Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

lifechange;1583508 wrote: Skull, I did EXACTLY the same thing! I would have such great workouts and would feel great and then I'd f*** it up with alcohol. I'd be ok for the first 3-4 days, then drink and be back to square one a week or 2 later. I thought I'd go insane! I did that until 71 days ago!! I've only been back into focussed working out for about a week and a half. Like we've experienced, the sugar and unhealthy carbs was also doing a job on my body. I didn't have enough energy on that roller coaster. I'm doing a fairly standard split with biceps/back, legs, chest/triceps, gluts/shoulders, abs every couple of days-cardio 2x week, yoga at home. I'm still trying to find out what works out best for me-- I have to be flexible because I don't have so much time when my kids are with me (I have dual custody with their father). Anyway, I feel like a thousand bucks! And I hope you keep posting your dailies, so I can continue to steal ideas from you!!:H

Yep totally, Life. With being a drunk, it's a vicious cycle where one does tons of good work then slides back down to square one. Every single week. It can make one feel like a hamster in a wheel. Going completely AF for chunks of time is the only way I can make progress- it has to be "all in" or nothing, for me.

Great to hear you've got some good momentum with diet and training! Momentum is EVERYTHING. If you're interested in learning more, as I am, there's a couple podcasts I'd recommend- "The Fat-Burning Man" by Abel James (plenty of info for women here too), and the "Road to Ripped" podcast. I've got great info from both and they keep me focused and determined. Feel free to steal ideas from them, from me, from whoever, cuz that's why we're here

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Day 12 of healthy living. Feeling good- Still eating around 1800 cals per day which is a good manageable deficit. Learning to cook in the kitchen. Learning to count my macros. Learning to train and to recover. It's nice...

Clocking in at 195 lbs this morning. Today, being a rest day, is low carb, high fat (the training days being the opposite). Though, while I'm on this cut, I may restrict carbs a few days per week in a row, and do 1 or 2 days of carb refeeding as needed, as opposed to carbs on every training day (i.e., every other day). That should keep the fat burning nicely. We'll see, based on my energy levels. I'll be shooting for 100g max per day, then 100-300g on refeed days.

As a nice aside, GF came home from a weekend convention yesterday. I'd was wearing a new shirt and jeans that fit my frame more snugly, and my GF noticed... she was like "Damn"! Raawwwrrrr. Hotness ensued.

Also, a day previous when I bought that new shirt, I was happily surprised to find that I can now comfortably wear a size M, instead of an L, like I'd planned. Going from an XL to L to M in the space of a few months feels nice. Plus, unlike the baggy XL/L, I can start so see a bit of muscle on the nicely-fitting M.

Anyway, all pretty nice feedback that my fitness regimen and nutrition program is working.

Training-wise, just for the record, I think I'm going to take my leg training down to 1 day per week. Previously, in adherance to the RPT workout on RippedBody.jp | A No BS Intermittent Fasting & Training Guide, I was doing both a deadlift day and a squat day, but my legs are already giant, and I want to slim them while building my top half to a "V" taper. So, that being the case, I think I'm going to make Leg Day on every Friday, with each week alternating either squat or deadlift, and adding a bit of leg press/extensions and calves. Also I might only do sprints about every other week. Then, i'll have Mon and Wed for upper body/torso. Not quite sure how I'll split them up but still thinking it over.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Quick update- Day 14 of healthy living- 195 lbs.

Quick note for my own reference-

This being the first week of going down to legs 1x per week, I did squats Monday, then bench/pullups/rows yesterday. So that pretty much means chest/back. So Friday, I'm thinking arms/shoulders/abs. Probably curls, dips, military press, leg lifts.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Day 16 of healthy living- 195 lbs. Weight loss has slowed. I notice it spikes a pound or two when I eat more than 100g of carbs, so I'm keeping those lower than 100 as much as possible. I ate a ton of fat yesterday- greasy bacon and eggs, sausage... went over my calorie limit to 2100... I was surprised it didn't hurt my weigh in too much. I weighed in this morning at 194.6. Happy about that

Yesterday I did arms/abs at the gym. My new modified workout routine is-

Mon-Arms/abs- bicep curls, dips, tricep pressdowns, knee/leg raises
Tues- yoga or off
Wed- Chest/back- benchpress, pullups/chinups, rows
Thurs- yoga or off
Fri- legs- either squats, deadlifts, or sprints, and adding in leg press/extensions/calves in some combination
Sat- yoga or off
Sun- off

Still slacking on the yoga, but otherwise compliance is pretty good. Sometimes I get keto fatigue in the afternoons/evenings, but when that happens I add a bit of carbs- lately it's been gluten free pretzels, but those aren't ideal, so I'm going to try to stick to white rice or sweet potato.

Thinking also about ditching my protein shakes. I like them and they seem to help me hit my macros but I've been reading lately about how they are ususally sub-par... not sure yet, gotta do more reading.

Pants/clothes still fitting loose, that feels nice and keeps me motivated. Lately sex drive has been low- only in the mood about once a week... I'll do some reading on testosterone levels today and see what I should augment. Could just be an effect of cutting.

The other odd thing that I've noticed is that other than squats, I dont' tend to feel sore the day following a workout hardly at all. Most people would say "that means you're not working hard enough", but the thing is that I'm going to absolute failure on most sets. I'm giving it my complete total. I would expect that I should be a lot more sore days after. I suppose I could just be happy that I'm not, but I really do want these workouts to be effective, so if they should come with soreness, I'd happily choose that. But so far, almost nada... Anyway something to keep my eye on...

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Day 18 of healthy living. Wow, watching the carbs and keeping them to around 100 grams really does work- I was happy to see that the scale weighed in at 193 lbs today. Feeling good That being said, I decided to make today a carb refeed day (1 of 2, the other being this saturday for an early TG dinner). So, had 2 small slices of gluten free bread today along with coconut milk and whey protein shake. 42g carbs before my workout should provide the workout with a boost (though usually I train fasted).

Today at the gym is back/chest day. Bench press, pullups, rows.

For the record, I ended up choosing the super crusty "Mick's" gym and canceled the bodybuilding one for the time being. "Mick's" is closer to my house and seems friendlier. Though the bodybuilder guys were surprisingly nice about my cancelation. I think the deal was, once I signed up, they just didn't care about me one way or the other- they were just focused on doing their own thing. Nothing wrong with that, and I don't want to be distracted/bothered while working out either, but if I have my choice I prefer a friendlier vibe so went with the other gym (plus it's significantly closer to my house, which makes a difference when the alternative is sitting in traffic 3 times a week, there and back...). I intend to go back to the first one when I'm at a more intermediate or advanced/elite level, and need classes in specific areas of bodybuilding or boxing. For now though, just concentrating on keeping my muscle while I cut, which I think so far I'm doing pretty successfully. 6 pounds lost in 3 weeks is just about right on track! Though I do worry about saggy skin if I lose fat too quickly, lol... but as my GF says, I could always just go get it snipped off. What an odd thought. But, it's an option.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Update- Day 27 of healthy living.

Well, been away for a while. Last Wednesday, I got Lasik surgery done! It's been a long-time goal of mine to do it and it's finally done, and successful- I now have 20/15 vision (better than 20/20). No more glasses. Clear, clean, HD sight. It rocks.

The challenge there was to keep healthy during the recovery. They gave me Valium for the procedure plus Vicodin for the pain. I enjoyed that a little too much, and while I didn't drink at all during the recovery, I did give myself a pass to smoke, just cuz I wanted to make a nice buzz feel even better. Then, even when the Valium and Vicodin were gone, I just kept smoking. So, for the past week I've been smoking a half pack a day. BOOOOO!

I was instructed also by my doctor to do no strenuous exercise for a week after. So, no lifting. I've been mostly keeping to my healthy diet with the exception of a long-planned early Thanksgiving celebration with friends, in which I indulged in treats (and smokes) all weekend.

This morning, I'm weighing in at 195 lbs, so the damage wasn't too bad- but I sure am curious how I'll feel when back at the gym on Friday, with all that nicotine poison in my lungs and having taken a week off lifting and not keeping my diet tight. We'll see... Unfortunately I have one more TG dinner to go to tomorrow so there's no way I'm getting out of more feasting without some serious scrutiny from the GF and friends. Truly I'd like to just not go, seeing as I've already had one, but whatever, it's cool. I'll just enjoy the dinner, the pie, etc., and just get back to healthy living on Friday. It's good to not be TOO control freaky about all this, and enjoy some celebratory meals from time to time.

The main thing is, I'm still not drinking, and won't drink throughout the holidays. So I'm still considering my life a pretty good success, since that's the most important battle for me.

I'll check in Friday with an update before getting back to my healthy routine.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Update- Day 30 of "healthy living". I put it in quotes because I've been really bad about smoking the past 10 days! Yesterday I had my last cigarette and now I'm just bracing myself for the withdrawals-- from no cigarettes and also no sugar. I'll just have to be in a shitty, crave-ey mood the next few days and just accept that it's OK and that I'll get over it. Distraction will be my friend, particularly with relaxing activities like shows/movies and baths/showers and lots of sleep.

2 Thanksgiving dinner celebrations over the last 2 weeks became approx. 3 days of junky eating, as well. Allowed myself wheat gluten and sugary desserts and junk, and paid for it last night and today with terrible digestion. But worse than that is the drug-like cravings that hit me out of nowhere the next day. Crazy intense mouthwatering carb-gluten cravings for pretzels/chips/snacks. I ate a slice of gluten-free bread slathered with peanut butter plus most of a bag of gluten-free pretzels, which was all outside of my allotted calories for the day. And today, weight was back up at 196 lbs plus terrible diarrhea today so that was a learning lesson... I need to remember this next time I get super carb snack cravings.

Diet wise I'm going to go back to mostly proteins/veggies/fats today with restricted carbs (under 100g per day) with 2 days of carb refeeds. (Wednesday and Sunday).

Also, last 10 days I did absolutely no exercise. So, between that, the junk food and the smoking, I may be in noticeably poor shape when I finally get my ass back to the gym- which happens in 1 hour. (talking to self--) One hour, jackass, no excuses! Do you want to be healthy and strong or not? GO TO THE FUCKING GYM AND SUFFER THROUGH IT. It may feel crappy today and early this week but it'll get better! The pain of soreness after a workout is what we're after- not the pain of inactive, achey muscles and weak poisoned smokey lungs. DO IT, JACKASS. (All self-abusive language said with a tongue-in-cheek smile )

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Quick update-
Well, my drill-sergeant motivational speech at myself must have worked- did a great session at the gym yesterday. Did everything 20lbs lighter than my maxes from last week, and that was a good re-intro after 10 days of inactivity. Today, have that "good soreness" from workout, as opposed to the "crappy soreness" from inactivity. Feeling good and looking forward to arm day tomorrow.

But, definitely feeling the crappy mood today of withdrawing from both nicotine and sugar/gluten. Low energy, Low carb or keto-fatigue, whatever it's called. I slept almost 12 hours last night and I let myself do so, imagining that my body just wanted the sleep for recovery time. Today, just letting myself feel crappy and let the clouds pass over and through me as they will. Withdrawals from these toxic substancces won't kill me, and in a day or three I'll be happy I did this and I'll be feeling good.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Update- did a good session at the gym both Monday (arms, abs) and Wednesday (chest, back). Feeling good, feeling strong. Soreness in my legs from the workout on Dec. 1 is finally gone...

Carb refeeding just twice a week seems to work well as long as I can adhere to it. I was happy to see that the scale read 193lbs this morning. Can't wait to get down to under 190.

Bonus motivational goal hit- 1st signs of bicep veins now showing

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Update- weigh in today was exactly 192 lbs. Very happy about this. This weight has proved difficult/next to impossible to achieve except by counting my calories- 1800 per day- and limiting carbs to 100 grams a day except for carb refeed days once or twice a week. This seems to be the winning formula for me. I'm feeling slimmer and stronger everyday.

Also, yesterday was leg/lower body, and I rocked the deadlifts. New personal best at 225 for 8 reps. That felt awesome too.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Update- Day 40 of healthy living.

Still holding at 192 lbs. I've been losing about 1.5 lbs a week so far and I'm going to try to be a little tighter about it and lose 2. Though I'll be OK if that doesn't happen, as I'm still lifting 3x/week to maintain muscle. I'm going to be so happy to see that scale go down to 189 and below!

Did deadlifts on Friday, my favorite kind of lifts because I can feel the fatigue and regeneration all over my body for a few days after. Felt that all weekend, and hit a new PR of 225x8. That means I need to increase the weight even more as I'm shooting for failure at around 6 reps. Anyway, good progress in strength gains, even at a calorie deficit, so I'm thinking I must be on the right track.

Gonna be back to the gym today for chest/back- I think I'll do incline bench, pullups/chinups, and rows. Maybe some shoulder side raises too.

One other note- I've been really edgy and grouchy for a few hours at a time, the last couple days. I think it's mostly keto fatigue, though it could be related to upping my bac dose as well. But I've been really tight with keeping my carbs low and I think I was really feeling it. Yesterday I got super ravenously hungry/shaky and I allowed myself some carbs and felt much better so that must have been it. Anyway, good to keep an eye on- if my mood drops noticeably, and if I start getting a little shaky/nervous, probably best to add some carbs.

Also, I've been thinking about how best to feast on Christmas-- I'm gonna use an IF technique like this- How to Use Intermittent Fasting to Eat Like a King and Keep your Abs this Holiday Season | Ripped Body . I'm thinking of doing the 40-hour fast, the day after the big Christmas meal. Should be piece of cake as I'm used to doing IF fasts.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Day 42 of healthy living.

Looks like 1 lb a week is going to be more realistic. Still holding at 192 lbs for the moment, and have been letting more carbs slip through. Gotta tighten that up.

The thing I find most maddening about eating a clean deficit is the salivation in my mouth that's near constant, even when my belly's full of good nutritious food. I've gotta remind myself that it just comes with the territory, and is not necessarily an itch that should be scratched. More like an itch that should be ignored.

Been consistent with the gym- Today will be arms and abs.

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Day 44 of healthy living.

Slightly bummed out because I somewhat lost control last night- just a bit, really. Had Thai food on date night with my GF- meat and veggies in sugary sugary sauce. No idea on macros/calories. Then, too much chocolate and ice cream during movies at home. Sugar free ice cream, at that. So it wasn't terrible by any means. And at least it wasn't alcohol. At least I didn't destroy myself with 10 beers.

As for indulging in junky foods last night-- I'm good with that- I know that it's good to unwind and enjoy life sometimes, and treat yoself. Glad I did. But a little bummed to see the scale spike 5 lbs! I know it's water weight and will reverse itself. But yeah, anyway...

[skullbabyland]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Day 50 of healthy living.

Been mostly pretty good lately. Diet is clean as ever. Weight is holding at a plateau of 191 lbs. I'm hoping to see it down to 189 by NYE... 10 days from now, I think I can do it, even with Christmas day feasting. I've contacted an online coach to help me tighten up my macros going forward in the New Year.

Weight levels are holding for now, though not increasing much. That's to be expected in my calorie deficit of 1800 cals/day. Though I have improved in that I can do 2-4 pull ups/chin ups at a time, multiple times per day. We installed a chin up bar at the house and I think that's going to be a very helpful tool. I want to eventually get to the point where I can knock out 8-10 of each easy. Then I'll start adding a weight belt. Rawwwrrr.

Still struggling with smoking. Had a quick trip out of town last weekend and was feeling euphoric/celebratory, which is when I tend to want to smoke. Let myself smoke all weekend and also for a few days this week. BOOOO. So today is Day 1 of no smoking, and I'm going to begin posting in the non-smoking threads as well (being the MWO addict that I am).

[bkyogagurl]

Skullbaby's Fitness Progress

Hi Skull-

I like reading thru your progress. I have started a weight lifting program to enhance my running. I thought about trying a bikini fitness show but the diet seems to affect my GI tract adversely and with the holidays I have not been in the mood to eat clean. Unfortunately. Running is truly my passion but I have been having trouble with my leg ever since I did a half marathon. Hopefully the weights will help. I haven't done any exercise in 3 days which is unusually for me but I think I am feeling depressed and am not sure how to alleviate the sadness. I am still in bed at 12:16pm which is really unusually for me. I don't even care if my husband comes home and sees me. Another weird thing because I wouldn't be caught dead in bed this late ever.
It is so awesome how dedicated you are to your sobriety. And now on to taking such good care of yourself. It's inspiring.
I need to get my booty out of bed and get a cup of tea and get out of this house.

Keep up the good work. You Rock:goodjob: