Over the past several weeks or so...

Work Schedule:

Wow, it's been a very busy time for me. I just bought a new place and moved in. I finished one project in Denver and started another one in Los Angeles. I'm in LA all week, every week. But my work schedule can't get in the way of training so I've been getting up at 4:30 or so to do cardio and then getting to the gym again around 6:00 PM to hit the weights. Evening cardio doesn't work very well with me. It tends to keep me up at night so cardio in the morning on an empty stomach and weights in the evening.

But before I get into all that, let me back up and talk a bit about the past 5 weeks and what has occurred. First, I wasn't doing much cardio. Hmmm, I might as well be honest. I wasn't really doing any cardio - at least not any consistent cardio. I was dieting hard in lieu of not doing cardio. I wasn't re-feeding often or long enough. The end result was that I stopped dropping weight. I was eating 1800 calories/day, spending 45 minutes in the weight room and still not dropping an ounce. This went on for a couple of week. I concluded that I had damaged my metabolism by dieting too hard and not properly re-feeding. I tried to get my doctor to take some blood to check for a low leptin level but found out insurance wouldn't cover it. So I can only guess that I had screwed up my metabolism. Well, circumstantial evidence all pointed to a slower than normal metabolism. So I decided I needed to fix what was broken before continuing to prepare for the upcoming contests. I say contests because there are two coming up this fall. I'll get into that in a few minutes.

I decided to go off my diet and eat whatever I wanted for a couple of weeks. I made sure I kept my complex carb intake high but, other than that, I ate whatever I wanted to - burgers, fries, pizza, etc. You name it, I ate it. It was a fun time but at some point I needed to get back to reality. After 2 weeks on my high carb junk food diet, I jumped on the scale and checked my body fat. It was ugly. I weighed in at 203 lbs and 13.5% body fat. It's been over two weeks since I got back on my cutting diet. After 1 week I dropped 3 lbs and 0.5% body fat. Basically, I lost 1.5 lbs of fat and 1.5 lbs of muscle - any I was doing cardio every single day. Apparently, I wasn't eating enough - or at least not enough protein. During the first week all my protein was coming from food. For me that's a mistake. I was eating roughly 180 to 200 grams of protein each day. I need more protein to maintain muscle mass when I'm cutting.

This week, so far, I added 100 grams of protein and 400 calories per day to my diet. I added a protein shake made up of 50g Now's Unflavored Whey Isolate and 5g of AST's Micronized Creatine immediately after my fasted cardio. Then, just before bed, I drink a protein shake made up of 50g of Optimum Nutrition's Casein Protein and 10g of AST's Micronized L-Glutamine. My rest of my diet remained the same, eating roughly 180 to 200 grams of protein each day. My total protein intake is between 280 to 300 grams per day now. I already feel stronger in the gym but maybe that's just because, subconsciously, I know I've added protein to my diet. But I've also noticed a difference when it's time to weigh in and check body fat.

Below is my progress chart since I started cutting again - after the two weeks I spent repairing my metabolism. As I mentioned above, I weighed in at a hefty 203 pounds and 13.5% body fat. I lost 1.5 lbs of fat and 1.5 lbs. of muscle the first week. After boosting my calories a bit and adding 100 grams of protein/day to my diet, I seem to have done much better. Week two was much more productive. I still dropped 3 lbs in all but it was all fat this time. It seems that I was able to retain all my muscle mass. Then again, there could be some user error in there. If I have any chance at all to make the October 11th contest, I have to be extremely aggressive with my fat loss. That means a weight loss of 2.5 lbs/week on average. I'm allowing myself to lose 5 lbs of muscle mass during this intense but short cutting phase. I'd prefer to drop fat at a slower rate but I procrastinated too long. I tend to do better under extreme pressure anyway.

The plan is to be around 7% for contest day at around 182 lbs. I'll drop about 8 lbs in water the night before the contest putting me at about 174 lbs (middleweight) for weigh-in. As you can see from my planned timeline, I have a second potential contest I'm shooting for. It's an untested NPC contest. I won't enter that one unless I'm in the best possible shape I can be in. I just bought a new place in the Phoenix area - Paradise Valley. And there is an LA Fitness right next door. I've always been a bit envious of Tom Venuto living just a few steps from his gym. Now I live just as close to mine. It's super convenient. I love it! Anyway, I've see some pretty large and ripped people working out there. Based on the size of some of these people, I doubt they are natural. This is the level of competition I'll surely see at the NCP show which is why I won't step on stage unless I'm really comfortable with me conditioning.

The other hurdle is a vacation I have planned with my son. I'm planning to take Dylan to Disney the week after the October 11th contest. Getting to the gym and eating right will be very difficult that week. I'll return from vacation just two weeks before the NPC contest. I'll make my decision at that time. But for now, I would really like to get Shredded for the October 11th INBF Natural Muscle Showdown in Phoenix. So how do I intend to drop so much fat in such a short period of time?

 I have made many changes that will all contribute to making this goal...

1. Cardio 6 days/week for 40 minutes to 1 hour. This will be done on an empty stomach using techniques outlined by Lyle McDonald in his newest book, The Stubborn Fat Solution. I've always liked Lyle's books and this one is cutting edge. It really gets into science that you never read anywhere else. The person on the cover is a friend of Lyle's who used Lyle's techniques to get THAT Shredded! And he is natural too.

2. I'm using yohimbine HCL and caffeine before cardio to burn the maximum amount of fat.

3. I'm keeping my protein high - about 280 to 300 grams/day on low carb days.

4. I'm re-feeding 2 days/week after 5 straight days of low carbs/low cals.

5. Low carb days for me equal about 100 grams/day. On re-feed days I take in about 500 grams of carbs.

6. I'm doing a 4-day split routine (2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off, repeat).

After two weeks using Lyle's suggestions, the weight seems to be coming off quickly. After making a caloric (protein) adjustment, all my weight loss seems to be body fat.  :)  Hopefully, I can maintain my rate of fat loss. I'll find out over the next few weeks.

Until next time, train hard, eat right and get Shredded!