Fat Loss, Minus the Cardio: Weeks 7-10

So I've been slacking and missed making a separate post for weeks 7 & 8, unfortunately!  But here is a condensed post with all 4 weeks of this month with plenty of ups and downs.  


Weeks 7 & 8 

I was feeling pretty great with my progress during these 2 weeks - I somehow managed to lose weight despite: 

Friday, May 4th

• 11:00 AM - Chicken salad, chickpea salad, green salad & pita bread
• 8:30 PM - BBQ Chicken Sandwich, fries, 1 pint Blue Moon

Saturday, May 5th

• 2:00 PM - BBQ Pork, fries, hush puppies w/ butter (Never put butter on them before...it's good stuff!), a bite of banana pudding.
• 3:00 PM - Way too many peanuts.  Probably 400 calories worth...again.  
• 8:00 PM - Small margarita, salad with cucumbers, steak, chicken and shrimp, some chips and salsa.
• 10:00 - 3:00 AM - Beer.  I have no clue how many.  1 beef taco.

Lalalalala bread in a glass

To be fair....I guess I worked out hard both of those days....?

Saturday, May 12th

• 12:00 PM - Packaged peanuts.
• 5:00 PM - Steak and mixed vegetables, a bit of a strawberry margarita.  
• 7:30 PM - So. Much. Popcorn.  1 chocolate truffle.  Whoops.  

Sunday, May 13th

• 10:30 AM - like 5 slices of bacon, 2 eggs, 1 english muffin.  
• 1:00 PM - 2 mini York Peppermint candies
• 3:45 PM - ~5 Chocolate squares.  
• 6:00 PM - ~4 slices of turkey jerky, handful of almonds.

I went to visit my parents for mother's day and one of our time-honored traditions (probably just because I enjoy it so much) is to go see a movie together - and inevitably we get giant buckets of movie theater popcorn and refill it at least once.  

Here's what's in one of those: 

     Cal      Fat      Chol     Sodium  Carbs   Fiber  Protein   Sugar

     1640   126         0           600        90         24       26.5         0

  

And I probably ate at least the equivalent of .75 - 1 serving of that.  

Now, that doesn't happen too often, but I felt pretty sick afterwards - 1/2 out of guilt and 1/2 out of actual "oh god how much did I just eat??" sickness.  Follow that up with the sugar I ate the next day and I was certain I was in for a bad weigh-in that Monday.  

Weight (5/14/12): 161.3lbs 

Well I was pretty shocked at that number.  I expected it to be higher than my last weigh-in - not only because of my terrible eating but because of water retention from the increased carbohydrates.  But I wasn't going to complain.  

Unfortunately this led to bad decision-making the following 2 weeks - if I can lose weight eating 1.6k calories of popcorn and 90g of carbs then I can eat whatever right???

Well, while that's obviously not true, how hard I work out probably has a thing or 2 to do with it.  

So what happens when I can't work out anymore?

Weeks 9 & 10

It's a weird thing about diet and exercise - try to lose weight with just one of the approaches and it doesn't work 1/2 as well than if you used both in tandem.  A professor in college once said it in a pretty interesting way:

"When it comes to diet and exercise in relation to weight loss, 1 + 1 = 3."  

If you try only using decreased caloric intake to lose weight, you end up losing a lot of muscle as well - decreasing your metabolism, making you lethargic and making weight harder to lose as you continue eating at a deficit.  

How many calories per day does it take to sustain this body:

versus these bodies?

Alternatively, guess how many calories are in this:

780.  In a small.  (Large is 1010)

Good luck running or lifting that one off in a day.  

So it's pretty unfortunate for me that I hurt my back pretty grievously on 5/15.  Sadly an old, improperly healed vertebrae fracture from high school sometimes likes to pop up and make me quit doing anything active for a while.  

Last time this happened I was out for about 6 months - I anticipated something similar this time around.  So for one week I did nothing physical past my job, which was pretty difficult.  I refrained from standing up or walking as much as I could manage.  All in all a pretty sedentary week for me.  

But apparently my mouth didn't get the memo:

Tuesday, May 15th

• 1:00 PM - Wendy's cheeseburger w/ fries.  I was planning on eating this as post-workout and I shouldn't have with my back making my workout pathetic, but I did anyway - probably because I was mad. 
• 6:30 PM - egg scramble w/ bacon, peppers sausage
• 8:30 PM - finished the rest of my peanut butter / whip cream 

Thursday, May 17th

• 12:00 PM - small salad w/ balsamic vinaigrette, sandwich with turkey, roast beef, ham, irish bacon, tomatoes.  
• 8:00 PM - Steamed chicken & shrimp with mixed vegetables and brown sauce.  

Friday, May 18th

• 2:30 PM - 2 chicken wings and some chips 
• 5:00 PM - Walnut-crusted chicken w/ mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes, Tall Miller Lite.

Saturday, May 19th

• 2:00 PM - Hibachi Chicken w/ broccoli & soy sauce.
• 6:00 PM - Protein Shake w/ skim milk and 3 eggs.  
• 8:00 PM - 2 pieces of really meaty pizza, coconut shrimp, a lot of wine.  

Sunday, May 20th

• 11:00 AM - 1 english muffin w/ butter, 3 pieces bacon, cheese, 1 fried egg
• 6:00 PM - Bangers & Mash w/ onions - only ate like 1/2 the potatoes though.

Well then!  

No surprise that when I hit the scale Monday morning I was greeted with 163.8.  Only a week past and the damage was done.  Go figure, with my inactivity and poor eating.

I was pretty motivated after seeing that, however, and tried to have a pretty decent week 10.  I may have overdone it on chocolate chips once or twice, but it was a pretty decent week overall.  And thankfully, I was only out for ONE week!  I came back in this past week and was able to do a lot of upper body work - though my routine is pretty thrown off I must admit.  I am completely ecstatic about feeling okay after just 1 week!   

3/18/12 - 1753/29/12 - 171 (-4)
4/13/12 - 167 (-4)
4/29/12 - 164 (-3, )
5/14/12 - 161.3 (-2.7)

Weight (5/27/12): 160lbs (-1.3, -15 total)

Here's 1-month pictures, unfortunately I didn't have the shorts I normally wear on-hand so these aren't the best comparisson photos:

Taken 5/27

Front                                                                                                                         Side

                                                                                          

My face was

really stupid here              

Back                                                                                                          Back Flexed

Ah yes, the popular

"double hitchhiker"

back flex pose.

Workout Log, Weeks 7 & 8

Monday (4/30/12)

• Powerclean: 8x2x85lb
• 100 KB swings w/ 35lb KB in 3:20

Tuesday (5/1/12)

• Squat: 45x10, 85x5, 105x3, 125x3, 160x5, 180x3, 200x1, 200x2, watup.
• Squat...again: 1x10x135lb
• Lunges: 5 x 12-16 steps w/ 40lbs

Wednesday (5/2/12)

• OHP: 2x3x45lbs, 55x5, 60x3, 70x1
• Incline 1-Arm DB Press: 3x10 each arm x 25lb
• Chin-Up: 3x5 superset w/ Tri Extension: 3x8x80lb
• 50 KB Snatch (20lb, 25 each arm) in 4:00

Friday (5/4/12) 

• Bench: 45x5, 65x5, 75x3, 95x5, 110x3, 120x2
• Assisted Chin-Up: 3x5 superset w/ Face Pull: 3x10x60lb
• Push-Up x 6 superset w/ Band Pull Apart x 15

Saturday (5/5/12)

• Deadlift: 135x5, 135x3, 180x5, 205x3, 135x20
• Reverse Hyper: 3x8x190lb
• Prowler: 2 x ~20 yards x 205lbs

Sunday (5/6/12)

• Threw for ~30min

Tuesday (5/8/12)

• Squat: 45x10, 85x5, 105x5, 125x5
• Speed Squat: 8x2x95lb
• 1-L HS Curl: 3x5 each side superset w/ Lunges ~25 yards w/ 40lbs

Thursday (5/10/12)

• Overhead Press: 3x5x45lb
• Tri Extension: 3 x 8 x 60lb superset w/ Chin-Up: 3x3
• Push-Up x 5 superset w/ Band Pull-Apart x 10
• Jump Rope: 4 x 1 min  (I'm a terrible jumper!)

Friday (5/11/12) 

• Bench: 45x5, 65x5, 75x5
• Chin-Up x 3 superset w/ Face Pull: 3x10x30lb
• Push-Up: 3x3
• Jump Rope: 3 x 1 min

Workout Log, Weeks 9 & 10

Tuesday (5/15/12)

• Squat: 75x5, 95x5, 110x3, 120x5, 140x1 (ow my back)
• Lay down on ground in pain for ~15 minutes
• 1-L TRX Squats w/ best form ever: 3 x 5 each side
• Core Ball Stiff-Arm Overhead: 3 x 10 x 16lbs superset w/ Bodyweight Split Squats x 10 each side

Wednesday (5/16/12)

• Hip Raise Holds on Physio Ball / Marching Drill / Dying Bug / Hamstring Curls on Physio Ball 

Friday (5/18/12)

• Same as Wednesday

Tuesday (5/22/12)

• Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 x 12 x 30lbs w/ 2 second descent, 2 second hold at the bottom.
• Chin-Up: 3 x 5 w/ 2 second hold at top.
• 1-Arm Overhead Press: 3 x 8 x 20lb each side, superset w/ 1-Arm KB Row: 3 x 8 x 35lb each side.

Wednesday (5/23/12)

• Eccentric Jumping Chin-Ups (no assistance) x 8 (Eccentric means I am lowering myself as slowly as I possibly can from the top)

Thursday (5/24/12)

• Close-Grip Bench Press: 3 x 8 x 85lb
• Chin-Up: 3 x 5 w/ 2 second top hold (assisted)
• 1-Arm OHP: 3 x 8 x 20lb superset w/ X-Lat Pull-down: 3 x 10 x 90lbs each arm.  

Saturday (5/26/12)

• DB Bench: 3 x 10 x 35lbs
• Chin-Up: 3 x 3 (assisted)
• Push-Up x 5 superset w/ Bat Wings: 3 x 8 x 15lbs w/ 3 second top hold. 
• Prisoner Squat x 10 superset w/ TRX Ab Rollouts x 10 (3 sets)