I’ve changed my weights program to a 5×5 setup just pushing max weight for everything. I’ve still got the four day split going, I’m just moving from high volume pyramiding to high weight 5×5. I have been reading a bit about the EDT program for fat loss and will see if this will be appropriate for me in the next program change.

I’ve been having very strange sleep recently with vivid dreaming and waking up at all hours of the night wide awake. Hopefully this settles when I go onto solid food, maybe it’s a hormonal response due to lack of something while on the shakes. I’m not feeling tired during the day as long as I keep rested, but I wonder what will happen when I start pushing again with the running and the cycling.

I had BJJ tonight and that went very well. I found that physically I was fine but mentally I wasn’t all there. I can’t wait to get back to eating solid food as far as performance goes. I’m not hanging for solid food, it’s more that I realise my energy levels will increase and I won’t be so cold anymore.

So it’s all going very easy and well indeed and I feel that I’ve had ood mental changes as well as physical changes.

Everything was going very smoothly until Monday, my HSM was awesome and I hadn’t cheated at all until then. So in reality I did 21 full days of the Velocity Diet perfectly and then had a problem on day 22. It pisses me off a bit that I was so weak, but I know why that is and I know in an ordinary situation it would never have happened. This is a little consolation but it still means that I didn’t do the diet flawlessly and this does annoy me a little. It’s like getting 35km into a marathon, walking 500m then running the rest. In my mind that’s not completing the marathon… yes I am that anal.

Anyway everything was going smoothly and I did lose a bit of weight and size during the week and was feeling great.

Friday was easy. My weights session was great and I did a few PBs and just generally felt energized throughout. The work day was pretty good and I found that I didn’t really require caffeine or anything at all for energy throughout the day. Now that I’m taking it a bit easy this has become the norm actually. At night I went ten pin bowling with some friends and while they were hitting the beers and some really shitty burgers I just drank my shakes and some water. We ended up going to a pub to finish the night but I left early and ended up getting an early night.

I started Saturday with a two hour walk with a friend and I actually kept up with her for most of the way which is a massive surprise, I typically end up having to do a run-walk most of the way. I spent Saturday afternoon checking out a few food type places and went to dinner with my parents at a chinese restaurant. The food looked okay, but in reality I just wanted some steamed veges and some nice chicken or something. I just drank chinese tea and when I got home I had my shake and went to bed. It was a pretty full day and by the end of it I felt content with what I’d done.

Sunday morning I got up and did my photos and weigh in. I wasn’t all that happy with the scales but measurements were all down in the right areas, clothes fit better and the photos did show some improvements so I couldn’t complain. I had slacked off on the exercise this week, although compared to what’s recommended I am still doing more.

The rest of Sunday I spent lounging around and just generally getting ready for the evening which was a big dance event with friends. It started at about 7pm and would go well into the following day. This was the problem and in hindsight and if I do the V-Diet again I think I will skip the after parties as they leave me pretty weak in the head.

The even was okay and the after party was absolutely awesome and worth it, but after no sleep for the last 30 hours and some pretty lazy eating I ended up caving and having some nuts, crisps and lollies before falling asleep in front of the TV. I ended up going to bed properly around 40 hours after I woke up Sunday morning. So over the course of about two hours I ate about 2000 calories of junk. Crap!

I had done a heap of exercise in the previous time so I’m absolutely sure I burned all that off but still I should have just slammed protein shakes or worst case scenario the protein cake that I had made! However my brain just wasn’t thinking straight.

Oh well this morning it was pissing me off a bit but after talking to a friend she helped me get back on the horse. The fact remains it was two hours out of hundreds and I know how to not let it happen again! Lesson learned.

So I have six days remaining. I am going to smash these last six days. I’ll be riding to and from work, going to BJJ on Thursday and Saturday, running on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and just generally trying my hardest to get into the 80’s this week. It’ll mean absolute strict adherence to the diet and smashing out my exercise but I think I might just make it.

If I don’t make it this week then I still have the two week taper.

I’ve decided now to train for the Perth Half Marathon on the 15th of June, so I’m really pushing myself now. I can quite easily run 12km and did so in the first week of the diet so I don’t think adding 6km in two weeks is out of the question, it’s more proving to myself that I can do it. If I can do 18km before the event then I’m pretty confident I can do 21km on the day. I was inspired to do this on the weekend after losing interest in it quite some time ago.

So I guess I did fail to complete the diet in it’s entirety but that’s no reason to give up or quit! I’m no quitter! I’m just going to get back on that horse and ride the best race that I can.

Forearms are definitely more veiny and on the bottom I can start to see the main vein running up and down but then sometimes can see a few other auxiliary ones. It’s just way more vascular in general and I’ve mainly noticed that become far more permanent this week.

Main vein on the bicep is visible most of the time but now also sometimes there is some veins that go across the biceps. Easily visible when exerting myself but also sometimes at rest.

Definition top and bottom of the top two abs, and pelvic bone definition visible.

Vein on the right shoulder has been slowly creeping across my chest.

Striations on my shoulders.

Veins where my thighs meet my abdomen.

I can feel like a crease in my face when I smile, it’s kind of weird actually I’ve never felt my face when it’s moved.

Triceps are showing horseshoe shape with the small tip near the elbow.

Back is much more defined and I can see traps and lat seperation and some erector seperation at rest.

Tear drop on thighs at rest as well as hamstring/quad seperation at rest. Also thighs have stopped becoming a lump and the smaller muscles on the inside between quads and hamstrings are seperated and visible.

That’s about it. It’s going to be small changes from now on but it’s nice to notice something new from time to time and realise it’s all because of the day to day grind.

I went shopping tonight wearing 82cm waist jeans and they fit perfectly. I mean not tight, not loose, perfect to the point of weirdness, it felt weird. Anyway when I bought these jeans about 18 months ago I honestly thought it was a pipe dream. Now I’m 8-9% lower body fat, about the same weight and they fit wickedly.

I made a protein cake for after the diet where I replaced the wholemeal flour with almond meal but it totally flopped. It’s still nice and will be great to eat anyway but I still need to play with the recipe. It has a lot of Splenda in it, but I don’t think it needs that much and I could probably add more protein powder and replace the gluten from the flour with arrowroot or xanthum gum.

Weights were great this morning, I had lots of energy and my pre-walk/weights coffee is a lot better now. I was grinding beans from the local grocery and they were bad so I bought some pre-ground from the local coffee place near work. They are definitely one of the top three coffee places in Perth and while they seperate themselves from the bunch through their milk frothing and texturing abilities the coffee itself is very very good. I’m getting into the texturing myself even though I can’t really use milk at the moment. Soon though!

I feel like the increased sleep and reduced activity overall is really benefiting me and even though I didn’t listen to the reccomendations of the diet and reduce it to weights and walking, I can see why they suggest doing that. I still do a lot more than is recommended but if you are finding it hard to get by day to day then rest is what you need.

I got some Chia seeds to try as a replacement or addition to the flax in my shakes and I have to say they’re pretty great! They don’t have a hard cellulose coating so you don’t need to grind them or buy meal, they just expand a bit when in water and feel a little like small crunchy semolina balls when they’ve soaked a while. Nutritionally they’re better than flax and they have no discernable taste. I’d definitely reccomend them as an addition to flax (maybe 1/2 and 1/2 or something) as I’m not sure about the insoluble and soluble fibre amounts though overall chia is richer in fibre by weight.

No hunger to speak of, no cravings really. All the chocolate and ice cream and everything awesome was on special yesterday (big specials actually) but I wasn’t all that fussed. Instead I was more pleased about wearing my 82cm waist jeans and having them fit perfectly.

So everything is going very smoothly. I have one weights session until day 21. I have a walk setup with a friend on Saturday morning and then I will probably have a leisurely walk or run on Sunday morning and then Sunday night is a big night with friends. It’s a public holiday here and there is a dance event. After that it’s week 4 and I’m looking forward to the home stretch.

Thing are just so easy now I forget I’m even doing it. Things that used to be hard like when I had some down time at home just sitting around trying not to eat anything aren’t hard anymore. I drink some water, go for a walk, prep shakes for the day after, read a book, look up stuff on the net; whatever. Week three really is the solid turning point and I remember it was the same last time. It’s where you start to gain all the other benefits of the diet.

I’m actually not craving anything at the moment like I remember last time. I remember craving veges and healthy solid food but not so much this time. I’ve cooked a couple of protein cakes these past few days but I’ve just had a nibble to make sure they were worth keeping. 800 calories for the entire cake is hard to argue with!

Today anyway was my day off, I did my 90 minute walk in the morning and other than that I mainly rested. I watched a movie when I got home, didn’t ride my bike because it was raining like crazy and didn’t run for the same reason. I went to bed early and got some rest.

The increased rest and reduced exercise has really paid off in energy. Like, really, really paid off! I was taking 500-800mg of caffeine a day in coffee and tablet form but the last few days I’ve just been having coffee for taste so my caffeine intake has been about two coffees worth.

So it’s half way through week three meaning one and a half weeks to go and I’m feeling really good and wondering where the time went! I’m really looking forward to this weekend it is going to be a lot of fun with my closest friends.

Weights were great this morning and I felt like I had a bit more energy in the walk before hand and in the weights session. I’m really concentrating on my back lately and I think it’s paying off. Legs and back, legs and back. After that I think I’ll move onto shoulders and whatever else.

BJJ tonight was great too, I think last weeks shit session was just due to the big weekend and the chemicals still doing their work. This week was clean and I had heaps of energy and rolled really well. Last week I felt completely beat at this point in time but right now I’m energetic and ready to go.

Again I almost forgot shakes today and I need to keep remembering to have them, there is no hunger drive anymore though so I set a timer on my computer again.

I’ve substituted in some steel cut oats for rolled oats in my post workout meal and that was delicious. I’ve got some triticale to try and I want to grab some chia seeds too that might replace the flax. I tried flax meal from the shops for the first time but I far prefer my ground flax seeds. I chucked the meal in the bin!

So at the end of the day I will watch some TV or a movie and just relax until it’s time to hit the sack. Up early tomorrow for my long walk as it’s my ‘rest day’.

This weekend will be a big weekend again, a really big one, so I want to go into it completely cool with myself and feeling good. I really, really hope to hit the 80’s this week but as long as I’m closer I’ll be happy.

Todays weigh in though is why I alway say that people should have multiple ways to measure progress! Although I put on 1.5kg which is mostly water I lost fat and dropped body fat percentage. This lines up with my observation of increased leanness and feeling better. When I saw the weight I was wondering what the hell was going on, but the calipers tell the true story.

So I still maintain I will get into the 80’s, it might not be next week but it will I think be done by the end of the four week period.

Measurements :

Weight : 92.3kg (+1.5, -6.2kg)
Waist : 86.0cm (-1.0cm, -7.5cm)
Hips : 101.0cm (0.0cm, -4.0cm)
Chest : 100.0cm (0.0cm, -4.0cm)
Thighs : 61.0cm (-0.5cm, -3.0cm)
Calves : 41.0cm (0.0cm, -1.5cm)
Shoulders : 121.0cm (-1.0cm, -1.0cm)
BF% : 10.0% (-1.3%, -2.9%)

The weigh in was disappointing but I did lose noticeable body fat which went along with my observations this week, just I put on weight due to last weeks weigh in being flawed due to things I’d had on the Friday night slash Saturday morning.

The run was really, really easy and I was still energetic afterwards, which is surprising given the lack of sleep at that stage.

Breakfast was at the usual place and I had a coffee and a pot of tea just like normal and that was pretty easy. The other guys actually finished their meals before I’d finished my tea so they had to sit and watch me drink tea.

I had my HSM today which consisted of 300g of Kangaroo, 200g of sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli and zucchini. It was all delicious and very filling. I was stuffed full and the best part it was mainly fibrous veges. That meal had 21g of fibre about as much as I usually get all day! I can’t wait to be eating veges every day.

After that I went and had coffee with a friend and I had coffee. She had spaghetti and I never even gave it a second thought really, I just had a couple of coffees and we chatted for the afternoon.

I got home from this and it was time for the dinner shake and to catch up on some movie watching until I was falling asleep.

Which is happening at the moment. I’m functioning on 1.5 hours sleep right now and I want to fix that.

So I’m still going really easy, a bit disappointed by the weigh in but feel good that I lost body fat anyway. I am just really tired but that’s lack of sleep and I think I’m into the grindy part of things where I just keep plugging away slowly changing as you go. Hopefully I’ll be in the 80’s next week.

I woke up at about 8:30, 10, 11:30 and then decided to stay in bed and read a bit. It was good that it was overcast and rainy so there wasn’t any real reason to go outside or enjoy the day. I didn’t feel bad or anything it just made it easier to sleep and finish my book. Freakonomics was the book and I’d reccomend it to anyone, it was a very easy read and very interesting!

Anyway I remember the weekends always used to bother me because I’d get worried I’d be sitting around doing nothing and therefore lapse into old behaviours but it was never a problem. It seems the worry isn’t warranted again this time either.

This morning on the way home from the club I was definitely a little sad and underwhelmed with life but I just grit my teeth and worked through it. I think it’s just coming down from the high of being around so many people, wicked music and good fun and then you’re surrounded by nothing and it’s quiet and your life feels quite lame. The thought did go through my mind to grab some ice cream and drown my sorrows but I fought this and ended up just having my shake in the car on the way home and then drinking a stack of water. This fixed everything and given I hadn’t eaten in 6 hours and had been dancing a fair chunk of that time it may well have just been hunger and dehydration.

I concentrated today on getting a stack of water into me and keeping my shakes on schedule and I think I did a good job of it.

Given the activity yesterday with it being leg day and dancing for a fair chunk of time my legs are pretty destroyed today. I’m hoping that just resting will put me in a good position for a decent run tomorrow. I did want to do a half marathon in about 4 weeks but that’s probalby not going to happen. However by that time I’ll have been on reasonably normal food for a week and be able to train a bit so it may well be on the cards. At least for the next two weeks it’s not possible to train effectively I’d just be doing more harm than good.

I’m going to waste some time this afternoon by going to the shops and having a walk around. I think I have everything I need for my HSM tomorrow but I will double check.

Looking forward to weighing in tomorrow. I’m feeling leaner and the shirt I wore last night was a bit tight last weekend but fit well this week!

While I was at the shops I got some squash and a sweet potato for the HSM tomorrow and I was looking for some chilli and wholegrain mustard. I found some Sambal chilli paste and wow is it hot! However opposite this stuff was all the chocolates and stuff and I found myself looking at the two for the price of one special for the big blocks of chocolate and thinking that I should by some but not use it until after the diet. Then I thought if I want some after the diet I’ll just buy some, I don’t need two and I don’t actually want chocolate anyway. It’s just habits coming back to haunt me. I also had a good, hard look at the sugar free lollies but decided they’re still empty calories I don’t need or want. In reality I had no craving for this stuff anyway. Just habits that are being broken.

So I’ll be going out again tonight, it’s a friend’s birthday and so we’re going to go to karaoke. The start of it is an all you can eat and drink banquet for $38, given that I don’t really like crappy asian food normally (I do like good asian food though!) or booze at the moment I didn’t see much point to being there for that but I will be joining them for the karaoke portion. Without the drinking though it may be very difficult to handle. It might end up being a very early night!

I ended up getting home about 11:30 then changing for bed and deciding to stay up a bit until I was tired, then I got a message asking if I was awake and could I do a favour for a friend… pick her up from a hotel about 30mins drive from me and drop he home. So I did, I ended up talking to her fiance for a while and getting home around 6am on Sunday and getting to bed.

I increased weight on pretty much everything and am really concentrating on form and working until I’m down to the 4-5 rep per set range. Before I would squeeze out another set but I don’t see the point at the moment when I’m trying to maintain energy. I’m just putting more effort and better form into the sets I do do.

I wasn’t hungry at all today though my stomach did rumble for a bit when I missed my lunch shake by almost an hour. I didn’t expect to be out anywhere near as long as I was and as such I had to watch my mates eat while I drank water. I was so dehydrated it wasn’t funny too and my mouth tasted like shit. I bought a Coke Zero and a bottle of water for the bus ride home!

After having two shakes in fairly quick succession (about 2 hours apart rather than the usual 3) I felt pretty good and took the train home. It’s time for the dinner shake now and I’m not at all hungry, I probably would have forgotten without the alarm set on my computer!

I got some new teas yesterday, some Chai and some Blackcurrent infused tea. They’re both really nice though I know the chai will be better with milk!

I’m going out again tonight but will try to take it easy and just have something to keep my energy levels up. So tomorrow I think I will be sleeping in but I will still be aiming to get my shakes in as per a usual non-workout day. I may go for a walk in the afternoon but I’m not sure.

So I’m feeling good, definitely into the smooth part of the V-Diet and can’t wait for the photos and weigh in on Sunday.