My intermittent log of intermittent fasting

[Pseudonym]

After recently reading the best set of diet articles I have ever read, I was inspired to start tracking what I was eating a bit more closely. (It helped that I was going to be interviewing the guys from Cirque du Soleil, and I had visions/nightmares of taking my shirt of beside seriously shredded athletes.)

For a couple of weeks, I counted calories, and the results were great. The fat dropped, and the body weight stayed the same, indicating a gain in muscle. Unfortunately, for the last couple of weeks, I've fallen off the wagon. I have plenty of excuses - mostly that working on Gymnation 2.0 has left me with no time for meal prep, and lack of sleep means no energy in the gym. But that doesn't help me get the results I want.

So...

I'm back on track. I've taken some before photos - and they were a bit of a shock. They were taken cold, no pump, and after a fortnight of crap diet and crap training. Also, my lighting sucks. But even taking that into account, I'm not happy. My physique looks depressingly like where it was several years ago. And (slightly embarrassingly) the photos don't match up to the mental image I had of myself either. Ooh, shit.

The goal is to get a bit bigger, and a whole lot more shredded... by summer. Yep, it's a "vanity" goal. I'm okay with that.

As the title suggests, this log is not going to be a daily thing. I'll track a couple of days eating in it while I get started, then probably only update it periodically to assure you all I'm still on track. Here we go...

[Pseudonym]

Currently my stats are:

32 years old
183cm
90kg
~11% (I'm guessing... feel free to debate if you wish)

 

Diet-wise, I'm going to be Intermittent Fasting. My feeding window will be 2pm to 10pm - at this stage. But I know from past experience that I often don't finish eating everything by this time. So this may need adjusting as we go.

According to the calculator I built with the help of the RippedBody diet articles linked above, here's what my average daily macros should be:

Calories: 2,440 kCal
Protein: 248g (that's 3.1g/kg LBM)
Fat: 72g (that's 0.9g/kg LBM)
Carbohydrate: 200g

However, I'm also going to be cycling my calories/macros. Having more calories (especially carbs) on training days, and fewer calories on non-training days, theoretically helps with nutrient partitioning.

This is what's suggested on LeanGains (the website of the oft-referenced guru of IF), but the site goes into very little detail. Fortunately, the articles on RippedBody are much clearer. Here's what they suggest:

Training day

Calories: 2,669 kCal
Protein: 248g (that's 3.1g/kg LBM)
Fat: 70g
Carbohydrate: 261g

Non-training day

Calories: 1,868 kCal
Protein: 248g (that's 3.1g/kg LBM)
Fat: 77g
Carbohydrate: 45g

Assuming I train 5 days a week, that's going to average out to the first set of macros. The difficulty here is I have to commit to training (and training properly!) 5 days a week. So no more "God, I'm too tired to train tonight."

We'll see how I go with that one... But for now - I'm off to do a legs workout.

[Realtalk]

32 years old now eh... Old hand.

have you not been training much Latley? Don't look as good as other photos u posted in past. (No offence)

[Pseudonym]

You're not supposed to agree with me!

But yeah - that's why I started the log. I've been training, but the intensity has definitely been patchy. A lot of the time I've just been going through the motions - or, when I do try to push hard, my strength is just rubbish.

I'd been blaming it on stress and a lack of sleep, but it occurred to me tonight that it's probably taking quite a toll on CNS recovery too. Since that's not likely to change in the near future, I figure maybe I should drop the workouts back to 4 a week, so as to help what little recovery I do have. Then I can use the other days for stretching and core strength, which has been sorely neglected.

So the current thinking is:

Mon - legs
Tue - shoulders
Wed - stretching/core strength
Thu - back/bis
Fri - chest/tris
Sat - stretching/core strength
Sun - rest

And having reduced the number of training days, that means the macro split needs to be adjusted to keep my weekly total the same...

Training day
Calories: 2,800 kCal
Protein: 248g
Fat: 70g
Carbohydrate: 294g

Non-training day
Calories: 1,960 kCal
Protein: 248g
Fat: 75g
Carbohydrate: 73g

So there you go - just hours into my log, and already I'm changing the plan! But under the circumstances, I think reducing the training days is the smartest thing to do. (And as Realtalk says, I'm not getting any younger!)

 

[jimmybro1]

LOL'd at the website names you referenced above. 

Seems to be quite low caloires, we both have similar stats but with that caloire intake I would struggle to even maintain my bodyweight. What is you bodyweight/energy levels like on this intake? 

I don't think you have fallen off the wagon to badly it's only been a fortnight I was in a similar situation a few weeks ago except I did not train at all. I think everything is coming back to together already expect strenght is lagging a bit still and injuries aren't helping with that. 

Pervious photos you have been a lot leaner, so easy to see separation etc giving the appearance of being bigger. What has your bodyweight been previously ? Got to crack into the hundreds club mate! 

[Cameron_R]

32 years old

It's all down hill from here mate! Soon you'll be eating dog food from a can, and getting kicked out of your apartment building by the owner because the other tenants complain about the smell of your 53 cats.

 

The goal is to get a bit bigger, and a whole lot more shredded... by summer. Yep, it's a "vanity" goal. I'm okay with that.

What's the point of that goal if you are going to spend the summer diving in a dry suit? Especialy that body bag style drysuit you have that is made for a fat man. You need to take up surfing or something so you can get some use of all the hard work. *mosking*

 

BTW when was the last time you did any cardio?

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Nice one Pseudo even after 2 weeks 'falling off the wagon', to your credit it's still a very good physique but you're your own worst critic after all I guess. We all probably have that image in our minds what we look like then after we click some shots, some underwhelming feeling sets in. Will follow this thread like a stalker. 10kg away from 100s club, thats pretty good!

[Pseudonym]

Yeah, it's more that the training has been shit most of the year, with a brief period of good, before turning back to crap. Anyway... onwards and upwards.

I have actually made it to the 100kg - I didn't like it. It was probably 14-15% BF, but I just felt really heavy and unfit.

For the sake of my ego, I did something I've never done before, and took some gym selfies. I think these are a bit better. Shows what a difference lighting can make!

[Realtalk]

Are you a crip or voting national? Blue really suits you mate (no homo).

Are you still at wolfs?

[jimmybro1]

When training at Les Mills did you have to line up to take a selfie in the mirror? 

[Pseudonym]

Blue really suits you mate (no homo).

It matches my eyes. Er... yeah. I hadn't realised I was quite so colour-coordinated yesterday. And like Jimmybro says - I'm at Shinyland now.

When training at Les Mills did you have to line up to take a selfie in the mirror? 

Hahah! Getting a decent shot is actually harder than you'd think. I was trying to be subtle taking my ab shot, but I just couldn't get one in focus. I ended up standing there with my shirt up for ages. Luckily I was at Les Mills, so no-one gave it a second thought.

[Pseudonym]

So since yesterday was a rest/core-strength day, I decided to try the workout Guilhem showed me at Cirque du Soleil. I didn't have any wrist/ankle weights, so I wasn't sure how effective it would be, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway.

24 hours later... I can confirm it was quite effective, even without extra weight.

It's a good workout - I like it. You guys should try it.

 

My eatings today...

2 scoops of whey protein
2 Tbsp peanut butter

Muesli bar
2 slices Vogels bread with marmalade

Postworkout:
2 scoops of whey protein
1 banana
1 Tbsp honey (heaped)

330g chicken breast
1 packet of Uncle Ben's rice
A good chug of sweet chilli sauce
Broccoli

500ml egg whites
3 whole eggs
30g sugar
1 pear
100g orange choc-chip ice cream

All of which came to precisely 250g protein, 70g fat, and 300g carbs as prescribed.

[OnlyHuman]

When training at Les Mills did you have to line up to take a selfie in the mirror? 

Funny *lol*

[OnlyHuman]

Good stuff Pseu.  

I am an IF fan. I find it an easy way to shred some unwanted fat in a convenient way.

[Pseudonym]

Wow, I didn't realise it had been that long since my last update. Well... I did say this would be an intermittent log.

Diet has generally been pretty good. There have been a few days where eating out has meant calories weren't tracked properly, but mostly I've been good. And I've tried to keep those "cheat" days to the days I workout, and was meant to have a surpus anyway - which means I still have the same number of calorie deficit days in the week.

Cutting the training back to 4 days has helped, I think. I'm feeling less run-down, and am stronger in some lifts. The downside is that with fewer training days, I'm not burning so many calories, so the caloric deficit is less and the cutting progress has slowed.

I feel like I have made progress, but not what I'd have hoped for the nearly 3 weeks since my last post. So I'll have another look at my macros tonight, and maybe drop them a wee bit. Or maybe I increase the workload on my 4 training days. Or both.

Also just took some quick caliper readings to give me a point of reference, and stop my mind playing games. I probably should've done that at the start.

Skinfolds beside the bellybutton are currently averaging 8mm. I'd like to halve that.

[Skeletor]

Yeah ive found the same that by cutting down the amount of days I was lifting my strength would increase and a lot less tired at work but belly fat shot up. What sort of volume/ intensity are you doing on your training days?

[Pseudonym]

Umm... medium-ish?

So yesterday, I was just doing shoulders - probably the easiest of my training days:

Dumbell shoulder press, 4x10 (plus a couple of warmups)
Handstand pushups 4x6-8 (however many I can do before collapsing)
Cable side raises, 4x12
Arnie press, 3x10, superset with
Bentover dumbell raises, 3x12
 

Or something like that.

[KeriboiNZ]

So any more logs? Are you still doing IF?

[maccaz]

yeah pseudo this log has been far too intermittant

[Hu Gh]

pesimodo hasnt eaten since last post thats why no posts

[maccaz]

pesimodo is so hungry

[GyzzBrah]

Pesodo pls eat

[maccaz]

pesto intermittant fasting means you have a break for some of the day from eating, not months at a time, stop it you'll end up looking like gr. plz be safe

[Hu Gh]

Pedo pls

[Pseudonym]

LOL. I warned you guys this log would be intermittent!

 

Right now, I'm doing intermittent fasting only as far as it suits me. Typically that means skipping breakfast (because that's convenient), and eating 3-4 big meals a day. I haven't been counting my macros every day, but I've generally made sure they're not too far off the mark.

 

Except tonight. Tonight's dinner was scrambled eggs with cheese and garlic and tomato salsa - high protein, pretty low fat, ultra low carbs. Then I finished it off with some icecream inside a couple of croissants. But that wasn't decadent enough, so I had a couple more and added jam.

 

I regret nothing!