didnt like that i was just guessing how many calories i needed, so i took 2 tests at the gym to get better numbers. both tests involved wearing what looked like an S&M (bring out the gimp) mask with a tube coming out of it and hooked to a computer measuring oxygen and carbon dioxide, along with a chest strap measuring heart rate. the first test took 15 minutes relaxing in a dark room. it measured Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). the result was i need 1850 calories for my body to function, and 2450 calories for a sedentary lifestyle (i.e. office work). i'd been guessing 3000 calories, and that is probably low on workout days. the second test took 15 minutes walking uphill on a treadmill. it started out low intensity and increased to high intensity. the result was how many calories and what percentage fat i was burning at different intensity levels. so it determined what my heart rate should be (104) to burn the most calories with the highest fat percentage. i've never really paid attention to heart rate, but i'll start paying more attention. the more interesting part is the software created a cardio workout schedule. the goal of the workout is to modify my training zones so that i'm burning more calories and a higher percentage of fat at a higher heart rate.

ends up my heart rate should remain low to be in the fat burning zone. most of my cardio workouts the last 2+ months have been more intense and burning a lower percentage of fat calories. need to do a better job there. i've also probably been underestimating how many calories i burn during lifting. so i'm going to start wearing a chest strap to get an idea of how many calories i'm actually burning while i lift and to make sure i dont stay way above the fat burning zone during cardio.

got about a week left of this months routine. weight just dipped down to 220, so there is a good chance i can reach the goal to get under 220. that said, it seems like i burned up muscle this month. strength has definitely dropped on some lifts, and i dont feel like i've gained strength on any lifts. the lesson learned is that i shouldnt reduce calories for more than 2 months in a row. i've also stopped counting calories because its become mostly routine. from the month i was counting, i know what i should be eating and when. now i just make sure to lookup and record the nutrition info whenever i eat a 'new' food.

finally, 100 pushups. i've seen it on a couple blogs and my friend said he's doing it. hadn't done pushups in years, but i knew that i used to be able to do sets of 50. also know that i've never done a set of 100. for kicks, i tested and stopped at 60 reps with 5 to 10 left (current bench max is around 365+). stopped because i'd already worked-out out chest that morning, so i was supposed to be resting. even if i was fresh, i'm positive i couldn't make 100 reps. anyway, i'm not going to do it. that many reps seems pointless. feel the same doing bodyweight dips. after so many reps, i might as well do a weighted exercise instead. hmm ... that's why i stopped doing pushups in the 1st place.

pic below shows my workout calendar. i record bodyweight, cardio/ab/grip work, lifting body part and exercises performed.

wanted networked DVDs. setup a NAS for storage. have a Popcorn Hour for playback. all i needed was an automated way to rip the DVDs. so i wrote a simple program (/dvdMassRip) to control a DVD Changer and call out to an external app to perform the rip. the end result ... much better than sneakernet.

saw Sean Alexander's post about Discussing DVD Streaming with Media Center. reading the source, its pretty clear MCE is highly unlikely to get DVD streaming. sadly, its just another reason i stopped using MCE.

instead, my Popcorn Hour and Klegg MediaShare devices stream DVDs from NAS devices with full menu support. just had some harddrives free up, so i put together a NAS for DVD rips. hacked up a quick app last weekend to batch rip my DVDs, using a Sony (MCE) DVD Changer, its been running 24/7. guesstimating that it'll finish this weekend. when it does, i'll test the results and put the code out.

this is brilliant. i'm at the gym and starting my second set of weights. adjust the weight on a machine and just pull down on the handles to test the stack. seems like it might be too heavy for 8 reps, so i bend over and lighten the stacks. do my 1st set, and its way too light. feeling stupid, i bend over and adjust the stacks again, only to raise up and hit my head on the machine. that hurts ... my pride. about half way through my workout i go to wipe some sweat off and see my towel has blood marks on it. my 1st thought is that the gym needs to use bleach. then i realize the blood is fresh. find a clear spot on the towel, wipe my head ... yep, busted it open. the sad thing is, this is at least the 2nd time i've busted my head open at a gym.

the last set of workouts was no good because i got sick. had a fever for a couple days. the fever itself wasnt so bad, but the problem was it slowed down the previous workouts recovery and amplified soreness. my legs felt the sorest they've been in about a year. simple acts like sitting down were painful. went to the gym those days and did some light workouts to get the endorphins flowing. pullups and chinups are both to 13 reps now. dips are way too easy now, something like 45+ reps.

BMI has my bodyfat percentage at 30%. body-part measurement estimations put me at 21-24%. so i'd been trying calipers for the last 3 weeks. using calipers, i'd been consistently measuring 14 to 16%. this seemed low to me, so i thought i was using them incorrectly OR my calipers were broken. finally went to the gym and had a trainer measure with their calipers ... 15%. for my age, the normal range should be 15 to 19% ... so i'm at the lower range for normal. the problem is i've still got some belly. supposedly you have to get below 10% for abs to show definition. i'd have to drop another 10 lbs to get that low. current plan is to finish out this month of fat loss, next month will be a baseline month, and then i might spend the next 2 months after that trying to get to 10%. i won't do another 3 months of weight loss in a row ... it's starting to wear me down.

had a mega cheat day last week. who would have thought a small 'cold stone' shake had 1200+ calories? that seemed to give my metabolism a good kick because i quickly dropped a couple pounds. metabolism has been noticably more active the last couple months. can notice it burning when i'm just sitting around. after drinking that shake, it basically turned on fire to start burning those calories. i've also become highly dependent on many small meals throughout the day. if something makes me miss a meal, it really starts to effect me. the new workout schedule is better. seemed to have more energy on both my leg and back days. and having a day just for arms is too much fun. strength is slightly down, but i'm just blaming that on reduced calories ... will be easy to regain.

got the new plan figured out. the goal is to drop another 5 lbs and get below 220. nutrition is going to stay about the same, except i'm going to slightly increase calories to 2500. 50 to 65 grams of fat, 200-225 carbs, sugars below 50, and 275-300 protein. for supplements, i'm going to stop taking NO because it still doesnt seem to do anything for me. i am going to start adding additional creatine (5 grams) to my pre and post workout drinks. cardio stays split (light in AM empty stomach, heavy PM post lifting). for weights, i'll lower the reps to between 7 and 9 as a compromise between size and strength. switching to 4 days on 1 off, to get more rest days. also, putting legs between chest and back. doing chest, then back, then legs was tough last month.

chest, shoulders
legs, calves, abs
back, traps
tris, bis, forearms
off


when this month finishes i'll just work on body composition for at least a month. the goal will be to maintain 220 lbs while continuing to lose fat and adding muscle. right now i'm guessing that i'll have to add 250 to 500 calories. most of the additional calories will probably come from carbs. figure my weight will go up some from the body re-storing glycogen/water. had to have lost some muscle mass too ... so that'll come back. will also cut down on jogging, and replace with elliptical, to get my leg strength to build back up. bigger leg muscle will burn more calories on the next weight loss cycle. weights should probably go back up to higher reps for size and i'll have more energy for that type of workout.

body weight hit 224, so i made this months goal to get below 225. that comes to about 15 lbs in 2 months (7 lbs the first week, and then 1 lb/week). did not initially state the weight goal this month because i did not think i would meet it. last months routine added calories (250-500 more) and reduced cardio (30 minutes max), so i thought my weight would stabilize. i'm assuming weight loss continued because i worked on nutrition. those changes compelled me to eat more (good) fat, eat more protein, cut sugars to below 50 grams/day, and mainly reduce carbohydrates (with occasional cheat days). so even though i was eating more calories, i was getting more energy out of those calories and disrupting the fat burning process less. granted my energy level is down slightly, but i dont feel like my body ever slipped into fat conservation mode. strength is still up, although i ended the month failing early on some sets. i actually think that my body did better with muscle maintenance when i was training for strength the 1st month vs training for size the 2nd month. so maybe i should stick to lower reps when i'm on a caloric deficit and do higher reps when i'm feeding the machine ...

visibly leaner this month. upper belly is gone and the lower belly is reducing. er, um ... love handles don't seem to be budging. that's where i store fat first, and since i mostly store fat in my belly ... suck. need to do more twisting exercises to get them to at least firm up some. the good news is that my upper body is showing more definition especially in arms and shoulders. legs are showing more definition from all the cardio.

uncertain about the calipers, but 21% is still my max reading and i only managed that once on the 1st day. i'm consistently measuring below 20%. that seems low to me, so i've been pinching more aggressively. chest comes in at 10, thigh is 10-15, and belly is 20-25. i'm assuming my chest and thigh measurements will remain mostly constant since i dont store fat there in the 1st place. lower abs should continue to thin up, so the belly measurement has the potential to drop quite a bit. unless i'm totally measuring wrong, i might already be in the upper range of 'normal' weight. of course i've still got some belly, so my body type skews the entire process. anyway, i need get a trainer from the gym to show me proper caliper usage.

now i get a couple days off from working out to recover and load up on carbs. need to figure out the plan for next month.

sort of stuck at 226. my weight loss pattern has been to drop a pound, add it back on the next day, lose that pound again the next day, and then stay at the lower weight for a couple days before dropping again. but right now i keep bouncing back and forth between 226 and 227. anyway, i've got about a week left to get below 225 ... so it'll be close. going to keep food intake the same and increase cardio by about 10 minutes.

measurements are decreasing. waist is slowly dropping although there arent many visible changes in my belly. right now my upper abs have mostly thinned out, and i'm stuck with lower and side belly fat ... ugly. in the past, my upper abs go, then lower, and finally obliques. upper body is visibly thinning down and my arms have dropped below 17 1/2 ... lame, must work on that next month.

picked up some AccuFitness calipers for self-measurement. i need to take them to the gym with me and have a trainer help me out, to make sure i'm using them right. been trying myself and the results vary quite a bit. at least the highest i've measured myself is 21%. compared to BMI which puts me at 31%, and the body part measurement estimates that put me at 21-24%. the problem i have with these tests is they dont seem to take into account body type. anyway, my caliper measurements are about 10 and lower for chest and thigh, and 20+ for belly ... because thats where i mostly store fat.

liftings been good, at least i'm recovering faster after 12 rep workouts. energy is slightly down, so i'm looking forward to having a couple days off soon. strength might still be increasing on some lifts. i'm estimating my decline max might be 385 now. but most of my gains have been in shoulders and traps, they are noticably adding size.

basing my diet off of the estimate that i need 3000 calories per day with a split of 20% fat, 40% carbs, 40% protein. if that's the case, then i need about 66 grams of fat, 300 carbs, 300 protein to maintain my current weight. but for weight loss, i need a caloric deficit. a deficit of 500 calories a day, would be about 1 lb a week, because there are 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat. the caloric deficit should come from reducing starchy carbs. so i'm shooting for 55 to 66 grams of fat, 200 to 225 carbs, 300 protein. its counter-intuitive, but i'm having to supplement extra fats, but there's the risk if you dont get enough fats, then your body goes into fat conservation mode. instead, we want to train the body to burn off the fat, by reducing carb dependence. by keeping protien high, and lifting, the hope is that muscle will be preserved. also keeping sugars below 50 grams because it interferes with fat loss. mostly off all artificial sweeteners too. its also counter-intuitive, but almost none of the foods i'm eating are marketed as 'low fat'. had to get rid of most of those because they had too much sugar. instead, if there's a 'high protein' option for a food, then that's what i get.

the mods i've made is to vary my foods, which in turn will vary my fat/carb/protein split. e.g. i might go one day keeping fats at 55 grams, then bump it up to 66 the next day. except protein, i keep it at 300 grams. for carbs, i've added 'cheat days' where i increase them up to 300 grams. the concept is that this confuses the body about how many carbs it will get, so it wont become efficient at running on low carbs. instead i want it to inefficiently burn through the carbs on low-carb days and then have it to turn to the stored fat. this should also keep me from dropping too much energy and feeling run down. the final change has been to eat carbs and protein together. this does something to the effect of helping protein uptake when carbs spike your insulin level. another change i might do is to replace some starchy carbs with more fibrous carbs.

the hardest part of the diet has been cutting fruit. when i switch back to bulking up, fruit is going to rock! switching to 0 calorie liquids was tough at first, but green tea and cold-brewed coffee have made up for that loss. counting calories is annoying, but its actually allowed me to eat more than i would think i should. in the past, i've always hit a wall in the 1st month because my energy levels would dip too much. probably because i wasnt getting enough fat/carbs, and too much sugar, so my body would go into fat conservation mode. 'no alcohol' sucks ... there needs to be a protein-based alcoholic drink :) but alcohol pretty much screws everything up : empty calories (i.e. no nutrients), stops fat burning process, dehydrates, causes bad food decisions ... crap!