Day 88 - Transformer: Hard Gainer in Disguise

I hit a new milestone today, but not necessarily one I was looking for. Today I hit a new low on the scale, 133.4 lbs. Of course, I thought I was now on a strengthening and muscle gain program. I guess I've just fallen into the classic "but I don't want to get fat again" mode. Even though I was trying to eat more, I just haven't been able to get myself to really put myself in a surplus. I mean, I kind of pigged out a bit last weekend. After doing so, I sort of had that fat bloated and gross feeling, and backed off a bit. Maybe that is what I'm going to have to do to gain some muscle back? I mean, I did see my weight go up a bit this week only to have it rocket back down the past couple days.

Maybe, even after those years of packing on the fat, I'm a hard-gainer in disguise? Back when I was lifting heavy before, I don't think I was ever really able to put muscle on before. I might get a bit more definition, but my weight would go down. Well, at least I know a bit more about this stuff now. I only had my bf tested once before up until this past year (I was about 16% back when I was 18). I've done some reading that puts reasonable muscle gains in the range of 0.25-0.5 lbs a week (I'm not a genetic freak so I'm going to aim for the average). That's lean muscle tissue. With that muscle tissue comes about an extra 0.25-0.5 lbs of glycogen and water. So a gain of about 0.5-1 lb of lean mass should be possible in a week with little fat gain.

Ok, well, I know I'm really good at pigging out, but can I pig out on good clean food? Maybe. We'll see. Maybe I just need a good binge fest to spike my muscle growth to go with my weight training. Hmmm, I'm just about to head out to my gf's Christmas work party w/ plenty of free food provided. Will I live to tell the tale? Tune in tomorrow and find out if Raiden managed to gain muscle, or gain fat, or through the miracle of the Hard-Gainer in Disguise, actually lose muscle and fat after pigging out!

Until next time, Transformers, transform and roll out! (apologies to Optimus Prime and Hasbro)

Day 88

Day 78 - Change of plans

If you've been following me the last couple days, I was starting to incorporate carb cycling into my program to shed those last few pounds of fat. Today, I made a decision to alter those plans and add a new goal to my current milestone. In addition I'll be extending my milestone deadline to correspond with the date of the event for my new goal.

I've talked a bit about hockey in my past posts, and it was a very important part of my life when I was younger, especially back in high school. The ultimate goal of my quest is to get in the best shape of my life. This should also mean that I should be playing hockey. I haven't hit the ice for over 3 years now, but I am now making it part of my mission to get back on the ice and strap those pads on again.

Today, I got an invitation to play in an organized pick-up game (yeah, organized pickup sounds like an oxymoron) on Boxing day with all my old high school teammates and others from town, who will all be home for the holidays. For most people, I think this will be just some time to fool around and just have some fun. But for me, it symbolizes a lot more. I mean, if any of them knew it was my goal to train for this one single pick up game, they'd think I was crazy. But I've had a lot of setbacks since high school (my speedbumps!) and this game is going to mean a lot to me.

So, what does this mean? Well, today I weighed in at 133.8 lbs, and 20.4% BF (I post my PhysicsDiet numbers in my weekly stats, which are running averages, so they lag my daily numbers) on my scale. Before I made this blog, my goal was to get under 22% BF on my scale by Dec 15th. On my charts, I had only set the axis for my weight loss to go from 155 down to 135 (I made it fixed so I had something to shoot for). I since had to adjust the axis, and I also set 21% BF as a goal when I started blogging. To be honest, I never thought I was going to get below 135 lbs. Ever. So, I've essentially hit my BF% and total fat loss goals already. But, for me to play hockey, strength and stamina will be bigger factors now that I've lost most of the excess fat that was slowing me down.

Right now, losing fat won't really help me, as there's the possibility that I'll lose a bit of strength in the process and it probably won't make me that much faster. So, there's really only one way for me to go, and that's to now try and put on some lean muscle (especially back and legs), and at the same time also get my cardiovascular fitness up. Both of those new goals means I'm going to need a lot more calories, so carb cycling is now out the window. I'll return to that after the New Year to shed any bit of fat that I put on during this short muscle gain phase (and the holiday meals!).

My plan now is to shoot for maintenance calories all this week (2700), and then next week go into an approximately 10% calorie surplus (an even 3000). During this time, I'm not so much changing my workout schedule, but I am going to push myself even harder. Since I'll be eating more calories, I plan on having more energy so I can lift even more weight, and go even faster and longer on my cardio sessions. I'm not going to worry too much about whether the energy for my workouts is coming from the food I just ate or the fat stores in my body. I just want to give my heart the best workout it can get.

I'm not quite sure what kind of muscle gains I can make in this short time, but I'll take anything I can get.

Wish me luck!

Here's today's pics:

Day 78