things" are fine. No cold or anything like that.

even after the runs i feel fine. I know 20 mins isn't a very long time but when you go from no cardio to running for 20 mins + sore legs from squats + very low carbs I expected to be wrecked altogether.

My only worry is I weighed myself the other morning and i was 85kg which is like 6 kgs lost in 14 days. Now I know the first few weeks are the ones where my body is not used to the change, so decent gains will be made here but 3 kg a week seems excessive.

g'em

Vegeta wrote: »

My only worry is I weighed myself the other morning and i was 85kg which is like 6 kgs lost in 14 days. Now I know the first few weeks are the ones where my body is not used to the change, so decent gains will be made here but 3 kg a week seems excessive.

That *is* a lot. Make sure you're getting plenty of fluids in and you might actually want to increase your calories a little. That kind of 'weight' loss (it's primarily fluid I'd guess) is a tad on the high side for comfort.

Vegeta

g'em wrote: »

That *is* a lot. Make sure you're getting plenty of fluids in and you might actually want to increase your calories a little. That kind of 'weight' loss (it's primarily fluid I'd guess) is a tad on the high side for comfort.

i'll monitor it for the next week if it keeps going down this fast I will begin to up the calories.

I do drink a lot of water bout 3-4 litres a day.

I will keep and eye on it though