Patto's Rapid Fat Loss

Patto

I have started a blog.
http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/

Ok, let the madness begin. I am going on a 12 day protein sharing modified fast (PSMF). You what?

For 12 days I will be eating nothing but 374g of protein, a dozen fish oil capsules, as many veg as I can handle and a few other essentials like salt, and various vitamins and minerals.

This will give me a total of about 1600 calories per day. My normal maintenance level is 3200 calories per day. That is a 1600cal daily deficit in theory. Realistically, due to metabolic slowdown, reduced exercise and a few other factors, it will be more like a 1200-1400 deficit which should see me loose a pound of body fat every third day. So I should end up at my current weight which is 212Lb minus 4lb to 208lb without loosing any muscle, going from about 12% body fat to about 10%.

Ok, I have to give the obligatory warning i.e. don't try this at home. Dieting like this is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing. I'm not going to explain the theory of the diet because I'd make a balls of it and anyway if you read Lyle McDonald's book "Rapid fat loss" http://www.bodyrecomposition.com you will get all the nitty gritty. The details of this diet are very subjective. As such this diet is specific to my age, height, weight, body fat, excercise levels and the number of meals I eat in a day. Please don't borrow anything from this blog, do the research first.

So why am I doing this? Its pretty simple really, playing football at just over 15 stone I am carrying about 25lb of fat on a free ride around a field for an hour. Try running one lap with just 10lbs on your back, then take it off and run another lap you'll know what I mean. Ideally I need to be in the 6%-8% bodyfat window for my sport and especially given the position I play (midfield). Not to mention my old age. Added to that loosing weight slowly and training on a small deficit is a killer and if you want to bulk up muscle wise at the same time its almost impossible.

I am also curious. I have never in my life really counted calories. If I were to estimate how much chicken it takes to eat 30g of protein I could easily be out by a mile. I am going to have to start weighing everything. Having just read Lyle's book a few things have become apparent to me already. 1. I don't eat enough protein. I should be eating 280g of protein per day on my maintenance diet. I'd say I check in at around 180-200g most days and that is probably better than most. 2. I eat too many carbs. I kind of get away with it though, I reckon I have pretty good insulin sensitivity. 3. I reckon eating like I currently do my bodyfat is pretty much regulated at its current level. I would not be able to maintain a lower body fat eating carbs like I do. 4. Getting lean protein and enough of it into every meal is bloody difficult even with supplements. I'm going to have to rethink this one. Looks like I am going to have to preprepare food every day or at the weekend. I'd like to limit supplements to post workout and emergencies only.

That's it for post 1. I'm going to throw up the before and after pics. I'm also going to do a few strength tests before and after to make sure I haven't lost any muscle/strength. I'll log what I eat and my exercise and my observations and moans.

Patto

Weight 212Lb

Body Fat: 6-8mm on body fat calipers. Usually I take the same measurement an inch above my hip bone about 10 times. The measurement can vary depending how much pressure and how quickly you apply pressure to the calipers. It can also vary depending how you are pinching your skin. I'm very used to doing this and have a good feel for it. I'll score it a 7mm. which is about 10%.

Realistically that is a generous score. For example on those impedance scales I score more like 20%. I'll throw up some picture and maybe someone will give me an educated guess. I reckon I'm more like 12-14%.
The pictures are up on the blog: http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/

Supplements
The supplements arrived yesterday.

4x5lb boxes of Muscle milk from bodybuilding.com. Worked out at about €52 for 5lb which is about €8 less than the best deal I can get in the supplement stores here. Muscle milk is my stable, I use a scoop in the morning and 2 scoops after training religiously. Will sells this stuff too, I must check out how Will's prices compare.

1000x1g Fish oil capsules from Bulkpowders.co.uk for €35 which is about a tenth of what you will be asked to pay in a health food store.

And 5lb of milk protein concentrate (MP) from bulkpowders.co.uk for €35. I've never see this stuff for sale anywhere else. Its one of the things Lyle mentions in his book. Its a slower acting protein so it should keep me fuller for longer. I tried a glass of it. It is unflavoured so it tasted rotten. Like super concentrated fat free milk. I added have a scoop of muscle milk, that improved things dramatically. MP has a much heavier texture than whey protein and it mixes better.

Testing and Measuring
On Wednesday I did a 300M row 10 times with 60 sec between intervals at 1:35/500M pace. Then rested for 5 minutes spinning the wheels of an exercise bike. I repeated this 3 times. Total 9000M in 30 intervals of 300M. It was the second worst experience of my life on a rowing machine. I won't be doing anything like this for the next two weeks and I don't miss it either.

Anyway, I took a few measurements.
Waist: 36.5in
This includes at least 3in of spare tyre. I'm hoping to see this number drop to maybe 35in.

Bicep: 14.25in
I don't have big arms and I don't store much fat on my arms so this number should stay the same.

Strength Tests
I was in the gym tonight. I did a few strength tests. Without going into too much detail on this its important to remember that strength isn't all about size. Concieveably I could maintain my strength levels and even loose a small amount of muscle mass. Or I could maintain my muscle mass and loose strength. Strength is a combination of efficient neural pathways, or to put it another way, practice and an efficient technique, and size. If I can't maintain lifting intensity I may loose practice a little, or, if I over do it I may start burning into my own muscle. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Anyway the strength tests
Inverted rows: 28 in 60 seconds (That was 5 more than my previous best)
Pressups: 36 in 60 seconds (That was an embarrassment, only 1 more than my previous best)
3RM chin up: 97Kg+17.5Kg
I didn't do any lower body tests
Trap bar deadlift: 180Kg (about 6 weeks ago, this number needs to be heading towards 200Kg pretty soon).

Patto

Day 1 Saturday
Weight (210lb) Sunday morning.

Not a good start. I eat some dodgy coleslaw last night and started my fast with a dodgy stomach, lovely. I'll spare the detail.

Breakfast
An omlette with 4 eggs, about 300g of ham, onions and celery. 5g Fish Oils. It took ages to eat.

Mid morning (during workout)
1 scoop of Muscle milk and 1 scoppe of whey.

Post workout
Tuna Salad with some half fat cheese

Afternoon
3 scops of Milk protein and 1/2 scoop of Musle Milk

Dinner
300g of Steak and a sause with half a tin of tomatoos, garlic, onions and mushrooms. A few pices of brocoli.
This wasn't bad actually.

Dinner 2
300g of Steak. 5g of fish oils.

Supper
Another 3 scoops of Milk protein

Todays workout was a fairly heavy session. I'll take it while I have the energy.
2x1000M rowing @2min/500M
Mobility stuff
Sumo Deadlift w/u to 100Kg the 5x5 @120Kg
Step ups 40Kg 3x5
Rollouts 3x15
Mobility stuff
Bench Press w/u to 60Kg then 70Kg 5x5. Don't know what was gong on. I should be lifting 80s here.
Inverted rows 3x10
Bicep curls 30Kg 5x10
Back extension 3x15


Day 2 - Sunday
Weight 208Lb (Monday Morning)

I'm not going to log my daily food each day quite simply because it doesn't vary much and I'm finding it boring I don't want to inflict that on anyone else.

My jaws and teeth are sore from eating meat. I went through a whole chicken, half a leg of lamb, a lump of cheese, a slab of salmon and 2 protein shakes today.

I think I might be following the wrong protocol also. Lyle separates the fat loss program into 3 categories. I had thought I was in category 1 which is the leanest category. Seems as Lyle has put me at 16-18% I'm now thinking I'm sitting just outside category 1 in category 2.

Category 2 would give me a bigger deficient and I wouldn't have to eat so much meat. I'm having no issues with hunger or energy at the moment. I've sent a query to Lyle.

My weight is down 4 lb to 208lb. That is pure water loss from the depletion of my glycogen stores.

I had a bit of Doms today but nothing out of the ordinary.

Patto

I've put some pics on the blog http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/
feel free to go in and let me know how fat you think I am:o

Patto

Day 3 Monday
Weight 208 (Tuesday Morning) no change.

Well, on Lyles advise I have reclassified myself as a category 2 dieter for a week or two at least. That means I drop from 375g of protein a day to 225g. I also get a 5 hour refeed on Saturday which is great.

One of my concerns doing this diet was what my energy levels and concentration would be like at work. Monday was grand, no issues with hunger, energy or concentration. I cycle to work, it felt no different to normal. I drank about 10 cups of coffe all the same.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Day 4 Tuesday
Weight ? (i'll post in the morning)

I have been taking this Milk protein stuff in the morning. Along with preparing two subsequent meals, it takes too long to eat 50g of chicken and a heap of veg first thing. Its great stuff. Keeps me going until lunchtime.

Got caught on the hop a little today. The canteen food wasn't as plentful today. I was cut a little short on the protein and the salads and veg, either had a bit too much dressing or included some of the banned veg i.e. sweet corn and carrots. I'm eating too much salmon too which is quite a fatty fish.

Workout
2k row 2min/500M
70kg squats x3x8
Natural reverse hypers x3x8
single leg Planks x2 60sec (I like these not only are they a good progression but they are a great hip stretch)
Plank with 20kg 60sec
Chins (nautral grip) bwx3x8
DB Bench 27.5kgx3x8
Reverse curls x3x15
Arms 40Kgx3x8

Supped on a carb drink during the workout which gave me about 30g of carbs.

This is a lower volume and much lower intensity than I'm used to. Did a lot of mobiliy, stretching and soft tissue (foam roll) stuff with the spare time. I feel great, again no issue with energy and strength is fine. This is like a deload, I'm actually feeling better than I normally would. The way this is going I think I might run this diet right to the 25th and refeed good and propper on Christmas day. I bet I speak too soon:p

SoWatchaWant

Cool. Good luck, I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

Patto

Day 5 Wednesday
Weight 208Lb (no move for 3 days now)

I'm not sure what is going on. I presume I am due a big woosh any day now.

I'm Still feeing good, no issues with energy or focus. This really isn't too bad at all.

I've noticed that my bowls are slowing down big time.

Day 6 Thursday
Weight

Today for the first time I began to feel quite tired in the afternoon. I think that was mostly due to the gaps between meals though. Still bunged up and I don't think my weight has dropped much today either. I'm really counting on that woosh effect now.

Tonights session was short and easy but I felt strong.

2Km row @2min/500m HR max 153
Chest supported Scap rows 50kgx3x15
RDLs 80kgx3x10 (These were really easy)
Side planks 2 each side x 60 sec
Dips BWx3x8
One arm bent over rows 40x3x8 (per hand)
Shoulder presses 20x2x8 (pain in right front delt)
Split squats 50kgx3x8
Natural reverse hypers x3x10

Went out for a few drinks (waters) with some collegues. Its funny when I told a few of the lads I was reducing my body fat they all thought I was nuts. I suppose because of my height I always look slim. Its never an easy one to explain, and the explanation get completely lost on most people. One guy told me I need to start lifting weights instead of loosing weight.

Al_Fernz

Patto wrote: »

I've noticed that my bowls are slowing down big time.

This link will help with this

Patto

My weight this morning was 205Lb. That is -3lb in one day after 3 days with no move. I've no idea why, maybe it was all the water I was drinking last night.

Its been a long week. It hasn't been that tough just long. In ways its been easier than a normal week. I don't miss the mind bending conditioning sessions on the rower that is for sure. By backing off the weights I've given my body a bit of a rest too. I really was expecting this diet to be way way tougher.

I was delighted to finally see the scales drop off a few pounds this morning.

I get a 5 hour refeed tomorrow which I am looking forward to.

So one week in, 7Lb down in total, at a guess about 4lbs of that is pure water loss. Going on those numbers I should be down to 202lb next Friday. I'll see how I feel then and decide if I want to run right into the 25th. If I stop next Saturday which was the original plan I'll end up at about 206lb which would be around 13% body fat.

Patto

Weight 205Lb, on Saturday morning before refeed (No Change)

Today I got a 5 hour refeed which lasted about 7 hours. I had porridge, a hugh smoothy with 50g of protein and I shared 4 eggs with my 2 year old son. He eat 3 I reckon.

Then to the gym. I did a long but handy enough session

2k row @2min/500 153 Hr Max
A bit of mobilty stuff, over and unders, reverse lunges with a twist
Sumo DL 110x3x8
Rollouts 3x15
Lunges 60Kg x3x8
More mobility stuff, some YTWs and scap retractions on the seated row
Bench 70x5 (no hand off), then 70x2x8 with a hand off. Its crazy a decent hand off gives me 3 extra reps. I felt like I could have benched 100kg for a few reps with the setup I had on the last set.
Inverted rows 3x10 I must start progressing these again.
Back extensions 3x15

I felt fine in the gym. I'm quite happy with my strength. My hamstrings are in bits from the rdls on Thursday. So much for giving the legs a rest.

Anyway on with the refeed. I had a post workout shake with 2 scoops of Mulcle milk and a scoop of whey. Then for lunch I had a 12oz steak with chips, onions and pepper sauce. For the whole afternoon I was like a new man. Apparently this has something to do with hormone production, on a diet like this certain hormones slow down quite a bit. When you refeed they all kick back in. I hadn't really noticed much difference during the week, I suppose becuase it is a gradual process but when you refeed you really feel it.

I was back up to 210Lbs going to bed. Up 5Lbs in a day. That was expected, its all water from the glycogen restoration. It also puts things in perspective, I'm down about 2-3 Lbs overall which is about where I should be.

I tooks some pics at 210lb tonight. There is no major visable difference. It only accounts for 1% body fat so I'm not going to get too hung up on that. I should be back down to 204 or 205 on Tuesday. I think I'll take another photo then to see if there is a big difference.

The bowls and the bowels have sorted themselves out. Well, I don't think there was much wrong to be honest. I think its more that there just isn't enough waste going into them. Its amazing how little your body wasteage there is in, whatever it is, 20 odd chickens I have eaten in the last week. I'm kind of thinking I may have added some muscle in the last week. I'm not sure that is even possible. I must ask Lyle and I'll throw up some pics from the back so you can judge for yourself.

Checkout the blog http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/ I put up a few before and after pics

Patto

Weight 206lb (down 4lbs on reefed weight but still 1lb above zero carb weight)

Looks like it takes nearly 3 days for me to strip off the glycogen. I should be back to base i.e. 204 or 205, tomorrow.

It was a litle bit tougher going back to the diet this week after Saturdays refeed. I suppose its easier when you have kind of forgotton what you were missing. Still yesterday was fine, its not anything like as bad as the day after a heavy lifting session or a speed session where you are completey bonked with fatigue or its not as bad as when you don't eat for 6 or 8 hours, its not anything like as bad as the sugar cravings you get 45 minutes after drinking a can of coke. Its actually not too bad at all.

Anyway, Sunday was grand, I eat a lot of steak which is very filling but it adds up calorie and cost wise when you are going through a couple of kilos a week. I think chicken is a wise staple.

I made a veg soup of sorts too. It was horid. I drank it over two days. I had to hold my nose in the end just to drink it. That was just a bit of needless suffering really. I shouldn't have made so much of the bloody stuff. Its done great things for my bowels all the same.

Patto

Weight 204Lb (That is 1lb down on my prerefeed weight)

That was maybe a bit gererous it was somewhere between 204 and 205. 203 is 14 and a half stone. That would be a nice milestone to hit tomorrow. It would be great to get down to 200Lb by the end of the week. This rapid fat loss it starting to feel like a very slow process. I suppose its a bit like the watched kettle.

Yesterday was grand, starting to feel more and more drained, doing a lot of slouching on beds and couches at home. Maybe I do that anyway, I dunno. Drank way too much coffee yesterday. I felt fit for bed by 8pm, went to bed at 10pm and didn't sleep until 1.30am.

I'm quite busy in work. And its not a bother. In fact its grand, my focus on work is very good. And given that it only takes about 10 minutes to eat my preprepared lunch I can work right through. There is no 3pm slump or anything like that and the coffee and green tea does a good job staving off the drained feeling.

I often wonder if I am doing something wrong. Should I be loosing weight quicker and should I be feeling worse?

Patto

Weight 203Lb on the button. A very nice milestone to hit.

Only 3 days left, It would be great to get one last woosh down to 200. I'd take 201 now though.

I think for the first time I can really see and feel the fat loss. My waist is in to below 36" (from 36.5"), I'm seeing 5mm (from 7mm) scores now on the calipers so I have definitely dropped a significant amount of body fat. I hope it shows up well on the pics I take on Saturday. I'll do a prerefeed and post refeed pic I think.

I think it is safe to say I am now at the lowest body fat level of my adult life, at the age of 32. I have twice dropped big chunks of weight previously. In 2001, my best year on the football pitch, I went down to 14 stone in the summer. I just became a smaller version of myself though, I lost as much muscle as I did fat. Ditto in early 2007 when I trained for the Ballycotton 10. Again I went down to 14 stone, when I went back to the gym I couldn't squat 60Kg having previously squatted 80s for reps.

I was in the gym last night, it was a long but decent session. My strength is still good. I did a lot of soft tissue work. Its amazing the lack of tension and soreness in my legs now, looks like I needed a break from the high intensity training anyway.

Workout
2k row 2min/500M
80kg squats x3x8
Natural reverse hypers x3x8
single leg Planks x2 60sec
Plank with 20kg 60sec
Chins (nautral grip) bwx3x8
DB Bench 30kgx3x6
Reverse curls x3x15
Arms 30Kgx3x12

Patto

Weight 203 (No change)

Its funny, and maybe very obvious but the weight drops seem to co-inside with my bowel movements. I'm expecting one today so there should be another drop tomorrow.:o

Yesterday was fine. I had to miss out on the annual Christmas dinner in work but that was no big deal really. There will be another one next year. Another work night out last night, I left as things were getting a bit messy, I can't say I enjoyed it that much to be honest. That is probably the hardest thing about the diet.

I've learned a few things on this diet. I always thought I was a carb type. Now, I'm not so sure, I seem to function very well on a high protein diet. After the diet I will leave my protein intake as it, at about 225g a day. 225x4=900cal.

Another thing I've learned is that I am too complacent with my fat intake. I'll increase my fat intake to 80g. That is not a lot so I need to watch it. 80x9=720cal.

Then I will vary my carb intake on a per day basis depending how much exercise I am doing. My average will work out at about 300g. 300x4=1200cal.

So the total would be 900+720+1200=2820cal. I'll have to play with the carb intake to see where I am as regards maintenance, bulking and deficit levels. I suppose I should read Lyles UD2.0 book, to nail this down properly. I've been making a balls of it for long enough.

The other thing I need to sort out is what to do next. I'll be 206Lb @12-13% at the end of this. I could do with going down to 200 and 10%. I also need to get my strength up to Will's benchmarks the main one being a 200Kg Trap bar deadlift and I'm only a few weeks away from that I reckon. My bench needs a lot of work, it needs to go from 100Kg to 115 or 120 but that is going to take a full year Realistically. My back is a strong as it needs to be. I think that is even obvious looking at the pictures I posted, I look a lot bigger from behind, I think. I also have long limbs so I'm never going to have an enormous bench. Then I need to look at my power development and my general conditioning. I'm gonna leave all that to the expert. I'll see the Will next week, I'll probably be no wiser then but I'm in good hands ;-)

Patto

Weight 203Lb (No bloody change)

I've only one more weigh in before a full refeed. Heres hoping for more woosh down to 200 or 201.

Yesterday was fairly uneventfull. I did drink a shed load of coffee. I actually bough caffiene tables before starting the diet. I didn't use a single one. I reckon there is alos a fair bit of caffiene in green tea so I have been well topped up all along.

Did a session in the gym. I designed this session myself. The idea is to target my weak hamstrings and get the glutes going. There are 3 hip dominant movements (RDLs, Split squats and the NRHs) I had Doms in my hamstrings for 5 days last week. I'll see how it goes this week, I think I'll adapt this week but maybe its a little too much focus on one area. The side planks, Dips and shoulder presses I put in because I haven't done them for so long. I want to see how my dodgy right shoulder responds to the shoulder pressing too. The chest supported scap rows were to work on a weakness in my middle and lower traps that is now alomost sorted.

2Km row @2min/500m HR max 153
Chest supported Scap rows 50kgx4x15
RDLs 90kgx4x8 (These fine, need to watch my low back is staying straight)
Side planks 3 each side x 60 sec
Dips BWx3x8
One arm bent over rows 40x3x8 (per hand)
Shoulder presses 20x3x8 (pain in right front delt, I need to get it sorted, its from lifing my son, he will only let me hold him on my right hand side)
Split squats 50kgx3x8
Natural reverse hypers x3x10

Patto

Have a look at some before and after Pics
http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/
212Lb (Fully Carbed up) on the 5th of December
203Lb (Zero Carbs) on the 20th of December

Weight 203lb (No change for the fourth day in a row, I don't bloody believe it)

I reckon I'm due a woosh. I won't see it now as my weight will go up 4 or 5Lb today with the refeed. I had hoped to end up at 206Lb which would be down 6Lb overall. That might still be possible. I'll know by Monday morning when I see what you weight normalises back to.

Yesterday was alright. A tough last day. I really wanted a glass of wine last night after a busy week in work. I'll have a few tonight anyway, I figure I have probably earned it.

Patto

Weight 209Lb +6Lb (after refeed)
Saturday and Sunday were refeed days and by God did I refeed. I think I probably overdid it in fact. My weight this morning was 209lb thats -3lb overall.

My weight should settle down over the next couple of days at 207 or 208lb.

I went to the gym on Sunday and redid the two strength tests.

I scored 36 again for 60 sec pressups. No Change.
I scored 27 on the 60 second inverted rows. which is -1. I actually attempted 30 but fell short 3 times so I just made a bit of a balls of it.

I also took some measurements last night. My waist was 36 1/16 my arms were 14 1/8.
So I lost nearly 1/2 and inch off my waist and 1/8 of an inch off my arms.

On the calipers I'm now getting measurements from 4mm-6mm down from 6-8mm which is a big difference.

I have to say I'm a little bit bewildered. I had hoped to loose a few pounds more but then again I did loose 3 or 4 lb, my strength is still in tact and all the right measurements droped as they should have.

I'll take one more set of pics tonight and that will be it for this blog.

Patto

I've started another 2 week PSMF block. I've also streamlined things a bit, or I've just got lazy, and I'm just updating my progress in one post on the blog.. I think the one post idea makes it much easier to follow and to see progress

http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/

I'll probably just post closing stats here next Sunday and that will be it.

I'm going to cycle onto a diet called UD2.0 once this block is finished.

Patto

UD2.0
I've read the book and I have a plan.

I can't follow the process exactly as Lyle outlined in his book but this is what my plan will look like. My primary focus is to lose about 6lb over the next 6 weeks using the UD2.0 diet and then to go to maintenance.

This will take a week or two to dial in propperly so I'll need to set and reset the carb/fat/protein intakes as I go. I should have the depletion settings nailed already from the PSMF already.

So the plan:

Monday: 1hr lunch time power session. Followed by a post work out shake, then I'm into hard Dieting and Glycogen depletion for 4 days.

Tuesday: Football training or rowing intervals followed by depletion session in the gym as required.

Wednesday: Diet hard

Thursday: Pre workout carb drink. Starting with 50g Carb drink. Football training or rowing intervals. Maybe do some weights in the gym if I'm able.

Friday: Luchtime Tension session in the gym which will then kick off a day carb load through to Saturday evening.

Saturday: Mostly carb loading.

Sunday: Maintenance carorie intake, Football Match or Power session in the gym.

UD2.0 week 1
Week one snapshot:
Starting weight: 206Lb
Final Weight: 206Lb
Max carb load weight: 209lb
Min Depletion weight: 201lb

The week went like this
Monday: PSMF, Rest, 206lb
Tuesday: PSMF, Conditioning and Depletion
Wednesday: PSMF, Rest
Thursday: PSMF, Conditioning session
Friday: PSMF Am, Carb load PM, Tension session, 201lb AM, 206Lb PM
Saturday: Carb Load, Rest, 209lb PM
Sunday: Maintenance, Match. 206lb (Monday AM)

Notes:
The carb load worked as in I got 1300g of carbs into me in 30 hours from Fri noon. I eat too much junk and too much gluten. I managed to get 250g of fat in during the carb load which was about 200g more than planned. I'll dial that in better next week.

Patto

I've gotten very lazy at updating this blog, I also mislaid my boards password for a few weeks.

Anyway, I've not been at all lazy as regards dieting. I'm now on my 8th week of clinical dieting since early December. 4 weeks of PSMF and this is my 4th week of UD2.0. I started at 212lb (normal morning weight) and now I'm down to about (203lb normal morning weight and semi creatine loaded). I started taking creatine again two weeks ago to improve my carb loading, I repond profoundly to creatine so during the loading phase the creatine weight gain more than masks the fat loss. I set two PRs last week in the gym, I box squatted 110x3x3 and chined bw+20+clothes = 115x3x3. So I've lost no strength at all. At the moment I'm at around 10% BF I'll keep this going for this week and another two weeks. That will just about bring me into single digits. I'm not sure what I will do then. My sport is gaelic football and I play in a central position so the low body fat gives me a lot of bang for my buck. I need to work on my power and speed development and my bench press could do with being 20kg better, I'll need to stop the dieting and focus on these weaknesses during the season also.

UD2.0 week 2

Week Two snapshot:
Starting weight: 206Lb
Final Weight: 204Lb
Max carb load weight: 210lb
Min Depletion weight: 200lb

The week went like this
Monday: PSMF, Power lifting session, 206lb
Tuesday: PSMF, Football Training, 203lb
Wednesday: PSMF, Rest, 202lb
Thursday: PSMF, Football Training, 200lb
Friday: PSMF AM, Carb load PM, Tension session, 200lb AM, 206Lb PM
Saturday: Carb Load, Football Training, 204lb AM, 210lb PM
Sunday: Maintenance, Rest, 204lb (Monday AM)

Notes:
The carb load worked as in I got 1300g of carbs into me in 30 hours from Fri noon. I still managed to eat 165g of Fat and I eat a lazagne, a breakfast roll and a Pizza which filled me full of wind, I have serious issues with gluten. Gotta get the fat levs down below 100g and cut out the gulten. I used creatine as part of the carb load. It appears to give an extra bit of crab loading alright. I'll get a better idea over the next few weeks. Looks like I'm on track for loosing 1lb a week.

UD2.0 week 3

Week Three snapshot:
Starting weight: 204Lb
Final Weight: 204Lb
Max carb load weight: 209lb
Min Depletion weight: 201lb

The week went like this
Monday: PSMF, Power lifting session, 204lb
Tuesday: PSMF, Football Training, 202lb
Wednesday: PSMF, Rest, 201lb
Thursday: PSMF, Football Training, 202lb
Friday: PSMF AM, Carb load PM, Tension session, 202lb AM, 206Lb PM
Saturday: Carb Load, Football Training, 204lb AM, 209.4lb PM
Sunday: Maintenance, Rest, 206lb (204lb Monday AM)

Notes:
I didn't count the carbs on the carb load this time. I didn't deplete as much this week either. I don't know why. I'm not super strick on the dietery carbs and I'm not doing huge depletion sessions in the gym either. I reckon the creatine is having an affect also. I should be depleting to 199 or 198 at this stage so the creatine has given me 2 or 3lb of weight gain already. This will probably continue and should max out in week 4 or 5. I should see a measurable weight loss in week 6. I set PRs on the squat and chins on Monday so the creatine is having an effect in the gym also.

Patto

UD2.0 week 4

Week Three snapshot:
Starting weight: 206Lb
Final Weight: 206.6Lb
Max carb load weight: 214lb
Min Depletion weight: 200lb

The week went like this
Monday: PSMF, Power lifting session, 206lb
Tuesday: PSMF, Football Training, 203lb
Wednesday: PSMF, Rest, 202lb
Thursday: PSMF, Football Training, 200lb
Friday: PSMF AM, Carb load PM, Tension session, 202lb AM
Saturday: Carb Load, Football Training, 205lb AM, 214lb PM
Sunday: Maintenance, Football Training, 209lb (206.6lb Monday AM)

Notes:
I had a serious carb load this week. I reckon it wasn't all carbs either. I just eat a sh!t load of everything on Saturday. Depleted to my lowest ever which was 200lb. Its like another barrier I cannot break. The last one was 203lb. I reckon I am still adding more creatine weight than loosing bodt fat. I am getting leaner but its not showing on the scales. I'll put some pics up at the end of next week.

Its funny, if you look at the first 4 weeks it looks like I'm running to stand still. I should see 2 things in the next two weeks. When I take pics I should see a difference over the 6 weeks even if the numbers on the scales remain the same. The other thing I should see is once my creatine levels have saturated I should start seeing fat loss on the scales.

Jumpy

Whats your body fat percentage?


Also, kudos for the fish oil tablet bargain.

Patto

Jumpy wrote: »

Whats your body fat percentage?


Also, kudos for the fish oil tablet bargain.

Realistically I reckon I'm just about heading for 10%, that is based on my look in the mirror and guestimate method. Which is probably as accurate as I can be.

According to my calipers I'm about 5-6%. Which is BS. I'll post pics next week and send them the Lyle Mc Donald that is the definitive as far as I'm concerned.

Jumpy

Well if you really were 5-6% that might point to why its so hard to drop weight. Would your power lifting sessions be simply packing more on?

Patto

Week Three snapshot:
Starting weight: 206.6Lb
Final Weight: 205Lb
Max carb load weight: 209lb
Min Depletion weight: 201lb

The week went like this
Monday: PSMF, Power lifting session, 206.6lb
Tuesday: PSMF, Gym conditioning session, 204lb
Wednesday: PSMF, Rest, 204lb
Thursday: PSMF, Gym Conditioning session, 202lb
Friday: PSMF AM, Carb load PM, Tension session, 201lb AM
Saturday: Carb Load, Football Training, 205lb AM, 209lb PM
Sunday: Maintenance, Football Training, 206lb (205lb Monday AM)

Notes:
I never fully blew off last weekends carb load last week. It was more than just carb load so I held back a bit this weekend sticking more strictly to carbs. I think I am fully creatine loaded now. I'm begining to see drops on the scales again, this week, which would indicate that I'm just seeing fat loss as opposed to creatine gain and fat loss. I'm setting PRs on my main lifts every time I go to the gym. Even last Friday (Bench 90x3x2) when I was after 4 days of hard dieting and again yesterday (Chins bw+22.5x3) the day after a hard football match. I reackon I've gain 5kg on my bench in the last 3 weeks which is about 3 months worth of normal gains. I put that 100% down to creatine. The way I understand creatine to work I expect to see these gains continue for another 4-6 weeks without any further weight significant gain.

One week to go. Then loads of testing and pics. I'm going to leave the dieting at that. Its way too draining.

Patto

Jumpy wrote: »

Well if you really were 5-6% that might point to why its so hard to drop weight. Would your power lifting sessions be simply packing more on?

I did a session with Transform yesterday. In terms of body fat, and lots of other stuff, I ain't quite in Transform's league yet. If Transform is 5-6% then I'm at least 8%.

I should deplete to 199 or 198 this week which would support my creatine gain Vs fat loss theory. I'd love to have hit the 196 14 stone milestone. The dieting is starting to take its toll though, I'll give the body a rest for a few weeks and maybe revisit again before the summer.

Transform

well your still looking great and making goo strength gains.

Keep up the super work

Patto

Rapid Fat loss November 2009

Here I go again. A year older and wiser than the last time I attempted this madness.

Here is the plan. 28 Days of Lyle's Rapid fat loss. I stated on Saturday morning weighing in at 217lb. I've been as high as 219lb. That is just about 100Kg. I'm aiminging to get to 90-92kg 196-203lb, that would put me well down the single digits.

That is a full stone just to get into the 196-203 window. I reckon I'll drop to 207 (200 fully depleted) in the next 28 days. After that its probably back to another six or eight weeks of UD2.0 to get to 196 (190 fully depleted)

What I've learned since last year:
1. Well RFL is a bloody efficient way to lose body fat.
2. I did 2 weeks, took a break over Christmas and did another two weeks last time. I lost 8lb net. I probably lost 10lb and put on 2lb over Christmas. So a 10lb net loss this time should be very attainable.
3. I miscalculated starting bf and my category last time, so I lost a few days at the start eating way too much protein.
4. I lost no muscle mass the last time. I shouldn't need to worry about muscle loss until I'm well under 200lb (fully depleted).
5. I did get some metabolic slowdown the last time espiceally on the UD2.0. I should be ok until I get to 200lb (depleted), I hope.
6. Is my 200lb (depleted) this year going to be the same as my 200lb (depleted) last year, that is, have I put on any muscle mass this year. I reckon I have put on maybe 3-4lb. Maybe that is wishfull thinking. I'll put up picks to compare.
7. I drank wine in my second RFL last time and wasn't completely anal about it. I'm going to be more anal this time round. I'm off drink for November.:eek:
8. I'm going to do more morning runs and long walks this time. I'll take a fibre supplement. I'll drink more green tea. I might also use yohimbine in the last week.

Stats:
Vo2 max Nov 1st: 50 (test done on a polar hrm)

Nov 2nd
Bench: 100Kg (Form was off due to lack of practice and lack of carbs, I'll get 105 by the end of the month)
Pull Ups: 12 (Nearly got 13, with a lower bw I'll get 15 next time)
Inverted rows: 28 in 60 sec (Made a bit of a balls of the test and missed 2 reps, I'll get 30+ next time)
Push Ups: 40 in 60 sec (good result, might get one or two more next time)
TB Deadlift: 200Kg (Awfull form, if I sort out my hip issues and get some practice with a trap bar I'll get this back to 220Kg)
Row Test: Didn't do it. I'll do a 30 sec power test on Sunday after my refeed, should hit 190M+, one of my off season goals is to get this figure up to 200M+ not in the next four weeks though.

Nov 1st
Waist: 37"
Thigh: 25"
Bicep: 14.25" 14.5 on a good day
Calipers: 7mm

Saturday October 31st: 217
Sunday November 1st: 214
Monday: 213
Tueday: 213
Wednesday: 211 (That is my full depletion level 217-219 is my fully carbed level)
So 11 pounds to lose in 25 days. That is very attainable espiceally since some of that 11 pounds will be lost due to creatine depletion.

Transform

bset of luck with it man

Patto

Cheers Dominic! Every time I do these diets I swear I'll keep my diet clean in future and keep my body fat in check so I don't have to do these things. We'll see next year.

Anyway week one went as follows:
Saturday October 31st: 217
1. Sunday November 1st: 214
2. Monday: 213 (cheat meal, strength test)
3. Tuesday: 213 (light lifting session)
4. Wednesday: 211 (That is my full depletion level 217-219 is my fully carbed level)
5. Thursday: 209.6 (light lifting session)
6. Friday: 209 (I reckon that's a 2lb net fat loss already, not bad)
7. Saturday: 208.2 (That was a really good start)

Saturday also included a 5 hour refeed which I managed to keep pretty clean. Cytomax 80g, 3 banannas, 2 bagels, a bowl of porridge, scrambled eggs and two chicken breasts. That's about 300g of crabs. My weight was back up to 214lb on Saturday night and back down to 211 this morning.

I'm not sure if people understand the numbers here as the huge variance doesn't reflect true weight loss.

My fully glycogen loaded level last Saturday was 217-219lb, After 4 days of eat little or no carbs you reach your depleted weight which in my case was 211lb. I also know from experience that my loaded to depleted differential is very close to 6lb. I went from there to 208.2 at the end of the week so I could that as a 3lb net weight loss. I also count all of that as fat loss.

So, the targets next week fully depleted on saturday morning @ 205lb
Saturday week: 202lb and Saturday two week I'll finish up at 199lb with a total fat loss of 12lb.

There are some pics on the blog, I'll post pics again on day 14 and day 28. http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/2009/11/rapid-fat-loss-november-2009.html

Patto

Saturday morning weighed in 208.2 fully depleted after week 1. I reckon that is just shy of a 3lb net fat loss in 7days if I keep that up I'll be down 12lb over the 28 days. It going to be difficult to maintain that. Targets are: next Sat 205 fully depleted, then 202, then 199lb. Last year I stalled at 208, 203 and 200, It'll be interesting to see if something similar happens this time.

Saturday: 5 hour refeed including a 2 hour lifting session in the gym, I did a lot of mobility stuff which took up most of that time.
Saturday night I was back up to 214lb and looking much leaner than last weeks 217. I kept the refeed pretty clean, two bagles, porridge, 80g cytomax, 2 spuds, 3 banannas, that's only about 350g of carbs which is only about 4lb of glycogen. There must have been 2lb of water and something else (fibre?) in there too to get to 214. I've been thinking about something Dan from IP said to me on Monday about the carbs you eat the day before being the ones you can use for training. I reckon he's onto something. In terms of the diet it means I would have been running on mainly fats yesterday and more on glycogen today. Its prossibly worth doing something training wise the day after a refeed. I think take the bike out today.

Sunday: 211 (3lb of glocogen to burn)
Monday:
Tuesday: (gym heavy deadlifts 130x5 and bench 90x3)
Wednesday: 208
Thursday: 206.6 (Did some beginner plyometcs)
Friday: 206
Saturday: 208.6 (after refeed) (Gym heavy front squats 80x5 and chins bw+15kg x3)

I changed things round towards the end of the week. The plan was to lift and refeed on Friday evening. I just did the refeed. Forgot my locker key so couldn't use the gym. Saturday mornings gym session was a little disappointing. I thought the refeed might have given me a bit more strength but instead I felt low on energy and weak. My lifts were ok. Happy with the front squats, I seem to be setting the upper back much better now. It still needs work though. Next week I'll go back to the week 1 routine. The Saturday morning refeed is much more rewarding than a Friday night refeed. I should be able to get the refeed weight down quicker this week. I might get into the gym again tomorrow for a repetition session.

Got down to 206 this week and refeed a day early. I might have got to 205. I'll be better able to graph my progress next week.

Patto

Sunday 15/11/09 209 (Don't know what that's about. With a gym session yesterday I would have expected to have at least partly depleted from 208.6 yesterday) Did a one hour repetition/depletion session today, Sunday. Mind numbing stuff, still got a decent pump with the leg curls and leg presses. See if I deplete quicker this way.

Monday 206
Didn't do plyos, too much doms in hamstrings. Down 1lb on Saturday morning's weight. The depletion session yesterday seems to have had some impact. I suspect I needed much more burn and volume. Its taking 4 to 5 days to deplete after a 5 hour refeed.

Tuesday 206
Deadlift 130x5x3, bench 90x2. That’s good, nearly down to full depletion. I feel a bit of a woosh coming on, should get to 203 by the weekend.

Wednesday 206
Not so confident about that woosh now. I felt a bit bloated last night, maybe the storts drink and the salts. Going by last week I'll maybe get down to 204 by Friday. Which means I'm chugging away at 2lb a week. 192lb fully depleted is 90Kg fully loaded, that's the ultimate target.

Thursday 205
Back squats 100x5x3, chins bw+10kgx5x3. Depressing lack of progress in the gym. I reckon I was graphing at 2.5lb a week in the first two weeks. I'm only 1lb down in the last 6 days. A whoosh would be really nice. 204 on Friday or Saturday is still where I reckon I'll get to this week.

Friday 204.6
No sign of that bloody woosh anyway. Today will be a tough day. Mind you I don't see a woosh in the mirror either. I'm convinced there has been a major slow down. A bowl of corn flakes tomorrow morning has my name on it. Friday is the hardest day, no training and not a scap of glycogen in the system. Please God give me 204 tomorrow. that would put me on track for 202 next week and a 9lb net fat loss over 4 weeks. Looking at the calander I reckon I'll take a break for a week then another 2 weeks of dieting before Christmas to bring me down to 198 fully depleted. I'd probably need another two weeks then in January to get me into to 194 fully depleted. That would put me at 91kg/200lb fully loaded. 8 weeks of RFL in all. Here I am finishing week 3. When I get there I'll never want to do this again.

Patto

Saturday 205.4
Soul destroying to see a 1lb gain after a horrific Friday. Its not that the diet is so hard, the energy levels or the hunger is all that bad. Its dealing with the mental stuff, watching the scales each morning, wondering what the hell I am at, thinking about how slow the process is and how my progress seems to be slowing. I still have a bit of a belly, how on early am I going to get gid of the stuborn stuff.

Anyway Saturday is reffed day and I get a hell of a job refeeding. I kept it pretty clean. I also took a cheat meal on Saturday night. I needed the mental break. Only six days to go, should be easy. What will be will be."

This is what I did in the gym...
Tabata front squats with 40Kg, RDLs 80kgx8s, bb Split squats 60x5, IR and Push up clusters. The Tabata front squats really make you feel alive. Need to work on my form though, I was a bit lazy on the form side of things letting my elbows and upper back drop for 7 reps of 8.

Patto

Sunday 211
Didn't get enough sleep and the session yesterday gave me some healthy doms. Like a briar all day. Cheated on the diet to have some of birthday cake. Food preped for most of next week. It’s a stroll from here to Friday. Friday will again the the toughest day.
Gym stuff...
120 foot contacts. Knees a bit sore, not sure if its from the split squats or the plyos.
Monday 208.8
Nothing of Note.
Tuesday 206.6
First morning in ages that I have been plesently surprised with my weight drop.
Deadlift 150x3, Bench 85x5.
Wednesday 205
204 is in the bag, Maybe a 203 by Saturday, more likely 203.something.
Thursday 205
Drank a lot of water last night and got a decent nights sleep. Just looking at last years results I reckon the depletion weight is more like 7-9lb. I'm now where I was when I started dieting last year. It will be interesting to compare pics. I might get 2 pics of me at 212lb one from Dec 2008 and another at 212 in Dec 2009.
Gym stuff...
Something a bit different... 100 squats at 80 kg. 3 sets of 8 chins.
There is a famous Charlie Francis quote I read recently in Dan John's book "Most peolpe's highs are too low and lows are too high". Its an interesting point and so relevant to dieting which is the ultimate low. Its a good one for staying focused and getting that low as low as posible. I'll hit the heavy weights and conditioning in the spring and the highs will come in the summer. Incidenetly Dan John's book is called "never let go" its so aptly named.
Friday 204
Knees are still feeling the affects of Monday's plyos. So, no plyos today. I'll do something on Saturday if they recover. The 100 squats have no affect at all my my knees. Delighted to get to a clean 204 this morning. I just need to be more realistic about my targets. I'm not tracking much more than 1lb a week at this stage. I'm going to experiment with more of a UD2.0 approach next week. I have a theory that maybe the best fat loss is gained in the 6-8 days following a massive carb load. Its worth a try. It also means I might be able to fit in a conditioning session.

Just one more measuremet left, then a full refeed through the weekend. I'll do a strength test and take pics on Monday.

[-0-]

I just read your blog mate. Well done, keep it up.

Patto

So here goes again...

I reckon I lost somewhere between 5lb and 7lb in Nov. There is only a 5lb difference between the pics. My morning weights suggest I may have lost up to 7lb. If I lost 7lb then I lost 5lb in the first two weeks and 2 in the second two weeks. I kinda knew by week 3 that things were stalling. I had hoped it was a blip.

My Strength test results were as follows:
Bench 100 before 100 after
Chins 12 before 13 after
Push ups in 60: 40 before 37 after
Inverted rows: 27 before 32 (PB) after
TB deadlift: 200 before 210 after

As you can see the scores are slightly up and down. I just about held on to my strength during the month.

The other things the pics reveal, I reckon, is that my back has got bigger in the last year so that is something positive.
Have a look at the pics on the blog and tell me if I'm full of sh!t. I might be...
http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/

So the plan of action for December is slightly different I'm going to do much bigger and longer refeeds then diet for no more that 8 days at a time, something like the UD2.0. I'm hoping to bottom out at a net 2lb depletion loss then load back up over two days then dive back down again for another 2lb. A bit life a whale coming up for air.

I've changed one or two other things. I'm eating too much cheese for sure so I'm going to cut back on that. I'm going to have a shake in the morning with milk protein isolate, half a bananna and half a glass of milk.

That should keep my calcium levels up and the fructose in the bananna might keep my liver going with glycogen. Dan in IP brought it up last week that the liver takes in fructose first. I remember reading this in Lyle's UD2.0. It might help stave off the metabolic slowdown if my liver doesn't deplete. Its worth a try.

I've changed my program too. I'm going to try a 2 day a week version of the 5/3/1 program.

Patto

Mon 7th 208.4
Half depleted already after night out and very little food yesterday. Just wrote off nearly a full week due to hangovers. Its gone, forget it move on.

Tue 206
Started the 5/3/1 program. Squat 105x6, Bench 80x9. Nice bench score but didn't push the squat enough. The session took 90min. I'll have to speed up the assistance stuff with rearer 10 rep sets.

Wed 205.4
That’s normal, lets see if I get a drop tomorrow then a stall for two days then another drop on Sunday or Monday.

Thu 204.4
Deadlift 155x6, Press 50x6. 30 min cycle to work added to help mobilise subbort fat loss.

Fri 203.8
30 min cycle to work again.

Sat 205.4
The morning weight must have been water retension. Drank a lot of diet coke and eat a load of salty ham on Friday. Saturday was a tough day, felt very tired and not at all hungry enough for all the bagels and milk. The worst days of the diet are the refeed day and the last 2 or 3 days before the refeed.

Sun 210 (after refeed)
210 was a low enough load up given all the bagels and milk I eat yesterday.

Patto

I've been very lazy filling this out. I've kept all my notes logged so I better update...

Monday Dec 14th 207
I think I'm after getting a whoosh. I look leaner in the mirror I reckon. My weight is over a lb down on last Monday's my carb load weight was quite low. Lets see what I deplete to this week, Did a good 40 min cycle into work this morning including about 5 1 min tempos. There is hope, it was so encouraging to look in the mirror and look at the scales this morning. This weight loss craic really is all out metal warfare.

Tuesday 205
Squats 115x5, Bench 85x6. 40 min cycle to work. Reckon I'm on track for 203 at least this week. Looking at things now I'd be targeting 200lb by end of month. Then 196 end of Jan and 192 end of Feb. 192-197 is the my zone. I should hit the zone by end of Jan.

Wednesday 204.2
40 min cycle to work. Did a decnet session in the gym last night, had an apple and 40g of cytomax with it. Should get below the 203 this week 202 would be worthy of a celebration.

Thursday 202.6
Deadlift 160x6, Press 57.5x3 (rep 3 was a cheat) 40 min cycle to work. It was 202.2 on the first count. 202.6 on count 2 and 3. Nearly worthy of a celebration. I was right, I suspected a bit of a woosh since the weekend. It's amazing, I can see fat loss in the mirror before I see it on the scales. I'm tracking 1lb a week over the last two weeks. I'm happy with that now. Its about being a bit more realistic I guess. The 40 min cycles in the morning seem to help too.

Friday 202
202 on the Button. Only now after about 18 weeks of RFL and UD2.0 since this time last year do I feel I have a accurate guage on how much weight I can drop week to week. I'm running at 1lb a week right now, I think I can maintain that. Another 2lbs to go in Dec then 4 in Jan and another 4 in Feb, I can do it. Bought a pair of 34" jeans today, haven't fitted into 34" Jean since I was 19.

Saturday 202
Power cleans and Tabata front squats with 40Kg nearly killed me. One of the worst sessions in the gym in memory. It’s a very hard session after a long week of dieting. The body was fairly beaten up from the Tuesday/ Thursday strength sessions. Weight came in as expected. At 202 it was time for a reload. A good weeks dieting. Very pleased with my progress. Got a decent amount of stretching done, plenty of squats and split squats.

Sunday Refeed

Patto

Monday Dec 21st 212
That is a decent load up. Got plenty of carbs in on both sat and sun. Not completely clean but not too bad either.

Tuesday 208
Squat 120x4, Bench 90x4. Actually did 5 reps on the bench with an assisted spot. Maybe could have squeezed out one more squat, upper back bending issues. Its going to take a bit longer to deplete this week. Got two good 30-40 min cycles in yesterday. 4lb down in a day is never bad.

Wednesday 208.2
Bewinldering, how could I have put on 0.2kg in a day where I eat no carbs except an apple and an orange and half a bananna. No cycle as I was off work. I think I need the cardio the keep this ticking over. I can't see any fat loss in the mirror this week, if anything I overdid the refeed last weekend. Maybe a bit of bloating but maybe that is wishfull thinking.

Thursday 203.4 Deadlift 175x5 PB, Press 60x1. An incredable session given how depleted I was. Makes such a difference having a training partner there. That is nearly a 5lb drop in 1 day, unreal. The thing I really struggle with on these diets is inconsistency. I reckon the two 40min cycles, both of which included hills and tempos got rid of plenty of glycogen. The 3 glasses of wine last night didn't help my blood sugar levels this morning that is for sure. I think I'll try the yohimbine and loads of cardio next week.

Friday Dec 25th 205
That is the second time this week that happened. I weight gain after eating no hardly any carbs all day. I have two suspects, either the cycling has some delayed water retension afteraffect of the diluted workout drink is the culpret. It maybe tea with milk. Its cheating but I do slip the odd one in here and there. I think it shows when I spend a day sitting around doing nothing I don't shift much of anything. The moring cycles are a good idea. Refeed, loads of junk. Couple glasses of wine and beer.

Saturday 212
Just some carbs before the game, I'm going to go all out this week to get down to 200lb. Yohimbine all the way I think.

Sunday 208
A day in the freezing cold listening to Dan John with two steaks and a tub of veg to keep me going. Got some new diet ideas to try out next week from Dan.

Patto

Monday Dec 28th 204.2
Looking back two weeks to a very similar week I reckon I'm heading for 201 at the moment. Did a 1 hour cycle in the morning and an unscheduled 1 hour walk in the afternoon. A lot of huger issues yesterday, probably cheated a bit with a huge tomatto, turkey and cheese omlette at 6pm.

Tuesday 202.8
Cycled for 30 min. Deload - Squats 90x5, Bench 65x5. Big DJ warmup and tried Kettle bell snatches. The session took 80 min plus another 15 min of fecking about. 202.8 is alright, I'll probably get another 1.5 down tomorrow then another 0.5 the day after will have me down to full depletion. I can feel a small bit of fat loss around the mid section, PJs are fitting loosely.

Wednesday 201.6
I got a 201 on the first measure, I can see fat loss in the mirror now. Should tip down below 201 by the Friday. I'm going to change things next week. Using more shakes, grapeseed extract maybe and leucine.

Thursday 199.8
Deload deadlift 5x130 and OH press 45x5. They still felt heavy. Full DJ warmup and kb snatch. That was quite a woosh. I haven't had one like that since week 1 back in early Nov. On the last day of the year I'm now down to my lowest weight of 2009 by 0.2 of an lb. I took the yohimbine in a full 50mg dose yesterday morning. It maybe making a little difference. So I lost 4lb in 4 weeks in December. Nothing spectacular but 196 by the end of Jan doesn't look too outragous now. I think I'll try using L-leucine next week see how it affects my weight training espiceally.

Friday 200.2
Had to wizz twice, first weight was 200.8. No cycle yesterday, I probably hydrated up a lot with the pre workout drink yesterday. Its funny from 199 its only another half a stone to go. Somehow that seems within grasping distance.

Saturday 200.6
Did a handy enough session in the gym, 45 min DJ warm up + KB Squats. Did some Olimpic lifts as the main session. Mostly a technical session. I got back down to 199.8 after a 30 min cycle in the snow yesterday. Then back up to 202.6 at night. After 6 days of depletion I just seem to hit a dead end in terms of metabolic slowdown and weight loss on the scales. This was a good week, nearly a clean 2lb fat loss but maybe some of that was "borrowed" from last week where I probably could have depleted further. The cycles seem to work well as does the yohimbine, I'm going to try L-leucine next week and creatine the week after. Hunger was a bigger deal this week but its not that bad. The worst is from the 8am shake of milk protein and bananna to 12am lunch. The bananna seems to work well too. At least it keeps me regular. 199 next week should be a walk in the park, 198 would be nice to keep me ahead of the curve. Took some pics last night. It should be interesting to compare with my 200lb fully depleted pics from last year.

Sunday 206.6
Nice reload, not 100% clean but not bad either. Didn't quite get fully loaded. I should be up around the 210 mark.

Patto

If anyone wants to see the pics and read through the reams of daily notes see here: http://johnsrapidfatloss.blogspot.com/ Otherwise below is a summary of 4 months of clinical dieting for a 30something gealic football player...

The Goal
In October 2009 I was 219lb or just tipping 100kg @ 6'3", you can see the pics if you click back, I wasn't lean by any means but if I was a rugby player and played second row I probably would have been pretty close to an ideal weight. I'm a gaelic footballer and my position is mid field 100kg is far too much weight to be hauling around a pitch for 60 minutes.

My strength stats are ok, I'm very much an intermediate lifter with a two to three year training age. I bench just over 100kg, deadlift just over 200Kg, I've a strong back I can do 12+ chins even off 100kg.

I'm not particularly fast or explosive but I have very good anaerobic endurance. I know this because of my 6x30sec rowing tests where I score big totals (1000m+, 1000m+ is a good score) but very modest early splits (191m 1st split at best, where 200m+ is a good score).

I've very tight hips and tight hamstrings.

My goal was to get down to 90-92kg in the close season, Nov-Feb and stay there for the season. I also wanted to maintain my strength and muscle mass. I figured this was where I would get most bang for my buck. At 90-92kg I figured I would be more agile, faster and go further and last longer with the same level of fitness.

If I knew then what I know now
In mid Jan I got down to 92kg, that's also pretty much where I finished in late Feb. After 4 weeks off the diet I was back up to 95kg. And I thought I was watching what I was eating in those 4 weeks. In the last two weeks I've managed to maintain that 95kg. My goal now is to stay at 95kg for the season.

For me its 10 times easier to maintain 95kg than to maintain 92kg. For the same reasons that it is 10 times easier for me to get from 100kg to 95kg than it is to get from 95kg tom 90kg. I could go into the details but I'd make a balls of explaining it to be honest. Read any of Lyle's books, he always has a chapter called "your body hates you".

What I should have done was dieted down to 95kg, which would have taken about 6 or 8 weeks and maintained that. I would have saved myself about 4 or 6 weeks of useless bloody mindedness and completely wasted energy and mental exasperation. Now, in theory, I know it can be done, I could have got to 90kg and I could have maintained it. It would have come at a cost, most likely at the cost of all my in season gaols.

In terms of playing football where I get my bang for my buck in season is through practicing the skills of the game first, then speed and fitness, then strength, then maybe body composition. And if you have stiff hips like I do, flexibility and stretching has to fit in high up that list too.

What stacked up and what didn't
The shocking weight gains I made once I went back on a maintenance diet was soul destroying. It shows how effective my body is at regulating my body weight. I think everyone has a sweet spot, a weight they can comfortably maintain on a "normal" diet. My sweet spot is about 95kg and isn't a very lean 95kg, I know people my age and older can maintain a leaner body composition on a so called "normal" diet. I also know a handful of people, big into nutrition, who can maintain a very very lean body composition through some very clever dieting. Getting below that sweet spot and staying there is all about cheating your own body which can be done through clever dieting and training or through drugs (I know which is easier).

A lot of professonal soccer players and even intercounty fotballs seem to be able to maintain a very lean body composition through the season. They can't all be naturally that lean and I don't think they are into dieting drugs to the same extent as say bodybuilders or girl bands. Maybe there are ways of eating clever and staying below that sweet spot without the anal obsessions and calorie counting. One of the problems is that you have very little time for error whe going back on a maintenance diet. Whereas I had weeks and weeks to dial in the UD2.0 diet, after 4 weeks of dialing in a maintenance diet wrong I had put back on 4lb.

I did maintain my strength and muscle mass. I was eating enough protein. I was eating over 200g of protein a day. That was another thing that was very tough mentally. To go into the gym and do a savage deadlifting session, I remember one session where I finished on 175x5, and have no gain to show for the effort.

My recovery between sessions was normal, my immune system was rock solid. My hair and beard grew the same as normal, possibly faster if anything.

I often wonder, where does all the protein go? I had to back off the protein big time when I came off the diet to stabilise my weight. On a maintenance diet I take about 150g of protein a day, I doubt I even need that. I reckon your body is very effective at using protein as an energy source and on a high prtein diet will use the excess protein as energy. I don't buy the idea that your body can only absorb a certain amount of protein at a time or that you pee out what you don't use.

I do believe that high GI carbs are the enemy. So bloody hard to stay away from after 4 months of dieting. I'm not sure they ever come guilt free, even as cheat meals or post workout. Certainly if I were to try maintain 90-92kg I could never ever get away with any. At least at 95kg I can tighten things up for a few weeks and make room for a few cheat meals. At 95kg, I can probably even get away with being strict Monday to Thursday and cheat here and there Fri-Sun. I noticed when I went back to maintenance the more cereal (corn flakes) I eat, the more I wanted. There was no satisfaction. One thing I'm trying now is using flapjacks as mid afternoon snacks.

So what now
Well 95kg it is from here on. No more dieting beyond that. If I start drifting up, I'll tighten up on the carbs for a week or two and control things that way. I've no notion of trying to run even a small deficit. I'd rather have the cheat meals and save the free will for something else.

I'm only lifting weights once or twice a week in season and I do nothing heavy. I've started reading a lot of Pavel Tsatsouline's stuff lately. I'm doing Kettle bell snatches twice a week and I'm using his "relax into stretch" techniques to loosen up my hips. I have measured my board jump so lets see if I can push that number up through developing explosiveness and mobility in my hips. I'm not going to loose any sleep if my bench press of deadlift maxes drop 5-10%.