IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN - My 35lb Cutting Journal

[Tennisgal33]

Hello All,

Not really the Final Countdown...but more like the first big one of the Final countdown! lol I have an event deadline like many of us get and would like 15-20lbs off in 10 weeks. Is this possible? It used to be but for some reason my body doesn't agree these days. I have once before gained this much weight, but this is the heaviest I have been. My long term goal is possibly switch from marathon running (foot injury) to maybe 10K's but more interested in working toward bikini or figure comp. WAY DOWN THE ROAD! This is a 2014 spring goal.

I have decided to post what I've done up to this point, where I'm trying to go and what seems to be the road blocks. I figured if I post my food and training journal, I can get some feedback, suggestions on success and be accountable one step further via this lovely forum.

I log everything, so here's what has gone on so far:


Starting Weight: 163lbs - February 20 2013
Long Term Goal Weight: 124-128lbs (this was my weight 3 years ago, before injury)
10 WEEK Goal Weight: 135-138lbslbs
Current Weight: 155lbs
Female 5'4"
not sure of BF %
Currently - Hips: 37.5/Belly button Waist 31.5/Chest 37.25 (Rib cage 29.5)


Started (officially) on Feb. 20, 2013
Played with the CKD diet from Feb. 20 - March 31 (with 4 OFF days of slip ups)
Lost 11 inches, 8lbs

My average daily calories came to 1500 (however, they zigzagged) some days 950, other days 1650, etc. Macros stayed in proper range of 55-65%F 5-10%C (included fiber in %) and 30-35%P

Did well on it, refeed for 1 day just above maintenance calories
Got sick of food choices
Amazing energy until 3rd week, started to get tired.
My digestion was actually happy! A rare case for me
But started craving fruit/carbs
Sick of EGGS!!!

My training ended up being 4 day split
Chest and Back
Arms and Shoulders
Legs
Cardio
(often LISS cardio 30-40min after weights) Lifted close to 60 minutes/session
*sometimes extra cardio day
2 days OFF/Recovery

March 30 - April 2nd I seemed to skid, take time off. Less gym, ate at maintenance or slightly above 1 day.
- gained (on scale) 4lbs

April - OFF KETO/CKD and started low Carb cal/macro cycle

Why? Thinking I could try it and was really missing fruit, yogurt and other options for breakfast and dinner.

Weighed myself April 3rd to begin new cycle on low carb - Scale said up to 160lbs WTF?

Shake it off, shake it off!!

April 3-9

Wednesday

1304 cals
76g F 45gC 21gNet 108gP 22gFiber

Thursday

1471
103gF 21gC 14gN 110gP 6gFiber

Friday

1598 cals
100gF 53gC 27gN 119gP 26g Fiber

Saturday

1455 cals

93g F 40gC 19gN 127gP 21g Fiber

Sunday

1269 cals
80g Fat 38gC 17gN 92g P 9g Fiber

Monday

1092 cals (not feeling well)
64gF 45gC 26gN 81gP 19g Fiber

Tuesday

1044 cals (again, not feeling well)
86gF 33gC 16gN 29gP* 16g Fiber

385 min. in the gym, 5 days
2 Weight lifting days heavy, 1 circuit Full body
210 min. cardio total for week
8871 cal deficit
Lost -6lbs (so the bloat that I just put on from eating at maintenance for 4-5 days) basically back to same weight loss as back in March

lost 1.5 inches (overall, a few different locations)

Bottom line is that my initial scale weight loss of 8lbs happened in the first two weeks, then yo-yoed mid March to present time.

I will post the next week where my cals increased. I know I haven't put specific food down. I eat "clean" meaning, the typical check list of what we are to eat, and I try very hard to stay gluten free as my digestion and body doesn't respond well to it anyway.

 

[Tennisgal33]

Hey All!

So I've been off the grid - but only from not posting. I've been reading/researching and trying to re-jig my training schedule/food journal to start a new 9 week plan.

PSizzle - you are the bomb! I had already read some of your posts prior to starting posting on this site - but have since been reading your Pre contest shred log like a novel! lol Amazing information and you are on fire...I'm still reading. That is amazing success! I can see after reviewing your training where I have slipped up. That being said...I still think as a newbie my gains should have shown a little more of a cut in 2 months.

I notice your diet is close to the exact food every day. I don't do this. I wonder if that is an issue? I track my macros to a T, but I can see how your method (and some others I see) keeps you on point. I also know that I had more cheat or frustration days and said f* it. So that could have slowed results. but it wasn't crazy binges. It was maintenance/slightly above to supposidely help metabolism. On CKD I found after the 4th week getting down eggs in the morning was very difficult!! lol Any thoughts on mixing it up a little, but staying within macros? ie: whey shake/egg whites, blueberries/oatmeal and next day 2 egg, plus whites, 1tsp coconut oil and oatmeal?

I will post my plan to start Monday, April 29/13 in new window.

 

[Tennisgal33]

Over-training/Thyroid issues (?) and the beginning of the slide....

Further update on hypothyroid issues. I have done more reading and wow - so many symptoms outside of the scale not moving with hard work. This is very interesting. I'm going to a doc tomorrow but God knows the length that it will take to get those kind of answers. It's pretty interesting but my last 1/2 marathon I was training crazy - while trying to keep muscle and lifting (this is back in 2010) A typical day was: 4-6 mile run to tennis courts, 2 hrs of tennis singles; next day 45-60 min. weight circuit (going hard) followed by 15-20min. HIIT and another 10-30 LISS. next day, long runs 8-10miles, later weight lifting. I was eating between 1100-1600 avg. Never gained weight, started losing appetite. After marathon still could train but was burned out, certainly over training, foot injury kicked in, less to eventual no running...walking was difficult! Weight gain of 40lbs in 5 months. Diet didn't change until the last 20lbs because I was so frustrated and didn't know what was happening I threw in the towel. To sum it up, I must have messed up my metabolism. Since 2011 and the 40lbs weight gain I could get down 10-15lbs with very restricted eating, training, but it jumped back on fast if I ate "Normal" or at maintenance. WTF?

I read so much info on people saying "girl you're eating far too large a deficit." So I upped my cals closer to 1700-1800, depending on training day. No weight changes on scale. No physical changes in mirror. Went to the CKD, 1500avg cals. Some loss. Shape changing v e r y s l o w w w l y.

I contemplated posting more background info on what I was doing in training/diet from the start of this phase back on Feb 20/13 but realized this may be unnecessary and just post from here on. Stick to the present and any critique or suggestions would be very welcome.

 

[Tennisgal33]

9 Week Cutting Cycle

153lbs 5'4" (yes, down 2lbs!! Then was up weight today to 156. TOM...)

Diet:

Calories at 1300-1500/day
These two weeks - carbs: breakfast and around workouts
I will post the breakdown
No cheat meals

Week 1&2

WORKOUT #1 Full Body Circuit + 30-45 min. LISS X2/week
Upper/Lower Circuit + 20 min. HIIT/Intervals +15min. LISS X2/week
LISS 60-90 min. X2/week

*lifting for burn/tone, keeping weights lighter than previous heavy lifting last 2 months in rev. pyramid
goal is fat loss.
8-12 exercises for full body 12-15 reps x3sets
4-6 exercises for upper/lower split 12-15 reps x 3sets
1 day rest

Adding in:

WORKOUT #2 RushFit or Insanity or Brazilian Butt or Plyo work X3/week

Here we go!

 

[psizzle_8]

Wait...so are you doing more than one workout per day? The weights with cardio AND insanity?

 

[Tennisgal33]

Ya...Insanity may not happen as I've started the program last year and its actually insane! lol but a second cardio/plyo or boxing would be 3 times a week. Along with the cutting I'd like to work on my endurance again. Fitness-wise, I've got most of my game back the past 2-3 months and ready to punch it up. I have added a second cardio a few times over the past few months. Bad? Because the scale is stuck. Im at a loss. I will post my workout shortly and diet.

 

[psizzle_8]

If you overtrain and/or under eat, its counterproductive. Doing fasted morning cardio a few times a week is one thing but doing weights AND an intense program like insanity is a little much

 

[Tennisgal33]

I hear ya! OK. And after tonight's training - which felt awesome going back to more of a circuit weight training approach - I felt the burn and am thinking chill girl. My 'extra cardio' is not going to be as intense right now. I'm not bothering with the Insanity...yet.

More or less doing this to keep myself accountable, but if anyone is following or curious, in the same boat, here's today's log. Due to insomnia and flex on work schedule, I missed a meal this am.

1:00 - 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 banana (3 inches)
2 tbsp dry oats
1 tbsp hemp seed
1 scoop whey
coffee (3 cups) 2 tbsp half and half *probably should drop this

3:00 - LISS walk/run (mostly power walk outdoor, the odd :30 sec jog - garmin monitor)
60 min. 4.15miles

4:00 - Post workout lunch
1/2 can (65g) tuna in water
1 oz avocado
Sipping on xtend

7:00 2 cups spinach, some cucumber salad, 1tbsp sprinkled slivered almonds with .5 tsp splenda
1 tbsp light mayo with white balsamic vin
1.5 oz shrimp
4 oz flank steak
3 oz white potato *not something I usually allow myself
1tbsp light sour cream

TRAINING

30 min. LISS biking at 12-14mph 6.3miles (had to start cause "people" were hogging the machines, and I use that term "people" loosely!

Lat pull downs 12x40lbs 15x40lbs 20x40lbs
Dips 12xme 15xme 15xme
single cable reverse press 12x10lbs 15x10lbs 20x10lbs
*super set with 45-60 sec rest after set

Reverse bent over DB flies 15x8lbs 15x8lbs 20x8lbs
Tri cable press down 15x30lbs 15x30lbs 30x25lbs
Tri reverse press down 15x30lbs 15x30lbs 20x25lbs

seated row 12x50lbs 15x40lbs 10/10x40/30lbs (drop set)
straight arm press down 12x30lbs 15x25lbs 10x25lbs 15x30lbs

leaning lat raise 15x5lbs 10/5x7lbs/5lbs 15x5lbs
front raise 15x5lbs 15x5lbs 15x5lbs

10:30 - post whey shake

*2 tbsp psyllium and my usual vitamins and CLA supp

water is 10 - 8oz glasses of water
Cals 1019 *a little under unintentionally
32g F 77gC 56gN Carbs 108gP


I'm not training for anything at the moment, just trying to cut the BF% down and continue to work on my endurance.

 

[psizzle_8]

Diet will do more than you think...I say this a lot but it needs to be repeated: I lost almost 30lbs in six weeks with a strict diet and consistent training regimen...but had the diet not been on point like it was the training wouldn't have done that on it's own. Diet first then training. I don't even feel bad on my off days because I know my diet is on point.

 

[Tennisgal33]

How's the diet look? This is pretty consistent with how I've been eating since adding carbs. Most coming from veggies and fruit. And daily cals shift with another whey shake and small meal to 1500-1600 cals/day. Your loss was amazing! I'm only 5'4" and have been informed this can slow things down cause I'm shorter?? Don't know if I buy that!

Lowered my splenda use big time. Wonder if it should be cut. Also the cream. Got used to it on Keto.