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Summer Cut

drizzt

By drizzt
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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Hi all,

I've been meaning to start a journal for a while, but I'm a bit of a procrastinator with this sorta stuff :oops: And I've been doing one on my Bodyspace, so can't be arsed doubling up! So in the meantime, I thought I'd chuck a few pics up to show my progress - a lot of this is attributable to some members here who helped me when I asked for dietary advice, and a great welcome I received when I first started a "Hi" thread :)

Background, I started making changes at 102kg (excuse the crap picture, iPhone = no flash, blurred face because everyone else here seems to do it :P):

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This was just before I came to you guys for dietary advice. Rugby season had been over for about a month I think, weekends of end-of season booze sessions had put a couple of (bad) kilos onto my frame, and it looked crap to be honest! On top of giving the diet a COMPLETE overhaul, I gave my exercises a bit of a shake-up to stimulate muscle growth.

Since this photo, I've lost weight at about the rate of 1 kilo per week, and I'm now 8 kilos down. My goal was to hit 95 by late November, which I ended up hitting - and surpassing - in early October, a couple months ahead of schedule. This is me, today:

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(there are a tonne of progress pictures etc from week to week that are on my bodyspace if you'd like to check them out - higher res too - link is in my profile)

Remarkably - well, to me anyway - I've continued to lift heavier weights from week to week throughout this weight loss. At the beginning, using bench as an example I could get 100kg for 6 reps (I think a lot of the trouble here was a lack of explosiveness) - that was weighing 102kg. Now, weighing 94kg I can get 112.5 for 5 clean reps. There are similar improvements across the board.

However, although I'm happy with how much I've leaned out, I do realize I have a long way to go. Looking at these pictures I've seen a few things that are lacking (from a bodybuilding p.o.v - width of back, and size of traps in particular). In saying that though, I think I've given myself a great base to work from whereever I choose to go to from here with my body.

For the immediate future? The cut will be in effect until at least the end of the year. Because of my relative shortness (6'0) and playing as a forward in Rugby, I need to make up for the lack of height with power, strength, speed and fitness. I feel at this stage I'm more powerful and stronger than I was when I was 8kg heavier, with the added bonus of having less to carry around which means I'll be more efficient at what I do :) I'll concentrate on power and explosiveness at the gym whilst pushing hard to maintain my cardio levels. I need to find the best middle ground for me between size/strength vs speed/fitness!

I welcome any comments or suggestions, I'm continually looking to improve, and it was mainly due to advice I gained here that helped me get as far as I've come today.

Many thanks :)

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Chillicat Senior member

Chillicat

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Awesome - looking good!

Remarkably - well, to me anyway - I've continued to lift heavier weights from week to week throughout this weight loss.

That's great to hear - I'm doing a summer cut at the moment too (though I'm aiming more for half a kg a week rather than a full kg, but I'm a girl with a starting weight of around 60-61kg), and hoping that I continue to make gains with my weights rather than losses due to sheer hunger :lol:

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Nice photos :)

Where abouts do you train in wgtn?

You planning to compete in anything next year or you just doing this for yourself.

Thanks! I train at Bodyworks Thorndon. I'm not too sure of the ins and outs of working in a competition around my Rugby, so at this stage I'm not looking to compete. But maybe if I keep decent discipline through next Rugby season I may look at competing after it :)

Awesome - looking good!

Remarkably - well, to me anyway - I've continued to lift heavier weights from week to week throughout this weight loss.

That's great to hear - I'm doing a summer cut at the moment too (though I'm aiming more for half a kg a week rather than a full kg, but I'm a girl with a starting weight of around 60-61kg), and hoping that I continue to make gains with my weights rather than losses due to sheer hunger :lol:

Thanks :) I was surprised more because I've had a lot of info from people telling me you can't have it both ways (trim while gaining muscle). I think this is true in the sense that you can't do them together as efficiently as they can be done separately. But I think a key is that I've kept my training intensity up (especially on the bigger weights/lower reps) :nod: On top of this I keep the exercises changing, diet good (but not strict at the moment - I have room to move here) and nutrients rolling in, and it seems to have worked out well. There's been no real yo-yo either, it's just been a nice, steady, gradual weight loss :D

Awesome progress bro! Over a relatively short time too, it didn't seem like that long ago that you first introduced yourself!

Nothing more satisfying than being able to see such a difference between photos eh?

KUTGW

Thanks man, and thanks for the advice on my nutrition thread :) I was going to post the first pic up when I first joined, but didn't have the cajones :oops: However, it quietly kept me motivated to keep up with the diet and the intensity of my exercises, so was a great tool for me to use to stay on track.

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Awesome improvement drizzt, can you give me any details on your diet changes? might help with my cut :)

Thanks man :) The main changes I made were dropping the One Square Meals out of my diet (big mistake to rely on them), and shifting from 3 meals a day to... heaps! Haha. List of changes I've made since I first joined here:

*Have breakfast every morning, always Oats + Egg whites with fruit (banana sliced on top usually) for me.

*Never used to eat eggs, but now I go through a tray of 30 in about a week :P

*Tidied the diet on the weekends, this includes more protein intake which I wasn't previously getting

*Shifting carbs to the morning. I'm not incredibly strict on this (sometimes I'll let some non starchy ones in), but I use it as a general rule. Dropping bread was a big change IMHO. I used to have sandwiches when I got home from work in the evenings, they've gone. Haven't touched bread for about a month now :)

*Casein Protein at night before bed, I think this has been a huge help, although no real way of quantifying it... but I wasn't getting any fuel for my body while I slept. The casein gives me that.

*Better snacks. I keep a bag of almonds and a bag of pumpkin seeds at both work and home, and have a small handful if I get a hunger pang.

*All up (including protein shakes, excluding snacks) I have about 9 meals a day, spaced out quite evenly. All are small apart from breakfast, afternoon meal and dinner, but this keeps the metabolism going along. Constantly sipping on water throughout the day too, although I used to always do this, so not much of a change.

*Addition of good fats to my diet, fish oil tabs in particular which I take 3 times a day.

*I prepare meals for dinner/afternoon meal a few days in advance, chicken stir fry is my fav - I find it easy/cheap to buy those pre cooked chickens from the supermarket and strip those for the meat. Bung the stripped meat in a pan with some vegies, and voila.

Those are the major changes to the diet. Also what helped is more effective cardio - I do a couple of boxing classes a week, which are effectively hour-long HIIT sessions. I get a tremendous sweat on, and you feel great after it :nod:

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drizzt Veteran member

drizzt

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Good shit m8 :clap: :clap:
awesome progress mate, amazing what a bot of attention to what you eat can do. keep going hard :clap:

Cheers guys. You're right there gazza, I never really thought about diet before. I always just assumed if I went hard enough in the gym I could eat what I like :oops: If only I knew a few years back what I do now...

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