TheVelocityDiet.com

Recent Noticeable Changes

After the boozy and shit food weekend last weekend it took three to four days to get back to where I was before, though I was still probably losing body fat it’s surprising how much that extra retained water can change how you look. On Monday my biceps were just lumps but by Friday I could see the definition between the short and long head again. Veins came back that had gone away a little and so on.

My eating and exercise this week was very strict. No daily treat not even a jelly bean and I had milk in my tea only once or twice. I missed one BJJ session due to time constraints but this was replaced by a bit of dancing and an unplanned walk on Wednesday after work. All in all it’s been a really solid week.

This week the most noticeable change for me have been in the chest, thighs and stomach. From side on I am starting to get definition in the stomach and it’s beginning to noticeably draw inwards from my chest to my stomach and a bit of a seperation down the middle is beginning. This has happened a couple of times probalby due to not eating a big meal or whatever so the potential is there to be permanent at some time. Thighs are definitely becoming more defined though there is a long way to go there but they’re coming along in a noticeable way week to week. My chest has become noticeably better in the last week and this might have to do with increased workload.

So over this week I think the main changes have been thighs and chest and it’s good to still be able to see noticeable changes (if only to me) from week to week rather than having to wait a month. I’m fairly positive about stepping on the scales tomorrow and doing the measurements and depending on where I sit tomorrow I will see if my goal of 90kg by my birthday is reasonable or not.

I’ve Hurt My Back

Yesterday doing deadlifts when I was finishing my second set I went to set the weight down and as I got the bar near my knees my back cracked and gave way, the weights went smashing to the ground. I’d had a sore back from the previous week and I think my back gave up the ghost.

I continued to do the rest of the routine but it was really week.

I did weights today, it was just arms so not much lower back was involved and it was only a little weak when picking up weights from the ground, not really sore. I can feel myself taking it easy on the lower back and protecting it but I haven’t had to use any pain killers or anti inflammatories today so hopefully it will heal quickly.

It was really annoying as I love back day. Hurting my back on my favourite exercise meant I hven’t bee able to deadlift or squat properly and so I was quite annoyed at the end of the workout.

Hopefully I’m good to squat come Friday and good for deadlifts next Monday!

A bit of a set back, but nothing massive.

I’m hoping that the weight gain due to carbs and creatine will settle this week too and maybe there is another drop in BF% and weight.

A Weekend of Boozing

I hate drinking, I hate alcohol. I used to love it, but I guess I’m like those born again christians that get way more into it than any christian that grew up in the church. I don’t hate that people drink nor do I judge anyone for doing it, but for me personally alcohol just doesn’t do anything I like.

First of all I don’t have any more fun when I’m drunk, nor do I talk any more deeply or do anything that much different to when I’m sober and having fun. So the social lubricant aspect isn’t something I really require these days. It’s why I used to drink though.

Mostly though, it makes me weak and I hate that. The next day I feel like shit, I eat shit, I don’t exercise and unlike other things with similar detractions the following few days I don’t get any benefit from it while I’m drinking.

I jumped on the scale this morning to see what the impact was of a night of solid drinking and the following day of eating crap (lots of crap carbs) and doing no exercise. It was 4.5kg over the weigh in on Saturday!

Now I’m not stupid and think that I’ve actually put on 4.5kg of fat, most if not all of that will be retained water and I can definitely see the softness everywhere, but still I don’t want that.

So I have decided that I am not going to drink unless I want to from now on, there will be no situation where I will drink if I don’t want to. Previously I said that I’d drink only when it was socially responsible so an engagement party or bucks night and so on, however now I’m not going to do that. I’m not saying no alcohol will ever pass by my lips, that’s definitely not true, but it will be me that makes the decision on whether that happens and it won’t be based on anyone’s desires but my own.

So hopefully with strict diet and exercise this week I’ll drop another kilo based on my Saturday weight and not this morning’s weight.

Measurements

This week saw very little change. I was still not expecting to make huge losses this week as the addition of carbs and creatine would have still been catching up with me. I lost a little bit of weight but that hasn’t shown up as massive measurement changes or body fat changes.

I think this week was definitely a grind week. I also can’t forget that I hurt my back this week as well as two days are going to be missing from the measurements. These two days are low calorie days with reasonable amounts of activity normally so they could make a noticeable change. Hurting my back meant I missed out on BJJ and was generally far less active for two to three days and I didn’t ride to and from work. It also meant weights weren’t as intense. In general this week wasn’t a good week to take any results from. It’s a bit annoying as I was wanting this week to be a real demonstration of what the additional 250 calories a day was doing.

I was thinking though that my body has been running virtually on fumes for the last six to eight weeks. I’ve been eating very strictly, very cleanly and at below maintenance calories (a lot below!) for that entire time. I think it’s time to give the body a shock and show it a couple of days of reasonable calories and see what happens.

A lot of guys that are very lean talk about re-feed days where they’re eating below maintenance for a few days or a week then they’ll eat quite a bit more for a day then back to below maintenance. This is generally guys that are quite lean looking to get leaner. Many that I’ve seen are in the 6% - 10% range which is a pretty special and rare place to be. I’m going to do some reading on this and see if it would suit me.

So now the measurements. Small changes everywhere and where I noticed them too. I think a bit of concentration and less laziness on the arms has started to pay off and I did notice better definition in the thighs and some more definition in the waist.

Measurements

Weight : 94.6kg (-0.5kg)

BF % : 13.0% (-0.3%)

Waist : 88.0cm (-0.5cm)

Hips : 101.5cm (-0.5cm)

Chest : 100.0cm (-0.5cm)

Arms : 33.25cm (+0.25cm)

Thighs : 62.25 (-0.5cm)

Measurements

I was expecting an increase in weight this week, I had started taking creatine, had increased carbs and calories overall and had drunk like a mad man this week. I thought at best I could maintain last week’s weight but that was just a hopeful thought. This week just shows that it definitely pays to be taking body fat measurements and tape measurements along the way!!

I’ve noticed a couple of changes this week which made me quite secure in the fact that even though I might gain weight I was still losing fat. I’ve written about most of them but I’m pleased with the changes I can see in my chest, stomach, back, calves and thighs.

I was a bit slack on my exercise last week and at times the diet. It was still very strict and calorie and macro controlled but not so strict on timing and I made a lot of substitutions, plus I am drinking tea and coffee with milk now. Only a tablespoon or so here and there but I’m quite sure it adds up over time. Exercise was lacking too I think I rode one or two days, skipped BJJ once and didn’t ride on Saturday. That’s what having a big weekend will do to the rest of your week!

I’m very pleased with the continued drop in BF% and will continue with the same calories and macros this week. Obviously exercise will increase a little but hopefully no more water weight from the increased carbs and creatine.

So without further a-do here are the measurements for this week. Take notice of the pluses and minuses as it’ll be the first time there is such a mix of both. I forgot to do my chest this morning so I’ll do it tomorrow.

Weight: 95.0kg (+0.9kg)

Body Fat %: 13.3% (-0.7%)

Waist: 88.5cm (-1.0cm)

Hips: 102.0cm (0.0cm)

Chest: 100.5cm (-1.5cm)

Arms: 33.0cm (-0.5cm)

Thighs: 62.75cm (+0.25cm)

It’s the V

There is a common shape that guys get as they lean out that starts about the waist and triangles down to the groin. I noticed this coming out this morning. The outter part has been there for quite a while, but nowhere near as noticeable. I think it’s mainly to do with the loss of fat on the stomach and is probably the start of a the long grind ahead to some definition around there.

Also noticeable in the last week has been the separation in the biceps bracchi (what people refer to when they’re talking about biceps) rather than just one round bit of flesh.

Calves have started to become more defined recently too.

The changes are definitely slowing down to probably one or two a week but they are there. This is definitely the part that I’ve heard called the grind. You just have to keep doing what you’re doing and know there will be progress at the end. It helps to measure body fat here because at least I know I *am* progressing.

So Much Junk Food in My Belly

I had a big weekend last weekend and come Monday afternoon (it was a long weekend) I was sat there watching movies and feeling pretty worse for wear in the head. I figured the best thing I could do was to keep myself happy and at that point in time that meant putting as much junk food in my mouth as I possibly could. I had a couple of protein shakes and a steak, plus some peanut paste and a roll but other than that it was lollies all the way.

I tracked everything though, how crazy is that. Ten sherbies, ten redskins and so on…

In the end it came to just over maintenance and given I’d been dancing and doing stuff the entire day prior I felt pretty comfortable that it was all covered, even if it wasn’t it’s been two months of absolutely solid, clean eating. Half a day will only hurt a little.

The surprising thing is how easily I got back on track. I think because I actually enjoy the healthy food I’m eating now the next day I was back on track, eating healthily and feeling fine. I usually give myself a tiny treat each day (a square of chocolate or a biscuit or something like that) and I didn’t even feel the need to do that, I completely forgot about it.

It’s now a few days on and at first I was actually quite scared that Monday was just going to be the start to me going back to old ways but that hasn’t happened at all. I haven’t fought cravings, I haven’t had any urges for the lollies, I’ve just eaten great food.

The lollies are in my cupboard for the next time I have people over. I had considered throwing them away to reduce the temptation but I don’t feel like I need to at all.

What a change.

Eating a Lot is Hard

I’m increasing my intake by 250 calories a day from today in an effort to slow the weight loss, more specifically to try and maintain more muscle while I’m losing weight. I think it’ll probably need to increase by 500 calories a day but I’m also not going to make such a massive jump in one go.

In doing so it means I have to start planning out my workout days to have about 2500 calories, and I was just trying to do this now and it was proving pretty difficult to plan meals to hit that target that I could actually consume. It would be easy to increase fat intake and therefore fit a stack more food in but I’m more interested in increasing fat slightly and then increasing protein and carbohydrate intake too. It means I’ll be eating roughly 30% more on my workout days and it’s a bit of effort.

Before the V-Diet I was actually taking in roughly 2500 calories a day without any problem but now afterwards and after having a restricted intake for two months I’m finding that it’s difficult to eat enough to get up to maintenance calories. Some meals actually make me feel overly full now yet previously I’d have been wanting more.

The reports of the extra benefits after the V-Diet besides weight loss aren’t exaggerated. I’m losing weight now very easily and see my goal weight approaching within the next four weeks even if I increase my calorie intake. Pretty cool really given that I hadn’t lost much weight for about a year.

My maintenance at my current activity level is probably about 3000 - 3500 calories a day. I’m currently eating 1900 - 2500 calories. So I have a long way to go

Measurements…

I’m really happy with this loss, it was thoroughly surprising as I was expecting perhaps 1kg at the most but it turned out to be 2kg and that’s with one day short. I measured on Sunday today instead of Monday!!

One thing that is worrying me now though is muscle loss along with fat. The last couple of weigh ins I have seemed to drop 1-1.5kg of fat but along with that was 0.5kg of muscle. I’m not sure if I’m able to lose fat and no muscle but I think the only way to answer that is to up my calorie intake.

I said to myself that when I hit 95kg I would start to supplement with creatine again as I’ve always had great results from it, however I’m worried that I will put on a couple of kilo as some guys do. This hasn’t generally been an issue for me though, I just get massive strength gains and no bloating. We’ll see if things have changed as it will be more noticeable now. So from this week it’s back to creatine. I don’t think I’ll load as I normally do and instead just start taking a teaspoon a day and an extra one after workouts.

I’ll be upping my calories this week too by 250 calories a day and see what sort of feedback I get. I’ll make this increase through an increase in fats mostly but also probably add another 40g of fibrous and non fibrous carbs per day. Milk might get a look, and yoghurt. These seem like worthwhile additions to the diet with some muesli and oats more often. It’ll work out to roughly 10g of fat per day and 40g of carbs. That works out say to say a couple teaspoons of olive oil, or a tablespoon of peanut paste each day with a serving of muesli and low fat milk. It’s basically like adding another meal a day.

The addition of a meal worth of calories a day will hopefully slow the weight loss to 1kg a week max, though I think that’ll require 500 calories extra a day or more. However it’s all a feedback loop so I’ll increase slowly and see what my body says.

The main thing is that from what I’ve read to maintain leanness is much easier than getting there in the first place, and it makes sense. At the moment if I wanted to maintain this weight it seems that I would need to eat about 15,000 calories extra over a week. That equates to 2,200 calories a day, or to put it in terms of what I’m eating, double what I eat on a workout day!

We shall see. If I have to eat double what I’m eating now, that means a doubled grocery bill too Also it means I need a bigger stomach

I’ve listed the change from last week in brackets.  I noticed growth in the chest and that may have to do with the lat and chest work I’ve been doing lately. I may well see steady growth here over time rather than reduction. Waist and hips are still dropping off quickly.

Measurements

Weight : 94.3 (-1.9kg)

Bodyfat % : 14.1 (-0.9%)

Waist : 89.5cm (-1.5cm)

Hips : 102cm (-2.0cm)

Chest : 102cm (+1.0cm)

Arms : 33.5cm (+0.25cm)

A New Vein

On my right shoulder this morning after weights and the bike ride. I haven’t seen it before but it was there.

There is also a bit more definition in my stomach poking out.

They’re small changes, but big enough to be noticed.

I’m looking forward to this weeks weigh in. It’ll be on Sunday though as I’ll be out of action and really busy Sunday night through to part way through Monday.