GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAALLLLLLLL!!

Wow, this was unexpected.

What went in (average daily):
Don't know. Stopped tracking.

What came out:
Weight: 173 (-2 lbs, 15lbs total)
Waist: 32 (-0.25", 2" total)
Bodyfat: 11% (-1%, 4% total)
Percentage to goal: 100%

Time it took: 10 weeks

Burnt out on Fitday and feeling too OCD about what I ate and how it affected me, I decided to take some time off from tracking, until I felt like I'd enjoy it again. In the meantime, I continued to eat as I have been doing. I still habitually weigh in every Wednesday, though, (gotta keep the graph consistent!), and was really surprised with what I saw this morning - I haven't been feeling particularly thin or anything lately - indeed, just last night I had a bad dream that I was weak and pudgy again.

Nevertheless, there it is. I haven't been this thin since high school, and I've never been this fit before, period. I need new pants. I want to get back to focusing on strength gains, but for the time being I think I'm just going to enjoy where I am and how I'm doing for a while.

As I get more and more enamored of climbing, I get less interested in the big muscles. Climbing is far more about strength-to-weight ratio than it is about size, as the goal is more total muscle recruitment than it is mass - obviously, the less you weigh as compared to your strength, the easier time you'll have getting up the wall. So my goals are shifting from size to simple strength and efficiency. Jim (fellow CFEB athlete) is far stronger than I am, but not appreciably bigger. And he can climb 5.13-something. That, I think, is something to strive towards. It will mean forever being scrawny, but if it means climbing 5.12, then I'm OK with that.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 8

Backsliding, for the first time in two months.

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,218
Fat: 126g (50%)
Carbs: 82g + 27g fiber (18%)
Protein: 170g (31%)

Results:
Weight: 175 (+1 lbs, 13lbs total)
Waist: 32.25 (+0.125", 1.75" total)
Bodyfat: 12% (+0.5%, 3% total)
Percentage to goal: 88%

My intake profile is essentially the same as it's been for the last few weeks, so I don't think that's it. I think it's likely the exercise: we did a very brutal burpee/pullup workout last Wednesday that basically thrashed me for the entire week - nearly every workout until Sunday felt like crap. In retrospect, I probably should have taken an extra rest day before jumping back in - instead I felt like I was scrambling to catch up all week.

This has been a difficult week for me, disciplinarily speaking, in a couple different ways. Fall has finally, definitively hit the Bay Area, and it is having a psychological effect. The lack of sun and colder weather is making it harder to generate enthusiasm for working out, and making diversions like video games more tempting. I'm also feeling hungrier, and burned-out on tracking in Fitday.

So part of me wants to just quit tracking for a while, freestyle the diet (adding more carbs in PWO), and start heavy 5x5 training again for strength and LBM gains. You know what it feels like? Hibernation. But another part of me is chafing at being so close to an unmet goal, so wants to keep working at this a little longer. I'm not really sure what to do at this point.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 7

So close...

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,231
Fat: 140g (55%)
Carbs: 76g + 21g fiber (16%)
Protein: 150g (27%)

I lost track of my fasts this week.

Results:
Weight: 174 (-1 lbs, 14lbs total)
Waist: 32.125 (-0.125", 1.875" total)
Bodyfat: 11.5% (-0.5%, 3.5% total)
Percentage to goal: 94%

Fell off the wagon a little bit this week, protein-wise. In fact, in general I didn't eat enough this week - I think I had three sub-2k calorie days. I want to be careful not to slip into a regular deficit here, so a binge day or two is probably called for. This close to goal, though, the temptation is definitely high to eat less, thinking it will help shave off those last few fractions of an inch.

I've been thinking more and more about what to do when I hit my goal, which (fingers crossed) should be next week. I want to refocus on gaining LBM, but not with a traditional bulk. I admit that after several weeks of having a definite plan, and having that plan WORK, I'm anxious about going back to the wilderness of dietary uncertainty that is effective LBM gain. I think I might try freestyle for a little while - eating a LOT on rest days after hard effort, but continuing to IF and eating less on other days, maybe keeping one or two morning HIIT sessions per week to focus on fat-burning a couple times a week. Maybe try to get my overall daily average up to the 2800-3k range, but in a very spiky, rather than steady, fashion.

I'm also thinking of bringing more carbs back into the picture, post-workout. Mr. O'Donnell suggests this sort of carb-cycling to more quickly replenish muscle glycogen, but I am not yet clear on just how many carbs is a good target for a post-workout meal. 100g? Are a couple glasses of milk sufficient, or should it be low-GI carbs in food? I will have to do more research.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 6

This week was pretty crazy food-wise. Not really sure why, just ate different sorts of things and had days that were WAY off goal, either over or under, in protein and carbs and calories. Still, on average it doesn't look much different from past weeks, which is good.

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,381
Fat: 140g (52%)
Carbs: 89g + 25g fiber (17%)
Protein: 178g (30%)

Fasting days: 4/7 (avg. length: 16.6 hours)

Results:
Weight: 175 (-1 lbs, 13lbs total)
Waist: 32.25 (-0.125", 1.75" total)
Bodyfat: 12% (-0%, 3% total)
Percentage to goal: 88%

Ab muscles are a little more visible now, but not yet enough that I would call it a six-pack. Funny that once I gave up on the vanity goal (the six-pack) and turned my focus to fitness goals, I'm finally starting to get one. Maybe a six-pack is like love: it only comes when you aren't looking for it.

My ankle is at about 85% and my shoulder is feeling pretty good, so I think the active recovery week worked. I might try running again today, to see how it feels.

I'm really starting to itch to turn this around again. I want to start 5x5's of weighted pullups and dips to help progress towards a muscle-up, which is my primary goal at this point. If I can keep this rate up without backsliding, I'll be at my goal in two weeks and I can start eating to support real muscle growth again - hopefully a slow LBM-only bulk, this time, so I can get off this rollercoaster.

Interesting observation: since I drastically lowered my carbs to focus on fat and protein, I've noticed that I'm NEVER cold. Indeed, I've taken to sleeping with the window open every night and my legs outside the covers just to keep from overheating in my sleep. Sweaters and sweatshirts frequently get uncomfortable. So for some reason my thermogenesis has really kicked up. A little googling turned up this gem on an extremely crappy and probably highly disreputable supplement site:

Among the nutritional activators, the various macronutrients have different effects on the thermogenic response. When you ingest food, your metabolic rate increases above the fasting level. In the case of protein, energy to process the protein, which is then used for tissue growth and repair. On the other hand, carbohydrates and fat function primarily as fuel and are used more efficiently as such by the body. Carbohydrates and fat therefore have a much lower thermogenic effect than protein.

So I would guess this is my body taking all that protein and converting it to glycogen, since I'm not giving it enough glucose, and the heat is a byproduct of that conversion. I don't know whether this means anything (good or bad), but it's interesting to note.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 5

So I tried an experiment this week: not stuffing myself. I still tracked what I ate, but if I wasn't going to hit my protein goal for the day, then I just let that go and didn't cram food into an already-full stomach to try and meet the goal. Therefore, my average daily calories and macros went down. Let's see what happened...

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,116
Fat: 125g (52%)
Carbs: 83g + 21g fiber (18%)
Protein: 151g (29%)

Fasting days: 5/7 (avg. length: 17.2 hours)

Results:
Weight: 176 (-2 lbs, 12lbs total)
Waist: 32.325 (-0.125", 1.625" total)
Bodyfat: 12% (-0%, 3% total)
Percentage to goal: 81%

Well, I knew that I was heading into stubborn fat territory, and things would slow down as I started chipping away at it. So my rate of .25"/week has cut in half. I don't really know if the diet change made a difference - it's so small when averaged out that I doubt it. My workouts have gotten rather inconsistent as well - I damaged my shoulder on Saturday, so between my ankle and my shoulder I'm nursing some annoying injuries, so I'm going to be spending more time doing rest and recovery for a little while until they heal. I don't know what this will do to the weight loss - Mike O'Donnell would probably tell me I'm working out too much as it is, so maybe backing off for a little will be beneficial all around.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 4

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,340
Fat: 143g (53%)
Carbs: 86g + 23g fiber (17%)
Protein: 167g (29%)

Fasting days: 5/7 (avg. length: 17.6 hours)

Results:
Weight: 178 (-3 lbs, 10lbs total)
Waist: 32.5 (-0.25", 1.5" total)
Bodyfat: 12% (-0.5%, 3% total)
Percentage to goal: 75%

Thoughts:
Despite some changes in my routine this week, there's not a lot of change in the behavior of the numbers. I sprained my ankle early last week, which prevented me from doing my HIIT workouts on three days, and prevented me from doing ANY running. In an attempt to compensate, I added another fast day and tried to make my fasts a little longer. We got a fancy new scale to replace ol' unreliable, so although it says I lost three pounds in my results, I think I really only lost one, maybe two - the discrepancy is due to changing scales. All other measurements are within normal deviations - although it's notable that my arms appear to have grown a little.

We're now heading into stubborn fat territory - ie, trying to lose fat deposits I've had since...well, forever. The HIIT should become all the more critical for persuading these guys to let go, and I will probably not be able to maintain the 0.25"/week rate of waist-loss.

It was a difficult week for the diet. My interest in food has greatly diminished, and I get full fast (particularly with very large meals breaking my fast). Several times I've had to cram down food on a full stomach at the end of my eating window in order to meet my protein requirements. It is not comfortable, much less enjoyable. I'm torn about what, if anything, to do about this - part of me thinks that a couple days a week of steep caloric deficit (ie, <2k) might help with the last push for fat loss, the other part is worried about muscle and performance loss if my protein numbers go too low. I've ordered a pure, unflavored and unsweetened whey/casein mix from True Protein to hopefully give me an option to boost protein numbers without the sugar/sucralose of traditional protein powders. Hopefully that will help.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 3

Interesting developments this week:

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,386
Fat: 133g (49%)
Carbs: 111g + 24g fiber (21%)
Protein: 175g (30%)

Results:
Weight: 181 (-0 lbs, 7lbs total)
Waist: 32.75 (-0.25", 1.25" total)
Bodyfat: 12.5% (-0.5%, 2.5% total)
Percentage to goal: 63%

Didn't lose any weight this week, which is fine as long as my waist keeps going down. In fact, I'm a bit puzzled at how I could stay the same weight and lose another quarter inch. Could be just flux within the measurements, could be I'm somehow managing to gain a little muscle along with losing fat, which would be something of a holy grail if true. All other body measurements are essentially the same.

So, the bad news: first, I fell off the carb wagon a little bit. Had both pasta and cheesecake at a friend's birthday party, and >100g a couple other days. Not the end of the world, but off goal a little bit. Second, I sprained my ankle while climbing on Monday, which will have an effect on my workouts for the near future. It'll force me to miss two or three HIIT sessions (I'm going to try one-legged rowing tonight), and it has forced me to drop my daily burpees (not sure if that's good or bad news, actually). Without the HIIT, I would expect the rate of fat loss to diminish, so I may not get my .25" off this week. I may try and lower calories and prolong fasts a little to compensate.

But there is a bright side: I noticed a bit of ab definition reappearing in the mirror this week, which was a pleasant surprise. Still very slight, but I didn't expect to see ANY until 32.25" (the last time I saw it), so not sure what's happening there.

As far as the IF goes, it has become quite easy and habitual. Probably TOO habitual, as my fasting is following a predictable pattern based on my schedule, so I should probably be mixing it up more. It is difficult not to fast when the opportunity arises, as fasting days are easier than non-fasting ones.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 2

Week 2 sees far less dramatic effects than week 1 (to be expected), but still good news:

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,289
Fat: 127g (49%)
Carbs: 89g + 21g fiber (18%)
Protein: 167g (30%)

Results:
Weight: 181 (-2 lbs, 7lbs total)
Waist: 33 (-0.25", 1" total)
Bodyfat: 13% (-0.5%, 2% total)
Percentage to goal: 50%

Before last week, a quarter-inch off the waist was the most I'd lost in a week, so that was what I projected out. If I can maintain that pace, then I should be at goal in four more weeks.

This week saw more variation than the strict regimen of the first week. My fasts went from 16-20 hours, and I had my first cheat meal (dinner at a fancy restaurant - though I did skip dessert). On average, however, the numbers are very similar to last week.

I continue to feel good on this regimen - even better, in fact. I got a +37 point PR on Fight Gone Bad this weekend while fasted, and in general am feeling lean again (it's amazing how much difference an inch or two on the waist makes). My muscle recovery also feels faster - I generally only feel sore one day after a workout, and didn't feel much soreness at all from FGB.

The weirdest damn "diet" I've ever been on

Yesterday I had to cram 2400 calories of fat and protein into four hours. Today it was six.

This is not easy to do. The fasting has, I think, shrunk my stomach, so that a "normal" size meal is quite filling. So you wind up with situations like I had tonight: finding yourself with 2 hours to go and only 900 calories in the bank.

"Oh, shit!" you say to yourself, "I better get busy!"

So you cram down some EXTREMELY filling high-fat pesto-tofu-mozzarella salad, and toss a protein shake on top of that, and then half an hour later go out to Thai food where, still feeling stuffed, you fill up your plate and eye it in much the same way you might eye a 95# bar before your third round of thrusters. Then you mumble and groan and complain about how fucking full you are, and you've still failed to hit your caloric and protein goals for the day, but not TOO badly.

Diet, my ass.

Busy day

* 20.5 hour fast *

Climbing w/Tor @ BIW: 10a, 10b/c(o), 10c(o), 10c(f), 10b(o)

Good climbing. Yesterday's sharp pain in my shoulder dimmed down to a dull ache after a solid 9 hours' sleep, and while my finger did complain, it didn't yell at me or call me vulgar names. Think it's slowly mending. The climbs felt solid in a nice, surprising kind of way - I suspect it's the lower bodyweight - but I didn't have the nerve to step back up to a 10d quite yet. Once the finger's better.

Followed that up with:

61 Burpees, sets of 10
30 minutes easy jogging (6MPH pace)

Which was much like it was last week - really hard, then really boring.

All my dawdling at the gym today made me late for a client meeting in the city this afternoon, so I didn't have time to break my fast before heading over there. This resulted in an unusually long fast, the longest I've done yet. It wasn't actually THAT bad, since I was busy so could turn my mind to other things, but the last hour or so while doing the grocery shopping and dealing with getting home was taxing on my patience. Came home and make a big 4-egg scramble with veggie sausage and spinach, and now it feels better.

No workout tonight. We're going to stay in and watch 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly'. We'll do the CF class tomorrow morning, where it will probably be my first real metcon while fasted. Curious to see how that goes.

Intermittent Fasting: Week 1

Alright, the first week of my grand experiment with IF is done. So how did it go?

What went in (avg. daily):
Calories: 2,340
Fat: 131g (50%)
Carbs: 100g + 28g fiber (20%)
Protein: 175g (30%)

Results:
Weight: 183 (-5 lbs)
Waist: 33.25 (-0.75")
Bodyfat: 13.5% (-1.5%)
Percentage to goal: 38%

I met my goals! It actually wasn't all that bad. I miss toast w/almond butter, but to be honest I was getting pretty sick of Builder's Bars. I eat a lot of eggs, in various forms. Don't get to drink as much milk as I'd like (just a pint a day), and on a few days I had to finish off the day with a protein shake at dinner in order to make my protein quota for the day.

In terms of diet, it isn't terribly different from what it was before. Most of the recipes I've developed over the past few months still work. And as for the IF, the hunger is quite manageable - it only really gets noticeable in the last hour or two. The hardest part is really the coffee - black coffee just isn't as good in the morning (I'm getting used to it). In fact, I would generally consider the non-fasting days to be more troublesome, as the gaps between meals are longer and attended by hunger so I need to be careful not to snack myself above 2500 calories.

As for energy, I wouldn't say it's "through the roof" but it's sufficient for morning workouts. I never suffered lightheadedness during a workout, although I did feel a little nauseated rowing on Monday morning (Monday was rough).

Midway through the week, I noticed my weight had plummeted almost 9 pounds. I'm guessing this was water weight loss brought on by the shock of the lower carbs + IF. For the next few days, I was endlessly thirsty and drank copious amounts of water, and the weight went back up to a more reasonable level. I'm still more thirsty than usual, I'd say, so it's probably still correcting itself. Still, 5 pounds in one week is pretty cool - I'm even more happy about the waist measurement, though. I doubt this pace will continue after the first week or two, but so far, it's working gangbusters.

Rough one

End of the workout week is always tough. The body is battered from the week's work and everything's just a little bit harder. Today is no exception, it seems, although I felt pretty well recovered this morning with just a few minor aches, compared to the chorus of muscular complaints that sang me to sleep. One of the many purported benefits of IF is increased recovery time, since during the fasting hours the body doesn't have to spend energy on digesting and processing food, and can therefore devote more of itself to repair. I wonder if that's happening for me? I read a very interesting series of articles last night about the physiology of IF, so am more committed than ever to trying to make this work even after I'm done shedding fat. Anyway, on to today:

*16 hour fast*
Climbing with Tor: 9, 10b, 10c - all slab, all clean and well-climbed with minimal finger pain
57 burpees, sprint-style
15 minutes easy rowing, 15 minute uphill bike ride to work

These shoes gave me blisters when I ran in them Friday, so I resolved to try rowing today. It was SO boring it was driving me insane, and I started feeling a little nauseated at 15 minutes so resolved to call it a day. Perhaps Muse was the wrong iPod choice. The treadmill, while boring, at least has a view, and it forces your pace for you so you don't need to constantly remind yourself to work a little harder. So I think I'm going to try and find some other shoes to wear.

Rest until Wednesday, now, so my body can (hopefully) catch up a bit on its repair-work.

Day one of IF

Yesterday was Day 1 of IF, and it wasn't too bad. Here are the numbers:

*16.5 hour fast*
Calories: 2,221
Fat: 114g (45%)
Carbs: 126g + 27g Fiber (24%)
Protein: 165g (31%)

The majority of the carbs came from three sources: an apple, a banana and 16 oz of milk. It adds up quickly! I'll cut back to just one piece of fruit a day, which should help. But I'm pretty happy with this. I had to tack some cottage cheese on at the end to meet protein goals, which will probably happen a lot - it's hard to do without protein shakes or bars.

I'm not going to do this every day, but I just wanted to record day 1.

Edited to respond to Evelyn, 'cause her questions are good:

The fasting itself wasn't especially tough. I didn't get uncomfortably hungry until the last hour or so. In fact, it was a lot worse a few hours into my eating window, since I didn't bring sufficient food to work with me and the only no-carb option I could find to buy near work was a salad, so my body was getting teasing glimpses of food but no satisfaction. When I got home I made a scramble with eggs, cheese and veggie sausage, and my body was very grateful.

I will be working out in a fasted state - sometimes. It obviously won't work for evening classes, but I climb in the mornings twice a week and will be doing burpees/rowing in the mornings. I did 50 burpees for time yesterday and today, and it's hard but not, I would say, any harder than doing it normally. I will primarily be doing Sprint-8 or Tabata-type workouts while fasted to try and activate the body fat for fuel.

Today is day 2, and so far it feels much the same as yesterday. I'm planning on eating normally tomorrow, and then fasting again on Friday and Saturday, doing Saturday's CF class in a fasted state. We'll see how that goes.

About, Face!

OK, Bulking is over. I don't like the way I feel when my waist is over 34", and I hate the way the extra fat affects my climbing performance, so I think it's time to scrap this cycle and start over.

Results of this cycle
OK. In two months I managed to gain 13 pounds, approximately 5-6 of which were muscle. Much of this cycle was marked by frustration and no gains, though, until the final rest week when I managed to double my gains in one fell swoop. Lesson learned: rest more. Actually DO the half-intensity weeks and weeks off. I will continue to try and improve LBM gain efficiency next time, most likely with IF.

Goals looking forward
First, I want to drop the bodyfat I picked up this cycle ASAP, so I can get back on the growth wagon. I figure losing 10 pounds of bodyfat should put me at about a 32" waist and 10% BF, which seems a good place to start again. Here's the plan on how to do that...

Intermittent Fasting
Approx 4-5 days a week, I will fast from ~8pm until ~noon the next day (target: 16 hours). Never on rest days. I will learn to appreciate black coffee. I will learn to take my vitamins at different times.

HIIT Me Baby, One More Time
To complement the IF, I will try to incorporate 10 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training in a fasted state in the mornings. This should cause my body to activate some body fat for energy and dump it into my bloodstream. After a 10 minute break, I will then spend the next 30 minutes or so in some form of lightly-elevated-heartrate activity to burn that dump. Here's what I'm thinking:

• Gym mornings: 10 minutes on the rower (30 sec sprint, 90 sec cruise) after climbing, followed by a shower and the ride uphill to work.
• At home: Tabata burpees, followed by a brisk walk to work. Heavy on the brisk!

Macrobionic Man
This will be tricky, as there are a lot of goals to cover. While I'm focusing on fat loss, I'll primarily be interested in muscle retention rather than growth. So 160g/protein (1g per lb LBM) daily should do it. If I like how IF goes and decide to try and GAIN weight with it, this will go up to 210+g/day, and therefore become even trickier. I would like to limit my carbohydrates to below Mark's Daily Apple's "magic number" of 150g/day. 100 would be better. Not only that, but I want to have the bulk of those carbs post-workout. This means no more toast, no more protein bars or shakes, and limited milk. I won't concern myself with fat - whatever it wants to be, it will be. I have enough on my plate already (so to speak).

5x5x0
I can't expect to grow on a caloric deficit, so I will suspend the linear increase of my 5x5 program until such time as I can support growth again. However, I do not want to lose what I've gained, so I will keep doing some deadlifts and squats, but just maintaining current levels.

Expectations
Oh, who knows. This is changing a LOT of things all at once, several of them outside my regular experience. I don't think it will take long to lose the weight - maybe a month, certainly not more than two. At the moment I'm thinking I would like to continue the IF during another gaining cycle, to see if I can achieve more efficient growth, but this from a perspective of not having actually TRIED it yet. I'll revisit in two inches.