2011: A new year, a new me!

I recently updated my weight/body fat tracker. The news is not good. I have basically gained a lot of weight – and all primarily body fat. How depressing. Check out this chart that plots my last 4 years of weight. Yes, I’m neurotic but honestly it’s very telling! (click to enlarge)

Today, I’m currently 124 lbs, 26% body fat. Yuck. I’m wasting energy carrying around 32 lbs of pure fat. My goal is 110 lbs, 15-17% body fat. This is totally realistic since I was very close to this composition a mere 2.5 years ago. On April 16, 2008 I was 114 lbs and 15.5% body fat. In order to achieve this goal, I need to lose 13-15.5 lbs of fat and add 2.5-4.7 lbs of muscle.

Over the past week I’ve been working with my former trainer Randy to construct a new eating and workout program. Based on my n=1 (me) longitudinal study, I looked at what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t. You’ll notice in the graph that weight training and caveman/velocity diets are the main loss periods. I did lose weight on the Clean program but I think I ended up destroying muscle mass. Unfortunately, I didn't test my BF % to know if that's a true statement. I want to change my overall body composition and not just lose weight.

Here are the highlights of my 2011 plan:

FOOD:

1. Intermittent fasting. The “fasted state” will last for 14 hrs (16 for males) and therefore I will basically eat 3 meals within an 8-10 hour period. Read up on the Leangains blog. My target is to keep this ‘feeding period’ to 12noon – 8pm. I also saw this fasted state working for me while on the “Clean Program”. The difference is that during the Clean Program, I am pretty sure I lost a lot of my body muscle along with the body fat which was not my goal.

2. Reduce Calorie Intake to 1280/day. Using the livestrong website, I estimated losing 1.5 lbs/week and the result is 1280 calories/day. This is quite similar to the 1250/day recommended by my sports nutritionist two years ago. With a 1.5 lb/week goal, it should take me 10 weeks of strict caloric adherence in order to lose 15 lbs. So in reality, it will probably take me 3-4 months at minimum.

          a. Maintain a predominately Paleo Diet. It’s noted on the graph as “Caveman Diet” and you will see this is the point that I lost a significant amount of weight/fat. Paleo Diet is based on the premise that humans are hunters & gatherers. If you think about it, what did Cavemen eat? Meat, veggies, nuts and berries. Best part is, this is naturally a gluten-free diet.

          b. Reduce carb intake to 36-48g/day and only consume low glycemic carbs. “The immediate pre-workout meal should contain no more than a moderate amount of low glycemic carbs. Approx 0.3-0.4g carbs per pound body weight. Have this meal 1.5-2.5 hours pre training session." Leangains. That’s 36-48g carbs for me at 120 lbs.

3. A new Supplement Program. Increase daily Fish Oils, and add supplements such as proteins in the form of Branch Chain Amino Acids and L-Carnitine Tartrate.

          a. I’ll be increasing Omega 3's to 15/day or 30grams. Lots of health studies available on omega 3’s so I don’t need to bore you with details.

          b. 18grams/day of Branch Chain Amino Acids. BCAA’s are highly recommended by many training professionals. I’ll take 6 grams pre-workout, 6 grams post-workout and 6 grams 2 hours later. I read up a lot on this blog from trainer Randy.  It’s not the easiest read but there’s a lot of good information and the writer consolidates information from training professionals around the world. This is where the basis of my new diet-workout plan started.

          c. 6-8 grams/day of L-Carnitine Tartrate, a natural supplement. I read several articles on the non-toxic supplement and benefits that sold me are:

               i. Increased strength and endurance
               ii. Accelerated muscle regeneration
               iii. Increased cardiac output and lowers heart rate under stress (especially with my super-high heart rate issues)
               iv. Slows aging of the brain (dementia runs in my family).
               v. It’s especially beneficial for those who are insulin resistant and with my high triglycerides, it may prove to work better for me than for the average.
          You can google this substrate to learn more about it. Here or here. Check out a video from trainer Randy.  This supplement was part of my significant weight loss in Feb-March 2008.

TRAINING

1. Train in the morning after a fasted state. I used to train in the morning before work primarily because the gym is less crowded and I can get on any machine I needed. Training in the morning meant that I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before training. Little did I know, this could have actually contributed more to the weight loss rather than training after eating. This article, is a study about fasted state workouts.

2. New workout programs. I started the Christian Thibaudeau Get Jacked Fast program a couple of months ago. I’ve really noticed a change in my endurance and strength. I can now squat 100 lbs again – and not just 1 squat, a whole six sets! I’ll continue on this program for awhile. Just message me for details.
 
Disclaimer: I'm not a trained nutritionist nor certified personal trainer. I'm just telling you what my plan is and am not recommending this plan for others. Please consult your health care professional. I'm not responsible for anything you try based on my blog. Good luck :)