G'day mates..

Today I weighed in at 175! A new low.

The Omron is starting to get really finicky. I had readings this morning from 10.0% all the way to 11.0%.

I'm going to see if I can schedule an underwater weighing or perhaps a consult with the personal trainer at my gym to get body fat measured with calipers..

I'm at a new gym so it will be interesting to see if this PT gets the same or similar body fat measurement as the PT from the last gym who measured me at 11.5%

I'll update again in four days.

Today's weight: 176.3 lbs (down 0.9 lbs)
Today's BF %: 10.5%

Actual BF readings:

10.4%
10.6%
10.6%

lbs. of fat: 18.51 (down 0.1 lbs)
lbs. of lean mass: 157.79 (down 0.8 lbs)

History: I've lost 11.3 lbs since June 11th when I started this journal. That's an average of 0.75 lbs per week, though the weight loss has been at or greater than a pound a week for at least a month now.

Thoughts: Well, I'm pleased to see my weight loss progressing. I am not sure what if anything to make of the fact that my body fat % according to the Omron didn't change even though my weight went down. If that accurately reflects reality then obviously I lost lean mass. That lean mass could in theory be muscle. I guess I'm not worried because there's nothing more I can do to preserve my muscle. I'm eating right, lifting weights, getting plenty of antioxidant supps as well as eating antioxidant foods every day. Getting great sleep of 7 to 8 hours every night. Not a whole bunch more I can do.

Also I stopped drinking a carb protein shake after my workout and have instead switched to a 12 oz drink of 30 grams of BCAAs. I sip half during my workout and then drink the other half afterwards.

I did this for the first time on Thursday night, and WOW! I can't believe how much better I felt even though I was on low carbs. It was a drastic difference, and I felt like I could have kept working out well beyond when I stopped at 1 hour and 700 calories burned.

Well, today's a refeed so I had a Jimmy John's sub for lunch, and a cookie for desert. Tonight I am thinking either pizza or Lee Ann Chin for dinner. Then it's back to the low carb low cal grind for another three days.

See you then!

This is from this morning's weigh-in..

Today's weight: 177.2 lbs (down 0.4 lbs)
Today's BF %: 10.5%

Actual BF readings:

10.4%
10.5%
10.6%

lbs. of fat: 18.61 (down 0.52 lbs)
lbs. of lean mass: 158.59 (up 0.12 lbs)

Thoughts:

Well, things are definitely headed in the right direction, although I think these body fat values are probably a little lower than reality.

The good news is I'm on target to reach my stated goal of having the Omron reading 10% by the end of September.

In other news, today is a re-feed day so I'm enjoying lots of good carbs. The day started with two servings of Kashi Golean Crunch and two servings of 'Light n' Healthy' Tropicana OJ, plus 110 grams of fresh blueberries on the cereal. Breakfast alone was a whopping 125 grams of carbs! MMMMMM! My carbs for the morning snack came from two servings of black beans. Lunch carbs will be 144 grams of blueberries and a cup of fat free plain yogurt, and the afternoon snack's carbs will be a serving of brown rice. Tonight I'm going to enjoy a slice of apple pie my wife and I picked up last weekend on our visit to the local apple orchard. I may even follow that up with a Klondike bar! Yes, you can lose weight and build muscle and still enjoy great food as long as you can commit to your diet for a few days. It's why I love carb-cycling so much. Every fourth day I enjoy lots of good carbs and bend the rules a bit by eating just a bit of junk food.

My diet the past week has also changed a little bit. I've dropped my low carb days down to under 100 grams a day, and raised my fat up to around 80 grams a day, keeping sat. fat to under 30 grams. I always get at least 190 grams of protein every day, the vast majority of which comes from real foods- not protein drinks.

I have definitely been feeling the effects of reduced carbs too- Sunday's workout was a bitch. The 25 minutes of cardio after lifting sucked beyond belief. I wanted to quit so bad! After it was over though I was feeling great!

That's about it.. I'll do another weigh in on my next re-feed which will be Saturday.

Until then..

Okay update time!

First, weigh-in from last Friday, 9/14

Today's weight: 177.6 lbs (down 0.8 lbs)
Today's BF %: 10.77%

Actual BF readings:

10.7%
10.9%
10.7%

lbs. of fat: 19.13 (down 2.69 lbs)
lbs. of lean mass: 158.47 (up 1.89 lbs)

I have really awesome news!

I had the personal trainer at my gym measure my body fat tonight with calipers.. and.. drum roll please..


11.5% body fat!!!!

I've dropped my body fat by 6.7% (from 18.2%) in just 2.5 months!

I am pretty much on cloud 9 about that. My hard work has paid off, but there's more to do!

I won't stop until I reach 10% body fat and if my abs aren't nice and visible I may go lower before I begin a slow, clean bulk.

WAHOOO!!!

Today's weight: 178.4 lbs (down 4.1 lbs)
Today's BF %: 12.23%

Actual BF readings:

12.0%
12.2%
12.5%

lbs. of fat: 21.82 (down 1.6 lbs)
lbs. of lean mass: 156.58 (2.5 lbs)

Thoughts: Obviously about half of this weight loss is water gained from the previous weekend's cheat day at the fair. I am nearly back to my original lean mass when I first started using the Omron. Not sure what this means since my lifts are still slowly improving in the gym.

In a few days I should be posting new photos. Hopefully I'll get time to do the superimposing of the old photo on the new one in an animated format but we'll see. Life is crazy busy these days.