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Six Weeks Of Burning Fat
Over the next six weeks, I'm going to follow a diet and exercise plan very similar to what bodybuilders go through in getting ready for a competition. Of course, I have no event to show up for; I'm doing this just for me. I've always been curious as to what bodybuilders have to go through to cut their body fat levels so rapidly and I want to see how it works. I am NOT doing the manipulation of water and salt levels that they do in their last week before a competition because, well, I don't have to.
Basically, I'm aiming at 2000 to 2100 calories per day, six meals per day, a very clean diet, four days of weight-lifting per week, and lots of daily cardio (some early in the day, then some more in the evening). The goal is to lose around 2 lbs per week and maintain my lean body mass. I know a lot of people would suggest less calories than that, but after my past experiences with weight loss, I'm much more focused on dropping pounds without losing too much of the muscle that I've built up in my life.
On October 29th, I weighed in at 223.5 lbs, so I want to be 210 lbs or less by December 9th. Then I'll spend about four weeks on a maintenance diet (so I don't burn out on all the cardio) followed by more series of burning fat to try and reach my final body fat goal, which is 9%. I envision myself being 190 lbs and 9% body fat, but I may end weighing less than that in order to reach that level of body fat.
Diet & Exercise Just Prior To This
I'm not someone who likes to suddenly change the standards of my life so drastically that I can't keep them up because the degree of change from my previous lifestyle is too great. Whenever I've done that in the past, I've always eventually switched back to the "old ways" because the force of the old habits is quite strong and drastic changes in eating and exercise generally cause too much frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed. So, in getting ready to burn up large amounts of fat, I decided this time to slowly go from my normal, unhealthy, high calorie diet to a healthy one through gradual changes. Here's what I ate and did in the weeks prior:
09/19/2005 to 10/02/2005
During these two weeks, I just recorded the nutritional values of what I normally ate, whatever I wanted. This included fast food, soda, candy bars, chocolate milk, pop-tarts, chocolate lucky charms (yes, chocolate), bagels, etc. The only healthy things I was doing was drinking a gallon of water per day, eating six times a day, getting over 200g of protein every day, and lifting weights four days a week (no cardio at all). This is what it broke down to per day:
- (25%) 220g Protein / (55%) 478g Carbohydrate / (20%) 75g Fat
- Around 3,467 Calories Per Day On Average
No meals were planned out; I just ate every three hours and ate whatever I had a desire for. I ranged from 224 lbs to 229 lbs in weight, and my body fat pinches didn't seem to change. Pretty much what was to be expected.
10/03/2005 to 10/16/2005
Now that I knew how many calories my old diet typically provided me with, I started to change my diet. I stopped drinking sodas and chocolate milk, and only rarely did I grab any fast food or the occasional candy bar. Also, I ate whole grain cereal instead of lucky charms (but it was still high sugar):
- (38%) 260g Protein / (45%) 305g Carbohydrate / (17%) 51g Fat
- Around 2,719 Calories Per Day On Average
The reason my protein intake went up so high was that in the absence of "good-tasting" things, I would drink more of the chocolate whey protein shakes. Weight remained between 224 lbs and 227 lbs, and body fat still unchanged.
10/17/2005 to 10/28/2005
With most of the absolutely bad things out of my diet, I started to fine tune meals to where I was eating meals composed of some quality animal protein, some starchy carbs, and lots of fibrous carbs. Very rarely, I would eat something sweet or just "low quality", but by the end of this period, my diet was very clean:
- (39%) 233g Protein / (50%) 298g Carbohydrate / (11%) 30g Fat
- Around 2,394 Calories Per Day On Average
I actually started to see the body fat caliper readings starting to go down, plus my weight remained between 222 lbs and 224 lbs. Since I had been lifting weights four days a week without fail since September 19th, my body's muscular structure was pretty good. I just needed to start burning the fat off so I could see those muscles better.
Keeping Track Of Daily Progress
Listed below are my total daily calorie counts, types of calories, workouts, and cardio sessions. I weigh myself first thing every morning, naked. I'm doing my best to eat every three hours, and to eat very clean, balanced meals as suggested by what I've read from Tom Venuto and Chris Aceto. I'm keeping my heart rate from 145 BPM to 155 BPM during cardio, which is done at home on my stationary bike.
Notes: My greatest vice during this was that I love bananas and chocolate whey protein drinks with skim milk. They are full of simple sugars and don't really keep the body's metabolism burning since they are easy to digest. It's easy to indulge in those rather than eat a normal meal consisting of meat, potatoes and vegetables (I stopped drinking skim milk around the 20th of November). I've also skipped a lot of cardio days and allowed myself to eat more because my weight seemed to be dropping too fast right at the start (when i hit 218 lbs after the first week, I put on the brakes). I only want 2 lbs per week, not 5+ lbs. Don't want to burn up my muscle, just mainly fat.
Dec 9th - There, That Wasn't So Hard...
This morning, I weighed in at 208.5 lbs, down from 223.5 only six weeks ago. Originally, I was aiming at 2000 to 2100 calories; but Chris Aceto's book made me realize that was too low for my size, so I did eat more and averaged from 2500 to 2600 per day for these past six weeks of burning fat. Actually, I've had my basal metabolism measured twice in the past two years and that showed I burn around 2200 calories per day just for being Rick. Also, when I did the heart rate calculations in Aceto's book, they pointed me towards 135 to 140 BPM as my best heart rate range for fat loss at my age. So, I didn't cut my calories very much (at all?), I didn't have to do exhaustive levels of cardio (staying near 155 BPM required me to peddle like a madman), and I was able to lose 15 lbs in six weeks.
On a further note of how easy losing those 15 lbs was . . . I cheated all the time! I ate quite a few fast food meals (you can tell on which days; just look at the fat grams), I indulged in the occasional coke and candy bar when I felt like it (those would be the high carb days), and I had Healthy Choice's Fat Free Ice Cream nearly every day over the past six weeks. Haha! So, what I went through was NOTHING like what bodybuilders and fitness competitors go through in order to get ready for their competitions. I think you only need to be super strict on diet and exercise when you are trying to go from 10-12% body fat down to 3-4%, and I am certainly nowhere near that.
Still, I feel like this slower approach to improving my diet worked quite well. It gave me time to become used to the fact that I'll be buying food, preparing food, and cleaning up the mess afterwards much more often than I normally had to with a fast food / processed food diet. More importantly, it allowed me to slowly phase out things I was basically addicted to, rather than going cold turkey from all bad things on the very same day, then feeling that loss over the next few days, and eventually falling off the wagon.
I am going to continue this casual plan for fat loss for the next few months until I have a body fat level which actually requires me to be more strict about my cardio and diet. At that time, I'll plan another period of intense fat burning (four weeks this time, not six), except that during this next one I'll actually BE intense, lol. Although I certainly notice the missing 15 lbs, it's also easy to see that I have much more to lose before I would consider myself to be "fit".