crap ... i did not meet this months goal to get below 195 lbs. lowest i got was 196 lbs. i hate not meeting a goal. at least there is some good news and my bodyfat measurements did keep getting smaller. so now my belly is measuring below 15. chest and thigh measurements are staying the same. the rest of my measurements stayed the same as last month too, except my waist dropped another 1/2 inch. and my calves finally gained a little ... damn you calves.

guess i hit a plateau? searched around for how people got through their plateus, and all the advice was stuff i'm alreay doing. double crap! my calories have been well below 2000. the problem seems to be that my body is ridiculously efficient. pair that with a sedentary job and my body has no problems getting by with minimal calories. so calories are already low, and i do not want to cut them further. instead, i'm going to relax things for a bit. nutritionally, i'm going to try a more low-carb approach. i'm going to cut out all grains and just get carbs from veggies. they'll be mostly fibrous veggies with some starchy variety before workouts. i'm also going to add back in fruits, primarily berries and apples. dairy will remain limited. protein is always high. will slightly increase fat intake too

my workouts also hit a wall. energy levels were down and i was having trouble concentrating at the gym. so i'm taking some time off from the gym to recharge and let the body heal. on the home front, i picked up a treadmill for the treadmill desk. hoping to get time this weekend to look at monitors and wall mounts. probably another couple weeks before i get it all setup. i'm really interested to see if i can actually code while walking. i definitely think my preference for trackballs will be a benefit. just starting to get acclimated to it by using it while watching tv. might try playing an xbox game with it after that. hmm ... guitar hero on a treadmill? maybe not.

finally. and the latest netflix app for MCE is silverlight. now they just need to support MCE hosted silverlight apps in an extender session to an xbox 360. then MCML could be dropped.

was feeling good about the diet last weekend. it looked like i was on target to meet this months goal. the problem is my weight rebounded back up. so i'm going to make my diet as strict as possible for the rest of the month. cutting red meat, dairy, fruit, sugars, and sugar substitutes. reducing fats to 15%, protein will be just over 200 grams, and carbs will be about 150 grams. carbs will be split between fibrous veggies and some complex carbs. similar to how a pre-contest bodybuilder might diet. its not the healthiest (nutritionally), so this won't last long.

bodyweight dropped to 197. that's a new low weight (since the previous round of cutting). the current goal is to get below 195 by the end of the month. bodyfat percentage has been measuring about 9% (unofficial). visibly, i'm starting to see some more ab separation. keeping calories at 2000. only nutritional change is that i added some milk and fruit sugars back in. did this because my energy levels were dropping a little. i've cut protein to allow for the extra carb calories, but am still keeping protein above 200 grams each day. the major change is that i've started doing morning cardio too. low intensity, so it doesnt burn many calories, but it really seems to get the metabolism jump started. one problem is that i haven't been sleeping great. for sleep, i shoot for 8 hrs each night. i need 8 hrs to heal torn muscles, burn fat, release some GH. but i keep waking up lately. my diet, activity, stress levels have been the same ... so i'm not sure what's going on. i'm considering a sleep supplement, but they are kind of scary. i have no problem taking supplements to jack up my muscles, but my brain is another story.

this months goal is to lose 5 and get under 195 lbs. for nutrition, i'm going to stay at 2000 calories (20% good fats, 225 grams protein, the rest as carbs). its actually more like 2100 calories, because i allow myself to snack on low cal items throughout the day, but they are too low cal to count without feeling silly. this technique of shooting for really low caloric intake and then allowing small 'cheats' throughout the day seems to work best for me; compared to having a higher initial caloric intake and then not allowing any cheats. on heavy weight days, i will add in some extra starchy carbs post workout. for cardio, i'll do 30 minutes each day. it will mostly be lower intensity post workout, but i'll jog on my off day. if i need an extra push to meet the goal, then i'll add in an additional 30 minutes of low intensity cardio in the morning. for lifting, i need to increase the weight and lower the reps. probably 3 to 4 sets of 7 to 10 reps. workouts are split for 5 days on and 1 off : chest, bis/traps/abs, legs/calves, back, tris/shoulders/abs, off

for bodyfat, my chest is measuring 4-6, thigh is 5-7, and belly is 15-17. so that is where i'm still carrying most of the fat. upper abs are visible, but the lower 4 are still covered by a sheet of fat. love handles are there too. i really wish spot reduction worked, but it doesn't, so i'm going to have to keep pushing my bodyfat percentage down. keep hoping that i reach some point where i've cut enough fat from the rest of my body that it just starts shedding off my belly. it seems that my bodyfat measurements for my belly have to start converging with my chest and thigh measurements sometime soon. i'm also hoping that when i start to bulk back up, that my body does a slightly better job at distributing fat throughout my entire body.

been preparing my own meals, so i'm slowly learning how to cook (a little). anyway, i just started marinating. started out with some store bought marinades, but i just noticed they all have high fructose corn syrup ... as the 2nd main ingredient (behind water). WTF! i really did not expect a sugar substitute to be in that many marinades. now i'm having to play around and make my own.

this wasn't a good month. started out at 205 lbs, and the goal was to get below 200 lbs. then i got the flu and dropped below 200 lbs in less than a week. since then my bodyweight has been bouncing back and forth between 200 and 202 lbs. i'm hoping that my bodyweight kept fluctuating like that because it was regaining some of the muscle i lost during the flu. else, i need to re-evaluate how many calories i actually burn per day. or i'm underestimating how many calories i consume per day. started out consuming about 2300-2400 calories per day (20-25% good fats, 250 grams protein, the rest as carbs). for the last week, to drop below 200 lbs, i switched to 2000-2100 calories (20% good fats, 225 grams protein, the rest as carbs). i also added back in some high intensity cardio (i.e. jogging). was hoping to avoid jogging because that really saps my leg strength for lifting, but i seem to get better weight loss results from jogging, and weight loss is the current priority.

the good news is i did make it just under 200 lbs. for bodyfat percentage, i had been measuring 10-11%, and now i'm measuring 9-10%. another cool measurement is that my waist and belly (at belly button) both measured in exactly the same. those two measurements have slowly been converging. i still have a little flare out at my love handles ... which are going to be stubborn. i'm also happier with what i'm eating this round. mainly, i'm eating most of my protein (150g) vs what i get from protein powders (75g). and i'm getting protein from a wide variety of sources. each day generally consists of a protein from eggs, beef, chicken or turkey, fish, and cottage cheese. the protein powder sources are whey, isolate, and casein. also eating more veggies this round. sugar intake is kept to about 5% per day, and sodium is kept around 2.5 grams. i had been getting ALOT more sodium from deli meats the previous round of cutting.

of course, with low calories, my strength and energy are down. this becomes a battle against my ego. its mentally challenging for me to tear myself down while cutting. especially now that its summer and the punk kids are coming back from college. the testosterone tells me to eat some more carbs and kick their ass on the weights. instead, i have to keep that under wraps and ignore when somebody is lifting heavier than me. that is why i've never been able to switch to bodybuilding in the past. granted, once i get leaner, the plan is to bulk back up ...

it took another week, but i finally regained most of my strength after having the flu. kept my calories above 2400 to try and speed up that recovery. bodyweight rebounded a little back to 202, and now its hovering around 200. for the rest of this month i'm dropping calories to 2300. hopefully that will put me on track to lose about 1 lb a month. my plan this round is to slowly drop calories over time. next month i'll probably drop it down to 2200 calories, etc... with 2000 being the lowest i would go. another option is to add in some extra cardio along the way. nutritionally, i'm targeting 20 to 25% good fats, 250 grams of protein, and the rest as carbs. there is some variation here, because i'm also modifying calorie levels based on the intensity of the workout. so i'll get extra calories (mostly carbs) on heavy days, and less calories (less carbs) on light days and days off. this has the added benefit of forcing me to vary what i'm eating from day to day.

the 'flu diet' worked too good. lost 5 lbs in a week. strength and energy levels are down. at least i've recovered enough to start working out again. since i lifted heavy the last 2 months, this month will be : lower weights, higher reps, more sets, and slower tempo. also switching back to doing cardio everyday. this time i'll only do low intensity cardio to burn fat. for nutrition, i estimate that i need 2750 calories a day (including a workout). dropped to 2400 calories to start off, will keep dropping over the following months. the biggest change is that i'm now preparing all my meals. so i'm pretty much off processed foods : sugar intake is reduced, and sodium is reduced a ton. finally, i cleaned out my kitchen last weekend. there were some foods and supplements that i could eat while bulking, but they have to go while cutting. most dairy and fruits are out too.

i was 205 lbs last week, but went under 200 today. bodyfat is about 10 or 11%. if my measurements and estimates are correct, i'm hoping to finish this round in 3 months. 5 months max.

my germ collection center is the gym. since i had heard about swine flu on monday morning, i made sure to wash my hands after the monday afternoon workout. of course i get the flu that night ... and it kicked my ass. didn't need to visit a doctor, so i have no way of knowing if i had the swine flavor. i'm assuming i just had the regular kind, and it's just coincidence. the only thing that would lead me to think it was the swine flu, is that i've been ultra healthy for the last year, so my immune system is maxed, and the swine flu supposedly tears up good immune systems.

at least it had good timing, because i needed to get away from the gym for more than a couple days. the bad news is my diet is all screwed up. only managed to eat about 500 calories within the first 24 hrs. that sucked! right now i'm just trying to push caloric dense foods to get my energy (and any strength) back. so dairy and fruits are back in. been getting lots of simple carbs, because that is about all i can stomach. slowly increasing protein intake, because its way down, but my appetite isn't interested in the protein at all.

i had been really motivated to start another round of cutting tomorrow. that's been delayed.

been kicking around the idea of setting up a treadmill desk for a while. finally went and tested out some treadmills this weekend. the Sole F63 is my current choice, but i'll end up trying a bunch more. the site linked has some good posts about what to look for : large belt, quiet but powerful engine, stable frame, warranty, etc. i don't want to build a frame around the treadmill, so i'm leaning towards mounting an LCD screen on a side wall so that it can swing out in front of the treadmill. then i'll make a minimal desk that rests on the treadmill frame for a keyboard and trackball. i'm assuming a trackball will be easier to use than a mouse while walking. will use a KVM switch to move between walking and sitting, because i'm doubtful that i can actually code while walking ...