B
Blair P. Houghton
Guest
GOAL ACHIEVED
I stood on my scale this morning and, slightly surprised because
I "felt a little fat" today, I racked up a 184.5-pound reading.
My original, subjective goal - set this summer - of having
a six-pack by Christmas, was unrealistic and based on a
faulty understanding of the real depth of my fat content,
so when I clued-up I set an objective goal according to
how the graphs looked through October.
I've now reached my twin goals of a single-digit
minimum-BFP reading and a sub-185 weight two days before
my target date of Christmas day.
start end st.-end=lost
date date weight
2001/12 - 2002/02 252-246=6 getting out of a lonely and stressful situation
2002/02 - 2003/01 246-236=9 generally eating better
2003/01 - 2003/12 236-199=35 one meal a day (occasional evening snack)
alcohol (2-10 drinks) daily; "beer&wings" 1-3
times a week; very light exercise
2003/12 - 2004/04 199-212=-13 in a new lonely and stressful situation
2004/04 - 2004/07 212-202=10 one meal a day; slightly less alcohol
2004/07 - 2004/09 202-197=5 added exercise; went into starvation mode; refed;
read tom venuto's book; switched to 5 meals a
day; little alcohol, only on cheat days; intense
daily exercise; appeared to stall
2004/09/29 - 2004/12/23 197-184.5=12.5 started tracking food to the gram, and
BFP; occasionally appeared to stall, but graphs
assured that plan was nominally on track
total:
2001/12 - 2004/12 252-184.5=67.5 lbs in 3 years
Or: 237 million calories extracted, countless lipocytes remaindered,
and eight holes retired on my belt (I drilled another today).
Not bad for a guy who turned 40 in the middle of it all.
The "very light exercise" was golf, 4-5 days a week,
either a bucket of balls at the range, or a round, usually
on a par-60 course (saving for bar-stool time), walking with
a pull-cart.
The intense exercise was either cycling or resistance training.
I exercised outside during warmer months (until the morning
was below 50F every day): 17.9 miles cycling 20-21 mph,
2-4 days in a row. Then I did a day of upper-body work
(after a 20-minute warmup on a stationary recumbent) in the
gym to discourage consumption of my shoulders and arms.
I did no weight-training on my lower body and no targeted
exercise on my midsection.
It became a strict schedule of being in the gym every
3rd day. The other two days were spin-class or a solo
spin-room ride. Occasionally (once every 1-3 weeks) I
did a hike or a pure-rest day instead of a bike day.
If a gym day fell on a spin-class day, I did the gym,
but otherwise, I was in the 8 a.m. class whenever it was
scheduled. Spinning with an instructor and other people
is a lot more fun and a lot less easy than it looks.
Eventually, I was doing HIIT on my solo days just to
pretend to get the same value out of it.
My min-BFP reading (i.e., what the caliper will let
me get away with) is now 9.0%. At 9% BFP, my LBM is
168. 252-168=74. 74/252=29% would have been my original
BFP. I may have gone from 29% to 9% bodyfat.
A "legal" reading using my caliper (a FatTrack II)
is observed to be plus-or-minus 3 percentage points,
meaning my minimum reading is probably about 3 points below
nominal. At 12%, my LBM is 162. 252-162=90 and 90/252=36%.
I've probably gone from 36% to 12% bodyfat. Is that a
better difference, 24 points vs. 20, or a lesser result,
12% vs. 9? Right now, I'm too stoked to care. And it's
only if I didn't lose any LBM with my haphazard dieting
before I started tracking BFP and deliberately eating and
exercising to maintain muscle. The mirror claims I didn't,
but then, it used to claim I wasn't a fat guy. I showed it.
So here I stand, upon my goal, looking at a road diverging.
Do I continue to cut fat, seeking that elusive six-pack, on
my slightly less impressive than expected frame? It'd be
a hell of a thing, a washboard on a body that once passed
for Santa Claus.
Or do I start to hit the iron hard, jack a few stone onto
my rack--along with a little recidivistic padding--and maybe
try for a nice rip when I have more meat to help disperse
the ergs?
--Blair
"A problem I'm glad to have."
I stood on my scale this morning and, slightly surprised because
I "felt a little fat" today, I racked up a 184.5-pound reading.
My original, subjective goal - set this summer - of having
a six-pack by Christmas, was unrealistic and based on a
faulty understanding of the real depth of my fat content,
so when I clued-up I set an objective goal according to
how the graphs looked through October.
I've now reached my twin goals of a single-digit
minimum-BFP reading and a sub-185 weight two days before
my target date of Christmas day.
start end st.-end=lost
date date weight
2001/12 - 2002/02 252-246=6 getting out of a lonely and stressful situation
2002/02 - 2003/01 246-236=9 generally eating better
2003/01 - 2003/12 236-199=35 one meal a day (occasional evening snack)
alcohol (2-10 drinks) daily; "beer&wings" 1-3
times a week; very light exercise
2003/12 - 2004/04 199-212=-13 in a new lonely and stressful situation
2004/04 - 2004/07 212-202=10 one meal a day; slightly less alcohol
2004/07 - 2004/09 202-197=5 added exercise; went into starvation mode; refed;
read tom venuto's book; switched to 5 meals a
day; little alcohol, only on cheat days; intense
daily exercise; appeared to stall
2004/09/29 - 2004/12/23 197-184.5=12.5 started tracking food to the gram, and
BFP; occasionally appeared to stall, but graphs
assured that plan was nominally on track
total:
2001/12 - 2004/12 252-184.5=67.5 lbs in 3 years
Or: 237 million calories extracted, countless lipocytes remaindered,
and eight holes retired on my belt (I drilled another today).
Not bad for a guy who turned 40 in the middle of it all.
The "very light exercise" was golf, 4-5 days a week,
either a bucket of balls at the range, or a round, usually
on a par-60 course (saving for bar-stool time), walking with
a pull-cart.
The intense exercise was either cycling or resistance training.
I exercised outside during warmer months (until the morning
was below 50F every day): 17.9 miles cycling 20-21 mph,
2-4 days in a row. Then I did a day of upper-body work
(after a 20-minute warmup on a stationary recumbent) in the
gym to discourage consumption of my shoulders and arms.
I did no weight-training on my lower body and no targeted
exercise on my midsection.
It became a strict schedule of being in the gym every
3rd day. The other two days were spin-class or a solo
spin-room ride. Occasionally (once every 1-3 weeks) I
did a hike or a pure-rest day instead of a bike day.
If a gym day fell on a spin-class day, I did the gym,
but otherwise, I was in the 8 a.m. class whenever it was
scheduled. Spinning with an instructor and other people
is a lot more fun and a lot less easy than it looks.
Eventually, I was doing HIIT on my solo days just to
pretend to get the same value out of it.
My min-BFP reading (i.e., what the caliper will let
me get away with) is now 9.0%. At 9% BFP, my LBM is
168. 252-168=74. 74/252=29% would have been my original
BFP. I may have gone from 29% to 9% bodyfat.
A "legal" reading using my caliper (a FatTrack II)
is observed to be plus-or-minus 3 percentage points,
meaning my minimum reading is probably about 3 points below
nominal. At 12%, my LBM is 162. 252-162=90 and 90/252=36%.
I've probably gone from 36% to 12% bodyfat. Is that a
better difference, 24 points vs. 20, or a lesser result,
12% vs. 9? Right now, I'm too stoked to care. And it's
only if I didn't lose any LBM with my haphazard dieting
before I started tracking BFP and deliberately eating and
exercising to maintain muscle. The mirror claims I didn't,
but then, it used to claim I wasn't a fat guy. I showed it.
So here I stand, upon my goal, looking at a road diverging.
Do I continue to cut fat, seeking that elusive six-pack, on
my slightly less impressive than expected frame? It'd be
a hell of a thing, a washboard on a body that once passed
for Santa Claus.
Or do I start to hit the iron hard, jack a few stone onto
my rack--along with a little recidivistic padding--and maybe
try for a nice rip when I have more meat to help disperse
the ergs?
--Blair
"A problem I'm glad to have."
