4-25-2012

Just a quick update on the progress of my weight loss. This morning my bodyweight was 241.2#, nearly 18# down in a little over a month. Still feeling great and clothes getting looser. Sunday, Tim and Zac came over for a morning workout. It was a good one and I am still feeling it today. I managed a double on my GHP #8 gripper from parallel set as well as some good thickbar work. Looking forward to the next training session. Probably tomorrow at lunch.

4-20-2012 updates

Today I believe is Day 30 of me being on the Primal diet. Everything is still going very well. I feel great and weight is still dropping. This mornings weigh in was 242.9#. I started taking measurements and skinfold testing about 10 days ago and it looks like I've actually gained some muscle just during the last 10 days in addition to the fat loss. The measurement show it in a couple places as well. So that is a good sign that I'm not losing muscle in this rapid weight loss that I am having.

On the workout front I have been mostly focusing on my thickbar weaknesses since the grip comp a month ago. My thickbar has been improving as has pretty much everything else I have tested lately. Bench I have not been pushing though and instead have been working on my problematic shoulder with some rehab type exercises. I also reduced the frequency of the benching and lowered the weight while upping the reps. Most recent workout I hit 275x8 so still not too bad. Hoping to lift the Inch replica DB again soon. I have not tried it since starting the thickbar focus work but the stuff I am doing should directly affect my strength on it. I will test it again at the conclusion of this training cycle. I tested on the IM hub in warmups yesterday and pulled 67.7# which was a good 5# increase over my previous best so that is pretty exciting. This also means the training plan is working well I guess. Anywho, that is all I got today. Have a good one!

4-5-12

Day 15 of my Primal Blueprint challenge. BW was 245.8# this morning. for those that are counting that is 13.2# down in 15 days and it seems like pretty much all fat that is missing from the way my clothes are fitting and the measurement changes. Yesterday I tried my first Intermittant Fast of the program. I was a bit apprehensive about this because I'm a big guy and I had a pretty high intensity workout yesterday at lunch. Usually in the past I was getting hungry about every 2-3 hours throughout the day. Not the case anymore. Right at the end of the workout I had a banana to refuel my glycogen reserves ( I know a sweet potato would have been better but did not have one prepared ) then about 45 min later at 1:30pm I had a bowl of Bison chili that I had made earlier in the week. I didn't eat anything for dinner, just drank water when I got thirsty. Never got hungry either. This morning I got up still not hungry which was pretty exciting! Made a huge scramble with 1/2# ground bison with Emril's essence seasoning, salt and pepper, 1 kosher brat, Diced Carrot, 2 mushrooms diced, broccoli, onions, and 4 eggs. Topped with half an Avocado and some salsa. Yummy! Ended up being over 18hrs on the fast and no hunger! Would not have ever imagined this possible!

4-4-2012

Day 14 of the Primal Challenge. Was 248.0 this morning which is 11# down from starting point 2 weeks ago. Very happy with this. Had a nice brief workout today at lunch time. Was a bit rushed but still hit most everything I was hoping to hit. Did some bench until Left shoulder began to show a bit of irritation. Worked up to 5x295, 5x295, 3x295. Did a bit of Grippers, just enough to get a video of closing the GHP Lvl 8 from parallel set and a close miss with the 1.5" block. Will post the Vids later after I get a chance to pull them off the camera. Then did some thickbar work which is the focus right now. Was a good bit stronger on the thickbar than last workout 5 days ago. That is a good sign. I'll post actual numbers on this the next time I max which may be a few weeks. Just doing worksets for now and sticking to the plan. But within 2-3 weeks I think I will be capable of full DL's on the Inch DB again.

- Aaron

4-3-2012

Day 13 of my Primal Blueprint challenge. BW was 248.2 this morning. Feeling pretty good today but I had a few days since the last entry with some low carb flu symptoms. Not too bad. I had to read up on this a bit and found much good info out there. Apparently this happens with some people when their metabolism is switching from being primarily carb based to using more fat oxidation sources for energy. In the process of looking up this carb flu thing that I had seen mention of on the Primal boards I found some pretty good info on Metabolic flexibility. I've seen this term bandied about much but figured it was just some buzz word for a new diet. Turns out that is not the case and it relates to how easily a person can and to what degree switch between a "sugar" burning metabolism and "fat" burning metabolism. There is more to it than that as well but my summary stops there.


Haven't had much time to do much in the way of regular workouts lately. Trying to get the spring garden planted even though I am late. Little bit of thickbar here and there as I walk by the bar but that's about it.