Making Progress

Progress is a tricky thing. I'm certain that I'm making progress because I can feel the definition in my muscles, my measurements are smaller, and my body fat is lower. But I'm facing the same problem that so many people do, my weight is going up. Now given that I've been doing heavy weight lifting that means that I've definitely been putting building muscle. So it's likely that my muscle gain is just outpacing my fat loss and that's not a bad thing.

So now the question is what to do about it. Right not my calorie intake is at around 2200 - 2400 daily. I do strength training 3 days a week and 30 minutes of interval cardio 6 days a week. So my net calorie intake is about 1500 - 1700 calories daily.

The only reliable way to boost fat loss is to cut net calories. I can drop by 300 calories safely the question is how. Bumping up my strength workout is out of the question because I'm starting to hit walls there. I don't want to take 300 calories just out of my diet because that's asking a lot of my willpower right now. I could probably handle taking 100 off. The rest has to come from my cardio. Based on Daily Burn's estimator I think an additional 15 minutes will cover it.

While I'm not going to make much of a reduction in my calories I am going to make some changes to my diet. Right now I pretty much eat what I want as long as it falls within my calorie limit and my fat/carb/protein goals. I'm going to try and standardize a couple of aspects of my diet.

First up is breakfast. Instead of the usual maybe a Slim Fast I'm going with a bowl of oatmeal. I expect the oatmeal to give me a bigger boost in the morning and a better energy level throughout the day, especially before my morning workouts.

My second, fourth, and fifth meals are pre/post workout. The fourth meal is my Slim Fast before my second workout. My second and fifth meals are post workout Cliff Builder Bars. Since I only do morning workouts three days a week I will switch out the Cliff Bar for a lighter snack, cheese, yogurt or something.

My third and sixth meals are lunch and dinner. I like keeping my lunch flexible so that if my friends want to do something it's not a problem. Dinner is determined by how big lunch is. I don't intend to skip it but if lunch is a little heavy dinner is a little light or vice versa.

I'm going to stick to this plan for at least a week and see where it goes. I also have a physical scheduled for next month so if I don't see results I'll get some guidance from my doctor.

Lessons Learned

When I came back to the program I applied the lessons I learned the first time. Here are some of them.


1. Consider the source of your information. How many times have you picked up an article that describes what you need to do to get fit and it involves doing things you could only do in your dreams? How many times have you been told to make a drastic change to your diet and discovered that your willpower isn't yet strong enough to manage it? These situations happen because of one simple thing: the person who wrote the article wrote it based on what they do. That means that you as the reader have to consider the source. If you're extremely overweight and have limited mobility the standard an article on running daily isn't going to help you much. And likewise if you're an athlete, a fitness article written for absolute beginners isn't going to help you either. Always consider the source for the best results.

2. Do what you can. Some people are afraid to give this advice. I guess they're afraid that if they tell you to do what you can that you'll do the bare minimum which might not be enough to see any results. But I think you should embrace it. Do what you can. Push yourself to do all of it but don't push yourself to do things you're just not ready for. Don't run a 5K the week after you start walking again. Don't beat yourself up for slipping on your diet when you're used to eating what you want. Accept that there is a limit of what you can do right now. Push for that limit every single time and every single time it will move higher just a little bit. Eventually you'll look back and see how far you've come since you started. But the key is always to the absolute most you can.

3. You're stronger than you think you are. Yea I just had a big speil about doing what you can. But I want to be very clear that I'm talking about doing what you actually can do, not what you think you can do. When I talk to people about what I do people, especially women, are suprised. And when I say, you can do it to they think I'm full of it. Well look, if you can lift your kid and 6 bags of groceries and carry them from the car to the house then you should be able to toss the barbell around like it's nothing. You might not be able to do pushups and pullups but no able-bodied woman, especially a mother, should ever fear squats, lunges, crunches, or walking.

4. Small changes are usually lasting changes. Diets don't work because they ask you to make massive changes to your lifestyle and they usually come with the understanding that it will be temporary. What you're really doing is teaching yourself to make better choices and as with so many things the rule one step at a time applies. Instead of cutting sugar from your diet completely cut it down to one special sugar snack a day. Switch from white bread to whole grain. Leave the skin off your chicken. Get a double portion of vegetables instead of a baked potato. All very small changes that you can make one choice at a time that can drastically improve what you're eating and promote healthy weight loss. The same applies to exercise. Don't jump directly into a 7 day a week workout routine if you don't have the motivation to stick to it. Start with a 20 minute walk three days a week. Actually walk the dog instead of just letting him into the back yard. Take the kids on a bike ride. Walk to the neighborhood park and walk around when you get there. As you make these small changes, and as you start feeling better, then start making bigger and bigger changes. Before you know it you'll be out doing me.

4. Your journal is your friend. I don't care if you use a pen and paper or a fancy $40 a month website. Journal everything. Your exercise. Your food. Your feelings. Journal. Journal. Journal. You don't have to write a dissertation just make notes on what you ate and what you did. Journaling let's you know what your progress has been. When I looked back at my journal (on Daily Burn) I was surprised to realize that I had added over 100 pounds to my squat in about 3 weeks. When I looked at my food journal I saw what foods were putting me over my limits and that helped me choose what to cut back on.

Be mindful that there is no one size fits all solution. I'm convinced that these tips will work for anyone but remember to apply them to fit your situation.